jacinto classes, items, san serafín, table

prototype easy treasure generation

There are two things that I find to be just unmitigatedly bad in old school Dungeons and Dragons: Turn Undead and treasure generation. I’m still working in the first, but I need a good, easy to use loot generator like two years ago, so here’s what I’ve cobbled together. Since I guess this blog is just a restatement of games with others, it’s based off of the generator here, and has a similar rationale–players are forced to explore more and more dangerous areas if they want to find treasure, gain XP, or even stay supplied.

the rules
When you loot a corpse or go through a room, roll 1d10+level+number of times you have already looted the area or corpse. This takes 1 Turn and a roll of the encounter die.

If you roll higher than the corpse’s HD or higher than 3+dungeon level, you just find junk and will only ever find junk.

If you roll equal to or less than that, compare the natural result of the 1d10 roll (so don’t add your level or number of items you have looted) to the Loot Table.

Black Sand is precipitated dream-stuff. It falls gently and diffusely everywhere in San Serafin, but in sufficient quantities it is of some value to various NPCs. Burning it at a campfire provides XP equal to its value.

Treasures come in several different types. Incense/candles can be used in barter with the Dead or burned on an altar for XP. Hearts can be used in barter with a  devil or buried in a graveyard for XP. Coins can be used to trade with Serafinos, if you can get them to talk to you.

Bartering is dangerous, difficult, and kind of unfair, so scavenging for supplies is actually important–getting the gear result is not supposed to be a dud roll at all.

Loot Table

  1. Random gear
  2. Random supplies
  3. Black Sand (value = d100xHD of creature or d100xdungeon level)
  4. Treasure (value=d1000xHD or dungeon level)
  5. high quality gear
  6. secret/map fragment
  7. Consumable Magic Item
  8. Enchanted Magic Item
  9. a secret
  10. Artifact

Random Supplies (1d8)

  1. torch
  2. ration
  3. flask of oil
  4. lantern
  5. lighter
  6. 1d20 arrows

Quality Gear

  1. Compass
  2. Rapier
  3. Scimitars
  4. leather armor
  5. chain armor
  6. plate armor
  7. warhammer
  8. greatsword
  9. glaive
  10. longbow
  11. crossbow
  12. javelin

Consumable Magic Item

  1. MU spell scroll with level = ½ current dungeon level
  2. Cleric spell scroll with level = ½ current dungeon level
  3. Potion of Diminution: makes drinker mouse-sized for d6+1 Turns
  4. Potion of Polymorph
  5. Potion of Protection from Heat
  6. Potion of Protection from Cold
  7. Potion of False Death: appear as undead, even to the undead, for d6+1 Turns
  8. Potion of Sanctuary
  9. Potion of Waterbreathing
  10. Potion of Cure Light Wounds
  11. Potion of Dragonbreath: make a breath attack as a red dragon; deals damage equal to your current HP
  12. Potion of Cure Disease

Enchanted Magic Item

  1. Pyromantic Sigil: once belonged to a pyromancer betrayed by his own children. Allows the wielder to cast a fiery version of Magic Missile. Has a 1 in 10 chance of failing with each use, but can be recharged with a bottle of Midnight Oil.
  2. Scales of Shaday: Once belonged to a cleric who was declared anathema for violating the course of history. Allows the wielder to Detect Magic and Detect Evil at will.
  3. Viper-embroidered Veil: lost by a thief renowned for her virtue. Allows the wielder to cast Invisibility on themselves 1/hour.
  4. Ring of Ages: once belonged to a powerful alchemist who committed a terrible betrayal to attain eternal life. The wearer does not age so long as they wear it.
  5. Mask of Granosa: created from a beast god’s corpse by an evil mask-maker. Wearer grows sharp claws and fierce fangs and can make unarmed attacks as a grizzly bear (1d4/1d4/1d8)
  6. Six Ways To Sunday: a six-shooter machined by a hated exorcist. Can only be fired 6 times a week; recovers all of its ammunition on Sunday at noon. d12 damage at longbow range, ignores AC provided by armor

I’m keeping Secrets and Artifacts under my hat.

