nothingrpgzone

[nothingrpgzone]

The Starthorn

I wanted there to be more playable material for spelljammer. So I made this horrific dungeon heavy on cosmic horror metamorphosis that doesn't feature mindflayers.

Here is a pdf if you wanna print it.

And a plain text version.

Edit: I've not cleaned it up and provided versions for mothership and dungeon crawl classics.

[nothingrpgzone]

Spelljammer Rules For Dungeon Crawl Classics

I wrote a cleric spell for spelljamming clerics in DCC and technically a spell for wizards but honestly this is just a spelljammer generator alongside a spelljammer randomizer. This document assumes you have access to the spelljammer boxed set already.

If you want to download these as pdfs these can be found here.

Special thanks to Blark and Sean.

[nothingrpgzone]

Player facing attack rolls for DCC

Someone in the Goodman games discord server asked about changing DCC to not have monsters roll to attack but instead have player characters roll to defend. Here is how I would do it

Convert player character armor class to descending, this means a +2 agility bonus translates to  an unarmored AC 8. Wearing full plate means that you subtract 8 from your AC instead of adding.

When a character is attacked they make an armor roll against an attack's difficulty class. Their armor roll modifier is their armor class.

Each attack has a difficulty class determined by what the traditional attack modifier is. This is calculated by subtracting the attack bonus from 20. 

To succeed at an armor roll the player character must roll under the difficulty class, similar to luck. A natural 20 still means a critical hit and a natural 1 still means a fumble.

This system keeps in place ascending monster armor class. If the lack of parity there annoys you you could also convert all armor classes to descending via this method.

Attack rolls are 1d20+attack modifier+monster armor class. If it's above 20 it's a success.

To calculate a monster's armor class take the traditional ascending armor class and subtract it from 20 to get the descending armor class.

I much prefer keeping the disparity. I don't like the idea of being told a foe’s armor class. Also, I think that if people can understand luck then they can understand an armor roll, especially if you frame it as just rolling for the monsters so it's good that they roll low.

[nothingrpgzone]

Spells from Imaro

I recently got done reading the first of the Imaro book by Charles R Saunders. Wonderful book, you should read it. I wrote up two of the spells I saw in the book for use in Dungeon Crawl Classics

If you want a PDF of this it can be found here.

[nothingrpgzone]

The Saga of Helane of Thross

I recently did a solo hexcrawl of The Wilderlands of High fantasy using Dungeon Crawl Classics. I ran the game one in game day per real life day. I didn't use any special solo rules, I just used standard Basic Expert encounter procedures and a set of playing cards called into the weird. Let me tell you how things went down.

Day 1

Helane wakes in the middle of the woods. Her head pounds, she doesn't know where she is or what she was doing before hand. Unwilling to die in the woods she begins heading north, finding her way into a grasslands with a river heading east. She sets up camp, 4 rations left.

Day 2

As the night went on she noticed light's and smoke from a town directly north of her. Not wishing to ford the river she follows it upstream into the hills. There she finds an adventuring party of 7 or so huddled around a wounded beastman. With uncertainty wracking her she makes contact. Realizing she is a wizard they ask her if she is come from the order of the extinguished flame and if she is here to finish the job. She answers truthfully she is not, she asks why they are tending to a wounded beastman. They answer this was their leader Loden the Marine, they had attempted to steal magic scrolls from a band of wizards but in their escape he had been struck low, he was not a beastman but he has been mutating at a rapid pace, and dying alongside that.

Getting a good luck at him his sabertoothed raven head reveals no emotion, a large ant seems to be in the process of emerging from his torso, it's clear that's what's killing him. In his hand is still clutched a magic scroll. Helane takes pity on a fellow sailor. She offers to help take this man to the sea in hopes of of giving him a proper burial. The group seems the group is divided on weather or not to trust her. In particular Akurion the Slaver, a thief and lover of Loden, doesn't want her to tag along, citing the foul sorceries that got them here in the first place. The group however in the end agrees to let her tag along. They were heading in the same direction she was attempting to head anyways. As the sun set the group make their way to the village of Elf-burn.

Day 3

The night passes uneventfully, with the group finding a small inn named the the Drunken Chimera, her fellow travelers pay a gold piece to house them all. Loden is kept under a heavy cloak as to not reveal his mutated state. Upon waking up in the morning the city comes alive, the small town of only about a gross elves is out in force. The market that typically has traders from all around the local area is hardly attended. The town is holding a feast, recently the village elder died, and his son Ermidon has taken up his place. The feast features no meat but vegtables baked into the bread are delicious enough for Helane. Come noon the feast is over, a more private ceremony is happening with just the family. Outsiders, especially non elven outsiders would not be allowed in so the group discusses their options.

Obviously Loden has maybe a few days left. No one in the group has the heart to kill him because they are not sure they can do it painlessly. Helane using magic to kill him off but decides against it, there is no way Akurion would allow it. Helane does pass arround one idea, sell the scroll off to someone in town and then use the money to buy a small boat and haul it back to the river in order to get to the sea. Akurion snaps at her screaming "Who died and put you in charge? No one! Loden is still alive he makes the choices then it's me next in command." For a few seconds the silence is unbearable, right before it has to beak she storms off.

While exchanging a few looks with the other party members Helane wonders how much giving a fellow sailor a proper burial at sea is worth, and decide's it's not worth dealing with someone like Akurion. She find anyone willing to help her make her way south to the river, she finds a squirrely fellow named Kordofo. Heading south with a small raft the sun sets as she follows the river downstream.

