adventures – Page 2 – hex culture

September 18, 2014 jacinto adventures, Pernicious Albion

Cinders of the Servant Queen Play Report

Ran Servants of the Cinder Queen and it went really well. Spoilers ahead:

Gor Krestle the warlock Vassal of Mab and Valeria the vampire fled north from Albion after preventing the rogue magician Jessica Gristle from freeing the fairy Lord of Last-Breath from his millennial prison, because they had accepted payment from the noble House Cromlech to do the opposite and didn’t want to deal with the fallout. They reached the land of the Norge and stumbled upon the miserable little town of Meervold. They stayed the night at the dilapidated inn for free, because the innkeeper, Armar, had no will to live or, evidently, to charge them for anything. So many people had gone missing and so man incinerated human skeletons had shown up in their place that he figured the town was lost. The next day (conveniently mist-shrouded and overcast, allowing the party’s vampire to walk about freely) Armar was gone, leaving behind only smudged ashes on the threshold.

The party next encounters Finni, a simple young turnip-farmer, weeping and eating his last turnip in a mud puddle. Valeria finds out from him that a suspicious wizard-type and his band of hooded acolytes passed by, taking up residence in the ruins of Kaldhammer, a monastery lost to a fire demon invasion/volcanic eruption five centuries ago, which was only halted by a calamitous flood caused by Storm God Hvitr. Berta Solsisdottir, the town’s unofficial leader, offers them a reward to defeat this wizard (since she figures he is trying to release Gildarthe, the fire goddess that erupted the volcano), sells them equipment, and lets them look for hirelings. Gor Krestle offers the townspeople half the reward as payment (to Valeria’s horror), but only Aghnildg, armed with a broken sword, takes them up on the offer. They head out, Valeria swings back to vampirize Finni, but is stymied by the number of witnesses, so she join up with the main group.

They arrive at the ruins of Kaldhammer just after nightfall and proceed to was four hours looking for food so Valeria doesn’t need to eat their only henchwoman. They fail miserably until they ask Aghnildg for help, who succeeds in finding a raccoon on her first attempt. At this point, hooded cultists crawl out of a tunnel in the ruins of Kaldhammer to attack. Valeria and Gor flail ineptly as Aghnildg dispatches them. She suffers some trauma at so much death, but Gor says they are just “dirty rotten turnips”. Aghnildg takes this to heart.

The go down the tunnel and encounter two burning skeletons. Aghnildg kills one easily as Gor and Valeria struggle with the remaining monster. It kills Valeria in an incandescent bear-hug before Gor takes it down. He calls on Mab to identify these creatures (she possesses Aghnildg and sucks half his HP out of his arm in recompense), and it turns out they are Servants of the Cinder Queen, undead that remain animate so long as they burn. Gor readies his water skins and goes deeper into the tunnels, braving skeletons on the way. After a couple dead ends, he finds a guarded chamber and just runs past the Cinder Servant Guards.

He finds sleeping quarters, but with the Servants hot on his heels, he runs down another passageway, finding a dead end with a giant pit filled with villagers. Hoping to rally them to his cause, he rushes down the rope ladder with Aghnildg, only for the Cinder Servants to pull the ladder up once he reaches the bottom. He snags the bottom rung and yanks on it, pulling the Servants into the pit. They die in the fall. Inside the pit in Gunnva, a Magic-user and Aghnildg’s sister. By means of a rousing and slightly threatening speech, she galvanizes the villagers into a determined, if malnourished and unarmed, fighting force. Aghnildg makes a habit of crushing the skulls of her enemies while calling them dirty, rotten turnips.

They go deeper into the mountain and come across a chamber with a fissure in the far wall and three stone doors. They decipher the runes on the door and acquire Jafnir, a hammer than returns to the wielder when thrown (Gunnva keeps this), Spakri, a cloak that allows the wearer to fly brief distances (Aghnildg takes this), and a magical hourglass that they promptly forget about. They then go into the fissure and enter the volcano’s caldera, only to find the wizard reading aloud from a book and waving a staff, moments away from releasing Gildarthe.

They have a pretty harrowing fight. Gor and Valeria focus on preventing the wizard from reading from the book as Aghnildg and the rock-throwing villagers take on the cultists and Cinder Servants. Aghnildg dies heroically from a fire blast to the face (courtesy of the wizard) after she single-handedly kills nearly all the cultists, and the villagers flee after taking out most of the Cinder Servants. Gor and Gunnva finish of wizard, but the last cultists takes them down and restarts the ritual. They have three turns to stop the ritual–Gildarthe’s massive face is visible pressing up against the floor of the caldera.

