tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46074640454293110262024-03-14T08:49:31.041-07:00Dungeon of SignsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger522125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-61697399108988145912020-10-26T07:08:00.002-07:002020-10-26T07:09:12.112-07:00Revised Prison of the Hated Pretender Release<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi040Whfip1wjZKw0Xh9_kHVeDjndbZ7PfzH5OMxc_DBzciplYCYw_5EsQqHCRQdaHFSffKjGctYllsXD4Z8cRAxCWf4TJIhFDH7ZDVJNtDhKujQ-5F87Nh7eqQGvmxP8dS0GY0ZU4w5zk/s1083/King.2+grim.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1083" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi040Whfip1wjZKw0Xh9_kHVeDjndbZ7PfzH5OMxc_DBzciplYCYw_5EsQqHCRQdaHFSffKjGctYllsXD4Z8cRAxCWf4TJIhFDH7ZDVJNtDhKujQ-5F87Nh7eqQGvmxP8dS0GY0ZU4w5zk/s320/King.2+grim.jpeg" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A
revised, updated, edited, illustrated and annotated version of my 2012
Prison of the Hated Pretender is now available for purchase and download
at DriveThruRPG. The adventure is introductory, and now includes
copious notes on running classic style adventures as well as conversion
details for 5th Edition D&D.<br /><br />Published through the amazing Hydra Cooperative, and available here:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/333389/Prison-of-the-Hated-Pretender">DriveThru Link</a><br /></span></span><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-33619288354080116102020-08-18T09:41:00.002-07:002020-08-18T09:42:50.027-07:00The Hinterlands of Empire<p><i>"<span face="" style="font-family: "courier new", "courier", monospace;">Men make their own history, but not as they please, not out of the
conditions he chooses, but under existing circumstances - transmitted
from the past; the traditions of past generations weigh like a nightmare
on the brain of the living</span>.</i>"<br />
<br />
The Successor Empire is sadly reduced by secession, war, conquest, depopulation and decline. <br />
<br />
The Central Provinces of
Empire, the only ones loyal to the Emperor, and not claimed by naval mutineers, rogue dux, plague
cults, Resurgent Kings or the Solar Popes are top heavy with the
accretion of the past. Every foot of ground has been a field, a home, a
barracks and a grave at least once, and almost every mile contains some
ruined magnificence - tumbled blocks showing the forgotten master-work
of a long dead sculptor lay in a field of alchemically altered flowers,
poisonous, but in the perfect jeweled tones to celebrate some ancient
Emperor's jubilee.<br /><br />
Even in their wounded grandeur, nibbled at the edges by betrayals and crusades, the Central
Province alone is larger then most kingdoms, stretching from the
polluted crater lands South and West of the Capital to the
Blue Meadows in in the North. Canals and imperishable high-roads radiate
from the Capital to run ruler straight across the provinces, surrounded by tumbled stones and monumental arches of bonewhite that still gleam for past victories - appreciated only by jack rabbits and sparrows for the shade they cast. Even fertile regions such as Green Hive are
beset by internal feuding among their noble magnates and invaders from
without. Pirate princes from the Province Maratime sail ever Northward,
penetrating the rivers and canal networks in brazen plundering
expeditions while local militias rob traders and each other. Everyone
know that The Empire is sick, collapsing from the decadent weight of its
own glory, but the fall has been so long coming that even those who
care put off hard choices for years or generations while the Empire
dies in nearly geologic time. <br />
<br />
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Some regions of course are more vibrant than others, and some divisions, cantonments, wards, departments, demesnes or shires are even growing while the Imperial world fades. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2RpQE3ezWWECPqUho1W-JzYiY2edr-mGiJTlRnyK2zfRVym5X-r6v1Kdu1JBqJU8XlrHpS_EFtiQP0Smxi-6f7kzyDT55fPF-AGJrZyYIbjTjkxufqDPZNpvlICJJ3c73uZL2B6hC9IA/s1600/Empire+Color.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="965" data-original-width="1600" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2RpQE3ezWWECPqUho1W-JzYiY2edr-mGiJTlRnyK2zfRVym5X-r6v1Kdu1JBqJU8XlrHpS_EFtiQP0Smxi-6f7kzyDT55fPF-AGJrZyYIbjTjkxufqDPZNpvlICJJ3c73uZL2B6hC9IA/w512-h307/Empire+Color.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Successor Empire and its Rivals</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><b>The Blue Meadows:</b> <br />
Once a Legionary Border Canton, shielding the Empire from the Ice Kingdoms and the worthless lands of the Pine Hells, Blue Meadows is a wilderness of alpine idylls and howling storms that thunder down from the glaciers. Canals can only penetrate so far into the mountain fastness, and where they stop the trade roads begin. Amber, furs, lumber, tar, wax, copper, iron and hard dusk grain still pour from the North while the salvaged treasures of past flow north on the backs of shaggy mules. The Blue Meadows are a growing concern, the ruling Tilpady family having crushed their rivals in trade two generations ago through fortuitous marriage of one of their 2nd sons to a silver haired, pink-eyed and ambitious princess from the Ice Kingdom of Bone and the Resurgent forces she brought with her to secure the marriage. Perhaps its the influence of corrupted blood, but Imperial lassitude and noble insouciance have been entirely lacking since the other families of the North were cowed. The altered flowers of the meadows themselves are once again being properly distilled into medicinal blue tonic, exported both North and South, while resurrected Jaeger orders protect the distilleries and fields from alpine menaces such as unicorn and owlbear.<br />
<br />
The Blue Meadows are harsh and clean, with fewer magical sinks and corruption then most other cantons. Jagged ice and rock peaks dominate, but scattered among them are the meadows - places of cold beauty and lush highland grasses where small hamlets cluster close to the rock, grazing hearty sheep, and tending to the flower fields.<br />
<br />
A popular destination for treasure hunters, as the Blue Meadows are well managed by a noble order that, for however merciless and hard-dealing it may be, keeps the peace and pays its debts. The maze like mountain fastness still holds many ruined factors and other unspoiled, unplundered remnants of the ancient world. The Tilpadys encourage freebooters, both to supplement the dopplesoldat mercenaries that protect trade roads and as a supply of ready pawns in their schemes against both internal and external threats: cults, noble remnants, Pine Hells' warchiefs, jealous Ice Kings, greedy trade lords and snow beasts.<br />
<br />
<b>Dawn Rill</b><br />
The most highly developed of the cantons within the Central Province, Dawn Rill is a land of canals and large estates, given over to the pleasure and eccentricities of its overabundant nobility. The lands themselves are carefully manicured, resplendent with delicate alchemical hybrids, and better cared for then the rest of the Empire - pump stations still function, monumental statues stand and travelers' rests are often still manned, if only by a single inbred family. <br />
<br />
Dawn Rill is governed by a squabbling parliament of noble families who aggregate the wealth and strength of the dying Imperial order to themselves to squander in their foul feuds and bloody honor duels. The blood of the Empire's soldiery waters mazes of elaborate topiary and the flower gardens of ten generations of eccentrics. Tericos and squadrons clad in irreplaceable bonewhite panoply and armed with lighting lance, schioppi and dancing blade - forces each capable of turning back a Solar Crusade from the fields of Green Hive, or destroying flotillas of Blackmash sea raiders out of hand - clash and destroy each other over the piques of spoiled children and to test the theories of doddering old martinets in the shadow of architectural follies. Beneath the noble gloss of pointless honor and indulgence forces of an older harsher order grow bolder: backstairs tyrants grow their own legions of under-servants, the cast off retainers destroyed families tattoo their faces with the red skull of the revenger and turn brigand, while the gardeners' league grows in power with each blood sacrifice to to forest gods imported from the East<br />
<br />
To the East of the Rill are the fractured marchwalds - dense tangled forests teeming with bison, elk, monstrous boar, woodwose, dying thirsty gods, and petty barons. Beyond the Solar Papacy Looms, but the cunning Pope prefer to flatter the Rill's petty princes and spend their armies of fanatics and third sons for a greater return to the South. <br /><br />For the bold deceiver or flashy rake Dawn Rill has no equal. A successful robbery on its garden paths and perfumed highroads can set up a band for life, while the ruins of lost houses are still filled with wealth. The greatest prize in Dawn Rill however is the hand of an heir, marriage into one of the great families and assurances of sybaritic ease.<br />
<b><br />
Green Hive</b><br />Rolling hills, pastures, meadows, vineyard, and bee hives the Hive is pastoral perfection beneath a blue sky -- curdled with rot. Beneath fields of arcane mono-culture even alchemically treated and sorcerously preserved soil must eventually succumb to neglect. The yields that feed the Empire decline each year as nutrients are exhausted and pacts with the spirits of the earth expire without possibility of renewal due to the fallen state of the Empire's thaumaturgy. Worse, the Solar Empire's crusades clash against the Eastern border of Green Hive two Summers out of five, burning fields, plundering storehouses and blinding those they don't steal off to a life of serfdom.<br /><br />To cope with the armored cavaliers and deadly horse archery of the papal varlets Green Hive's elderly Dux has unleashed militia conscription stealing workers from the land to expand her armies and tax farming syndicates to supplement to treasury - trapping the lesser nobility and freeholder alike in debt peonage. Green Hive is beset by war, enclosure, brigandage and strife with refugees, deserters and mercenaries who flow outward or lurk in the hills as robbers and revolutionary clubmen. All leave their own trails of destruction and slaughter spiraling out from the great burnt swaths that the mark Crusader sacrifice to the glory of the Dawn, Noon and Sunset Popes. <br /><br />Ruin lurks behind every neat hedgerow and both syndicators and petty nobles seek bold mercenaries in their struggles over fertile land, while militia armies under the flag of the emerald bee pay steadily for scouts, agents and training captains. With the constant invasion and internal wars the fields of Green Hive are now also home to bands of brave scavengers, explorers and plunders who delve the ruins created by generations of bloody rapine. <br /><br />To the East of Green Hive are the fertile plains of the Solar Papacy, under the flag of the red, yellow and orange discs. Horse people, once Imperial puppets who have taken to harsh religion of fire and light and now a Resurgent Kingdom of great power, perhaps the Empire's most likely rival and some say the catspaw of the ancient enemy -- Vehisu. To the South beyond dead hills, pony tribes and bone signers are the still burning ruins of the Great Empire's Heart Provinces - now a demon haunted waste of glass, bones, fire and crumbled marble.<br /><br /><b>Umber Reach<br /></b>Marsh, dry hills and rich sunny islands between hard mountains - the Maiden Tombs to the Marble Range to the South East, Umber Reach, also known as the Umber Quays, Umber Havens or simply Umber, is a much battered but defiant Province, a mercantile and naval power rising again after devastation and war. The century old mutiny of the Imperial Navy's Expeditionary Fleet, it's conquest of the breakway Province Maratime and the dependencies in the Sapphire Isles struck Umber hard. Provincial Capital drowned, the undermanned Home Fleet scuttled, levees shattered and croplands reduced to poisoned salt marsh, the Havens still fought the Pirate Princes to a standstill one land and sea.<br /><br />While majority of the Provence a lawless but surprisingly productive landscape of hill, marsh and mangrove exports cattle, leather, fruit, rices, dried fish, intoxicants, iron and gold the great port of Aurum Ferro, where the canalways meet the sea expands as the wealth of the Empire bleeds out in exchange for its populace's necessities and luxuries. Aurum Ferro is a frenzy of wealth as the Merchant nobility grow ever more prosperous, and even the Demes of dock, boat, and warehouse, cover their dungarees in silver conchos.<br /><br />A beacon of exotic riches, Umber has many breeds of disreputable and desperate fortune hunter: wreck divers, beast hunters, privateers, the leviathan men who fill it's whaling fleet, rich man's hands, agents of foreign powers, the hired assassins of the black syndicates, swamp renegades and bandits. Yet even this burgeoning populace of unsavory delvers cannot take advantage of Umber's opportunities: the half sunken ruins of its original capital - now called "Angel Reef", the wreckage of mines and plantations in the interior, the wyrms' waste to the South, abandoned fortresses and trade depot on the Pyre Sea, and most of all the wrecks of generations of warships and trade vessels.<br /><br />To The East across the Maiden Tombs is the arcane anomaly of the Crystal Frontier and beyond the Resurgent Bull Kingdoms, currently content to stagnate and sacrifice its peons to demon gods under the hand of an ineffective and distracted Witch Emperor. To the South the great High Roads strike through the dusty hinterland of the Pyre Coast, a tiny abandoned land of drovers and cattle wars that bleeds into the Desolation of Zurab, where the Sanguinary Wyrm Zubrab the Everhungering Wind holds sway and spawns brood after brood of foul children - sea wryms that add another hazard to the Pyre Sea. <br /><b><br />Blackmarsh<br /></b>Where the Blue Meadows descend to a great grey sea plain, and the marshes of the Umber Reach rise to a wooded plateau is the harshest of the Imperial Provinces - Blackmarsh. A land of cold sea fogs, rocky inlets, slate shingle and sucking grey mud that slowing transforms into dark tangled forest. Less touched by ancient magics, wilder and less populous Blackmash has long been refuge for dissenters, criminals, and misfits who chaff at Imperial rule. It's population center clusters around the shore fortress of Blackacre, and the equally forbidding prison monastery within The Iron Light where a stern sub-pantheon of Imperial Saints transforms miscreants into the warrior monks of the Mirrorwatch. To the North is the Black Mirror, a channel between Imperial lands, the Mud Isles, and the semi-mythical Ifreann Glas - the 'green hell'. To Mirror's East the Hellsea, which disgorges bone drakkars and shadow knarrs from the Pine and Ice Hells, traders who turn to raiding the moment it seems advantageous. Worse is a constant flow of painted men from the Mud Isles, waves of leather coracles packed with huge hounds and wode splattered head hunters armed with flint arrows, clubs and hide shields who speak only in a language of canine barks. <br /><br />While monks and hardened mercenaries keep seaborne raiders from the fishing villages, dye factors and lumber mills of the coast nothing protects the forest dwelling Marshers, source of much of the province's wealth, lumber, except own bows and axes. In the deep forests, some still primeval and untouched, the lumberjacks and hunters dwell in small hamlets, behind thick log palisades -- suspicious that any stranger is a loup-garou scouting for the great packs of the forest heart, or a denizens of faery, wearing the skin of one of the multitude lost to the forest. The only means of survival in the forests of Blackmarsh is to reach an accommodation with the redcaps, hungry spirits and woodwose of the place, and the woodsfolk have done so long ago, with spirits of place and blood poured on ancient black stumps replacing the temples and hymns of the Imperial Cult.<br /><br />At first glance Blackmarsh is perhaps an unappealing region for treasure hunters, dangerous, but unrewarding. However, within the forest's depths stand forgotten castles, abandoned villages and burnt halls while along the grey store are ancient barrows, drowned Imperial towns, and labyrinthine caves winding into the chalk cliffs.<br /><br /><b>The Capital</b><br />At the center of all is the Capital, a gluttonous belly crying for the wealth and industry of it's surrounding children. A waste region of ruins: mortuary suburbs, industrial outskirts, military cantonments, and magical sinks that surround the ruinous city, slowly being overtaken by nature, pierced by lily choked canals. A few towns and trading depots linger, rough, insular places filled with inbred lineage obsessed townsmen and ruled by absent nobility or corrupt councils under extinct charters or fictitious laws. Most are little better then bandit camps, persisting on "tolls" levied at spear point from tradesmen foolish enough to wander from the established routes, unlicensed tomb robbery, and subsistence farming. All energy, activity and hope have contracted to the great city itself, so vast and ruinous the it takes a week to walk from the undermanned gate fortresses of it's thousand foot walls to the mile high spire of the Imperial Palace at its center remotely reflects the glory of the Empire. The Capital is still a place of marvels, majestic and ponderous, bedecked in the plunder of worlds, bustling and alive with scholars, soldiers, bureaucrats, merchants, priests and criminals within the sea of the urban Demes - neighborhood, labor, and sporting organizations that organize around a colored flag for mutual defense and assistance by the masses of ordinary insula dwellers. Three fifths of the Imperial population still resides in the capital and in places: near the Foreigner's Market, by the Wall of Follies, among the flower shaded streets and alleys of the Apiarist's District the Capital seems whole, vibrant, secure, powerful and active -- but this is an illusion. It's size and the imperishable construction techniques of the past hide the decline, abandonment and decrepitude of the majority of the Capital. Most of the spire palaces on Noble's Hill are empty, the Factors between the wall and the Great Pool are abandoned except for the feral animal headed descendants of the thralls who once worked there and at night the city offers miles of trash strewn darkness of every well lighted an orderly block.<br /><br />Foreigners and mercenaries still flock to the Capital, most sell their grain or other staples for ancient treasure and quickly leave - the Capitals deep sedimentary layers of deadly intrigue, faction politics, private armies, forbidden areas, and contradictory laws make it especially dangerous to outsiders. A few stay, mercenaries who have squandered their pay on the city's sophisticated debaucheries or merchants willing to tolerate great risk for greater return. Scavenging, freelance or hired violence, monster hunting, and robbery are all well rewarded in the Capital.<br /><b><br />Province Maratime</b><br />South of Umber cut off from the Empire's body by the Pyre Coast and the Desolation of Zubrab in the West and wastes of the ever-burning, demon haunted Heart Provinces in the East the Maratime Province is an Empire of it's own. A nautical nation, founded by the mutineers of the Expeditionary Fleet, which declared their droungarios the secret emperor, descended from a hidden and uncorrupted branch of the ancient Imperial Dynasty and commenced a doomed war to claim the rest of the Empire. While both the Home Fleet of the Umber Havens and the Expeditionary Fleet were ravaged, squadrons of irreplaceable stone ships run aground and sunk the war was inconclusive. Exhausted at sea, and interrupted on land by the arrival of the wyrm Zubrab the Hungering Wind, the Sea Kings of the Maratime turned their fleets and ambitions South and West, conquering the tropical Sapphire Isles and turning to trade.<br /><br />The Pyre Sea and world ocean beyond are deep and hide humanity's efforts to corrupt them, the islands and shores of the Province Maratime teem with life and industry. Its sailors are thought the best in the world, its weather witches and Leviathan priests the most erudite, and its harbors, most built only with the new sciences of device and careful architecture, produce an endless armada of fast, weatherly vessels made of wood, canvas and brass. Perhaps the Province Maratime is not a part of the Empire at all, perhaps it is itself a Resurgent - a loose confederation of merchant and naval princes unconcerned with what the world has lost, and ready to make the best of what it has yet to provide. <br /><br /><b>Note: This blog isn't coming back anytime soon, but with Grognardia resuming posting, I decided to post this setting overview which has been moldering, nearly complete since 2018. Go check out what James M., one of the original bloggers who resurrected classic games, <a href="http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2020/08/review-mork-borg.html">has to say about Mork Borg</a>, one of the newest and more interesting products in the now splintering space.</b><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-6664364324859431832018-05-24T13:00:00.002-07:002018-06-07T11:35:44.202-07:00Goodbye and Good Luck<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9YMjMbTgIiFQ0Sl9-JjuNq8jEQqCzdR5WxWQktLWJ4Hdw2RcD9rEaGx0w-DE-3v5PENZ7y6VVPeFnUa3_shH-vFqu8w8q_tyatkF6ABUSiFWvLhN0xPyCNWB_dxVG_WPM9vpnn85HuRQ/s1600/wererats+eat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="918" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9YMjMbTgIiFQ0Sl9-JjuNq8jEQqCzdR5WxWQktLWJ4Hdw2RcD9rEaGx0w-DE-3v5PENZ7y6VVPeFnUa3_shH-vFqu8w8q_tyatkF6ABUSiFWvLhN0xPyCNWB_dxVG_WPM9vpnn85HuRQ/s320/wererats+eat.jpg" width="286" /></a></div>
<br />Well some of you may have noticed this blog has been down, restricting access for some time. For various reasons I've decided to step away from the OSR and the tabletop gaming web community - possibly permanently. Part my decision to withdraw is personal, I find myself with insufficient time and desire to write about games but I also have the sense that the 'OSR' scene this blog is devoted to has become a rather disgusting place where crass commercialization is strangling a formerly creative amateur community, and where destructive 'alt-right' views are becoming increasingly prevalent, even among some of the more significant publishers in the community. This isn't to say that there aren't still wonderful creatives and writers within the OSR community, and that I don't consider many of those I've met there real friends.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8l3y-Cq39WM89F0vsiLETFomQzV0htL_gqtTMWEoIOX3NXMPeuT_r5sUTYTUuYw1nx8iMjCjtzuHA9LTZFo3kKUlR6ozA46DijUH-g0jOtUCIxfhexLdbidA031ZuNuYDch-V0-KNjOc/s1600/trampier-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1208" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8l3y-Cq39WM89F0vsiLETFomQzV0htL_gqtTMWEoIOX3NXMPeuT_r5sUTYTUuYw1nx8iMjCjtzuHA9LTZFo3kKUlR6ozA46DijUH-g0jOtUCIxfhexLdbidA031ZuNuYDch-V0-KNjOc/s640/trampier-1.jpg" width="481" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My longtime favorite Dave Trampier piece from the 1st edition DMG</td></tr>
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To put it another way - the OSR isn't fun for me anymore, and as such I will be officially shutting this blog down. I've been asked to maintain the site as an archive for others to use, and will do so - though I'm shutting down the comments. I still appreciate that the blog's many readers have enjoyed it over the years and I've enjoyed comment discussions, but don't wish to keep up with trimming the spam.<br />
<br />
So Goodbye and Good Luck, thanks for reading.<br />
<br />
- Gus L.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-44634418306910902322018-03-05T23:22:00.000-08:002018-03-06T09:47:45.290-08:00Balance, Challenge & Antagonism when Running Dungeons & Dragons<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgumJGKymXljyZdB0DJjnOZqg2ilGIoGBNdBXOTEidW5wIoLTeVkLuJjNII4vQ7pz6vmgsPO9Q56uGZuhwAY0dZTOa8d1CvdTMKtYRoPYGATmmQ0UNQuwSOepCYl4Nk5e0VHXbeQiclZMo/s1600/dungeonmaster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgumJGKymXljyZdB0DJjnOZqg2ilGIoGBNdBXOTEidW5wIoLTeVkLuJjNII4vQ7pz6vmgsPO9Q56uGZuhwAY0dZTOa8d1CvdTMKtYRoPYGATmmQ0UNQuwSOepCYl4Nk5e0VHXbeQiclZMo/s320/dungeonmaster.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">D&D Cartoon Dungeon Master - pretty friendly</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><u><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">CHALLENGE RATING AND D&D AS A CONTEST:</span></span></span></u></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></span><b><i><br />The concept of Challenge Rating in D&D, a means of balancing encounters can detract from open world, location based, sandbox play - even if it is useful for tactical combat focused games.</i></b> <br />
<br />
The 5th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons has a system I find strange coming from playing earlier editions almost exclusively - the Challenge Rating ("CR"). <br />
<br />
It may seem odd, but I've never run a game where I tried to determine numerically if a combat encounter would be too dangerous for my players - this isn't to say that adventure design shouldn't require some consideration of enemy strength compared to that of the party, but really it's not an issue that older editions obsess too much on, even if it is treated as an absolutely core system to newer editions of Dungeons & Dragons. I fear that the reliance on a mechanical system to assure "balance" and "fairness" both shows a corrosive distrust of the Game Master and encourages a less open more competitive style of play.<br />
<br />
It appears Challenge Rating started as a concept somewhere in the mass of publications that was D&D's 3.5 edition, but in 4th edition it really became a key component of Encounter Design, which itself assumed a place of prominence rather then being a small subset of Adventure Design. It's also easy to see why Challenge Rating in 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, and 3.5's offshoot Pathfinder, became such a profoundly important, and useful, element of running the game. 3.5 and 4th Edition are mechanically complex games where the locus of play (a term I use frequently to describe the type of play where the players are most engaged and which takes up the most time at the table) is tactical combat. Combat encounter design becomes the focus for most GMs in these editions and games, as it is designed to be, and CR functions as a useful set of tools to provide the balance that the highly tuned, but straight-forward, combat mechanics require to make the combat encounters both challenging and potentially survivable. 4th Edition CR rules create "XP budgets" to build and modify encounters from a selected list of pre-designed (or built and modified via templates) foes, each with a combat role that adds complexity to combat encounters and defines their tactics to the GM. <br />
<br />
While it's popular among some who play older editions and styles of D&D to wring hands or complain about this style of play and the need for or usefulness of a CR based combat encounter construction system in 4E and Pathfinder, it's worth noting that these GM facing systems make sense for the game being played - a complex tactical combat system about direct grid based confrontation with fantastical creatures. While, no matter the system, a good GM or designer will always want to have some idea about how an encounter or string of encounters might deplete player resources, the more complex and mechanically defined those resources are, the more systems for checking if an encounter or adventure is properly challenging for players becomes useful - especially when the goal of a play session is combat, sidestepping other resource draining activities (puzzles, negotiation) as quickly as possible to assure adequate time for complex combats. As the game itself puts it: <br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"<i>[T]he D&D game is a series of encounters. Encounters are where the game happens—where the capabilities of the characters are put to the test and success or failure</i><i> hang in the balance.</i>"<i><u> 4th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide Deluxe</u>. (</i><i><i>2008, James Wyatt</i>) pg 34.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> </i></span><br />
It becomes clear that combat centered gameplay within the matrix of scene based adventure design can be a choice, and the designers of D&D's 3.5 and 4th editions chose to build a system whose mechanics supported this style of play. Yet it's equally worth noting that in doing so they chose to remove or sideline other aspects of the game that made up a large amount of play in earlier editions. This transformation of the game also has effects that go beyond mere mechanics and change the duties and conception of what a good Game Master should do and bring to the table - and they do so in a way that has the potential to be disastrous for games where the locus of play isn't tactical combat.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b><u>Why is Challenge Rating in 5th Edition</u>:</b><i> </i><br />
<h4>
<i>I can't see a good reason for Challenge Rating's persistence into 5th Edition. While the game has some tactical combat elements it appears to be intended as a return to exploration and role play. CR may be useful for complex tactical battles as provided in 4th edition and Pathfinder, but the 5th Edition version does little to 'balance' the game and seems cursory and perhaps ineffectual for those who do wish to use it. The negative effects of CR on game culture persist however and it can even promote antagonistic play.</i></h4>
<h4>
<i> </i></h4>
Challenge Rating as a GM aide persists in 5th Edition which, while retaining a few complexities of the detailed tactical systems of 4E and Pathfinder, is a simpler game with a lot more space for non-combat challenges. Furthermore, the <u>Fifth Edition Dungeon Master Guide</u> offers little rationale for retaining the CR, giving no explanatory reasoning for its XP buy system that builds combat encounters. As much as 4th Edition may represent a refinement of the design principles of character building and tactical combat as the primary locus of play, cutting away or streamlining legacy systems, 5th Edition appears to be an effort to return to more holistic gameplay with exploration, role play and fictional positioning based problem solving returning as potentially key elements of play. It's possible, even likely, that the 5th Editions continued reliance on CR is an (<span class=" cl-b d-b fc-13th ml-25" id="yui_3_10_0_1_1515780628020_215">unexamined</span> perhaps?) holdover from 3.5 and 4th edition, the design space where its designers are most comfortable. However, the marginal benefit of a GM tool that claims to create balanced combat encounters is outweighed by it's potential downsides, both mechanically and socially in a system where exploration is a major part of gameplay and where the CR system is cursory. <br />
<br />
It is possible to play 5th Edition as a tactical combat game, and Challenge Rating may be quite useful for GMs who still find their primary work is to design direct confrontation combat encounters that will provide some, but not too much, challenge to players. However, for GMs who are trying to run a more classic sort of game, where combat is rarely straightforward confrontation and exploration of adventure locales or faction conflict and associated role play are the loci of play, CR is at best nearly useless as a metric, though presumably it may still be a comforting way to roughly check if a group of monsters is far too powerful for a party. Unfortunately, beyond expending GM time, CR also creates other difficulties, not necessarily as a mechanic alone, but because it's presented as the way to provide fairness and balance.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<u>Side Effect of CR and Competitive Play:</u><i></i></h4>
<h4>
<i><br /><br />Challenge Rating, "Rules as Written" and Competitive Play through Adventurer's League are part of a laudable effort to encourage a minimum standard of Game Mastering and allow players to have fun independent of GM ability, but they come at a cost. That cost is a distrust between players and Game Master and the loss of the idea that D&D is a cooperative game where the GM's power over the world comes with duties to adjudicate fairly and openly. </i><i>Systems like "CR" instead encourage GM's to view the game competitively and antagonistically, which may be desirable for a war-game but is ruinous for anything more open ended</i><i> and may not even be effective.</i><u></u></h4>
<h4>
<u><br /></u></h4>
Challenge Rating is itself a harmless and somewhat questionable metric for determining difficultly, but when it's promoted as the way to determine fairness or assure an appropriate level of risk, as if fairness is the goal of Adventure Design, it becomes a stand in for distrust of the Game Master. When players depend on encounters built with an XP based point system to have fun and avoid summary character death, there's something far deeper wrong then a mere lack of "balance". In an open world game, CR and a concern for mechanically assuring fairness indicates a profound lack of trust in the GM, and the assumption that he will run a bad adventure if allowed to freely use his imagination.<br />
<br />
Another element that unintentionally buttresses this fear of free or fair play, is WotC's efforts to promote a system of public play that is semi-competitive - the Adventurers League. The promise is that these events will have a certain consistency provided and be free of awful experiences: players who show up with a munchkin kitted out with an arsenal of magic weapons that they use to bully everyone else, or a GM that facilitates some nightmare scenario of humiliation and insult. Stories of this sort of experience are common, and I won't dismiss them. However, to reach it's admirable goal of improving play experience WotC has intelligently limited material to certain of its published adventures and toned down some of the competitive elements in the public play system. Out of this concern certain design trade offs were made. Organized play and a concern that if things aren't kept clear and well defined in published adventures GMs will turn abusive may be a reason why WotC's published products contain such an obsessive focus on using Difficulty Checks for most non-combat actions that have some in game importance, are overwritten and often railroad player choice. Under this system of design, even the worst GM or most pushy, awful player can't easily go against clear rules that say "X must be rolled in situation Y" to move the adventure along. <br />
<br />
Even if largely mechanized play, and fetishization of CRs are successful efforts to limit bad GMs and prevent them from darting off into the weeds of sadistic joy, they create a culture of second guessing and stifle GM creativity. Players second guess their GMs and GMs second guess themselves, having built a game culture where hollering for the use of the Rules As Written (RAW) is acceptable, even when those rules are used for exploitative meta-gaming purposes or fail to grasp a situation that is occurring at the table. <br />
<u></u><br />
With these strange efforts to curtail GM power and creativity, second guessing the person who is running an adventure for fun, WotC and CR may have a point, but the price is too high. At it's core this solution to bad GMing is to push D&D away from what makes tabletop roleplaying different from other tabletop games (war-games and board games) or computer RPGs - the presence of an adaptable and creative person who is taking the role of facilitating play and providing the game world's response to player decision. Distrust that the Game Master will live up to her role as a fair adjudicator of events and set aside her own story goals, fear that she will have biases for or against specific players, or a sense that the GM needs to be the most clever person at the table are depressing and paltry reasons for restricting the play of players and Game Masters who aren't terrible. <br />
<br />
Beyond limitation of creative play, there is also the question of efficacy. Does limiting the GMs options, promoting player power through the idea that RAW rules are correct over GM ad hoc rulings, and encouraging combat based tactical play really prevent terrible Game Masters from being terrible? <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAA1EMOOH_IB_sOJKz5dNAYsB8k5MjfQPjS5cv8Coe2Qfq7yntNGyxY9RvRcQZTPnMiwtzl67dybz4qvUrRWwKH9doPb-1WuynEVX6-w8YvSbIRw_N8nM4OQUYUhC5NpsIlO2tPzqKtxE/s1600/guide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAA1EMOOH_IB_sOJKz5dNAYsB8k5MjfQPjS5cv8Coe2Qfq7yntNGyxY9RvRcQZTPnMiwtzl67dybz4qvUrRWwKH9doPb-1WuynEVX6-w8YvSbIRw_N8nM4OQUYUhC5NpsIlO2tPzqKtxE/s320/guide.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Late 1E DMG Cover - a surly GM this one</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm generally for mechanical and rules based solutions to game problems, but the problem of bad GMing isn't simply a question of perverse incentives or excess complexity - it's a skill and culture issue. The Pathfinder, 4th Edition and 5th Edition rulebooks offer note
about limiting antagonism between players and GMs - but this seems insufficient where the rules
themselves promote distrust. It's also easy to find the complaints of 5th edition players and GMs about bad play experiences, which suggest that even if CR and GM limiting innovations are helpful, they haven't stopped the problem of antagonistic GMing. Worse, while these sorts of mechanical brakes on GM overreach will do little
or nothing to stop truly malicious Game Masters or players who wish to
bend the rules via house rules, bad adjudication of the inevitable areas
that are outside WotC's expectations, or a focus on mastering and
meta-gaming the rules for mechanical advantage and against the spirit of
play, they are often presented as a substitute for any sort of theory or suggestion on the easy to learn skills of being a good GM.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<u>Excuses for Antagonistic GMing:</u><i></i></h4>
<h4>
<i> </i></h4>
<h4>
<i>Antagonistic GMing has an appeal to some, and perhaps even a certain 'rightness' about it for running risky combat encounters, and unfortunately Dungeons & Dragons has promoted it to lesser or greater degrees for a long time. At its core though antagonistic GMing is destructive in games that depend on fictional positioning - that is to say include cooperative world-building, non-combat problems and non-combat solutions</i>. <i>5th Edition D&D can be such a game.</i></h4>
<h4>
<i> </i><br /><u></u></h4>
I doubt it was Dragonlance that started encouraging trends in bad GMing, but the 'Prologue" of <u>DL-1 Dragons of Despair</u> is a wonderful example of promoting a basic misunderstanding of the GM's duties and position at the table. It begins by turning the GM into a character in the game's story.<br />
<br />
"<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>A massive chair floats amid soft white light. The gold of its delicately carved frame gleams warmly. To the right of the chair, an ornate stand strains beneath a huge crystal globe. To the left of the chair, another stand holds a large book. Between the stands, an old man in brilliant white robes nods on a glistening throne. One hand rests on the globe, while the other lies poised on the book. The face looks as though the eyes closed only a moment ago. Yet the man does not move, nor does the thoughtful expression change. For this is Astinus of Palanthus, Lorekeeper of the World … You, Dungeonmaster, are the spirit of Astinus. You look upon your mortal body and again bid it farewell. For the greatest age in the history of this world called Krynn is about to unfold. You note its passage, walking unnoticed among the greatest of heroes, seeing history through the eyes of men and creatures, good and evil, feeling what they feel.</i><i>" - <u>Dragons of Despair DL1 </u>- (1984, Tracy Hickman) pg. 1</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>While this GM as God of History conceit might be cute, or even fun for some, once the Game Master is no longer a referee, an adjudicator or interpreter of the game world, and is instead something like a super powerful player - part of the action and story. In 1984 this is a novel presentation of the GM's role within the game, but I'd suggest it's a jump in the wrong direction - the direction that, by encouraging the Game Master to think of himself as an active participant in story and game, rather then a facilitator standing outside of it, must resolve the GM's new role by demanding rules that themselves make value judgments, set difficulty, and resolve contradictions in mechanics or fictional positioning. The rules, rather then the GM's understanding of their position as host and adjudicator, become the players' protection from frustrating types of challenge and ultimately the antagonistic GM emerges as an acceptable figure because he works within the constraints of the Rules as Written to provide sufficient challenge and play his 'character' . <br />
<br />
With a tactical fighting focused game (as D&D seems to have been for a decade or two) antagonistic GMing becomes more acceptable, and even laudable. Much as the fun in playing Warhammer or another wargame is the challenge of going up against a human opponent and figuring out how win with a strategy that works within complex and rigid rules and equalized, point based forces when the locus of play is tactical combat the Game Master, as long as he has a decent system for determining difficulty, is free to have enemies fight as craftily and hard as possible. A GM with this sort of rule-set can, and likely should, be trying to "win", so in this context a concern about antagonistic GMing is warranted, but only as a matter of balance. In a game with more options, where the rules can only offer suggestions for a wide variety of scenarios these systems are insufficient and conception of the GM as foe is disastrous. Because of the variety of situations and the prominence puzzles or social conflict (factions) take in open world/location based or sandbox games they tend to set the rules as written aside in favor of fictional positioning. Fictional Positioning is a focus on what the characters are doing within the game, rather then what the players are doing with the rules - a distinction between running a game where the way to check for secret doors is to say "My character taps the wall looking for hollow spaces that might conceal a door" and one where the player says "I have a 'Spot Hidden' skill of 12 and roll an adjusted 18 to find things in the room". Without the skill metrics a GM can't maintain an antagonistic attitude to the players, the GM's duty isn't to stymie player success through crafty enemies and a dangerous environment, but to fairly adjudicate the players efforts solve puzzles in the game world. This isn't to say in our example that our first GM doesn't have a variety of choices:<br />
<ol>
<li> "The tapping reveals a hollow space behind the wall." </li>
<li>"The walls are thick and solid, you can't tell anything from tapping."</li>
<li>The GM decides they don't know if the tapping will work and rolls a check of some kind to determine if the search succeeds - perhaps adding a bonus or penalty based on the characters' methods.</li>
</ol>
However, the GM's choices are determined largely by his understanding of the fictional space, rather then through a close reading of rules (no chart of bonuses for searching based on wall material, thickness, and craftsmanship is needed - and there will be no point at which a player's "Spot Hidden" skill becomes automatically successful due to a lack of such a chart). Within this system the players must trust that the GM is being fair to them and making interpretations of the game world and event that allow them a chance of success.<br />
<br />
While 5th Edition often appears to reject fictional positioning in favor of "RAW" mechanics, antagonistic GMing and point balanced tactical combat based challenge was not always the way to play D&D, and with 5th Edition the mechanics are loose enough that the challenge of tactical combat can take a back-seat to exploration, puzzle solving and role play. To someone versed only in the last ten or fifteen years of Dungeons & Dragons, and more familiar with computer RPGs or MMORPGs then tabletop play this may seem daunting, even impossible - but it's not hard to learn the skills of being a fair Game Master and determining success and failure without reliance on specific rules that directly apply to the current situation. <br />
<br />
<h4>
<u>Old School Approaches</u>:<br /><i></i></h4>
<h4>
<i><br />In earlier editions, up until the 1990's D&D didn't depend on a system for encounter design, and balance was less of a concern then fidelity to the setting fiction and a strained sort of naturalism. This is not a difficult way to design adventures and can be learned easily.</i></h4>
<h4>
<i> </i></h4>
Dungeons & Dragons was for the first twenty years largely an exploration game, and for all of its own complexity AD&D did not privilege tactical combat as a play goal<i>* </i>The <u>1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide</u> also fails to make any
suggestions about monster placement or design that prefigure the
encounter construction implicit in Challenge Rating. Still, the 1st Edition
does concern itself briefly and tangentially with "balance", often the
ultimate goal or problem that 'CR' is said to overcome, but its methods
are different and it's assumptions about the Game Master are different:<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"<i>Likewise,
fit monsters and magic so as to be reasonable within the scope of your
milieu and the particular facet of it concerned. Alter creatures freely,
remembering balance. Hit dice, armor class, attacks and damage, magical
and psionic powers are all mutable; and after players become used to
the standard types a few ringers will make them a bit less sure of
things. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Devising a few creatures unique to your
world is also recommended. As a DM you are capable of doing a proper
job of it provided you have had some hours of hard experience with
rapacious players. Then you will know not to design pushovers and can
resist the temptation to develop the perfect player character killer!</i>" - <i> <u>1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide</u>. (</i><i><i>1979, Gary Gygax</i>) pg 91.</i></span><br />
<br />
This
statement caps the section on "Monster Placement", one largely concerned with a sort of organic monster ecology (what lives
where and how?) rather then it is with risk and reward - it cares about the fictional positioning of the monsters in the world over their mechanical power. The advice above is all Gygax seems to offer on encounter design that's outside of
concerns of Gygaxian naturalism, and I think this is telling. There's a brief exhortation that the extensive random encounter tables
(Appendix C) can be used to create a selection of foes balanced by
level. Of course the AD&D table in some ways mirror those of <a href="http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2014/08/trust-random-encounter-table.html">OD&D</a>
and allow for extremely dangerous creatures at even low levels - there
are for example Ogres and Dragon hatchlings as rare (1 in 20) encounters
for dungeon level 1. However, the table based approach is mocked a
bit by Gygax, though perhaps undeservedly given his own adventure design
proclivities, as risking a "Disneyland" sort of campaign (which one
assumes is the campaign equivalent of a "fun house" dungeon). It would be quite possible to write an entire piece on the nature of Gygaxian or organic monster placement and how it distributes risk via random encounters, monster populations and faction balance - but that's beyond the scope of this discussion. <br />
<br />
The conflict or split between early and later editions is worth noting, because it
suggests that balance (as much as it's important in early editions) is
easy enough to obtain without reliance on Challenge Rating or any
similarly complex, codified systems of encounter design and monster placement.