This isn’t  the only way to get treasure. There are various NPCs with unique spells, items, and classes you can’t get anywhere else, but they have to be discovered and courted.

jacinto encounters, monsters, san serafín, World of Lamentations

dream the life you’re most afraid of

san serafin is not really a dungeon, though it looks like one sometimes, but it is really more of a dangerous overworld in which other dungeons can be inserted. an important part of the feel of San Serafin are its most common residents, serafinos, who form a constant, low-grade puzzle that players have to deal with. I have not wanted to blog about it and ruin things, but players usually figure it out within a session anyway, and the fun of it is dealing with the problem, not figuring it out.

there is a Sleeping King, deep beneath the ground, so hateful he was buried alive by his own people, so virtuous he he did not die.

he dreams of a black city, unfolding from the earth like an evil flower, filled with remembrances of his lost kingdom. he dreams the dead to life and dreams the sun out of the sky.

he has dreamed his people into monsters. the Dream is in them and they are of the Dream, it is propagated by their acts and they are sustained by its existence.

serafinos are the people who used to live in San Serafín. now they are the impossible residents of an impossible city, with no mind or power but to endlessly act out the unlogic of their home.


all serafinos obey the following rules strictly:

behave well
Serafinos always act in the way most appropriate for their surroundings. On  the street, they walk aimlessly; in a bar, they drink ancient liquor and pay with corroded coins

punish transgression
Serafinos react with hostility to any breach in ettiquette or order. Stealing, cutting in line, heckling, touching another Serafino, shouting, running, and fighting all upset them, at first attracting their attention and then compelling them to attack. Serafinos can freely  breach etiquette to punish a transgressor, without reprisal from their fellows.

never rest
Serafinos continue a course of action until etiquette forces them to stop. They will dance forever unless a clock strikes twelve, or eat dust in a restaurant until they come to believe it has closed.

obey authority
Serafinos tend to obey orders spoken with conviction and believe claims of high office, but their reprisal for impersonation when they discover it is extraordinarily vicious.

reactions
Serafinos use a modified reaction table. They only make reactions when players have called attention to themselves in some way.

in the city
in San Serafin, there are always 3d6 lesser serafinos wandering the streets or stumbling through buildings nearby.

Lesser Serafino
it is shadowy and indistinct, like a distant figure in a dream or a person you see out of the corner of your eye. if you look closer, you can see the details resolve themselves just a moment after you should have noticed them: it has no face until you wonder why not, its eyes have no color until you notice they’re an indescribable non-shade, stitches force themselves out of the serafino’s clothes once you realize it’s just wearing a smoky black smear.
HD 1
Armor 10 (unarmored)
Speed  ¾ human (spiderclimb, swim)
Morale 12
Alignment Chaotic
Abilities

  • Maul: +1 to hit, 1d6 damage
  • Climb: serafinos do not climb like a human. they just step up onto the wall like it’s another part of the floor and walk straight up it.  
  • Swim: in water, serafinos unravel into something filamentous and black, a bit like a cloud of smoke and a bit like a jellyfish.

Grand Serafino
its looks human, but its shadow roils like smoke behind it and the pavement flexes like a beaten drum beneath its feet. When angered or when fighting, it flickers between shapes: a child, a tiger, a screaming statue, a cloud of butterflies, a column of fire, anything ever dreamed of.

Stats and abilities as djinn, except that it cannot use whirlwind. Grand Serafinos can use Shapechange at will, except that anyone can Save vs Magic to disbelieve it back to its original humanoid form. this is subjective, and the serafino can use Shapechange  again to fool a person who has already disbelieved, so it might appear as a medusa to one person and an ancient red dragon to another.

any serafino that dies leaves behind its possessions, but its body is always small and shriveled, like something that only might have been human, and even then very long ago.

jacinto intro, items, LotFP, original dungeons and dragons, san serafín

you’ve met with a terrible fate

You were all on a ship headed to the continent of El Sur. You didn’t make it there.

Instead, you have woken up on a strange beach of black sand and dark water, the sun too large and too red on the western horizon. You have nothing but the salt-crusted clothes on your back, and the following items that washed up with you. You can take as much or as little as you want, but you can only take what you can carry and you have to share with everybody else. Assume you have as many bags, packs, and pouches as you need to haul this stuff around.

We are using this encumbrance system. You do not know the next opportunity you will have resupply.