Day 4

Night passes on the River Alderock, Kordofo guiding her through the night, sleep evades him as it does all elves. When the sun rises they are at the Estuary of Roglaroon. Kordofo posses a question "do you plan on going to the wine dark sea sea or further inland or further inland to Modron or the City State of the invincible overlord?"

"Have you ever heard of Thross?"

"Not once."

"Then let us go to the sea."

After some time floating northward in the brackish water Helane speaks up, "How long do you plan on escorting me"

"... I'll take you to Seasteadholm, you can follow the path north to Warwik and find a good boat there"

"Why are you helping me?"

"Needed space, needed time to clear my head."

Without the flow of the river to help them along the pace to the sea slows down considerably. Twilight turns the waters gold, and Helane feels at peace.

Suddenly emerging from the water is a great sea serpant with a glossy dark brown hide. Before she even has time to react it shoots a stream of bright magenta fluid directly at her face, before he brain even understands what is happening she ducks down, the venom just barely missing her. It then quickly lunges at Kordofo dragging them down to the waters below, the mouth of the estuary turning dark with blood.

Unleashing arcane energy her finger start jetting white hot arcane fire, the searing hot plumes slam into the sea serpent. It hisses in pain and dropping Kordofo's corpse. She had hoped to scare it off with the fire, she only angered it. In the final moments of her life she thought of the hills of Thross.

[nothingrpgzone]

Upon the Northern Isthmus: somewhere deep in the woods there is a hole in the ground, and so far neither man nor magician knows what lies below.

The first adventure for the upon the northern isthmus campaign setting has been released. I don't post about it much but it does exist a quite extensively in my brain. You can find it as a free blogpost on my itch.io with downloads of a pdf version being available for purchase. https://500poundsofnothing.itch.io/whatliesbelow

[nothingrpgzone]

DCC Month of Horror

Day 1: Chains of Hell

Wide-eyed peasants tell tales of horrible chain encrusted creatures, their flesh bleeding as the metal digs deeper and deeper into them.. Chain devils, they chant. They are not entirely wrong. However the bound is not the denizen of hell, the bound in their victim.

The chains themselves are what puppet these corpses. Their purpose is inscrutable but their means are simple, kill and puppet a moral victim, kill as many other mortals as they can and drag them back into the pits of hell.

When not puppeting a corpse the chains of hell take on the form of a great serpent.

Chains of Hell, Serpent Form (Type II Demon): Init +3; Atk Bladed Bite +10 Melee (1d12+5) or Tearing Tail +6 Melee (1d8+Bleed), Grapple +5 Melee (Bleed); Crit Dn / d6; AC 18 (Metal Nature); HD 5d14; MV 40’; Act 1d30 + 1d16; SP Demonc Traits, Demonic Combatants, Bleed, Variable Nature, Puppeting; SV Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +2; AL C.

Demonic Traits: As a Type II Demon a chain of hell can speak, read minds, Has infravision, can cast Darkness at +8, and may teleport back to it’s home plane if not bound.

Demonic Combatant: A chain of hell is immune to mundan attacks of creatures of 3HD or less. They suffer half damage from fire, acid, cold, electricity, and gas. They crit on 19-20.

Bleed: For every successful tail attack the victim suffers a cumulative 2 damage per round until they are bandaged up. It takes 1 HD of lay on hands healing to stop 2 points of bleeding damage.

Variable Nature: Roll 1d4 to determine chain makeup: (1) Abyssal Metal, the chains are a deep navy metal covered in rust, any creatures it grapples suffers a -5d penalty to any swimming checks; (2) Hellfire, the chains glow a bright red, any creature coming in contact with the chains has a 45% chance of catching fire; (3) Chthonic Void, the chains are a shadow in the world where something visible should be, the chains of hell are undetectable by both visual and auditory means when in darkness; (4) Chitinous Vermin, the chains are links of venomous bugs that skitter and pulse, the bite attack inflicts paralysis on the victim for 1d5 days (DC 19 Fort save to avoid).

Puppeting: If the chains of hell gets ahold of a corpse it may spend an action die to begin to puppet it. The creature gains +4HD, an additional +3 to all attacks and saves, and their crit range is increased by 2. Armed humanoids and generic monsters begin using the demon critical hit table, while all other creatures have a 50/50 chance of using their original or the demonic critical hit table.

[nothingrpgzone]

In the Tomb

Opening the door they are greeted to a dark staircase leading down to a pool of water below.Yulia lights her lantern as the go into the inky and rotting depths, calling upon her gods to warn her of evil to come they inspect the room. Far above them are sleeping bats, below them a pool of water. The proceed quietly

Heading deeper and deeper down the stairs is a door bearing bronze carvings of a tall gaunt figure, typical of the long dead Lilituan empire that built these tombs.

Pushing the door open the group is greeted by a massive stone statue of yet another tall figure, carved in grey stone with two red gemstone eyes. Licorice feels the engraving on the base of the statue can just tell on a level she cannot fully explain, she reads aloud “Bow down your timorous worms, bow down before the emperor”

Giancarlo heeds this warning, taking a look up and down the statue before attempting to bow, however as his head goes up his eyes lock with the gemstones and he feels himself become paralyzed, tears stream down his face.