They are both below 0 HP, and I say if they succeed a Poison saving throw they can get back up at 1 HP, but if they fail, they take 1 damage, and die at -4. It’s pretty lenient, but whatever. Turn 1, Gunnva and Gor fail their saving throw. Gor dies. Turn 2, Gunnva fails her saving throw. The cultist is still reading from the book and chanting. Turn 3, she succeeds, calls Jafnir, throws it, and makes a critical hit, killing the last cultists stone cold dead. She loots the bodies, collects the valuables of her companions, says goodbye to her sister, and returns to Meervold.

In retrospect

If the players don’t do anything, the wizard succeeds in releasing Gildarthe and the volcano erupts, annihilating Meervold and releasing a bunch of fire monsters. I dropped clues that this was happening, but I should have just straight-up told them. I’d also suggest making some of the Grim Portents (Dungeon World’s jargon for the bad things that happen in the absence of player intervention) more obvious to players, regardless of location.
The villagers and Aghnildg rolled freakishly well the entire time, and it made me glad I roll in front of players., Hidden rolls would have made Aghnildg feel like an GMNPC when really she was a wildly lucky incompetent. My players loved her, and were really upset when she died.
The ending was super perfect. Nearly averted TPK, a Hail Mary critical hit.
I am more and more starting to think that dying should be easy, but death should be hard. The drama of trying to resuscitate downed characters is great. I think I’ll transplant 5e’s death saving throws mechanic to whatever it is I’m running from now on.
Hvitr’s Vault (the room with the hourglass, cloak, and hammer) was a little frustrating. As written, it is hard for players to figure out how to open the stone doors. Each requires a different action (one opens by striking it with your fist, the other opens by applying bodily fluid, the other opens when you blow on it), but there really isn’t any way to figure this out. I put markings on the door that gave clues, but they were pretty obvious. I’d suggest putting a book in the monastery library that explains how to open the doors.
I gave the Servants 18 HP and had them take d6 damage a turn just from being on fire. My players were at level 1, so this was still plenty dangerous, but I think giving them more HP could be good–it makes fleeing and waiting a valuable offensive strategy, something that distinguishes Servants more from other monsters.

September 11, 2014 jacinto adventures, intro, is this gonna work, spell

God of the Earth

Need to rewrite my Albion favor tables and I’m dreading it. Messing around with Delving Deeper, a Original Dungeons and Dragons clone instead.

OK, so:

Type V has all these interesting(ish?) material components and then immediately handwaves most of it away with arcane focuses and what have you (though I like the idea of, say, an imprisoned wizard with a confiscated wand grubbing around for bat shit so they can break out of jail with some righteous Fireballs).
I go back and forth on spell slots and spell preparation. I don’t actually don’t mind them, but explaining them to players leaves me cold.
Are you reading Kill Six Billion Demons? You should be reading Kill Six Billion Demons. Take a look at (link leads to medium-grade spoilers) this. The six-armed blue demon lady who is so clearly a magic-user is just loaded with stuff. A doll, a book on a chain, a mask-face, glasses, a weird popcorn bottle necklace, a pair of yellow sunglasses, a humungous bag of just stuff, plus whatever she has secreted about her person. I like that.
I love this encumbrance system
I feel exactly, perfectly neutral about wizards wearing armor, but explaining equipment restrictions is work, so I ignore them.

This all converges on wizards. So how about magic-users have no limit on the number or level of spells they can know. They can cast each spell they know once, and must rest before they can recover usage of a cast spell. Each spell requires a material component, which is not consumed in the casting. A spell’s power correlates with how burdensome and rare a component is; Magic Missile only requires a want capped with flint, while Time Stop requires a three-foot tall lead hourglass inlaid with gold. All components take up a minimum of 1 encumbrance slot. So a magic-user can wear armor, but it cuts into the number of components they can haul around. Plus they are ladened with occult accruements.

EXAMPLES

Animal Growth: a head-sized mass of crystallized pituitary fluid, harvested from a cursed beast, such as a werewolf or dire animal.
Animate Dead: a complete human skeleton. Does not have to be in one piece; some necromancers grind it to dust and keep it in a sack, while others strap the bones to their body.
Charm Person: a book with fine vellum pages, bound with red silk thread. Casting the spell requires writing the name of the target (or a description of them) in the book.
Comprehend Languages: a pair of glasses tinted blue with cobalt; the caster must look through them for the spell to work
Darkness: a black velvet hood. The magic-user momentarily pulls it over their own eyes to cast the spell.
Knock: a silver skeleton key, roughly the size and weight of a longsword
Fireball: a fire giant’s ulna (roughly the size of a quarterstaff)
Fly: a sack of crow feathers (about 100 birds’ worth) that insinuate themselves into the flesh of the caster when they are under the effect of the spell
invisibility: a cloak woven from human hair; the caster must be wearing it for the spell to work
Magic Missile: an oak wand capped with flint; the caster must point the wand at their target
Light: a fist-sized silver sigil depicting an eye; the caster must turn its gaze towards the target
Shield: a small actual shield of hammered tin depicting a pentacle
Slaying Spell: an iron bell, at least three feet tall, inscribed with open eyes and forged in a graveyard. The caster must ring it for the spell to work.
Sleep: a long-handled silver bell, about the size of a dagger. It must be rung for the spell to work.
Water Breathing: a whole fish, often mummified or suspended in formaldehyde to prevent it from rotting into uselessness
Web: a giant spider (at least the size of a terrier), usually dead for the sake of convenience.