Weapons

  1. The sword: d8 damage, +1 damage if wielded with 2 hands
  2. The spear: d6 damage, 2 handed, a reach weapon
  3. The bow: d6 damage, 120′ range, two handed, comes with 18 arrows
  4. The sling: d4 damage, 60′ range, one handed, you can always find ammunition
  5. The stave: d4 damage, lets you cast a random 5e cantrip (nothing that sheds light, all damage dice are reduced by 1 step) one every 10 minutes (1 Turn)
  6. The daggers: d4 damage, can make two attacks if you’re wielding both
  7. The axe: 1d10 damage, two handed
  8. The bomb: 40′ range, everything within 20′ takes 4d6 damage when it goes off

Armor

  1. The yellow baldric: +1 AC, +1 to saves vs poison
  2. The patched hide: +1 AC
  3. The rusted chain: +2 AC, encumbers
  4. The piecemeal plate: +3 AC, encumbers moderately
  5. The shield: +1 AC, requires a free hand
  6. The black, fur-trimmed robe: +2 to saving throws versus magic
  7. The blue silk robe: +1 to all saving throws
  8. The red vestments: +3 AC vs Chaotic creatures

Equipment

  1. Book: The Seraphic Atlas (+1 to Metaphysics checks)
  2. Book: A Child’s Guide to the Wild (+1 to Nature checks)
  3. Book: A Catalogue of Human Failure (+1 to History checks)
  4. A holy rite (Turn Chaos as a 2nd level cleric 1/day)
  5. lockpicks (required to make Pick Locks)
  6. pot of ointment (heal 1d4 HP. Has 1d10 doses)
  7. 100′ of rope
  8. grappling hook and 25′ of rope
  9. Doctor’s bag (required to make Medicine checks)
  10. Poisoner’s pack (required to make Poison-making checks)
  11. Disguise kit (required to make Disguise checks)
  12. 10 hard biscuits
  13. 10 full waterskins
  14. a lantern
  15. 6 flasks of oil
  16. 6 torches
  17. ghost food (can be used as a medium offering to any god)
  18. a 1 pound block of lard
  19. a flute
  20. a dozen metal spikes
  21. A lighter
  22. A pack of cigarettes
  23. a bottle of rum
  24. a flare gun 
  25. a pouch with 6 strange coins
  26. A beautiful ruby ring
  27. A cloth doll
    jacinto elves, is this gonna work, new age dnd, san serafín, skills

    White Box Backgrounds

    In an old school game, I don’t think I like thieves as a class. I like the idea of their skillset being accessible to everyone who goes around stealing things out of old tombs. Also,  they feel like a background in the Type V sense, and I really like that aspect of the game. So here are a bunch of Type V style backgrounds for Whitebox, including the thief.

    This is based off of the 5MORE system.

    When you do something that is difficult, or when failure is both possible and interesting…
    Roll 1d6. Add a cumulative +1 to this roll for each of the following:

    • your relevant ability score is 13 or higher
    • your equipment is high quality or particularly effective
    • you are trained in a relevant skill
    • it’s an easy task or the circumstances are favorable.

    Get a 5 or higher. Add a cumulative +1 to this target number for each of the following:

    • your relevant ability score is 8 or lower
    • your equipment is shoddy or not made for the job
    • the task requires specialized knowledge you don’t have
    • it’s a difficult task or the circumstances are unfavorable

    Thief
    Pick 3 skills:

    • Sneak (Dexterity)
    • Sleight of Hand (Dexterity)
    • Pick Locks* (Dexterity)
    • Lie (Charisma)

    You take things what aren’t yours. As long as you are in a settlement, you can find a fence who will buy stolen goods. You also always know how to get in touch with the local ruling gang.

    Acolyte 
    Pick 3 skills:

    • Metaphysics (Intelligence)
    • Dowsing (Wisdom)
    • Medicine* (Intelligence) 
    • Performance: Oratory (Charisma)

    Your fellow practitioners are generally well disposed towards you by default, and you can use temples of your religion as a free place to say or a sanctuary (though they won’t put up your friends for free)

    Assassin
    Pick 3 skills:

    • Disguise (Intelligence)
    • Poison-making* (Intelligence)
    • Sneak (Dexterity) 
    • Athletics (Strength)

    Assassins always know where to find clients looking for a murderer for hire.

    Scholar
    Pick 3 skills:

    • Metaphysics (Intelligence)
    • Medicine* (Intelligence)
    • History (Intelligence)
    • Nature (Intelligence)

    You know a Terrible Secret. Figure out what it is with your Referee.

