1-50thofabuck

[1-50thofabuck]

[1-50thofabuck]

OSR conversion at the end.

Cuculas

Class 84M/84C, B90%, #1/1d4, Doctrine: Chaos

D15, HTK: 8d10+2, Speed: 40cm

M1 49%, M2 48%, M3 50%, M4 35%, M5 46%

M71%, 1d10 hits(dagger, short sword, spear), or 1 hit + venom(bite) 

2x R71%, 1d10 hits(bow)

Special: Bite, spit venom, hood eyes(fear, hypnosis), enchantments, +10% to mitigate transformation, mutation, petrification

Bite

Anyone bitten by a cucula must mitigate M1 or die in 1 turn.

Spit

A cucula may blind by spitting venom by means of a successful ranged attack at -20%. On a success, their victim will be blind until they wash their eyes out thoroughly, at which point they may mitigate M1 to determine if the blindness was permanent. If said washing does not occur within 2d10 rounds, no mitigation will be possible. The cucula may spit this way 3 times a day.

The cucula can also attempt to spit a stream to hit multiple targets at once. Such an attempt counts as 3 uses, so they will not be able to spit venom again that day, nor can they attempt this if they've already spit any number of times. They may target up to 6 human-sized individuals that are adjacent to one another. No ranged attack is made; instead, the targets mitigate M1, with a +5% bonus for every target including the first(so if there are 6 targets, each will gain +30% to their mitigation chances).

Hood Eyes

The “eyes” on a cucula’s hood can be used for a couple of magical abilities possessed by the creatures. When used, the eyes glow subtly, discernible only in shadows or complete darkness. It’s possible that these could also be used as focuses or material components for spells by caster cuculas, and/or that some cuculas could randomly possess, or develop, special or unique “hood eye” abilities(all GM’s discretion). 

The eyes’ powers are as gaze attacks, and can affect anyone looking at them. A cucula gains certain bonuses if doing nothing but concentrating on the power of their “eyes” and other factors as well as which ability they’re utilizing.

Doing nothing but focusing causes a -5% penalty to mitigate any “hood eye” effects.

In general, a cucula using their powers in appropriately shadowy surroundings, so that the glowing of their hood eyes can be seen, cause a -5% chance to mitigations against them. In total darkness, with the eyes penetrating the souls of their victims through the blackness, the penalty is -10%. Other factors can modify as determined by the GM. Appropriately intimidating surroundings or situations can separately increase the penalty for the fear effect by up to -10%. Hypnosis can also be modified by up to an additional -10% if in situations or scenarios conducive to mind control and brainwashing(surrounded by cult members, correct use of stimuli etc). 

Primates(including humans) and felines suffer an additional -10% to mitigate fear effects from a cucula’s hood eyes. 

Intelligent avian, lizard, and rodent races suffer a -10% to mitigate hood-eye hypnosis.

Fear

A cucula can channel the power of fear through their hood eyes, causing anyone that looks to mitigate M5(or potentially something else, should you decide the “eyes” act as rods or wands or something, i.e. the aforementioned “focuses/material components”) or flee in terror for 1d10 turns. If the victim is bound or unable to flee(or only able to flee a short distance - they’re still trapped!) they will volunteer whatever information the cucula desires, or give them whatever they ask for. The target, in fact, is considered as if beaten in combat and under the temporary control of their cucula captor.

If the cucula uses this ability in shadows, allowing their gaze to partially illuminate the darkness, their targets take a -5% penalty to their chances. If in complete darkness, -10%. Furthermore, a cucula that sets up an appropriately intimidating or terrifying scenario or situation may cause the total to reach as much as -20%, or -25% if they’re focusing(and if they went through all that other effort, why wouldn't they be?). 

This means even "tempory captures"/situational captures can lead to individuals completely submitting to a cucula, spilling everything they know. And since primates get another -10% penalty, it’s sometimes easier for the cucula to get what they want from them out of fear rather than hypnosis.

Hypnosis

Those observing a cucula’s hood eyes is subject to hypnotic suggestion unless they mitigate M5(or whatever). Each suggestion implanted grants a +5% bonus to the chances to mitigate. The suggestions may be almost anything, but the initial ones usually revolve around the cucula being a god or the chosen one of God or the last of the line of true prophets or some such. The normal modifications for darkness are applicable, as is the one for concentration. Furthermore, being surrounded by a group of already mind-controlled cultists will grant -5%, and other factors such as proper use of incense and music, another -5%.

Appearance

Reptile people with hooded heads and flat faces like cobras. Their colorations can be nearly anything from white to black, various yellows and browns, greens, sometimes even blue. Red is rare except in cuculas with stripe or band patterns, which are sometimes red. Cuculas never have zigzag type patterns.

They rarely wear armor since they can only cast spells while wearing enchanted armor, and very few of them possess any. Thus, among their many adornments will be at least a single protective item, such as D15 enchanted bracers or a protective +D10 ring. 

Since they at least attempt to enjoy a lavish life with fineries and servants, they tend to dress as elegantly as they can, with as many rings and armlets and necklaces and brooches and gems studded to their outfits or their scales as possible, with a circlet or a crown and a fine scepter if they can manage. Clothing is as well-made and as expensive as possible, including valuable or forbidden colors such as purples and rich, dark reds. Since they’re colorblind, they take no notice of how any of these colors compliment or clash with their own, and must rely on lackeys to praise how fine the shades are and how well the clothes suit them.

Despite their affinity for magic, they are resistant to transformation, and they lack the mutative nature of other chaotic and inherently magical creatures such as trolls. 

Combat

They can spit venom to blind, or bite and inject it. Most often they will spit, attempting to escape, since they tend to avoid physical confrontations. Many carry spears, so that they can launch them at a distance or use them in melee if forced into it, but when willingly engaging in hand-to-hand, they relish being up close and personal, using a dagger or short sword, if not their fangs. If they have enough distance they will defer to their bows or their fear power.

Their chaotic natures make them very able casters, especially enchantments of the illusory(or mirror magic, specumancy) types. They advance as both martials and casters, and can use enchantments even when wearing armor, so long as the armor itself is enchanted. 

Possessions

Their possessions, aside from the items given previously, include 4d10 gold nomismas, up to several thousand in silver kermas, 4d10 gems and precious adornments, 2d10 valuable works of art, 1-3 random, but generally low-powered enchanted items(weapon with moderate bonus or ability, wand or staff, whatever), 1-5 enchantment scrolls, 1-3 potions, and a vial or two of venom, to be traded or used as necessary. Naturally, any useful enchanted items they own will be used to their advantage, so if you determine that one has an enchanted weapon or armor you should adjust their statistics accordingly. They will also have their grimoires, though these will be hidden and protected. Like other casters, they might have “traveling spellbooks.” Cuculas can be customized by their enchantment lists.

General Details

Cuculas exist on the outskirts of the world, among the desolate desert sands and other ruinous areas. Their preferred environment is hot and dry, and so they’ve spread from the deserts beyond Ta-I’wy to the wastes outside Mayorr and Ke’ih’nun and the rocky, dusty hills and mountains of Rasenna, and other places(wherever you want them).

They are masters of magic and advance as both martials and casters. They specialize in the magic of the Netherworld, of the land of faerie, specumancy, and can wear enchanted armor and cast enchantments at the same time.