Anywhere, here’s the skeleton of a open-air-dungeon-unless-it’s-a-point-crawl I’ll be maybe running this maybe filed down version of OD&D in.

The town of Braquefort sits at the foot of a mountain (its name is taboo). A decade ago, the Ecclesium’s holy knights succeeded in exorcising (i.e. killing) Cybele, the goddess who lived on its peak, and extirpating her cult from the town itself. However, starting a year ago, a beast has begun coming down from the mountain, seizing livestock and ripping apart anyone who stands in its way. This has been accompanied by a sudden increase in fertility–the farms are yielding an unnaturally large harvest, the surviving livestock grow to prodigious size, and the mountain itself teems with dangerous life. The Ecclesium believes that some of the Braquefort villagers have begun making sacrifices to the creature, and are willing to pay the party generously if they bring back its head.

THE MOUNTAIN
SMELLS

overripe fruit
rotting plants
rotting meat
animal musk

SIGHTS

haze of flies
swarms of bloated rabbits scrambling over the corpses of their fellows
tumorous fruit hanging heavy on the branch
handprints in solid stone, haloed with fractures

ENCOUNTERS
ENCOUNTER TABLE

1-2. Wolf (1d6)

3-4. Cougar (1d6)

5-6. Serpent (1d6)

7-8. Die-off

9. Artesse, last shaman of the mountain

10. Sacrifice-bearers (2d6)

11. Vigilant Benbraches

12. God of the Earth

THE GOD OF THE EARTH

Statistics as Hill Giant. Cannot surprise enemies.
He stands as tall as two men, filthy, naked, covered in matted hair, and when you first see him, he will be doing something appalling like grinding the hind legs off of a screaming goat with his blocky white teeth or gouging obscene pictures into stone with his fingertips. He smells, and smells bad, and it is awful and awesome in the old religious sense, a profound glandular stench that puts animals in heat and stirs plants into frantic growth.
The God of the Earth is the orphaned son of Cybele. He is a divine feral child and cannot speak, though he instinctively understands Numen, the language of gods and spirits. The presence of his dead mother’s corpse-tree on the mountain drives him to rage and despair, though he can be appeased for a time with a meal of livestock. He will attack and consume anyone without such propitiations. His heart is a god-seed, and will sprout into a new divinity if planted and tended.

THE EARTH’S TEEMING CHILDREN
Statistics as dire wolf, cave bear, or giant snake. Can eat their HD in corpses before they choke to death.
The predators of the mountain have grown enormous and corpulent, maddened by the buzzing of insects and the reek of dead flesh and the God’s musk. They attack in numbers, and will devour defeated prey until it kills them.
When passing by a die-off, make a DC 12 Constitution save or acquire the Poisoned condition. Those afflicted can make another save at the end of every long rest to recover.
Under the God’s influence, the lesser beasts of the mountain live and die like mayflies, generations of rats and rock hares passing over the course of a week. They are born in massive litters and subsist on the endlessly growing plants and bloated fruit of the mountain. Their thousands of corpses have made fertile ground for disease and insects.

ARTESSE, LAST SHAMAN OF THE MOUNTAIN
statistics as a 5th level magic user
Artesse is an elf of the old school: lambent red eyes and filed canines, deep black tattoos delineating strange geometries, emaciated body scored with scars. He is the oldest being on the mountain, older even than the God of the Earth. He was the high priest of Cybele when she lived, and he wants nothing more than to return the mountain to the way it was under her reign. To do that, he must acquire the divine seed in the God of the Earth’s heart and use to grow a new god, this one raised under his careful tutelage rather than the wind and wolves.
Artesse hates the Ecclesium. They killed his goddess and drove him away from his holy ground, leaving the infant God of the Earth to grow mad in its solitude. However, he is perfectly willing to negotiate with the party–he will reward them with a scroll of Speak with Animals if they provide him with the God’s heart, and is even willing to let them take the God’s head back to the Ecclesium to prove they killed him, with the understanding they will keep Artesse’s presence a secret.
The shaman can cast Invisibility, Animate Reptiles, Plant Growth, and Create Food and Water in addition to any other spells you see fit.