    Professional
    Pick 3 skills:

    • Tinker* (Intelligence)
    • Profession: Player’s choice [blacksmithing, sculpting, baking, whatever] (Intelligence)
    • Lie (Charisma)
    • Appraise (Intelligence)

    While in a settled area, you can earn back your room and board by practicing your profession.

    Performer
    Pick 3 skills:

    • Lie (Charisma)
    • Performance: Player’s Choice [dancing, singing, flute-playing, whatever] (Charisma)
    • Athletics (Strength)
    • Sleight of Hand (Dexterity)

    You know a Terrible Secret. Figure out what it is with your Referee.

    Hunter
    Pick 3 skills:

    • Sneak (Dexterity)
    • Tinker* (Intelligence)
    • Track (Wisdom)
    • Nature (Intelligence)

    By spending a day to hunt and forage, you can find enough food to sustain d3 people for a single day.

    (One good thing about how this works is that you can use it for race, too)
    Tiger
    Pick 3 skills:

    • Sneak (Dexterity)
    • Track (Wisdom)
    • Athletics (Strength)
    • Nature (Intelligence)

    You’re literally a tiger. You deal d8 damage with unarmed attacks, you can live off of raw food, and you heal naturally even when sleeping outside or in dungeons. Unfortunately, you have to get armor custom made and it costs twice as much, and people are kind of afraid of you.

    Wood Elf
    Pick 3 skills:

    • Sneak (Dexterity)
    • History (Intelligence)
    • Dowsing (Wisdom)
    • Nature (Intelligence)

    You don’t age.

    jacinto classes, clerics, demon, djinn, LotFP, occult, original dungeons and dragons, san serafín

    a god is a kind of monster

    This blog is slowly turning into an extended and not very good meditation on how clerics work, so bear with me while I get it out of my system. I’m working on some dice drop tables that could actually be of use to someone for next post. I recently did a reread of the Games With Others archives, so this post leans on Pearce’s work here.

    SO:
    Fighters solve problems with violence.
    Thieves solve problems with trickery.
    Magic-users solve problems by knowing things, or, depending on how you see it, breaking the rules.
    Clerics tend to exist in this space between  fighters and magic-users: they have okay spells and an okay capacity for violence. This is perfectly fine, but when I crunch clerics down to the aesthetic core that actually appeals to me, I get:

    Clerics solve problems by getting someone else to do it for them.

    Reading over the Original Dungeons and Dragons rules, the 2d6 reaction check was originally used to determine the outcome of transactions, rather than a more general way to figure out an NPC’s attitude towards the players. This meshes well with the idea of clerics doing things by proxy, but I think there is a better, easier, and more satisfying way to do that then my old warlock class.

    From Monstress 1. written by Marjorie Liu,, art by Sana Takeda
    Spirit Medium

    Progression
    HP, XP, attack bonus, saving throws as Cleric. Equipment restrictions as magic-user.

    Commune
    You understand and can be understood by any monster, even if you do not share a language.

    Bargain
    Influence a monster or band of allied monsters. You can do this to soothe hostile creatures or extract services from neutral to friendly ones. To Bargain, you must offer the monsters some form of payment and then make a reaction check. Mediums can only do this once per band of allied monsters per encounter. 

         2: The monster becomes hostile and attacks. If it was already hostile, it attacks the medium.
         3-5: The monster refuses the offer, or continues its current course of action.
         6-8: The monster refuses the offer, but will reconsider if the medium gives better terms.
         9-11: The monster accepts the offer.
         12: The monster accepts the offer and gives the medium its name.

    by Bertha Lum

    This is predicated on the medium offering suitable terms. Monsters pretty universally accept fresh blood (d6 HP worth for something simple like getting them to cast a 1st level spell, help in a fight, give information on the locals, or settle down if they have only a few HD, but a major secret, protection for a whole adventure, or calming a dragon could require quite a bit more); however, if the medium has an item appropriate for the monster (rare incense for a mummy, or a flower for a dryad, for example), they can use it as payment instead. These items are quite probably expensive, but they also encumber as at least 1 significant item each. Mediums can also offer to kill rivals, track down treasure, restore shrines, observe a taboo, whatever. Referees should feel free to have monsters make suggestions.

    Summon
    When you knows a monster’s true name, you can call it forth whenever you wish. Chant its name, carve its name into the ground, burn a paper doll with its name on it, whatever. A Turn later, it shows up, stepping out of a shadow, welling up out of the earth, or scuttling down from the ceiling. You can then Bargain with it.