The group panics, Holly suggests snapping him out of it by punching him in the liver, Licorice puts her hands over his eyes and he is suddenly able to move once more.

They begin concocting a plan.

Having access to paralytic gemstones would be useful, so Licorice climbs up the slender form. Eventually she makes her way up to the top and carefully with her dagger, making sure to not make contact with the gems and places them into her bag.

As they exit westward, Yulia begins to feel something dangerous ahead.

They slow to a crawl.

Ear pressed to the door they hear nothing.

Upon opening the door they see a barricade made of fresh wood to the south, a central back stone obelisk with a green heatless flame atop it and an upside down white skull, and a heavy set stone coffin.

Yulia warns the others, there is something dangerous inside the coffin, with her holy symbol in hand she knows.

Electing to ignore the sarcophagus, Licorice begins toying with the upside- down skull, twisting it right side up. The green light goes out but nothing more seems to happen.

Soon the group begins tearing down the barricade. After some time Yulia begins to detect something on the other side of the door and as the final plank is torn down they ready themselves.

A man in right red robes wearing a mask like a mosquito rushes in, Richard pries open the coffin.

A massive rush of noxious gas floods the room as red ooze begins seeping out the coffin. Yulia takes the brunt of the gas, feeling herself grow weaker from a deep breath. The man in the mosquito mask begins coughing uncontrollably. 

Two more figures run in soon after and the first hardly manages to stop from coughing as he covers his mouth under his mask, but Giancarlo warps the fabric of this world, turning Holly into a 7 and a half foot hulk. She rushes into the entering figure and knocks him out cold, throwing him into the other two.

Licorice heads into the corner, hoping to hide behind the obelisk in hopes of getting the drop on someone.

Yulia begins to change, the smell of brimstone rushes forth from her as a swarm of demonic rats materialize around one of the remaining red robed men. He cries out as they begin to strip his flesh.

The slimes takes a swipe at Richard with its blood red pseudopod but he is just barely able to dodge out of the way. Richard stabs at the thing with his pitchfork but sees the holes he pieced quickly seal back up. Gianacarlo’s hands begin to glow a blazing red as flames shoot forth, searing the slime. Another blast of noxious gas escapes the thing, Giancarlo being so close inhales the most.

For a second he feels everything go black, but then a wave washes over him. Something has happened.

[nothingrpgzone]

Hit and Run

Heading back to the Wildling’s Head Inn the crew connected a plan. Licorice and Giancarlo use their combined skills to create a document bearing the official marks of Mr. Radoslav Neville in hopes of bringing it to Adolfo to let them gather more information.

Forged documents in hand they make their way back to the Munce Shipyard. Calmly, Adolfo takes out some miniscule reading glasses from his breast pocket, and quickly reads the documents. He puts his glasses back into the pocket.

“I know that this isn’t Mr. Neville’s signature.”

Giancarlo panics

“Of course not, he is a busy man he just had someone else sign in his place”

“We don’t take kindly to liars here”

Yulia mutters under her breath attempting to call upon her animist gods, hoping to unleash a potent paralysis, but in the city the spirits are weakened, and is unable to do much of anything.

“Get your hands off me” Adolfo Snarls.

Holly she’s her chance and decks him, hitting him right in the temple, knocking him out cold. 

Using some rope and a sack from Licorice and Richard they tie him up and blind him. Licorice steals his nice work shoes and 8 kopeks from his body.

Heading into a room behind the entranceway they find shelves of manifest and documents, but as they begin to search someone from a room even more interior tries to open the door.

Richard as quick as he can puts a chair in front of it to block it off.

“Adolfo what’s the meaning of his the door is blocked”

“Oh let me deal with that” Richard stutters out in a poor impression of Adolfo.

“Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?”

Holly grabs the documents related to the saint Demezla and the group makes a mad dash out of the building.

Snaking their way through the spiderweb canals of Piskaro the crew finds themselves lost, but they see it. A small crack in the stonework next to the canal, wishing to remain hidden they enter in. It’s dark and they can hear the flowing of water but they see it, buried under silt and mud a small hatch with the shape of a grail.

Licorice realizes they have stumbled upon a grail tomb. And judging by how new the collapsed stone is they may be the only ones to know about it.

[nothingrpgzone]

The Dreaming Lake & Vuludh and its Surrounds

The Dreaming Lake

Chimera

To create a chimera roll to determine how many d10 HD it has. Roll 1d8, dice explode.

A chimera hasas follows.

An initiative bonus equal to HD-3

A 1d20 action die for every two heads, and a 1d14 for each tail it has.

It begins with Atk Bite HD+3 Melee (2d4), Claw HD+2 Melee (1d6), Tail Attack HD+1 Melee (1d5) on tier 1 (2 heads, 1 Tail) but for every tier above that it gains +2 to all attack rolls and +1d to all damage dice.

40’ movement.

It begins with Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +2 at tier 1, but for every tier above that it gains +3 Fort, +2 Ref, and +1 Will.

Saves forced by the chimera are DC 7+HD.

Result

1-4 2 Heads, 1 Tail

5-7 2 Heads, 2 Tails

8-10 3 Heads, 2 Tails

11-13 3 Heads, 3 Tails

14-16 4 Heads, 3 Tails

17-19 4 Heads, 4 Tails

20-22 5 Heads, 4 Tails

23-32 5 Heads, 5 Tails

33+ Ever shifting as if all results.

1d20 Heads

Baboon: The chimera knows the languages of man.