SACRIFICE BEARERS
Statistics as Bandit
Villagers from Braquefort desperate enough to risk the censure of the Ecclesium and dangers of the mountain. They are armed and each carries a squirming bag. Each contains a contains goat, with which the villagers hope to appease the God of the Earth. They will be hostile to anyone they come across–as far as they know, the only other people on the mountain are servants of the Ecclesium. If they are cornered, the villagers will release their goat, attracting the attention of mountain predators or the God himself.

VIGILANT BENBRACHES
Statistics as a 5th level Fighter; wears chain and wields a longsword
Vigilant Benbraches believes in sanitation and traffic laws as much as he believes in God, and he really believes in God. Even in the warped wilds of the mountaintop, he polishes his armor, shaves daily, and cooks nutritionally complete meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This may indicate a man out of his depth, but Vigilant Benbraches has survived thus far on the mountain by his talent for spectacular acts of violence. He was in the area when the God of the Earth began attacking Braquefort, and climbed the mountain to deal kill the God without waiting for further instruction from the Ecclesium. If encountered, he will be polite and helpful if the party is working for the Ecclesium, and wordlessly hostile if they are not. Should their allegiance be uncertain, he will insist on escorting them off the mountain, forcibly if necessary.
Benbraches carries the blessed sword Galconda. None of the wounds it inflicts bleed, and the Ecclesium teaches that anyone killed by its blade are delivered unto the Heavens, redeemed in their final moments. Benbraches finds both of these characteristics pleasingly tidy.

AREAS

THE ASCENT
The most difficult to traverse part of the mountain: a 500 foot slope of scree and loose rock. Climbing checks without equipment are at disadvantage, and all climbers move half their normal rate. Failure sends the climber tumbling down the slope, taking d6 damage per 100 feet. Smart parties will lure the God of the Earth here.

THE SHAMAN’S HOUSE
A house built on the limbs of a great tree. Everything is covered with a poisonous powder, which causes anyone who comes in contact with it to hemorrhage from all orifices (DC 15 Constitution save or d6 damage/hour. Victim can make an additional save at the end of each short rest), because Artesse is not stupid and knows that the Ecclesium wants him dead.
His actual home is underneath the tree, accessible from a small hole between the tree’s roots. It is underground, reasonably warm and dry. A locked stone casket contains a scroll of Speak with Animals. A random philtre and a lesser ester sit on a crude table. Artesse also keeps his Gallows Prophet here. It is a four-foot tall mummified corpse, proportioned like an adult, with a noose tried around its neck. If strung up on a gallows or tree, it can Detect Magic on everything in a 13 mile radius and report the results back to its owner. It can also make Arcana checks with a +5 bonus. The Ecclesium will want it burned.

THE GOD’S CAVE

70% chance the God is here when the party enters. Roll on the encounter table as normal.
when the party enters. Filled with bones, rotting viscera, and piles of shit. Scattered beneath the mess are 10d100 copper pieces worth of jewelry, the former possessions of the God’s many victims. There are d6 Rare ingredients of the same type here, as well. Major structural damage to the back of the save will open up vents of toxic vapor, which inflict the Poisoned condition on anyone who breathes them. After d6 Rounds of direct exposure, the sufferer must make a DC 10 Constitution save or be paralyzed until removed from the gas cloud.

The God’s smell/influence is overpowering here; animals become hostile to their masters, and intelligence creatures must make a DC 10 Wisdom save or be frightened of the God for a round. They must make the save every round they are in the cave.

CYBELE’S TREE
50% chance the God is here when the party arrives. Roll on the encounter table as normal.
A large, dead oak on the edge of a cliff face. Everything here is dead and withered, and the animals avoid this place. If the God is here, he will be some distance from the tree, screaming, weeping, and throwing stones at it. He will not come closer unless provoked by someone near the tree.
The tree can be safely destroyed by harvesting the Grand Poison ester inside of it. This turns the tree to dust. Otherwise, harming the tree releases sprays of poisonous ichor (all within 10 feet of the tree must make a DC 12 Dexterity save or take d6 poison damage). This ichor deals double damage to the God of the Earth.

AFTERWARDS

If the party kills the God of the Earth, all vegetation on and around the mountain will wither and all soil nearby will turn to dust without his influence within months. This will end Braquefort as a habitable town. The Ecclesium will reward the party and blame the blight on the God’s curse.
If the party destroys Cybele’s tree, the God of the Earth will become less violent. The mountain will become a verdant, wild place: still dangerous, but without the riot of telluric forces warping flora and fauna. The villagers will continue to propitiate the God, and the Ecclesium will send inquisitors to destroy the heresy, investigate the party’s failure, and kill the God of the Earth for good.
If the party kills the God of the Earth and gives the god-seed to Artesse (or plants it themselves), it will grow into another divinity. Artesse will raise it to be more circumspect that the God of the Earth, but it will be no friend to mankind. If the seed is planted and abandoned, it will grow into another beast like the God. If the party raises it, use your imagination.