    Miracle
    If a monster knows a spell, you can Bargain for the ability to cast it once.

    Mitsukuni Defying the Skeleton Spectre Invoked by Princess Takiyasha by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

    The way I use “monster” here presupposed a Princess Mononoke-esque animist universe where animals, gods, and monsters all sort of exist on the same spectrum. Mediums shouldn’t be able to use Bargain on a bandit (though it would be fun to put otherwise human magic-users in the monster category, now that I think about it). If you’re going for a more naturalist feel, you could limit Bargain to only explicitly supernatural critters (ghosts, djinni, elementals, etc).

    jacinto classes, clerics, LotFP, san serafín, spell, table

    beneath the teeming heavens

    Here’s a big ole generator that makes monsters/gods that are suitable as retainers. Got the idea from this and this.

    there are a handful of gods of middling power scattered across the island of San Serafín (the Red and Gold Rebel, Dreaming Beast Al-Mi’raj, YV YN YR, but starting shamans must call out into the void and take whatever minor spirit answers.

    from persona

    GENERATING A GOD

    1. Roll 1d20 to determine the god’s stat block. All gods start with 2 HD.
    2. Roll 1d20 to determine the god’s shape
    3. Roll 1d20 to determine the god’s domain
      • A god can use its Major Power 1/day and its minor power at will.
      • Minor powers in parentheses are movement types
      • Gods can cast spells with a range of Self as Touch spells if they target their shaman
      • A god’s Aspect affects its appearance
    click to make it bigger

    GENERATING A GOD’S NAME

    1. Roll 1d4 to determine how many syllables compose the god’s name.
    2. Roll 1d100 to determine which syllables compose the god’s name.
     
     
    from final fantasy 12 revenant wings
    jacinto adventures, classes, garden, is this gonna work, LotFP, monsters, npcs, occult, san serafín

    that old time religion

    “Later he saw Jesus move from tree to tree in the back of his mind, a wild ragged figure motioning him to turn around and come off into the dark where he was not sure of his footing, where he might be walking on water and not know it and then suddenly know it and drown.”
     from Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood

    Thinking about this post. Also thinking about Mononoke. The standard old school D&D cleric worships an impersonal, benevolent god. That’s an okay model, but I like the idea of deities as more present, dangerous, and visceral. A little more animist, I guess. Clerics can befriend gods, or form grudging alliances with them, or press them into service. Sometimes, clerics have to kill them. In this model, gods are NPCs and spells and adventures in one, and they influence clerics (shamans really, I guess) in direct ways.

    Anyways, here’s a sketch of what this would look like:

    She rebelled against her masters, so they tied her to a tree out in the scrub and left her there to die. When she finally became too tired to kick away the coyotes, when she had nothing but three days of hunger and three days of thirst, when her will to live exceeded anything her body could do, she swore by the blood in her mouth and then sun in her eyes that there would be a reckoning.

    There is a tree in courtyard of the mayor’s house in the village of Segundo. It grows the most remarkable red flowers and draws the most remarkable red butterflies. The mayor ignores them, but every morning he pours a bottle of excellent red wine on the tree’s roots, and girdles its trunk with another red sash. He is a fine man, the nephew of the old lord, so the Segunderos ignore these eccentricities, but they wonder why he would lavish so much attention on a tree while ignoring the fruits of his labor, or why he would grow so fearful when he found out the merchant wouldn’t be bringing any shipments of wine for the second season in a row.

    La Dama Roja, Goddess of Blood and Sunshine
    AC 16 HD 3+1 MV 90’ (30′) ATK Spear DMG 1d8+1 ST Fighter 3 AL Chaotic
    Spells, at will: Light, Command, Cure/Inflict Light Wounds

    The true name of La Dama, the one that will let a shaman make a pact with her, is carved into the trunk of the tree in the mayor’s courtyard, beneath the dozens of tattered red sashes. If the shaman botches the pact-making ritual, she will do her best to brutally murder the mayor, who was the man who tied her to the tree all those years ago. If the shaman helps her kill the mayor, her Loyalty will increase by d4. 