This may be because early editions assume (though in only a few years
the Hickmans would already be thinking about narrative and scene based
adventure design) location based game that doesn't focus on tactical
combat. I'd also suggest that the power curve within AD&D is
flatter then that in 4e or 5e, with level or mechanical potency less
important then luck and the ability to find advantages through fictional positioning as a means of
deciding victory or defeat.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr47fG4KTNGZ3E0zttBItB_0Cf20PJd2BnilVEUXHGltEFM_YKOb7qRmnq9qByk5jAFyPnqusYosMAap5FqHEztcyjegs1VDHP3ZdXC1YRDiQHVbnYMR-UhAnF-eKN83ySd37g-8kBdw0/s1600/5E+Guide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1600" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr47fG4KTNGZ3E0zttBItB_0Cf20PJd2BnilVEUXHGltEFM_YKOb7qRmnq9qByk5jAFyPnqusYosMAap5FqHEztcyjegs1VDHP3ZdXC1YRDiQHVbnYMR-UhAnF-eKN83ySd37g-8kBdw0/s400/5E+Guide.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 5E DMG Cover - I think these fellows are getting more antagonistic</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
These factors may motivate a lesser
concern with balance, as may Gygax's own interest in a more naturalistic
game world, but a different concept of balance, one that allows for frequent
character death is also in play. Closely attached to that concept of balance is a different set of assumptions about the duty and abilities of the Game Master. Hack and Slash recently suggested that an open world/location based, traditional playstyle <a href="http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/2017/12/on-dungeons-dragons-problem.html">requires a GM with strong mental facilities or practice</a>. While I enjoy Courtney's general thrust that GMing is akin to shamanistic storytelling, I think it's something that can be picked up fairly easily by most people if they want to, and if they have the tools. One such tool for running location based games is an understanding of how not to be antagonistic towards the players. Antagonistic GMing is a shibboleth even in pathfinder and 4e, both of which contain advice that suggests it's a bad thing (though as I suggest above the rules may have good reason to work in an opposite direction) when a GM sees themselves in competition with the players, but I believe there's more to it then simply not actively seeking to do in the characters for one's sadistic joy. <br />
<br />
<h2>
<u><span style="font-size: large;">ANTAGONISTIC GAME MASTERS</span></u></h2>
<h2>
<br /></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw3RIuO85faitCuRVcGOLWa4WJ6afQUPzedmdXnnCCh4rThiPbSzx6hZ3T0RIIhnzyICuQZZ03UJQbc__1E1g57tF4vEK7ZCIL-V7TO0KiXpe-7Eve-_Ahs9Btfyn_2Xg5ogppxyhyphenhyphenxKU/s1600/DMGcover.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw3RIuO85faitCuRVcGOLWa4WJ6afQUPzedmdXnnCCh4rThiPbSzx6hZ3T0RIIhnzyICuQZZ03UJQbc__1E1g57tF4vEK7ZCIL-V7TO0KiXpe-7Eve-_Ahs9Btfyn_2Xg5ogppxyhyphenhyphenxKU/s400/DMGcover.gif" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First DMG Cover - The GM was always a threat!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The classic joke about Antagonistic Game Master is a anecdote about a GM who when confronted by a player about something, the more minor the quibble the better the story, declares "Rocks fall you all die!" This of course would be a pretty nasty thing to do as a GM, really a betrayal of the players' trust and a fundamental rejection of the compact between GM and players. Of course it's not especially helpful to know that Antagonistic GMs are those that offhandedly create an instant TPK out of pique. Most antagonistic GMing isn't going to take this extreme form, and it's harder to avoid mildly antagonistic actions like forcing players into direct confrontation regardless of their efforts to avoid it, especially for GMs who have become used to mechanical systems that elevate competitive tactical combat as the only viable play activity. I'm not even going to focus on what makes up antagonistic GMing, because rather then a long list of "don'ts", the basics of avoiding antagonistic GMing (at least in the forms I've commonly seen it) are proactive and aren't hard. <br />
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></h4>
<h4>
<u>Acknowledging the GM's Role and Power</u>:</h4>
<h4>
<i> </i></h4>
<h4>
<i>In an open world game a great deal of trust is given to the Game Master by the players as situations frequently arise where the GM must adjudicate complex situations these decisions, based more on setting fiction then rules. The need for ad hoc decisions is ripe for misuse and give the GM a great deal of power, but because of this power a GM has a duty to act fairly. </i></h4>
<br />
The first step, as usual for these kinds of things, is to acknowledge the situation as it is. The game provides the Game Master with power over the player characters because the Game Master controls the world and its reaction or response to player decision. The further one's setting and game world moves into sandbox/open world play and away from scripted narrative/scenes the more is this is true, the more room there is for a GM to respond poorly to unplanned and sudden player actions, and the more likely players (who expect freedom to choose there characters' actions and fates) will object to such heavy handed GMing. <br />
<br />
It is important to recognize that GM power increases as scenarios and game events move further away from the simple and mechanically fenced in direct tactical combat scenarios (again it's not that these are bad, just not the basis of exploration games) and into a play style where challenges contain fewer dice checks and more player decisions: roleplaying negotiation with potential enemies and allies, solving puzzles, planning ambushes or other strategies to defeat powerful foes, and disarming or bypassing complex traps. In all of these cases, while a dice roll or two may be important most results and interactions are going to be within the control of the GM and largely without specific written rules. While reaction rolls and a charisma bonus or spell effect can add a layer of mechanical rules to a negotiation between player characters and monsters, it's still the GM's duty to decide the many things that shape the encounter and make it exciting: can the foes be reasoned with at all (your persuasion skills shouldn't work on rot grubs), what do the monsters want, what are their personalities, are they plotting a double-cross are are they honorable? All of these considerations will make a negotiation between player characters and a monster or group of monsters fun, but they are without written rules (or almost without them) to limit or direct GM decision making. <br />
<br />
Even where rules apply to complex issues of fiction positioning, the rules alone rarely suffice to properly adjudicate the scenario - can a player swing on a chandelier to cross a ballroom and avoid the trapped floor tiles? While a chandelier swinging action may require the player to make some sort of dexterity or acrobatics check, there's no rules based advice on exactly how far this will carry the character or what happens should the character fail. The GM will need to decide what happens based on the situation (the setting fiction) and the player's stated action (fictive positioning) before even deciding what sort of check may be required to succeed and what failure means. A GM could provide a very difficult check, or worse decide that success or failure will only propel the character part way over the trapped tiles, or even that the chandelier won't hold the character's weight - all of these would be correct interpretations (as would ones that made the task very easy or automatic) of the space left in the rules. The difficulty is which choice should a good GM make and what choices would an antagonistic GM make? <br />
<br />
At the core of this concern is the question of balance again, but no in a sense that's easy to design clear metrics for. Balance between providing risk to characters with meaningful results for failure and making those risks or challenges feel "fair" to players. The ultimate goal of this approach is to create an environment of mutual trust between players and GM and to achieve this 'balance' I propose two basic methods or philosophies about Game Mastering that seek to allow challenge and risk, while eliminating antagonistic solutions, even unintentional ones.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Description and Information as Fairness:</u></b><br />
<br />
<i><b>The Game Master is the players best and often only source of information on the game world, and because of this it's imperative on the GM to provide sufficient information to the players to make informed decisions. Without such efforts risks will likely appear unfair and negative consequences seem the result of the GM withholding information and tricking player, making it important for GMs to check with players, even providing cautions and warnings, to make sure that they understand the stakes and situation their characters are involved in.<br /><br /> </b></i><br />
At its core a tabletop roleplaying game is a game of collective
storytelling, with the Game Master creating a setting and personalities
within that fictional space and the players interacting with it via
their character's decisions. To do make this relationship work between
player and Game Master there needs to be trust on both sides, and the
best way to do that from the Game master's side is to portray the world that the players can understand and adapt to and even where the players can't immediately understand events those event are clearly logical and explicable (within a magical fantasy world of course) in retrospect. This isn't to say that tricks, traps and ambushes aren't acceptable for the non-antagonistic GM, of course not, only that these challenges shouldn't rely on the GM withholding information from the players but rather the fictional world's internally logical limitations on information. <br />
<br />
For example a bandit ambush can be well or badly designed - from a few men waiting in the ditch around a bend to archers hidden in trees behind blinds with melee fighters below concealed by wearing camouflage suits, and a log that falls across the road with traps in the fields on either side. However, in both cases it's important that the GM doesn't obscure or reveal information that the players should or shouldn't know. The GM's duty to describe and inform can be somewhat limited by accepting a game world that contains extremely well worn concepts and fantasy tropes. When many game world elements (creatures, factional relationships and even places) are already understood by the players as part of a broader sense of popular fantasy it reduces the burden on the GM to describe and offer explanation. Likewise a the "Session Zero" is another effort to provide players with sufficient information to predict and comprehend in fiction elements without depending solely on the GM's description. I prefer a minimum of such expectations derived world building (beyond things like physics and general sociological or psychological concepts because as a GM I find creative and descriptive world building enjoyable, and as a player that non-cliched settings seem to provide more opportunities for wonder and exploration.<br />
<br />
In a
game where the environment is extremely important because the
challenges are organic and puzzle based, the setting less full of well recognized elements, and because fictional
positioning takes precedence it's exceptionally important to remember that the
players only knowledge about the world comes from the GM. The GM not only has the power to create challenges that are impossible or nearly so for the players, but also to deceive players about the world their characters are interacting with and the dangers they face - either intentionally or through omission. Because of this it's important to describe everything in a new location or encounter that might me important, is interesting (both as camouflage for what's important and because it benefits the players efforts to understand and visualize the space) and isn't actively hidden. Read aloud, boxed text was an effort to do this, as were the illustration booklets provided in early TSR modules. <br />
<br />
Like 'CR' these descriptive aides sought to create standard/uniform play experience to both alleviate the need for good descriptive speaking skills on the part of the GM and protect players from antagonistic withholding of important details. However, read aloud and descriptive illustration aren't usually sufficient, both because read aloud is often of bad quality, becoming dull and repetitive, or acting only as a place for the adventure author to show off their imagined creative writing ability, and worse because it gives the GM a way to not have to understand the room contents - especially true when the boxed text (or drawing) doesn't include everything. Better a description from an engaged GM that prompts player clarification and questions where it's unclear then boxed text that neither the players or GM understand, and which can always be used by a poor GM to justify excluding necessary information. A GM playing directly from the book, reading the box text will often read quickly and only after the players have started asking questions notice important (often concealed) dangers such as traps or encounters in the location that are listed below and creating a situation where players blunder into things or the most exciting features of a location key can be completely missed. This often feels like a situation where the GM is tricking the players, springing sudden traps or encounters that they players feel their characters should have noticed.<br />
<br />
The importance of recognizing that the GM is the players' only (or best) source of information about the game world, is that once the players accept that the GM has power and dominion over both the fiction/game-world and the mechanics, bad or lacking information is itself a form unfairness. Players that feel the need to constantly demand description and interrogate every element of the fictional space ("We check the ceilings." "What do the floors look like?" "I throw flour in the air to see if there's drafts or any invisible objects") likely distrust their GM's willingness to provide sufficient descriptive cues or information that a space is especially dangerous or otherwise in need of a more through investigation. Bad information (like that often provided by boxed text) creates a sense that the GM is an untrustworthy or at least recalcitrant source of information, trying to trick players into making a dangerous move. To avoid this, both as a way of encouraging trust between players and GM and as a way to prevent the tedium of over cautious exploration play GM's need to be capable of A) providing good description of locations, B) allowing and answering player questions and clarifications about description and C) checking with players to make sure they understand the descriptive elements of a situation before describing the results of an action.<br />
<br />
The first of two these elements are are simply storytelling ability - can the GM visualize the space the game is occurring in and describe it. This is what boxed text is meant to do, but unlike a living GM, boxed text cannot respond to player questions, and because it doesn't require actual visualization or understanding of the space by the GM tends to make it more difficult for her to respond as well. Luckily these aren't hard skills to learn, they just require thinking about one's adventure space and what's in it: lighting, smell, materials, architecture - all can provide important and evocative detail. <br />
<br />
The last element "checking with players" is even easier but demands a GM willing to give up the sadistic joy of players' schemes suddenly going disastrously wrong - at least most of the time. Players often fail to listen to or understand even clear description, and as a result frequently suggest that their characters engage in foolhardy actions: leaping into bottomless pits, charging into combat with unbeatable enemies and setting off traps intentionally. Sometimes they mean to do this - frustrated or overcome with a bizarre whim, but often they simply misunderstand the situation that seems obvious to the GM. While 'death by misadventure' should be the epitaph of every adventurer, 'death by misapprehension' feels unfair to most players. <br />
<br />
To avoid the unfair, unexpected and unintended demise of a beloved character it's useful for a GM to check with players and reiterate the facts of potentially dangerous situations whenever players are about to take an action. Obviously don't limit checking to situations where death or another negative consequence is almost assured, because the GM's confirmation of character actions shouldn't signal inherent danger, but make sure that as a GM one checks in situations that have the appearance of risk or are an actual threat. Checking is simple, the GM should just rephrase the situation and confirm that the player wants their character to act in a specific way.<br />
<br />
For example, the GM has described a room with a well dark and deep, surrounded by a five foot lip of stone and player states "I leap into the well". While it's entirely possible to simply start rolling falling damage as the character plummets 90' and three dungeon levels this action is worth checking. The GM should say something like "Does your character really want to just jump into the well, you can't see the bottom, and torchlight reveals it's at least 40' deep". When I encountered this situation it turned out that the player had misunderstood my description and though the well (not its lip) was 5' deep - he didn't want to plunge into a pit of unknown depth after all. Had I simply rolled 9D6 damage, undoubtedly killing the character it would have felt unfair and it would have been my fault as the GM, because the player was operating under limited and false information, even if it wasn't my fault they misunderstood the description, that the well was dangerously deep and dark should have been entirely obvious to the character. In this situation it was fairly obvious that the player's actions might be the result of a faulty understanding of the setting fiction, but other times it won't be and checking, clarifying and providing appropriate warnings, despite it sometimes taking up time, goes a long way to making sure that the players can trust that their Gm isn't trying to kill their characters, even if the setting fiction is. <br />
<br />
<u><b>Trusting Players and Characters</b></u><br />
<u><b><br /></b></u><i><b>If balance and fairness is correlated with information accessibility the issue of challenge still arises in trying to understand how much information the GM should offer. Excessive skill tests and danger from mundane situations should be avoided, and to do so the GM is encouraged to assume that characters are skilled and competent at all aspects of their chosen careers. Mechanical tests and their consequences are best limited to severe risks, and a GM should usually inform the player of the danger and risk offering an option to avoid or decline the test. An easy and classic way to justify and mitigate antagonistically using skill tests is the concept of the Mythic Underworld - where such tests are limited to the actively malevolent environment of the dungeon or adventuring location. As much as trusting the characters and treating them as competent adventurers a GM should trust players as well - allowing them to face challenges and respond to in game dangers without coddling or active efforts to assure PC triumph/survival. The mutual trust that avoiding antagonistic GMing brings can allow GMs and players both freedom to play more challenging games with high lethality and a greater focus on narrative through play and exploration.</b></i><br />
<u><b></b></u><br />
If one accepts the idea that balance is achieved by providing sufficient information to players to recognize, overcome, avoid or decline challenges based on their perceptions of what the challenge entails this still leaves the question of how much information, description and clarification a GM should provide - either to maintain a sense of fair-play or promote enjoyment while retaining sufficient difficulty. While the ideas of descriptive fairness, checking to confirm character actions and <br />
player understanding of the fictional space can help create balanced play, and encourages players to trust the GM - it can leave GM's wondering - "How much to reveal?"<br />
<br />
Like the 'Rocks Fall" joke, there's also a set of jokes about the antagonistic extreme of not revealing information and the related concept of assuming character incompetence. The jokes include the observation that a 2nd edition D&D house cat is more deadly then many 1st level PCs and jokes about would be heroes dying because they fail stat or skill checks to walk across bridges, unsheath their swords or otherwise engage in mundane activity. At the core of this is a fear of antagonistic GMing, that the mechanics used to adjudicate dangerous situations (or the idea that a '1' is always a dangerous fumble) will be applied to mundane or unexpected activities. To some extent this is a perverse over reliance on skill and combat mechanics, subtly encouraged by systems where the skill roll or DC check is used for a large number of activities such as climbing slippery stairs or peaceably interacting with NPCs, and especially when such checks are used as a substitute for GM adjudication and the trust associated with it. It doesn't even require an intentionally antagonistic GM to fall into this sort of trap, just a sort of literalism, simulationist excess and misapplied logic such as: "if climbing the rickety stairs inside the lost shrine to steal the magic orb needs a DC check to avoid falling and taking 2D6 damage, climbing the stairs to the room at the inn after drinking should be the same." Suddenly the world becomes incredibly dangerous to the characters, not simply during forays to the mythic underworld, but when they go about daily life - a death by perturbed house cat attack**, tree climbing, bridge crossing or other mundane misadventure.<br />
<br />
Still, this is a form of antagonistic GMing, that simple 'soft' storytelling skills can prevent without resorting to mechanical enforcement or limitations. The answer here is to embrace the idea of trusting the characters. Trust that the characters a competent. Not just competent at simple tasks like climbing stairs, but competent and knowledgeable when it comes to the tasks of their chosen careers. In gaming terms this means allowing characters to do most things without rolling any dice. For example: an adventurer can throw a grapple up a cliff and then climb the rope without checking to see if she falls or the grapple breaks free unless there's something extra (arrows flying at her or a severe time crunch) that would make doing so hard for someone well practiced in the act. Likewise, as competent in wilderness survival, spelunking and similar activities characters will recognize common dangers that their players don't: dangerously unstable construction, rivers that will sweep away the unprepared or that a bear is rabid and/or has been enchanted to attack. The idea of PC competence also helps make the game world feel more serious - because the situations and foes that the characters face are dangerous despite their being hardened and skilled adventurers. No special feats or additional bonuses are required to empower the PCs, simply the players' trust that the GM won't inflict harm and failure from everyday or mundane tasks. That the characters are skilled riders by default, means they don't fall off their horses and break their necks while ambling through the countryside, or even riding hard in pursuit along a rocky road. It also insures that when the GM asks for a stat or skill check to leap a wall on a galloping horse (and again the GM should make sure to warn the player of the skilled horseman that they can either stop, change direction or make a check to leap the wall with a risk of falling) it's not another in a series of insignificant actions - but instead a daring feat of horsemanship with a success worthy of the risk associated. A GM should trust that <br />
<br />
Linked to this idea, and perhaps useful in determining when a skill roll or stat check is important (though not without its own problems) is the idea of the <a href="http://save.vs.totalpartykill.ca/grab-bag/philotomy/">Mythic Underworld</a>. In the oldest editions of D&D and its earliest campaigns the outside world and the adventuring dungeon were often clearly demarcated and dangers largely limited to events within the dungeon. Beyond this simple haven v. adventuring location dichotomy the Mythic Underworld provides a further sense that the adventuring space is actively hostile to the characters: all doors are jammed, light attacks aggressive wandering monsters and traps only work on the party. The Underworld itself is a malevolent intelligence seeking to injure and defeat the characters - whose prior knowledge as hardened veteran soldiers, learned sorcerers and adept adventurers allows the barest chance of survival against the power and supernatural evil of the Underworld. Mechanically this means that while a character never slips on the inn stairs, or dies of food poisoning from bad rations - the traitorous stairs of the dungeon encourage falls, the water in its wells is always poisoned and the darkness of its corners coalesces to help the ambushes of the dungeon's monstrous denizens. Statistic and skill checks are regularly necessary to avoid injury in such a place. Personally I like the Mythic Underworld/Mythic Wilderness as a game conceit, but am less positive towards it as a GMing instruction. The Mythic Underworld is limiting when it comes to game options, and while it informs the players where to expect dangers, it doesn't really act to remedy antagonistic GMing, only to limit it to a certain location or environment. Still if the idea of character competence seems too hard to apply, a strict adherence to limiting rolls and danger to the Mythic Underworld may help reign in antagonistic GMing impulses or at least make them more palatable to one's players.<br />
<br />
On the other side of the bad GMing coin from infantilizing characters is the mirrored idea that the players themselves can't be trusted - that PCs survival or victory is an inviolable right, that a natural '20' succeeds at any action, no matter how absurd and that it's the GMs job to make sure survival and victory come to pass in the name of fin. This is where I bring out my stereotypical old-school grognard self and say things like "characters are meant to die". Yet, this gruff brutality means here is that if players understand that their characters are taking risks and trust the GM not to arbitrarily introduce deadly dice tests or force them to make decisions based on bad and unreasonably withheld information there's no reason to protect their PCs overly much from negative consequences. A reasonable player that can trace their failure and resulting character death (or whatever else your campaign dishes out as a bad end) to their own choices, clearly seeing how they could have chosen differently had they realized X or connected clue Y won't be aggrieved (sad yes, and as a GM it's okay to be sad about the death of a favorite PC) but is likely instead to feel like they should roll up someone new and push on with a bit of wisdom or a new plan.<br />
<br />
While some players don't do this and complain about losing characters to even the most obvious mistakes or bad decisions - they're unreasonable. The right to fairly present deadly challenges as a GM is the advantage that's bought with accepting the duty to provide sufficient information, check against misunderstandings and allow characters a wide range of actions without risk - and best of all your players will usually survive these challenges. As much as the admonishment to 'Trust the Character' is an instruction for a GM to be forgiving and liberal with what one allows characters to accomplish without risking a dice check, a good Gm should trust the players as well. Trust that the trust of several minds that makes up the party will puzzle through risks and dangers, thinking up ways to overcome problems the GM places before them. Trust them to retreat, adapt, invent new tactics, unravel mysteries and think up ways through obstacles that the Gm hasn't guessed at. Also trust the players to see that your efforts at GMing are efforts at fairness and impartial adjudication rather then antagonism, and to enter into the idea that tabletop games are an exercise in collective storytelling rather then rules knowledge, pettifoggery and competition. <br />
<br />
If you can achieve trust with your players and if they know that as a GM you're simply relaying the game fiction, describing the setting as best as you can, open to their solutions to problems and uninterested in their character's demise you may find that mechanical bulwarks against bad GMing aren't necessary and players will respect the GM's role as arbitrator in a way that allows the game to move beyond tactical combat and better encourages the exploration of the game world and freedom to present open ended/non-scripted risks and dangers to the players for them to solve.<br />
<br />
At some point I hope to add to this piece with a discussion about how to write exploration based, non-antagonistic adventures that use an organic/narrative (as opposed to mechanics such as CR) basis for their construction and how this elevates location based adventures and faction play, but that goes beyond the scope of this article - which is already too long. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz1DdXl7FJ4KvBVFVOvSqxQqJnyJP5ukETBYJoiOeJjtWH0-Pfl1CMBQJsjbOi79AS0UnVOnV-gHcBMr1QucPP-rGzf3_dTKXxSWdAU0_gaMmqEyRaYR69sM81Qtb-lN3DHmKTwNJUzqQ/s1600/Dungeonmaster+iI.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="854" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz1DdXl7FJ4KvBVFVOvSqxQqJnyJP5ukETBYJoiOeJjtWH0-Pfl1CMBQJsjbOi79AS0UnVOnV-gHcBMr1QucPP-rGzf3_dTKXxSWdAU0_gaMmqEyRaYR69sM81Qtb-lN3DHmKTwNJUzqQ/s320/Dungeonmaster+iI.png" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As A GM aspire to be like this fellow<br />
from Yawning Portal - a funny looking<br />
bartender with some good stories.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
*The discussion of combat in the 1978 <u>Dungeon Masters Guide</u> seems more
focused on justifying the HP system, and rejecting hit locations -
perhaps in response to Arneson's hit location based combat system in
Blackmoor? <br />
<br />
** In the Monstrous Compendium a domestic cat has the same AC as a warrior in scale armor, the same number of HP as a
1st level magic-user, and up to three attacks per round capable of
doing a total 5HP of damage if they all hit. It's not to say it's a nightmarish beast, but it's easily capable of doing in a 0 level human or low level adventurer if it gets lucky. This strikes me as more of an example of 2e and the late TSR era's obsession with universal taxonomy and simulationism. In the event you need to have house cats attack armored adventurers I'd recommend using a swarm mechanic (assuming the cats are somehow magically compelled or something).<br />
<br />
<u><b><br /></b></u>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-41946386891641849602018-01-27T22:02:00.002-08:002018-01-27T22:08:57.597-08:00Fighting Goblins in a Creative Wasteland<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcXWFUriYT7KlZXZWSnpaFPMeiNjn-fx10EZQSU18FWtglOAsDA9FaxFS3RX6xg9n4o1BOqq-BsIPsUfPUL3XVk1XhiflXyM0Y225HhbZjxq6sDt65EV1iYxaHjRO7fbYFLCnBAHmVDlI/s1600/Monster_manual_1_-_Goblin_-_p47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcXWFUriYT7KlZXZWSnpaFPMeiNjn-fx10EZQSU18FWtglOAsDA9FaxFS3RX6xg9n4o1BOqq-BsIPsUfPUL3XVk1XhiflXyM0Y225HhbZjxq6sDt65EV1iYxaHjRO7fbYFLCnBAHmVDlI/s1600/Monster_manual_1_-_Goblin_-_p47.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">D&D's Goblins Started Dull</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Recently Cecelia D'Anastasio of the relatively mainstream web publication Kotaku published a long piece on the subject of Fighting Goblins in Dungeons & Dragons, and how it is "<a href="https://kotaku.com/goblin-fights-in-d-d-are-the-worst-1822301602">The Worst</a>". I don't disagree with her that the sort of tedious back and forth of melee attacks until the inevitable conclusion where the victorious party of adventurers stands atop a pile of dead goblins she describes is "The Worst" of tabletop gaming, and agree that the reasons she identifies describe the problem fairly well: <br />
<ul>
<li>Annoyance at a mundane direct conflict and head to head combat where the opposition does not and can not bring complex tactics to the fight and where because of their perceptions about the enemy the players don't feel risk or excitment. </li>
<li>Boredom and frustration created by a the lack of notable or intriguing elements about the monsters to make them wondrous, interesting, exciting or compelling. </li>
</ul>
The problem D'Anastasio identifies is thus complex and two-fold (at least) both diegetic (relating to the story or narrative and how it's told) and mechanical (relating to how the gamified rules and procedures of combat function). In D'Anastasio's game, and many others I suspect, a goblin encounter is both boring and frustrating because there's nothing interesting to learn about goblins or the setting from the encounter and there is no risk or tension in the encounter. This first problem is the one D'Anastasio provides a prescription to and her prescription, like her diagnosis is fundamentally right, but doesn't go very far. D'Anastasio suggests that the GM "combine the cliched combat encounter with any of those other things [puzzle-solving or story development, discovery]". This creative impulse is good, but might not get one very far as long as "goblins" remain two-dimensional known quantities that present no threat but can only be encountered in combat.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">GOBLINS ARE BORING</span></span><br />
D'Anastasio describes her typical goblin encounter: "The goblins appear, as they always do, in tattered clothes and with
knives or maybe little shortbows. They are small, green and
pointy-toothed. They are produced in a factory, I think." This likely rings true for a lot of tabletop players - goblins are almost always described in a boring and dull manner and exist only as an after thought on a random encounter table or as a default low threat opponent. There's a lot a good GM can do to prevent this - none of which 5th edition seems to want to clue it's players in to.<br />
<br />
<u>A. DON'T CALL THEM GOBLINS</u> - It really is this simple. "Goblin" brings an immediate image to mind for any RPG player, or really almost anyone exposed to popular fantasy since 1974 (see NOTE ON VANILLA D&D below), weak, small, variously ugly and likely green. More importantly though "Goblin" is a name that defines an enemy as weak, easily defeated fodder. I still pretty much remember the goblins stat-line from the 1981 Basic Set and the specific mechanical aspects of a potential foe is the last thing one wants players to be thinking about when they start an encounter. Even for players that don't have the details memorized from past experience, the cultural baggage that the word 'goblin' carries sets one's goblin encounter down a well trodden path.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td valign="top"><br /></td><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0vWMd_Igy1cmbHllamea0am4k1Q_jLq_Yx4Q4t6az3Ul9cQimeN4Vw1jwBtYvFqYpzX8vt_hlE21gCQ8zIMDz7jLJltLxkuqQ1WXXnDyf7SpL3oNL-Bi-W71imOWeXgpMh3D7XGC6g2w/s1600/3221947_orig.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="392" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0vWMd_Igy1cmbHllamea0am4k1Q_jLq_Yx4Q4t6az3Ul9cQimeN4Vw1jwBtYvFqYpzX8vt_hlE21gCQ8zIMDz7jLJltLxkuqQ1WXXnDyf7SpL3oNL-Bi-W71imOWeXgpMh3D7XGC6g2w/s200/3221947_orig.png" width="195" /></a></td><td valign="top"><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They Did Not Improve with Time</td><td valign="top"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This is why a decent GM will never describe a monster by the name in the Monster Manual, but rather describe it in some detail on the first encounter and either adopt a player generated name or something neutral (e.g. little green rat-men) and unrelated to a Monster Manual name upon subsequent encounters. Players shouldn't immediately know the danger they are faced with and descriptions of fantastical beasts should ideally evoke wonder. The Monster Manual descriptions of any creature, especially in 5E, are largely mechanical, and the illustrations usually that profoundly uninspiring lowest common denominator derivative sort of fantasy art. Because of this, and as long as one doesn't stray too far from the mechanical aspects of the enemy in combat, everything else can be changed, modified, reskinned or transformed without serious work. It is a fundamentally lazy and bad Game Master that doesn't figure out how their 'goblins' are different, why they are different and how that effects the game and it's fundamentally lazy and bad adventure design when a published product doesn't do it. This is one of the gripes I have about <u>Lost Mine of Phandelver</u> and other WotC published adventures, they seem to think that an encounter is mostly found in the mechanics of a set piece combat rather then description, wonder and fiction. Referring directly to a monster manual or otherwise reducing an encounter to a line of statistics without some evocative nugget of description is a real waste of an encounter.<br />
<br />
Nor is making mechanically simple enemies interesting through description, or even making them frightening especially hard. With goblins all the GM need retain is that they are small fairly weak and intelligent (to what degree is less important) - their appearance and description can vary wildly. There's really very little limitation on how one can describe a "goblin": fey changeling children, blue hairy muppet things, bipedal mole-rats with human hands, pack hunting versions of the Weekly World News' famous "Batboy", spindly fairy tale creatures that steal teeth or broken haunted toys - whatever one likes and whatever best fits ones setting and adventure. <br />
<br />
<u>B. SHOW DON'T TELL</u> - As D'Anastasio suggests making encounters hold clues, information and evocative detail can make them more interesting. While the joke of the orc shouting "Gothrog No!" as the party cuts his companion down and the dying orc replying "I'll always love you Goreax!" is a classic in making your players question their murderous approach to everything(and really not a terrible way to explain a passed morale check either) might not be the most meaningful or interesting, something that enlivens a combat (even a bland one) with details and provides a larger meaning is a worthwhile tool in the GM kit. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGSe4WEwRRH_kkgmJrfZ7GsvzHpJmM7ldCWn8qPNtlQ_sqLt71xwuFBkDQRbZMAp7vQR9LFDp2vxxdybsJz7EwP_2dT2L_fBeU1kXtHiwyvCSxOTw8QpjzLNhLvEMTAB4W_927AfxMSMo/s1600/goblin+pf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="303" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGSe4WEwRRH_kkgmJrfZ7GsvzHpJmM7ldCWn8qPNtlQ_sqLt71xwuFBkDQRbZMAp7vQR9LFDp2vxxdybsJz7EwP_2dT2L_fBeU1kXtHiwyvCSxOTw8QpjzLNhLvEMTAB4W_927AfxMSMo/s320/goblin+pf.jpg" width="276" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still Dull</td></tr>
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This suggests a principle of adventure design - that encounters are best when they fit into a location.<br />
As suggested above this isn't a matter of having to pick creatures from a Monster Manual that match the biome or feel of the location, almost anything can and should be reskinned with the proper feel. It means giving both intrinsic and extrinsic meaning/interest to the encounter. By intrinsic interest I mean that the encounter itself should have something in it, explaining why had how it happened - goblins for example shouldn't just be 'encountered', they should be doing something: looting a room, drawing crude graffiti (more of which can be found elsewhere), cooking rats on a stick, lost and scared or running from something else. Whatever the intrinsic interest in the encounter it should tell something about the creatures encountered, or the environment, providing clues to what else might be waiting around the next corner. Extrinsic interest is more general - an encounter that reveals a new foe or faction, a clue about the faction relationships<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">WITHOUT RISK COMBAT IS BORING</span></span><br />
The heart of D'Anasatsio's complaint isn't really that goblins are boring - sure they are, but the problem is that fighting them in Dungeons & Dragons is a boring waste of play time. I'd propose that this is because fighting a small group of goblins (such as the paltry gangs in <a href="http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2015/12/lost-mines-of-phandelver-review.html">Lost Mines of Phandelver</a>) is nearly risk free for the players. That is a party of adventurers in direct 'Rules as Written' combat (that is without the tactics of 'fictional positioning' such as ambushing the enemy from above, or adjudicating the effects of a novel effort to frighten the enemy by pretending to be a ghost) will massacre a group of goblins without significant risk of injury, depletion of resources or need for attention. This is a dull situation that feels like a chore and wastes valuable game time, but really there's only one way to resolve it - to make every encounter risky in some way. Make every encounter either offer a risky opportunity or threaten something that the party cares about, not necessary the lives of their PCs, but something.<br />
<br />
<u>A. GOBLINS DON'T LIKE TO FIGHT</u> - Let's assume that a group of goblins (or similar runty but not unintelligent creatures) knows that it's near the bottom of the dungeon food chain. Why then would such a group of creatures launch itself at a marauding gang of heavily armed, magically potent adventurers? However little goblins value their lives they must place some value on continuing to survive - and engaging in direct face to face combat with powerful enemies seems like something they should know isn't conducive to survival. <br />
<br />
This isn't to say that every group of enemies weaker then the party or suffering from feelings of inadequacy should flee immediately, the hungry beast might try to grab a single victim and flee, and the the intelligent creature might engage in a wide variety of behaviors to benefit itself at the expense of the party. What's needed is expanding the palette of encounter options. With 3.5 and 4th edition as it's guides and the school most of its designers learned in 5e often takes the approach of these editions and maximizes the possibility and desirability of combat as the goal of the encounter. Perhaps its having written up specific rules for "CR" or perhaps it's just laziness, but again - goblins don't want to die, and unless they think they can win or are hopped up on some really good mushrooms they do not "Attack Immediately".<br />
<br />
In the past reactions and encounters (unless the enemy got surprise) were dealt with via a reaction roll, a test to see what mood the monster was in and how disposed to violence over chat it was. This roll often emphasizes interaction and parley over combat, and it's one reason why knowing monster languages was useful in early game editions. Intelligent enemies (or unintelligent one with certain behaviors) can attempt to do many things other then fight: make noise to draw more dangerous enemies, attempt to bully and rob the party, offer to help the party and lead them to betrayal/traps, try to steal from the party, attempt to encourage the party to fight their enemies, offer to aid the party for money, view the party as rescuers and try to enlist their help in earnest, flee into the darkness, offer maps or other advice in exchange for escape, tell rumors, try to get the party drunk. Really the list is endless, and each of these options is far more interesting then a fight that the party will triumph in without risk after wasting 20 minutes or more of play time.<br />
<u><br /></u>
<u>B. SWORDS ARE ALWAYS DANGEROUS</u> - The use of monsters purely based on their mechanical purpose (and role)
became popular with 3.5 edition D&D and carried over into 4th
edition with it's carefully balanced tactical battles ('CR') and monster
combat roles ('Brute', 'Controller' etc.) and this method of 'encounter
design' may function when the locus of play is tactical combat between
an antagonistic GM and players, meant to be mediated by strict adherence
to the 'Rules as Written', but it feels artificial, clumsy and
unsatisfying when playing an exploration game, and when the combat
itself is boring, its end virtually predetermined and without any larger meaning. This appears the mechanical gist of D'Anastasio's complaint about 'goblin fights' (entirely independent of issues with initiative), and if one wants to play D&D as a tactical combat game I suppose the answer is to never create a combat encounter without risk for the character. <br />
<br />
In the early editions I favor, combat is almost always dangerous to the party and the mechanics very quick and simple. It doesn't matter that much if one is a 6th level and one's enemies are a pack of 1st level goblins, they can cause injury, reduce HP and waste resources. If the weak enemies get lucky and concentrate their fire well they might even inflict serious injury or kill a PC. Of course in this sort of game <a href="http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2017/12/gold-for-experience-in-5th-edition-d.html">combat is not rewarded with experience</a> and is almost always considered a failure by players. With these sorts of mechanics, 'goblin encounters' simply don't happen much, and when they do they are over very quickly.<br />
<br />
In 5th edition, creating dangerous encounters with weak enemies may be hard. It's a system designed to give even low level characters a great deal of survivability and the ability to dominate combat situations with an assortment of powers. It's also complex enough that even short combats take up a considerable amount of play-time. For a scene based combat-centric game I don't really have a solution, except to throw dangerous enemies at the party in dangerous situations (an ambush on a lava bridge or something) - and with goblins I suppose this might mean taking a page from the wretchedly antagonistic, but creative GMing of "<a href="https://tuckerskobolds.com/">Tucker's Kobold</a>s", and placing weak opponents in advantageous situations. If one isn't running D&D as a series of complex combats, the answers above about demphasizing combat within over-leveled encounters may serve better, but adjusting intelligent enemies (like goblins) tactics also makes sense. <br />
<br />
Hopefully a combination of evocative monster description, organic/naturalistic encounters that potentially provide detail about the location, faction play and tactical novelty that creates risk are solutions to boring 'goblin encounters' even for new groups and GMs. It's not hard to be creative about what enemies that party faces, and
the world one is building to play in, and this sort of creativity is the
core of a good tabletop experience. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9wcVzUTuRurGEI9RpvmDgfsFp5mU68XE86G7dcgDYP-c_mQMR0KdV3b22e1KtXVPrzvyv34pqLQ8aBcRaMjgmunJ3mxKf9Y102p_H1QJyFfIkgOxG58suVMD_0OlnkofkUQTzVxSpHHY/s1600/goblinheader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="970" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9wcVzUTuRurGEI9RpvmDgfsFp5mU68XE86G7dcgDYP-c_mQMR0KdV3b22e1KtXVPrzvyv34pqLQ8aBcRaMjgmunJ3mxKf9Y102p_H1QJyFfIkgOxG58suVMD_0OlnkofkUQTzVxSpHHY/s400/goblinheader.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goblins Never Change - They Should!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">NOTE ON VANILLA D&D</span></span><br />
While D'Anastasio's article is great to see, both because it shows the growing popularization of D&D and because it suggests that even people playing the most mundane and soulless sort of D&D - the settings and adventures adapted directly from WotC's published materials are thinking about the game, and being creative in their efforts to improve it - the essence of what makes Tabletop Roleplaying fun and interesting. Unfortunately the folks coming to 5E and Forgotten Realms are held back in some serious ways. Above I noted that D'Anastasio has suggestions and wants to make her goblins interesting, but doesn't suggest the easiest step of redefining what a goblin is, reskinning and describing them as something horrible and unknowable. Like many who are new to the game, the lazy implied setting of Forgotten Realms seems a fixed idea. <br />
<br />
Goblins are already defined as a pointless fight, a monster that takes up time without meaning, something subject to "grinding" rather then a legitimate element of a collective storytelling game. I'd suggest this is because the idea of goblin has been refined and clarified in the years since the Little Brown Books came out. Popular culture now knows the distinction between orc and goblin, a distinction that in 1974 was esoteric and unclear even in it's source - Tolkien. A lot of this distinction began with the codification in Gygax's D&D, from where it entered the childhood taxonomies of an entire generation of future creators: video games, films, novels, comics and all things fantasy are informed by the collective understanding that a goblin is a 1HD-1 monster with an AC of 6 - an annoyance and the weakest foe on the ladder of true humanoid enemies (kobolds are strange, partially due to the affection they get as little dragon men, partially because of the infamous "Tucker" linked above). This view of the goblin has filtered back into D&D, making the goblin a 'fodder' enemy, something to be ignored and maligned. Vanilla D&D doesn't examine this issue, it doesn't try to interrogate or contemplate the wonder and potential terror that is implicit in a small horrible person/not-person thing trying to kill you with a rusty knife in a dark cave. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxEvSV7GM4QePLBIh5-K8f_a6sVSxTpbu9PNSfLkAjgxcymvS8N0mOdVoVvR4Jj4fMGqC3DdivC7LUV2vvaNyvDj7lCvP9V4gK3ELlm1Vf3WUKAlagvzR04pKd0mw32AIsTEgbAd-MSBs/s1600/HarryPotterStone_077Pyxurz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxEvSV7GM4QePLBIh5-K8f_a6sVSxTpbu9PNSfLkAjgxcymvS8N0mOdVoVvR4Jj4fMGqC3DdivC7LUV2vvaNyvDj7lCvP9V4gK3ELlm1Vf3WUKAlagvzR04pKd0mw32AIsTEgbAd-MSBs/s320/HarryPotterStone_077Pyxurz.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More Interesting Then a D&D Goblin</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I remember my first session of D&D - a foray into the kobold cave in B2 - Keep on The Borderlands. My Fighters Fred and Charlie leading the way, our party was attacked by a swarm of "Giant Rats". It was 1983 or so and as a small child I'd never heard of a giant rat, but with a few bits of description from a likewise youthful Game Master (nothing special: red eyes, naked tails as long as an arm - that sort of thing) the idea of huge hungry rats was terrifying - as it still should be if one contemplates how one might react to a doberman sized sewer rat ambling in from the kitchen. The rats were backed up by a band of tiny orange rat people, who were angry at our slaughter of their "cows" when we tried to talk to them, and refused to be mollified by offers of peace due to their rage at the dead livestock/pets. The GM may have been better then I give him credit for, because I still think of kobolds as surviving on a rat cheese based diet, and at the time it all seemed very wondrous, a bit frightening and compelled me to play more, just to discover what else might be down in that kobold burrow (which I thought of as looking rather like a gopher tunnel).<br />
<br />
Vanilla fantasy in many ways robs players of these sorts of moments, in smothers wonder, because it views the game world as set, quotidian and fully comprehensible without complexity. For example, magical healing may be commonplace, but the issues of access to it or its effects on urban growth and mortality rates are never examined or touched on. Vanillia fantasy dumbs down and drains the fantastic of wonder, both by sticking to now cliched imagery and by asking its consumers to passively interact without examining the strange possibilities that it's assumptions generate. Tabletop games, because they aren't per-generated content offer a unique opportunity for their players to step past or through Vanilla fantasy's limitations and to bring in whatever elements they with or can imagine, and this is worth doing, because if one is simply playing D&D as a way to fight goblins in a cave without asking why there are goblins, why there's caves and what these things might look like beyond some vague pastiche of Tolkien and 80's children's cartoons one is missing out on a great deal of fun.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-85187148329118705112018-01-04T22:10:00.002-08:002018-01-04T22:47:39.669-08:00A Map - but not the one you want<span id="docs-internal-guid-a96c637c-c4d7-393b-3312-cfd82a433738" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"></span><br />
<span id="docs-internal-guid-a96c637c-c4d7-393b-3312-cfd82a433738" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-a96c637c-c4d7-393b-3312-cfd82a433738" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><img height="640" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/cKBQlqX_43Hl0D67PkRWdXRDjGODOCcs3WDjM6-ueCR2UqA68PN_N9ePLWKWjtimi4bmT_FgADugKxWKpWU33M-VW_QuI0bXrel_9W-CxinzkgSELXDE5q00MRQ_MM3nQBzin-YX" style="border: medium none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="465" /></span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-a96c637c-c4d7-393b-3312-cfd82a433738" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br />I jest, a reader asked for some maps related to my ongoing HMS APOLLYON<br />project - but I don't feel like publishing those, so here's a map of a twelve sided <br />folded unnatural space.<br /><br />I am keying it up as a combination of the ruins of the folded city of an ancient <br />Carcosa imposed upon by the last bastion and hidden bunkers of the Iron King, <br />Hawberk I, who was deposed by its current Ragged King. <br /><br />It's a bad place where refugees from Carcosa find themselves scavenging.<br /><br />The project contains rooms like this:</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-a96c637c-c4e3-38bb-6cd6-8f7d1928921e" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Abb6. War Room - Dark - Folded City Encounters - Monste</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">r</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">A swarm of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">gangling skeletons</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> scurry about the plastered bunker shuffling </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">piled papers</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> atop sagging desks. A </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">sandtable </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">stands at the center of the room<br />surrounded by more skeletons in a finer cut of ragged blue uniform.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">gangling skeletons</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> - fourteen skeletons wearing the rags of blue uniforms <br />with yellow piping dash about carrying papers, furiously scribbling with long <br />dry pens and clattering their jawbones in a parody of speech. The <u>Skeleton <br />Bureaucrats</u> are trapped in the dream of their final days of frenzied efforts to <br />stem the tide of angry revolutionary violence. They fully expect the doors of <br />the bunker to fly open at any moment, guards overrun by a howling mob and <br />will likely view (-4 penalty to reaction roll) any intruders as the harbingers of <br />the revolution and fight a last desperate defense.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /><br />Dreaming Skeleton</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> x14- HD 1 (HP 3 each), AC 13, Atk x1 +2 (claws) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br />MV 4 (avg), SV F1, INT -1, ML 10<br /><br />The ruined remnants of the Iron King's staff these </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">undead are unarmed but <br />perfectly capable of inflicting injury with their ragged claws. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></span></div>
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<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">piled papers </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">- rickety wooden desks, secretarial cubbies and the floor are<br />covered with mounds and drifts of paper. The brittle sheets themselves, <br />where they have not been written over a hundred times, show maps of an <br />unfamiliar Carcosa, strong points, barricades, overrun by the lashing arrows of <br />advances and retreats. Orders, crossed out, rewritten and endlessly modified <br />indicate that the Iron King’s military has fallen back and been overwhelmed <br />by the forces of revolution - the followers of the Ragged King.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">sandtable</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> - five </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Skeleton Bureaucrats</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> in rotten macaroni cluster about a <br />meticulously created sandtable showing the map of lands that no longer exist. <br />Only Loch Hali is vaguely identifiable. The dead push and prod painted wooden <br />markers about, and wave bony sagacious fingers at each <br />other.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /><br />Dreaming Skeleton</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> x5 - HD 1 (HP 3 each), AC 13, Atk x1 +2 (bludgeon) <br />MV 4 (avg), SV F1, INT -1, ML 10</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /><br />These Dreaming dead are so lost in their phantasm of control and mastery of <br />war that they will ignore any intruders who don’t actively touch them or disrupt<br />their sand table. If disturbed or interrupted they will attack with moldering <br />riding quirts and brass knobbed swagger sticks.</span></li>
</ul>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-a96c637c-c4d7-393b-3312-cfd82a433738" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span id="docs-internal-guid-a96c637c-c4d7-393b-3312-cfd82a433738" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-56740071394938486092017-12-28T12:12:00.002-08:002019-03-21T09:33:27.708-07:00Gold for Experience in 5th Edition D&D<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvfRjowk6X5z9_DQlRLGfO7ytetWuAuGftvBqDmSEEKWGAli59JfhiVtC0o_B0JmZJCf5Yyqx8_De_k0v91BGJQMETGj3gkjZuI37Ksy9Ceb0k9JYlPktjEEoHVJFLzXVpBcXVtrGeME/s1600/treasure-chest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="542" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvfRjowk6X5z9_DQlRLGfO7ytetWuAuGftvBqDmSEEKWGAli59JfhiVtC0o_B0JmZJCf5Yyqx8_De_k0v91BGJQMETGj3gkjZuI37Ksy9Ceb0k9JYlPktjEEoHVJFLzXVpBcXVtrGeME/s320/treasure-chest.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Classic David Trampier from the 1e</td></tr>
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The Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition <u>Dungeon Master's Guide</u> is a odd book, much like the 1st Edition AD&D guide it is a scattered confluence of ideas, suggestions and game-able content. Unlike some past guides it seems more interested in offering play options and setting variety to Game Masters, rather then creating the one true setting and manner of playing D&D. <br />
<br />
This is perhaps the strongest aspect of the 5th edition brand - that makes motions in the direction of creativity and setting variation which some earlier editions refused to. Perhaps starting in the late 80's - early 90's as TSR released setting after setting, the idea embraced in the earliest editions of the game that each table of players and Dungeon Master should create their own world (I'd argue collaboratively), was abandoned and D&D products seemed to push an orthodoxy with settings defined and each setting deadened by reams of officious petty rules and mechanics. For example, the Spelljammer boxed set (a 1989 setting about fantasy space and space faring on magical sailing ships) spends little time offering up the sorts of strange and fantastical setting ideas it's core conceit promises, glossing over some great ideas in favor of complex rules about orbits and star types that seem more appropriate to a hard sci-fi game like Universe or Traveller. 5th Edition doesn't make this mistake, or at least it hasn't yet, and while I may critique its efforts at producing adventures for their devotion to the terminally bland Forgotten Realms setting and heroic fantasy, the <u>Dungeon Masters Guide</u> at least suggests Dungeon Masters design settings that vary greatly and offers some rules to aid in creating settings in 'mythic fantasy' (classical antiquity/mythology), 'epic fantasy' (even more high powered and magically focused), 'wuxia', 'dark fantasy' (Ravenloft effectively), 'mystery', 'intrigue' and 'swords and sorcery'. Sometimes rules are even offered up by the <u>Dungeon Master's Guide</u> to suggest how to better run these different sorts of campaigns.<br />
<br />
The last category of 5e settings, "swords and sorcery", is largely a description of how earlier editions of D&D played (or perhaps were intended to play) - at least in my experience. Informed by the novels of Vance and other 30's - 60's pulp writers, this fantasy is a bit grim, and darkly humorous with heroes that are only slightly more impressive then normal men (or less in the case of Cudgel the Clever), who largely seek their own advancement and survive mostly by luck and their wits. The world is dangerous and uncaring, and if these sorts of wandering heroes become involved in an epic quest it is only by their own decision, a curse or accident.<br />
<br />