Bear: The chimera’s claw attacks gain a +2d bonus to damage.

Crocodile: If the chimera lands 2 successful bite attacks in a row it death rolls for an additional 2 bite’s worth of damage.

Elephant: The chimera may trample over a victim, triggering a Ref save to avoid damage as claw.

Goat: The chimera knows the spell flaming hands and casts it with a +HD bonus.

Hornet: Any venomous tails the chimera may have are twice as potent.

Komodo Dragon: Bite attacks inflicts massive bleeding, causing 1d8 damage per round until bandaged up.

Landsquid: Bite attacks have a percent chance to destroy armor equal to damage inflicted.

Lion: The chimera gains +1 to all saves.

Mosquito: Bite attacks trigger a Fort save against a consuming fever lasting 3d4 weeks.

Owl: The chimera gains a glide speed of 50’.

Ox: The chimera gains a +3 bonus to Fort saves.

Pronged Beast: The chimera’s bite attack can grapple the victims.

Rat: The chimera has absurdly large testicles, damage inflicted against the testicles have a +3d bonus.

Raven: The chimera gains a +3 bonus to Will saves.

Rhino: The chimera gains a charge attack equivalent to it’s bite attack that also knocks back the victim 1’ per damage dealt.

Shark: The chimera gains a 80’ swimming speed.

Star-Nosed Mole: The chimera gains 300’ of infravision.

Tiger: The chimera gains a +3 bonus to Ref saves.

Vampire Bat: For every 5 damage dealt by a bite the chimera heals 2 hp.

1d10 Tails

Alligator: Tail attacks gain a +2d damage bonus, rolls of 7+ break bones.

Alligator Snapping Turtle: Tail attacks have a percentage chance equal to damage dealt to sever a limb.

Centipede: Tail attacks trigger a Will save or have memories of past 1d7 days disappear, cumulative.

Electric Eel: Tail attacks also trigger a Fort save to avoid having movement reduced to 0’ and action die decreased by -2d until the end of next turn.

Jellyfish: Anything walking behind the chimera or struck by a tail attack must make a Ref Save against paralysis for 1d3 hours.

Monkey: The chimera gains a 35’ climb speed, but suffers a -1d penalty to tail damage.

Peacock: Provides no benefit for the chimera, but is worth 200 x HD gold.

Salamander: All tail attacks have a 1-in-4 chance of igniting the victim.

Scorpion: Tail attacks inflict an additional 2d4 damage with the help of pincers.

Viper: Tail attack tricker a Fort save to avoid blindness.

Dog Cultist

Init +2; Atk +1 Bite (1d3); Crit M/d6; AC 12 (natural agility); HD 1d8; MV 25’; Act 1d20; SP Go for the throat; SV Fort +1, Ref +2, Will -1; AL L

Go for the Throat: A dog cultist’s crit range is expanded to 15-20 against prone enemies.

Dragon

Generate a dragon as normal in DCC, however use this expanded breath weapon table as described in this blogpost

Dwarf

Init +1; Atk As weapon +2 Melee, Shield Bash +2 Melee (1d3); Crit III/d6; AC 11 (shield); HD 1d10; MV 20'; Act 1d20 + 1d14; SP Shield Warriors; SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +1; AL N.

Shield Warriors: Dwarves gain a +1 bonus to attacks for every other dwarf forming a shield line with them.

Flea, Giant

Init: +2; Atk: Bite +2 Melee (1d7); Crit M/d6; AC 12 (chitin); HD 1d7+2; MV 25’; Act 1d20; SP Blood Sucker: SV Fort +2, Ref +5, Will -3; AL N.

Blood Sucker: A successful bite attack has a 50% chance of healing the flea for that amount of HP, but decreasing its movement speed by 5’.

Iron Attuner

Init +0; Atk Dagger +0 Melee (1d4); Crit III / d4; AC 10; HD 1d6-2; MV 30'; Act 1d20; SV Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +1; AL L. 

Pronged Beast

Init: +0; Atk: Kick +3 (4d6); Crit M/d10; AC 13 (tough skin); HD 4d8; MV 55’; Act 1d20; SP Trampler; SV Fort +6, Ref +2, Will -2; AL N.

Trampler: A pronged beast make walk over any creature, inflicting 3d6 damage (DC 14 Ref save to avoid)

Teetil

Init: +0; Atk: Bite +0 Melee (1d3); Crit M/d4; AC 15 (small size); HD 1/2d6; MV 20’’; Act 1d20; SP Bitter Poison; SV Fort -2, Ref +5, Will +3; AL N.

Bitter Poison: All attacks made against Ujol automatically hit. The poison will kill him.

Ujol

Init: +6; Atk: +12 Melee (1d6+7); Crit IV/d12; AC 10; HD 7d7; HP 1; MV 70’’; Act 1d20 + 1d20; SP Blessing of Ujol; SV Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +10; AL N.

Blessing of Ujol: Ujol resists all damage not inflicted by his own weapon, the iron baculum of Yu-Ut-Yt.

Equipment: 

The Bronze Helm: adorned with a scarab that makes him immune to all poisons.

The Baculum Blade, +2 sword sword: INT 15 (+2 ego check); AL C; communication: telepathy; SP God Killer: any demigod or deity must make a DC 18 Fort save or die instantly, Rebirth: every day in possession of the sword the bearer must make an ego check or begin morphing into Yu-Ut-Yt, starting penis first.