Relationships

Their closest allies are the fire giants, who respect their dedication to worldwide destruction, and the scorpion people, an equally chaotic, not to mention venomous, species that also aims to desertify the circle of Kiae. 

Cuculas will sometimes ally with goblin tribes too strong or inconvenient to dominate, trading venoms and poisons for slaves, especially ikhnuemen, whom the cuculas sacrifice along with many mongooses to their gods. They may make similar alliances with groups of lizard people that are too powerful to be conquered, but could be manipulated to their advantage.

Cuculas and vampires both work through cults and secret societies, and both largely take advantage of their charm/mind control abilities to amass followers. This can often bring them into conflict, and the chaotic and destructive nature of both can lead to spectacular confrontations. On rare occasions, a cucula will act as a retainer or other servant of a vampire for as long as it’s convenient.

These serpentine creatures will aim to dominate any avian, lizard(when possible), or rodent based species in the area, both because they enjoy their taste and because they’re easy for them to control. 

Tactics and MO

While they’re dedicated to the destruction of the world, they’re also egotistical hedonists, too chaotic to carry out any extensive or detailed plots, as they lack the organizational skills and discipline required for such things. Rarely would one attempt to foment one, and if they did, they would surely ruin it due to their own whims, ego, or impatience.

Corruption & Disruption of Society

The cobra-people act through secret agents of one kind or another, whether it’s some resistance-style organization, a secret society or mystery school, or, most often, a simple cult. They enjoy setting up rebellions and revolutions, even creating enemies for their revolutionaries to fight, for both fun and profit. Destroying social order is as important as expanding the deserts, particularly when they can replace that order with their own. Leaders often have wealth, so that’s a nice bonus for them, too. They will also use their various channels to disrupt agreements and deliberately botch peaceful resolutions, pinning something violent or heinous on one or more sides to not only ruin the growing understanding, or peace agreement, or whatever, but to inflame and exacerbate the problem, making the chances of coming to such a position again in the future much more difficult. If a leader is good, and noble, and seems to be leading the people into some sort of golden age, the cuculas will fall all over themselves to ruin it somehow, causing some disaster that can be blamed, through their agents, on the leader, or even framing them for a crime that is horrendous enough that not even their position will exonerate them, at least in the eyes of the public. 

“Rule” by Secrecy

Cuculas are masters of brainwashing and manipulation, and can break anyone, even without use of any special powers, in 1d10 days. The individual may mitigate M5 to resist, and attempt the same mitigation each day that passes until the attempts end or they fall to them. This requires the cucula to have a fully-stocked base with a special area specifically for indoctrination, with ready-brainwashed agents, or actors, as necessary. 

Cuculas are generally solitary, as their hedonism makes it difficult for them to play nice and share. However, they will sometimes partner with a mate and raise young, for a time; and some cuculas will take in “disciples,” mostly to feed their own ego, but sometimes to bolster the power of their cult.

Plotters and schemers, their plans are haphazard, short term, simplistic, and quickly altered or abandoned. They will attempt to hide in the shadows, but sometimes botch their own plans because their ego will not allow themselves to keep their role secret, and they reveal themselves too soon. Sometimes some influential traitor from another species will act on behalf of a cucula, one chosen as a stooge, whose role will then be compromised because the cucula cannot stand to see the individual taking credit for their own scheme - even though that was the entire purpose of the stooge.

These creatures model themselves as powerful prophets, sheiks, and emperors, but in a terrible irony for them, they are merely king rats. Even the most accomplished pale in comparison to a true ruler, being pitiful and wretched snakes revelling in a handful of silver, squalor in comparison to their ambitions, desperately latching onto what little power they have the wit and the competence to maintain, themselves only pawns in a greater game that they are too caught up in to recognize.

Most cuculas enact small plans with subtle or minor results over a long time, such as slowly amassing followers in different fields and positions, setting up factions, influencing through those channels in ways that cause conflict and occasional upheaval; or they manage one major plan that causes enormous disaster, such as destroying a city, summoning a powerful demon, or coming together to create some cursed relic or artifact. See the rites section below for another possibility for incredible danger caused by these serpents of Chaos.

Xiolufes

Another sentient species of serpents, called xiolufes, look very similar to cuculas, having hoods, but their colorations are limited to mostly yellows, browns, and blacks, and they have a banded “zigzag” pattern unknown of in cuculas. (This, in fact, references their origins as vipers and not as cobras.)

The aquatic man-serpents are mildly venomous, of the balance doctrine, possess no inherent magical abilities, and prefer hot, humid wetlands and rainforests to the cuculas’ hot, dry environments. 

At times, members of both species end up within proximity, especially as the cuculas have spread to expand their evil or find easier hunting grounds. In these instances, the cuculas enjoy using the xiolufes, especially as patsies upon which to pin their crimes. When the xiolufes have outlived their usefulness, the cuculas will sometimes destroy them. This may be out of spite due to their whimsical, chaotic nature, or to silence them on the off chance someone actually attempts to communicate with them. The cuculas do not specifically harbor any more ill will towards the xiolufes than they do to anyone else. On the other hand, should some group of xiolufes be reaching any kind of understanding with another species, the cuculas will attempt to sabotage it. This is, again, not out of any special malice or resentment for the xiolufes, it is merely the nature of cuculas. 

Religion

Different cuculas worship various deities including the primordial sea-dragon Tahmtoom, the volcanic giant of destruction Sootr, the father of monsters Tyfyes, and the primordial sea-serpent of darkness, chaos, and uncreation Ahfoff, whom they adopted from the pantheons of the mountain and hill gnomes of Mayorr, the fire giants, the legends of Rasenna, and the ikhnuemen themselves. The ikhnuemen are the cuculas’ ancient archenemies, with the razing of Ta-I’wy their primary goal outside of the general ruin of the world and the acquiring of wealth and power. 

As they move through the world, they may adopt the worship of one of the enemies of the popular god or gods of the region, if such enemy is generally, or can be interpreted as, a being of ruin, destruction, chaos, and violence.  

Important (un)holy days include eclipses, solstices and equinoxes. During these days rites are carried out which climax at an appropriate moment, such as the height of a solar eclipse, when the sun is as darkened as possible. The rituals include praise and worship of their god or gods, in order to strengthen and empower them, and Chaotic rites to curse the sun and any appropriate associated deity or deities. Those that worship Ahfoff will tend to curse Ray, those that worship Tahmtoom curse Utu and so forth. 

Rites

Rites have evolved enough to be considered ceremonial but are still highly sympathetic at their core, and thus curses against the sun take the form of ritualistically defacing, defiling, and destroying symbols of the sun, or of the sun god, especially holy symbols(and in these, they too are similar to vampires). These rites, while they have become very involved with a complex spiritual logic that they follow, also vary wildly from one rite or one worshipper to the next. They can be experimental, with cuculas attempting to try new rubrics or adapt new black magic that they’ve learned into it. While they are generally solitary creatures, they do sometimes gather together on their holy days to perform their rituals. 

Sacrifices of living beings, especially sentient ones, are carried out on these holy days, ikhnuemen and mongooses being most favorable.

Most cuculas level their curses on solstices when the sun is at the peak of its power, but about to decline, and their empowering praises upon their god during solar eclipses, when the sun appears to be in combat with the powers of darkness. 

Some reverse these, empowering their god during the solstice, when it’s needed, and cursing their enemy as it struggles with the darkness. Some, given the chaotic nature of the cuculas, switch these up now and then when they feel like it, and even believe such confusion will aid them(kinda catch the sun off guard, or allow some to curse and some to empower so that their god gets empowered as the sun gets cursed).