August 20, 2014 jacinto adventures, classes, LotFP, malamaut, Pernicious Albion

Let’s make a deal

So warlocks need to complete favors in order to maintain (semi)reliable access to their spells. Coming up with lots of favors on the fly is hard, so I made tables. Major favors also work as adventure seeds. These are for the incubus Malamaut.

Minor Favors

A minor favor cannot reduce HP or an attribute to 0, and all attribute damage heals after a night’s sleep.

Dance with me! (for d6 x 10 minutes)
I need some of your blood. It is very, very important that you not ask why (d6 damage)
I need to borrow a bit of that body of yours (d3 Strength damage)
I’m in need of some vigor (d3 Constitution damage)
I want some of your grace (d3 Dexterity damage)
Lend me your cunning (d3 Intelligence damage)
I’ve never had the best judgment. Could I borrow some of yours? (d3 Wisdom damage)
I need a piece of soul. I promise I’ll give it back (d3 Charisma damage)

Major Favors

If you can’t quickly come up with a good location, stick it d6 x 10 hexes (or miles, or days, or whatever) away in a random direction.

It has come to my attention that a merchant caravan passing nearby is carrying a bottle of Quietus, that most potent and poisonous of aphrodisiacs. Fetch it for me.
An old lover of mine has been condemned to death, and I want to watch. The execution is in [2d20] days in [the nearest large city], so do hurry. I always said I’d see him hang, and now I don’t have to do it myself.
An old lover of mine has been sentenced to a most dreadful prison, and I want you to release her. She never did suffer prettily, and I still owe her a favor.
Best beloved, one of those wretched hellhounds is getting awfully close to sniffing me out. Dispose of it, will you?
I think it’s time you got me a proper present, dearest. I could have such fun with a weapon of those Grigori—I believe there’s one skulking around nearby.
Oh dear. I’m fresh out of blood. Could you collect, say, [d100 HP] worth? Nothing too old, of course. (A bottle or wineskin can hold 10 HP worth of blood. Blood goes bad after a day unless it is refrigerated or hermetically sealed)
Dearest, you caught me in the middle of an engagement. Treat me to a fine meal [2d100 sp per diner, d6 hour-long courses], or I will be most put out.
The mayor in (the nearest village) has been treating his lover most viciously, and it is beginning to vex me. Put him out of my misery.
I am in need of a pet. Capture [a monster or magical creature] alive, and I shall come to retrieve it once we’re all safe and sound.
A most boring constable is trying to shut down a brothel in (nearest large city). Convince him otherwise, won’t you?
What luck you called! I’m planning a party in [nearest large city], and I need a bit of cash to get it started (costs a number of silver pieces equal to 25% of the xp needed to reach next level)
I’m in a bit of a bind—some fairy noble caught me in her bed with a lady-in-waiting, and now she’s sent a champion to challenge me to a duel. You‘ll stand in for me, right? They’ll get here in [d6] hours.
Oh, it’s so romantic! There’s this eloping couple traveling nearby, and they’ll be eaten by wolves any day now. Go help them, will you?
Some bore of a priest is burning books in [nearest village]. Go stop him—they always burn the ones with the exciting pictures.
I can’t be seen with anyone dressed like that! Go find some half-decent clothes. (Must spend 5d100 sp on fashionable equipment—engraved grappling hooks, filigreed armor, lace handkerchiefs for cleaning swords, etc)
You know, I’ve just had an idea. Fetch me a length of silk rope, a brazier, a small horse, a block and tackle, some lard, a bag of ball bearings, and some open-minded young people with a strong sense of adventure.
I’ve been trying my hand at some poetry and am in need of a muse. Find someone fetching for me. (Acquire the services of a hireling with a Charisma modifier of at least +1 for at least a month)
All this adventuring has left me fatigued. Take me someplace nice, darling (a night in the most expensive hotel or inn in the nearest large city.
They’re circulating the most interesting pictures of (the region’s most notable noble couple) in [the nearest large city], but I hear the constabulary has begun to confiscate them. I simply must have one of these engravings.
It’s been so long since I’ve been courted. Take me out on a night on the town. (Spend a full 24 hours and d1000 sp; roll on a carousing table if you’ve got one)

July 18, 2014 jacinto adventures, fairy, is this gonna work, LotFP, Pernicious Albion, table

The Pernicious Atlas

I do not like talking about things I will do, because they do not always happen, and then I feel silly. But I will have a fair amount of free time for the next year, so if I don’t have something good to show for it, I ought to be embarrassed.