The Little Brown Books or "White Box" are the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons - presenting a simple and somewhat muddled set of rules that almost compels a 'swords and sorcery' style setting and game (at least as the 5th edition <u>Dungeon Master's Guide</u> defines swords and sorcery) because the combat mechanics are high lethality, power levels flat and the exploration rules encourage caution and the accumulation of treasure rather then seeking combat.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Mechanics that encourage players to recognize combat as a hindrance
and often unnecessary risk are a core element to encourage players to
behave like swords and sorcery heroes - scheming and using their wits
rather then simply engaging in heroic combat with everything encountered. While early Dungeons and Dragons (and these days games seeking to emulate the feel or play-style of early D&D) uses multiple mechanics to encourage a swords and sorcery setting, and an exploration focused play-style, a chief among these mechanical changes is "Gold Equals
Experience", where experience points are gained only from the recovery of
treasure. This rule isn't strictly part of the even the Little Brown Books, which also provide
100XP per HD of enemy killed, multiplied by level/monster HD (so a 10th
level character killing a 1HD monster gets 10XP and a 1st level
character killing a 10HD monster 1,000), but the monster experience rules are
complex and generally provide a small amount of XP, so in most games
I've played using OD&D rules they're ignored completely and treasure becomes the means for level advancement. <br />
<br />
Gold for Experience is a powerful tool as it directly informs player motivation because redefines how characters are rewarded and what they are rewarded for. <br />
<br />
<u>Advantages of Gold for Experience:</u><br />
<ul>
<li>Demphasizes combat, as violence provides no mechanical advantage over negotiation or trickery. Demphasis allows encounters with creatures that are very dangerous to the party because there is no assumption that every encounter is a test of combat ability and no inherent mechanical benefit in destroying powerful foes.</li>
<li>Puts exploration, setting interaction and information gathering at the center of the play experience (rather then combat) by treating challenge types equally. With players seeking wealth determining what challenges (combat, puzzle, social) will best provide it at the lowest risk the locus of play shifts from tactical combat. With combat dethroned from its position as 'the' player activity there is more room for player retreat and even less need to 'balance' encounters. </li>
<li>Adjusts character goals by making them very clear and more open to player decisions.</li>
<li>Has a neutral (or perhaps even negative) moral valiance that is very natural to contemporary players in that everyone understands making money or starving - but is open enough to allow for a range of moral play from dastardly evil to saintly good.</li>
<li>Creates diegetic freedom, by simplifying goals and decoupling them from a specific narrative (XP for combat could do this as well - but since it favors one type of challenge over another and creates a narrative of relentless bloodshed it tends to require a heroic narrative to justify the sheer amount of murder involved). Players don't have to guess what the GM has structured as a story to move the game forward and will likely create their own goals based on interaction with the world and its factions.</li>
<li>Simple and clear mechanical explanation for how level advancement works, giving players metrics on determining reward vs. risk. This allows GMs greater freedom in obstacle design as reward is not coupled with the completion of a specific set of acts. </li>
</ul>
Gold for Experience can be managed in several ways, each of which slightly adjusts player incentives, but the key element is that treasure recovered from adventuring (not the sale value of magic items or income made from businesses or shakedowns of shopkeepers - only lost wealth brought back to civilization) provides the entire source of experience. An alternative way of managing this is that only treasure spent provides XP, which encourages player interaction with the world, but requires that a Dungeon Master have various ways for the characters to spend their wealth (this isn't hard to figure out and tends to work toward making characters more pro-social and players more involved in the world). Reasons to avoid Experience for other forms of wealth is to provide clarity about advancement mechanics, keep the characters firmly focused on adventure, and because they are likely to invest in schemes, property and businesses with their money once they've purchased equipment. <br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><u>APPLYING GOLD FOR EXPERIENCE TO 5E</u></b><br />
Gold for Experience is a simple change, and the existing Experience (XP) charts for 5th edition will work fine, though they require significantly less XP then earlier editions. In 5th edition 2nd level comes with only 300 XP (or 300 GP worth of treasure) rather then the 1,800 - 3,500 (let's say 2,000 XP average) depending on class that first edition and the White Box use. Of course 5th edition also likes to suggest that 3rd level is the proper starting point for adventures, but amounts hardly matter, and the lower amount of wealth needed to gain levels doesn't mean that the characters will be poor - only that the first couple of levels of wealth will go to equipment. Obviously adjusting the experience needed to level and the amount of gold purchase typical equipment improvements (plate armor say) can change the speed of advancement and the how hardscrabble or gritty the setting feels.<br />
<br />
Mechanically the implementation is simple, but the default amount of treasure provided by published 5e products assumes that character wealth is a problem - this assumption isn't a serious limitation on using Gold Equals Experience rules, but one that requires some adjustments to work with.<br />
<u><b><br /></b></u>
<u><b>DESIGNING ADVENTURES TO WORK WITH GOLD FOR EXPERIENCE</b></u><br />
If we accept the idea that currently there are basically two forms of adventure design, location and scene based, Gold for Experience works best with location based adventure. While it would be possible to use it in a scene based games, the greater certainty about what treasure the characters will obtain and the ability of character wealth to potentially sidestep scenes and/or create player driven narrative (e.g. characters wish to build a fortress to defend against invasion rather then defeat invasion leader as originally pathed out) make it an additional awkward layer of potentially distracting mechanics rather then a core mechanic that encourages player involvement in the world. <br />
<br />
When a GM's work for each "adventure" is to design and place a location within the game world rather then prepare a narrative arc, placement of treasure isn't hard, and there's little impulse to force players to make specific decisions about exploration pace, location or difficulty level. Individual challenges are generally optional and players can take on locations and foes more difficult then they are 'leveled' for while retaining the possibility of retreat and shifting to another location they feel is less risky - risk vs. reward becomes the players' decision and not the GM's. In one of my favorite GP=XP games on the first session our party began to explore one of several entrances to the tent-pole megadungeon of the campaign. The first cavern we entered led quickly (room 2 or 3) to a huge chained dragon. Undoubtedly this foe could have killed us (luckily we were sneaky and it was sleeping), but if we had somehow defeated it the rewards would likely have been enormous. Our party, begin more cautious then greedy, retreated and never returned to face that dragon or steal its wealth - but it was still there, a challenge ready to be resolved.<br />
<br />
This is all it takes to build XP=GP adventure locations, placing wealth in an amount that will properly reward characters based on the difficulty or diagetic purpose of the location. It can be done in a very simple manner - each monster holds within its lair (or on its 'person') GP equal to its XP value. This of course is boring and quickly becomes identical the giving XP for killing enemies. Rather it's best to look at a location and decide based on both its importance to the setting/theme and on its difficulty how much treasure it should contain when compared to the speed of player advancement one wants to have in one's game.<br />
<br />
For example, when building a first level adventure for 5E there's a mechanical conceit in 5th Edition that characters should quickly reach 3rd level - first level is almost the equivalent of 0th level in games like 1e or Dungeon Crawl Classics - a condition that one brush with the mythic underworld and adventuring life should remedy. Thus one session of play (say a 5 - 10 room location) should provide enough treasure to get from 1st to 2nd level for the average party size (respecting 5e's mechanical complexity and robust PCs, let's call this 4 PCs) - that is 300 GP per adventurer. With this in mind that introductory adventure location should hold at least 1200 GP (300 GP/XP - worth of treasure for each adventurer). One might want to offer a little room for either players missing some treasure, or as a reward for excellent play and include (perhaps concealed or guarded by deadly traps) another 300 - 600 GP worth of treasure, but generally it's not hard to figure out how much treasure to include to create incentives and set the pace of leveling.<br />
<br />
Of course treasure placement can vary considerably, a location where all the reward is found in the final room is both challenging and often makes situational sense (a tomb full of traps or the treasure of a bandit leader) and offers the additional excitement/challenge for the players of figuring out where the treasure is and how to get to it while avoiding the greatest amount of encounters and risks. Alternatively a treasure might be easy to find, but bulky and hard to return to civilization (marble statuary, trade goods, a lost wagon full of iron ingots), the adventure becoming one of defending the wealth from thieves and dragging it back to where it can be sold rather then discovery. Another options is to have certain tasks or adventures where the reward is offered by a third party (the most common being bounties on dangerous creatures), and the "treasure" is obtained when the party returns to civilization rather then from the adventure location. This treasure ans bounty works well with the a sturdy faction system and the concept of social advancement found in many swords & sorcery literary works (Conan isn't usually trying to plunder to get rich, but seekign approval of a benefactor or fleeing the wreck of a social disaster).<br />
<br />
While treasure placement is something that should be intuitive, and works best if it's organic - that is the treasure makes sense to the setting, the more mechanical approach can be helpful especially for higher level adventures because sometimes it's harder to contemplate the amount of wealth required. Remember that while the gold necessary to level at the low levels is fairly small (Just 300 GP/XP to get to level 2 in 5th edition!) it quickly ramps up. At 5th level it will take 7,500 GP and at 10th level 19,000 to level. These amounts are smaller then in older editions and don't vary by class, so it's fairly easy to determine how much treasure should be in an adventure, but they are still considerable, to the point where a 10th level character would be pretty uninterested in a few hundred GP from the stance of mechanical advancement alone. <br />
<br />
Lets say we have a 3rd level party, and they are exploring a dungeon that should take three sessions (roughly 30 rooms - about 1/2 of them empty) and is designed for 4-5 characters. For the total dungeon that's 1,800 GP per adventurer (3-4th level) times 4.5 = 8,100 GP/XP split up in the 30 rooms. This can be split into parcels (never describe them as such though - please, use your imagination on treasure description) of 100 - 1,000 GP - hidden, laying out in the open deeper in the location, guarded by enemies, hidden, or protected by puzzles and traps. Players of course will miss some of the treasure, or decide the at conflict required to obtain some is too dangerous - and this is as it should be, the reason for placing extra treasure in the location beyond that required for expected leveling. <br />
<br />
The main difficulty in placing treasure to use for Gold Equals Experience is that treasure takes on a greater significance and players will be looking for items of value: attractive marble statuary will get smashed and parts sold, high quality furniture becomes loot, libraries are valuable and characters will even start to chisel artful frescoes or mosaics off the walls. Don't be phased, just assign values to these items and remember to make the players account for encumbrance - a couch may be worth a hundred GP, but navigating it out of the dungeon, past the spiked pit trap and down the mountainside can be risky both to its upholstery and the people carrying it. Likewise start considering what might decorate or fill out an adventure location that has value beyond coins. Too often modern adventure design simply notes treasure as something like "a parcel of treasure worth 200 GP or (popular in <u>Curse of Strahd</u>) "3 pieces of Cheap Jewelry each worth 15 GP". These treasure descriptions are boring and rob a great deal of potential wonder from the game, much as if you described every monster as "A monster with 42 HP approaches". Treasure should be evocative and interesting, and it's easy enough with small bit of description - a "copper brooch of a severed wolf's head" (potentially a symbol later found on some bandit group) or "a grey wool cloak lined with water stained pink silk" rather then "cheap jewelry". A GM should think about treasure and what might have value beyond gold and gems - pelts, steel ingots, art, cloth, liquor, arms and armor - in GP for XP game the GM will need to consider everything and its potential value, because the players certainly will. <br />
<br />
<u><b>THE LURE OF GOLD</b></u><br />
Some GMs may fear that GP for XP will rapidly increase the amount of wealth available to player characters and that this will somehow dramatically unbalance the game. This might be true in a campaign where the GM allow the purchase of magic items, spells and healing without limit or thought, but otherwise wealth won't have too much of an effect on character power.<br />
<br />
While second or third level fighters, having 1,000 GP may be able to buy better armor (though not plate armor at the Player's Handbook price of 1,500GP), and the party is unlikely to suffer for a lack of supplies, these don't seem deeply troubling. It seems to have become increasingly common in contemporary campaigns for magical items of all sorts to be available for purchase - part of this may be the influence of video games, where the magic shoppe is a standard trope, especially in Japanese style RPGs, and part of it may be a hold over from the focus on "character builds" and options, which required specific magical items, picked from a clearly defined list to maximize or best use a certain builds. None of this is necessary, or even desirable - and if purchasing magical items is something one wants in a game - it's easy to adjust the prices as the wealth a certain level of character will possesses is equal to his XP, meaning the GM can set the price of desirable/necessary magical items at a value which makes an appropriate dent in that wealth. Again if one allows players to buy healing potions for 50 GP and magic weapons for 500, then the wealth associated with using GP=XP might allow players to stock up, especially for a game that dispenses with encumbrance, but this should be both manageable and avoidable. <br />
<br />
Certainly the encumbrance system in 5th edition is poorly thought out, but there are plenty of ways to include encumbrance in one's games - the easiest, and one that elevates equipment selection and resource management to great importance is to rule that Strength equals equipment slots available. That is for each point of Strength a PC can carry a single piece of useful equipment (with some provision for items, such as up to 1,000 pieces of gold or jewelry that don't count towards encumbrance). While this is a gamified mechanic - with a potion or lantern becoming equally encumbering as an axe or plate armor - it has the advantage of being both simple and making it very hard for characters to load up on incidentals and magical geegaws. <br />
<br />
With some thought to what's available for purchase and carry (thoughts that are worthwhile even without changing the Experience Point system) is helpful, GP=XP does change the setting in several subtle ways.<br />
<u><b><br /></b></u>
<u><b>C.R.E.A.M</b></u><br />
Now even if characters won't have quite the amount of gold in a 5th Edition Gold equals Experience game (2nd level required 2,000 XP at least in 1st edition) they will soon find themselves with considerable gold. This is a good thing and there are plenty of ways to use character wealth to enhance your game and encourage player interaction with the setting. It's a simple fact of human nature that players who have invested in businesses, monuments and interactions within a setting location will feel a desire to preserve it. The GM doesn't need to rely on a vague sense that the characters are heroes to get them to protect towns anymore - they are protecting their own homes or other things and people they've invested hard won treasure in.<br />
<br />
Obviously it's somewhat important to give players something for their characters to do with their treasure beyond buying heavier armor or carefully weighed adventuring supplies. Traditionally hoarded gold has presented a sort of victory condition in D&D - at 10th level or higher (traditionally called name level) the character could build a fortress and start attracting followers. Building castles, wizard towers and monasteries is expensive - very, very expensive according to the <u>AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide</u>. There's nothing to stop a current game from sharing this sort of 'endgame' and indeed the option to build fortresses is dealt with in the 5th edition <u>Dungeon Master's Guide</u>, along with most of the other ideas below and even a few additions. 5th Edition doesn't go into much depth though, and it's because these ideas of downtime activity are largely cosmetic, and aren't designed for a game with a strong material focus, where treasure is an important mechanical element. <br />
<br />
Regardless of mechanics, many players find something very exciting in investing in the game world, so it's important to model this in a way that's conducive to the other game mechanics. That is to say, to keep the players adventuring as a group rather then trying to run individual business empires or domains (unless that's the game one wants) the world should naturally siphon money from the characters. There are lots of ways to do this.<br />
<br />
<u>Experience for 'Treasure' Only</u>:<br />
To make this work the first rule is that Not All Wealth is Treasure and experience is only for treasure, otherwise wealthy traders and the scions of noble lines would be high level NPCs. While this is possible and hinted at to some degree in some settings (Inn Keepers being 4th level fighters - presumably based on inn value and such), literal Darwinian Capitalism doesn't really fit with a good fantasy setting in my view. Additionally this encourages players to try to become plutocrats, not plunder the lost depths of the world. Best to keep treasure opposed to wealth, making it valuables taken in adventure, without the power to multiply through clever investment - yes this is pure gamification, but remember the point of GP=XP is to create certain mechanical incentives that favor exploration over combat - not to model or simulate anything. Deciding and limiting what constitutes experience providing treasure is a real key to making the system work or allowing it to break down. The rules I use are as follows:<br />
<ul>
<li>Return on investment never gives Experience</li>
<li>Money stolen from fellow party members never gives Experience</li>
<li>Money for selling magic items or the equipment of dead party members never gives Experience</li>
</ul>
You'll note that gold looted from peaceable peasants, noble lords and other ostensible 'good people' or 'bastions of civilization' counts as treasure, but this doesn't worry me too much as I will detail below in a Note on Murderhobos.<br />
<br />
Now encouraging players to spend their wealth is another subtle art of the Game master - well really there need not be anything subtle about it, and in my experience using these sorts of cash sinks during play it's best to keep them gamified - a menu of options with predefined consequence and reward for players to pick prior to or quickly at the beginning of each adventure session and then to resolve mechanically with a simple roll or paragraph of results from the GM. Of course, how you enact any of these strategies will depend on the specific setting and the nature of your game.<br />
<u><br /></u>
<u>Carousing and Upkeep:</u>Since the <u>October 1977 issue of Dragon Magazine</u> the idea of adventurers returning to civilization and spending all of their money on debauch and vice (though even in 1977 other alternatives for less sybaritic characters are included - the dwarf hoard one is very good). The idea of carousing still works. In its most basic form characters spend gold (based on level, based on town size, based on risk - you decide what flavor works best) and gain additional Experience from whatever worldly shenanigans they get up. Sometimes it's good to balance this with a save (i.e. save vs. poison or don't gain any additional XP) or by adding complications. Carousing leads to humorous, mildly harmful or mildly beneficial events, usually pulled from a carousing table and often things like accidentally getting married or starting the next adventure with a huge and penalizing hangover. The 5th edition DMG has a short and rather dull version of a carousing table - but larger and more interesting tables are easy to create and can really provide setting flavor, or even event specific to a town or region. Likewise (as suggested back in 1977) carousing can be tailored to class type and more then one type offered.<br />
<u></u><br />
Carousing, or even an entirely separate mechanic, can also be used to generate hooks and rumors in exchange for treasure spent. One option is to simply give rumors as a side effect of carousing, as the players picked up gossip while they were on the town, another would be to charge specific amounts for say buying drinks around town or paying an information broker.<br />
<br />
However carousing is used it should be optional, and as an optional mechanic offer a benefit where the player can weigh risk vs. reward (the reward of extra XP vs. the risk of a complication usually). Because its a gamified mechanic based on a die roll rather then any narrative exchange between GM and player it's best to have the stakes very clear so bad outcomes don't feel cheap or forced. I let players roll on my carousing tables on their own - looking at the table, knowing what its options are. This provides little risk of meta-gaming if the tables are well designed and thematic, because the players seem to enjoy gambling on something with clear rules. During my last long campaign I had a three part table that allowed the character to spend up to LVL x 100 GP for an equal amount of XP if made a Save vs. Poison. Succeed or fail the player rolled on a complications table after picking which table: Lust, Debauchery or Violence they wanted to use. One of my more meta-game fond players examined the tables and determined the violence one was the least potentially risky, but this didn't stop players from using the other two based on their conceptions of their characters.<br />
<br />
Upkeep, as opposed to carousing is a forced expenditure, and while it's also mentioned in the 5th Edition Player's handbook, it's purely flavor as written, and relatively cheap. One element that I like about the 5th Edition approach is that they offer the "wretched lifestyle" (presumably sleeping in a ditch and living off gleaning from fields, trapping rats, and picking through trash) at 0 GP per day. Living well though isn't much more expensive functionally (40 GP a week - which is how I calculate the rough time between sessions - my preferred unit of large scale event game time). To make upkeep interesting I'd suggest offering benefits for a high quality lifestyle. Characters who spend their time between adventures on feather beds, and dining well will be healthier (to a point), better rested and in a better mood then though sleeping rough. To this end I have given a -1 HP/HD to characters who choose not to spend anything on upkeep due to stiffness and the cold they will undoubtedly get from eating stolen baked goods and sleeping in a storm drain, and a reroll to those that spend 500 GP between session on the high life. Various benefits exist between these two extremes, but for player who aren't interested I peg the upkeep for living without penalty or benefit fairly low (5GP per session) so as to be inconsequential. I've found that minor (+1 HP even) benefits encourage players to spend on upkeep and even enjoy it, which not only makes fictional sense (sleeping in the gutter with a wallet full of $100 bills is not popular for a lot of reasons), but can even further invest players in the world (they may want to ask where and how they spent 500 GP on food for example).<br />
<br />
<u>Spell Research, Crafting, Building and Investment</u><br />
The mechanics described in the <u>5th Edition Dungeon Masters Guide</u> are the most detailed around spell research and crafting, and the ones for building fortresses/homes are nicely streamlined (large single cost rather then a design process) compared to older edition's. I would also take the investment rules straight from the 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide as they make managing a business a quick downtime activity. Crafting magical items is likewise covered in 5th edition, but it seems quite facile and uninteresting - aimed at a high magic setting, where +1 weapons and healing potions are available from every roadside stand. For my sorts of games magic items are found while adventuring, and rarely at that, so I'd have crafting them require specific items taken from foes (certain magical monsters might have skin suitable for magic leather armor for example) or discovered in the mythical underworld - of course 5E is a more arcno-positivist system with more flamboyance then I'm used to so magic may be commonplace. If one wants to use 5E's default sort of magic economy and setting, I'd suggest increasing the cost of preparing magical items if using Treasure = Experience simply because the characters will have more treasure. <br />
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Likewise, all 5th edition downtime activities seem to assume that character time (days spent at downtime activity) is the primary cost to the character (in gold as well as 5e has a daily upkeep system), while to me this seems like too much book keeping. One might want to adjust direct costs up, breaking activity away from daily cost associated with upkeep (making upkeep separate with it's own cost/benefit) or if using the upkeep system as written in 5E making certain activities only available at a specific level of upkeep (you can't run a business while sleeping in a ditch and you can't make magic items living in a flophouse without private rooms).<br />
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Spell Research is largely absent from 5th Edition - designing new spells is against the ethos of a system designed partially for organized play and which distrusts GM and player alike to make their own fun, and spell acquisition is automatic. Personally I find acquiring new spells a fun focus for arcane casters - plundering stolen or recovered spellbooks and doing jobs for arcane knowledge make for a good motivation for wizard characters and hooks for adventure. Spell research though should be expensive, and fairly time consuming - want to change fireball into an orb of freezing ice fragments - that requires both time, and money for experiments and a library of arcane texts. Having wizards build up their library can itself be part of a campaign and certainly protecting such a collection can make a character far more likely to value a particular location.<br />
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<u>Henchmen</u>:<br />
A concept that has fallen out of favor in recent editions of D&D, the henchman was a key component to early games - both providing replacement characters for victims of early editions' brutally deadly combat and swelling the party numbers to make them more effective in combat. Henchmen aren't really a feature in 5th edition, but spending money to increase the skill of retainers or maintain specialists such as sages and heralds (to promote the character's reputations) is a solid option as a downtime money sink. If the player wants their henchman to raise in level they will need to pay x2 the amount of XP required to train them - or whatever simialr rule feel right in your setting. <br />
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<u>Equipment and Items</u>:<br />
A last way to encourage characters to spend their treasure is on items and supplies. This will likley be where the first few levels of wealth go regardless of options offered, as directly increasing one's survivability is justly on the mind of every adventurer. 5E's books offer a lot of potential areas for this - magic items seemingly for sale everywhere, crafting of more powerful items and their purchase. This may make sense for your setting, but remember that with Gold for Experience you'll be giving away more treasure then the standard WotC adventure intends, and it may be worthwhile to adjust treasure accordingly or to remove the easy purchase of magical items entirely. <br />
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Beyond useful equipment there are other areas to encourage the expenditure of character wealth. Clothes, lifestyle and offices may appeal to some players who want their character to be recognized as powerful and important. I'd recommend that patents of nobility, knighthood and guild titles be available at somewhat absurd cost in more civilized settings. While none of these titles bring any wealth or power with them they might be prerequisite for moving in certain parts of society - nobility may not talk to anyone without rank, and cabals of powerful sorcerers might not be willing to discuss arcane matters with mere dabblers who don't properly contribute to their library fund or have the right mass of titles. For characters who simply wish to pass as important without title, the outward trappings of wealth will still be necessary to avoid scrutiny and violence in higher society. A 100 GP might by the clothing of a prosperous trader or sea captain, but to pass as a second child of a noble might cost 1,000 GP while pretending to be prince from a far away land could run 5,000 GP or more in finery. Such wealth based limitations can act as portal to new sets of hooks and adventures - the wealthy and powerful have concerns that they may not wish paupers to know of, and which they ay only seek established explorers, successful captains and true sorcerers to solve. These sorts of hurdles can also act as prerequisites for moving towards a domain game - the powers of order may look fearfully upon a vagabond, suddenly rich in tomb gold, establishing a bandit army, while it seems entirely reasonable, even a public service if a local gentleman wants to recruit and train a militia or free company.<br />
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<u><b>A NOTE ON MURDERHOBOS </b></u><br />
One of the frequently voiced concerns about using wealth as the sole metric of character advancement is that it will drive players to become amoral and anti-social. A parade of horribles is often deployed to illustrate this, with the supposedly good adventurers transforming into a bloodthirsty scourge that finds it easier to murder the townsfolk they should be protecting then to loot their hovels and gain experience. I believe this critique goes back to the 1980's and the 'satanic panic' about tabletop games, where the lack of rigidly enforced (often Christian) morality in Dungeons & Dragons was seen as an explicit endorsement of evil. To me this appears to be false both based on reading older rule sets (D&D had plenty of devote Christian authors in its formative years and from the earliest editions encodes very strict concepts of good and evil) and false as a practical matter based on my play experience.<br />
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This isn't to say that some players want to play evil characters and commit evil acts, pushing the idea of 'moral play' - that is playing with and examining the moral quandaries that tabletop games are good at creating - to one grim extreme, but using Gold for Experience is no more a way to encourage this then providing XP for killing foes. That players, and GM, might want to tell a story about brutal anti-heroes, banditry or even tyrannical villains is of course an option - and one that has the potential to be interesting if the players all want to go down that path and the GM is prepared to think about the effects of playing anti-social marauders in a fantasy world. However, most of the "Murder-Hobo" stories I have heard seem to be complaints about something entirely different. Often players become frustrated with overly structured campaigns, where the story feels pre-scripted - and they express this frustration by actively trying to break or 'derail' the campaign, seeking perverse situations where they've killed the NPCs they were supposed to save, burned down the town they were to protect, sold off the magic object that might offer hope for saving the world and tried to ally with the evil bandits they were supposed to kill. The GM is supposed to squirm and flail as the carefully constructed script falls apart. <br />
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Murderhobos are rarely simply the psychotic dreams of deeply anti-social players, they are an expression of disdain for a GM style that place the narrative above player choice and robs the players of self-expression. The best way to avoid them (or at least make the act of character evil interesting) is to have a game world that has consequences and respects player decisions. Characters devoted to larceny and violence won't be getting commissions as royal explorer of lost tomb, and if they are bad enough they may get a reputation where towns close their gates to them, and bounty hunters or arcane sendings try to cash in to killing or capturing them. Of course changing your campaign from "How can our heroes stop the dragon invasion!" to "How can or bandit gang survive in the woods while dragons invade" may break a plot - but it might also be a lot of fun. Murderhobos aren't a problem unless there's a prescribed end point to your campaign and a set of scenes that the GM is willing to force to get there. Using Treasure for Experience can help break free of this scene based approach to play, because it creates an immediately understandable metric for advancement (XP for Killing does as well - but allows less options for how to advance) that is free of a pre-determined plot.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-22626663165305633122017-12-04T09:09:00.001-08:002017-12-04T10:12:43.964-08:00SCENES FROM A SHIPWRECK - HMS Apollyon - Painted Ship on a Painted Sea - Adversary Design<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZy7G-9egiXsBoAEevOWVxt6fM3Fi2qYnn-hK_uv0hxOo2CAn8L3HjbZ1p4VQPiXebOp9jqyNT4AG5WBDma1TkN_cHn-kiNKIxMPkVt7kzRvYpRMtjkX7Nj4f5bnxpCTp6UNa8nP9syAQ/s1600/HMS+-+Painted+Ship+Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="1224" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZy7G-9egiXsBoAEevOWVxt6fM3Fi2qYnn-hK_uv0hxOo2CAn8L3HjbZ1p4VQPiXebOp9jqyNT4AG5WBDma1TkN_cHn-kiNKIxMPkVt7kzRvYpRMtjkX7Nj4f5bnxpCTp6UNa8nP9syAQ/s400/HMS+-+Painted+Ship+Logo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>One of the three main potential adversaries/NPCs within the Duke Brimstone Yacht Club area is Murial Coranado a 'Revenant of Debauchery' who is not especially hostile, but capable of life draining attacks and immune to non-magical weapons. If treated with respect and caution she is likely to be a curiosity and if plied with liquor may even become something of an ally and source of information about the ship, its history and the region.<br /><br />I'm not a fan of 'Boss' monsters, and try to design my regions more so they present a puzzle, mystery and story rather then a series of challenges leading to a climactic fight. The other two potential adversaries (as opposed to simple monsters or random encounters like the Limpet Bears in the last post) are the angry spirit of a petty bureaucrat and a near unstoppable (but very stupid) giant sea slug. The Bureaucrat will grow increasingly angry if his domain is disturbed, while the slug will hunt the party pushing them deeper into the hull. All three are designed to present a variety of potential encounters and uses to the players, not only combat - though other then using the slug to dispose of other enemies, it's not really up for conversation.</i><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">AREA 16 - Main Bar</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Illuminated) [Monster/Treasure]</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Light streams into this long room from observation windows of thick glass, blindingly to anyone emerging from the darker recesses of the hull. ‘L’ shaped the longer arm an ornately decorated </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Bar </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Area A16b</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and the shorter a</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lounge </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Area A16a</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> filled with lushly stuffed leather furniture.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">AREA 16a - Club</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lounge - (illuminated) [Monster] Chairs and couches</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> upholstered in cracked leather, weathered by the sun, are array around several tables of polished black wood. Glassware and empty bottles are scattered about, but are especially thickly stacked on a table by the windows overlooking the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pool </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Area A2</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, where a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">withered corpse</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> [sidebar] in the tattered remains of an evening gown still leans in one of the chairs. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">chairs and couches</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Examination of the chairs will reveal that they appear to be made from a variety of shades of human skin, seemingly confirmed by the presence of a face here and there on the upholstery. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Withered corpse</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Murial Coranado, Revenant of Debauchery) [See Sidebar]</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> HD 4 (HP 16), AC 13*, ATK** +5x2 (Claw/Claw)***, INT 0, MV sluggish (3) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Immune to normal weapons/explosions, damaged by fire, magic, silver, hexed and blessed weapons.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** Murial’s bony talons drain life from the victim on each strike, Save v. Paralysis or lose one level of experience/HD. Reduction to -1 LVL or 0HD causes instant death without Save.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*** As a Revenant of Debauchery Murial Coranado exudes reeking alcoholic fumes that will cause any creature in melee combat with her and capable of intoxication to become uselessly, reelingly drunk. Each round close to Murial combatants must Save vs. Paralysis to act at all. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The corpse in the chair is the Revenant of Murial Coranado, a 1st class passenger and aristocrat who drank herself to death during the long ago class conflict after the H.M.S. Apollyon became lost at sea. Her undead form remains permanently drunk (though she has long ago guzzled all the alcohol in the Yacht Club) and has dozed away the eons here, waiting for bar service.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In her intoxicated state it will take a turn for the revenant to notice intruders, but she is predisposed to behave in a friendly manner (when rolling her reaction check on a 2D6 she will not attack unless provoked). On a poor reaction Murial will be dismissive and angry at intruders, a surly drunk, mistaking adventurers for wait staff, and perturbed that it has taken so long to get table service. On a good reaction she will be cheerful and effusive, treating the party as fellow club patrons and loudly bemoaning the lack of drink. Unless alcohol is available, complaining about its lack is all Murial will do (unless attacked of course). She will try to be witty, but is clearly a bit desperate, a bit nasty, and far too amused by her own slurred jokes - a pleasant enough member of the pampered classes, but thoroughly and drenching soused. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If Murial is offered alcohol (she’ll take anything) she’ll become quite gracious and want to share a drink. While Murial will be friendly to anyone who provides booze, like most of the dead she has almost no memory and is trapped in a loop of emotions and memories (in her case the final despondent drinking that ended her life). She cannot really be reasoned with, and will not accompany the party even if they promise rescue. Murial will only become violent if offered insult, or if she sees the party possesses alcohol that they refuse to give her. If the party leaves and returns to the Bar Lounge, Murial will be back in her chair, slumbering again and have little or no memory of them. The </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Titanic Nudibranch</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> will ignore Murial, as it doesn’t recognize undead as food, and for her part she thinks the giant slug is a hallucination.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For every drink offered Murial will reveal one of the elements of her story from the table below, unless directed towards specific topics.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "gravitas one"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Drink # or D6</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "gravitas one"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Gossip and Rumors from the Ossified Lips of a Dead Heiress.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Murial’s yacht, “The Mammon’s Gift” is below, fueling with her ‘worthless’ husband “Tedger Coranado” aka “Buzzy”. The couple intend to get off of this ship which has been stranded for months.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rioters have been making things difficult lately, they’ve committed atrocities, and it’s only a matter of time before order completely breaks down - Murial has seen it before when she was an ensign in the territorial navy.. The ‘good’ people who are staying have set up in the stern on the “Port” side of Decks 1-6, down the rails, they are calling it “Sterntown”. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oh, the chairs in the Yacht Club aren’t really human skin, it’s faux - the Club’s members aren’t monsters, just playing at being diabolists. The plants and some of the fixtures really have been imported from the Hells though - quite valuable some of them.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rioters already attacked the area once, they blew a hole in her yacht and killed her husband. She managed to hide until they left, they cleaned all the food out of the yacht and the club. She started drinking then, waiting for rescue. She has no idea how long it’s been.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Since the way to the “Undersea Gallery”, a Deck 8 shopping district, is flooded, the yacht club is cut off except via the railway, the “spinal rail” which is used to carry yachts down from Deck 5 via a big elevator beyond the hatch in the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dockyard </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Area A5)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There might be a way past the hatch other than opening the main hatch, she thinks, but not from the Club. The </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Chandlery </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Areas A26 - A35)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> on the other side of the Pool perhaps? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A16b - Club Bar (Illuminated) [Treasure]</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Brightly lit, the interior here is sunbleached, with panels of cracked red wood peeling from the orichalcum plates beneath and overgrown with barbed red-brown </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">diabolic</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">foliage</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> that bursts from intricately glazed </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">shattered</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">planters</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Water damaged bar stools and tables covered in drifts of dead leaves stand before a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">long bar</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">,while rotting </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">red</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">silk drapes</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> hang across the windowed wall opposite. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">diabolic foliage</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Bursting root-bound from their large </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">planters</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> in the center of the room are reddish trees with twisted barbed branches that press against the ceiling before drooping down like willows. The diabolical plants have blanketed the floor with a layer of rust colored dead leaves. Palm sized black flowers cover many of the branches, and each branch ends in a frond that forms a twisted noose. Despite its sinister appearance, these decorative bar plants are entirely harmless, though they are nauseatingly bitter if eaten.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">shattered planters</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Porcelain planters, in the form of hip high urns once contained the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">diabolical foliage</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> but have burst from the slow growth of its roots. The fragmentary planters, a product of “The 5th Hell of Searing Ice” according to small labels pasted to their rough insides, are black with red glazing depicting jagged sigils and images of souls in torment. If carefully examined the sigils on the planters can impart arcane knowledge. A successful Arcana check will discover a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">pot shard</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> that can be used to produce a blast of hellfire - equivalent to magic a 1st level missile (or a 1st level magical attack using maleficence). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">long bar</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - The long red wood and black marble bar is backed by racks of empty liquor bottles, many exotically shaped and decorated with peeling unknown labels in a variety of bizarre alphabets. Above the bottle racks, at eye level for patrons sitting or standing at the bar, is a huge mirror of gold flecked glass. Anyone looking in the mirror will see and more sinister and beautiful version of themselves, with small marks of diabolical influence (cat like yellow pupils or tiny horns).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Red silk drapes</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Hidden among the diaphanous and decayed drapes are pull chains with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">faceted fobs</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> forged from the red gold of the Hells (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">800 GP</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">). </span></div>
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<i><br /></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-1393344243435629622017-11-30T10:18:00.000-08:002017-11-30T10:18:32.675-08:00SCENES FROM A SHIPWRECK PART II - Grave of Giants Sample Rooms<br id="docs-internal-guid-d872608e-0dd3-1f2a-cfaf-9b45bdf56e02" />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "gravitas one"; font-size: 48pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">GRAVE OF GIANTS</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gK75Z9E34JWM5JHOaFg3LiE2MW-5Rndc5mXVlJFjo1THB8x_CuylwqE7j3CalaPOPeCCauIxDgYV2rzokRHv34vWxhthGDUoBZUUraFDEvvhpNhm8yar3TvovDCuWMRFQVHEXl-cUjQ/s1600/Grave+of+Giants+X.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="921" data-original-width="1236" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gK75Z9E34JWM5JHOaFg3LiE2MW-5Rndc5mXVlJFjo1THB8x_CuylwqE7j3CalaPOPeCCauIxDgYV2rzokRHv34vWxhthGDUoBZUUraFDEvvhpNhm8yar3TvovDCuWMRFQVHEXl-cUjQ/s400/Grave+of+Giants+X.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">THE WHALE TOMB</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"The abyssal seas hold their secrets deep, and few living known more than a few of the terrible beasts that swim them, but the trawlers of the darkness know, they have seen and hunted the depths for flesh, bone and souls, dangling from their long thorny lines past light and into the crushing depths. They threaten to pull even the Leviathan to the surface with bony claws. These are not the skulking feral dead of the lost spaces, these are the ghoul nobility of the sea, loyal to their fisher queen Moab whose dead pearl eyes have gazed on the ruins of stone cities beneath the waves and whose oracular mind holds unwanted secrets of the past and future." </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">From the confession of the Necromancer ‘Tenebrous’ on his treasonous dealings with the Ash Plague </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Once a small cargo port for the transfer of incidental goods, the Whale Tomb is conveniently located near Spinal Rail and also provides access to the sea. For undead of Queen Moab’s “Trawlers” it offered a perfect space to gather the materials for and conduct the rituals to raise a “kraken”, the reanimated corpse of a whale or other large sea creature which the Plague uses as a siege weapon. Upon discovery of a clean rail connection to the Whale Tomb from her domains deep in steerage, Queen Moab dispatched a research expedition of intelligent ‘Hollow Men’ defended by a few Gun Wights and led by the rather scholarly Fyke Trawler, a Greater Revenant of Duty. Midway through the process of raising a Kraken the undead were stopped by the intrusion of a well armed gang of cultists from the Cult of the Ravenous, a cannibalistic swarm of demon worshipers loyal to the Hyena Headed Demon King of Slaughter (See </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Area C - The Roundhouse Tunnels</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> for details). The undead have abandoned many of their ritual spaces and fight a stolid defense against the raiding tactics and sniping of the cultists. Fyke Trawler is crafty and experienced, but he isn’t a fighter and his dead aren’t really warriors. The Trawlers are in a desperate situation and uncharacteristically willing to ally with any third force they come across - even the living.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">The Ash Plague</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Ash Plague, an endless swarming army of undead that have forced humanity from the majority of the hull. A various rotting multitude: simple bloated zombies, horribly mutilated abominations that combine man and sea beast, gunwights, mountains of the dead fused with rusted weapons into necromantic siege engines, elegant spirits, spectral warlords, and the plague tyrants. The general run of Sterntowners know little about the Ash Plague, beyond ghost stories and ancestral terror. With the fanatical persecution of necromancy by Sterntown’s elite, few living have pieced together any truths about the Plague and those that have will rarely tell. Still, children’s rhymes and tall tells can provide descriptions of the Plague legions and names of the ten Plague Kings and Queens: Ma'At the Golden, Languid Serhkat (or Scorpion), Mernieth, The First Unknown, Tsar Lud, Queen Moab, Jana Khrae, Blood's Lover, The Grey Philosopher and The Least King. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">United, the Plague could overwhelm Sterntown’s defenses in a matter of days, and subjugate the various polities of the hull from the bands feral demon worshippers, to the remaining fortresses of the Black Gang and the warped dominions of the Free Barons of Hell. The truth is that while the Ash Plague now rules much of the ship from the Rustgates to the bowsprit, it is a factional and contentious rule. The Plague’s Queens and Kings are intelligent, ambitious and resourceful, but like any gang of successful conquerors they have split against one another for resources, followers and honor. Each King or Queen has his or her own goals, and degree of hatred for the living, some such as Serhkat and Queen Moab care little about Sterntown or living humanity, while others such as Jana Khrae and the Least King want to destroy it from within through infiltration and cooption. Only a few, like Tsar Lud, wish to prosecute the Plague’s vengeance through total and endless war. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The fraction of Ash Plague undead loyal to Queen Moab are some of the more distant and strange of the dead. Unlike the paramilitary or even democratic organizations of much of the Ash Plague, the Trawlers are much like a cult or religion, devoted to their drowned queen as to a goddess or prophet and channeling their necromancy through her. Also unique among the Plague, rather than bolstering their numbers by actively hunting or ‘recruiting’ living sentients, the Trawlers have turned to the sea to provide materials and souls to strengthen their faction. Using all the advantages of undeath they harvest sea life from the abyssal oceans and use it to create monstrous thralls and obscene hybrids such as undead sharks, and zombies armored within giant crab shells. Despite their revolting appearance, the Trawlers are not entirely opposed to Sterntown or humanity, seeing the living as another resource to manage, and because of their fishing, far less reliant on the souls of surviving humanity to sustain them. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Crude Spaces</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Little remains from the Whale Grave’s time as a cargo depot, most of its spaces long ago stripped to the bare rivet orichalcum. The undead have redecorated it to suit their purposes, but it remains largely a dark, bleak maze of salt streaked metal walls where the overpowering stink of dead fish and corpse tallow incense hangs in the air. The doors of the Whale Grave are still mostly industrial hatches, narrow ovals of metal with dogging levers allowing them to be bolted from either side.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">AREA B1 - The Balcony</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">outdoor</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) - The ladder emerges onto a small guano encrusted and sun baked balcony before a narrow, arched tunnel into the hull that terminates in a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">salt stained hatch</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> of thick black metal. The balcony is stable, surrounded by a sturdy waist high railing where a few black gulls, possibly with several eyes and oddly hooked beaks, watch quizzically. A larger balcony, across a 10’ gap and to the fore stinks, covered in horrible globs and runnels of brown fly fly encrusted filth that rots beneath a creaking </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Derrick</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Area B6</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">).</span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">salt stained hatch </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - The hatch sticks slightly opening, but it has not been dogged shut with the sturdy bar on its interior. Examination of the hatch will reveal fresh streaks in the verdigris of the jam, indicating it has been in use recently.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">AREA B4 - Offal and Crustacean Thralls - (dark) [monster] </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Piles of rotting </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">seaweed</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, small fish, cloth and tangled barnacle encrusted rope are piled against the wall. Hidden within this pile ready to leap out and attack are four (4) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Crustacean Thralls</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">seaweed</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Along the right (fore) wall of this chamber a great stinking pile of fishing waste: broken necks, tangled lines, rotten bait fish, and piles of stinking gelatinous seaweed. Poking through the pile is disgusting and awful, releasing terrible ever more revolting blasts of stink. There is nothing of value in the pile.</span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Crustacean Thralls</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Near mindless automatons, these armored guardians are concealed within the seaweed and waste with instructions to attack anyone who enters from the rear. The will burst forth in an explosion of vilely rotted weed and gain surprise on a 5 in 6. This advantage will be negated if the pile is doused with flammables and lit (it won’t burn enough to damage the Thralls but will drive them out) or investigated with reach weapons/poles.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Crustacean Thralls (4)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> HD 2 (HP 6) AC 16, ATK +3x2(claw)/(claw), INT 0, SV F2, ML 12, MV Normal (4).<br />The animated shells and armor of giant crabs, bleached white by time, covered in barnacles and with the withered skeletons of men bound within by rotten rope and great strands of kelp and weed. A skull watches, decayed and expressionless with dimly glowing eyes from beneath the lip of the protective shell. Thralls scuttle and hunch beneath the crab shell’s mass and attack with the crab’s claws. </span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">AREA B19 - Workroom - (dark) [trap/supplies]</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rusted gurneys </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">on wobbly wheels, one covered by a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">grey gauzy tent</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, hold corpses and give this room the feeling of an operating theater, except for strong smells of decay and the ocean. A </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">tall cabinet</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> blocks at the center and behind its glass doors vague shapes of glassware glint.</span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rusted gurneys</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - simple pipe gurneys on metal casters and sheet metal tops. Atop each is a human corpse, indifferently preserved with salt and stitched over with various sigils and signs. Dirty surgical tools arrayed neatly beside them. </span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">grey gauzy tent</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - A tented off area big enough to contain another rusted metal gurney and a few feet of space around it. Atop the gurney is decaying corpse, bloated from immersion in seawater, covered in stitched sigils, and infested with small polyps, shrimp, fish and invertebrates. The corpse is missing one, which rests on the gurney, half covered in sigils and has a pair of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">pearls </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">100 GP</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> each) stuck in its eye sockets. AN almost complete Hollow Man, the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Wight Lord</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Area B21</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) can raise it quickly, but imperfectly if needed.</span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">tall cabinet </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Within the cabinet are surgical tools and bandages, as well as several large jars filled with a variety of liquids. The surgical tools and bandages are sufficent to create a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Medical Kit</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> allowing anyone with a Medicine skill to practice it (and are worth </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">100 GP</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">). The selection of five </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">unlabelled large stoppered jars</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> filled with various liquids: bright green, thick and bloody red, viscous black, and two clear are all useful in the reanimation process. The first three contain deadly poisons - acid, ‘unliving blood’, and ‘black ichor’ which require a save vs. poison or result in death if sipped. The last two are strong denatured alcohol (Save v. Poison or take 1 pt of damage and spend a turn helplessly retching if drunk) and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">clean water</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, a full canteen’s worth. </span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>AERA B31 - The Laughing Boy (dark) [NPC] </b> - A waist high <u>Automaton</u>, made of brass and painted wood leans atop a precarious <b>pile of debris</b>, it’s red cheeked face and painted dead staring eyes facing the door. The piled and scattered detritus in the room appears to contain a wide variety of ancient and rotten goods.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><u>Automaton</u> (Laughing Boy) F1 (Warrior), HP 3, Str 15 (+1), Int 12, Wis 9, Con 6, Dex 15 (+1), Chr 5 (-1), AC 17, ATK +2*, INT +0, SV F1, ML 6, MV Fleet (5)**.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* On first attack or after killing a foe, may make a leap attack, at the face of any enemy within melee or reach range, attack is a grapple that prevents enemy counter attack. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Equipment: small silver saber [close] (encumbrance 1 of 8).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** Laughing Boy is acrobatic, having a 4 in 6 Acrobatics skill which it will use to leap into and out of combat as well as climb up walls and chutes.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />Laughing Boy the automaton will spring to life when approached by the living, and gladly speak to anyone. His brightly painted body is wood with polished brass joints, and despite dust Laughing Boy’s blue soldier’s uniform, heavily frogged and braided with silver, is almost immaculate. Laughing Boy’s speaks with a high cheerful lilt and he moves with humorous exaggerated gestures, but his soul and his words are filled with a cruel and capricious evil. Laughing Boy knows about Sterntown and the safety it represents, he would like to go there, to pursue his evil plans of murder and foolishness. He will provide advice (and perhaps sudden shout out a cheery song, alerting enemies) if the party promises to take him to civilization (his advice is not all bad, but he lies a lot and enjoys others' pain). Laughing Boy can walk and move quite nimbly (he will scamper off to escape if attacked - plotting murderous revenge) and he offers to serve anyone who brings him “The fresh and bloody head of a good man” for a year and a day once he is fattened with cruelty and blood. He has a small saber (close) and a tendency to leap like a spider monkey onto foes in a deadly grapple. </span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>pile of debris</b> - A tangled mass of rusting drums, broken furniture, and fragments of broken drywall. To reach to top of the pile where the Automaton sits requires clambering up the entire unstable jumble, which will both require a 4D6 check against DEX and even if successful will result in an enormous amount of noise as junk clatters to the ground and triggers an immediate random encounter check. </span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-67839950908598929862017-11-29T09:05:00.000-08:002017-12-04T09:08:39.567-08:00SCENES FROM A SHIPWRECK - HMS Apollyon Painted Ship on A Painted Sea - Room Design<i>Below are some sample rooms from areas of the HMS Apollyon that I have been writing up over the last year or so. These are partial and scattered selections from a much larger work, but I am happy to share them, giving some preview of the project (which may or may not ever be completed). I recently asked some people what ongoing project they'd like to see finished, so I will be working on this and perhaps posting additional updates and samples.<br /><br />They also show my current approach to dungeon keying, which tries to both preserve the level of detail I find interesting and remain immediately useful to a Game Master during play.</i><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "gravitas one"; font-size: 30pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">DECADENCE AND DECAY </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "gravitas one"; font-size: 30pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "gravitas one"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Duke Brimstone Yacht Club - Area A</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“The HMS Apollyon is graced with a special chapter of the The Duke Brimstone Yacht Club, many of that storied order of light-hearted nautical diabolists having joined our great experiment! While the camaraderie shared aboard ship, even one as great as ours, has allowed the ‘Duke’s Men’ to accept non-members holding 1st Class, 2nd Class and Elite Cabin Class tickets (and up to two of their guests) for visits and enjoyment of its sinfully excellent bar, join club approved day charters, or view any member’s yachts currently in its whimsically decorated pool, the club offices, lounge and other areas are limited to members.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Members, and non-members alike may avail themselves of the Club’s generous yacht storage area and use its launching facilities, chandlery and naval architecture firm for a small fee.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-HMS APOLLYON, Cabin Class Entertainment Guide.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Formerly an opulent outpost of rich hobbyists, the years have been unkind to the Yacht Club. First it was an obvious target of looters during the unrest following the Apollyon’s ‘Great Marooning’ and second, the burst sea door has led to interaction with the ocean outside the vessel, inviting corrosion and destructive sealife into its sheltered pool. However, despite these destructive forces the Duke Brimstone Club offers both natural light and water (though primarily salt water), the basis of a rich ecosystem. The Club has remained largely sealed since the disaster, though of late lost Sterntown explorers and their Cult of the Ravenous pursuers have made their way there. Being open to the sea means that nightmarish sea creatures lair within, including the region’s alpha predator, a Titanic Nudibranch. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;">AREA A2 - Pool</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Dim) [Supplies]</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Light leaks in from the sundered sea door and reflects of a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">great pool </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">thick with weed, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">darting life</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and debris. The smells of salt, rotten seaweed and dead fish is strong, but with the non-threatening natural purity of a tidal lagoon or beach cave. High above (50’) is vaulted ceiling of black metal supported by fanciful trusses and buttresses. The wreck of a white hulled </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yacht</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Areas A3-5</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">), bow down, partially ashore, is immediately noticeable as are the stone facades of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yacht Club </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Area A8-20)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Chandlery </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Area A26 - A35) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">along with several easily accessible stone stairways, ramps and piers.</span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">great poo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">l - The 15’ deep pool is easy enough to navigate, through broken bits of verdigris covered metal and even wooden parts of small yachts and dinghies jut from the water or are visible hazards beneath a dense mass of green, orange and black kelp. The walls of pool are coral pink tile, with badly decayed mosaics showing horned, red skinned devils cavorting in small boats and other nautical follies. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">darting life - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Life is abundant and varied here: fish, crabs, eels, black dragonflies, emerald green giant water striders, purple crayfish and a swarming haze of midges - some bioluminescent. A character with the survival skill or a successful 3D6 roll against Intelligence can collect one food ration worth of fresh seafood in the pool in a turn.</span></li>