The worshippers of Ahfoff in particular see the eclipse as a struggle between Ahfoff and Ray, whom Ahfoff is attempting to devour. They create edible balls that they swallow whole at the height of the solar eclipse, to reflect their god swallowing the sun. Other forms of destruction include lighting holy symbols or effigies of the sun or a solar deity on fire, and then tossing it in a pit, covering it with sand or soil at the height of the ritual, snuffing its warming flames - extinguishing it - and through sympathetic magic, hopefully, the sun itself. Simply smashing the object, slowly defacing and desecrating it, burning it up, using magic to freeze and shatter it and so on are all tried and true. Even making a circle in the sand and then kicking it away can work. Like the vampires, the cuculas will sometimes learn rites to some sun god or another and then produce a reversed “black mass” version for the purpose of blaspheming the deity. Also like with the vampires, it’s all the better if they can get real priestly goods to carry out the heretical rites, such as an actual image of the god from the temple, raiments used for the idol, food or drink used for ritual purposes, holy water and the like. The more “authentic,” in terms of supplies, the better.

Rasenna cuculas will often use images of Usil, the sun god, or Apulu, the god of fire with whom Usil is often conflated or even syncretized(Usil is often depicted with Apulu’s fiery bow). Worshippers of Tahmtoom will often use images of Utu or his holy symbol, worshippers of Sootr will use symbols and images of Sol or of Beldej(hero-god of the Spring whose repartre, like Apulu’s, has begun crossing over into Sol’s). General images of the sun, discs, balls, and so forth are also used. It’s not unheard of, especially given the chaotic nature of cuculas and their rites, to mix all these up, especially in rituals of multiple cuculas.

Success?

It’s possible, should the GM desire it, that an event will occur, or some cucula(s) will discover an effective ritual, or something else, or some combination, that causes a measurable result, as vague or as extreme as might be desired, being the subject of a single adventure or a more extended campaign as you see fit. Effects could be as mild as the sun being less warm, Summers being noticeably shorter, or nights being longer, to as extreme as the sun being literally blotted from the sky or devoured by an enormous serpent.

OSR Conversion

FREQUENCY: Very Rare

NO. APPEARING: 1

ARMOR CLASS: 7

MOVEMENT: 12”

HIT DICE: 8

% IN LAIR: 90%

TREASURE TYPE: F, T, W

NO. OF ATTACKS: 1

DAMAGE/ATTACK: By weapon, or bite for 1d3 + save vs poison or die, or spit poison(see details)

SPECIAL DEFENSES: +2 save vs petrification & polymorph

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Average

ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil

SIZE: M(6’ tall)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Not inherent(some may possess)

Details are as given for StG!, with a few notes:

The stock cucula is assumed to be a 5th level Illusionist, though they don’t have to be. On Kiae, they are generally “specumancers.” Specumancy incorporates enchantments of illusion, which would include, in OSR games, spells like “phantasmal force.” It would also include anything that creates duplicates, or mentions mirrors or their function(“gaze reflection,” “mirror image”), features multiple colors(“color spray”), that could be thought to use pure magical power or create/summon magical things(“floating disc,” “shield,” “unseen servant”), anything described as fay, faerie, or pixie type magic(“fairy lights”) or generally oddball or “prankster” spells(“erase,” “grease,” “mending”). If you wish to give them more specialized spells like these, of course you can do so.

Use of hood eyes as “focuses” such as “wands” reflects the different manner in which these items work in the world of Kiae. In OSR games this should probably be ignored, unless you want to let some cuculas use their eyes as spell storage devices for whatever reason. (Using them as power point multipliers in Rolemaster would be nasty.) 

“Avian races” would include, in general OSR settings, creatures like aarakocra and dire corbys. “Lizard people” include lizardmen/lizardfolk and possibly troglodytes(DM’s discretion). “Rodent races” would not include lycanthropes such as wererats. I can’t think of any rodent-based races off the top of my head, and an internet search is producing only fan creations, but it's noted here in case your setting contains them. “Feline races” of course includes rakastas, tabaxis, and rakshasas(unless you decide that they should be excluded due to their magical nature). 

The setting for which cuculas were written, the world of Kiae, has not designed avian, rodent, or feline races and this is why such references have been kept generic. 

“Lizard people,” on the other hand, have been developed, and are more broad than in games like D&D and AD&D, but the need to mention them all by name seemed superfluous. (Incidentally, it was the creation of these reptilian races that inspired the cucula, though it was also a race that I had wanted to write since my teenage years, strange as that may seem. The working out of various reptilian races just gave me the push to finally develop these cobra-people.) 

Ikhnuemen are a mongoose race, whose main home is an Egypt-like nation called Ta-I’wy. These elements, gods referenced and so on should be modified or replaced as necessary in your world.

“Scorpion people” can be replaced with “manscorpions” if desired, or with a monster more fitting for your campaign.

Vampires in the world of Kiae are a bit different than in OSR games, but not terribly. Among other things, they’re greatly influenced by the Hammer Dracula films and their Satanic “Cult of the Vampire.” If these elements don’t fit your world, you can ignore references to the relationship between vampires and cuculas, or replace them with a more appropriate monster(illithids or whatever). 

All checks are made using percentile rolls. Thus, modifiers should be converted from a 100% scale to a 1-20 scale by dividing by 5(so that a -20% penalty becomes a -4). Saves against magical effects are almost always made as saves vs spells, magic, spells and staves, etc.

A turn should be read in most OSR systems as a round.

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I know it's been a while. As usual, things are going on, just haven't had much to report. Something weird with my site, where the domain got transferred, but the actual info is on the original provider, and I'm trying to figure out what's going on. That actually kept me from doing much on there for the past year, between life and other things and kind of dreading figuring out the new system. Then I finally go to the new provider and can't figure how to edit the site, even though the domain is there. I go back to the old provider and it still allows me to edit the site, so I figure... I dunno, one is providing the domain and the other the space or the editing software or something? And I add a new page I'd intended for a long while: an index of this blog for ease of reference. I also added a number of links to the resources page. I save all that, go to my website and: nothing but a notice from mailchimp or whatever. So, I don't really know what's up, and I kind of don't feel like contacting them and figuring it out right now. As far as other updates go, the module(s) that I thought I would quickly finish for something to release grew as I continually found inspiration, and so while I'm still working on them, I really want to focus on the basics, those being, at this stage: the core game engine, which, aside from a few details I'm trying to work out, is basically ready now; a fantasy starter set, which will fill in the rules necessary to run a fantasy game, introduce people to the concepts and the setting in which the modules discussed above will be set; and, as overly ambitious as it sounds, a sci-fi starter set, as another example of how the core engine can be utilized - or, two examples, as the set will provide two distinct ways to play. I almost took advantage of a possibility upcoming to quickly and sneakily release another full game, but with all my normal responsibilities, and doing most of this on my own, I decided that wouldn't be feasible. When someone else does it before me, I'll acknowledge what it was. In the meantime, I've also worked on some things just because I wanted to. One of these things was a new creature type, the cucula. That will be posted here next.

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Chuk's Magik Shoppe audio clips

As I've said many times, I use modules, adventures, and ideas from all different systems and have no problem adapting them. Never saw what the big deal was. While running a 2nd Ed AD&D Mystara campaign, I began creating a megadungeon that the PCs could explore as they desired. (It wasn't a true megadungeon, as I didn't really follow classic dungeon rules...)