My plan is to compile and organize and refine all my Albion stuff into The Pernicious Atlas. It will be a retroclone friendly book/pdf/publication/whatever containing:

a 400 hex wilderness crawl
setting-appropriate versions of the Warlock and Beast Child
a brief bestiary, including information that ties the creatures to the class features of the Warlock and Beast Child
a handful of spells, each interacting with hex locations in some way
some tables for running the faux Regency era English society of New Londinium, the setting’s main city, and all the social warfare, character/literal assassination, and rumor-mongering that implies

Feedback is welcome, of course, but this is something I might be selling for dollars, so if helping for free bothers you, keep that in mind.

Anyways, here are 10 fairy-related wilderness hexes, in no particular order or geographical grouping.

In these fields of rose and thorn stands a lonely hill of stone. Deep within its dusty halls, upon the throne he claimed by right of ancient pact sits the fairy-lord of Albion: the King of Roses Red and Fair, a crown of flowers in his hair.

A woman stands in a golden cage garlanded with roses. She weeps and wrenches at the bars, but she sings exquisitely and without pause.

Heartbreak, a Briton village of 30 souls, stands here. Its ruler is Pretty Tyrant, a minor fairy-noble and self-styled Earl of Heartbreak. He has extracted the obedience and adulation of the village’s inhabitants with magic, stolen their children, and disguised Heartbreak’s ruinous state of repair (the fruit of his neglectful rule) with glamour and illusion.

A gallows creaks in the wind. Anyone hung from them, whether they be fairy or king or simple wretch, is dead forever, beyond the reach of magic or miracle.

Orchards and verdant gardens surround the foundation of an old manor. Everything here is cursed with deathly poison (Save vs Poison or die upon eating any of the garden’s fruit, drinking water from its well, or breathing the scent of the flowers).

Here hunts a fairy-hound. It savors the blood of magicians and attacks them on sight. However, it will act as the mount of anyone who subdues it, and it is sensitive to loud noises and terribly afraid of flame. FAIRY-HOUND: HD 4, AC as leather, MV Fast, d8 damage bite, Save 12

A spring burbles at the base of a standing stone. Any magician who bathes in it can inscribe Speak with Dead in their spellbook. If they do so at night, d12 skeletons will rise up from the earth and attack. SKELETON: HD 1, AC as cloth, MV Medium, d6 damage weapon, Save 14

An inn stands alone in the heath. The innkeeper says that the pleasure of the party’s company is payment enough, but they must ask no questions and make no demands under her roof. Should they violate her conditions, they will awaken d10 hexes away in a random direction, each with their maximum HP permanently reduced by 1. Regardless of the party’s compliance, the inn vanishes the next morning.

A circle of white stones encircles a copse of ash trees. For every day that passes within the circle, an hour elapses without.

A crudely hammered sword of iron lies in a field. It bears no enchantment, and in fact is utterly unremarkable, save for the fact that its wielder killed the Lady of All Nights millennia ago. All titled fairies will recognize the sword, and treat its owner as a peer. This is not always helpful.

June 26, 2014 jacinto adventures, LotFP, spell

The Hungry Crone

Another spirit for the Warlock.

She witnessed the invention of sin, watched the stars enter the sky, saw the earth’s skin when it was liquid and light. She has commanded the adoration of empires and suffered in the servitude of hedge-witches. She is the Hungry Crone, Grandmother of All. Hers are the powers of darkness and blood, and her pact is with you.

When she fully enters the temporal world, the Hungry Crone appears as an old woman, aged beyond reckoning but still unbent. In her right hand she carries a shepherd’s crook and in her left, a stone knife. She can fly astride the crook, and wounds caused by the knife can only be healed with magic.

Starting spell. Roll 1d4

Cause Fear (reverse of Remove Fear)
Cause Light Wounds (Reverse of Cure Light Wounds)
Cure Light Wounds
Darkness (Reverse of Light)

Example spells at higher levels are Delay Poison, Cure/Cause Disease, Bestow Curse, Neutralize/Inflict Poison, Unholy Word, or Shadow Monsters.

Major favors

In a random village, a man murdered his wife and child and ran off into the night. In doing this, he violated a taboo sacred even to the bloody-minded powers of old. Find him and kill him.
It has been a few millennia since the Hungry Crone had a shrine that truly pleased her. Commission one that is both within your means and to her specifications (must cost at least 25% of the silver pieces necessary to reach the next level) in a village or city.
A high ranking official in the nearest major city sold his soul to the Hungry Crone for her help in killing his weak-willed superior, and now it is time to collect.
The last time the Hungry Crone walked the world of mortals, a minor demon insulted her, and now she detects his presence in a random Hex. Find it and destroy its bodily form.
A scholar has unearthed the skull belonging to the Hungry Crone’s first child and placed it in a museum in the nearest major city. Steal it back and return it to the Hungry Crone.
Long ago, a wizard bound the Hungry Crone as a slave. Though he is long dead, his tower is in a location 2d10 miles away. Find it and burn it down to the foundation.