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<b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">AREA A7 - Repair Yard</span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Dark) [Monster] </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Concealed inside and around moribund machinery here are twelve </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Limpet Bears</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Concrete boat ramps ramps and sets of stairs draped in slime lead into </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Pool</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (<b>Area A2</b>)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> with the wreck of the yacht the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mammon’s Gift </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(<b>Areas A3 - A6</b>) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">slumping on the largest of them. A thin railway, tracks laid into the concrete work floor leads away from the water and towards a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">huge</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">hatch</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> at the rear (port) of the area. Otherwise the space is filled with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">machines</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and fragments of machines</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">covered in corrosion and puckered with decay, piles of rotten canvas, and rusted tools. The half built skeleton of a yacht and a large </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">tank </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">near a set of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sliding doors</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> on the left (aft) wall provide additional landmarks.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Limpet Bears (12)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - HD ½ (HP 1) AC 11, ATK +0 Bite, INT -1, SV F0, ML 12, MV Sluggish (30'). Resembling tardigrades, and roughly the size of a large terrier, with snapping ringed maws, these mobile fungal infestations can leap to attack. Sliced open they appear to have no internal organs, just a damp greyish-pink flesh with spongy consistency and a single digestive gullet filled with rust. The fungal </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Limpet Bears</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> drop from their perches with plopping noises like a falling sack of wet meat, and begin moving towards any living creature (except the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Titanic Nudibranch </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">which even they fear) entering the dockyard, intent on adding it to their diet. They are unlikely to gain surprise (normal chance), but their waddling gait is deceptive and their eight stubby ‘legs’ can propel them on dangerous leaps.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">huge hatch - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">An enormous hatch of thick metal, reinforced and at least two feet thick, interrupts the rail tracks. The entire hatch appears to slide into the floor, though corrosion and a scum of pinkish lichens indicate it has been shut for some time. A giant ‘7’ in peeling paint and the words “RAIL ACCESS” and “CREW SPACE BEYOND” decorate the hatch. Next to the hatch someone has scrawled in black paint “Food, Water, Shelter” with an arrow pointing towards the hatch. Investigation will reveal a numeric keypad (round buttons like those on a vintage typewriter) beside the door, but pressing them is (even with the correct code ‘1337’) has no effect as the door unpowered (something a character with the Engineering skill can easily determine). </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">machines</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Destroyed by the infection of crawling death that has spawned the Limpet Bears, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">various machines </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">break up the dock area</span>, scaled with rust, marred by odd patches of corrosion and splotched with grey and pink lichen: a hulking galvanic generator, tangled hoses of yacht fueling apparatus, a mobile crane gantry, the drum of a power washer, grinders, a small crushed cart, and workbenches looted of hand tools.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">tank</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - 12’ in diameter and 20’ tall, a huge tank is bolted to the floor and covered in corrosion, with dark lines of thick liquid leaking from its aging seams. The tanks has a strong chemical smell and is filled with volatile alchemical naphtha, once used to fuel yachts with a nearby hose rig. The sludge in the tank is still highly combustible and if an explosive or fire is applied directly to the tank it will explode in 1D6/2 rounds creating a large fireball (EV 12 ‘artillery’ - save or die if not in Cover, damage 3D6). There are 100 flasks worth of fuel in the tank that can be easily drawn with a spigot on the front of the tank and used to light lamps or create firebombs.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sliding doors </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- A pair of fancifully weathered wooden doors leading to the , with ‘Brimstone Chandlery and Yacht Builders’ painted in black spidery letters above. The facade above was once stuccoed and set with fake stones. An awning of green copper sheeting overhangs the doors. The doors have a rusted padlock and hasp but it can be easily smashed or pried off of the rotten wood.</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">AREA 19 - Cold Storage (Dark) [Trap/Supplies]</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The metal door is trapped with a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">grenade trap</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. The interior of the storage is slightly cooler than the kitchen, and a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">putrid corpse</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> rests on the floor, back leaning against a heavy steel </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">coldbox</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">grenade trap</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - A thread, easily found if the door is examined, breaks when the door is opened, dropping a crude grenade with a simple percussion fuse to the floor. The grenade blast can harm (1D6) anyone in the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kitchen</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Area A18</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and has a burst value of five (5). The grenade trap can be easily diffused by partially opening the door and carefully removing the grenade (explosive, BV5).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">putrid corpse </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- The rotting body of a man (A Survival or Medicine check will show he died about a month ago but cause of death is unclear) wearing </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">armor</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> made from salt stained walrus hide and covered with spirals of shell beads. The </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">armor</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is usable (light armor AC - 13) but could use a cleaning. In the dead man’s lap is a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">boarding axe</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> [overpowering] drop forged from a simple billet of bronze. A complete examination of the body reveals a necklace of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ivory charms</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, carved with mollusks and tentacled sea creatures (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">10 GP</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">coldbox</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - The power that kept this unlocked steel and zinc chest cold inside is long gone, there are ancient are beef, pork, and chicken bones within.</span></div>
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<i><br /></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-29595812433869820922017-11-21T06:49:00.000-08:002017-11-21T06:49:02.330-08:00The Divine Wight - Part 7 Animals in the Jungle of Midnight<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>In addition to encounters with mythical beasts and dangerous inhabitants it seems important that a cursed jungle contain a large amount of wildlife. While it would be easy enough to include these encounters on a monster encounter table, the goal is to both provide some separation between the (mostly) less dangerous encounters and the deadly, as well as increasing the number of chances for explorers to meet up with strange life. These creatures also add some opportunity for resupply as many are edible.</i><br /><br /></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D12</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Table 4 - Creatures of the Jungles of Midnight (*for stats listed below)</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Giant Panthers* - A stalk of 1D6/2 Giant Panthers, 8’ - 12’ feet long and cruelly curious these creatures may stalk man-sized prey or lounge with yawning indifferent.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dream Birds - Bursting with color and singing triumphant rilling songs in almost human voices, flocks of 3D6 of these birds are hunted for their plumage which is worth 100 GP a bird. Autochthons hunt them with wax stopped ears to avoid hearing their mournful death songs.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Slate Lizards* - Like dull blue river stones, up to 4d6 flat round lizards huddle on a bank or cling to the boles of trees - always basking in the sun. These creatures are no more aggressive or intelligent than any other 3’ long reptile, but being of the basilisk they are dangerous.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Prophetic Birds - Avian shapes made of pure inky night, these immaterial creatures exude the cold of the void and their movements are prophecy. A cleric may observe the birds to cast </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Augery </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">without using a memorized spell on a successful 4D6 WIS check. On a failure the Cleric and companions are doomed with a -1 on all rolls (as a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Curse</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Glass Deer* - Noble troops of deer, most are placid but the stags are territorial and can be aggressive. The glass deer of Jungles of MIdnight are transparent tending towards translucent with age and somewhat immaterial, but their flesh is still succulent, if light.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blue Bees - The sweet drone of buzzing honey bees indicates the presence of a monumental hive of blue bees. Glassy and electric blue, the honey in their hives (unprotected raiders will be stung for 1D6 damage per round, for the 1D6 rounds it takes to recover each unit honey) is hallucinogenic, mildly poisonous and valuable - 250 GP per unit, with 1D6 units per hive.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Large Serpents* - 8’ to 18’ long these great constrictors are predatory and malicious,devoted to the Colossal Serpent they will be become placid if it is killed. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Glass Herons - Flying above in wedges that sparkle with sunlight or stalking fish in the river and pond shallows, these birds are like smoked blue glass with shearing beaks and brittle feathers that shatter with a tinkling snap.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Howling Monkeys* - Dirty slate, shambolic scavengers and thieves with 2-6 arms and wizened crafty faces. They make a near constant cacophony of hateful screams, seemingly from the sheer joy of disruption, and stink with their own foulness. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Butterfly Migration - Sapphire lords, a butterfly with a 2’ wingspan, rich vibrancy and long feathery antenna travel in locust like swarms. They are defenseless to the birds that trail after them nibbling at the edges of the swarm. THe birds dare not eat too many as the butterflys are deadly poisonous, even to a larger creature if eaten in bulk (a meal’s worth requires a Save v. Poison).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Crocodiles* - Mottled purple, blue or grey the crocodiles of the Midnight Jungle are oppressed and disdained by their divinely inspired brethren, but they can be as mean and dangerous as any hungry 6’ - 10’ reptile - hunting in the river’s shallows.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Swarm Fish - A colony of thousands of fish, moving with singular intent and mind, flashing blue and silver glass in the water the fish swarm is curious, but largely harmless. An excellent food source it can easily be tricked into sacrificing some of its members - going so far as to risk 1D6 rations worth of fish leaping into a net or boat to investigate any sparkling objects displayed within.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Crocodiles</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - 6’ - 10’ crocodiles, in a swarming bask of 4D6, entirely normal, except for their odd blue and purple coloration. They are vicious enough combatants but know only ambush and headlong attack against unwary creatures. They are edible (1D6 rations per crocodile) and their hides are worth 50 GP each.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Crocodile</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - HD 2* (8HP), AC 5/15 ATK 1 (bite) ATK BONUS +3, DAM 1D8, MV 30’, SV F1, ML 7</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Giant Panther </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- (1D6/2) Sinuous, blue black beauty with glowing palatinate eyes, but otherwise much like a housecat 10’ - 25’ in length and weighing more than a ton. Magnificent beasts whose ancestors gorged on divine flesh, the Giant Panthers of the Jungles of Midnight aren’t especially intelligent or savvy beyond feline wariness, and hunting craft. The relatively undamaged pelt of one of these creatures (along with its teeth and claws) are worth 2,000 GP in the Imperial Capital, but only 500 GP to the traders of Ib.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Midnight Panther, Giant -</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> HD 12* (70HP), AC 3/17 ATK 3** (claw/claw/bite) ATK BONUS +13, DAM 1D8/1D8/2D6(close), MV 90’, SV F12, ML 10***</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* The Giant Midnight Panther has has feasted on divine flesh and it retains otherworldly vigor gaining a 3 points of regeneration per round (it can be permanently killed by drowning or incineration.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** Giant Panthers may make a leap attack against one target at least 20’ and up to 120’ feet away [short or long range] and make a single pounch attack. On a successful attack they will inflict 6D6 damage, knock the target down and successfully grapple allowing them to automatically inflict 2D6 damage the next round. For grappling purposes these giant cats have a Strength of 19.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Glass Deer </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Delicate looking, as if of smoked blue glass, these small, wiry deer are little more than stomachs and acute sensory organs atop a set of fragile legs. They graze on flowers and lush undergrowth in herds of 3D6, led by a stag, will flee from nearly everything they meet. The stags however become aggressive to defend their herds. Each deer carcass will provide 1D6+2 days worth of food, though the glassy meat is strange.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Glass Deer</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - HD 1+1 (4HP), AC 6/14 ATK 1 (kick) ATK BONUS +0, DAM 1D6, MV 120’*, SV F2, ML 4</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Glass Stag </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- HD 4 (20HP), AC 5/15 ATK 2 (horns/kick) ATK BONUS +5, DAM 1D8/1D6, MV 120’*, SV F4, ML 8</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Glass deer and stags are remarkably agile and do not require any DEX check or save to avoid attack in response to their breaking from combat.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Howling Monkeys</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Troupes of 3D6 of these petulant annoyances roam the high canopy, but are easily tempted down by their curiosity to investigate loud noises, strange smells, and any novelty. The creatures themselves are dirty and shambolic, with numerous arms, clumpy fur and wrinkled bright skin. The monkeys jabber and hoot, some even know a few insults in a variety of languages, though they will learn no other speech, but are immensely fond of theft. Howling Monkeys will make considerable efforts to steal small shiny objects such as jewelry as well as paper goods. The majority of a pack will mock their marks from the trees while two or three brave monkeys sneak up to steal.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Howling Monkey</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* - HD 1(3HP), AC 4/16 ATK 1 (bite) ATK BONUS +0, DAM 1D6, MV 60’, SV F1, ML 4</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Howling Monkeys are nimble and quick fingered giving them a Dexterity of 15 and a pickpocket/sleight of hand/legerdemain skill of 4 for stealing small items.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Large Serpents</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Treacherous beasts gathered in knots of 1D6+3 and festooning low hanging branches, these large poisonous 8’ - 18’ blue, purple and lavender snakes have acquired a rudimentary intelligence and a fierce sense of entitlement from the echoed desires of the Colossal Serpent (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Table 1, Encounter 10</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) and as long as it’s alive the smaller snakes will be threatening and surly, believing themselves rulers of the jungle and entitled to fawning worship and the sacrifice of live animals (or people). If the Colossal Serpent is dead these snakes will return to typical solitary reptile behaviour - laying still in sunny patches and ignoring almost everything around them.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Large Serpent</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - HD 5(25HP), AC 4/16 ATK 1 (bite) ATK BONUS +7, DAM 1D6*, MV 20’, SV F3, ML 8</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*The bite of a Large Serpent is poisonous causing a save Save v. Poison or inflicting paralysis for 1D6 painful turns. At the end of this period the victim must make a second Save v. Poison or die as their heart seizes and fails.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-69910359829801720372017-11-05T13:55:00.001-08:002017-11-05T13:55:04.953-08:00The Divine Wight Part 6 - Jungle Tables 2 and 3: Landmarks and Hints<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-cf72bec6-8e27-99d2-7d71-d5eecca52b2c" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">The tables below continue the random encounter structure for Jungle travel - they represent Landmarks and Non-Combat/Indirect encounter</span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>s with jungle inhabitants. With encounter checks three times a day, and the expected length of the party's time in the jungle 6-10 days the point of these encounters is to both provide relief from more dangerous combat encounters and to make each day of travel more interesting. Landmarks serve the additional function of providing milestones for travel and a place to retreat to if the party becomes lost. The general goal of these tables and those that follow is descriptive - to make wilderness travel more then a chain of monster encounters. Some of the landmarks might themselves make for small adventure locations if a GM felt enterprising or a party was less goal directed and wanted to search the dangerous jungle rather then head for the ruins or fallen god.</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Landmarks </span></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Landmarks and areas of interest are often found in the Jungle of Midnight, and are useful as they provide points that a lost party can often find their way back to. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D10</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Table 2 - Landmarks in the Jungle of Midnight</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Abandoned Village - The sense tragedy fills this clearing, and above hangs the unraveled crumbled ruins of an Autochthon village. A search will reveal a dread emblem of corrupt magics and/or a midden of cracked fire roasted human bones. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Marble Ruins - Graceful arches, fluted columns and decoratively carved blocks crumbled and scattered by time. Often these ruins are blanketed with flowers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Waterfall - From a high plummeting cataract to a series of small drops and turbulent rapids, waterfalls in either jungle streams or the great river make a cacophony of falling water can be heard for miles, making them excellent spots for an ambush.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Legion Post/Grave - Ancient forts and cenotaphs of sorcerously sculpted stone mark the Jungles of Midnight as a former march of the Imperial Legions. These near imperishable vestiges slowly sink beneath the riotous life of the jungle. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Improbable Growth - Groves of tall bare trees with roots that erupt in lavender foliage, meadows of tree sized orchids and twisted paths wending through man-high succulents.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">War Machine - Trapped in vines and entangled by jungle trees, the twisted remnants of an ancient Imperial Colossus towering above the canopy, the crushed crumbled stones of a floating Vheissuian fire temple blanketed in pink coral like growth or the moss colored stone bones of a dire wyrm are a monument to ancient wars. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Autochthon Village - Like mussels clinging to a rock, the people of the Jungle build their homes from wicker and black clay, stuck fast in the branches of the greatest of forest giants. Among the foliage and fruits the Autochthons can go about their domestic tasks protected from many of the Jungle’s predators.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">8</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Stone Face - Colossal and timeless, carved boulders or entire sheer cliffs marked by vanished carvers with a variety of faces: human, beasts or god. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">9</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Monolith - A marker of forgotten deeds, antediluvian or simply ancient. The history of the great stele and rain channeled statues is lost, but they still stand in the jungle. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">10</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Bone Yard - A stinking hole in the jungle, like a cancerous growth, where the bones of unlikely beasts and slaughtered sentients rot in great, piles of spongy yellow on brittle bleached white.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">11</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dead Water - Glassy clear to the depths of the river, where the pristine wreck of an ancient war machine rests, tangles of wire and struts of bonewhite gleaming among polished river stones this area of river is devoid of life. The water here is a polluted sink of deadly magics. Drinking it or swimming here requires a save vs. poison (every round for a swimmer) or it results in a convulsive, corrosive death.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">12</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Bridge - A thin span of near translucent marble, ancient beyond reckoning, a tumble of fallen logs, tangled artfully with vines, or a brutal manipulation of bedrock into a low arch that marks the Successor Empire’s poor grasp of military geomancy. </span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><br class="kix-line-break" /><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Signs and Hints</span></span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Creatures of the Jungle leave behind signs of their passing and ways that themselves represent encounters, and are sometimes just as dangerous as the encountering their creator.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D10</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Table 2 - Signs and Inklings in the Jungle of Midnight</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Autochthon Traders - A group of 1D6 Autochthons carrying a few trappings of ‘civilized’ Ib - steel spearheads, and bright cloth wraps instead of feather capes. These traders know both Ib and the jungle well but are distrusted by their own people. If friendly they may be willing to guide the party in exchange for trade goods or coin. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Drums! - In the distance a throb of drums, booming and reverberating, they are soon answered from all around, incessant the drumming continues surrounding the party. All encounters with Autochthons and Brutes will be hostile for the next day.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Markings - Pug marks from huge claws, scratches, bones and tufts of blue black feathers and fur caught on the bark of bent and broken trees. The marks of a numerous pack of owlbears.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Spectral Reverberations - The past is never fully dead in the Jungle of Midnight and eerily ghostly reverberations of what once was (or might have been) slide into the present. Illusory palaces of fantastic marble fields of amaranth, barley and pomegranate worked by spectral laborers and the graded stone block roads for the chariots of gem clad nobility. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Stele - Stele made from ancient stone, more recently reworked and raised, all depict a fierce raptor god, it's hungry gaze staring out into the jungle. Preserved food and other small offering are left at the feet of many stele and the blue monks collect them regularly.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Crude Arts - Monumental carvings and paintings on cliffside and fallen trees, these are crude work, depicting menacing fanged simian faces and the repeated motif of a round white moon. Any encounter in the next day will be with Azure Apes defending this territory.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Path of Destruction - a trampled path moves through the jungle, broken boots, hobnail sandals and the bare feet of many men have trampled a path straight across the landscape. Closer inspection will find bloody feathers, scraps of skin, butterfly wings, tiny cracked bones and other gruesome scraps of local fauna. If the path is followed it will lead to a company of ghoulish legionaries (Table 1).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">8</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Crystal Statues - 1D6/2 statues of exquisitely carved crystal ranging from pale whitish blue to deep violet. The subject matter is strange however: confused or frightened jungle animals, rarely an autochthon with a look of perplexed disgust or even a blue monk. The statues are too fragile to move, but manageable chunks (especially heads/busts) can be worth as much as 200 GP each if carefully transported.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Traps - Likely discovered only by springing them, crude traps of vine, stone and log are set along this trail, river narrow, or clearing. 1D6+2 pits, deadfalls, snares or hidden log spikes capable of ripping out a boat’s keel have been lovingly set here. There are not hard to discover with caution, but without it will require a 4D6 check vs. Wisdom to spot or 5D6 vs. Dexterity to avoid once sprung. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Shed Skins - A pile of shed skin, hanks and shreds, long rolls of strange scales or piles of crystalline feathers. Beasts are more common here, both coming to molt and travelling to devour the skins shed by others. Searching or investigating more than a turn will result in an encounter (Table 1)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blazing Water - The river here eddies and collects magical esters that when disturbed release the stored arcane waste in flashes of azure brilliance. The water glows, sparks and suddenly blazes as the boat cuts through it. Those who stare too long may be blinded (Save vs. Spells) for the remainder of the day.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">12</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Wrecked Boat - The wreck of another flat-bottomed river boat out of Ib, it’s stove timbers slimy with black weed and its rotten cargo of trade goods and jungle commodities still strapped down to its decks.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-41182582251877532712017-11-01T19:05:00.000-07:002017-11-05T13:55:51.973-08:00The Divine Wight Part 5 - Jungle Encounter Table 1: Monsters.<br id="docs-internal-guid-cf72bec6-7a75-a169-2822-8e6430efef71" />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "rye"; font-size: 30pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">BEAST OF THE JUNGLE</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D10</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dangers of the Jungle of Midnight</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Autochthons (3D6) - A band of Autochthon hunters or gatherers, peaceably finding their sustenance. They may be fishing for glassy eels from a bark canoe on the river, checking fish traps in a jungle rill, digging purple bulbs from the undergrowth or stalking birds, many armed monkeys and fat slate lizards. They are usually suspicious, unfriendly and ready to flee. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Brutes (2D6) - From deep in the jungle, hulking, slope skulled, dulled eyed and decked in bones, these massive warped humans hunt and kill, and their favorite prey is their fellow man. Brutes travel in bands and are usually hostile unless they have recently eaten.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Owlbears (2D6) - Usually arcanovore scavengers, the jay feathered ‘growlyhoots’ of the Midnight jungle have grown more predatory in an environment where all life is infused with magic. They are lean pack hunters, tracking, circling, and distracting their prey with quizzical hooting and then rushing in from the rear to drag it down beaks snapping. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hunting Glass (1) - Filaments of spun blue glass drape the trees and form mystical sigils that can stun a warp the mind. Above its trap of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">symbols</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, hangs a colony of hunting glass, it will subsume and devour prey that becomes hopeless under the effect of its symbols.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blue Monks (2D6) - blue monks roam from the city on a mission from their “god”, they are unlikely to talk but also unlikely to attack, preferring to return immediately to the city a inform their fellows before organizing a hunt for trespassers to sacrifice.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Azure Apes (1D6) - Monstrous, four armed horrors are cavorting in a clearing, gorging on fruit, hooting at each other, smashing termite mounds or travelling in a line. They can rarely resist the distraction of crushing smaller ape-like creatures. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Revenant Legion (4D20) - Only the geases of the ancient empire and perverse professionalism keep this company of ghoulish soldiers endlessly marching. They plod slowly, noisily through the forest in rusted armor, with broken weapons in warped, lichen splotched hands. The legion has no mission beyond the ceaseless march and sating their undead cannibal hunger.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">8</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cockatrice (1) - small and solitary, the blue cockatrice is one of the jungle’s greatest predators. It will hunch silently (often in a stolen nest over crystallized eggs) and then burst into its beautiful and and deadly song, leaving prey a fragile petrified statue of blue crystal.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">9</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Razor Birds (1D6/2) - A quarrelsome and deadly flock of tall birds, somewhat akin to giant cassowary’s except with long wispy feathers of gentle purples and black over scaled skin that gleams like quicksilver. They are territorial, sadistic and fond of trapping prey in covered pits. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">10</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Colossal Serpent (1) - over 60’ long this leviathan of the forest has grown almost immortal from devouring godflesh, and is far more intelligent and malicious than any mere animal. It coils in a great pool below a waterfall, whose bottom is blanketed with bones. The snake considers anything the enters the pool a sacrifice to its divinity but will not attack those who offer proper sacrifice.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Divine Crocodiles (1d6+1) - A pack of crocodiles polluted by the Beaked God’s presence, they are blue and each has a huge third eye, capable of emitting a beam (BV 3 at range, single melee target) that turns all who fail a save vs. paralyzation into glass. The strange creatures guard sunken ruins and are never far from some piece of ancient carved marble.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">River Draugr (1D6/2 ) - The bodies of drowned explorers, slither from their river den and float to the surface, waiting for ‘rescue’. The Dragur will demand help in blubbering watery voices, with bloated faces weeping bloody tears. If offered a line they either try drag rescuers to the river bottom or sit sullen faced in the rescuers’ boat, obviously dead, and waiting for a chance to stave in the boat’s bottom or seize the helm and dash it against rock.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Autochthons</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - The residents of the Jungles of Midnight appear largely human, tending towards lanky grace and with normal features, except with blue or purple skin and hair and large luminous eyes that glow yellow and lamp-like, allowing them to see in the dark. Though they will deny it, the Jungle’s residents are human, but consider themselves different from the people of Ib both because of ancient magical manipulation and mutation of their ancestors and their hunter-gatherer existence. The Autochthons of course consider themselves ‘true people’ and everyone else to be ‘humanoids’ worthy of distrust. They are in a constant state of war with bands of Brutes from deeper in the jungle and hold their debased grunting relatives in the highest disdain.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Living in small villages of woven huts high in the branches of the jungle’s trees, Autochthons are not inherently hostile or warlike and will trade with exotic treasures of the jungle for worked bronze and other useful items made by more settled peoples. Despite being relatively peaceable the various bands of Autochthons are suspicious of outsiders, generally unwilling to offer help and potentially hostile if treated shabbily, insulted or harmed. An individual band of Autochthons can call up 2D20 warriors led by a shaman or champion, but if enough outrages (such as the massacre of a village) are committed bands will come together to form confederations and can call up hundreds of warriors to hunt the perpetrators while signal drums boom through the jungle to relay the location of the intruders.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Autochthon Warrior/Hunter</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - F2, (DEX 15) (HP 10), AC 5/15, ATK 1 by weapon, ATK BONUS +3 to hit, DAM by weapon, MV 50’ SV F2, ML 8</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cord armor (light AC 7/13), shield, spear (1D6) [reach], 3 javelins (1D6) [light], dagger (1D4) [close]</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Autochthon Shaman</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Mu5, (INT 16, DEX 15) (HP 8), AC 4/16, ATK 1* by weapon, ATK BONUS +2 to hit, DAM by weapon, MV 50’, SV Mu5, ML 8</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Protective wards/totemic mask [non-transferable] (AC 4/16), staff (1D6), ghost glass dagger (1D4) [close] [magic]</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Spells: Magic Missile, Sleep, Shield, Web, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Autochthon Champion</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - F6 (STR 16, CON 15, DEX 17) (HP 42), AC 3/17, ATK 2* by weapon, ATK BONUS +8 to hit, DAM by weapon +1, MV 50’, SV F6, ML 10</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blessed cord armor (light AC 6/14), shield, Ghost glass mace (1D8) [Penetrating] [Magic], 3 javelins (1D6) [light]</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Azure Apes</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Standing 8’ - 10’ tall, with jutting black fangs and four arms, the Apes pale white skin is shrouded by matted hanks of sickening electric blue fur. Azure Apes are the alpha monster of the jungle because of their size and cooperative pack structure, making them quite cruel and territorial despite their vegetarian diet. The pelt of an adult Azure Ape is worth 500 GP or more in large urban areas, and takes enchantment easily.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Azure Ape</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> HD 7 (35 HP), AC 5/15, ATK 3* rending hands/sharp bite, ATK BONUS +8 to hit, DAM 1D8*/2D6(close), MV 50’, SV F 6, ML 10</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Azure apes often chose to grapple with their first two (hand attacks), for grappling purposes they have a strength of 19. A grappled target can be held by one pair of hands and automatically hit for both 1D6 grappling damage and by the apes bite attack each round while the remaining pair of arms attacks independently.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blue Monks</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - As divines of a dying, mad, and dreaming god Blue Monks are obtuse and far from sane, but they are the inheritors of an incalculably ancient mystical tradition and their sinewy impossibly muscled bodies are filled with the power of their belief. Blue monks are the ‘simple’ devotees of the Beaked God, now entirely recruited by force from the Autochthon tribes of the jungle, who fear and detest them. They have a tendency to shout “POWER!” regularly even in friendly conversation and to constantly dart their eyes about looking for divine implications. The Blue Monks seek captives to recruit or sacrifice and believe very strongly in the magical power of dreams. Despite their eccentricities Blue Monks are an organized foe, and will do their best to notify their leaders in the Lost City to prepare a defense or punitive expedition once they know their are powerful intruders in the jungle. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blue Monk HD 4 (20 HP), AC 4/16, ATK 2* (bare hands) ATK BONUS +5, DAM 1D6(close), MV 70’, SV CL4**, ML 10</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Blue monks strike with their hard, horny callused hands and feet, though some few wear bronze gauntlets or knuckledusters of blue stone. In lieu of their two attacks per round may take one of the following actions:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Leap Attack</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - can make one flying attack at any target within 50’ regardless of intervening enemies. Alternatively this skill may be used to leap up to 50’ in any direction for escape or repositioning.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Open Palm of 10,000 Dreams</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - A single strike that stimulates the target’s brain to hallucinations. On a failed Save vs. Spells the strike will paralyze with dream filled madness for 1D6 turns in addition to doing normal damage.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Master’s Sleep</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Blue Monks can drop to the ground and enter a meditative state that appears identical to death (their souls actually depart the body) for up to one day. This is a popular form of mediation as well as an excellent means of escape. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Blue Monks are entirely immune to natural poisons and to sleep, charm or similar spells</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Brutes </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Hairless, slope browed, pig eyed with ice pale blue skin and sharp pointed teeth, these ogre sized creatures are an example of the harm that curdled magic can do the the human organism. They are the natural enemies of the Autochthons, who they eat and whose warriors use their skulls as helmets. Brutes can’t talk, and though crude sign language and grunts may be used to communicate with them, they see anything smaller then them as food to be tormented before devouring. Brutes dwell in bone and scrap strewn encampments of 4D6 members, but due to their disgusting hygiene they often move, traveling in smaller bands.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Brute</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> HD 6 (36 HP), AC 4/16, ATK 2* (bare hands) ATK BONUS +7, DAM 1D8(close), MV 70’, SV CL4**, ML 10</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cockatrice </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Hissing, cackling and rude, the cockatrice of the Midnight Jungle are magical sports hatched from the eggs of flying serpents or jungle birds exposed to the dreams of the Beaked God. Rather than hiss they scream, low and guttural, and any within close, melee, or reach(20’) must save vs. paralyzation/possession or begin the transformation into a blue crystal statue, a Cockatrice of the Midnight Jungle are beautiful creatures, their bodies and plumage more akin to a peacock then a chicken and their heads those of brightly patterned jungle constrictors. The long tail and wing feathers of many cockatrice glow faintly in the dark and are highly prized as decorative items or a material for jewelry, fashion and decor. A Midnight Cocatrice’s feathers are worth 200 GP in Ib and 800 GP in the Capital.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Cockatrice</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> HD 5 (25 HP), AC 6/14, ATK 1 (peck*/hiss**) ATK BONUS +6, DAM 1D6(close), MV 30’/Fly 70’, SV F5, ML 6</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*The touch of the cockatrice causes magical petrification - transformation into a crystal statue. A Paralysis/Possession resists the change, and the process takes 1D6/2 rounds to complete.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** The scream of the cockatrice also produces a petrifying effect, turning those who hear it (close/melee/reach distance or 20’) into crystal over 1D62 rounds. A Save vs. Paralysis/Possession avoids the effect as does stopping one's ears with wax or through other means.</span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Colossal Serpent</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - A huge and terrible beast, warped and eons old, the Giant serpent believes it is a god having slept within the fallen body of the Beaked God and gorged on its flesh for more than a thousand years. It rests now in its pool (which itself may exist in multiple parts of the Jungle) and expects sacrifice. The Serpent is 150’ long with a head as big as a rowboat. An unwholesome mottled purple and blue of a bruised cadaver, but streaked with old white scars and encrusted with tumors the Serpent looks its incalculable age. Despite its fundamentally animal nature, the Serpent can speak, though its halting, food obsessed utterances are unlikely to impress sentient beings. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Within the deep morass of slimy bones and filth at the bottom of the Serpent’s pool are: 3,500 SP worth of corroded coin, fused into small lumps and twenty-two snake shaped amulets carved from purple jade, gold and/or lapis lazuli each worth 100 GP. At the bottom of the disgusting mess the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Armor of Sand and Sea,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> a bronze muscle cuirass, engraved with whorls and symbols of some lost desert city state, gleams with magical perfection.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Colossal Serpent</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - HD 15, HP 90*, AC 5/15**, ATK 1***, ATK Bonus +11, DAM (bite) 3D6****, MV 20’, SV F15’, ML 12</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* A snake doesn’t get this big without some form of magical protection, and the Giant Serpent has a limited form of immortality. If slain it remains on the encounter table and may be encountered again, identical, in an identical pool, except having faded slightly. Each time the Serpent is slain it will lose 1 HP per HD (75 HP the second time, 60HP the third,45 the fourth, 30 the fifth and 15 the last time) until it fades from existence after its sixth death.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** The Giant Serpent is enormous, this and it’s thick scarred scales prevent hand weapons from doing serious damage. The first five points of damage from any normal attack against the Serpent are ignored.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">***All in melee with the Great Serpent are in danger of being stuck by the Giant Serpent’s enormous thrashing bulk, each round anyone in melee combat with the Serpent must Save vs. Paralysis or be knocked prone (using their next action to stand).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">****The Serpent is not poisonous, but on any attack roll above a 16 it will swallow its target whole. Swallowed targets take 2D6 points of damage per round, but may attack with close weapons (automatic hit) with a successful Save v. Paralysis.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Divine Crocodiles</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Black mottled with cyan, blue and purple, many of these river monsters are ancient and all are 10’ - 16’ long. Notable because of the immaterial halo of blue sigils that floats above their brows and because of their large multifaceted third eye. The Divine Crocodiles consider themselves the true clergy of the Beaked God, his mysteries and prophecies delivered by the tiny messenger birds that clean their teeth as they bask in the sun and constantly flock around them. It’s a strange theology that amounts to commandment “feed crocodiles”, but the reptilian theocracy takes it very seriously. Divine Crocodiles will approach peacefully and demand their due (a human sacrifice is preferred, but meat or other supplies - at least 1 man-day worth per crocodile) will also satisfy them. They will also become agitated and aggressive if their ‘temples’ of ruin marble are disturbed. Divine Crocodiles prefer to bite their prey rather than turn them to stone with their third eye, but aren’t especially reluctant to use their powers.</span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Divine Crocodile</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> HD 8 (46 HP), AC 2/18, ATK 1 (Bite or Gaze/Spell*) ATK BONUS +9, DAM 3D6/special**, MV 30’/Swim 60’, SV CL9, ML 10</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* Divine Crocodiles are simple spellcasters (or maybe their bird symbiotes are) and can cast the following spells (on other crocodiles only) at will: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> protection from mammals </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(as protection from evil - effects mammals), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">chant </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(bellowing and birdsong), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">cure light wounds</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** Rather than biting a Divine crocodile can fire a beam of petrifying light from its central eye. The Crocodile can focus on one target in melee, who must Save vs. Paralysis or be instantly transformed into a blue crystal statue, or blast</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hunting Glass </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- A colony, or a large single beast made of the impossible angles of shattered memories, it’s form is mostly that of a spider, but perhaps it’s a wasp or drifting storm cloud. Relatively incorporeal the horror’s planes reflect the viewer’s memories and dreams, terribly and painfully jumbled causing confusion while it stalks and stabs with lance like appendages as sharp as broken mirrors.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hunting Glass is an ambush predator and it will build a web of green and blue sparkling strands that hang like cobwebs from branches and undergrowth. Any who know the signs are likely to spot a Hunting Glass ambush from beyond its range of effect, the sparkling blue strands and webs of its traps act as a lure (from up to 100’ away). Approaching the Glass’ strange spinnings (within 50’) allows the complex set of ‘symbols of hopelessness’ within to affect any natural, living thing viewing them (entering the clearing or forest path where the Glass waits for prey). All affected must save vs. spells or suffer crushing despondence, falling into a state of helpless weeping for 1D6 turns. Hunting Glass can feed on the memories of its victims in this state, sucking the joy and sorrow from their past and leaving a feral cannibal husk (as a ghoul) that will awake in 1D6 days.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Hunting Glass</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> HD 6 (36 HP)*, AC 5/15**, ATK 5 (claw/claw/claw/claw/Bite or Feed***) ATK BONUS +7, DAM 1d6x4/2d6 or special, MV 50’****, SV F6, ML 8</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*The ambush of Hunting Glass is surrounded it’s web of magical symbols of hopelessness. Within 50’ all must Save v. Spells or collapse hopeless, despondent and paralyzed for 1D6 turns. If fighting the glass within range of its web, this save must be repeated each round with a +1 bonus for each save made previously. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Remove Fear</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and similar spells will negate the sign’s power and remove the paralysis while fighting blindfolded can also prevent them from being seen.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** The immaterial nature of the Hunting Glass provides it complete protection from normal and silver weapons/attacks. Hexed and magic weapons/atttacks do full damage. Additionally anyone fighting the Glass who can see the reflections of their own thoughts and fears in its shifting mirrored panes must Save vs. Spells each round to avoid confusion. If confused there is a 50% that their attacks will be aimed at another nearby target (likely an ally).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*** Rather than bite, Hunting glass can scoop up a victim of its traps and drain them of thought, hope and aspirations. This does 2D6 damage a round and those who die this way will rise as ghouls in 1d6 days.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**** Hunting glass can climb and brachiate through the canopy of the jungle, and it will do so if seriously injured (ideally with a paralyzed victim in it’s mouth).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Owlbears</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Jungle Owlbears are slightly smaller, considerably less massive, quicker and have much more tactical acumen than their counterparts in less competitive arcane ecosystems. The owlbears of the Midnight Jungle are a nearly black blue, with glossy feathers and fur of the same concealing color and they hunt in packs, communicating across distances with their ululating hoots and growls. They will attack from ambush, they will draw prey into traps, attack from several angles, stalk and wait for opportunities and will sniff out tasty arcane magic to devour (including magic-users).