One section of this dungeon contained an encounter from the Book of Challenges(when did using the definite article in titles become passe?) called "Chuk's Magik Shoppe." This was a store run by a bugbear, who sells a bunch of bogus magic items and then hits the road after making a big score. The PCs fell for it, spending a bunch of money, and then returning to Chuk's to beat some ass, only to find an empty storefront. One character in particular swore a revenge he would never achieve. A sadder and a wiser man, he rose the morrow morn.

Second part of this story: I used to work at a sales office with a guy named Chuck. We used to imitate him, exaggerating how he spoke to mock him. He did it to us, it was just how we were there - it was friendly ribbing, I don't want you to think I was involved in bullying anyone. He got me as much as I got him, trust me. Anyway, I decided for my own amusement(nobody in the game knew him) I wanted to base Chuk on Chuck. They were both salesmen after all.

Chuk provides a corny intro to the entering PCs

Chuck said "m'kay" a lot to people he was trying to sell.

Chuk pretends to be interested with a nonsense response

This was based on a rather idiotic part of Chuck's real life sales pitch.

Chuk insincerely praises a PC's story in monotone and regrets his lack of time

I'd really just prefer to get back to the topic of taking money from you, m'kay?

A PC tells a lamentable story or relates being cheated in the past

Chuk is a legitimate businessman, m'kay?

Chuk warns PCs from going behind the curtain

It's for employees only, m'kay?

This is the image I used for Chuk. I attempted a reverse image search but didn't find the source. If I come across it later(I'm going to keep looking) I'll update here. Also, if you know the source, please let me know, m'kay? I'm a legitimate businessperson.

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Why Gnomes Wear Those Hats

Illustration by Rien Poortvliet from the book "Gnomes" by Wil Huygen

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Printable graph paper of varying styles, for free!

These are great! Not only squares, but

dotted paper,

log graph paper(might be good for supers RPGs that use exponential stats and so on),

polar graph paper(could be used for outdoors maps, special effect ranges etc) and others, all for free! This seems like a useful resource, so I wanted to share it here and eventually add it to the suggested resources on the website. I'll also be indexing any articles posted here that are of some actual use in game(rules, adventures, reviews etc) as opposed to other types of posts(kickstarters I'm supporting or suggesting, cool art or whatever) on the website at some point hopefully soon. A lot going on in my "real life," so until my game life becomes my real life, that's the way it'll have to be.

Free Printable Graph Paper (print-graph-paper.com)

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Why does the DM look annoyed? Please, continue. I enjoy getting to make multiple wandering monster checks while you carry out all of those very interesting plans! Make a lot of noise, too, I want the extra roll. 😇 🎲 😈

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/LphotxfySSHXaBmU/

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Trading Card Cases & Outdoor Encounters III

I ordered some trading card cases for my various decks, such as the two Outdoor Encounter decks that I have. Looking at it though, isn’t it odd, the amount of space left? It’s almost exactly 2/3rds full.

As if there’s room enough for just one more deck. If only I had Outdoor Encounters III.

So, heck with it, I got the deck. It fits perfectly with just enough room to make it manageable.

Outdoor Encounters III includes a new kind of card: locations. It’s kind of odd to switch up and add a new card type in the third and last. I’m wondering if they ran out of ideas for the normal encounters or if they just had a brainstorm and decided to add them. They fit well, though, and don’t seem at all out of place. Once shuffled together they certainly don’t feel anomalous. 

Random dungeon entrances are great. I personally love the idea that dungeons are so common you can just stumble across entrances like in a Legend of Zelda game(at least the ancient ones I grew up playing). Have some dungeons prepped for when the PCs come across one, or use all the various cards sold by Philip Reed to randomly generate one on the go! (Or using your system of choice. As I mentioned I didn’t opt for the dungeon generation cards because I have random dungeon gen stuff coming out my ass backwards. Choosing which one to use or finding a way to cobble them all together would be a greater and more amusing challenge for me.) 

I also like that the locations are given the standard “hostile,” “indifferent,” “friendly” labels just like encounters with monsters/NPCs. They also include a fourth label, “abandoned,” reflecting that it’s less than indifferent - which could go either way. I’m just guessing that’s a difference - I’m not really sure how a strange outcropping with a dungeon door is “indifferent,” compared to another dungeon entrance which is “hostile,” or a glowing pyramid filled with corpses and treasure or an obelisk carved with learnable spells being “abandoned.” I would think perhaps the pyramid would be “indifferent” since it has treasure, but also a chance of afflicting PCs with a disease. At any rate, these labels don’t matter too much to sit and split hairs about the differences. The text description is what’s important, the label simply being a quick reference.

Reed has a specialized box for such cards as a Kickstarter, which I supported as in a previous post. I ordered that and a number of other decks. Whether I move these three to that one, or use that one for others, we’ll see when they come in. Perhaps I’ll post an update with images of the card box after construction, the new decks and so on. Apparently the decks are in and Reed is waiting for the actual card boxes, which I imagine will be in soon.

One thing I’ll say, his Kickstarters go from funded to product-in-your-mailbox fast. 

Never would have imagined way back when I was messing around with his 4C RPG(a Marvel Supers retroclone, and a public domain system like ours!) that all these years later I’d be spending on all these other products, but what can I say, the man produces quality. 

In other news - 

While we continue to proofread and pretty up “the Hypogeum of Hate,” our upcoming free adventure module set in a fantasy Celtic Scotland, we’re looking for playtesters to play another upcoming module, “the Blind Leading the Blind,” set on a tiny island in the same area. Fae, fomorians, wild enchanted items, cultural clashes, conspiracies and ancient secrets abound on the Enistis, beginning with this lost dungeon the PCs uncover. As they discover clues hidden throughout, should they survive long enough, they will realize that the dungeon was not lost but sealed away in the hopes that those who built it would not rise and bring terror to the entire island. Because this was the stronghold of the Soliform Order of the Knights of the Lord’s Keep, who brought back the dark secrets of immortality they had found and used them - until the day the forces of Order shut them away, secretly, in the dark. There they wait for the PCs to free them - just as their book of prophecy foretold…

One thing players liked about the original version of this adventure when I ran it long ago was that it contained almost no “intelligent” monsters. Giant insects, slimes, aberrations, rodents, bats, hazardous plants and other unintelligent but dangerous creatures gave the module a more disquieting and unnerving feel, driving home the emptiness and desolation. I hope you all will like this as well, and that it makes the intelligent monsters, once PCs unleash them, all the more frightening.

There are various “paths” PCs can take to complete the adventure, which could give the module an amount of replayability. As there are items meant to help with different scenarios and situations within, and these can be found in several orders(or not at all), it almost has a “Mega Man” like number of choices, should the PCs figure everything out, that could make it fun to replay to try tackling these challenges in different orders, or even “shuffling” items and perhaps monsters to produce such replayability. Simplify the system and you might even have a board game - anything’s possible! You think this is a good idea? You like it? Contact me! Think it’s dumb? Let me know!

If anyone is interested in playtesting - by participating in play through the Penny Thought Exchange Discord server(and maybe Roll20?) or by running it yourself for your own friends, please contact me here. Send a PM if you wish. Thanks!