June 18, 2014 jacinto adventures, classes, LotFP

i summon thee

I must confess that warlocks are (at least conceptually) my favorite DnD class. ‘orrible users of magic are pretty much the best. However, their implementation has historically been pretty lacking. I’ve also been thinking about graduated levels of success, and realized that such a thing already exists in DnD and retroclones: the reaction table.

This combines well with the idea of warlocks cutting Faustian deals with powerful beings, rather than having Something Bad happen before character creation that lets them shoot devil lasers (not that I have a problem with whizz-bang magic. It just doesn’t seem to fit). Using the reaction table gives GMs a framework for how the patron should deal with their client, rather than sitting backstage all the time.

Warlock

A class for LotFP

HP and Saves as Cleric, XP as Fighter

Warlocks do not memorize spells like Magic-users. Instead, they forge pacts with spirits and use their power. All spirits have a domain (such as Ice or Love or Law), which dictates the kind of power and knowledge the possess. The pact is mutually beneficial; the Warlock gains access to magical knowledge and ability, while the spirit uses the Warlock to grow in power and intervene directly with mortal affairs.

Spirits have the innate ability to answer questions about their domain; a spirit of ice instinctively knows what and who is buried in an avalanche, for example, and a spirit of fire can know what a person looked like simply by examining their ashes. Their grasp of magic is not quite as strong; they can cast any spell that pertains to their domain, but must first encounter it. Warlocks often serve this purpose and can claim spells much like the way Magic-users can inscribe them in spell books. Claiming a spell requires a ritual that takes a number of hours equal to the spell’s level, and once it is complete, the Warlock can assign it to a contracted spirit with an affiliated domain. Warlocks can claim spells of any level.

A Warlock can maintain a number of pacts equal to half level, rounded up. However, a Warlock has direct access to only one spirit at a time; if they wish to change which contracted spirit they may summon, they must complete an 8 hour ritual in a place of relative safety and reclusion. If a Warlock wants to forge a pact with a new spirit, they must find one in the course of play.

When a Warlock wants their contracted spirit to answer a question or cast a spell pertaining to its domain, they spend a turn summoning it, and the player makes a 2d6 Reaction roll with a bonus equal to half the Warlock’s level, rounded down, and a penalty equal to the spell’s level.

At this point, the Warlock must convince the spirit to cast the spell or answer the question. How much work this takes depends on the spirit’s Reaction. If it is Cooperative, it requires nothing at all. If it is Interested, it might take a turn to cajole it into helping. If it is Annoyed, major bribes or favors might be necessary–one quarter of the silver pieces necessary to reach the Warlock’s next level (so 500 sp at level and 4,000 sp at level 4) or a session’s worth of adventuring, usually of an ethically dubious and/or legally questionable variety, to acquire an artifact, slay a rival, or perform some other dangerous task for the spirit is generally enough. Warlocks take a -1 penalty to Reaction rolls with a spirit for each favor they owe. Spirits are greedy, venal, and prideful, but they are not stupid. If a Warlock continually offers services but never performs them, the spirit will demand prices that can be paid immediately. Malicious spirits will completely enter the physical world and attack, but will often surrender before being defeated.

The HD of a spirit equals the Warlock’s level plus the highest level spell they know, and they deal d6+level damage in melee, plus any other special abilities the GM deems appropriate. Existing in the physical world is exhausting to spirits, and so they can cast each spell they know only once before needing to return to the aether to rest. Spirits will enter the physical world to fight for Warlocks, but will do so only for a major favor, regardless of Reaction, and only to complete a specific, pre-determined task. Spirits in the physical world reduced to 0 HP must rest in the aether a number of days equal to their Warlock’s level.

A level 1 Warlock begins play with a single spirit with a domain of their choice and a relevant, 1st level spell. Here’s a sample spirit:

Atri-Rathma, Entwined Divinities of Love and Spite

Begin with Charm Person and can acquire any spell that pertains to mental manipulation and domination, such as Suggestion or Forget. Can answer questions about someone’s love life, if an act was motivated by revenge, or anything pertaining to love, lust, and spite. They are fawning and flirty when in a helpful mood and sarcastic and deceptive while in a bad one.