</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Jungle Owlbear</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> HD 3+2 (17 HP), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">AC 5/15, ATK 3 (claw/claw/bite) ATK BONUS +5, DAM 1d6/1D6/1D10*, MV 50’, SV CL4, ML 10</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Jungle Owlbears cannot hug prey like their more massive counterparts in colder climes, but they can and will leap or drop from ambush on a successful surprise gaining +4 hit and doing x3 damage with their beak attack.</span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Razor Birds</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Ponderous looking flightless birds, 14’ tall with necks outstretched that move with surprising grace. Razor Birds have luxurious black and purple plumage that is valuable as a trade commodity (100 GP per bird). Razor Birds fight with their strong silver scaled legs and namesake beak, a slab of cutting black horn capable of shearing through armor without pause. Worse than the brutal physicality of the giant birds is their cruelty and cunning - Razor Birds lay traps, simple snares, deadfalls and covered pits filled with wooden stakes mark their territory.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Razor Bird</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* HD 5 (30 HP), AC 5/15**, ATK 5 (kick/bite**) ATK BONUS +6, DAM 1D10/1D8, MV 50’, SV F5, ML 6</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* There is a 3 in 6 chance that an encounter with Razor Birds will begin with one of their traps, a deadfall or pit that can be avoided with a 4D6 check vs. Dexterity or a snare with a 2 in 6 chance of pulling a party scout or lead high into a nearby tree. Within a couple of round of the trap springing the Razor Birds will appear, seeking to slowly torment anything their traps have caught to death.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** Razor Bird beaks are unnatural strong and preternaturally sharp and treat all non-magical armor as if it didn’t exist (shield, natural, magic and Dex based AC still apply).</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Revenant Legion</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Revenant Legionaries are marching dead men, emaciated flesh stretched over worn down bones. They are animate only because of ancient magics and festering ambition, sickly, grizzled men with hollow eyes and splotched torn flesh. A unit of the Legion is easy to hear or see coming, their ancient, blackened and rusted armor screeches and clanks while they croak forgotten marching songs to the time of their rotted boot soles’ rhythmic crash. Each Legionary is constantly on the lookout for food in the form of insects or small animals it can grab on the march, or larger prey the entire company can fall upon and devour, but their shriveled red eyeballs can’t see far into the gloom. Life in the Jungles of Midnight avoids the Legion’s companies as they would a flash flood or the rare lighting fire, suspending the normal relations of predator and prey while fleeing before the hungering dead. The Legion is undead, though its members don’t know it, and it is capable of speech, though it has nothing meaningful to say beyond justifications for its cannibal excesses, and the endless march has left little besides military jargon in broken High Imperial for the Legion to say it in.</span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Revenant Legionary</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> HD 2, AC 5/15 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ATK 1* (bare hands) ATK BONUS +3, DAM 1D6* MV 40’, SV F2, ML 10</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Upon entering into melee combat with legionaries each legionary can direct their mad eyes at a single opponent who must save vs. Paralysis/Possession or suffer paralysis for 1D6 turns (usually while the ghouls devour them).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>River Draugr </b>- Sullen, bloated and spongy corpses filled with malice and anger at the living. Draugr aren’t aggressive, rather they are filled with jealous, seething rage and seek to drag the living into the muddy river’s embrace as companions to their misery. They are unlikely to attack directly, unless there are enough of them to drag an entire boat to the bottom along with its crew, but their intent is always drowning and murder.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">River Draugr</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> HD 4, AC 7/13* </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ATK 1* (bare hands) ATK BONUS +5, DAM 1D6** MV 30’, SV F4, ML 6</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*River Draugr are immune to normal weapons, but take full damage from silver and magical weapons and attacks, they are also immune to sleep, charm and mind affecting spells. Fire and magical fire do ½ damage to them because of their waterlogged nature.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**River Draugr will attempt to grapple foes and leap into the river to drown them, they have a Strength of 15 for grappling purposes.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-70414009209973869802017-10-31T08:44:00.002-07:002017-10-31T08:45:08.475-07:00The Divine Wight Part 4 - Jungle Introduction<br id="docs-internal-guid-cf72bec6-7318-4110-6d48-3bc9e33c283b" />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 30pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">THE JUNGLE OF MIDNIGHT</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dense foreboding jungle the color of a bone bruise, but vibrant with squalling life, spices and bursts of strange color. Its dangers leak from the body of a fallen god, decaying at its heart.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Jungle of Midnight is a unfinished country, prehistoric, where a tall, many layered canopy combines with heat and damp to create a steaming, shaded pit, full of obscenity - violent and base. All nature in the jungle is fighting for survival, choking, asphyxiating, writhing, fornicating and rotting away. Despite the startling blues and jewel greens of feathers and leaves, the jungle it is a place of misery, the trees live in misery, the birds live in misery - they do not sing only scream with misery. With an overwhelming misery, overwhelming fornication, overwhelming growth and an overwhelming lack of order, there is no real harmony as a human could conceive it in the Jungle of Midnight, only the natural harmony of overwhelming and collective murder.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "rye"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">JUNGLE TRAVEL: </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Travel in the Jungle is hard, sweaty, exhausting and is best done on foot. The tangled vines, branches and uneven jungle floor make travel on horseback nearly impossible, and pack animals can’t move any better. Mounted travel or travel with pack animal will be at ½ speed (humanoid porters don't reduce speed). The heat and damp are oppressive and ruinous, so much so that characters wearing metal armor will be at a -3 to all rolls after only a few turns of outdoor exertion.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The best way to travel in the jungle is by river, though this will only take the party part of the way to their destination. Foot travel is slow as paths must be hacked through the fecund undergrowth and tangling vines. Days for travel are marked on the regional map, but represent only a few miles of actual foot travel.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "rye"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>EXHAUSTION AND DEATH: </b> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Heat stroke, exhaustion, thousands of stinging insect bites, dysentery, infected wounds and strange fevers are the fate of non-natives in the Jungle of Midnight. Some extreme implications of the jungle environment are included on the Obstacle/Occurrence encounter list but otherwise I would assume that the party are skilled and experienced adventurers - prepared for harsh environments. If your players go to extremes in failing to prepare for a short wilderness journey, run out of supplies or are driven away from their camp you might consider the following optional rules: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Exhaustion:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Without supplies, characters suffer from exhaustion after each day. Suffering a cumulative -2 per day on all rolls. If this penalty is ever greater than an individual character’s CON they will die of starvation and related ailments. A successful survival check and using up a ½ day can create enough food for the party (assuming all the party members are involved) and some random encounters may also create food. Scavenging and hunting without a skilled survivalist will also find ‘food’ but require a successful Save vs. Poison for 1D6/3 party members to avoid killing themselves with some of the horribly toxic berries, animals and plants of the jungle. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dysentery:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Water is abundant in the Jungle, but without a skilled survivalist (or a clear plan about how they will purify it) drinking jungle water will quickly lead to illness, reducing travel speed by ½ and inflicting 1D6/3 points of damage per day until the sick adventurer receives a week of bed rest and clean water.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Infection:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Wounds in the jungle tend to become infected and infested with blue mold, insect larva and crystalline growth. Natural healing won’t occur due to minor infection, and wounds have a chance to become infested each day (3D6 vs. Constitution) which will cause 1D6 damage and produce a raging fever (reduce travel speed by ½ and -4 to all rolls).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All negative impacts of jungle ailments are cumulative. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "rye"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">GM’s NOTES: </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Jungles of Midnight are not only a jungle, erupting with life, hot, sticky and strange, but also a magical sink, created by the near destruction of an elder god. Magical sinks are best thought of as pollution or radiation zones, areas where powerful sorcery has burned through the order of the terrestrial world and slowly leaks out changing and warping everything. The jungles are an especially powerful, ancient and stable sink. The radiation from the dying god has changed the people within into both the Brutes and Autochthons, but also transformed everything else - from the matt black dirt to all plant and lesser animal life - uniformly blue, purple, emerald or black and glassy, serpentine, glowing eyed, long plumed or waxy. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">An alien environment, though not intrinsically hostile to travellers more than any other jungle teeming with strange life, is hard on strangers.. The heat, oddity and humidity of the jungles, even for those walking the shadowed depths of the forest floor or poling on the wide slow river is crushing. To emphasize this one may consider introducing exhaustion rules and requiring the party to drink large amounts of fresh water (at least two water skins a person per day).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">RANDOM ENCOUNTERS IN THE JUNGLE:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Random encounter checks in the Jungle use an ‘overloaded’ or ‘exploration’ die system and are rolled four times a day, though the actual encounter or event should be placed where and when it makes the most sense to the referee. A D12 should be rolled on any encounter table if the party is river-borne, while a D10 is sufficient on land. Dawn, Noon, Dusk and Midnight are the rough times for encounters or events and the type of event is determined as follows:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D6</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Type of Event</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Encounter - Dangerous encounters with potential rivals and malicious beasts</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Landmark - A distinctive landmark is spotted, which provides a good reference point for marking distance and allows for future returns to the location. If the Party is encamped treat this encounter as a ‘5’.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sign - A sign of potential encounters or possibly some other interesting find.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Fauna - Harmless or at least peaceful fauna is encountered, it may usually be ignored and sometimes hunted.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Weather - The weather changes from the normal or previous condition. The normal condition is humid, shadowy gloom and extreme heat, day or night.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Occurrence/Obstacle - Some sort of event occurs that requires player attention to resolve. If this event occurs at camp ignore the result.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-48212972324483146012017-10-29T16:21:00.000-07:002017-10-29T16:23:39.138-07:00The Divine Wight Part 3 - Ibian NPCs<br id="docs-internal-guid-cf72bec6-6a69-34fe-153f-bfcdf9f10251" />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 30pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">NPCS OF POWER IN UNDEFENDED IB</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Bakesh, The</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Liche (INT 18, WIS 18, CHR 16) HD11 (46 HP), AC 0/20*, ATK 1** freezing touch, ATK BONUS +12 to hit, DAM (2D6), MV 40’, SV MU 10, ML 10.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* The Bakesh is ringed in powerful wards and is permanently under the effect of a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">shield </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">spell, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">protection</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (effects Imperial Clergy/outsider entities) and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">protection from normal missiles</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. The Bakesh can elect to counterspell any spell attack against her instead of taking her next action which will negate the attacking spell and on a successful Save v. Spells reflect it at its caster. She also has the inherent abilities to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">speak with dead</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">detect magic,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">read magic</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">identify</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> magic items (though it sometimes takes a while). </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**The Bakesh can levitate at will, and create powerful missile attacks that necrotize flesh, decay the inanimate and drain life in lieu of attacking with her touch. These attacks strike a single target as a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">magic missile</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (negated by the shield spell/save for ½ damage) for 11D6 damage or as a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">fireball</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> like blast with a burst value of 11, doing 11D6/2 points of damage (save for ½ damage). She may also cast the following spells once per day: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">change self</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sleep,comprehend languages, detect invisible, unseen servant, dancing lights, mirror image, darkness 15’ radius, audible glamour, stinking cloud, invisibility, ESP, phantasmal force, blink, fly, dispel magic, suggestion, fear, wall of ice, monster summoning II, minor globe of invulnerability, ice storm, confusion, animate dead, cloudkill, teleport, feeblemind, hold monster, wall of force, magic jar, death spell, freezing sphere, invisible stalker, grasping hand, monster summoning V, maze, mass charm, gate, time stop. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It should be noted that all of the Bakesh’s spells are necromantic in nature and character: her </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">stinking cloud </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">smells of rotting flesh, her </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">monster summonings</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> will bring the undead, her </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">unseen servant</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is a tormented spirit and her </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">timestop</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> pulls all effected into a shadowy spirit world. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Should the Bakesh desire to cast alternate spells, she can with a day to prepare and as long as she is near her home and/or </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Grimoire of Woe.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Grimoire of Woe</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (6HD, AC 9/11 immune to normal weapons, ATK 1 Bite, ATK BONUS +7 to hit, DAM 1D10) An animate 6’ tall 4’ thick book of evil intent, anthropodermic pages and carnivorous tendencies that contains a great deal of arcane knowledge, including the vast majority of spells in a necromantic form and the process of transforming oneself into a liche. Unless mastered (a process that takes more than a lifetime of effort - the Bakesh has done it) it will require a successful grappling attack vs. the book’s strength of 12 (note as with all grappling efforts the book freely attacks the grappler) to open the book to a page that contains 1D6/3 random spells (Roll 1D10 for the level of each spell, on a 10 there’s no spell but some fascinating fragment of esoteric knowledge instead). Turning to a new page will require an additional effort in the form of another grapple and reactive attack by the grimoire. The Grimoire may only be opened by the intended reader. If the book successfully devours a reader it will add their soul and knowledge to its pages.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Bakesh normally looks like a wealthy Imperial noble in the comically outdated fashions of Ib and wearing an enameled mask of a woman with stately but sad features. Underneath she is a shell of carved ivory limbs filled with grave dust, ashes and fragments of bone. Beneath her mask is another mask of an ivory skull and beneath that the Bakesh’s original skull of pitted, burnt bone. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If the Bakesh is challenged she can also call upon several charmed human guards/stranglers (3rd to 6th level fighters) wearing heavy scale armor and skilled in unarmed combat (damage with gauntleted hands is 1D6+2) or if truly concerned a hidden cohort of 20 armored skeleton warriors (HD 3/AC 16) and 6 wraiths under her control. She also has an 8HD flesh golem buried in her lovely formal garden, but it’s unreliable, berserking in combat and messy - the Bakesh would hate to call it up to hunt her foes as doing so would require digging through one of her favorite topiaries.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hex Ruttergund</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - MU10 (INT 16, DEX 5, WIS 14) HP 14, AC 8/12, ATK 1*, ATK BONUS +4 to hit, DAM by Weapon, MV 30’, SV MU 10, ML 6</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Wand of Ash and Sighs</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - BV 8 fire attack - save v. spells or paralyzed (12 charges), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Coward’s Ring</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - AC 12, casts mirror image if attacked (6 charges)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Hex Ruttergund has the following spells memorized, but might be convinced to memorize more combat oriented spells if he had to: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">detect magic, read magic, unseen servant, detect invisibility, rope trick, ESP, tongues, suggestion, hold person, polymorph other, polymorph self, dimension door, teleport, contact other plane. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Coward’s Ring</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> ugly squared brass ring with 6 charges - AC 12 protection and if wearer is attacked in melee, ring will cast </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">mirror image</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> with 3 images using 1 charge. Ruttergund can recharge it, but it’s an annoying chore.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Wand of Ashes and Sighs </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> A tooled steel rod with a burn scarred tip - 12 charges - Cone of hot ash 1 target in melee, BV 8 at short range - cause D6 damage and humans/humanoids save vs. spells or collapse, paralyzed and weeping at the injustice of the world for D6 rounds). Ruttergund can recharge it, but it’s an annoying chore.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hex is a fussy, dusty man with a pot belly who often has egg in his mustache. He wears expensive, old, threadbare, clothing that is unfit for the climate and has only several elderly servants to attend him. His rather extensive and cluttered laboratory/library is concealed behind a secret door and several strong wards. Ruttergund trapped a 10HD earth elemental several month ago (compressed to melon size in a sphere of elemental water) and is interrogating it for the secrets of transmuting minerals. It is very, very angry.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rook Devi</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - CL6 (STR 16, DEX 15, WIS 14, CHR 17) HP 30, AC 2/18, ATK 1*, ATK BONUS +4 to hit melee/no ranged, DAM by Weapon +2, MV 40’, SV CL 6, ML 10</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Iridescent Flock</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (Light - AC 16, first successful missile attack each round is intercepted), Decorative Shield beautifully enameled with scenes of herons fishing, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hatred of War </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(As mace - on a 16 or above it destroys non magical armor, shield or weapons</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">of the target). </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">99 Psalms of the Beaked God</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (allows the reader to speak the language of birds)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Rook Devi usually has the following spells memorized: s</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">anctuary, light, cure light Wounds, hold person, spiritual hammer </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(summons an angry bird of blue light),</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> resist fire, dispel magic, curse </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Iridescent Flock: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> [AC 16 - Light Armor] A cloud of tiny blue glassy animated birds that perch on their master’s shoulders, and throw themselves between him and attacks before reforming from their shards, intercepting </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hatred of War - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blessed and sanctified by the Beaked God, this golden scepter of office is ornately decorated with scene of warriors in feather like armor arriving in a pastoral paradise. It can be used as a weapon effectively (as mace) against even spectral and other weapon immune targets. On a natural attack roll of 16 or above it will entirely shatter the weapon, shield or armor (wielder picks) of a target. It cannot destroy natural armor or weapons, or those that are themselves magical. As a mace the scepter has the standard ‘penetrating’ +2 bonus against heavy and medium armor.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">99 Psalms of the Beaked God -</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Written in tiny gold letters on translucent leaves of thin blue jade (Worth 5,000 GP as an art object and fragile), this holy book is the liturgy of the Beaked God written in a dead language. While holding it the owner can speak (or more precisely sing) and understand the language of birds. Most birds are quite idiotic, boisterous and petty - with nothing to discuss except egg size, bird pecking orders and braggadocious plumage grooming tips.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rook Devi wears artifacts of the Beaked god over a blue silk loincloth embroidered with golden designs, aping the style of the jungle’s autochthons. Rook has money and connections and can call upon several house guards (fighters) of 2nd to 4th level in bronze plate armor (AC 17) who specialize in unarmed combat (attack with feet and hands for 1D6+1 damage) or hire mercenaries for any expedition he mounts.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-15069865880776727832017-10-27T11:12:00.003-07:002017-10-27T11:12:43.032-07:00The Divine Wight Part 2 - Undefended Ib<i>Every wilderness adventure needs a starting point and the tradition for "Jungle Adventure" is to start in an exotic port - a polyglot and strange place filled with sailors, wanderers and mysteries that startle the civilized explorer. The use of North African tropes is traditional for building the liminal space between the civilized 'North' and the unsullied, wilderness, unexplored 'South' and I don't think I've entirely avoided it here. I'm not sure what Undefended Ib is beyond a dingy timeless place of exile for the Fallen glories of Empire. Clearly remains the </i><i>entrepôt for decadent jungle trade goods, but it was once more I think - a legion fortress city - the ultimately precarious distant limb of Imperial overreach, unaware that its body is as dead as the ghost legions that guard it.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 30pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">UNDEFENDED IB</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sleepy and decadent, the far outpost of a dying empire and home to exiles, ghosts and depravity. Weapons are forbidden in Ib as to carry them breaks an ancient compact with the city’s ghostly protectors. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Beyond the fecund waste of the Sea of Grass, past the square peaks of the Ravening Mountains and the great demon corrupted sink of the ever burning Heart Provinces is the Jungle of Midnight. The crumbling spires of the Undefended Citadel of Ib erupt from the headwaters of a long nameless river on the Hook Shore beyond the Inner Sea, where the ghost herons hunt in the shallows waiting for fish to swim between the transparent shears of their glassy beaks. A few traders sail there each year, spending months on the tossing salt waves with the haunted shores of the Old Empire to the North, enduring in anticipation of the wealth a hold full of dangerous foreign cargo will bring.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The town of Undefended Ib is a small port on ancient slime covered pilings of black alchemical iron. No man is allowed to bring weapons into Ib’s streets for fear of calling a tide of spirits down from the citadel above. The few ancient nobility, their ancestors exiled here to rot happily among the tropical breezes and narcotic blue mango of the jungle, keep a languid peace by employing enormous wrestlers, stranglers and pugilists or resolve disputes by contests at drunken poetry. The common people trade in goods from the jungle, most traded from the lantern eyed men of the interior. Black jaguar skins, glowing cockatrice feathers and potent drugs are exchanged for bronze spear heads and glass beads. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The town itself consists of nine crumbling late Successor Empire mansions, stone block and riveted arcane steel wedding cakes eight to ten stories high, dwarfing the riverstone and thatch huts, warehouses and market of the trade town below, but equally dingy and small in the shadow of the massive black spires of the Undefended Citadel of Ib. Like four of the mansions, and the top five or so floors of the others, the citadel is utterly abandoned. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br class="kix-line-break" /><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LAWS OF IB: </span></span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The normal laws of civilized lands against theft, violence and cruelty exist in Ib, though the town’s decadence, depravity and languid self regard mean that any crime but one can be forgotten for a large enough bribe. That one crime is bearing weapons - any tool of physical violence more imposing than a dagger or heavy walking stick will not be allowed on shore. The locals have no real means of enforcing these rules and the dock master will implore or suggest that any bearing arms go beyond the town’s streets by sundown rather than calling guards or making threats. Town’s folk will make signs against evil, refuse to do business with and look with pity and real concern at any armed person, but they will not interfere. They need not interfere, the Law of Peace is enforced by a much more sinister power than even the cable armed stranglers that guard Ibian nobility - the Lost Legion of the Undefended Citadel of Ib.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">THE CITADEL OF IB:</span></span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thousands of arrow slits, windows, gates and weapons ports are open to the wind and the Summer’s torrential sea rains. Nothing lives in the citadel and nothing visits it’s nearly endless halls - bare except for mud, gravel and rust flakes. Even moss and lichen refuse to grow. Neither rats, nor any of the millions of bats that swarm from the lofts and attics of the town below inhabit the citadel’s black spires, because each night the citadel’s haunts slay even these inoffensive vermin. The citadel is the jealously guarded domain of the ghostly Lost Legion - spirits of Imperial legionaries, purported to be all of those of the ‘Terico VI - “Ironclad”’ who died over 500 years ago on a various expeditions to tame the Jungle of Midnight and confront the threat of Vehissu.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Almost all of the folk tales and rumors about the citadel are true. The ghosts are real, and any necromantically attuned individual will feel their presence from miles away, a roiling sea of undeath made up of hundreds or thousands of individual spirits. The ghosts keep the peace in Undefended Ib by fear and midnight appearances, but are more active in slaying anyone who trespasses in their citadel between noon and dawn. Any who carry arms beyond a dagger or cudgel in Ib will be attacked in the night (along with 2D20 random others in nearby buildings) and seized by a squad of 12 spectres sometime after dusk. The spectral legionaries will drain the souls of their victims in the street and march their shades off to wail beneath the citadel. If successfully resisted a larger force of 24 spectres will come the next night, carrying off twice as many citizens. It will double each night until on the seventh day seven hundred and sixty eight spectres will descend in a great marching block from the citadel and depopulate the entire terrified town (though most including all faction leaders will have fled into the jungle by then).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br />Any who explore the dark citadel in the afternoon or at night will find themselves hunted by packs of 1D6 spectres which will appear every turn with a random encounter check of 1-3 in 6.<br /><b><br /></b><u>Lost Legionary</u> (Spectre) - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-cf72bec6-5eda-ac1a-7466-5b71bbb13179" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">HD6 (30 HP), AC 2/18*, ATK 1** necrotic touch/blade, ATK BONUS +7 to hit, DAM (1D8), MV 50’/fly 100', SV F6, ML 10.</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Immune to mind affecting spells and non-magical attacks.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Touch drains 1 level of experience in addition to damage (Save v. Spells to avoid drain), victims drained below 0-level rise as spectres<br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">THE PEOPLE OF UNDEFENDED IB: </span></b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The town, though distant and sleepy, can offer the supply items needed by adventurers. However, medium and heavy armor is unavailable and no magical items or scholar services can found (unless one befriends certain noble families). Carousing in Ib consists of heavy doses of addictive, hallucinogenic jungle drugs and the company of scrawny ashy-skinned odalisques/addicts or members of the local nobility (which amount to the same). The townsfolk are a varied mix of peoples and origins, though there is a tendency toward greyish skin tones and large blue or green eyes hinting at jungle ancestry.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The citizens of Undefended Ib engage in lackadaisical industry to produce goods for the native trade, but know relatively little about the Jungle of Midnight, beyond the value of its exports and rumors of the dangerous beasts that inhabit it: giant jaguar, cockatrices, invisible hunters, blue feathered owlbears and huge poisonous serpents. It’s general knowledge that the jungle is full of lost cities and ruins, dating back to primordial history, but the location of any specific ruin is subject to contradictory rumor. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">THE COMMONERS OF IB:</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There are at least 20,000 people in Undefended Ib and the farms around it - fishermen and plantation workers are the most common, but all manner of society are represented. At least on ship of sea faring size is always in the harbor and several smaller vessels are also available. However, due to Ib’s special protectors it has no living militia or military. Vigils carrying heavy bell (treat as maces) walk the night streets and criminals learn elaborate wrestling arts, but even if confronted with imminent destruction Ib’s people could only must 2,000 untrained defenders, unarmored and equipped with staves.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">NOBLE HOUSES OF IB: </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There are five families of Noble Imperial stock, grown stranger and more indolent than even their counterparts in the Capital, but more excited to meet travellers of high status. Travelling members of the Imperial Nobility will be besieged by marriage offers and invitations to quickly arranged, shoddy balls where the same forty or so people show up dressed in the same badly maintained bits of antique finery. Due to many generations of inbreeding most members of the nobility of Ib look similar, with long melancholic faces, stretched crane-like bodies, big green eyes with a touch of luminosity, and greyish skin with a bluish undertone. Generally the nobles know very little, and persist on the inertia of ancient tariff rights, a steady diet of narcotics and endless petty gossip.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The servants of Ib’s Nobles tend to be human, except for the house servitors of the Ib-Faber who resemble golden shelled crabs with long necks and human faces. Again excepting the Ib-Faber, the nobles (and some more important merchants) are protected by guard forces of large muscular wrestlers or pugilists who are capable metting out injury and death without the use of weapons. All of the families’ business is run by their factorial agents, a corrupt and scheming lot who actually control the tariffs and taxation of Ib’s trade for their own short term benefit. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">The Comoranti</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - The Comoranti are the current dominant family, only by virtue of their large numbers, the recent rise in the popularity of certain blue dyes for export and a generation of factorial agents slightly less corrupt and incompetent then most. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mungo Comoranti</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Youthful Family Head, has a penchant for heavy drinking and exotic tipples that sets him apart from the rest of the nobilities’ addiction to narcotics and has made him rather chubby. Secret: An imbecile puppeted with some success by his valet and best friend “Charce”. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">The Bakeshi</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - The Bakeshi have been such intensive addicts and sybarites for so long it’s unclear how the family holds onto their wealth or even engenders new generations.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Bakesh</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - The leader of the family is a title and a mask, worn by what is allegedly the oldest living female family member. The height, weight and voice of the Bakesh seem to change sometimes however, though they are usually the harsh rasp of a calculating crone whose long decadent life has left her supremely jaded. Secret: There is only one true Bakeshi, and she an undead magus of rare power and great age. Retired to Ib, the Bakesh studies the generations of her ‘family’ and certain terrible abstract elements of necromantic theory. There is nothing in the mortal world that she particularly wants. When The Bakesh needs new family members she finds an appropriate looking specimen, steals them away and forces them into the life of a drug addled noble with dire magics (most don’t mind). </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Ruttergund</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Hex Ruttergund and his son are the last remaining members of this once noble family. They are both bookish, off putting and smell like a combination of narcotic pipe ash and bachelor sweat. Pertumbo Ruttergund (the son) seeks a wife who shares his fascination with the collection, illustration and codification exotic sea shells. The Ruttergunds a financially stable only because they rarely spend any money.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hex Ruttergund</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - The elder of the Ruttergunds, he hopes his family line won’t slide into extinction, but is far too fascinated with his own studies to do more then make incompetently charming invitations to potential suitors for his pedantic son. Secret: Hex is a 10th level wizard specializing in spells of transformation and transmutation. He knows more about the Beaked God than any living person - including all rumors on the above tables and the God’s approximate location. Hex might share spells and local knowledge as part of a deal to keep his family line alive.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Ib-Faber</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - The Il-Faber are the most recent noble family to arrive in Ib. They are notable only for their odd golden shelled, long necked, human face servitors and because they still have connections in the Capital. The other nobles of Ib consider them gauche interlopers, but seek their approval because they have no deep centuries held vendettas with the Ib-Faber.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cosmo Ib-Faber</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - A supremely attractive androgyne of about forty, Cosmo loves a good story and offers patronage to explorers, travellers and adventurers. The rest of the family is similarly open and forthcoming, but they are also terrible, aloof and arrogant with cosmopolitan schemes. The stink of the Capital clings to them, even three generations in exile. Secret: Cosmo will do just about anything for wealth or magical power that might allow the Ib-Fabers a chance at returning to Capital society.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Devi</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - The Devi are the oldest and strangest of the noble families of Ib. Their skin is nearly blue and their eyes glow in in the night. Their mansion creaks with age and is overgrown with jungle vines inside and out. They are aloof and seem immune to the debilitating effects of the narcotics they consume in bulk. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Petulence Devi</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - The leader of the house is a woman of kindly smiles and wizened appearance. She is keen on stories of the jungle and those who trade with the autochthons there, she would love to hear of the lost city and its inhabitants. Secret: Devi is an devotee of the Beaked God and head of a secret sect. She is in contact with the Blue Monks, but finds their passivity irksome and seeks to bring the god back to his full power.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rook Devi</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - A younger house member, hardy and tall with a flashing eye and stern demeanor. Rook is a rather eligible bachelor but seems uninterested in the social life of Ib. Secret: Rook is a 6th level War Cleric of the Beaked god, perhaps the only one remaining. He would go into the jungle if he believed he had a chance to raise his god.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">HIRING GUIDES:</span></span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Of course a guide can be hired in Ib, though all are worthless. Most guides will take 100 GP as an upfront fee and an additional 25 GP a day. Guides will impart some useful knowledge about jungle travel, specifically: the importance of buying a boat (each riverboat is good for 10 passengers or 3 crew and enough supplies for 60 man days of food and water and costs 200 GP), the danger of wearing heavy armor in the jungle and the need for supplies and clean water (1GP a man day). They may encourage the party to hire porters (they can arrange a string of 10 for 500 GP) but otherwise are mostly useless in the Jungle of Midnight.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As personalities Guides vary greatly, from lean glowing eyed native outlaws to former legion men gone to seed and sweating:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D6</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Useless Daredevil</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Description</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mon the Goldhound</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blustering former legionnaire, gone to fat, sweating sickness and perversion - tells great stories, mostly lies.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Gris</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Feather clad autochthon renegade, has never been into the jungle, kidnapped by missionaries as a child - denies this.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Shakes</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Quivering filthy addict of numerous jungle narcotics, a real veteran of the Jungle of Midnight - rarely coherent.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Hand of the Hidden One</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A red robed mystic with a strange brand on the forehead, claims to lead through prophecy - convincing con artist.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Clavid Bilge </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ancient sailor/Pirate/Smuggler clad in layers of tattered finery - believed cursed by fellow seadogs.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Boiled Trout</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Barkeeper, longtime Ib resident and gadfly. Looks fit and talks a good game - desperate to repay debts to the Bakesh</span></div>
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<br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">All guides share the following statistics:<br /><u>Jungle Guide:</u> Spc 3 (INT 14, CHR 15, DEX 15) (HP 9) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-cf72bec6-5eda-ac1a-7466-5b71bbb13179" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">AC 6/14, ATK 1 (by Weapon), ATK BONUS +2/+4 to hit, DAM (by weapon), MV 60’, SV Spc2, ML 6.<br />Jungle Guides have the following skills: Stealth 3, Survival 3, Chemics 2, Animal Handling 2<br />They gain +2 additional to hit with ranged weapons.<br /><br />Equipment: Light armor (AC 7), Short-bow (1D6), 30 arrows, Cutlass or Mace (1D6), 10 days rations, 60' rope, 2 water-skins, Lantern, 4 flasks of oil.</span></span></span><br /><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">RUMORS IN UNDEFENDED IB: </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The denizens of IB cannot tell the exact location of the Fallen God, but they can tell of the dangers, wonders and treasures of the jungle.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D8</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rumors on the Streets of Ib</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rumormonger</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Jungles of Midnight are a magical sink or spill, though the pollution is ancient and has infused the entire land. This is most obvious in the animals, all are twisted and most a bit immaterial.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A scholar from distant civilization, smoking a clay pipe. Her face tanned dark by Eastern sun and dull suit patched with exotic fabrics. She wishes to exchange stories while she waits on her ship home. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There are villages in the jungle, the true people there trade with Ib. They are wise and know all the secrets of the jungle, all the ways, the creatures and the treasures.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">An Autochthon from the jungle, eyes huge and glowing and a skin a bright blue. She wears a wrap of soiled blue feathers and bark cloth painted with bird and lizards. She begs for coin to feed her infant.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">They say that there’s a god in the jungle, and the bleeding clay explorers sometimes find is it’s flesh. The clay may be made into a valuable curative by burning it in magical flames.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A dock walloper, glistening with sweat, his stringy but impressive physique on display except for the parts concealed by a damasked loincloth and oiled leather harness studded with gold buttons. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The big blue birds of the jungle are the most deadly, with the best plumage, their songs will turn a man into crystal.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Languid with clammy flesh and bloodshot eyes above rich fabrics, the nobles of Ib are relentless gossips. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Bakeshi are very great powers, the Cormaranti only rule because they allow it, but Hex Ruttergund is a strange man, very stingy with coin.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Standing in full sun to advertise his endurance, this mercenary judicial strangler bulges under a red silk robe. He will talk to any who wish to settle scores.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The legions are still here and they do guard Ib, not all tales are false. To enter the citadel is death, its corridors contain no gold or gems, only the memories and haints of the dead legions.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Three Priests of Death (The 198th Emperor) smell of ashes beneath ragged grey robes and beaten silver skull masks. They are friendly and courteous with a tendency to finish each other’s sentences.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Despite its shadows, the jungle is hot, humid and tangled, the old legionaries died in swarms, not only to the monsters that dwell there, but to exhaustion. Wearing heavy or medium armor in the jungle is a poor idea and will soon kill.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Wild eyed and filth covered, crooked mouth dribbling bluish juice, this mango picker has just returned from the swampy edges of the jungle and the groves of narcotic blue mango ebullient with survival. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A beast of unreason haunts the jungle, a man, a serpent or a bird. It’s gaze creates horrors and madness. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A spectral figure in black robes that conceal an armored bulk. It whispers something seemingly in at random.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-53736581049826171282017-10-26T14:30:00.003-07:002017-10-26T14:32:08.841-07:00The Divine Wight Part 1 - Intro and Rumors<br id="docs-internal-guid-cf72bec6-5a95-cc98-d6fa-63bc487948e6" />
<br id="docs-internal-guid-cf72bec6-5a95-cc98-d6fa-63bc487948e6" />
<i>In my recent review of Tomb of Annihilation I mentioned that I'd started work some time ago on a jungle adventure and included some bits of it. Some people seem to have enjoyed the small parts of the unfinished work that I shared, so I'll do some editing and maybe put up bits and piece in more or less sequential order here until I run out.</i><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "rye"; font-size: 30pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">THE DIVINE WIGHT</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">An ancient deity rots on a distant jungle shore, and promises immortality and wealth to those who are unafraid of meddling in the Gods’ cruel games.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A legend popular among those who find both present regimes and their opposition oppressive, especially those dusty secret cabals that claim long memories, is that of the Hated Pretender. The story is that of a cruel ‘false’ emperor in a time before the current powers of earth and heavens who battled even the primal deities of his age, and who in defeat still spited his enemies among the gods. Once the great Demesne of the Pretender stood supreme among nations, its glory tainted by the obscene cruelty that its hated master used to shore up its power, build its magnificent works and spread its influence. The Pretender’s foes were many, and many fell before his numberless armies and his ever more powerful champions. Only those who joined the Demesne as lesser lords survived. Alone, the Theocracy of the Beaked God didn’t break, and in the end the Pretender’s frontiers crumbled before the paladins and interventions of their avian deity. Knowing defeat was imminent The Pretender sought revenge and sent his greatest divisions, led by a cadre of most powerful champions, to penetrate the heart of the Beaked God’s realm, his holy city, where they were to ascend to his throne in the firmament and assassinate the God. As the Pretender’s allies turned against him below, his cities burnt, and his armies fell one after another, the heroes of his cause succeeded above and from the crumbling towers of his scourged capital the Pretender watched the blue comet of the Beaked God’s fall.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Few now know of that holy city’s existence, and fewer its location in the hungry vastness of the Jungles of Midnight, but it is still there, the remains of its shattered god nearby, immortal but ravaged and trapped in a nightmare of pain and insanity. The ancient city and divine flesh offer many reasons to travel there for those brave, well equipped and foolish enough to do so. The most obvious is treasure - both in the form of the city’s golden decorations and the divine flesh of the Beaked God - a magical panacea. Other motives include retrieving the weapons used by the Pretender’s agents, which are likely some of the few in existence capable of harming the divine, or even resurrecting the Beaked God on behalf of his diminished and secret cult. Conversely there are still deities that remember the primitive Beaked God, but wish what is left of him destroyed as they hope to absorb the morsel of power that remains in the Beaked God’s shattered form, and are willing to risk mortal pawns like clerics or paladins to do so.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Rumors below will provide an interested party of fortune hunters with a rare means to locate the fallen god.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "rye"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SETTING NOTES: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This adventure may be used as a companion to previous works regarding the ‘Hated Pretender’, his empire and the ‘Beaked God’. However, it does not directly follow or relate to either “Prison of the Hated Pretender” or “Dread Machine”. While not level specific, this adventure might be most suitable for characters of 5th to 7th level, as the enemies and puzzles within are potentially deadly, and the adventure’s principle antagonists are potent enough that characters without significant magical resources may be unable to prosper</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "rye"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">RUMORS OF THE FALLEN GOD: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Each of the rumors below can act as a gentle hook, and should supply the players with a vague bit of information and most importantly, the rare direction to the Fallen God’s location.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "rye"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D10</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "rye"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rumors and Mentions in Civilized Lands</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "rye"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rumormonger</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So great was the Beaked God that he had a city below his throne, clad in gold and blue gems inhabited only by his animal followers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">An ancient scroll, obviously and badly scribed from an even more ancient source. The writing is crabbed and largely incomprehensible. A bad map is included.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For an eon a god has died slow in the depths of the Midnight Jungle, his time is soon and his final convulsions will rupture the world.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A mystic, body shaved and starved in ritual asceticism, eyes wide and tongue thick with strange vision drugs. The mystic’s dreams slowly reveal the path to the god.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There is a city in the Midnight Jungle, upriver from Ib, that is filled with gold and jewels, but guarded by a great bird.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Drunken and near hysterical deep water pirate, claiming to have abandoned his trade he hides a tattooed map on his belly.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In an antique, overgrown land there is a wounded god, its heart pierced by a lance of great power. The god protects itself, but if someone could remove the lance it would live again and bring a new age.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A dolorous spirit clad in broken armor with a helm in the form of a crow’s head. It appears at dusk, pleads, whispers, promising great wealth to any who will take up its burden. It can tell the way to the city.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blue Monks, loyal to a dead God inhabit a ruined city in the Jungle of Midnight, they raise vile avian abominations and seek to return their God to life. If they aren’t stopped, they will soon succeed. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Inscriptions on a local basalt road marker known as the ‘fortunate stone’. If uprooted the stone floats in water and points like a compass to the Fallen God and the holy city.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There is a Lost God in the Jungle of Midnight, a true God that can be reborn to restore justice to the world if the evil thorn is removed from his heart.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A flock of blue birds, with impossibly long tail feathers, and jewel like green eyes sing a song of the holy city’s location that only murderers can understand. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The flesh of Gods grants those who eat it long life and cures ills, it may be burnt in arcane flame to purify it into a fine light oil for transport.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A lost and feverish man from a far land, his skin is a bright blue and his eyes glow like lamps. He is dying but his ramblings tell a tale and his journey from the jungle.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">8</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Jungle of Midnight is full of blue cockatrices, those that hear their hissing calls will turn to glass as will any who touch their living flesh.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dreams of mist shrouded green black jungle, pyramids topped in gold, something screams in pain in the distance. The way there is clear in the morning.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-76580860183109465782017-10-23T11:45:00.003-07:002017-10-23T14:07:21.519-07:00TOMB OF ANNIHILATION - A Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">WIZARDS CAN STILL SURPRISE ME - TOMB OF ANNIHILATION REVIEW</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Another 203 page behemoth from Wizards of the Coast. I’ve read </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Out of the Abyss</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, C</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">urse of Strahd</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, even </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Hoard of the Dragon Queen</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and more, and everything from WotC these days is over 200 pages. They aren’t all entirely bad, but they all contain the same grievous failings, failings that one can guess from the fact that the teams writing them often appear to have little experience doing professional writing for editions of Dungeons & Dragons prior to 3.5. Even with 5E adventures that have stronger open world elements, such as </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Out of the Abyss</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Curse of Strahd</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (both also headed by Chris Perkins) have a devotion to scene based adventure design, excessive backstory, muddled text lacking evocative detail, a focus on set-piece combat as the default solution/climax of any scenario, a disdain for both player critical thinking ability and GM choice. You end up with a huge volume that’s so optimized for a GM to read it like a novel that it is almost unusable at the table, and when used, focused on dragging the players along a specific story and campaign arc in a largely predetermined way.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zVthGw5j4Ud4QSWGyH6qb2_HD523j272g2Xmr2FyopDaft4_tVYmpWguDIupB3oulkTG8XgRpJc9cg8S-amMRW14FtLRnN0F8di9gcuqxADIprVL5hLsi2CLuxLzPCk2Bdi0yh-oVVE/s1600/GreenFaceMask_Gallery_Thumb.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="870" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zVthGw5j4Ud4QSWGyH6qb2_HD523j272g2Xmr2FyopDaft4_tVYmpWguDIupB3oulkTG8XgRpJc9cg8S-amMRW14FtLRnN0F8di9gcuqxADIprVL5hLsi2CLuxLzPCk2Bdi0yh-oVVE/s400/GreenFaceMask_Gallery_Thumb.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">This and all other art appears to be promotional imagery for the adventure or related (videogames, boardgames) products.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A first sign of hope is that the writing team wasn’t entirely the same with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline;">. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Steve Winter was involved and has a long history with earlier games: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Star Frontiers</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, early </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Dragon</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and as the writer of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Ruins of Adventure</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (The basis for Pool of Radiance). Even Chris Perkins who has been a lead writer for Wizard’s later editions and 5E products provided an adventure to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Dungeon Magazine Issue #11</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, that Bryce of 10-Foot Pole describes as “</span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=2195" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">A tournament module, with scoring. It revolves around a four-level keep/castle with about fifty rooms in it. The party has to make their through it to the end. The two major occupants are betting on the parties outcome and if they’ll make it, with the adventure eventually ending with the party fighting both of them. It’s not terrible for a tournament adventure: it’s self-contained and there’s a decent amount of variety in the encounters as well as options available to the players in navigating the keep.</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">” Pretty high praise from him for anything published in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Dungeon</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. WIll Doyle and Adam Lee are newer game writers who seem to mostly have worked on 5e product.