And thanks to Philip Reed for the many years of high-quality, cost-effective releases! It was the 4C System that helped me rediscover the old Marvel system, which I hadn’t played in forever. 

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Card Crypt, A Storage Box for RPG Card Decks by Philip Reed — Kickstarter

I already bought deck 3 of the Old School Encounters about a month ago. Didn't take me long. I did it because I bought a couple of card holders and one looked like the third deck would just about fill it perfectly. I took pictures and was going to talk about it but haven't been up to it. I'll get to it, along with the other things I've promised. Finalizing a map for the upcoming module - maybe I'll post it when finished. I made it myself so it's not going to look great, but I never claimed to be a visual artist. (The module will be free so you get what you pay for, you know?)

Anyway, the Card Crypt looks awesome, and there are upgrades offered, including one with all three of the Old School Encounter decks(I called it didn't I!). That one is only $85, which is a good deal.

I went for the one with the deck of systemless dungeon encounters for $40.

The $60 one with dungeon generation cards would be good if I needed something like that but I have quite a number of resources for that kind of thing. Maybe I'll write an article at some point about one of them that I've used almost my entire life.

For $85 you get the one with the three OSR encounter decks, and for $142 you get the lot. Which is also a great deal if you don't have any of the decks and can use all of them.

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Climate/Terrain: Temperate water Frequency: Very rare Intelligence: Animal No Appearing: 1d3 Armor Class: 5 Movement: 12 Hit Dice: 5d8 No. of Attacks: 1d3/1d4+1 Special Attacks: Honk Size: M(13' long)

This terrifying creature uses its honk, which affects a 60' cone. Those caught within the area of effect must save vs. goose(or wands, as applicable) or be stunned for a single round. If catching foes by surprise they will forgo the honk. These feathered fiends then drop on their prey, striking with a mighty beak pinch for 1d3 damage. The goose-down serpents automatically coil and constrict for 1d4+1 damage per round until routed or killed.

Ecology Like all geese, these creatures are spontaneously generated from goose barnacles that grow on trees near rivers and lakes. They are acceptable for eating during high holy days and are reckoned as seafood.

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Need feedback for first release/minor updates

It's not what was planned as a "first release," but it seemed like the easiest adventure I've written to rework quickly into a publishable form. Of course, it took a lot longer as I kept finding things to alter or ideas to add! I need commentators and proofreaders. Any help you're willing to offer will get your name on the front page as a thanks. The module will be released for free once finalized. Anyone interested in reading through and offering suggestions, fixes, and so forth? Let me know! I'll send you a PDF or a link to a Google doc, your choice! So, please let me know if you'd like to check this out! Anything you want to help with or "contribute" will be appreciated!

A synopsis: a cavern and mine dating to prehistoric times, reputed to be haunted by a banshee, has led to death and suffering each time anyone has attempted to reclaim it. Now, goat-headed fomorians and other horrors are flocking to it to serve the dark being that has revealed itself. As their numbers swell, aided by a spying bandit cultist and his unwitting accomplices from town, the number and power of monsters in the area has increased, ruining trade and travel, yet due to a calamity in a nearby town, the influx of needy individuals has continued. This unfortunate situation is made the more sorrowful for the many desperate refugees that have been lost to the vicious creatures whose frequency and strength have grown. As if all this is not enough, the falling of a star has unleashed a terror from beyond. Trade, travel, and pilgrimages have been all but cut off; economic disaster looms as the number of needy continue to increase; cultists set traps, goblin tribes kidnap and enslave, something that fell from the sky devours all in its path, and all the while, fomorians gather together and plan for a war to retake the land that was once theirs.

In other news, I completed half of an "All the World's Monsters" readthrough entry, but gave it a rest to work on the adventure module I'm previewing here! Also because it was getting a bit frustrating as it became increasingly more difficult to review some of the atrocities in that book without being overly negative(they get real dumb, with about 10 "alignment: hungries" in a row!). Aside from that, since the posts I make here are a mixture of materials and general posts, I'm going to add an index to the website of the posts here that are actually relevant such as adventures, monsters, NPCs, graphics or anything else potentially useful for a GM, as opposed to the ones about kickstarters or whatnot. I'll index readthroughs there as well.

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Not sure what I'll use them for exactly, but they're pretty cool.

EDIT: I just realized they're magnetic and stack.

Second and final edit: they're held together by magnets, so they come apart. Time for color combos!

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Missed out on Old-School Encounters Deck 3, because I thought the email advertisement was another update for Deck 2, as such emails go out frequently. (Which is another odd thing, usually I get inundated with these kinds of ads and reminders til they drive me up the wall, but somehow this one, that I wanted, slipped past me?) Didn't realize until just now, and now they're out.

It's not appearing that there will be a Deck 4 since every other deck was announced before the previous one was released, otherwise I'd help with the fourth set which would probably have the previous three, just like this one had the previous two. And that's the real kicker: anyone that sat on their laurels and waited until Deck 3 got the first two decks practically for free, since pretty much every option for Deck 3 included the same options for Decks 1 and 2, and I doubt those options cost significantly more than the same options for the first two decks.

Yes, I could buy them POD, but after all the years I've supported especially this company in particular, I just don't want to. Nothing against them; it was my mistake. Maybe I'll change my mind someday when I get over it. I'm just very disappointed and largely upset at myself, and confused as to how the emails could have gotten past me like that when I've never missed one before.

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The Old School Encounter cards came in, with some bonuses

I ordered two sets of each Deck of Old School Encounters. I don't even remember if I did it on accident or not - I might have gotten one set with the Kickstarter and then without thinking about it ordered another POD? I don't even know! I'm fine with extra decks though.

I also got the sets of Outdoor Encounters. I ordered those with the optional deck cases(the plastic ones). The cases are so big, two sets of Outdoor Encounters fit in one, so I have two spare cases now as all four sets of Outdoor Encounter cards fit into two cases, and I ordered four of them, because y'know, four sets and all. Perfectly fine having spares, believe me!

Perhaps I'll post some samples of the cards later - don't want to infringe any copyrights or anything. I really like them and look forward to using those, my Deck of Dungeon Rumors, etc to try to run some on-the-fly fully randomized adventures.

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BX Advanced Bestiary Volume 2 Kickstarter is here!

I got the first one and it was fantastic! Check it out, won't you?

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As always, this was written on the fly without research or referencing anything else. So if I say something incorrect it's because I was forcing myself to work from memory and I don't want to look anything up as I write each part. If I research or discover something in between articles I'll add that info to the next article. This one likely contains misspellings, typos, poor wording, etc as again, I wanted to write on the fly conversationally and not sit and workshop it into a prose poem. I added a few things after I wrote the article but it will be clear what those parts are. In future articles I won't explain all this, just wanted to make it clear again as I get into the monster writeups. PLEASE comment corrections, thoughts, insights, opinions, and insults. I'm lonely!

All the World’s Monsters: Readthrough Part II: Air Squid to Archer Bush(the complete “a”s!)

Finally! The Monsters!

That’s what I’m talkin’ about. All the text for the monsters is IN CAPS, SO THE ENTIRE ENTRY READS LIKE THIS. WHEN QUOTING I WILL NOT USUALLY DO THIS BECAUSE IT WOULD GET ANNOYING, DON’T YOU THINK? So if I quote “blah blah blah” it actually reads “BLAH BLAH BLAH.”

Air Squid

Starting off with a bang. I said before this is the kind of thing I love. Flying squids rule! So, let’s dive in(fly in?). 