Winged Baboon

Init: +2; Atk: Bite +2 Melee (1d5), Grab +2 Melee (See special); Crit M/d8; AC 13 (protective fur); HD 2d6; MV 40’ or 80’ fly; Act 1d20; SP Grab: SV Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +0; AL N.

Grab: A group of baboons may lift up their group size in HD, lifting it up at 15’ per round. Prefering to drop their targets.

Vuludh And Its Surrounds

Awslek

Init: +0; Atk: Punch +1 Melee (1d3-1); Crit I/d6; AC 10; HD 2d4; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP Spells, Mage’s Fate; SV Fort +0, Ref +1, Will +2; AL N

Spells: Knows Lightning Bolt and Haste casting with a +3 bonus.

Mages Fate: Upon reaching 0 hp a giant stormcloud hand reaches into the sky and plucks him into the heavens.

Bosra

Init: +3; Atk: No-Dachi Melee (2d5, range 10’); Crit III/d14; AC 18 (plate); HD 2d12; MV 20’; Act 1d20; SP Indomitability: SV Fort +2, Ref +1, Will +0; AL N

.Indomitability: Borsa ignored anything less than maximum damage rolls.

Chimera

As described above.

Cockatrice

Init: +2; Atk: Claw +4 Melee (1d5+2 see special) ; Crit M/d8; AC 13 (natural agility); HD 3d10; MV 20’ or 30’ fly; Act 1d20; SP Petrifying: SV Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +0; AL N

Petrifying Claw: All coming in contact with the cockatrice must make a DC 15 Will save or have that body part turn to stone. If it is a limb turned to stone the victim suffers a -5’ movement penalty and their agility score cannot provide more than a +0 bonus to AC. If it is the head then victim is unable to move and will die in 1d3 turns.

Crystal Jaguar

Init: +12; Atk: Crystalline Claws +5 Melee (1d8+4); Crit M/d8; AC 14 (natural agility); HD 3d14; MV 70’’; Act 1d20 + 1d20 + 1d14; SP Crystal: SV Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +0; AL N.

Crystal: All beam type magic aimed at the jaguar has a 40% chance of effecting everything within 50’ of the jaguar.

L’ullnl (Type II Demon)

Init: +6; Atk: Kick +5 Melee (1d8+ 10’ knockback), Bite +4 Melee (4d3); Crit DN/d6; AC AC 22 (immunity to pain); HD 6d12; MV 80’; Act 1d20 + 1d10; SP Demonic Traits, Immunities, Empowering, Unlucky; SV Fort XX, Ref XX, Will XX; AL C

Demonic Traits: L’ullnl can speak and read mind, as infravision at unlimited range, and can cast darkness with a +8 bonus, can travel back to hell at will, and crits on a 19-20.

Immunities: Immune to non magical attacks of creatures less than 4HD. As suffers half damage from fire, acid, cold, electricity, and gas.

Empowering: Any rabbit swarm under the control of L’ullnl gains +2 HD.

Unlucky: Any luck checks made in the presence of L’ullnl are made with a d30.

Manticore

Init: +3; Atk: Rend +8 Melee (2d5), Pierce +6 Melee (2d6 + Venom); Crit M/d12; AC 16 (chitin plating); HD 6d7; MV 40’ or 20’ fly; Act 1d20 + 1d16; SP Venom: SV Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +6; AL L

Venom: The victim must make a DC 20 Fort save or suffer 1d4 stamina damage.

[nothingrpgzone]

So after collecting all of the submissions to this in the server I ran the jam in. It's 156 pages and nearly 60k words. Assuming I can bring the pagecount down like 20% or so I can either lay it out a4/letter ad 120 pages or a5/half letter and make it 240 pages. We got a big boy on our hands.

Eastlake Survey

My friends and I recently got done with a project we called the Eastlake Survey. I created a very bare bones hexcrawl and a small empty bestiary to accompany it. We were to fill out the bestiary and then using then fill out the hex crawl making sense of the world via the monsters that were written. If you would like to do the same thing (something that we all had a lot of fun doing mind you) then you can follow the instructions below.

The Monsters

Chimera

Demon

Doppelganger

Dragon

Dwarf

Elemental

Giant

Ghost

Goblin

Golem

Gnoll

Invisible Stalker

Lizardman

Orc

The Map

The Keys

Only consult these after you have completed the bestiary. It's given in markdown, this can be opened in any simple text editor or in your markdown editor of choice (I use ghostwriter).

The Eastlake Keys

[nothingrpgzone]

Eastlake Survey

My friends and I recently got done with a project we called the Eastlake Survey. I created a very bare bones hexcrawl and a small empty bestiary to accompany it. We were to fill out the bestiary and then using then fill out the hex crawl making sense of the world via the monsters that were written. If you would like to do the same thing (something that we all had a lot of fun doing mind you) then you can follow the instructions below.

The Monsters

Chimera

Demon

Doppelganger

Dragon

Dwarf

Elemental

Giant

Ghost

Goblin

Golem

Gnoll

Invisible Stalker

Lizardman

Orc

The Map

The Keys

Only consult these after you have completed the bestiary. It's given in markdown, this can be opened in any simple text editor or in your markdown editor of choice (I use ghostwriter).

The Eastlake Keys

[nothingrpgzone]

Down to the Docks

Heading towards the docs the group gets lost. Wishing to find their way quickly Richard begins asking one of the people near them on the street if they know their way. They are only half there and they soon realize they have stumbled their way towards a hidden opium den in the city. Not wishing to get involved in opium at the moment they leave.

Wandering some more they find a man wrapped in bandages begging for coin. After they give some they begin asking for directions to the dock and he provides them with ease. Richard tries to lighten the mood with some jokes but it doesn’t work. As they leave the beggar tells the group that he is Swithin Berlioz.

Upon arriving at the Munce Shipyard the group heads to the main office building and begins talking to a man behind the counter named Adolfo. After a brief amount of talking, posing as one of the people who had their goods damaged by the loss of the Saint Demelza, it becomes clear that Adolfo is cagey about discussing Mr Neville. Liquorice asks to be taken to the bathroom because she is blind. Adolfo accompanies her and Giancarlo looks briefly through the notes, but is unable to find anything that would suggest Adolfo is lying. 

Using the information they have gathered the group head down to the docs and begin interrogating one of the workers who they recognized from the list of those who were supposed to be unloading the Demelza. He name is Rozaria and while she doesn’t have much to say she does make it clear that the men who unload the shipments from Mr. Neville are secretive.

Seems like the group hit a dead end.

[nothingrpgzone]

Mindflayers for wolves upon the coast, the grand fantasy campaign by Luke Gearing

Mindflayer

He sucked off a singular the minions from illumination animation.

This is but one of the many paths a man may walk to leave mortality behind.

[nothingrpgzone]

Chapter 2: The Hunt for Radoslav Neville

The Hunt Begins

Only a few survived the trip back, things from below waited for them.

For a month they laid low in the Wildling’s Head Inn. Biding their time.

They gathered their strength, Rorschach and Holy began to spar with each other slowly building up their martial prowess, Giancarlo began to study the space inbetween space, Liquorice began using her blindness to run confidence scams, and Yulia began to worship the old heathen ways. 

Needing to know who it was that sabotaged their ship they begin to hatch a plan. They will head to the Piskaro Stock Company to see if they could find any information on the manifest of the Saint Demelza. Following the instructions of the trusted barkeep, Kastor, they made their way without incident to the stock company building.

Standing outside the looming brick building were two foreigners smelling of brine and perfumey wildflowers. Liquorice, wanting to practice her thieving abilities, bumped into one and picked his pocket in the process, procuring a bearer bond for the Captain Carlisle Expedition to Mudraal. As the clock struck 8 the sun began to rise, and the group entered into the building.

Giancarlo and Liquorice were able to convince the older woman behind the counter, Pavlina, to give them the ship’s manifest. Liquorice evoking the name of her wealthy father, and Giancarlo with his clerkly experience was able to say all the right things.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary but there was one ill described object listed simply as artifact, that was in the belonging of a Radoslav Neville.

It was a start.

[nothingrpgzone]

The Houserules Booklets

I recently put together some zines of various house rules related stuff for my DCC games. It's nice to have all of these various things in print. Below I will detail all of the house rules I run with and their providence if need be.

House Rules

Free Occupations: The occupations have no lineage associated with them, roll 1d10 with 1-7 being human and the rest being dwarf elf and hobbits.

d60 Birth Augurs: expanded birth augurs from the tales from the smoking wyrm issue 8.

Expanded Gear: Just lots more gear, taking stuff from astonishing swordsmen and sorcerers of hyperborea, and 5e.

Encumbrance: it's basicaly jus the 5e encumbrance system but with mausritter style item slots.

Weapon Qualities: Inspired by wolves upon the coast and beyond damage dice.

Firearms Rules: Generally inspired by matchlock guns.

Hounds: dogs can be used to scare humanoids the way clerics can turn unholy, inspired by Mark Conway.

Running and Jogging: A creature can move thrice their movement by forgoing all their actions, or twice if they accept a -1d penalty to their actions. Taken from CAPERS.

Aquatic Combat: Take wholecloth from the sea queen escapes.

Catching Fire: fire inflicts 1d6 damage per round, and goes out naturally on a roll of a 1, luke gearing told me this rule once.

Quickdraws: Samurai movie inspired quick draw rules where it's an opposed attack roll where the attack check is dealt to the other party in damage unless you beat them by their HD.

Mercurial Magic Expansion: I added 20 new home made mercurial magic effects for 41 to 60, and used the multiversal mercurial magic effects found in the motes of mercurial magic dice set.

Overland Travel Rules: rules for how far someone can move in one day taking in to account weather and the like.

Hunting, Foraging, and Cooking: rules for getting food, and preparing it inspired by dungeon meshi and meat heads.

(Optional Rule) Partial Armor: Makes is so wearing a plate pauldron and only a plate pauldron mean something. Dark sun inspired but only vibes wise.

Crits & Fumbles

All of the standard critical hit tables.

Additional tables for crits inflicted by fairies and angels.

The monster specific fumble rules found in goodman games yearbook 8.

Additional fumbles for you guessed it the fey and the divine.

[nothingrpgzone]

My lovely lovely friend Chaoclypse decided to draw some of the ghoul variations I described. They are included below. :)

Oludammi, and the Griffon's Territory

Oludammi, the Back-End of the Ass

Animal Aspirant, Crocodile

Will be described in the future Monsters.MD conversion.

Barbarians

Will be described in the future Monsters.MD conversion.

Death-Cleric Rukh-Vile

Init: +2; Atk: Staff +2 Melee (1d4); Crit III/1d10; AC 10; HD 3d8; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP Magic, Grisly Demise: SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +2; AL L

Magic: Rukh-Vile can cast the spells Ray of Enfeeblement, Curse, and Spider Web with a result always being 16. There is a 4% chance that it fails with any single cast but may drain the life of any allied barbarian to make sure the spell succeeds.

Grisly Demise: Upon death the ground beneath Rukh-Vile opens up, and a serpent of terrible black flames drags him to an underworld unseen.  All ignitable things within 5’ catch fire. The fire deals 1d6 damage each round and naturally extinguishes on a roll of a 1.

Keep in mind these are dry grasslands.

Ghoul

Init: +2; Atk: Claw +3 Melee (1d3+Paralysis), Bite +1 Melee (1d7); Crit U/d8; AC 12 (tough skin); HD 3d5; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP Undead Traits, Silence, Complex Origin: SV Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +0; AL C

Paralysis: A ghoul’s touch causes paralysis, rendering the victim immobile for 1d6 hours (DC 14 Will Save to avoid)

Undead Traits:  Entirely immune to paralysis, mind affecting spells, cold damage, and critical hits.

Silence: Ghouls make no noise while moving.

Complex Nature: There are many ways one could become a ghoul. Roll below to discover the types of ghouls.

1d10 Appearances

Vulture headed humanoids.

Normal, except for their black tongues.

Dessicated humans, their taut skin hardly containing bones.

The mouth continues, down past the neck all the way to the shoulders. Mouth lined with razorteeth.

A circular bronze plate where a face should be.

A bundle of bandages. On unravel it is clear all there is underneath are jaws and a black heart.

The humanoid form fails as locust carapace burgeons from underneath.

Where the fingers once were blood stained bronze blades cut their way out of the stumps.

A flayed and bleeding thing. It doesn’t mind.

Where eyes should be lies only more mouths.

1d6 Ghoulish Origins

Betrayer.

Ate human flesh to survive.

Raised by a long dead sorcerer king.

It was never human.

Once used a magic weapon.

Partially consumed by a ghoul.

Heavenly Warlord Nadromaean

Init: +6 (1d16); Atk: Battleaxe +1d8 Melee (1d10+1d8); Crit V/1d30; AC 14 (scalemail); HD 6d12; MV 25’; Act 1d20+1d16; SP Crit Range, Might Deeds: SV Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +2; AL C

Crit Range: Nadromaean crits on an 18-20.

Mighty Deeds: Nadromaean can use mighty deeds. Below is a mighty deed table for judge’s ease.

3) Leg Sweeper. The victim must make a Ref save against the attack roll to stay standing.

4) Whirling Chaos. The battle axe is a mighty arc. The attack can target up to three individuals in range, with damage distributed equally (any remaining damage after the division is inflicted towards the first target).

5) Heaven’s Warrior. All allied barbarians gain a +1 bonus to attack next round.

6) Maker of Mutes. The battleaxe catches the mouth. The tongue is destroyed.

7+) The Mightiest Blow. The battleaxe utterly destroys any armor worn. Wearers of magical armor may make a luck check with a d14 to avoid destruction.

Mask Society Member, Crocodile

Will be described in the future Monsters.MD conversion.

Mole-Men

Init: +0; Atk: Claw +2 Melee (1d6); Crit M/d8; AC 15 (tough skin); HD 2d7; MV 20’; Act 1d20; SP Blindsense: SV Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +1; AL N

Blindsense: Molemen can navigate entirely without sight via their keen hearing and ability to detect vibrations. Any attempt to Sneak Silently around them is made with a -8 penalty. If they are deafened they are treated as being blinded.

Priestly Butchers

As acolyte DCC RPG (pg 432)

Slave-Cultists

As peasant DCC RPG (pg 434)

The Eagle Fiend, Cyrruss

Will be described in the future Monsters.MD conversion.

Tiger

Init: +7; Atk: Claw +4 Melee (1d5+2), Bite +4 Melee (1d5/1d14); Crit M/d10; AC 12 (agility); HD 4d10; MV 60’; Act 1d20+1d14; SP Stealth, Sneak Attack: SV Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +0; AL N

Stealth: A tiger gains a +12 bonus to being hidden in underbrush.

Sneak Attack: If a tiger makes a bite attack against an unaware target it inflicts 1d14 damage.

Vision Bees

Will be described in the future Monsters.MD conversion.

The Griffon’s Territory

Dryads

Init: +0; Atk: Slam +3 Melee (1d8); Crit M/d8; AC 15 (Bark Skin); HD 3d10; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP Enthralling: SV Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +2; AL C

Enthralling: Anyone attracted to women must make a DC 13 Will save upon seeing a dryad, on a failed save the beholder becomes hopelessly in love with the dryad and wishes to leave the world of man and wander into the woods.

Elves

Init: +1; Atk: Weapon +2 Melee; Crit II/d6; AC As Armor; HD 1d6; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP Unearthly Allegiance: SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +1; AL C

Unearthly Allegiance: Elves can invoke a patron as determined by the judge. This starts as a 1d10 check but gains a +1d bonus to invoking for every other elf nearby.

Griffon

Init: +6; Atk: Claws +7 Melee (1d10), Bite +5 Melee (1d8); Crit M/d14; AC 16 (agility); HD 8d10; MV 40’ or 80’ fly; Act 1d20+1d20; SP Swooping, Variations: SV Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +3; AL N

Swooping: If the Griffon charges while flying the damage dice gains a +2d bonus.