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Despite having some writers who might understand how location based adventure design works, and presumably have run games where the most important use of a written product was providing a skeleton and overview of a location or set of locations for players to adventure in rather than providing pages of boxed text to read aloud as justification for moving from complex tactical combat to complex tactical combat, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> doesn’t start with much promise.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Like every other Wizard’s product <u>Tomb of Annihilation</u> promises epic adventure that will raise a party from low level (1st) to high level (11th). Using 5th Edition’s default experience points for bloody handed killing this means a lot of dead monsters. The book that follows includes its share of the rest of WotC’s big design flaws (copious read aloud text, promise to adhere to larger underlying story, dense writing that conceals important location aspects/elements, requirements for the Monster Manual to determine enemy strength and assumptions of PC morality). More hopefully </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is a throwback and an intentional re-framing of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Horrors</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (It includes the infamous Acererak) and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Dwellers of the Forbidden City</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Like the unofficial marketing for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Horrors</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> claims to be exceptionally deadly to characters - with the suggestion of an optional “meat grinder” mode (which amounts to a harder death save), and a story mechanic that makes character death more or less permanent. There are even a few words on providing replacement characters for the dead. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />Despite my initial foreboding <u>Tomb of Annihilation</u> won me over - it's by no means a great adventure, but it's solid, interesting and usable in a way that prior 5th edition products haven't been.</span></span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A Note on Orientalism.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The adventure itself is set in a pseudo-African jungle region - Chult. With the ugly stupidity typical of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Forgotten Realms</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, in the past Chult has pretty much been the early 20th century ‘Jungle-Africa’ with primitive bands of savages and a lack of geographic variation - the repetition of pulp fiction cliches about dark and savage jungle as opposed to anything more nuanced.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <u>Tomb of Annihilation</u> goes some way to redress this past characterization</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Orientalism, exotification, and eurocentric cultural views plague fictional works - even D&D adventures. The treatment of ‘jungle adventures’ and ‘Egypt adventurers’ by older editions of D&D suffer from this - though the classic critique of Siad’s <u>Orientalism</u> - that Western artists portray the ‘Orient’ (specifically North Africa and the Middle East) as static outsider cultures in line with the propaganda of colonial empire [I simplify] are perhaps less serious in that all D&D cultures are static and cartoonish. Still, the approach to designing adventures in exotic locales is too often to use the dressings of the pulp fiction versions of Africa, Araby or the Orient - and one that is almost a century old. In much the same way that the vanilla fantasy of popularized Tolkien blended with vague memories of King Arthur is terribly boring compared to either real medieval culture/history, the complex mythology of Tolkien, or the alien morality of<u> </u></span><u><span lang="frm">Le Morte d'Arthur</span></u><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b> </b>- pulling one’s version of fantasy Africa from 1930's Tarzan movies will lead to a flatly one dimensional setting that is far less interesting than even taking a few minutes to study the wikipedia pages on a specific region of Africa - real history, culture, lifestyles, legends and politics forming a far more fascinating basis for fantasy then the lazily imagined version. There is no need for lazy fantasy Africa either - since the 1970’s there’s been plenty of genre fiction that focuses on Africa and its landscape and culture. </span><a href="http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2015/06/thoughts-on-fantasy-africa.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">A quick read of some of Charles R. Saunders</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> “Imaro” would have been a good place to start and it dates back to the same era as white-box D&D.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Chult in <u>Tomb of Annihilation</u> is more in keeping with modern sensibilities about portraying non-Western lands and peoples, and while it plays on some of the standards and cliches of the jungle adventure, it isn’t terrible when it comes to imagining a sort of fantasy Horn of Africa. The art of local styles and people are less skins and loincloths and more the clothing of the East African coast with fantasy embellishments. Port Nyanzaru has a mechanically useful politics of faction and trade, and at least one interesting activity (dinosaur racing) that doesn’t feel entirely exotified. Of course the depictions suffer from the same failures that most WotC products suffer from - a lack of evocative detail in favor of mumbly generalities. Port Nyanzaru is “bastion of civilization and commerce in a savage land” though there’s no real examples of this that would inspire a GM or give the players the feel of a commercial city state at the edge of the wilderness (though one encounter with a dyer who is in danger of execution because of his use of black market dye is a fairly decent move in the right direction). One wishes that rather than the occasional nod in the direction of description (and the box text about ropes, tar and gulls in the port, and streets of flowering vines growing from baskets beyond is also acceptable) tables had been used to provide evocative detail.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Chult itself though often sinks into the bland sort of Fantasy Africa of Tarzan. Endless Jungles without significant variation (though the map shows some, the text provides nothing to help with this and the Hex Crawl encounters assume a uniform jungle environment), and locations that are sometimes interesting, but rarely move beyond the monumental stone ruin, primitive village (sometimes with requisite giant cooking pot on display) or rough frontier bastion/ruin. It’s still fairly uninspired and uninspiring if only rarely offering potential offense.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUeAlDjn_ajyVM8UhyphenhyphenuBwFz8DT3DYRcyyTvbVPTuKye2W3C_S0VxbL5VGBeGwMnxqanSs0Q46r5nBntJfsavnMBy-LV6O7dVjC3pinTwudANCK8B7NA0hzSI7bQUZmGdvleBLkb4jK1n8/s1600/Screen-Shot-2017-08-10-at-11.48.06-1024x578.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUeAlDjn_ajyVM8UhyphenhyphenuBwFz8DT3DYRcyyTvbVPTuKye2W3C_S0VxbL5VGBeGwMnxqanSs0Q46r5nBntJfsavnMBy-LV6O7dVjC3pinTwudANCK8B7NA0hzSI7bQUZmGdvleBLkb4jK1n8/s400/Screen-Shot-2017-08-10-at-11.48.06-1024x578.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not the Whole Map</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A Note on Art and Maps</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Art and maps in WotC products are always interesting - there’s a uniform high quality to the maps, in the WotC house style, but often they are small, poorly designed, linear and busy. <u>Tomb of Annihilation</u> is no different. While some maps (such as that of Port Nyanzaru) are rather delightful and even useful, others fail in a variety of ways.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A) The overland map of Chult, at 10 miles per hex is enormous - it’s far bigger than England in terms of land area and about the same distance from top to bottom (but much wider) - in other words it’s a huge hex map with tiny hexes offering slow movement through trackless, disease and monster infested jungles that the party will be expected to cross over and over again. It’s also so large as to be rather busy and hard to read (not in the literal sense, but hard to track anything on).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Given that sea travel is going to be the only survivable (either for the characters or the players given the monotonous nature of the hex-crawl provided) way across the continent more information on anchorages, ports and seaborne encounters would be great.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">B) Most adventure locales are very small - 5-6 keyed areas, and almost always extremely linear. The maps might be pretty, but they are so simple that they sometimes feel entirely unnecessary. Even the large ‘dungeons’ only have around 25 locations, and while less linear, are set up to encourage moving through obstacles to a specific climactic scene rather than exploration.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">C) The last and largest locale - the Tomb itself is mapped over seven levels with each level being 5-15 rooms or so. This is the closest I’ve seen 5E to providing a classic dungeon, and the maps are decent with alternate routes, verticality and some looping.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Otherwise art in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is workman-like, a bit sparse and rarely goes beyond depicting a specific NPC or item. It’s fine, feels locked into the WotC house style but some of the monster illustrations in particular add something to the adventure (partially because written description is rare and when used rather poor).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I wish more of the art showed interesting adventure locations.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">AN INAUSPICIOUS START</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Several pages at the start of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilatio</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">n are wasted with a dull plot hook - something about the Harpers, a powerful archmage as patron (why a dying arch mage would hire 1st level adventurers - even after hiring other more powerful groups who failed - and teleport them rather then either hiring more experienced adventurers or resolving the issue herself is not well explained). It is a silly fetch quest as a hook and the use of dumb magic to transport the party. All this is annoying as none of it is needed. The Death Curse (which would affect almost no one in any game I was running - as raise dead is more a miracle then anything commonplace) is described as an apocalyptic situation, and could easily be something more if one wanted a more epic game (the sun is dimming) - though again low level adventurers seem a poor choice to resolve that problem. To me the best solution to this fumbling hook is simply to place the characters in Chult and let them explain their reasons without the use of a hackneyed archmage. Additionally if one archmage is negatively impacted, certainly other great and powerful entities (dragons, immortal wizards, demi-gods, kings etc.) are going to be affected by this curse. Where are their invading armies and powerful agents? I get that 5E wants to make every campaign or adventure a heroic save the world sort of epic - but here it feels especially clumsy and bizarre. Almost every bit of railroading and forced morality in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">can be traced to the need to have in move towards the exploration of the Tomb itself and the silly death curse.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Otherwise 5e’s efforts to bake character background into character generation works well enough and the new backgrounds are used as additional individual hooks that function well enough, even if the use of pre-generated background specifics runs afoul of my personal taste for character development through play. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">FANTASY AFRICA WITHOUT EVOCATIVE DETAIL</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU6Jv6WuTahTP4UX1ogyybuoKSgG1-kGBba8Vv9j5IaIipNbbsGYUQ9HUAfz6b1FlH0YteiMCqtYTcb4r3ntIlGpO3UCgIRFgEysBoMOpjkmK9vKtUQoZC5EcKQ0snCCTldRTimbL0Dyc/s1600/tomb3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="1250" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU6Jv6WuTahTP4UX1ogyybuoKSgG1-kGBba8Vv9j5IaIipNbbsGYUQ9HUAfz6b1FlH0YteiMCqtYTcb4r3ntIlGpO3UCgIRFgEysBoMOpjkmK9vKtUQoZC5EcKQ0snCCTldRTimbL0Dyc/s400/tomb3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The art here is better then the writing</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Port Nyanzaru is the first location in Chult that the players will encounter, and it’s detailed exhaustively, for 15 pages. Most of the steps that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> takes to make Port Nyanzaru an interesting location are well done: local leaders are individually described, the city itself is keyed by region, small jobs and difficulties are listed,.there’s a nice long table of rumors, information about guides to hire and a mansion is keyed and mapped. It’s excessive and boring, even if some of the details are decent enough Port Nyanzaru to feel almost evocative: an ancient pair of ziggurats covered in shanties, or a warehouse district full of canals. The problem is that most of the detail are not remotely interesting, the writing is uninspiring and there’s enough wasted space that it becomes hard to find anything you might want within a morass of useless description like “The western half of the city is called the Merchants’ Ward because it’s the site of the Grand Souk and because many of the merchant princes’ villas are there. In general, this is the upper-class section of the city.” The name “Mechants’ Ward” and the map showing souk, mansions and broad boulevards pretty much covers that description - tell us something about the way it smells and bustles - the tinkling of fountains in the courtyards, the competition among homeowners to provide valuable and elaborate tiled sidewalks in front of their homes. Any detail really that a GM can pull out to offer the players more than a vague misty sense of a bazaar scene from some bit of standard, well-chewed Orientalist fantasy.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There is no need to tell the reader that the Grand Souk is in the Merchant Quarter (where shockingly there are merchants!) while spending an entire column immediately afterwards under the same regional subheading telling us about the Grand Souk. Likewise, there’s no reason to key every location over several pages of a general ‘Merchant Prince’s Villa’ with keys that tell us things about how the guard room contains guards, but that the nature and character of said guards depends on the specific merchant prince involved. A keyed location is specific - it is for adventuring in and to give the GM an easy way to refer to specific locations and keep track of the highly granular information of what’s going on in a location - not give general information about a general house. This mansion could be useful - but either condense it by putting in a map that labels the areas or key a specific mansion (how about the one for the evil demon worshipping merchant prince? Seems likely that one will have interesting stuff in it…) “Kitchen” can be written across the kitchen on the map, and below you can give me a table for servants and NPC personalities encountered in a Merchant Prince’s house or another for valuables one might steal (or simply that the Gm can remark on as decor). This will provide much more playability than a general key of a Mansion that’s some sort of exemplar mansion and so is entirely lacking in useful specifics. There is a random encounter table for Port Nyanazu - and it’s useful enough - but it’s well hidden in an appendix.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yet despite its flaws Port Nyanzaru manages to be an interesting enough city with sufficient factions, rumors and intrigue to make for a good start at an expedition while still conjuring up some sense of a real place (that real place apparently being Port Mogadishu). Plus it gives the players dinosaurs to interact with right away, and a key to any adventure with dinosaurs is never hide the dinosaurs.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A VAST EMPTINESS OF VIOLENCE</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As mentioned in the map section Chult is huge. It’s land is at least 500 miles across by 500 wide - 250,000 square miles. By comparison Texas is 260,000 square miles, and the United Kingdom 94,000. This size is imparted by a hex map on a minute scale - with items of interest hundreds of miles (at 10 miles a day) from each other. Chult seems to be a real hex-crawl, but </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> doesn’t provide many tools to run it. A vague set of ideas about moving slow or fast, a list of some diseases without mechanics for catching and avoiding them (except on the random encounter table) and an extensive random encounter table (with 3 chances of a 20% encounter per day of travel). While it’s nice to see wilderness encounters on a random table in a WotC product, these encounters are almost all more or less combat encounters and will lead to at least one encounter every couple of hexes - with 50 hexes of travel between Port Nyanzaru and the Tomb itself there will be a lot of time spent wandering about and encountering things. So long that I suspect the encounters will become forced and boring quite quickly - with each monster type having only one activity listed and no means of generating anything more. There are a few non-combat encounters, but not many, certainly not enough to provide variation among the dinosaur, zombie and gorrillion attacks.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Better to use nesting tables - providing interesting spots for encounters to occur in (meadow, shell field, maze of termite mounds etc) by biome, what the creatures encountered might be doing, distance, and some way of manufacturing reaction. Additionally weather effects, strange occurrences, landmarks, trail events/obstacles and some sort of actual descriptions for the biomes and regions in Chult (a table of 6 details about a Chultian Beach say) would go a long way to making the hex crawl feel less an excuse for endless wandering encounters and more a journey. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As it is this is the sort of hex crawl that has given hex crawls a reputation for being boring and unpleasant.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SMALL LOCATIONS</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The jungles of Chult have many small locations, designed for a variety of levels. Some are fairly strong, but all suffer from the problems of 5E - a dependence on skill checks to do mundane things. A crocodile temple for example has a trick to avoid its numerous traps that is clever and hinted at in descriptions - but everything within is still a set of DC checks against various stats and skills. 5e may allow for player skill at puzzle solving, but it doesn’t seem to accept the idea that it should be sufficient - there’s always a need to roll saving throws - endlessly, for everything (even climbing stairs). My main issue with this, besides skills checks being fairly boring, is the desire to reward player creativity. Dependence on skill check limits solutions, by laying out a correct solution to every puzzle (think up the solution and then succeed on the often very easy checks) and so disfavoring other player solutions. While I approve mentioning the results of common solutions to puzzles - the efforts in Tomb of Annihilation often try to remove other potential solutions with notes about impossibility.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Other small locations - a fort in the control of a mad commander, a village of very superstitious frog people, a bridge with a guardian golem, a spire of murderous pterodactyl men, a fort of colonialist mercenaries, a floating lair of a friendly lich, a pirate island, a dwarf hold seized by salamanders (the largest of these locations), a friendly birdman village,a cursed garden ruin that is home to a medusa, a broken skyship, another dwarf mine - with a dragon, and a goblin village. There are many other small locations that get a paragraph of description and feel more like landmarks than adventure locales (though one is the bay that is home to a dragon turtle).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbqAvCwgy30eJRvD_GgmWwwAW0BdbDMkyFVUSqhDb8o8q_Snz6pfbRFdO7pMZIMr8fdOXr5E0C9NGpfiFmT9piLGcm0oxd2EbZrhqpIiQimzPqZZal7Zln0pIDUYRe2vbdhVb0imvONA/s1600/Jungle-location-Tomb-of-Annihilation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbqAvCwgy30eJRvD_GgmWwwAW0BdbDMkyFVUSqhDb8o8q_Snz6pfbRFdO7pMZIMr8fdOXr5E0C9NGpfiFmT9piLGcm0oxd2EbZrhqpIiQimzPqZZal7Zln0pIDUYRe2vbdhVb0imvONA/s400/Jungle-location-Tomb-of-Annihilation.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">While these locales suffer from the over reliance on stat and skill checks mentioned above, especially at the cost of smart puzzle solutions, and are usually quite small, most are somewhat evocative in appearance (monumental statues, spires of old stone and such) and those controlled by intelligent creatures often allow for their use as part of a faction game. Sadly there’s little talk about how these factions interact, though occasionally there’s an alliance or an animosity that can be exploited by players and GMs to create a story, which is a real positive in a WotC product. The adventure would benefit if some of its flabby language were trimmed and a page showing the relations and goals of each fraction were included instead. Many of the more dangerous monsters factions (the red dragon or medusa for example) are limited somewhat poorly designed encounters that defeat the stated purpose of allowing multiple ways to resolve the encounters. The medusa for example wants to talk, and has a reasonable enough social agenda/encounter that it is a rarity in a WotC product - but if talk devolves into combat the adventure makes this combat punitive with a auto-hitting, very damaging ghost that attacks anyone who strikes the medusa after she is injured. Likewise the red dragon (dragons are always interesting factions) is willing to talk, but seems to have no goals or desires - even though a colony of aggressive salamanders (immune to her breath) lives nearby in a much nicer lair. Just as </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> pushed the medusa encounter away from combat and then tries to take corrective steps to make combat a worse idea, it pushes the dragon encounter towards combat. Again a better understanding of inter-faction conflict and each faction leaders desires would be a fine addition, and make the vastness of Chult less happenstance.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">General detail is also fairly pedestrian in these adventure locales, treasure tends to be in the form of coins or ‘100 GP gems”, though there is some variation, while monsters are rarely described with anything more than a reference to the Monster Manual or appendix. Monster tactics and relationships are sometimes mentioned, which is good, and usually these tactics are simple, but it is still an improvement over every monster simply rushing to attack. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">FORBIDDEN CITY</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Dwellers of the Forbidden City</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I4 is a Zeb Cook (and others) written module from 1981 that among other things introduces the Yaun-Ti (D&D’s proprietary snakemen). As a tournament module trap maze with a less detailed open world addition the original I4 was a bit unfocused, and its decent setting and monster creation gets lost a bit in the awkward juxtaposition between its parts. The Forbidden City of Omu gets some things right that I4 got wrong, while taking many of the evocative monsters from it and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Expedition to the Barrier Peaks</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Veggiepygmies and Froghemoths) for a spin. It also does a lot of things rather clumsily for a small sandbox with several areas and an overarching theme. Like much of Tomb of Annihilation it fails to trust the GM and players to solve open ended problems and tries to fit a single solution and single path forward onto a perfectly nice chaotic social puzzle.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The parties’ goal in Omu, if they want to enter the Tomb of Horrors (err… Tomb of the Nine Gods) is to acquire nine magic key cubes from the shrine of these dead gods and <u>Tomb of Annihilation </u>starts out right, by making it part of a multi-faction squabble within the ruined city. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Within the Forbidden city are several factions - a trap repairing kobold cult (why can’t these be humans - the last fallen remnants of the ancient Omu - it makes more sense - unless they are somehow related to the kobolds in the nearby red dragon lair), Yaun-Ti death worshippers, swarming veggiepygmy bands, a group of evil wizard adventurers, debased frogmen, and a few alpha predators (skilled cat-people hunters, holy beasts of power, and a t-rex). Many of these factions are presented as more than simple foes - the wizards, one cat-person, might be allies - even the Yaun-Ti may be potential allies. What Tomb gets wrong about factions is its desire to wrap everything up neatly and gives the GM to little insight into the motivation of the factions. The wizards, one of the cat hunters, and Yaun-ti will betray almost any deal they have agreed to, and while we know that each faction ‘might’ cooperate in some way (even the veggiepygmies who can be tricked into fighting other factions) most of this cooperation can only be obtained after a fight to test the party and amounts to very little. There is little guidance about how the faction conflict can be managed or how an allied faction can be encouraged to actually aid the party - will the Grungs fight the wizards - and under what circumstances? Will the kobolds infiltrate the Yaun-Ti stronghold and map it for the party - and for how much wealth? There’s a base assumption that the party will seek to collect all of the magic cubes - fighting their way past traps and guardians that always attack, while any factional allies remain static and uninvolved (the wizards collect cubes until discovered and the Yaun-Ti will magically grab any remaining after a while to require moving onto their stronghold as an adventure). An order of battle for each faction, their wants, needs, preferred tactics and fears would be a great addition here, but instead the authors just decide to pile up the combat encounters and make vague gestures towards non-combat solutions.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Like all 5e products, and many other areas in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, Omu has elements that reek of railroading and a forced combat focused scene-based adventure path - entirely unnecessary elements for the kind of adventure it wants to be. Anti-flight gargoyles are the first irksome brute force bit of design in OMU. The cliff ringed valley where the city hides can’t be flown into and can’t be scouted from the air (if the players have the ability to fly, let them use it). “Quantum Ogre” style GMing and encounter logic (encounters that move through a specific set of events regardless of player decisions) also appear more than once. The kobold cellar can only be found by making several DC checks to spot their traps, and the GM is advised to use the T-Rex to disrupt boring combats or one's going badly for the party. The puzzles in the several trapped shrines ask for player skill to solve, but also insist on various skill check based challenges (even to spot clues). All of these are bad habits in exploratory adventure writing and speak of a lack of trust in the GM to fairly adjudicate or and players to understand puzzles or social conflicts and find a solution without hand holding or safety from the consequences of a poor solution. Another core 5e problem that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> fails to resolve is its need to create climactic moments and advance a plot. </span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />As the party explores more and more of the lost city this underpinning anxiety about trusting the players to motivate their own exploration, the GM to run factions and the adventure to proceed without a single thread pulling the party from location to location becomes increasingly aggravating. While T</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">omb of Annihilation </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">does not force the party to be captured and enslaved by the Yuan-Ti, it makes every effort to do so and also has the Yaun-ti automatically steal the last part of the key. While the distinction between having parts of the key already in the Yaun-Ti’s hands or forcing its theft later may seem a silly convention to get annoyed by it’s precisely the sort of railroading and scene based foolishness that creates problems. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The adventure writers want the players to explore the Yaun-Ti temple palace, and they want them to search out these keys to open the Tomb, but for narrative reasons also want to create the false impression that there’s a race to collect the keys between various factions. Because of the danger that the players will outthink the adventure and GM and “win” the race, removing the necessity of visiting the Yaun-Ti temple there’s an automatic failure point built in for the party. What happens if the party anticipates this, posting guards or setting traps and allies to protect the unclaimed key parts? The adventure would have the Yaun-Ti succeed without a chance of failure and disregard the players’ intelligence and efforts? To what end - simply to create a narrative that the writers feel is more exciting. Personally if I was a player and outsmarted the other factions with careful use of resources, splitting the party, allying with other factions and generally spent my game time trying to engage with the idea of a contest to obtain key parts that the adventure is pushing, I’d be far more excited by succeeding at the difficult task then by a fait defeat at the last minute forcing the adventure on a predictable course.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SNAKES, WHY IS IT ALWAYS SNAKES</span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguB8aYOPcBp7FManeJ6YEzMCwTF7IKJoyn__fORpAp7H95YnmZRdFeXuBpNO-qT0xAv47shYjX9ZhvLjXHWbO1nDG9F-0ViHN0gqEwVRmTdEnQg1sa31d2v0DwvZGGoozMgxquklz_1lY/s1600/ToA_BoardGame_HeaderImage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1600" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguB8aYOPcBp7FManeJ6YEzMCwTF7IKJoyn__fORpAp7H95YnmZRdFeXuBpNO-qT0xAv47shYjX9ZhvLjXHWbO1nDG9F-0ViHN0gqEwVRmTdEnQg1sa31d2v0DwvZGGoozMgxquklz_1lY/s400/ToA_BoardGame_HeaderImage.jpg" width="400" /></a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I jest, the Yaun-Ti are a fairly cool foe, varied, mutated and strange, and better, the “Fane of the Night Serpent” is a well built infiltration/siege/escape dungeon. Someone at WotC has been listening to more modern OSR design principles (or remembers them from the old days) and rather than create another monster zoo to battle through room by room, encounter after encounter. Instead the Fane has an order of battle and reinforcements list as well as descriptions of the internal conflicts within the Yaun-Ti, daily activities and how the Yaun-Ti leaders will interact with the party (including a positive reaction that prevents the need to explore the Fane - making the entire issue with the key puzzle even more pointless). Of course as is typical of WotC, despite having these useful (perhaps necessary in a siege adventure) elements Tomb of Annihilation seems to go out of its way to make the adventure hard to use at the table. The individual keys are a bit the mess, broken up on multiple pages, with details about an area’s dangers following mundane description. This is of course standard for WotC products, and running any location written by their team will require a fair bit of note taking, redrafting and re-reading - a problem that becomes more obvious and likely more irksome the larger the locations become.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Fane if the first location of real size in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, and overall it’s a solid fortress style dungeon filled with Yuan-Ti. There’s enough information provided to set up the internal conflict and defense plan of the temple, and it has enough interesting details: carved pillars with snake church theology, enchanted skulls that offer protective prayers, swampy prisoner pits, blood bathing snake men and a hydra. With twenty three locations it fills only fourteen pages, making it brief and concise by WotC standards. There’s nothing especially novel about the Fane of the Night Serpent and it’s lacking in a few places (treasure while interesting enough seems sparse). </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">TOMB OF GREEN DEVIL FACES</span></b></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Xp5SSUvQQMOHmtY7gEKBstcwen36IP7Wp16kwwHZDLNB87jPk2CK5raI9f41Nwvt3dlUF3oKSbFEvXfxRtEodB2YbabzRhw5tAOd_1qHUu6bY8dOn0KrRtaMcWuVXoT0VI6_2g9qHxU/s1600/Tomb-of-Annihilation-Lead-In.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Xp5SSUvQQMOHmtY7gEKBstcwen36IP7Wp16kwwHZDLNB87jPk2CK5raI9f41Nwvt3dlUF3oKSbFEvXfxRtEodB2YbabzRhw5tAOd_1qHUu6bY8dOn0KrRtaMcWuVXoT0VI6_2g9qHxU/s400/Tomb-of-Annihilation-Lead-In.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After dealing with the little spurline that is the Fane of the Night Serpent, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">finally gets to the titular Tomb itself. In this case the recreation and reimagining of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Horrors</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. THe classic hardly needs introduction, but I’ve always thought of it as the first “trap dungeon” (and one of the first published dungeons). </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> however takes many of the ideas of Tomb of Horrors and attempts to normalize them: Undead Dwarf Maintenance team, plenty of monsters, and absurd 5e-ism such as this “Despite being the dungeon’s creator, Acererak doesn’t count the Tomb of the Nine Gods as his lair. Consequently, no lair actions or regional effects are ascribed to the archlich in this adventure.” </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Horrors</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> doesn’t bother with this kind of mechanically explanatory minutia, or justifying why an ancient tomb filled with unfathomable evil work the way it does. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Indeed this sort of min-maxing rules lawyer nonsense and the need to focus on it rather than evocative detail, interesting NPCs and rising above genre cliche is precisely the problem with 5th edition, a sort of obsession with mechanical minutia at the cost of creative content. It is something that is aggravating, but hardly unique to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and while it may expand the size of the book to a degree it’s hardly an issue in a 300 page tome.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This new <u>Tomb of Horrors</u> still has that ‘fun house’ element that marked the 1975-1978 tomb, but it's broken up into six levels on fifty plus pages with 81 keyed locations and emphasis on less dangerous traps, more combat, and a plot running through the dungeon where the characters become possessed by the spirits of Omu’s dead animal gods. In general the story gloss added to the original is a positive element, even if the overarching “Soulmonger/Death Curse” plot leaves me a bit cold. Symbolism and clues are consistent, and follow from the lost city above. The tomb also has some strong elements, each level is somewhat distinct and seems fairly lightly themed: the first level has an ‘overgrown ruin’ feel to it, the second a carved stone tomb, the third infected with strange alien growth, the fourth a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">charnel house, fifth machines and cogs, and sixth a dreamscape lair of hags and smoke.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As a dungeon the tomb has four level built around a central stairway, and various sealed gates and puzzles that impede progress to the fifth and sixth levels, allowing a degree of open exploration but forcing the party to hunt for keys. There are numerous ways between levels and generally the Tomb is a well constructed map with plenty of interesting content and a variety of exciting puzzles. It feels a bit artificially strung together and haphazard due to the number of disparate set piece traps, but a bit more evocative detail and repeated decorating themes (why are the gargoyles within always simply ‘gargoyles’ - why don’t they have a shared, plot significant description?) would go a fair ways to rectifying this.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The primary feature of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Horrors</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> are its traps, and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> tries to retain the central focus on traps and puzzles that made the original a different sort of module. It both succeeds and fails. The general approach to traps in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> isn’t terrible, it focuses on traps that are largely puzzles and tend to be very survivable, though </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Horrors’</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> traps were also rather survivable, except for the ones with clear puzzle components. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> has far more combat than </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Horrors</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> making it less the cerebral trap dungeon designed to test players wits and more a large balanced dungeon crawl with a large number of traps and puzzles. Additionally, in keeping with 5e’s preferences most </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> traps test the character sheet via DC checks as much as the player puzzle solving skills. This is somewhat unfortunate, though it’s not absolute and there are still pure puzzles in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBGS4Mak7-D7tlxwLiWS5_OwXcIkla8dTuhS94jsn0CB7QfdQre1cwryclEApibUEara_ZffogAcverIQOcXpH-b-DiNbCGQd0k2-FHPh8OFAu6Pt5Zi8o2PdHekwjclDTBVxAO66vo0s/s1600/314021_RGB.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="1250" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBGS4Mak7-D7tlxwLiWS5_OwXcIkla8dTuhS94jsn0CB7QfdQre1cwryclEApibUEara_ZffogAcverIQOcXpH-b-DiNbCGQd0k2-FHPh8OFAu6Pt5Zi8o2PdHekwjclDTBVxAO66vo0s/s400/314021_RGB.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A trap for sure</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Many of the classic traps return - the stone juggernaut (deep in the tomb and a monster), the green devil face (the first neutered into a trapped shadow demon and one of the later faces containing the traditional sphere of annihilation), the hidden entrance and dangerous false entrances (with puzzle traps instead of themselves being the environmental puzzle). The traps (changed, classic and new) are generally decent, though there’s nothing really new, and at times there’s a ‘Grimtooth’s traps’ element of silly complexity. Still with plenty of traps and novel description, the Tomb is a well made fun-house and contains some interesting and varied encounters. I rather enjoy the blinded undead artists that paint recent tragedies on the tomb walls for example. Likewise the effort made by the designers to make the tomb feel like it has been constantly plundered or explored, but never bested is well executed. In general it’s a thoroughly enjoyable dungeon of very significant size - especially for 5E. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the better elements of the tomb is that is contains several significant artifacts or treasures, providing very good reasons for exploring it beyond the silly Death Curse premise. This of course makes the curse and hook to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> all the more puzzling - almost as if the writers had to graft some kind of overall narrative with ‘epic’ consequence atop a solid setting book with a complex tentpole dungeon.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Despite being of high quality overall, there a few annoying aspects of the tomb: many of the magic items within ‘turn to dust’ upon exiting, presumably to avoid giving too many benefits to characters that survive. This feels pointlessly punitive and somewhat silly. Likewise the protections that prevent many spells from working within the tomb. While this is a classic Gygax trick, and it may be justified by the nature of the tomb, I always find it frustrating. The party also ends up trapped in the tomb and there doesn’t appear to be an easy way out. Given the admirable way the Tomb suggest episodic exploration with its open map, numerous artifact/treasures and varied complex challenges this is a shame, and it’s compounded by requirement that party must reacquire the key each time one enters. Episodic exploration (retreat, requipping and recovery) is also suggested by the fact that the Tomb does reset it’s traps and has wandering monsters (though like most 5E products actual tables and any comprehension of the purpose of wandering monsters as a time constraint and resource drain is lacking - with instructions to use them as a goad by the GM instead). I don’t understand these design decisions, but they are easy enough to remedy - the tomb’s front door stays open for several days say, and the keys don’t vanish from the lock during this time.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A STEP FORWARD</span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve griped a fair bit above, but </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is a good product from WotC - you’ll note things I didn’t say:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A) There’s no serious overarching railroad in Tomb of Annihilation, it is a location based sandbox with various types of content and many threads of rumor and discovery leading to the eventual discovery of the Tomb.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">B) Resists forced morality and contains moral grey. There are obviously better and worse factions and NPCs within Chult, but while the writers generally expect the party will work with the less evil of them and try to do good it’s not assumed. Content doesn’t follow an assumption of player behavior.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">C) While some encounters are forced, many allow for non-combat possibilities. Combat is still a focus for Tomb of Annihilation and perhaps even the de-facto solution to problems, but it’s not the only solution. Enough NPCs will attack immediately to make an exploration game fan like myself a bit cynical, but it’s an enormous step form the set piece tactical battles that the adventure path structure of design seems to favor.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D) Provides a setting book or gazetteers’ worth of content. Chult might be a bit dull by my standards and in relation to the best independently published content, but it’s a solid and expansive setting filled with possibility. Looking through it I can foresee a WotC that produces adventure tomes not as linear slogs through 15 levels of content, but as regional sub-settings with a variety of plots, locations and factions that players and GMs can interact with as they choose over a variety of levels.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All in all </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is a decent and solidly realized adventure/setting/campaign that while it may suffer the enduring design issues of WotC products, and fall back into bad adventure path habits upon occasion is something far more usable and interesting then previous WotC adventures.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">HOW I WOULD MODIFY TOMB OF ANNIHILATION</span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Some time ago I started writing a jungle based adventure for my Fallen Empire setting - the key to me for creating exotic fantasy locations (and jungles are exotic in any pseudo medieval fantasy - as are tundra, steppe, tropical shallow seas - anything but farmland, alps and dense forest really) is to make them exotic as possible. We’ve come a long way from when James Bond movies once acted both as adventure stories and advertisement for the travel possibilities of the jet age - nature television and cheap travel to previously unknown places mean that the adult citizens of advanced states have seen and are likely to have been to places as exotic as the WotC version of the jungles of Chult.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My own jungle tried to get weird fast, and I think rather than aping renaissance Port Mogadishu WotC would be better doing something similar - or more specifically, if they are going to ape Renaissance Port Mogadishu they need to do it with greater willingness to depart from the historical source material - or perhaps a greater willingness to find the undoubtedly unique elements of Mogadishu’s history, architecture and culture (rather than just pouring in some dinosaurs).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Beyond the fecund waste of the Sea of Grass, past the square peaks of the Ravening Mountains and the great demon corrupted sink of the ever burning Heart Provinces is the Jungle of Midnight. The crumbling spires of the Undefended Citadel of Ib erupt from the headwaters of a long nameless river on the Hook Shore beyond the Inner Sea, where the ghost herons hunt in the shallows waiting for fish to swim between the transparent shears of their glassy beaks. A few traders sail there each year, spending months on the tossing salt waves with the haunted shores of the Old Empire to the North, enduring in anticipation of the wealth a hold full of dangerous foreign cargo will bring.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The town of Undefended Ib is a small port on ancient slime covered pilings of black alchemical iron. No man is allowed to bring weapons into Ib’s streets for fear of calling a tide of spirits down from the citadel above. The few ancient nobility, their ancestors exiled here to rot happily among the tropical breezes and narcotic blue mango of the jungle, keep a languid peace by employing enormous wrestlers and pugilists or resolve disputes by contests at drunken poetry. The common people trade in goods from the jungle, bought from the lantern eyed men of the interior. Black jaguar skins, glowing cockatrice feathers and potent drugs are exchanged for bronze spear heads and glass beads. </span></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The town itself consists of nine crumbling late Successor Empire mansions, stone block and riveted arcane steel wedding cakes eight to ten stories high, dwarfing the riverstone and thatch huts, warehouses and market of the trade town below, but equally dingy and small in the shadow of the massive black spires of the Undefended Citadel of Ib. Like four of the mansions, and the top five or so floors of the five others, the citadel is utterly abandoned.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">” </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To me an exotic jungle filled with ancient treasures is enough of a hook (alternatively a place to hide from the law on the far side of the world often seems to catch a party’s eye as well), and with the size of Chult (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is more a setting book then an adventure) means that no forced general plotline is necessary or desirable. The tomb provides a series of great treasures that should attract adventurers fairly easily, and would be better hooks than the Death Curse, especially if rumors about them were strewn throughout the setting. The treasures of Dead Gods in a lost jungle tomb or temple city has a pretty solid appeal without bringing additional forced NPC narratives.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The most important part of Tomb of Annihilation is the jungle hex crawl, and this to me is the part that it failed most egregiously at. The adventure locales and larger dungeons are generally good, and the dull uninspired plotting of the hook is easy to ignore - but where </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> fails for me is its unwillingness to really embrace the possibilities of a tropical subcontinent worth of encounters. Perhaps they try and simply fall back on the basics - a single encounter table and a map that’s universally jungle. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’d start by breaking the map of Chult down by biome, give good descriptions of each with strange detail as something to hopefully give the GM some starting points for her own imagination. Here’s the description of the Jungle of Midnight (apologies to Herzog):</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dense foreboding jungle the color of a bone bruise, but vibrant with squalling life, spices and bursts of strange color. Its dangers leak from the body of a fallen god, decaying at its heart.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Jungle of Midnight is a unfinished country, prehistoric, where a tall, many layered canopy combines with heat and damp to create a steaming, shaded pit, full of obscenity - violent and base. All nature in the jungle is fighting for survival, choking, asphyxiating, writhing, fornicating and rotting away. Despite the startling blues and jewel greens of feathers and leaves, the jungle it is a place of misery, the trees live in misery, the birds live in misery - they do not sing only scream with misery. With an overwhelming misery, overwhelming fornication, overwhelming growth and an overwhelming lack of order, there is no real harmony as a human could conceive it in the Jungle of Midnight, only the natural harmony of overwhelming and collective murder.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Perhaps that’s just a paragraph long Fitzcarraldo reference/joke - but the idea would be to provide the Gm short sets of description about each biome that emphasize the weird/memorable aspects that separate the setting biome from the player and GM’s basic received impression of that biome. One need not really focus on the sand and shore of a ‘beach’ but letting players know that huge colonies of tiny yellow shelled crabs build spit bubble and spires (some 30’ tall) from the red sand along that shore provides a memorable image and gives life to the biome. This brings me to the second part of wilderness crawling - providing more than just a hex map and monsters. A way (multiple tables works for me) to provide landmarks, strange occurrences, incidental positive events (treasures, game, peaceful travelers) and compelling weather events in addition to dinosaur attacks bring a lot more interest to the hex-crawl.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Locations, City and Tomb are the best part of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and other then better organization (though the keying itself is decent in places) including items such as a way of helping the GM run complex environments by noting on a map what doors need what keys and such, they don’t demand a lot of rewriting. Some minor changes and a better access to the tomb itself (as noted above) as well as a better idea of how the various Chult factions interact would be good - but aren’t a necessity. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br />The first steps to making these changes would be to read up on African expedition diaries - from various cultures, as well as a wide variety of African myth and legend. A long session of nature documentaries that showed the various climes and environments in Africa would be a great next step. With ones head full of interesting facts and myths drafting the tables above along with notes on each major biome and location that covered odd details, sense impressions and specific repeated themes.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">FINAL THOUGHTS</span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For once I’m encouraged by a WOTC product. Shocking I know. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomb of Annihilation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is sprawling and at times frustratingly messy, but it’s not the linear sort of overwritten mess I expect from WotC and that’s a great achievement.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-27944052282569527462017-10-18T09:18:00.002-07:002017-10-18T09:18:38.481-07:00Monster Archaeology - Magical Beasts<span id="docs-internal-guid-e3b6ee73-614b-ef05-251e-1eb65a5ab949" style="background-color: #d9d2e9; color: black; font-family: "syncopate"; font-size: 24pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">MYTHICAL BEASTS OF LEGEND</span><br />
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It's hard to know exactly where to start and stop the next set of monsters from <u>Monsters and Treasure</u>, bestial creatures that are (with one interesting exception) pulled directly from classic myth and legend. These creatures are best described as "Dragon-like", but depart from the common structure of <u>Monsters and Treasure</u> in that they don't represent a hierarchy from weakest to strongest within a specific monster class.<br />
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Manticores ("Manticoras"), Hydras, Chimeras and Wyverns don't really share much descriptively or in any conceivable ecology, though all have some special attack, all appear in small numbers and all are dangerously powerful with 6-12 Hit Dice and decent armor class. They seem to exist to provide a lone alpha predator, menace or 'boss monster' when dragons aren't appropriate. This is somewhat unfortunate as most of these creatures are quite evocative and offer interesting encounters.<br />
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Manticores are perhaps the least dangerous of these large monsters, and <u>Monsters and Treasure</u> describes them as follows and continues to use the name "Manticora" which is the name of a genus of African beetle and the Latin term for Manticore - it describes them as follows:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b><u>MANTICORA</u></b>: Huge, lion-bodied monstrosities with men's face, horns, dragon wings and a tail full of iron spikes. There are 24 of these spikes in a Manticora's tail and they can be fired 6 at a time in any one direction with the range (18") accuracy and effect of a crossbow. Their favorite prey is man.<br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />As a </span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">6+1 hit die creature with great speed (12/18) and a good AC of 4, Manticores seem like they would be excellent hunters of man - and in the ancient Persian that provides the name it translates to "man eater". They mythological Manticore seems to be one of those monsters of spirits of the wasteland that explains why shepards, hunters, travelers and herdsmen go missing and thier bodies are never found. Allegedly the mythical beast devours its prey whole after stunning with it's poisonous sting.<br /><br />As a monster the Manticore as a mechanical concept is far less interesting then it's parts imply. It's a burly ranged attacker (though limited to one attack in melee) that can launch a dangerous (an with an attack bonus of +6 or the ability to hit a plate and shield armored character on an 11 or better) flurry of missiles. The mechanics of the Manticore's missile attack present interesting possibilities, in that it can target a single enemy six times in a round at range, picking off magic users and other dangerous but unprotected characters. Played with the human cunning that it's man's head implies a Manticore could be very dangerous, sniping party members from ambush and flying by to kill at long range. One envisions them as predators and raiders, flying, retreating to filthy bachelor lairs in the wastelands, decorated in stolen frivolities and aping humanity, but scattered with bones and bloody bits of meals. Goblin Punch has this <a href="http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2016/09/manticores.html">lovely piece</a> on Manticores, making them more mythical then the original myths of confused man faced and poison tailed tigers, or the later ones of cats with the faces of beautiful spiteful women, confused with the sphinx and as an allegory for fraud. More recently Trey at Sorcerer's skull released his <a href="http://sorcerersskull.blogspot.com/p/after-turning-himself-into-manticore.html">Manticore wizard focused adventure</a> which takes the beast in a somewhat different direction but still focuses on the It's hard not to think of Manticores as the idea of a monster in need of more interesting statistics. <br /><br />Hydras are the next of the magical Beasts listed in <u>Monsters and Treasure</u>:<br /><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span></span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /><b><u>HYDRAS:</u></b> Unlike the standard mythological concept of the Hydra being a snake with many heads, these beasts are large dinosaurs with multiple heads. Because of its size and constitution, each head is represented by one hit die, and the hit die per head is generally of six pips. Thus a six-headed Hydra has six hit dice of six pips each, or 36 total hit points. When six hit points are scored on it one head is then killed. Hydras of five heads fight as 5th level fighters, those with six as 6th level fighters, and so on. A ten-headed Hydra would fight as a 10th level fighter even when it had but one head left. Usually all of a Hydra's heads can attack simultaneously.</span><br /><br />Hydras are some of the most terrifying foes in <u>Monsters & Treasure</u>. They effectively have the maximum Hit Points, decent AC, up to twelve attacks per round and rarely miss due to their high Hit Dice. mechanically they are moderately interesting, and the slowly declining number of attacks is about as much of a combat mechanic as <u>Monsters & Treasure</u> offers. The distinction that they are "large dinosaurs" leads to some interesting aesthetic ideas - specifically what work of dinosaur - because a 12 headed Tyrannosaur is a strange image, but not one I'm entirely opposed to. This dinosaur imagery is not the only way that the Monsters & Treasure departs from the mythical Hydra. Created by the Goddess Hera to kill Hercules, the mythical Lernaean Hydra is a divine assassination attempt, something akin to one of Zeus's lightning bolts or a drone strike, existing for the purpose of killing a hero who is stronger then everything. To do so the Hydra relies on trickery, and Hercules has to overcome it with trickery. It lairs in a poison swamp and its blood is also poisonous, features lacking in the OD&D version of the monster. More telling is the core mythical conceit of the hydra is that its heads grew back (two heads replacing each in most versions) whenever they were severed. There's something almost fungal or plant like about the new heads popping up whenever on is cut off and it certainly makes the Lernaean Hydra one of Hercules' more complex opponents.<br /><br />While poison and regeneration aren't part of the <u>Monsters & Treasure</u> Hydra's skillset it is still well designed to bring down melee fighters. In this the Hydra is that mechanically almost the opposite of the Manticore. While both share excellent chance to hit and are reasonable powerful, the Manticore can decimate enemies at range, with six attacks per round (for the first four rounds at least - but combat rarely lasts that long in OD&D) and the Hydra can attack up to twelve times in melee. Both the Manticore and Hydra's abilities degrade over time, the Hydra losing a head and attack each time it takes six HP of damage, and the Manticore running out of ammunition. However, with such a high number of attacks both monsters are designed to fight multiple opponents and decimate adventuring parties that fight them in their chosen way.<br /><br />The Hydra may actually be the less dangerous of the two, as its description suggests it's a monstrous beast, a dinosaur thing with corresponding limited intelligence. While the Hydra's predatory behavior may give it the cunning to hide in pools and ambush or dart back under water if barraged with missiles, it cannot slowly hunt and snipe adventurers from the air like the Manticore. <br /><b><br /></b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b><u>CHIMERAS:</u></b> Combining the worst of many creatures, a Chimera has the forebody of a great cat, the hind quarters of a a goat, dragon wings and three heads. The goat's head can gore with its long sharp horns, the lions head can tear with its great fangs, and the dragon's head can either bite or breathe fire (but with a range of only 5" and but three dice damage).</span><br /><br />Another high Hit Dice flying, monstrous beast with a good AC, multiple attacks (3 or special breath weapon). The Chimera is less interesting then the Hydra or Manticore, with a mix of ranged and melee abilities, but to me more an odd mishmash of creatures then something that's form and description suggest a lifestyle, combat style or anything evocative about the Chimera. Mythologically the Chimera is another of the nasty monsters created and breed by the gods to spread terror and offer a challenge to heroes. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaqmb31OENXJbYSBCsTGtAGyeX2FDp1XB7a46o_7r2sLdiUQXBeV9NUHPVdoVyrB1IdzGwwfi5PMACUO_pgiVc7g8BM8Hs3D45dj1qp7TmVmAtAm3veNS-_vkJoUB5WEQPK3VZNO9N9_k/s1600/Chimera+1690-1610.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1088" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaqmb31OENXJbYSBCsTGtAGyeX2FDp1XB7a46o_7r2sLdiUQXBeV9NUHPVdoVyrB1IdzGwwfi5PMACUO_pgiVc7g8BM8Hs3D45dj1qp7TmVmAtAm3veNS-_vkJoUB5WEQPK3VZNO9N9_k/s320/Chimera+1690-1610.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;"><b><i> Jacopo Ligozzi - 1590-1610</i></b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The main difference between the mythological Chimera and the one most often shown by tabletop illustrators, is a lack of wings and that the classical monster was much more bizarre looking. With heads arranged along its body rather the forward facing, and its tail a snake or dragon the classical Chimera is not rationalized or biologically optimized. The etching above by Ligozzi does the ancient concept justice, with the goat at the center sort of thrashing about, oddly situated on the creatures back. I'm not sure why D&D (though not so much <u>Monsters & Treasure</u>'s sparse description) tended to rationalize its monsters, trying to give Dragons, Orcs and Chimeras simulationist features/mechanics/statistics and naturalistic ecologies. The tendency has gotten somewhat more severe with time with the newest official monster manual, <u>Volo's Guide</u>, spending huge chunks of pages to justify the existence of various monsters in the setting, but even <u>Monsters & Treasure</u> reflects the tendency, making sure that the number of heads or dangerous limbs on a creature represent its number of attacks. This is of course unnecessary. The Chimera can attack as many time in a round as the GM running it feels is appropriate and in any manner that makes sense to her. Yes, a good GM will pay some attention to providing clues about monster abilities in monster description, but monster design is still an area where the GM has a great many options. Of course some description and ideas about monsters are worthwhile, because unless the GM intends to make every monster in his setting, having ideas beyond a creature's statistics is helpful to bringing it to life for ones' players.<br /><br />With Chimera's there's little to make the monster interesting, beyond its abnormality and the horrific aspect of a creature made up of several others. The Chimera doesn't seem intelligent based on itws mythological presence, much like the Hydra it is a creature that appears as a terror weapon of angry gods, and its death from choking on a molten lead spear suggests that the Chimera lacks even an understanding of its own body's<br /><br />The Chimera's main attraction as a foe is the mechanical danger of its breath weapon. A 50' (5") cone of flame that does 3D6 HP of damage. This is different then dragon breath, which classically does the Dragon's current hit points in damage, but it makes the Chimera's breath considerably more effective when the thing is badly injured, and 3D6 damage is the equivalent of three normal attacks, with the advantage of automatically hitting, and requiring a difficult saving throw to reduce to 1/2 damage. The Chimera (and of course the Dragon) is very effective at killing large groups of henchmen or men at arms, making it fairly good at countering one of the more useful tactics at killing dangerous single enemies.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><u><b>WYVERNS:</b></u><b> </b>These monsters are relatives of Dragons, but they are smaller and have but two legs. A Wyvern hasn't the fearsome breath of a true Dragon, but they are equipped with a poisonous sting in their tail and poison enough to use it repeatedly. It is there primary defense, and they will use it two-thirds of the time (biting otherwise, die 5 or 6 indicates the latter). The tail is mobile and can be brought over the back to reach any opponent standing before its head.</span><br /><br />A rare creature in <u>Monsters & Treasure</u> with its mechanics specially written into the description, which is otherwise minimal. Wyverns are dangerous, though much less so then the other magical beasts above. They have a deadly poison attack, good armor (the best of the Mythical Beasts at AC 3 - equivalent to plate armor) and high HD (though less then Hydras or Chimeras), but they lack the ability to injure multiple opponents or do significant damage each round if their poison fails. The Wyvern can fly, making it dangerous in the open, but it lacks the Chimera's breath weapon or the Manticore's missiles so it's best tactic is a diving snatch and grab - maybe dropping its victim from a dizzying height. Still the Wyvern is both vulnerable to missiles and manageable in melee combat, making it a tough but not fairly mundane foe.<br /><br />Mythologically the Wyvern is also newer then the Manticore, Chimera or Hydra - it's primarily a heraldic beast, rather then one from classical legend. I have a hard time not associating it with the similarly two legged 'Lindwyrm' a Scandinavian form of sea serpent or dragon. There's nothing especially interesting about mythological Wyverns and the distinction between them and dragons is fuzzy at times. This has always made it useful in games where actual dragons are rare or perceived as too powerful to include regularly. As a bestial monster the Wyvern also has the advantage of making a pretty cool mount for powerful PCs or NPC that isn't itself a character. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-e3b6ee73-614c-6c3a-2b8b-510ac3399a72" style="background-color: #d9d2e9; color: black; font-family: "syncopate"; font-size: 24pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">MAGICAL SPORTS IN FALLEN EMPIRE</span> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fallen Empire is already a setting full of strange monstrous beasts - the most common being the Owlbear (a creature sadly lacking from <u>Monsters & Treasure</u>). Strange creatures come from various sources, all related to the ongoing collapse of the ancient and magically adept Imperial civilization. Fel Horrors birthed by 'magical sinks' and pollution, living weapons or arcane livestock run amok, summoned horrors or even (in rare cases) natural creatures returning to ancient ranges in the wake of dying civilization. Hydras, Wyverns, Manticores and Chimeras might be the result of any of these sources, a many headed demon host with snapping human faces atop a gross pile fused bodies or a alchemical serpent of smoke and living stone birthed by magical esters seeping into the rock. Monsters & Treasures' magical beasts are mechanically varied enough and have interesting enough 'tricks' to be used in multiple scenarios as a sort of ur-template for large, usually animalistic regional menaces appearing alone or in small numbers. My own tendency is also to provide large menancing beasts with additional abilities that increase their survivability such as damage reduction and attack pools. As such rather then discussing the creature type as a whole, below are specific exemplars of Magical Beasts as the would relate to my In the City at Night series of posts about the huge and crumbling Imperial Capital.</span></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">MANTICORE - Between the sealed arc Southern Gates and Grand Canal, across the ruined expanse of several precincts, quarters and cantonments is the hunting ground of the Wicked Brothers. It is not entirely clear how the Brothers are related, or even if they are, but after generations of predation they are firmly lodged in the legends of the feral thralls that inhabit the glass factor beyond the plaza of roses as the returned spirits of the wicked arcanist/industrialists that created them. The Bothers are two (or more - most likely many more) leathery winged beasts, each resembling the headless body of a large hunting cat with body of a naked and filthy man affixed beneath. The man's body is bent and twisted to follow the contours of the beast, back arced beyond possibility, so the upper torso and shaggy, filthy head of the man fill the void of the beast's own missing head. The back and tails of the Wicked Brothers a a further abomination - a riot of mismatched fur, scale and skin, mottled and melded to provide both the base of a long snake-like tail and the monster's huge bat wings. It is known that one of the Brothers tail terminates in a flailing ball of battered bone and flesh, and that the other's is the head of a giant spitting cobra capable of drenching victims in flesh burning venom from aloft. <br /><br />Attacks by the Brothers are without reason or pattern - sometimes two (or some claim more) Brothers will circle and dive to maul and devour individuals or groups. Sometimes one will creep from ambush to kidnap a young man or woman and fly off with its prey. It is unclear how the creatures survive, given they don't take enough victims to supply sustenance to a pair of such huge bodies - but they persist - lairing in some ancient tower or dome and continuing their strange cruel ways without interruption. Rumors and theories about them also persist with the most common claiming that they are the cursed and immortal remnants of mad wizards, warped by an error in their foul magics. This is scoffed at by most of the upper classes who insist that such creatures could only be the result of intentional alchemical manipulation.<br /> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">HYDRA - The undercity is said to teem with fecundity and life beyond that of even the city above, and horrors both ancient and novel boil up to the surface to hunt man regularly . Hydrea are some of the most dangerous of these deep horrors, but paradoxically they are also rarely seen as threats to be hunted down. Hyrdrea spawn somewhere deep in the oceans that is the black cisterns to hunt the among the endless dark water of the sewer and reservoir channels, growing ever larger and more dangerous. First devouring the eyeless fish and crystal clear crabs of the Underwaters, Hydra grow and grow, befitting their vegetable nature. Wandering roots, hunting algae, tangled vine necks ending in jaws of poisonous thorn, the Hydrea are implacable but placid, floating with small motions of tendril and vine until they erupt into predatory violence. By the time they reach the surface Hyda are sometimes a hundred feet long, and rarely under seventy, and capable of devouring adult Canal Hogs. They are also usually at the end of the mobile phase of their life cycle and ready, after a few weeks or months of furious consumption, to take root, flower and live off sunlight - growing into jagged mangroves of bright flowers and once a decade black, medicinal fruit. When in the sun, Hydrae tend to ignore prey smaller then a cow, and so are rarely a direct threat to humans (distinctly not the case when they are in the dark and must gain their sustenance without photosynthesis), making the most dangerous aspect of one's emergence into the canal competition between Demes gangs to herd the beast (usually with a trail of prey) towards their territory to root, or the sudden commotion a hungry Hydra creates among the normally placid River Hog population. The regenerative value of Hydra sap and heartwood means that the value of a dead immature Hydra is great, but only the very foolish would enter the Underwaters to hunt an alpha predator in its favored environment.</span></span></li>
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<li>CHIMERA - The Bathouse of Chibul is the home of The Unclean Goat also known as The Feaster of Foul Meat. A hideous construct of low sorcery and amateurish flesh magic The Goat is likely a recent addition to the tapestry of horrors, the efforts of some mad aristocrat dabbling with some even madder ancestors laboratory an notes. It is ugly in the extreme - the heads of at least three beasts clumsily grafted to the abused body of a bull or small elephant. besides its bulk and assorted snapping mouths, the Goat's belly is blistered and glows with blue balefire that some of its heads vomit, cough or sneeze outward in sprays of burning magma like bile when the Goat is forced into combat or on the hunt. A cursed and dangerous beast, it's ungainly gait, the infected appearance of its sutures, constant racking coughs, sneezes and sheen of fevered sweat suggest the Unclean Goat is ill. The Goat itself will any who are willing to listen that it feels poorly - because the Unclean Goat is possessed with a human portion of intelligence, and while no scholar or genius enjoys learning, being something of an autodidact. Long ago it captured and enslaved a traveling scholar of the arcane who earned his freedom by teaching the Goat to read, and no it collects books, pamphlets and broadsheets (which fare poorly in its damp lair) and will expect visitors to provide it with the latest written word (or any really).<br /><br />The Unclean Goats oddity and intelligence would not have kept it alive if it weren't for another salient feature of the beast - it eats the undead. Hunting and devouring blackhearts, revenants and any other form of rotten walking corpse the Unclean Goat can be convinced (with books, patent medicines, promises of company or professional medical assistance) to direct its hunt to certain locations and at least three Demes have cordial enough relationships with it on these terms.</li>
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<ul>
<li>WYVERN - Some years ago a fool brought several pairs of Wyverns, Griffons, Marsh Harpies, Storm Birds or Cathartides (depending on ones tradition) down from the Black Mash in the North, where they persist mainly on the carcasses of sea leviathans, to display. The cold marsh dwelling brutes escaped and have been impossible to eradicate from the more temperate City since. Mostly confined to the to the most crumbled and inaccessible abandoned mansion spires of the nobility, where they roast. At dawn and dusk the great ragged winged avians soar high and dart down to scavenge and hunt. <br /><br />Often portrayed as nothing more then colossal vultures, the citizens of the Northern quarters have come to ignore them, avoiding morning and evening strolls along canals or more open areas and so keeping the number of human victims to these carrion beasts low. Slaughterhouses even find them useful, leaving waste where the great winged beasts can devour it. Wyverns differ in several key ways from vultures, though they share the general body form and some behavioral ticks. Great black feathered bird-things, except for thier huge-beaked, vibrantly colored, wrinkled heads, necks and talons, Wyverns stink of the foul meat they prefer and their body chemistry is so toxic and caustic that not only can they digest the most rotten of flesh but their blood and bile is extremely poisonous. To aid in the hunt of live prey, many Wyverns cover their talons in their own toxic blood, so that any slashed by them are paralyzed, die or fall into convulsions, making them easy to carry off and hang from the broken spires until they ripen.</li>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-61913797922432005892017-08-07T10:07:00.001-07:002017-08-07T10:07:12.007-07:00Heraldic Beasts As regular readers of this blog may know, I don't love Monster Manuals, and rather enjoy designing my own monsters - usually via a quick re-skinning of something simple (A bear, giant rat or 1st level fighter being the most common). This doesn't mean I'm uninterested in monsters for tabletop games, or the general concept of monsters as a sociological phenomenon. I've been slowly reading through "Monsters & Treasure - the earliest edition of D&D's monster manual, thinking about the foes provided and how I'd personally make use of them.<br />
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One that's struck me about Monsters & Treasure is the somewhat clumsy feeling of its adaptions from mythological sources. It pulls in various words for creatures from European and Classical myth, but often ignores many of the interesting elements of the underlying story. The Monsters & Treasure Hydra seems the best example of this, transforming a sneaky, oddly botanical, regenerating, many headed snake thing into a super dinosaur. Additionally, Monsters & Treasure (and the Monster Manuals that follow from what I can tell) miss a rich vein of mythical beast lore by almost entirely (the Dragon, the Wyvern and a few others are retained) ignoring the legacy of Heraldic Beasts.<br />
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Heraldic Beasts are the fantastical creatures used on shields and as devices for (primarily) European nobility, and there are lots of them. Below is a list of several I found interesting and worthy of inclusion as strange monsters in your tabletop game. I'm not sure why exactly, though many of them have rather mundane names (Tyger, Lion or Wildman), their descriptions are as bizarre as anything else in the monster manual Heraldic Beasts seem like they would make an especially valid or even a key addition to a setting that seeks to remain quasi-historical (such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess's default setting) or to provide a knightly, even Arthurian element.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 'Queen's Beasts' of England</td></tr>
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<a name='more'></a><u><b>Heraldic Beasts</b></u><br />
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<u><b>Amphista:</b></u><b> </b> There any plenty of other names/pronunciations for this two headed serpent of the desert. Sometimes shown with the chest and wings of a bird the Amphista always has its heads on either end of its snake body. Traditionally these mythical serpents spawned from the blood dripping from Medusa's severed neck, live in the Libyan desert (where they were one of the scavengers plaguing at least one Roman army) and eat ants. In Medieval times they became something more like a griffin, harpy or even a porcine lizard thing. The important element of the creature is that it has two heads, one on each end - a metaphor for a certain kind of unnatural indecisiveness or duplicity.<br />
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<b>Amphista:</b> AC 4*, HD 3, ATK 2 (bite/bite), DAM 1D6+poison (save or die), MV As Chain, SV F3, ML 10 <br />
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*The Amphista's blood is burning mutilating poison, dealing melee damage to the creature results in a save vs. poison to avoid being splashed by the creatures blood -suffering horrible scarring (Roll a D6 and lose [1-2 -1Dex, 3-4 -1Chr, 5 -1Str, 6, -1Con])<br />
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<u><b>Tyger:</b></u> The "tiger" as commonly understood exists in heraldry, but it is known as a "bengal tiger" to keep it being confused with the Tyger, a wolf - bodied, lion tailed monster with a fierce beaked jaw. In classic Dungeons and Dragon terms the Tyger is an 'Owwlbear', though the beast bears a resemblance to Warhammer 40K's 'Kroot Hound' as well.<br />
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The Tyger's personality and behavior (unless one wishes to take them entirely from the William Blake Poem of the same name) is an excessively vengeful creature, faster then a horse and symbolic of revenge and violence. I suppose this makes the Tyger (like most of my owlbears) cunning and highly territorial, though perhaps acting on clear motivations.<br />
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<b>Tyger:</b> AC 5, HD 4-8 (+4)*, ATK 3 (claw/claw/beak), DAM 1D6/1D6/2D6**, MV As Unarmored, SV F 5 - 9, ML 12<br />
* The Vengeful Tyger does not die quietly and will make a last attack (using all attacks) against its slayer (or another target in melee if its slayer is not) after being redeuced to 0 HP but before expiring.<br />
** If the both the Tyger's claws strike the same target it automatically hits with its beak doing double damage with the attack. <br />
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<u><b>Lion</b></u>: Much like the Heraldic Tyger, the Heraldic Lion is different then the common tawny beast. A lion, or more properly a 'crowned lion' is the noblest of beasts, and while a pard, panther, tyger or tiger might adorn the arms of any knight or noble the lion is the creature of kings, and the heraldic lion a king itself. Huge, shaggy and with a great furred tail each Crowned Lion is a unique beast, the embodiment of the concept of kingship in a specific land. The Crowned Lion's appearance and abilities vary depending on the size and condition of the sovereignty the lion embodies. The Lion of a defunct petty kingdom might be the size of a normal lion, covered in sores, angry, stupid and mean while that of a great empire will be the size of elephant, rippling muscle and crowned in diamonds, rubies and the halo of a god. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf04RGvhJGOD9v3e7EjD2H2IsC-nD0uJdv1gzNede1E_MqIG4rQG9pHklDY0VLtUjnwlo-wXQ8Obc9QeAXAypKPt8y5lfh72bNtNppK50rc6GCaBQoAsVc3FHjSDZ1Gb5BaphmcsTxLuo/s1600/lion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="419" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf04RGvhJGOD9v3e7EjD2H2IsC-nD0uJdv1gzNede1E_MqIG4rQG9pHklDY0VLtUjnwlo-wXQ8Obc9QeAXAypKPt8y5lfh72bNtNppK50rc6GCaBQoAsVc3FHjSDZ1Gb5BaphmcsTxLuo/s320/lion.jpg" width="268" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes a crowned lion has a weapon</td></tr>
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Whatever its size, the Crowned Lion is royalty and will demand to be treated as such. It will be murderously offended by slights, such as a non-royal wearing lion based heraldry or a failure to use its proper name once given. None of this is simply the ego and pettiness of a cruel beast, a Crowned Lion holds the concept and meaning of kingship in the crown it wears (which of course varies in quality depending on the power of the kingdom). Both true kings (especially those who fail to embody the virtues of noble kingship) and would be usurpers or conquerors should make an effort to hunt and the Crowned Lion and take its crown as the imperious beast will make efforts to impede poor kingship, conquest or usurpation - adding its own considerable force and intellect to resistance - even raising an army of villains and hedge-knights.<br />
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<b>Crowned Lion</b>: AC 3* HD 4 -12, ATK claw/claw/bite or leap** or roar***) DAM 1D6/1D6/2D8 or 6D6 or Special, MV As Unarmored, SV Cl 4 - 12, ML 10<br />
* As a mythical and magically empowered symbol of sovereignty, crowned lions are immune to weapons wielded by individuals lacking royal ancestry. The ancestry need not be for a large or even existent kingdom, but it must be real. Spells and barehanded attacks still damage lions.<br />
** A lion can leap up to it's HDx10' and pounce at the end of the leap, raking with its rear claws, biting and pinning its target to the ground. On a successful leap the Crowned Lion's single target will take damage and must save vs. Possession/Paralysis or be stunned for 1D6/2 rounds.<br />
*** The roar of a Crowned Lion is magical and deafening, causing fear (save vs. Spells or flee for 1D6/2 rounds) in those lacking noble (Save at +4) or kingly (immune) blood.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do not mock the Pard.</td></tr>
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<u><b>Pard</b></u>: The long body of a spotted panther with the face of a man, the Pard is an unnatural beast, bloodthirsty and cunning but still possesses high virtues. The Pard is an intelligent and noble beast, though perilous and it thinks, speaks and reasons like a man while maintaining the natural aloofness and patrician intensity of its feline form. Pards may hunt and devour man, and they relish the blood of fresh kills, lapping it up with their human tongue, but they are not deceitful of cruel - simply destructive man eaters. It is perhaps this inherent savage nobility that allows the Pard to seduce lions, and from this unnatural union produce Leopards and perhaps the sinister Lampago. Pards follow wars, slinking behind armies as they plunder and reeve. While they themselves will only prey on warriors they do not care if their prey is virtuous or villainous and accost heroes and blackguards with equal ferocity. As a knightly monster the Pard will always challenge its prey to individual combat and except for its utter refusal to accept surrender (Pards always devour those they defeat - often in a single unnatural bite) it follows the code of chivalry with honor and fervor. This may be from some innate nobility within the Pard, or perhaps it provides the beast protection, for any who choose to break the code of honor when fighting the Pard (refusing to honor its request for an individual duel, using low trickery such as missile weapons, sorcery or the aid of allies) is incapable of harming the beast. Pards are dangerous fighters, though they have only a human mouth with which to bite they can leap astonishing distances and will twist their bodies in combat to rake with their enormous rear claws.<br />
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<b>Pard</b>: AC 2* HD 5, ATK claw/claw/rake** or leap***) DAM 1D6/1D6/2D6 or 3D6, MV As Unarmored, SV F5, ML 12<br />
*The Pard is immune to chivalrous attacks, including all missiles, non-direct damage magic, or attacks from multiple opponents.<br />
** If the Pard strikes with both claw attacks (it will always attack a single target each round) it may also make a disemboweling rake attack with its rear claws. <br />
*** The Pard can leap any distance within its sight to attack, and this magical leap strikes at +2 to hit.<br />
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<u><b>Lampago</b></u>: If the Crowned Lion is the manifestation of kingship and a land's sovereign identity, the Lampago, a lion (of normal size) is they symbol of treachery, usurpation, villainy and false knighthood. Like its kin the leopard, these base beasts serve the devil and seek to pervert and corrupt kingdoms, nobility and the laws of chivalry. The Lampago will promise and cajole, trick and connive. Its relishes the collapse of the feudal order and will encourage anyone it can to betray their betters. The bite of the Lampago and its claws are poisonous, but it's most powerful weapon is the sweet smoke that wafts from it's nostrils and which it can breath outward at its enemies. The honey scented smoke of the Lampago encourages men to forget their loyalties and turn on their rightful masters, upending the great chain of being.<br />
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<b>Lampago</b>: AC 3 HD 7, ATK* (claw/claw or breath) DAM 1D6/1D6 or special**, MV As Unarmored, SV F 7, ML8<br />
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*Any creature in melee with the Lampago must make a Save v. Poison or feel fear and doubt about their allegiances, decisions and values as the smoke from the Lampago's nostrils envelopes the combat. A failure will reduce the the attack of those effected by -4 to hit as they hesitate and balk, and grant a 2 point penalty to AC as doubt saps the ability to dodge. Hirelings and NPCs who fail the save must make an immediate loyalty check. Those that fail the second check will join the Lampago in fighting their masters or allies. Those that succeed will merely flee. <br />
** The Lampago may breath out and cover all within 30' with its gaseous breath. All in the cloud must make a Save v. Poison or feel fear and doubt about their allegiances, decisions and values. A failure will reduce the the attack of those effected by -4 to hit as
they hesitate and balk, and grant a 2 point penalty to AC as doubt saps
the ability to dodge. Those that fail the second check will join the Lampago in fighting
their masters or allies. Those that succeed will merely flee.<br />
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<u><b>Woodwose:</b></u> Brute wildmen of the forest, fey simpletons loyal only to the whims of their wild hearts, Woodwose range from simply hair covered large men who inhabit the verge and tamed parklands, to the moss covered, green bearded giants of the deep wilderness - part vegetable abominations who are outside the proper hierarchy of the world. Tamed and well managed Woodwose can be an asset to husbandry, but the wild Woodwose are always a threat - ignorant of the laws of chivalry, uncomprehending of the duty the commons to the nobility and without the light of God. Tamed Woodwose can be taught to live as rough foresters, their fey strength and endurance making them excellent huntsman, lumberjacks and charcoal burners - raising their families in small villages of log cabins roofed in moss, and even eventually learning to use fire, listening to the words of Clerical instruction, and finally losing almost all vestiges of their fey heritage to become men with the normal amount of hair and a fitting place in creation. The wild Woodwose are different, they guard the primordial wilderness fiercely, dropping from concealed hides in the branches or boiling up from caves dug beneath the roots of forest giants. Efforts to bring them to civilization almost always fail, at least until the wilderness itself is colonized and controlled - though legendary saints and similar men of great power and holiness are claimed to have converted some Wild Woodwose.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3YcKUU4Nt_jnnBLbozqVTI8cvVtH4XFvN4XBorOsMwHEDH484TYVra_ayj8V9dTe_qLGkT8OBPxJH9djj8pKyuw1MS9LNFZKMFkjdZ2iMZsw0BOuCkQny1eIeJloqUdt1WdlgQVEL7mE/s1600/Woodwose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3YcKUU4Nt_jnnBLbozqVTI8cvVtH4XFvN4XBorOsMwHEDH484TYVra_ayj8V9dTe_qLGkT8OBPxJH9djj8pKyuw1MS9LNFZKMFkjdZ2iMZsw0BOuCkQny1eIeJloqUdt1WdlgQVEL7mE/s1600/Woodwose.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b>Tamed Woodwose</b>: AC 7 HD 2, ATK (by weapon*) DAM by weapon +4, MV As Unarmored, SV F 2, ML 10** <br />
*Woodwose will wield large clubs (1D6) or Felling Axes (D6) depending on their level of civilization<br />
** If exposed to fire Woodwose must make an immediate morale check to avoid flight.<br />
<b>Wild Woodwose</b>: AC 5* HD 4, ATK (fist/fist or by giant weapon*) DAM 1D8/1D8 or by weapon +4 MV As Unarmored, SV F 4, ML 10**<br />
* Wild Woodwose take an addition +1 damage per die from fire attacks.<br />
** Wild Woodwose wield dead trees (1D12) or throw huge rocks (1D8)<br />
*** If exposed to fire Woodwose must make an immediate morale check to avoid flight.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of several varieties of Yale</td></tr>
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<u><b>Yale:</b></u> A savage and destructive beast something akin to a goat or buffalo, but huge, the size of a hippopotamus and fierce for no explicable reason. The Yale destroys and rampages until it grows weary and then falls asleep for days, weeks, or even year - to awaken again and run amok once more. Its spotted hide (usually purple or a bruised grey blue) is largely impervious to injury, the Yale heals at unnatural speed and while sleeping turns to a great block of nearly indestructible stone. When the Yale rampages it is best to simply flee before it until it slumbers, and then dig a great pit burying so it will continue its stone sleep. Heroes and brave knights often seek out Yales to fight however, for the sake of great deed, some going as far as foolishly unburying the monsters. <br /><br />Besides its strength, meanness and nearly impenetrable skin, the Yale's chief advantage in combat is that its huge scythe-horns may twist and sweep through the air independently. The Yale may use its horns offensively or defensively and when on the defense becomes even harder to strike without danger to oneself.<br /><br />
<b>Yale</b>: AC 0 HD 12*, ATK (horn/horn)** DAM 2D6/2D6, MV As Plate***, SV F 12, ML 12<br />* Yales regenerate 4 HP per Round<br />** The Yale may elect to use each of its horns offensively or defensively. For each defensive horn the Yale gives up an attack, but those attacking the Yale suffer -2 to hit, and the individual making the first successful blow (and second if both horns are used defensively) must save vs. Paralysis or suffer 1D6 HP damage as they impale themselves. Offensively the Yale makes a normal attack, but on a natural 19 or 20 will impale its enemy on the horn, rendering them helpless and inflicting an additional 4 points of damage per round until they are pulled off by an ally (with an opposed STR check against the Yale's 18 Strength).<br />*** The Yale will constantly charge about in combat, and can knock aside any target it successfully strikes to get to the back ranks of any enemy group. Because of this constant movement those who wish to attack a Yale for two rounds in a row must make a Save vs. Paralysis to avoid being buffeted about, losing their action. <br /> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-89715254165279753912017-07-02T12:09:00.001-07:002018-08-29T11:54:10.941-07:00HMS Apollyon Viking Character Generation Rules<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-19014c9d-04a4-3e09-0068-0823ef27fc26" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 24pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Below are some rules I wrote up to run Viking seafarers in the HMS Apollyon setting to run some one shots of a few new areas. A friend ran a game at NTRPG Con using these rules and related WWII Commando Character Generation Rules and reported success. I think they make a nice enough distillation of my current rule system and provide a nice means of character generation. A Character sheet is also included. For further explanations of rules and things you might find this <a href="http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2016/08/hms-appolyon-players-guide-part-1.html">Players Guide for Combat and Exploration</a> helpful as well.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 24pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">VIKING CHARACTER GENERATION</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have no justification for using this illustration</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Karve was a ghostly shape in the sea mist when Thorgest the Foul and his men reached the black pebble beach, and his screaming red face was the last you saw of the cold fjords at Hornstrandir as the clansfolk who had survived the hall burning rowed hard into the tide. Rowing West and South you intended on reaching Reykjavík or Ireland for supplies. The sea had different plans, and after three days of storm, buffeted by waves and lashed by rain, the Karve was far to the West, beyond the known sea, and the supplies already stretched. You’ve sailed now for a week more, two men dead from wounds gone rotten, another lost over the side, and even with the storm the water is almost gone again.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Doldrums, a crew too exhausted and hungry to row more than a few hours and no sun to act as a guide in the heavy fog seem to have written a grim end for you and your people. But the fog breaks, orange light trickles in and in the near distance a cliff of metal looms. A cliff that seems to float like a great ship, sides encrusted with shell and trailing weed, but beneath black plates, smooth like the toenails of dead giants. It is Naglfar, but there are no choices - go aboard and be damned or die of thirst and sink into Hel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>WHO ARE YOU</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A band of 10th century Norse in a small dragon ship, alone in the green grey vastness of the North Atlantic, driven to the sea by blood feud. Too few perhaps to seriously consider claiming new lands, even if you had found them, and now short on supplies other than your personal arms and armor. You are hearty folk: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">lords of war, </span>spearmen, swordsmen, and shieldmaidens, the survivors of a hard land, used to cruel strokes in the shieldwall, and the followers of heartless gods. For the purposes of the HMS Apollyon, Viking seafarers are considered 1st level characters of the Fighter, Cleric or Specialist classes, though they have a limited set of sub-classes to select from.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Roll 3D6 in order for STR, INT, WIS, CON, DEX and CHR </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If you have a stat that is 15 or 5 or lower greater you gain or lose +/- 1 to the following</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>STR</b> +1/-1 Melee damage and to hit with melee weapons</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>INT</b> + 1/-1 Initiative</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>WIS </b>+1/-1 Saving Throws</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>CON</b> +1/-1 HP per die</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>DEX</b> +1/-1 To hit with ranged weapons and to AC</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>CHR</b> +1/-1 retainer and retainer loyalty</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Roll for HP based on class, and use the armor class of whatever armor you carry. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All vikings are trained sailors and fighters, though this do not provide additional bonuses beyond normal class bonuses. Vikings who do not qualify for any of the three special classes below (Skald, Scout or Berserker) are Warriors.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You may switch any rolls you wish but your CON must be above 10. These are your statistics, but the following roles may be picked (one only each) or assigned:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Highest WIS of group or WIS over 15</b> - While a still a warrior, you are close to the rulers of Valhalla. You know their stories and how to call their aid with prayer, you are a Skald (CLERIC - see “Skald of the Aesir” subclass for skills and spells) </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Highest CON of group or CON over 15</b> - A warrior cursed or blessed by gods and spirits, in battle a red dream of violence and destruction descends and you fight harder than most, oblivious to wounds. (FIGHTER - see “Berserker” Subclass)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Highest DEX of group or DEX over 15 </b>- A hunter and ranger, hailing from the deep wilderness and used to its harsh ways, strange beasts and the arts of survival. Currently you serve as a Scout. (SPECIALIST - see “Scout” Subclass) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The vast majority of Viking seafarers are simply warriors, farmers, craftsmen and householders driven from their land by the iron law of vendetta, but with training for and a visceral understanding of violence. (FIGHTER - see “Warrior” Subclass)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">SUBCLASSES</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All Classes aboard the HMS Apollyon have subclasses that grant special bonuses or skills at Levels 1, 4, 7 and 10. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">SKALD OF THE AESIR</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Norse Paganism is an esoteric theism with fairly minimal ceremonial trappings. Its priesthood tend to worship the entire pantheon and can call on the aid of all of their gods, praying to the deity most suited to immediate need.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Skalds are hardly full time priests, and while they act as singers of epics, storytellers, and healers they are expected to stand in the shield wall, like other karls, and know more swordcraft then most types of Clerics (this isn’t to say that there aren’t other Clerics of the Aesir with less war like skills - seers and balewreckers seem obvious, but they aren’t to be found adrift in a small boat chased by vengeful foemen).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Like all Clerics, Skalds have Intermediate Hit Point and Attack Bonus advancement, training in light and medium armor use, with the limitation that their training and religious fervor prevents them from gaining any Attack Bonus in the use of ranged weapons. At first Level this means a normal HD (1D6) Hit Points, and an attack bonus of +1 to melee, +0 to range (even with a DEX over 15).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Clerical Magic is different aboard the Apollyon then in many settings based on classical ‘Vancian’ magic, in that Clerics don’t memorize and then recite long strings of arcane formula that burn from the mind after use, but call upon their deity or deities for aid, and to do so they must make a D20 check against a target number, adding their level to the roll (and any Wisdom bonus) for the spell to succeed. On a roll below a certain number (usually five below the target) the spell has a negative effect as the gods become annoyed at their servant.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Skalds gain the following abilities as they level: (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 1</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Lore</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (Arcana 2, Survival 2), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Inspired Leadership</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (May invoke the special spell “On to the Gods”) (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 4</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Skaldic Wisdom</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (Arcana 3, Survival 3) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Prophet</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - may cast special spell “Prophecy” (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 7</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Lore Mastery</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (Arcana 5, Survival 5), Heart of Battle - The presence of the Skald in Melee is inspiring to all allies within 40’ who gain +1 Hit/+1 Damage/+1 to all saves and +1 to AC and are immune to fear. (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 10</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Blessed of the Aesir</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Immune to normal weapons, Special Spell “True Prophecy”. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>SKALD SPECIAL SPELLS</b>:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">On to the Gods</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">” - Succeed 12+/ Failure 7- Channeling the spirits of ancestors and singing the songs of gods and heroes the Cleric is inspirational and may grant a +1 to hit, +1 to AC to all who fight beside her. This effect continues as long as the cleric takes no action besides singing. The songs also remind those considering flight of the expectations of their deities and the feats of their ancestors, giving all henchmen a reroll on any morale check.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Failure leads to demoralization and all allies must make an immediate Morale check and suffer -1 to all hit rolls as they are reminded of their certain death in battle.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Prophecy</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">” (ritual) - Succeed 15+/ Failure 10- Reading the entrails, casting the runes, checking the portents and the stars’ orbits, hints and intimations of the divine plan are visible. Prophecy can be used to ask the GM a single Yes or No question and receive an answer from the gods, or to either foretell success of doom for a known, named individual. A foretelling of success will allow the subject of the prophecy to reroll one roll of a type defined by the Prophet (Combat roll, Saving Throw, Skill Check, Death Save), a Doom will provide the doomed with a disadvantage (the prophet rolls a second roll and the lowest is taken) on one roll of a specific type. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Failure will lead to blindness for the caster for 1D6+4 turns, and hazy vision (-2 to all rolls) for the rest of the session.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">True Prophecy</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">” - Succeed 20+/ Failure 15- (ritual) Look upon the unveiled face of the divine and hear the secrets of the Gods. This can be used to ask one question of the GM to receive a single sentence answer or can place a prophecy or doom upon a known and named individual. A prophecy of success will allow the subject to automatically succeed one roll of a type defined by the Prophet (Combat roll, Saving Throw, Skill Check, Death Save) and grant a +1 to all rolls in that area for the rest of the session, a Doom will cause the doomed to automatically fail on one roll of a specific type and suffer -1 to all rolls in that area for the rest of the session. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Failure causes permanent blindness and madness (Permanent loss of 1 point of WIS)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">AESIR SPELLS</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">0 -</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"> Shun the Foul</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Succeed (N/A) - The Aesir will not abide by the creatures of the underworld: crawling lindwyrms, foul serpents or the living dead. A Skald of the Aesir may ‘turn’ or shun to drive off both legless reptilian monsters and the corporeal undead. Up to 2D8 creatures may be effected. Roll 2D6 and consult the Turning table below to determine success at Level 1:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Level 1 Clerical Turning Table </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1 HD Enemy</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2 HD Enemy</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3 HD Enemy</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4 HD Enemy</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6 or Better</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">8 or Better</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">10 or Better</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">12</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1 - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tyr’s Blessing</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Succeed 11+/ 6- (ritual) * Tyr, the one handed god of noble combat can be called on to protect a single warrior (he is the god only of single combat) by a simple a one turn ritual recitation of Tyr’s legends and songs. The successful invocation of Tyr’s protection will not only fill the warrior with battle knowledge and confidence (NPCs need not make morale checks, and PC are immune to fear effects), but bestow one of the following blessings for the next battle (d6/2) 1-2: +2 to all saving throws (including any death save needed), 3-4: +1 to hit and damage, 5-6: 2 points of damage reduction per hit received.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On a failure the Skald’s battle luck will burn and twist away, causing a -1 to hit and +1 additional point of damage per injury to the Skald for the rest of the game session.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2 - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Prayer to Eir</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Succeed 13 +/Failure 8- * Eir is the Goddess of health and protection, one of Frigg’s court she is healer to the gods, and when properly invoked the Skald efforts to bond a wound will restore D6 HP. This prayer may only be used once per session on any one person or creature’s wounds. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On a failure the wound turns sour and cannot be healed by magic, additionally the target suffers an additional point of damage and descends into fever, giving a -1 to all rolls until the end of the session.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3 - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Blessing of Sif</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Succeed 15+/ Failure 10- * A goddess of beauty and grace, Sif of the golden hair’s blessing will grant the Skald the ability to charm and wheedle humans and their close kin. Sif’s power will either A) Charm a single target (with saving throw) to act as if their reaction roll was a 12. B) Grant the Skald an ‘18’ Charisma for the next 1D6 turns or C) Call for a cessation of active hostilities, allowing the Skald to reroll a reaction check. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On failure the base and purely human motives of the Skald become obvious, and the target will immediately attack, the Skald will suffer a -2 penalty to all calls upon the gods for the remainder of the session or enraged enemies will gain a +2 to damage.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4 - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Ritual of Loki</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Succeed 16+/Failure 11(ritual) - * The trickster and father of monsters, Loki may be poorly regarded, but he is still one of the Aesir (at least honorarily) and the Skald can tell his stories as well as any other god or goddesses. Doing so successfully will summon a creature of Loki with 1 HD per level of the Skald. These inky monsters will generally do what the Skalad commands (though they are tricky and evil, twisting complex commands over a confusing word or two) for 1D6 turns, after which they will skulk off to breed in dark corners.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On failure the creature is still summoned (not always at the exact time or place of the ritual) but free of compulsion and intent on committing foul deeds in Loki’s name and devouring the Skald.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5 - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Call on Thor</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Succeed 18+/ Failure 13- * Thor the Thunderer is the patron of warriors and he enjoys a good battle, but he’s also a curmudgeonly deity and only rarely intervenes. On a successful intervention Thor’s hammer will ring in the heavens and a lightning bolt strike a target of the Skald’s choosing for 2D6+ Skald’s Level of damage. After each use of this spell Thor becomes progressively more petulant and calling on him for the rest of the session is at a cumulative -1 penalty.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On failure Thor is annoyed by the Skalds presumption and will strike him or a companion with his bolt.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6 - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Ritual of Odin</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Succeed 20+ /Failure 15- (ritual)* To call on the all father is to risk doom, Odin has a somewhat sinister aspect and does not use his power lightly. To seek his intervention the Skald must conduct a ritual involving ritually hanging himself (ideally from an ash tree), and it is only through stopping the ritual before it is complete, or the mercy of Odin that the Skald will survive. Success grants the Skald the ability to either have a short discussion with Odin receiving true answers to 1D6 questions (questions must be no more than a sentence in length - do not waste the All Father’s time) or allow a single person to be returned from the dead.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Failure will result in the Skald’s death, and possibly a curse on all who are nearby.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">SCOUT</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Forest walkers and far travelling hunters, norse woodsmen are some of the few in their culture skilled with the bow, and while most vikings are hardy individuals, scouts have the knowledge, skills and incredible toughness that allows them to survive easily in some of the harshest environments imaginable. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As a variety of Specialist, Scouts gain Intermediate Hit Point and Attack Bonus advancement, training in light armor use. 1st Level Scouts have 1D6 HP and a +1 Attack Bonus (+2 for ranged attacks with their subclass ability).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Scouts have a combination of survival and stealth skills as well as combat oriented skills focused around missile use.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 1</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Scout</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (Survival 3, Stealth 3, Acrobatics 3) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Missile Attack Bonus</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (+1 to missile attacks); (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 4</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Light Armor Mastery</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (+1 AC from light armor, +1 INT in light armor), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Concealed Shot</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (May make ranged backstab attempts) (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 7</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Wildman</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (Survival 4, Stealth 4, Acrobatics 4) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Toughness</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (Gain +1 HD immediately) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Missile Attack Bonus</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (+1 to missile attacks) (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 10</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Uncanny Perception</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (Scout is never surprised and has bonus to surprise to of +2/4 in 6 or +3/5 in 6 when alone) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Master Ranger</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (Survival 5, Stealth 5, Acrobatic 5)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">BERSERKER</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Berserks charge into battle heedless of injury, often supplementing their own ferocity with powerful intoxicants, even the greatest of them know little of refined fighting arts, depending on their fury, toughness and eventually the subtle magic of their battle insanity to reave their foes. Berserkers are Fighters, using the Fighter Attack Bonus, Armor and Hit Point tables. They begin with an attack bonus of +2, trained in the use of light, medium and heavy armor and 1D6+1 hit Points.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Berserker abilities focus on survival despite limited armor use and injuring multiple attackers in melee combat.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">(</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 1</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Bersekergang*</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (Working themselves into a fury over the course of 1 round, Berserkers become dangerous and headless combatants gaining +1 to hit and 1 point of damage absorption per tier of berserker skill [Levels 1,4,7 & 10]. To enter a berserk state the Berserker cannot wear heavier than light armor and once in the state they must make a melee attack each round against a living target for the next 1D6+1 rounds or being harming themselves for 1D6/3 damage [usually by biting on their shields]. While under the berserkergang the Berserk cannot retreat from combat or use missile weapons. Berserk skills with an “*” next to them only apply while the Berserker is under the effect of the Berserkergang. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Hard to Kill</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (Death Saves by the Berserker are always at ‘10’ and never increase) (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 4</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Light Armor Mastery</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (+1 AC and +1 INT in Light Armor) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Retaliatory Attack*</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- (The first attack that strikes the berserker each round is met with an immediate responsive counterblow.)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 7</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Whirlwind*</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (The wild blows of the Berserker have an unsubtle perfection with the motion from each attack leading into the next. All melee attacks by a berserker are considered “Overpowering”, meaning that when a Berserker kills an opponent they may make another attack against another opponent in melee) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Blood Pact*</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (The hungry gods of battle feast upon the ruin of warriors, and have shared a modicum of their power so that whenever the berserker kills an enemy in melee combat he is healed for 1D6/2 points of damage.) (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 10</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Death Pact*</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (Pacts with strange powers and spirits have been concluded. Wounds suffered while in melee combat cannot kill the Berserker, who no longer need to make death saves from melee combat injuries, but simply collapses after receiving seemingly fatal wounds, to rise again in 1D6 turns with 1D6 HP. Damage from missile attacks and non-melee magical attacks can kill the berserker.) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Vengeful Fury*</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (To come within range of a high level Berserk when they are gripped by the battle madness is to risk instant death, as the berserker may conduct a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Retaliatory Attack</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">against any foe that strikes them in melee) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">WARRIOR</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - A trained armsman from a heroic culture or with an individualist view of combat, the warrior, unlike the soldier, learns to fight almost entirely as an individual seeking heroic glory and personal excellence. The warrior’s primarily offensive fighting style emphasizes medium armor, and the use of a shield. As Fighters, Warriors use the Fighter Attack Bonus, Armor use and Hit Point tables. They begin at Level 1 with an attack bonus of +2, trained in the use of light, medium and heavy armor and 1D6+1 hit Points.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 1</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Shield Mastery</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (While using a shield the Warrior gains +1 to AC and the ability to block the first missile attack against them per round that hits with a successful Save v. Device) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Terrifying Strike</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (A critical strike from a Warrior will show such excellence and martial dominance that it demoralizes the target forcing and immediate Morale Check, or against targets immune to fear, grants a -2 to hit for the next round) (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 4</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Medium Armor Mastery</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (+1 AC from medium armor, +1 INT in medium armor), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Shield Bash</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (Warrior may opt to strike with shield instead of weapon, doing only 1D6/2 damage, but stunning a target that fails a save v. paralysis for the next round.) (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 7</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Warrior’s Fury</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (By giving up 2 points of AC the Warrior can fight so aggressively as to gain a second attack each round.) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Coup </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Upon a successful critical attack the Warrior can make a display of dominance, demoralizing nearby foes, causing a morale check for all enemy within 30’ and inflicting a -1 to hit on all who target the Warrior for the remainder of the battle. (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LEVEL 10</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Battlemaster</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (In combat the warrior gains the ability to make a critical strike on any natural attack roll of 16 or above [if the attack hits/does damage], and may make an immediate retaliatory shield strike against any enemy that attacks them for 1D6/2 damage) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Shield Wall</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - (When actively in use the warrior’s shield counts as ‘cover’ for purposes of defense against explosive/artillery weapons without penalty to movement)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><u><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">WHAT YOU POSSESS </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></b></u><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Within the shallow hold of the karve are the following items:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* 20 rations of dried fish and fermented whale shark meat.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* 20 bundles of tar and wood torches (3 torches a bundle) each provides light for 1 light exhaustion pips and light for 3 party members at a 30’ range.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* 6 extra shields</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* 4 war spears (reach - may attack from 2nd rank and brace against charges)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* 2 hunting bows </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* 1 barrel of pitch and naphtha. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* Medical herbs and bandages (specialist Kit for Medicine - use to save the dying, cure disease and slow poison)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* 1 dragon prow</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*5 x 30’ rope </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* 1 felling axe (light)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* 1 shovel (light)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* 3 extra 10’ long wooden spars</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In addition each viking has the following items:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* Mail shirt (medium), leather jack sewn with rings (light armor), padded gambeson (light armor) animal skin cape [likely either walrus or bear] (light armor)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* War axe (overpowering) or sword (finesse)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* Shield [or second weapon as above or Two Handed Axe (heavy, overpowering)]</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* Dagger or Saex (close)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*SCOUTS will carry a warbow (ranged) and *30 Arrows </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*SKALDS may carry a harp/lur or horn (use will allow a reroll on fear and moral checks) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*BERSERKERS can possess either ice mead, a powerful alcoholic drink (three draughts) or psychotropic mushrooms (three doses) -taking these items will cause a non-berserker/raging addict to save vs. poison or become dazed (-1 to all rolls) for 1D6x2 turns and possibly placid and suggestible (at GM discretion). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Each item from the above list counts as 1 encumbrance point, your total encumbrance equals your STR. Going over encumbrance makes you automatically lose any initiative check and suffer a -2 in melee combat, up to 10 points over, at which point you collapse unable to move.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Non - encumbrance items - per character</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Waterskin (almost empty of fresh water) (1 of 3 drinks left - each time there is a ‘6’ result on the random encounter die you must drink or make a survival skill check to tough it out (2 in 6) - failure means suffering from thirst, a cumulative -2 to all rolls)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Helmet [anachronistic horns optional] (Save vs. paralysis for ½ damage from falls)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Silver armbands and amulet of gods (15 GP value)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">HOW SKILLS AND WEAPONS WORK</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">SKILLS</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Most tasks are resolved by the player describing what they intend to do and the GM deciding is a competent explorer could accomplish that task (most things an explorer can do without rolling a die if they have a full turn to do so). Where there is doubt about the ease of a task, time pressure, or other significant difficulties a check is made by rolling XD6 under the character most appropriate stat (as explained by the GM, though a player may describe a different method of accomplishing the task to see if the stat changes).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tricky Tasks</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Require a bit of luck or skill and are accomplished with 4d6 under the appropriate stat.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Hard Tasks</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Tasks that the average person is almost sure to fail will succeed on a 5D6 or 6D6 check of statistics.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Skilled Tasks</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Demand either extraordinary luck or consummate skill to accomplish and include any task of 7D6 or over.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Skills make difficult tasks easier in two ways. First, for each point of skill the character removes one die of difficulty from the task, and second provides a secondary statistic that the player may choose to roll against to complete the task. For example, picking a simple lock would normally be a 6D6 task rolled against Dexterity, but with a Tinker skill of 3 a character reduces the difficulty to 3D6 and may choose to roll against Dexterity or Intelligence.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Types of Skills</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Piloting </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Strength/Dexterity - The use of watercraft and other vehicles.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Athletics</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Strength/Constitution - Feats of strength and endurance such as breaking open doors.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Arcana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Intelligence/Wisdom - The understanding of the arcane and its various effects, powers, manifestations. May detect/identify magical objects and read arcane inscriptions or scrolls. Replaces spells: Detect Magic, Identify, & Read Magic.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Scholarship</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Intelligence/Wisdom - Deep knowledge of a wide variety of subjects, including strange languages, history and religion. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Engineering - Intelligence/Strength -</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Chemics</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Wisdom/Constitution - A knowledge of poisons, both natural and artificial as well as the ability to use, identify and understand various other alchemical, chemical and scientific processes. May slow or cure poison effects and is required to use poison effectively.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Chuirigeonry</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Wisdom/Dexterity - The ability to heal and aid the injured, can diagnose and limit the effects of disease and if rendering aid throughout the remainder of a combat allow those critically injured to make a second death save.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Awareness</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Wisdom/Charisma - Vigilance, trained ears and subtle understanding aid in detecting hidden doors, ambush, traps and other concealed dangers. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Stealth - Dexterity/Constitution - The ability to move and act quietly and stealthily, even under low light conditions</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Acrobatics</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Dexterity/Strength - Climbing, jumping, vaulting and various other forms of difficult physical contortions, can be used in combat to disengage or advance through one's own ranks to attack without risk of retaliation.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tinker</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Dexterity/Intelligence - a familiarity with small mechanical devices and an understanding about how to work with and around them. Useful for picking locks and disarming mechanical traps.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Survival </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Constitution/Wisdom - The skills to survive in harsh climates and wild places, using the skill will allow the identification of useful plants, animals and an understanding of animal (even monstrous animal) behaviour. It also provide the ability to skin and otherwise collect treasure from hunted beasts effectively. Finally survival can function to ignore the negative effects of environmental extremes and exhaustion/thirst/starvation.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Animal Handling</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Charisma/Strength - The knowledge and practice to properly, raise, train and care for animals. For each point of skill an animal handler can control and care for one additional beast [normal PCs can only keep one] (such as a horse or attack animal). In addition skilled animal handlers can control trained monstrous animals of HD up to their skill level, and can add their Animal Handling skill to any reaction or negotiation rolls made with wild and monstrous animals.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Acumen </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Charisma/Intelligence - Knowledge and practice in how the world of means and power functions, including the ability to appraise items of value, understand legal and business matters or documents and act respectfully around men and women of the noble or business classes.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Legerdemain</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Charisma/Dexterity - Quick wit, a battery of quips, understanding of the theatrical and nimble hands allow for both the palming or theft of small objects as well as impersonation of voice and other tricks of disguise.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">WEAPONS</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - Weapons all do the same amount of damage (1D6), except for for [Heavy], [Light] and [Thrown] weapons which do more or less damage based on their weapon modifier alone. Rather than variable damage, weapons have modifiers with differing effects. Many natural attacks from various creatures also have modifiers and effects, some of which aren’t listed below.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On a roll of 1 in combat the wielder of a weapon has fumbled and may either elect to break their weapon, making it unusable until repaired (if possible) or take an immediate counter attack from the opponent they are facing. Missile weapons always break on a fumble.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Muscle Powered Weapon Modifiers</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Modifier</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Effect</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Size and Weight Based Modifiers </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Light</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Light Weapons do less damage than most, inflicting only 1D6/2 damage.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Heavy</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Heavy Weapons require two hands to wield but do more damage. Roll two Six-Sided dice (2x1D6) and pick the highest for damage. Non-Fighters attack last each round if wielding a [Heavy] weapon.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thrown</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thrown weapons operate normally as [Reactive] weapons or when hurled from Reach Range. They are not meant to be used in melee doing only 1D6/2 damage there.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Reach</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pole and other longer ranged weapons can attack from the second rank of a formation, and may be ‘set’ to receive charges and make a reactive attack at any attacker who charges to attack either the weapon wielder or an ally in the same or front rank.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ranged</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Long ranged Weapons are capable of striking from hundreds of feet away, but they are useless in melee and if fired into melee (from Reach or Range distance) any roll of a natural 5 or less results in striking an ally who is in melee combat for full damage.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Type Based</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Close</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Close Weapons automatically hit at the start of any round the wielder is in a grapple doing normal damage. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Overpowering</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Overpowering weapons can make a follow up strike on another nearby enemy any time they are used to kill an enemy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Crushing</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Crushing attacks limit all normal (not including natural or magical) armor to a maximum AC of 15.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Finesse</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Up to two points of attack bonus and AC can be swapped on a one for one basis when using a Finesse weapon.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Entangling</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Entangling weapons grant the wielder a +1 to Initiative.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Reactive</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Reactive weapons can be used whenever the wielder is attacked to make a counter attack prior to the enemy’s strike</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Deadly</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Deadly weapons use ‘exploding’ damage dice, meaning any time a 6 is rolled for damage another die of damage is added. This effect can stack.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Improvised</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Improvised weapons (including bare hands) do only 1D6/3 damage per hit.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Complex </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Complex weapons can only be used every other round and require a round without an attack between uses (usually due to reloading).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Material Based</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Silver/Blessed</span></div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Silvered or Blessed weapons can injure many of the incorporeal undead</span></div>
</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hexed</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hexed weapons can damage outsider entities such as demons who are immune to normal weapons</span></div>
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<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-69857432443721787152017-06-28T18:22:00.001-07:002017-06-28T20:02:37.271-07:00Steel Leviathan<br />
Sometimes I still mull over ASE and things like will it ever get more levels, and will I ever write anything more for the setting.<br />
<br />
Sometimes this musing goes as far as drawing some stuff for the setting. Like this Steel Leviathan and Unyielding Fist detachment. I think this is a bigger and meaner steel Leviathan then the ones described in ASE - I imagine that it is a new creation from the Academy designed for the wars against the Dinosaur Khan and Serpent Men of the Certopsian plains who threaten Denethix's expansion and sovereignty.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinG7hYAPgGS003v5Va4j3gCyX6ad1IMRB_omQOBccIbrkDHbmhtEFu9pIOuqJSk46ZVCiLch562972lbB7nMafbU1YMDoMfpD7vquBfK6L8gfnGg_eJ5_h6xO2__oc6g3fC2wqridWy-A/s1600/Certopsian+Trouble.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1389" data-original-width="1600" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinG7hYAPgGS003v5Va4j3gCyX6ad1IMRB_omQOBccIbrkDHbmhtEFu9pIOuqJSk46ZVCiLch562972lbB7nMafbU1YMDoMfpD7vquBfK6L8gfnGg_eJ5_h6xO2__oc6g3fC2wqridWy-A/s400/Certopsian+Trouble.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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It's also a chance to play around with some drawing effects.<br />
<br />
Let's take this another step ... here are stats for "Red Ruin" and the unit it's part of. If you are running ASE, they can flesh out the Unyielding Fist that guards all the other entrances of the megadungeon after it opens<br />
<a name='more'></a><span id="docs-internal-guid-cd1a5109-f1b8-c3f3-613e-7e641e7783c4" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">THE FORLORN POETS</span><br />
<span id="docs-internal-guid-cd1a5109-f1b8-c3f3-613e-7e641e7783c4" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />A proper expedition to the new dungeon will take a time to mount, and with Denethix currently locked in a nasty war with the forces of the Dinosaur Khanate around Topperstown, Captain Tyro lacks a rapid reaction force at the Denethix Garrision. <br /><br />He will instead send this grousing, footsore, short Company of the Lannington 14th Expeditionary Foot Guards (“The Forlorn Poets”), who are supported by two experimental flamethrower equipped Steel Leviathan “Crocodiles”. The men are relieved to be here in the Denethix farm belt rather than fighting raptor riders in the Certopisan, those the war machines feel a bit ill served. The Poets are nervous that should the Subsurface Environment prove too important another unit will be sent to replace them, or should it prove worthless they will be withdrawn. The Poets correctly intuit that if they are withdrawn they will be transferred to die on the brutal Eastern Front and they may be willing to make deals to keep themselves in Tyro's good graces - the Leviathans are more incorruptable. Nervousness makes their sword arms and trigger fingers itchy.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Forlorn Poets are understrength, but identical to all other Unyielding Fist Units except for red feather plumes on their helmets. The Company currently includes: 41 Unyielding Fist “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Foot Soldiers</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">”, 22 Unyielding Fist “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Riflemen</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">”, 8 Unyielding Fist “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Infantry Officers</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">” and 1 Unyielding Fist “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Mounted Officer</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">” (Subedar Sassoon) [See ASE 1 pg. 14 for Stats]. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">More dangerous than the Fist’s soldiers are a pair of large infantry support Steel Leviathans - “Mother’s Little Helper (‘Little Mom’)” and “Red Ruin”. Like all Leviathans their mechanical brains are warlike and pugnacious - but as infantry support Leviathans they are also protective, even mothering to Fist soldiers.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Medium Steel Leviathan “Crocodile”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - AC 1*, HD10, hp 64 HP each, #AT 3 (large flamethrower**, heavy machine gun, howitzer***) or charge****, D( 2D8/1D10/2D6) MV (80’), Save F12, ML 10</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* The front glacis of Medium Steel Leviathans is terribly thick and immune to most attacks, absorbing the first 12 points of damage from any attack made at the front of the Crocodile.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** A large flamethrower can fire a stream of napalm jelly up to 20’, and is 5’ wide at it’s terminus. Any caught in the flaming stream take 2D8 damage and an additional 2D6 damage for the next three rounds. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*** The howitzer may fire once every three rounds, and may only fire forward. Any target in front of the Crocodile and at least 30’ away can be targeted. Howitzer shells effect a 10’ circle around the target and any creature of less then 5 HD within that circle must Save vs. Wands or be instantly killed. Creatures making their save take 2D6 damage while those over 5 HD who fail take 4D6 Damage. If the target is in hard cover (inside a building or in a trench for example) a successful save prevents damage, and a failed save inflicts only 2d6 HP. The Howitzer also has a 3 in 6 chance of destroying any cover in its blast radius. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**** May charge in a 10’ straight line, doing 1D6 damage for every 10’ traveled (maximum 6D6) vs. any in its path.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-77707088550845025482017-05-26T14:33:00.002-07:002017-05-26T14:33:43.056-07:00A Swords and Sorcery Setting - Part 1<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijo3RFGY4sH16J63tCe0vtYkkdm1fJbgoODf7kxKWnMl_fqATVq0AJSbb6z7VUPmxPWQIlorPZa-pdPs8ZLn4_iwrIPRERTh0r9WtGKjoB2z-QHLLY0pIcj_RtNR609N6ZXQCVudBDIz4/s1600/whatz.BMP" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="1600" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijo3RFGY4sH16J63tCe0vtYkkdm1fJbgoODf7kxKWnMl_fqATVq0AJSbb6z7VUPmxPWQIlorPZa-pdPs8ZLn4_iwrIPRERTh0r9WtGKjoB2z-QHLLY0pIcj_RtNR609N6ZXQCVudBDIz4/s400/whatz.BMP" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Goudy Bookletter 1911"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>I haven't ever really bothered with applying about Swords & Sorcery elements as setting building blocks. Here's an attempt. At some point the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_4yfZaJH0e5YzA1WmRYZl95WXc/view?usp=sharing">This is the World PDF</a> may be followed by This is You, These are Your People, and This is Your Fate. Which will contain rules for character generation, a faction/town/quest system and very short combat rules based on my HMS Apollyon rules. Don't hold your breath though.</i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><u><b></b></u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Goudy Bookletter 1911"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><u><b><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>THIS IS THE WORLD</b></u></span><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Goudy Bookletter 1911"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Sky is red at midday;
light has gone out of the world, long before your unprophetic birth. In the
thin light the grain grows slow, a meager harvest before the ice storms come.
Sometimes the rain is a torrent of blood or a cascade of frogs - a boon
to the village, but too much salt and iron is bad the soil.<br />
<br />
Iron is rare; the earth mined clean of useful metals so your tools and weapons
are carved of bone or red oak, chipped of obsidian and jade or hammered from
old soft copper. Iron is power and steel a myth that rust in the ruins of
the ancients among those lesser imperishable metals of grey or green that only
grow brittle or burst into flame in the smith’s fire. <br />
<br />
Man is no longer the ruler of this world, or presumably those that rave,
sometimes blossoming with green fire in in the night sky. You are made of dirt
and to dirt you will return. Man is only a thing, among other things,
Beastkind, Ghostkind and the others that hunt and creep or stride proud to seek
dominion atop the ruined root-choked world.<br />
<br />
It has been a fat generation, and there are more of the polis then the herds
and crop can support, or at least there might be if the grey shivers, the
raiders, and the gods are kind and overlook your people for another generation.
Thus it is no longer a crime to take your fertile flesh beyond the
village palisades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Already a mother or
father, you have given your people at least a life to replace your own
squandered existence. To be an explorer is still uncouth, a whispering offense,
unless you return with good grey iron, trade or artifacts.<br />
<br />
Beyond the palisades, almost a mile of traps and sharpened logs, the world to
the North is ice steppe, tall dense forest to the East and West, and deserts of
glassy sand to the South. Little else is known, but lies and
half-truths filter back from outlanders, traders and explorers - something must
be true even from the lips of the mad.<br /><br /><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_4yfZaJH0e5YzA1WmRYZl95WXc/view?usp=sharing">Linked is a PDF with a bit more to help randomly generate a Swords & Sorcery Setting.</a></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-66074425508774348492017-05-23T15:49:00.003-07:002017-05-23T15:49:56.168-07:00The Oldest of Old School (part III) - G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief<br id="docs-internal-guid-54f0165e-31e9-1f1a-d84b-bcb606174664" />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 24pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">GYGAX RISES AGAIN</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKg5rzewIffLnShONck6nFlPRbKt32pzXCsUmEhgeV3iXYaP-zBHKsYI8sZ4n1-KTWd2c7u9MhknNMzu5e2SzP5_cxvWbLKz1G0OqOxz8R1F3JvSJL7g89_jJ4SafEub1VDvluFUxt1Rc/s1600/2795659621-1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKg5rzewIffLnShONck6nFlPRbKt32pzXCsUmEhgeV3iXYaP-zBHKsYI8sZ4n1-KTWd2c7u9MhknNMzu5e2SzP5_cxvWbLKz1G0OqOxz8R1F3JvSJL7g89_jJ4SafEub1VDvluFUxt1Rc/s320/2795659621-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">G1 - Steading of the Hill Giant Chief<br />Original Cover Art</td></tr>
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<br class="kix-line-break" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Recently I reviewed both <a href="http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2017/04/review-s1-tomb-of-horrors-gygax-at-his.html">Tomb of Horrors </a>(Gary Gygax - 1975/1978) and <a href="http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2017/04/temple-of-frog-first-module-review.html">Temple of the Frog</a> (Dave Arneson - 1975) and found them both interesting from a historical perspective and as iconic representations of styles of location based adventure. <u>Steading of the Hill Giant Chief</u> (G1) (1978) is another of the oldest adventure modules and unlike Tomb of Horrors (which had some contribution from Alan Lucien) appears to be purely the work of Gygax. <u>Steading of the Hill Giant Chief</u> is also a very different sort of adventure from <u>Tomb of Horrors</u> and doesn't appear to have been written solely with tournament play in mind, though it certainly has elements of Gygax's tournament style. <u>Steading of the Hill Giant Chief</u> is for ‘experienced characters’ - though it’s unclear if this is only raw levels of if Gygax (rightfully) suspects that the adventure might be tricky for players that are unfamiliar with some of the more sneaky options available to their characters in AD&D.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><u>Steading of the Hill Giant Chief</u> is short (13 pages or so) and densely written. It’s much clearer then the writing in <u>Temple of the Frog</u>, but is similar in construction - with the now standard introduction, hooks, and note for the game master followed by keyed locations (52 on two levels) and a single page of pre-generated (tournament) characters. The writing is Gygaxian, though far less descriptive than that and without the illustration booklet provided in <u>Tomb of Horrors</u> it still has some of his unique phrasing. The adventure is a simpleattack on a hill giant stronghold, but set up specifically to build tension and encourage infiltration and character creativity due to the enormity of that task. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A first level details the giant’s huge wooden hall and palisade, a sort of cliched barbarian/Viking/Celtic chief’s hall or even inbred backwoods family compound, built on a giant’s scale and filled with details that repeatedly hammer on the giants’ themes of squalor, debauchery and sloth. While individually keyed most of the rooms on this upper level are empty, as the inhabitants feast endlessly in their great hall they do offer plenty of clues and interesting spaces to explore. A secret stair leads down to a lower level much closer to a traditional ‘dungeon adventure’, though a rather tightly wound one, in the Giant’s cellar (slave cells, weapon manufacturing area and secret treasury, insane manticore garbage disposal), caverns with orcish rebels and several other factions, and a secret tentacle god temple. The upper level is a tightly written adventure locale that inspires plans and schemes in the players while giving the GM the tools to make them fail or succeed interestingly, the lower level is a bit of a jumble. Yes it has useful faction and a few neat set pieces, but it also very densely packed and small with a bit of the 'monster hotel' feeling, especially in the cave portion.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 24pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">IT'S GOOD</span></span></div>
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<br class="kix-line-break" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">G1’s best feature is that it is open ended - yes it provides a very tricky problem, a powerful, numerous and well organized enemy, but it also provides tools - stews to poison, disguises to wear, rebel servants to suborn, ambushes to lay, tools to control the Giant's wolves. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There's no expectation as to how the players will solve the problem that is thirty plus giants, ogres and other powerful monsters in a single room - the adventure trusts the players will solve the problem or fail, and this opens the <u>Steading of the Hill Giant Chief</u> to a lot of creative play. Better the adventure gives tools to make it easier for the GM to facilitate open ended play. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEd3IOxeHpxWs4njvcaZJiBdXS6L8eYISPB-TS5mko5zsF8G0K27EtjJ6L-Q1jW8IGmGKhSx6Zzh2ZzWnIgsFZEA_n5bSKeLyn-Uvr2itcFEIDujKwz5fXLBQCDv_neTP9L0nj4j0KgME/s1600/G1-poster-2017-small.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEd3IOxeHpxWs4njvcaZJiBdXS6L8eYISPB-TS5mko5zsF8G0K27EtjJ6L-Q1jW8IGmGKhSx6Zzh2ZzWnIgsFZEA_n5bSKeLyn-Uvr2itcFEIDujKwz5fXLBQCDv_neTP9L0nj4j0KgME/s400/G1-poster-2017-small.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Jason Thompson's amazing 'walkthrough'<br />posters for old adventures. http://mockman.com/</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">First there is information provided with an eye to potential player solutions </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(with Gygaxian efforts to make things difficult) such as the damp wood construction and Giant fire safety protocol of retreating into the Dungeon, but better there's clear information about the way the Steading looks and how it functions.</span> The tiny descriptions contain clear info that speaks to daily life of Steading, meaning that they both provide clues about possible player schemes and offer indications of what the social and physical environment of the Steading contains. While Gygax's description is not especially evocative and provides only limited detail, it's enough to encourage plots and player plan making. For Example: the random encounter table, while simple (it’s just a list of Steading residents) does provide a way to eliminate some Giants, drawing foes directly from the giants order of battle, and even the limited descriptions offered provide some indication of what happens in Steading - orcs carry trays, guests leaving the Steading party, drunken giants returning to their beds and ogres on guard. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The map (at least the upper level) is sensible and fairly organic. It's logical how the Steading is arranged, allowing players to understand the purposes and relationship of rooms - to guess where treasure might be, to figure out the best spot to wait and target an assassination (indeed I suspect Assassinating the Chief and Sub-Chief gets one a giant brawl in short order) and to simply feel like one is playing in a realistic space rather then some kind of bizarre monster zoo. Another, similar element one might not expect to find in an adventure dating from the dawn of adventure design, and using some of the most terse descriptions imaginable, is sufficiently interesting treasure. While there are gaps (how much are all these furs the giants have worth anyway?) the treasure descriptions are simple and effective. Hill giants rarely carry coins, though they do horde giant lots of them in bad hiding places, but have plenty of distinct jewelry (copper mirrors, gold and pearl hairpins). Writers trying to write in a terse style could do worse than to emulate this as the descriptions, while not ideal (another adjective or two would do wonders), are functional and far better then one finds in treasure description from many contemporary OSR or WOTC products. This isn’t to say these treasure descriptions are a standard to aspire to, there are still many awful instances of “The giants wear 2-4 pieces of jewelry worth 800 - 2000 GP each” that are sub-optimal, but like most other things in G1, Gygax took the time to think about how to make the treasure fit with the adventure and his antagonists, the slovenly, drunken and tawdry hill giants.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br class="kix-line-break" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQKzugOHWGxIwSVPc-ifo51BoO7RPZOXbRRRqDCjBKnFcnp4c-hSnHOoWueNbEHv2j36LczUs54AGccAxq-vm7N8Htm9nHLSTycXHSF0AtD3pybHJ-hZmPnIS0GHsL9MsCRz5JYDMEMXI/s1600/Hill-Giant-5E-full.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQKzugOHWGxIwSVPc-ifo51BoO7RPZOXbRRRqDCjBKnFcnp4c-hSnHOoWueNbEHv2j36LczUs54AGccAxq-vm7N8Htm9nHLSTycXHSF0AtD3pybHJ-hZmPnIS0GHsL9MsCRz5JYDMEMXI/s320/Hill-Giant-5E-full.png" width="233" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 5E Hill Giant</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There are failures in G1 <u>Steading of the Hill Giant Chief</u> especially compared to the best adventure writing of the present. It's hook of "kill the giants or face execution" is pretty bad, but really the feast hall of the hill giants doesn't need much of a hook to be a fitting adventure locale in any sandbox.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> More important is that as terse and focused as Gygax's descriptions are, they are also rather dull. I want more about the steady drip of water through rough fit beams, and the smears of rotten food and stale beer on every surface. The evocative detail isn't just there to make a better scene or description it acts as a sort of surface cover to not only camouflage useful details, but to make setting and tell the players about what they face. Dim rooms where everyone hollers and ignores the slaves underfoot suggest sneaking about Jack and the Bean Stalk style. Empty bottles and spilled booze everywhere suggests Giants overcome with alcohol and easy to poison. While all this exists in a simple form in Gygax's writing, there vast room for improvement that could be beneficial creating a fuller adventure and more sense of wonder. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial";">The underground area is also somewhat odd, it's too tightly mapped, with an ongoing revolution occurring scant feet from the home of the despotic Keeper.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> It's another easy problem to solve, and like the dull and cursory descriptions (magic items are terribly described in G1), shouldn't be seen as something that really detracts from <u>Steading of the Hill Giant Chief</u>, which is a truly excellent adventure location. It has a real keyed dungeon, but retains the vaguely siege like concept of <u>Temple of the Frog</u>, making it not strictly an exploration adventure, and much more a mission oriented combat infiltration, but it's a fine model both because of its logical consistency and openness to player ingenuity. Too many adventures and GMs don't trust the players, but in my experience players will rise to challenges that one presents, and <u>Steading of the Hill Giant Chief</u> presents a serious set of problems with several potential solutions. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "syncopate"; font-size: 24pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">MODERNIZATION PROGRAM</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gustav Dore - an illustration from Gargantua and Pantagruel<br />When in doubt for fantasy illustrations - go Dore.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Strangely (and perhaps serendipitously) Wizard’s of the Coast has attempted to update G1 (along with G2-G3, Hidden Shrine of Tamochen and Tomb of Horrors) in its recent Fifth Edition adventure tome </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Tales from the Yawning Portal</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Having looked through the ‘upgraded’ version it retains some of the good aspects of Gygax’s original and removes some of the obvious errors (such as the kill giants or die hook), while largely keeping close to the original.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">However, one also sees the inherent weaknesses’ of WTOC’s fifth edition style of GMing shining through. Random encounters are retained but neutered of their randomness by becoming a GM ‘pick and choose’ rather than truly random. Likewise the level of characters expected and the number of giants has been changed dramatically (increased and cut by ⅔), but this may be representative of giants being increasingly dangerous in later editions. Captives (a major theme in the Against the Giants adventures) are not NPCs with PC stats in the 5th edition version, but like everything else become a type of monster - an NPC 8th level Dwarven fighter becomes a Dwarf </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Veteran</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> for example. This seems indicative of a misunderstanding of why these NPCs populate Gygax’s modules - they are replacement characters, because player characters are expected to die, something that fifth edition refuses to countenance. These and other changes are relatively minor, but in a desire to upgrade the adventure to modern norms the writing has become less terse, and interesting elements (such as treasures appearing on the altar in the ‘Weird Temple’ after it curses characters) have been removed in favor of more descriptive text (which is almost universally bland). Still the yawning Portal version of G1 is a faithful enough reproduction and the soul of useful brevity compared to most WoTC adventures.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My own changes would be slightly different.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">First the setting is so vaguely sketched into G1, but it’s there and it needs to be teased out a bit more to make things properly evocative. The Hill Giant steading is a balance between two common stock communities - the barbarian ‘meadhall’ and the cannibal ‘hillbilly’ clan compound. One can easily push it in either direction, depending on how one sees Hill Giants. Certainly the Hill Giant of the 5th edition (and perhaps the Monster Manual) is driven by gluttony and seems like something out of “The Hills Have Eyes” more than a Fomorian of Celtic myth. This second idea, Hill Giants as oversized classical celtic with monstrous table manners is closer to the 1978 G1. Giants cover everything in furs and love decorative jewelry, living in a hall as an extended clan, the warrior elite lording over their captives and servants. The little art in G1 straddles these two conceptions as well, with giants clad in furs, or sometimes dressed in 19th century looking prairie dresses and depending on one’s campaign going in either direction could be very fun. Personally if I were to run </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Steading of the Hill Giant Chief</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, I’d run it in my Fallen Empire setting and focus fully on the cannibal inbred clan idea - with the Hill Giants a fallen lodge of rural nobility who have warped themselves into imbecility and horrendous size, but still love the excess, debauch and glittering jewels of the ancient world. Their manor would be decaying marble, shored up and expanded with tree trunks, and half sunk into a hillside, caulked with brown and green moss, dripping amid a coniferous forest that has long overgrown the manor’s supporting fields and homesteads.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">More particularly, to make G1 useful I’d want to expand on the order of battle and battle plan ideas that Gygax hints at. A list of every monster in the Steading and its HP is something a GM will likely need as it seems probable that the party will end up waging a guerrilla campaign against the giants, assassinating them one or two at a time until something goes wrong. If the party marches to the steading gate and declares hostile intent how will the 50 plus giant enemies within the Steading form up and fight? How will they defend against likely stratagems - will the chief order patrols? Will the Giants panic at fire or magical illusions? What happens if the party infiltrates the Steading and waits until the Giants are all very drunk or asleep?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Second, the map of the second level feels small - this is a standard issue in Gygax adventures with disparate areas and rival factions, but the underground prison cellar of the giants can easily be expanded so that the orc rebels and naturalistic caverns (I really do like the carrion crawler cavern as sort of a place where there will always be the creepy things - something 5E disposes of) can be pushed off the existing tiny map down a few twisty natural caverns. Likewise the ancient temple, which works better if the Giants are a decadent family lost to dark magic anyhow.<br /><br />Expanding the dungeon (if only geographically) also suggests expanding the world around the Steading, including the marches that the Giants hold under their sway. This not only provides more context for the eventual encounter with the Giants, but gives the players more room to work, and helps answer "what happens if the players decide to fight the Giants in the open field?" While of course the party is likely to lose that conflict, I can see a guerilla campaign against the Giants for a significant amount of time resulting in victory should the players fail in their initial infiltration.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s interesting that I can review <u>G1-Steading of the Hill Giant Chief</u> as if it was a contemporary adventure. That more than anything suggests its quality, and really it's one of the few Gygax pieces that has much in the way of evocative setting. It might not be a perfect adventure, and it might be a little dry by modern standards, but more then <u>Temple of the Frog</u> or <u>Tomb of Horrors</u> it's an early adventure that you can use at your table.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4607464045429311026.post-9141612234367843312017-05-17T09:58:00.002-07:002017-05-17T09:58:53.172-07:00The Haunted West<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You know you want this <br />in your Boot Hill Game...</td></tr>
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A few days ago I got to play a game of Boot Hill using the 2nd, 1979, edition (which are very similar to the 1975 1st edition in its little brown book) of what can best be described as a percentile driven cowboy gunfight game. Boot Hill's rules are simple and spare, solely designed for rolling percentile dice to mercilessly kill characters and NPCs alike. There are very few rules about anything other then various forms of Western mayhem, and no implied setting beyond a list of statistics for famous Western gunfighters and a weapons list where the better items are listed as 'available after 1870'.<br />
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Yet I enjoyed Boot Hill, I've always liked the idea of the system, murderously fast gunfights in the collective American (or possibly Italian) cultural confusion of the Wild West. Playing with the players from Hill Cantons, with Chris K running things (he's clearly run Boot Hill before) makes for a fun game and plenty of jokes about the inherent idiocy of the Western genre. While the mechanics of Boot Hill are strangely sparse, creating only a 'white room' where gunfights between faceless cowboys endlessly repeat, <a href="http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-hill-cantons-run-red.html">Cantones County</a> (Hill Canton's Western equivalent) has already been fleshed out to a fair degree. Best, these character generating '<a href="http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2014/07/fast-packs-for-boot-hill.html">Fast Packs</a>' build character backstory almost as quickly as the quirky modifier heavy rules of Boot Hill (Really it only has 3 meaningful statistics so it's not that bad) allow for character stat creation. <br />
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When I rolled "calico dress" as a fashion statement, several guns and a "child named William" as my character's possessions, my own fast, frail, accurate and fairly inexperienced gunfighter quickly became "Sally Murder" the last survivor of some sort of old order religious wagon train, loaded down with the guns of her dead fellows and her nine-year old son (at least this is her story, she might just be a mad murderess). The other players were able to concoct equally amusing backstories with equal speed based on the possessions randomly generated by these tables. While this is an important lesson (one I've long embraced) that equipment and a few random items can lay the basis for interesting characterization, the world that the strange gun thugs of Cantones County exist in still seems pretty bare. <br />
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Boot Hill's rules cover combat, exclusively and without variation. Almost a page on the effects of exploding dynamite, but nothing sneaking past sentries in the gloaming to take up a position on a rocky outcropping and snipe the local mine boss from cover on behalf of his perturbed workforce (this was the plot of the recent game). While articles in ancient Dragon magazines have some strange errata, mostly stats for fictional TV cowboy gunfighters, even the adventures offered are tactical map based gun battles against outlaws (and a Tyrannosaurus Rex) - individual scenes that may be fun but don't offer much variety or campaign play and suggest no space for expanding ones campaign beyond gunfights. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A famous US President as Supernatural Monster Slayer - Jason Hauser</td></tr>
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This doesn't really appeal to me, while I enjoy Western shootouts as much as anyone who watched a lot of UHF television as a child, Marty Robbin's "Big Iron" gets old fast. It gets old especially fast with the Boot Hill rules which use a static speed and percentile rolls to determine who gets shot in the groin. My own inclination for Western gaming is the Weird Western, where supernatural elements abound, but this of course is hard to mechanically model in a system as narrowly focused on cinematic gunfights.<br />
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Western supernatural creatures need a few special rules, and my inclination is to try to make encountering them less something different from a standard combat out of a video-game or Dungeons & Dragons and more like that of a horror movie. Supernatural creatures don't just kill, they terrify and haunt, causing flight, panicked shooting and even heart attacks.<br />
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<b><u>Fear</u></b><br />
All supernatural creatures cause <u>Fear</u>, even the harmless Jackalope is a sign that one has crossed from the mundane into a the unknown and uncanny, where a fast hand, keen eye and well maintained shooting irons provide little aid to survival. Encounters with the supernatural will cause <u>Fear</u>, using the table below, and many supernatural creatures can make attacks that cause <u>Terror</u>, inflicting direct psychic harm to a character's <u>Courage</u> (a statistic derived from <u>Bravery</u>).<br />
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<u>Courage</u>: To model supernatural terror each entity or character will need a "<u>Courage</u>" stat calculated in the same way <u>Strength</u> is based on the initial percentile attribute. Thus a gunfighter with a 60 raw <u>Bravery</u> score (Above Average) will have 14 points of <u>Courage</u> while one with a 70 raw Bravery score (still Above Average with the same <u>Bravery</u> modifiers) will have a Courage of 15 points.<br />
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<u>Courage</u> is used for two things, both as a reserve of mental health (when it drops to 0 the character will face dire consequences) and to determine how the character reacts to normal fear. Normal frightening situations occur whenever the GM thinks they should, principally when exposed to elements of supernatural terror, such as being in the presence of a supernatural creature, encountering a haunting or a scene of uncanny and unnatural murder, but also perhaps when a character faces other dangerous or unsettling situations. 2D10 are rolled against the character's current <u>Courage</u> (with the modifications below) and if the roll exceeds the current <u>Courage</u> score the character is frightened as described in "<u><b>Effects of Fear/Terror</b></u>" below. If the roll is below the Character's current <u>Courage</u> the fright is resisted without negative consequence.<br />
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<b>Potential Modifications to <u>Fear</u> Roll </b>(2D10)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4_5NTnE5MHSJi_JXG9ewVs9OSlYIStfSmlNRHg3bCT3ZgN_-nHVwre6Dl9qznrVNncB7_Wl03an9Tmha2q0Tvz_jknpnvV5-qwG5GSHrAjwWIuXtaBJd6fmmYdRU3csII02ghQsJeXs/s1600/chimpcowboy1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4_5NTnE5MHSJi_JXG9ewVs9OSlYIStfSmlNRHg3bCT3ZgN_-nHVwre6Dl9qznrVNncB7_Wl03an9Tmha2q0Tvz_jknpnvV5-qwG5GSHrAjwWIuXtaBJd6fmmYdRU3csII02ghQsJeXs/s320/chimpcowboy1.jpg" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This would also work for a Weird Western</td></tr>
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<ul>
<li>Character Wounded +3</li>
<li>Sign or Fright Specifically Names or is Directed at Character +3 </li>
<li>Night or Darkness +2</li>
<li>Companion has Died During Session +2</li>
<li>Scene of Exception Gore and Violence +1</li>
<li>Fright Includes Corpse of Someone Character knew +1 </li>
<li>Event Occurs in Wilderness +1</li>
<li>Event is Sudden and Surprising (a 'jump-scare' or other ambush) +1 </li>
<li>Supernatural Entity or Event is Part of Character's Ethos/Pantheon/Tradition +1</li>
<li>Previous Warning of Specific Supernatural Event or Entity -1</li>
<li>Triumphed in Past Encounter with Same or Similar Supernatural Entity (e.g. haunting) -1 </li>
<li>Character has Strong Religious Beliefs -1</li>
</ul>
<u><b>Terror</b></u><u><b></b></u><br />
While any encounter with a supernatural entity requires a <u>Fear</u> check (at least at its initial appearance and often every round) many supernatural creatures also have '<u>Terror</u>' attacks which are similar to normal attacks, with a specific target numbers to hit, ranges and other elements common to normal weapons. <u>Terror</u> attacks use a foes' throwing score to attack.<br />
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When a <u>Terror</u> attack hits the attack will instantly effect the target as described on the Effects of Fear/Terror table. If the cumulative effects of Terror or Fear reduce Courage to 0 <br />
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<u><b>Effects of Fear/Terror</b></u><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Damage Roll</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Effects of Terror</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Frightened - (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-3 to Courage) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-5 to all </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Accuracy </span>, -2 to Speed</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">21-40</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Shocked - (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-3 to Courage</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) -10 to all </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Accuracy </span> -5 to Speed - suffer a “Minor Derangement”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">40-80</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Disturbed (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-7 to Courage</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) -15 to all Accuracy and - 8 Speed - suffer a “Major Derangement”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">81-00</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Terrified (<b>-15 to Courage</b>) -15 to all </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Accuracy </span>and -8 Speed - suffer “Major Derangement” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Damage Roll</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Minor Derangement </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Frantic Shooting - Empty ones weapon in flurry of badly placed shots, if indoors or in close quarters roll a to hit at -20 against each nearby friend (including self) for ricochets. Any hit does -10% damage. No further effect.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">21-40</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Jumping at Shadows - After the incident become terribly jumpy for the rest of the session, requiring a 2D10 check against remaining courage to avoid shooting at any movement or target that is not obviously friendly (with +2 speed). Wears off after Session</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">40-80</span></div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; padding: 5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Traumatic -That whole experience will be permanently etched into your mind - permanent loss of 10 Bravery and a fear (-2 to all future fear tests when facing same general type of horror) of similar events. Permanent unless cured by an Alienist.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">81-00</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Flee - Dash frantically away from fright, ignoring danger and allies. After reaching a place of safety (camp, horse, public space in town) can wait 1D10/2 rounds to test bravery (2D10 under Courage) to regain control.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Damage Roll</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Major Derangement </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">01 - 20</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Freeze - Trapped in place, eyes wide with fear and hands limp. Cannot act for 2D10 rounds and even afterwards is permanently hesitant (-5 Speed) and shake handed (-5 Accuracy). </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Permanent unless cured by an Alienist.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">21-40</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mania
- Mad as a Jack in the Box. May not gain experience until cured and
must undertake specific actions associated with mania (e.g. kill any
snake seen, never enter a church) or suffer -7 to <u>Courage</u> for each time
obsession ignored. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Permanent unless cured by an Alienist.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">40-80</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Fits -You've got a case of the Fits, you're having one right now, and your hair has turned White. Any future <u>Fear</u> or <u>Terror</u> effect will also result in a Fit, dropping the victim to the ground screaming, ranting and convulsing (or lying still and catatonic). Fits reduce a victim to immobility and inactivity for 2D10/2 rounds.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Heart Attack - The heart races in terror, until fit to burst. Collapse unconscious and roll 3D10 against current Strength. If the result is over Strength the victim dies, if under they suffer a major wound and are unconscious for 1D6 days. Hair turns white and suffer a Permanent Loss of -7 <u>Courage</u></span></div>
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<u><b>Shunning</b></u><br />
The<b> </b>exceptionally brave, foolhardy or religiously motivated may decide to forgo other action and deny the existence of a supernatural foe - using science or rationalism to deny its existence, prayer or superstition to send the beast back to hell or sheer cussed stupidity to frighten it. <br /><br />The brave fool's <u>Courage</u> is directly opposed to the <u>Courage</u> of the supernatural beast each round instead of taking other actions. If the hero's courage is higher a check on 2D10 is made against the difference between the two. If the roll is under the score then the creature or haunt loses -7 <u>Courage</u>. At zero <u>Courage</u> the creature will flee or dissipate. <br />
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<u><b>Weapon Resistance and Immunity</b></u><br />
Many supernatural creatures are highly resistant to bullets, some are even immune, especially spirits, ghosts, haints and such (who still are often weak to blessed bullets, silver bullets and things like fire, the blood of the innocent or holy water). However, resistance isn't the same as immunity - where a fighter truly believes that they can kill a supernatural creature with there's the possibility that they can and this test of will between the gunman and supernatural creature is resolved by comparing the current <u>Courage</u> of the target and shooter (using the calculation for Shunning above).<br /><br />
For each point of <u>Courage</u> below that of the supernatural being the shooter is at a -10 to hit and damage the creature. Strong belief or special ammunition/weapons may add to the shooter's <u>Courage </u>score for this purposes.<br />
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<u><b>Supernatural Strength</b></u><br />
A lot of large and especially durable supernatural creatures can shrug off most wounds, and any wound on a creature with a Strength score/bonus of the human maximum (20) will take only light wounds (-3 STR per hit) that have no effect on the creature's abilities until reduced to a 20 STR score. Thus the first five wounds to a Sasquatch (STR 35), regardless of hit location, will mostly serve to annoy the beast. The sixth wound and any that follow can actually kill or seriously injure the monster, as normal. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiCOSe2iqDu_nmzzJSapNxefufmZGw4RXC2HOF4DHeEDadpqPQO-cjd4yCFlw9Z_JEa54tYcQuLAJTLd2QYc6QPTNuOA_ctmCGCnGicsKmT5UXF7YvmMFns6OUUj2zuEkZbQkFV-B28mc/s1600/harry-and-the-hendersons_thumb1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiCOSe2iqDu_nmzzJSapNxefufmZGw4RXC2HOF4DHeEDadpqPQO-cjd4yCFlw9Z_JEa54tYcQuLAJTLd2QYc6QPTNuOA_ctmCGCnGicsKmT5UXF7YvmMFns6OUUj2zuEkZbQkFV-B28mc/s320/harry-and-the-hendersons_thumb1.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Promotional Still - Harry & the Hendersons - 1987</td></tr>
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<u><b><br />Sample Monster:</b></u><br /><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sasquatch</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - In the pines and mountains the ponderous Sasquatch roam silent bishops to nature’s cathedrals. Despite a peaceable nature these huge reddish furred humanoids dislike human intrusion into the glades and canyons they claim and protect. Their territoriality often leads them into conflict with miners and loggers, and their teeth and pelts are valuable, making most interactions between humanity and Sasquatch kind violent.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In combat Sasquatch are dangerous, highly resilient melee opponents and while they are normally nearly silent (they can move through forest and mountain regions undetected and concealed from all but the most skilled trackers) the terrible roar of an enraged Sasquatch produces primal fear.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Sasquatch can run through dense forest or rough terrain faster then a man.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Sasquatch</b>(1D6/3) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SP</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">+4 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">BR</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: 90 <b>CR</b>: 17 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">STR</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">:35 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ACC</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: 0/+10 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Terrible Roar</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">RF</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: 1** </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">R</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">:1 N/A </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SP</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">:+4 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: 2 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Range</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: 6/45/-/-</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Terror Attack **Effects all in range</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Rend and Crush*</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">RF</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: 3 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">R</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: N/A </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SP</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">:+9 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: N/A </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Range</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: 4/-/-/-</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">* When Brawling Sasquatch attacks are a +4 on the punching/grappling tables and inflict wounds as if wielding a weapon.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Huge footprints in the snow or a creek bed. Wise mountain men know that these are a warning, rather than an accident and following them will often lead to a Sasquatch ambush.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A wildcat miner’s camp in a state of destruction and decay. The place stinks of death and the simple cabin appears to have been torn to pieces, heavy logs broken and ripped from their places. A closer search will reveal broken human bones, scattered bent tools and rusted weapons.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A large red pillar of stone is carved into a stylized humanoid shape here above a sprawling and beautiful vista. Beneath are offerings of flower garlands and similar simple handicrafts, likely the work of local tribespeople. If asked, natives will say that the stone has been there as long as anyone remembers and that the groves beyond are forbidden to hunters. </span></div>
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