Each chapter begins with a drop cap, which is nice. The little detail of the fighter dropping their sword is cool. I dig it.

This is a Dave Hargrave monster, and that’s one of the names we’ll see a lot. It’s an intelligent monster, with IQ range 2d6, i.e., they have Intelligence scores of between 2-12, so, from almost animal intelligence to quite bright. Chaotic, neutral is its alignment, with the comma between the two just like that. Remember, in Holmes Basic, which this was following, PCs couldn’t even choose to be chaotic neutral - it was true neutral or nothing. I’m not sure if this applied to monsters - I’ll have to look through the Holmes list again. It may even be reflecting a single axis alignment system and noting that the creature could be either chaotic or neutral. Hmm. (I’ll know by the next article, I’m trying to more or less honestly write this on the fly!) (Note: I figure it out with one of the following monsters.) I won’t go into all this with future monsters, just a note for the first one.

Hit dice from 6-12d8+1, with size ranging from 35 to 75’ long. (I did read ahead through the A’s, and I thank Hargrave for clueing us in; you’ll find a frustrating number of monsters whose size is “shrug.”) Quite a spread, but not really illogical. It seems to be one of those things that early writers did that ended up not being the standard: giving many monsters a fairly wide HD range, where most monsters in official publications didn’t have any HD range at all. 

AC of 7 seems okay, interesting that it doesn’t scale off of HD in any way, but not incorrect necessarily. Fly 12 seems reasonable. Dexterity range 1d6+6 is okay I suppose? 

The air squid is found outdoors, in water(so presumably it swims too even though only flight speed is listed?), and of course, “air.” These don’t get as specific as other D&D writeups that would include mountains, swamps, forests, hills, and not just “in the air.” I don’t believe any monster stats had an entry or “slot” like that previously, like a part of the stat block or writeup that says “environment” or “terrain” or “found in.” I think it wouldn’t be til 2nd Edition that that became a standard part of the stat block. That info still existed by way of the wandering monster tables. For example, a monster is found on the tables for hills and mountains then obviously those are the two places in which they can be found. Also, the “interpreting the monster entries” section lists cities, mountains, and so on, so they were aware of the idea. Granted, the editors came up with the explanations for the environment types, or as they phrase it, “found in,” and apparently didn’t enforce much consistency. The air squid’s lair is “on mountain peaks.” Sure, why not?

15% chance in lair, only 1 ever encountered, and they always have a type E treasure. 

Here’s where it gets really crazy: this thing has 13 attacks, and the size/HD doesn’t matter: the tentacles cause 1d8 points of damage in “constriction,” though there are no rules for this. Presumably the monster just grabs, crushes, and releases. Would it come to ground to do this? Just hover around the ground grabbing and crushing, not grabbing, holding, and flying up high to release? Meh. Plus a d10 damage with its beak. The damage not scaling isn’t really a big deal, but the attacks seem a bit wonky. 

Why no ink spit? I’d find that a lot more interesting than a ton of attacks, personally. Being described as “sky-blue,” one would also expect a surprise bonus, at least situationally. Oh, and if you wondered how it flies? Hargrave didn’t just go with “Uh, magic, like, probably an insane wizard’s experiment or something, you know?” but instead attempted to give something of a naturalistic explanation with the squids being “helium-filled.” I can’t help but imagine popping a fully-inflated air squid with a well-placed arrow or spear. It could become like a mini game, with characters trying to pop air squids as they fly by. An attraction at the most incredible carnival ever to exist. Sure only 1 is supposed to appear but let’s be serious with our lack of seriousness. 

Not much else to say about the air squid really. It’s pretty cool. With a generation of hindsight it could use some workshopping in my opinion but these were pioneers, dangit. The next entries won’t focus on some of the topics I focused on here because now they’re been addressed. 

Airfang

The second monster in the book, and the first “..wtf?” Like, what actually is this thing? It’s apparently “tiny,” with an HD range of 8-12. What is “tiny” in this context, since official “size categories” such as tiny, small, medium, and large were not to come for a while(I don’t think it was until 2nd Edition AD&D)? Is tiny how I would interpret “tiny” if someone told me something was “tiny?” Itty-bitty? Probably not. A foot? Who knows how tiny this up to 12 HD monster with 2 attacks scoring 3d4 damage each could be? 

It’s a “metallic scaled creature” with an armor class of 2+4(?) that is “mostly mouth, tentacle, and wings.” Huh. It reminds me of some of the random little enemies in old NES games that swarmed you and you had trouble even figuring out what the heck they even were. Of course, most of those didn’t eviscerate a starting character in a round or two by dealing massive amounts of tiny damage from its tiny tentacles and tiny mouth. 

Is the 2+4 representing separate areas for the tentacles and body(because a “tiny” creature should definitely have different AC ratings by location, a mechanic that was kind of trash even on the few official monsters that used it). Or maybe they meant 2-4, which should more properly be 4-2, reflecting that the AC improves as it increases in HD? 

Once again, we’re given very specific locations that these abominations can be found, such as “outdoors.” Well that sure narrows it down, thanks. Like the air squid, it’s also found in “water” and “air.” So, basically, literally everywhere. And why in Discordia’s name is it found in water anyway? It has scales and tentacles I guess? It’s faster than the air squid, with a flight speed of 24! I forgot to mention, it also “latches on with its mouth and then bites repeatedly,” so I’m not sure if this implies that it only has to attack once with its mouth and then it auto-hits, or if this is just a descriptive visual, but either way, it’s pretty lame. 

You encounter 3d6 of these, too. 3d6 tiny, indescribable monsters that inexplicably have a mountain of HP and have the potential for enormous damage, swarming a PC. Just imagine using these and explaining how their appearance is totally silly, they’re too tiny and fast to potentially make out, one of them took an entire round of hits from the entire party and didn’t die, three of them reduced one party member to bones in a round, somehow, and potentially, some of them are automatically inflicting damage after “latching on.” If your players don’t quit on you, you’ve either built up a huge Loyalty rating with them, or they’re just very, very lacking in discrimination. Or perhaps you knew they’d enjoy a good, absurdist comedy encounter.

Its alignment is “hungry,” hahahahahahahaha! :| If this was a one-off joke, or it was a monster that was otherwise good, it’d be okay. Sadly to the first one, having peeked ahead, this isn’t the first time this “gag” is done in the “a” monsters alone. 

To the second one: this monster sucks. I have trouble believing that out of 5 billion entries, this boring, overpowered, uncreative nonsense was one of the best. 

Mystery solved; turns out, this is an airfang

Ant Man

An obvious idea that would be done a number of times - and I’m not saying that as insult, at all - this version is based on creatures from a book, “Kavin’s World,” which could also be the name of a sci-fi sitcom. 

These also have a very wide HD range, from 1-14. Not having read the books or feeling that it would be worthwhile to research it, I can’t say how widely the ant men in it varied in strength. Their AC does not vary, at a very high 2. So even the single hit die ones are as tough as plate mail. They only move 6, so, fairly slow(I’ve seen some relatively quick ants). Their intelligence skews towards good - 2d6+6, varying from low to genius and averaging at high(13). Dex is average(3d6). Seems to me an ant’s might be a bit low, comparatively, but hey.

Neutral alignment is fair. Again, I have no idea how these things are in the book. They appear a lot of places, but no place unreasonable for an ant, much less an alien ant or whatever these things are. 200d20 of these appear in a lair, which even by ant standards seems pretty high, but book yadda yadda. Wandering or in lair they have the same amount of treasure, and a 100% chance of it, at that. Seems a bit odd but whatever.

Boy do they get a lot of attacks. 2 “hands”(quotes theirs), 2 stings, and a bite, scoring up to 44 points of damage plus poison from the stings which cause 4d6 on a failed save for another potential 24 damage… yikes. Keep in mind, this describes the 1 HD version and the 14 HD one. A 1 HD monster that can potentially cause 68 HP damage in one round. The bite says “HIT -2” but I’m not sure what that means. It’s a -2 to the attack roll with the bite? Or the damage is 2d6-2? I’m guessing the former, but I’m not positive.

Ant men are big-ass ant people with four arms, two which end in stingers, because sure! and two end in “hands” that score damage as a two-handed sword. They’re also immune to “mental spells,” which I assume means charm, fear, illusory magic, probably hold, and so on. They believe that other sentient species, including those with demonstrably similar intelligence, are cattle, which is not a very true neutral position to hold. Sounds neutral evil or lawful evil at best. “True Neutral. I believe that there should be a balance in all things. Nature is balanced, law and chaos must be balanced, good and evil must be balanced. And everyone not of our race are animals to be used as slaves and food.” Not seeing it.

I don’t know what to make of this one, but it’s not the strangest one I’ve seen so far, so it’s okay.

Ant, Giant

An expected monster, a classic. Is this the first time a giant ant was statted in print? I don’t know, but IT HAS FROM 1-27 HD. But it also doesn’t give an actual size range, so I imagine this is so you can stat from chihuahua sized giant ants to “Them!” giant ants up to true kaiju giant ants. This is also the first one we’re seeing that has an AC that scales to its HD, in this case “its armor class is 3 plus one third of the number of its hit dice, fractions are rounded up giving a range of 2 to -6.” Chuck Cady did well, I like it, and obviously pleasing me is everyone’s top priority. 

Its damage also scales, +1 per HD, which gets pretty high - arguably, unreasonably so - but on the other hand, one of my biggest gripes at high levels is how bad the damage often is by high level monsters(the tarrasque doesn’t do jack in damage to any party high enough in level enough to fight it), so I’m just a hypocrite. Wait. I just realized. I thought it was +1 per HD + acid, and it’s actually +1d3 per HD in acid damage. So a 27 HD giant ant doesn’t get +27 damage, it gets +27d3 damage. In acid. 

So its bite doesn’t scale, with a 1 HD rat-dog or a 27 HD kaiju ant scoring the damage of a short sword… plus or minus a few dozen d3 in acid. It seems really weird to me that the acid scales that greatly and not the bite, but… I’m kinda okay with it?

Do ants use acid? Hmm. Well, slugs don’t, so. At least there are only 3d20 of them in their lair and not 2,000+ of them like ant men.

“Alignment: any, hungry.” C’mon, Chuck. I’m introducing good-aligned giant ants and blaming you. The giant ant appears in all the same places as the Ant Man, even though this has a different creator. Ants can be found about anywhere, though…

I would be remiss not to mention the incredible description: “The generic description of the giant ants.” (In all caps of course.) Now we’ll never know exactly what an ant looks like. “I once lay awake long into the night, wondering just what kind of creature was the noble ant.”

Ape, Desert

Back to Hargrave with another pretty decent monster. Desert apes are apes with a literal third eye with accompanying hypnotic powers. I think I’d have liked to see a full-scale psionic ape, but this is cool. Movement 10 is a bit unusual for the way this game scales movement, but I don’t have a problem with it. HD spread on this one is only 4-8, reasonable for rank and file apes up to the leader. Intelligence averages low at 2d6, with dexterity being high, equaling that of the very agile giant ant and ant man(for whatever reason). AC 4 is.. all right I guess.  

Chaotic neutral is okay, though I dislike the tendency to lean towards that alignment that seems to have existed since the beginning. I’d like to see hypnotic apes that are more lawful, allowing them to better take advantage of their incredible power, but honestly this isn’t a complaint. Despite how it may sound, very few of my comments are “complaints,” merely observations, though I may make them in a sardonic way in a lame attempt at humor. The truth is I highly respect the effort and passion that is put into these kinds of works, even if I joke otherwise. 

Found in “dungeons, open, deserts.” Can we just skip listing “dungeons?” Literally every smegging monster to ever exist is found in dungeons. Pterodactyls are found in dungeons. I’m sure treants are found in dungeons. Like, literally every monster is indexed to a specific “dungeon level” for the purpose of putting them in dungeons. There’s really no need to state “dungeons” on every single monster. Also, what is “open?” Is that the same as “outside?” Or do they mean non-forested, non-mountainous regions, like plains or something? The opening explanation for the book doesn’t list “open,” so it’s another case of monster creators doing what they want and the editors not enforcing any kind of continuity. It’s not a big deal, but I have to comment on it in a readthrough.

Two attacks, one being a rather heavy club(scoring 1d8 damage) and the other, hypnosis, which is listed as an attack with no real indication of what “hypnosis” actually entails, though it lists it as a “visual” attack, I guess because it’s using one of its eyes, so perhaps it means a gaze attack? Not sure if “gaze attack” was a term cemented into D&D/AD&D yet. Either way, is hypnosis the same as charm, or…? 

These apes cannot speak a normal language, though you might imagine they could, being of low human intelligence and having hypnosis and stuff. Alas, ape biology simply doesn’t allow for the forming of words like we use, and there’s no such thing as evolution or crazy magical effects to cause this to happen, and so we’re stuck with psionic apes only communicable with through magic such as speak with animals, and we’re told these chaotic neutral scoundrels will lie 30% of the time. 

Ape, Snake

This is one of those monsters that when you look at the name you just try to guess what it might be. An ape made of snakes? An ape with snake arms? An ape filled with snakes? This is another Hargrave monster,  with the most reasonable HD spread so far, 5-7. these small spreads are okay(not saying the larger ones can’t be, they’re just uncharacteristic of what we tend to see in official writeups). Technically they exist in AD&D for various humanoid monsters as well, they’re simply expressed differently: a stronger kobold is statted as a goblin, an even stronger one as an orc, etc. By the time you get to hobgoblins, their strongest members are statted as ogres. So their HD could have been shown as “1+1 - 4,” and it would have been a greater spread than the snake ape. 

Let’s skip to the description to see what this thing actually is. One line leaps out and suckers my face with tentacles: “Also known as an octorilla.” Dave, buddy, you could have called this an octorilla and you went with snake ape instead? Octorilla is much cooler, and gives an almost immediate idea of what it might be like. Was it so it would go into the book earlier, like why people give their businesses names beginning with “a” so they get in the front of the category in the yellow pages(back when people used yellow pages)? Tentacles aren’t snakes, Dave. “But maybe people back then wouldn’t have known!” People “back then” wouldn’t have known half the stuff we put in these games, let’s move on.

So, this thing was “spawned in the vats of chaos,” which was basically the precursor to “probably the result of a mad wizard’s experiment.” Both of these are the equivalent of Marvel Comics’ “they’re a mutant.” They are what they are and we don’t have time to come up with origins and explanations, dammit. (Not even kidding - mutants were created because Stan Lee was too lazy to continue to come up with origins for characters so he basically said “what if a mad wizard(God) did it?” I’ll wait for angry responses from Stan Lee fans “correcting” me about something I couldn’t actually care less about.)