    If a shaman wishes to extract a favor from a god without making a Loyalty check, they can make it an offering. La Dama accepts only blood. A small task, like casting a 1st level spell, participating in a fight tipped in the Goddess’ advantage, or translating the words of a creature that can’t communicate with humans, might require d6 HP. Major favors, like casting a 5th+ level spell, joining a fight with desperate odds, or revealing a powerful and ancient secret, might require 5d6 HP.

    The Goddess of Blood and Sunshine makes a Loyalty check or requires an offering when the shaman violates one her her taboos in front of her, or when the shaman asks her to violate one of her taboos:

    • BEG NO PARDONS
    • SHOW NO MERCY
    • BOW TO NO ONE
    jacinto adventures, encounters, LotFP, san serafín

    una isla

    Working on the region surrounding San Serafín. I want there to be more to do than just this one, giant dungeon. I think my players are chafing against having to dungeon crawl every session. I also want to develop a Morrowind/Tekumel-ish setting, a kind of Mozarab Latin America, or a Colombian Exchange with Al-Andalus instead of re-Christianized Spain. 

    Anywhere, here are six locations. 
    I

    Twin creatures of mysterious nature and sumptuous dress sell strange wares beneath a red silk canopy on the side of the road.

    • Arre has the grinning head of a coyote, tongue lolling, eyes a dull red. She is polite, accommodating, and will not insist on anything but a price. She sells magic-user and cleric scrolls (all spells with a level of 6 or higher). She does not take money, but requires a live captive with HD double the level of the scroll’s spell.She fights as a gargoyle (AC 5 HD 4 MV 90 ATK 2 claws/1 bite/1 horn DMG 1d3/1d3/1d6/1d4 ST Fighter 8 ML 11 TT C AL C, Immune to non-magical weapons)
    • Erre has the head of a monkey, expression neutral, eyes a lambent red. He is profane, deceitful, and delights in insult. He sells magic items (three random magic items in stock, changes out each midnight). He accepts only ancient coinage, and each item costs 500+d1000 gp. He fights as a wraith (AC 3 HD 4 MV 120′ (FLY 240′) ATK 1 DMG 1d6+Energy Drain ST Fighter 4 ML 11 TT E AL C, Immune to non-silver and non-magical weapons)

    II
    A small and unpleasant village. The well has been spoiled recently and a spirit haunts the village chief, a man called Nazario.

    • The well was spoiled by the brother of Nazario’s dead wife, who wants to be chief and is sabotaging Nazario’s rule.
    • Nazario is haunted by the spirit Búho because he murdered his wife, the daughter of the last chief, five years ago. He rules the village benevolently, but will kill again to maintain his secret.
    • The villagers blame the haunting and the spoiled well on the nearby encampment of half-djinn. They would have driven away or killed them by now if not for the efforts of the village chief.

    III
    An encampment of half-djinn outcasts. They have thus far maintained a measure of peace and prosperity through the power and guidance of the great djinni Al-Ra’ad al-Kasif, but he has been missing for over a month.

    • A band of slavers has been kidnapping djinni across the Isle. The leader of the encampment, Fátima, wants the slavers killed and her fellows freed.
    • Shams, the great-grandson of al-Kasif, maintains his ancestor’s house, buried beneath the encampment. It contains immense wealth, but its guardians are vigilant and powerful.
    • Befriending the encampment allows players to create half-djinn characters.
    • The half-djinn fight as elves (AC 5 HD 1+1 MV 120’ ATK 1 DMG 1d8 ST Elf 1 ML 8 TT E AL Neutral, Know a random 1st level magic-user spell)

    IV
    A decaying monastery occupied by a society of necromancers. A small shantytown has sprung up around the monastery’s walls, full of indentured servants paying off the necromancer’s services.

    • The necromancers can raise any human from the dead, as long as a corpse and their true name is provided. The dead raised this way have the mental attributes, knowledge, and abilities they had in life, but the physical characteristics of their new body. This service costs a number of gold pieces equal to the experience total of the one to be resurrected. Anyone raised this way cannot gain XP.
    • The indentured servants despise the necromancers for their abuse and cupidity, but each is desperate to bring someone back to life.
    • The necromancers know the secret of summoning Las Muertas, but will not teach it to anyone outside of their ranks. A summoner must enroll in the society or else just steal the ritual.

    V
    A band of hunters makes their camp here, hidden inside a thicket. Several of their children have gone missing, and in the weeks since their search started, something has begun to mutilate the horses.

    • The children have been stolen by the spirit Angroda, who maintains her lair in the bole of an immense black tree in the same hex as the camp.
    • The horse-killer is one of the hunters, cursed with lycanthropy. He killed an ancient jaguar while searching for the missing children, and it bit him as it died. He is too frightened to set off on his own and even more afraid of being killed by his friends and family, so he has been satisfying his new hunger with the band’s horses. He fights as a weretiger (AC 3 HD 5 MV 150’ ATK 2 claws/1 bite DMG 1d6/1d6/2d6 ST Fighter 5 ML 9 TT C AL N, Immune to non-magical or non-silver weapons, can summon 1d2 jaguars 1/day)

    VI
    An abandoned hacienda. Withered cattle, untouched by insects, lay dead in locked barns, and the silos are filled with rotted grain. In the manor, the two dozen bodies hang from the rafters.

    • The hanged were once the hacienda’s household. In life, they sacrificed humans to an Old God in return for bountiful crops. When the Saint-king sent an agent to investigate the disappearances, they killed themselves when discovery seemed inevitable.
    • The dead are restless in this house. The bodies will reanimate and attempt to kill anyone who enters the manor. They will do their best to keep anyone from entering the basement, where they kept the remains of their victims.
    • The basement contains the remains of the sacrificial victims, as well as the body of the Saint-king’s agent. Unbeknownst to the murderers, he tripped down the stairs and broke his neck while investigating. He is an immobile skeleton, but is quite friendly and rather voluble.
    • The murderers fight as wights (AC 5 HD 3 MV 90 ATK 1 DMG Energy Drain ST Fighter 3 ML 12 TT B AL C, Immune to non-silver and non-magical weapons). As long as they are still tied to a rafter and nothing living can see them or their destination, they can teleport to any other rafter in the house. If cut from the roof, they cannot teleport, but can move freely.
    jacinto items, san serafín, treasure

    serafino artifacts

    Tizona
    An indestructible sword feared and coveted as a weapon of immense destruction. Any sparks struck by its blade ignite fires that cannot be extinguished by means magical or mundane; they burn until they consume all available fuel or else forever.

    a black bone
    A charred tibia, one end wrapped in wire for a handle, the other chipped to a point. This is an weapon that cannot and should not be; to kill someone with it is to disrupt the natural course of Creation. Anything its victims ought to have done will go unfinished, and the events they would have prevented will now proceed. It can be used to subvert prophecy and kill those protected by destiny, both for good and for bad, but each use weakens the relationship between Cause and Effect just a little more.

    la lengua oscura
    As we cast shadows, so too does language; in the distant west they call this speech La Lengua Oscura. Those fluent in it can ponder the unknowable and devise the impossible; there are kings and queens, now long dead, who used it to order their subjects to commit unspeakable acts. True mastery is all but impossible in these latter days, but acquiring basic knowledge has its advantages.

    The Zahir
    A divine weapon that brings salvation to those it destroys. The Zahir slowly consumes the mind of anyone who sees it, filling them with thoughts of Immanence. When any sentient creature sees the Zahir up close, they must make a Saving Throw vs Magic every day thereafter or lose a point of Intelligence as more and more of their mind dedicates itself to pondering the Zahir. Once their Intelligence reaches 0, they become Lawful and fall into a coma. The Zahir can take any form: it can be a penny, a book, a house.

    The Bottom of the City
    There ruled a king in distant West, a king for the ages, a king to rival Solomon, a king to shake the firmament. He was Yahya, or El Pastor, or Prestor John, but today his names are not spoken, and his works are cast away. He is just San Serafin now. His 99 Histories record his fall from grace, but each chapter ascribes to him a different sin and a different punishment, so that all must be held in suspicion and none can be trusted. Whether he is dead or asleep or imprisoned at the bottom of his hated, buried city, all of the Histories  agree on a single point: anyone who finds him will be granted a single, omnipotent wish, a gift from the Almighty, the power to redeem the world or destroy it.

    jacinto classes, LotFP, occult, san serafín, spell, table

    Meet the Witch

    A class! This is another draft of one I’ve done before, except I cleaned up the layout a lot. This art is by Alphonse Mucha–the previous picture by neev is going elsewhere in the zine now.

    click me i get bigger

    You can get a pdf of the witch class here.

    And yeah, I’m thinking that San Serafín is going to get some sort of print release. I’ve finally figured out the look of it, I think.