Variations: Griffons have myriad forms, when encountering a griffon roll 1d5 on each chart to determine what constituent parts the beast is made of.

Bird

Bearded Vulture. The griffon’s bite breaks bones on a damage roll of 6+, causing a permanent point of strength or agility loss, as the bone never heals right.

Golden Eagle. The griffon gains a +1d bonus to saving throws vs magical effects.

Osprey. The griffon can hover in place for a round while flying.

Philippine Eagle. The griffon gains a +1d bonus to HD.

Turkey Vulture. The griffon is immune to disease and poisons.

Cats

Cheetah. The griffon’s speed is doubled.

Cougar. The griffin counts as double its size when grappling. 

Jaguar. The griffon gains a 50’ swim speed.

Lion. The griffon makes morale checks with a +5 bonus.

Tiger. The griffon gains a +3d bonus to damage die for sneak attacks.

Hollow Trees

Will be described in the future Monsters.MD conversion.

Men-of-the-Grove

Will be described in the future Monsters.MD conversion.

Mountain Ghost

Init: +15; Atk: Claws Unseen +2 Melee (1d8); Crit U/d6; AC 18 (impossible to see); HD 1d10; MV 40’ fly; Act 1d20; SP Undead Traits, Incorporeal, Fog of Undeath: SV Fort +2, Ref +7, Will +3; AL N

Undead Traits:  Entirely immune to paralysis, mind affecting spells, cold damage, critical hits, and non-magical weapons.

Incorporeal: The mountain ghost can move through solids as if they were air.

Fog of Undeath: A black cloud follows the mountain ghost, anyone nearby cannot see more than 15’.

Mummy

Init: -1; Atk: Throttle +2 Melee (1d4 cumulative); Crit U/d10; AC 18 (immunity to pain); HD 5d12; MV 20’; Act 1d24; SP Undead Traits, Mummy Rot, Stench of Death, Vulnerable to Fire, Death Feaster: SV Fort +5, Ref -2, Will +6; AL L

Undead Traits:  Entirely immune to paralysis, mind affecting spells, cold damage, and critical hits.

Mummy Rot: Any successful attack inflicts Mummy Rot, causing them to suffer 1 Stamina damage per day (DC 12 Fort save to avoid). This damage can only be healed via powerful magic.

Stench of Death: Anyone who angers the mummy begins to reek of death, unbeknownst to them. They suffer a -4 penalty to Personality checks for the following 6 days.

Vulnerable to Fire: A mummy takes double damage from fiery attacks.

Death Feaster: If something dies within 100’ of the mummy it gains 1’ of height and 1HD.

Sorcerer

Init: +0; Atk: Punch +1 Melee (1d3); Crit I/d6; AC 10; HD 2d4; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP Unknown Spells, Peculiar Fate: SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +1; AL N.

Unknown Spells: The sorcerer knows 1d3 spells entirely unknown to the mages of the bronzelands. All spells are cast with a +4 bonus.

Peculiar Fate: Upon reaching 0 hp the sorcerer begins to boil as they turn to green smoke.

1d5 Spell Suggestions

Elemental Wytchfire (Tales from the Magician’s Skill Volume 1), MM: 17 Stolen Knowledge. 1% chance the spell summons the queen of brands who attempt to steal it back. Daog’s Dying Wish (Goodman Games Yearbook 8 The Year That Shall Not Be Named), MM: 54 No change. Cosmic Lotus Magic (Supernatural Star Seeds Dice), MM 34 Thunderstruck. Lightning accompanies the casting of the spell.

Arnhoult’s Sequestrious Digitalia (DCC Dying Earth), MM: 58. No Change. Houlart’s Visceral Pang (DCC Dying Earth), MM: 52. No Change. Inside Out and Over (DCC Dying Earth), MM: 1 At great cost. The casting of the spell kills one person known by the sorcerer.

Personal Energy Attack (The Necromican, 1979), MM: 82 Terrible to Behold. A looming figure of pure darkness with piercing eyes appears over the sorcerer. Spell of Piercing Gaze (The Necromican, 1979), MM: 86 Mystic Twin. A face appears on the chest of the sorcerer for 1d3 rounds, it has it’s own 1d20 action die to cast spells. Sonic Scream (The Necromican, 1979), MM 79 Plague of Rats. Rats pour from the sorcerer’s robes, softening the next attack by 1d4 damage.

Lightning Bug (Blackstaff’s Book of 1000 Spells, 2020) MM; Accidental Alchemist. One random item within 20’ turns to lead, another to gold. Spirit Mask (Blackstaff’s Book of 1000 Spells, 2020), MM: 34 Thunderstruck. Lightning accompanies the casting of the spell. Fog of Viscidity (Blackstaff’s Book of 1000 Spells, 2020), MM: Planar Blink. The sorcerer phases in and out of existence for 2 rounds, providing a +4 to AC and -4 to attacks. There is a 1% chance they are permanently phased.

Cone of Air (Troika!), MM: 8 Count of 10. The sorcerer loses a finger every time they cast the spell, suffering -1 Agility for two fingers lost. Light (Troika!), MM: 25 Terror Inducing. All animals within 50’ of the sorcerer attempt to flee for 1d14 rounds. Tongue Twister (Troika!), MM: 82 Spell Killer. The casting of the spell drains the life force of a distant planet.