AC actually has a range, from 6-7, or as I observed previously, should probably be listed as 7-6(I won’t comment on this in the future). Move 8 seems okay I suppose for an octorilla. Swim 6, so, it’s better running around on land than swimming. Intelligence very low, but not quite animal, averaging 5, with a high dexterity averaging 16! Why exactly? 

Alignment “chaotic,” so I suppose they are going with the single description alignments. Found in dungeons and “open,” again, among other places, specifically woods and water, which makes enough sense.  

This is another with way too many attacks. I really miss OD&D with 1 attack per character or monster regardless of how many arms it has or whatever. Two of its three attack types have scaling damage, and it’s high damage. It gets 4 attacks with its arms, which I guess is a punch or slam of some type, beginning at the same damage as a two-handed sword. The largest cause double this damage. Its beak begins at 1d8 and can also double for the largest ones. It also gets four “constrictions,” which score double its “regular damage,” so, 2d10 for the smallest and 4d1 for the largest? You know that’s overkill. 7 HD giants don’t do that kind of damage in a single attack(though they should). The description tells us that if a sucker-lined arm hits twice in a row or two arms hit in one melee turn(which was probably still 1 round in Holmes and not 10?) constriction takes place and continues until either party is dead. This is when I’m noticing it actually says “1-4 constrictions,” so maybe it only gets the arm attacks unless the previous conditions are met? It’s kind of confusing, and generally, such conditional attacks aren’t listed among the regular attacks like that, but this was an early time. It would certainly make the monster more reasonable if that’s the case. It also says that there’s only a need to make an attack roll for constriction “each turn” if someone is wearing plate mail. That tells me they do mean rounds, but what is the roll for? If they’re saying if an arm hits twice in a row or two hit in a round, the constriction is automatic, then there was already an attack roll made - two of them. Are they saying that constriction isn’t automatic if someone is wearing plate mail? I don’t get this at all.

Aside from some confusing aspects, including what this abomination actually looks like(sure, gorilla and octopus, complete with octopus beak - I still have no idea what that would look like), it’s a neat monster. I like it.

After completing Part II of this readthrough, I looked up “octorilla,” and found that such a monster was published in “the Arduin Grimoire II,” by Mr. Hargrave here. Perhaps Chaosium appealed to Hargrave to change the name because the book was lacking in “a” monsters, or he only really finally decided on “octorilla” between AtWM and tAGII, but I doubt it. Also remember that the introduction expressly stated that no “Arduin Grimoire” monsters are found here, and the second volume of tAG hadn’t been released yet, so this was probably a precursor to the later Arduin “octorilla.” You can see an OSE writeup and the original monster writeup here, complete with pictures(the modern version, not by Hargrave, skips the beak!).

Arceel

It would be understandable to think this was a made-up nonsense word by emphasizing the pronunciation incorrectly, like “ar-keel” or even “ar-seal,” but it is “arc eel,” as in electric eel. It’s man sized, and 10 HD! Sheesh! 

The AC is 2+6, the same thing its creator, Steve Henderson, did with his last entry, the nonsensical Airfang. “Its AC is high due to its rubbery skin.” Thanks for the important info, why does its Dex average high though? Also, it’s “repulsive,” lest you think it was adorable. 

It has low human intelligence, but never lairs nor has treasure(I guess it’s the lack of hands?). Chaotic in alignment, it only lives in swamps - not “outdoors” or in dungeons - and its swim rate is abysmal, maybe to allow PCs to escape when they realize this thing is an inexplicable bucket of HP that does 4d6 lightning damage. It’s described as a “lightning bolt,” but clarifies in the description that it “must touch its victim.” I’m not sure if “must touch” simply indicates that an attack roll must be made as opposed to it being an area of effect power, or if it also means that someone touching it takes damage. 

These eels are a lot cooler, put them in your game instead

I wish it flew like the air squid. Water-based monsters get so little use, comparatively, in my opinion(though this could be a flaw in execution, i.e., people need to find ways to use them more). And the HD seems pretty high, really. I know it’s a nitpick, but I don’t care for the cutesy name either. Why not just call it “giant electric eel?” That’s what it is, man. It doesn’t even have acid or cold breath given to it by a mad wizard, or that it gained in the vats of Chaos, so it’s just a big-ass electric eel. 

Archer Bush

This is one we’ll see other places, such as Mystara. I suppose it’s one of those natural or obvious ideas that multiple people come up with, as mentioned before. It’s mentioned as being taken from the book “Symbiotica,” so it’s just as possible that whoever created it for Mystara was inspired by the same book.

It has no intelligence, but usually has treasure; which makes sense as it’s described as being a “guardian” creature, planted almost invariably for such a purpose. 

No alignment is given, not even a joke one like “alignment: wood.” That’s not funny, but neither is “hungry.” Speaking of which, it’s found in “open,” as well as woods. So I guess “open” must mean literally any outdoor area at all aside from cities, which are listed as their own environment, and ruins, which are actually considered part of the “cities” category for some reason. Which means technically, nobody ever plants these in the ruins in which they lair, nor do wealthy lunatics plant them around their yard for security. I’m sure the creator didn’t intend to make their use that narrow, I’m being pedantic, or something similar to it. I don’t think it actually needs an alignment, and sometimes I think systems overstat things that don’t need them. (DC Heroes was the worst for that, statting things like coins - and by the rules, the weakest human can snap one in half.)

One of the most reasonable HD attributions so far, and it doesn’t even have a spread! The AC is pretty low for something that could logically be argued to be a bit higher. Its dexterity is 12, so it’s going to act in melee a little faster than an average person; too bad it doesn’t get melee attacks, and it isn’t high enough to give it a bonus to its ranged attack, and monsters don’t really work like that anyway. It attacks with the “probability” of “a light bow fired by an eighth level fighter of average dexterity.” I don’t put “probability” in quotes to mock it, but to highlight a specific way that certain rules were often expressed early on that you didn’t see so much later. If you read the “AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide” - and I‘m going to write a short article in the future on why you should, regardless of what RPG you run, and what parts are universally useful and often overlooked - Gygax goes into dice probabilities, and describes the potential universality of die rolls and how one can be exchanged for another. I talked about this a bit in the previous part. Looking at chances as probabilities, converting them to percentages, can be very useful. I also point this out to question why “light bow” is mentioned. One could argue it’s to reflect the range or damage or something, but it expressly states that it factors into its hit probability somehow. 

It certainly doesn’t factor into its damage, which is insane: it fires 50-100 needles, each of which score 1 HP damage, so we’re talking 50-100 HP of damage potential per round from one bush alone and they average 21 appearing at a time. And that’s before poison, which is save or die, meaning an average of 1,575 possible save or die attacks PER ROUND. That assumes all 21 are within range, but still.

Well, we’re done the “a”s, and I could use a breather after that last one. K. Jones, I’ll be watching you. 

Next time we sail into the “b”s, with the Bagda and Fallowman, and, oh I don’t know, tentatively end with the writeups of beetles. See you then!

[1-50thofabuck]

I posted the second part of my All the World's Monsters readthrough and then noticed entire paragraphs were inexplicably missing. As I don't have the patience to figure it out today, I'll repost it tomorrow. I'll also make an attempt to be more active in general(like I haven't promised that before).