Major Favors

Help a star-crossed couple from the nearest village escape from their disapproving families and start a new life in the nearest city. There is a 50% chance the relationship is clearly headed for disaster.
The constabulary force of the nearest city is about to shut down a brothel. For purposes of blackmail, Atri-Rathma wants you to plant evidence in the captain’s home that suggests he frequented the brothel himself.
Help a woman from the second-nearest city murder her abusive husband, who recently humiliated her in a public affair.
Acquire the Liqueur of Atri (a staggeringly powerful aphrodisiac), which is currently being guarded in the nearest temple of the stodgiest local religion, and return it to Atri-Rathma.
Acquire the Liqueur of Rathma (an exquisitely deadly poison), which is curently being guarded in the nearest temple of the shadiest local religion, and return it to Atri-Rathma.
Fund a wild bacchanal (must cost at least 25% of the silver pieces necessary to reach the next level) in the nearest city.

Batrabos, Grim Demon of Law

Begins with Command and can learn any spell pertaining to subjugation, imprisonment, and order. Can answer questions about legality, technicality, and jurisprudence. He is all patient patriarch when he’s helpful and BOOMING THEATRICALITY when he’s mad.

Major Favors

Hunt down an escaped fugitive d6 miles from your location. There is a 50% chance he was convicted on a technicality.
Kill a member of the nearest city’s constabulary, who has been accepting bribes from the biggest gang in town.
Acquire and destroy the Oneiric Needle (a powerful device of disorder), located in a cult hideout not far from the nearest village.
Acquire the Hircine Lance, a weapon created from one of Batrabos’ horns, and return it to him.
Clear a shrine belonging to one of Batrabos’ fallen sisters of the brigands that have taken up residence in it. It is located close to the nearest city.
Fund an inquest into a decades-old cold case (must cost at least 25% of the silver pieces necessary to reach the next level) in the nearest city. 4 in 6 chance it find a culprit, and on a 1 it is someone important.

First image is from Basic Dungeons and Dragons. Second image is from Tactics Ogre: Wheel of Fortune

June 7, 2014 jacinto adventures, classifieds, flowerland, World of Dungeons

Flowerland Classified #2

I of course try to be consistent/maintain continuity, but one thing I’m figuring out is economy, so rewards and prices might fluctuate some the first few sessions.

Guards for missionary trip still wanted. 200 sp/guard. Contact Sister Aggorath at the Church of the Queen Mother.

Looking for scrap metal. Supposed to be a whole city’s worth a ways to the north. Will pay 100 sp/pound. Contact Samuel at the Houndport Garage.

Rumor has it that the Queen’s Guard has just received a large number of suspicious crates, and they’ve begun to haul them out into the Swamp. I’d like to know what they’re up to, and I’ll pay 800 sp to whoever can satisfy my idle curiosity. I’ll throw in some extra if you find out why they’re buying up golden lotus powder. – Geoffrey

There’s an eerie black tower not far from the Mockingbird Village to the north. 600 sp to anyone that destroys it. Do not under any circumstances examine it closely. -Dame Balustrade, Knight Tentacular

1,000 sp for information that leads to the identification and capture of those responsible for the threats against the Coyote Prince, an esteemed guest of the Crown – Office of the Interim Governor

750 sp reward for information that leads to the identification or capture of the Crowley Street Murderer – Office of the Interim Governor

Giant specimens wanted. 50 sp per pound of beast, double if it’s alive. Contact Dr. Farefellow at the Royal Society Outpost.

EXTRAORDINARY OPPORTUNITY–AUCTION TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY IN THE BASEMENT OF THE IRON CONCH INN. WONDROUS SUN GIANT DEVICES, ASTOUNDING NIGHT DEMON ARTIFACTS, FASCINATING CURIOS OF THE SAVAGES OF ALAKANTHUS.

May 16, 2014 jacinto adventures, flowerland, intro, World of Dungeons

Flowerland Classifieds

Notices posted about Houndport:

A business supplier of mine has gone missing in the swamps to the south. 500 sp for whoever finds him. Ask for Geoffrey at the Iron Conch Inn for details.

Crown missionary needs guards for a week’s journey. Pay is 400 sp each. Ask for Sister Aggorath at the Church of the Sovereign Mother.

Looking for scrap metal. Supposed to be a whole city’s worth a ways to the north. Will pay 100 sp/pound.

BOUNTY: THE CROWN HEREBY OFFERS A BOUNTY OF 100 SP FOR EVERY GOLD EYE BANDIT CAPTURED ALIVE AND 2000 SP FOR THE CAPTURE OR EXECUTION OF THEIR LEADER VISKARION. LAST SEEN IN THE HILLS TO THE WEST. THEY ARE ARMED, DANGEROUS, AND PRACTICE UNSANCTIONED BLACK MAGIC

Entertainers wanted for diplomatic event in one week. Must be able to work with Beast Tribe. 300 sp for evening’s work. MUST WASH. Inquire at Town Hall if interested.

500 sp for information leading to the identification and capture of those responsible for the Crowley Street Murders.

Gigantic specimens wanted. 50 sp per pound of beast, double if it’s alive. Ask for Dr. Farefellow at the Royal Society outpost.

And an image dump: