Spes Magna Games

Well, another Quid Novi? has been e-mailed to subscribers. Here’s a sample of what you missed if you’ve not signed up for this free, twice-monthly e-letter.

The furniture’s disarray, the broken table, the scattered personal effects, including various knitting needles and mouldering yarn. This sewing room once hosted violent events. Indeed, that dark stain on the rat-chewed rug could be long-dried blood. As you move into the room, you spot a dessicated corpse curled into defensive posture behind a tattered loveseat.

The Unsightly Sewing Room was the site of a horrible murder. The victim’s corpse rots behind the loveseat. This poor soul was killed by knitting needles wielded as improvised weapons. One of the needles is still lodged in the corpse’s left eye socket. The unspeakable violence has combined with the victim’s undying thirst for vengeance to haunt the chamber.

CR 4; XP 1,200
CE haunt (20-foot square sewing room); persistent
Caster Level 4th
Notice Perception DC 12 (faint spectral knitting needles appear in the air)
hp 18; Weakness triggered by touch; Trigger touch; Reset 1 day

Effect The haunt remains inactive so long as the contents of the sewing room remain undisturbed. Should any living creature touch the contents of the sewing room, however, the malevolent spirit manifests itself as a pair of spectral knitting needles that unerringly strike at the eyes of the offending creature. The victim must make two DC 13 Fortitude saves, using the lowest total. Failure means the victim is struck blind as if targeted by blindness/deafness modified by the persistent spell metamagic feat. Since the haunt is persistent, it continues to attack those in the sewing room once per round on its initiative rank until destroyed or it no longer has a target.

Destruction The haunt must be reduced to 0 hit points via positive energy. The sewing room must then be subjected to a consecrate spell, which permanently destroys the haunt.

This haunt doesn’t appear in Quid Novi? alone. It is accompanied by an infernal hound as well as some recommended reading for GMs. Speaking of recommended reading, take a gander at this:

Prep-Lite Wireframe How To by DNAphil

Prep-lite master DNAphil offers his latest installment on how to construct great adventures with minimal prep time. This article looks at prep-lite NPCs. For me, it’s full of win because it embraces one of my GMing rules, namely that the GM doesn’t have to follow the same rules the other players do. As DNAphil explains, “[A]s a GM I do not have to create an NPC with the Character creation rules that the players used.” He then gives examples of how to streamline the NPC creation process by distinguishing between what is important and what isn’t.

Tags: NPCs

For the last Quid Novi? of February, I just had to do another haunt. I’m intrigued by the idea of haunts, a sort of cross between an undead monster and a trap. I’ve taken a few liberties with the haunt rules when creating the Deadly Doll.

The Deadly Doll
NE haunt (effect limited to humanoid creature who touches the doll); persistent
CR 5; XP 1,600
Caster Level 9th
Notice Perception DC 18 (the doll whispers to the holder)
hp 22; Weakness triggered by touch; Trigger touch; Reset 1 day

Effect The haunt is triggered by picking up the doll. The target must succeed a DC 17 Will save or be dominated as per the spell dominate person. The dominated person must use the doll to lure a child and then murder the child.

Destruction The doll must be burned after succeeding with a remove curse against DC 20. Otherwise, the doll will reappear 1d6 miles away from the burn site after 24 hours. Casting break enchantment against DC 20 can free a creature from the dominate person effect.

Background Once upon a dark time, an evil man crafted toys in order to lure children into his deadly clutches. Eventually, the outraged and vengeful community upon which the evil man preyed uncovered his wickedness. He suffered horribly at the mob’s hands before dying. Unfortunately, his death did not end his terror. The evil man’s basest desires survived death, infecting one of his many dolls. The Deadly Doll now serves as a focus for the evil man’s monstrous appetite for murder.

In other news, the new What Is It? contest for homebrew monsters lairs over at this EN World link. Also, voting for What Is It? 2 takes place here. Monsters for What Is It? 1 and voting results are here.

First, some news intended to make me a little bit of money. Ars Metamagica is available at DriveThruRPG for $1.50 US. Here’s my brief sales pitch:

Underwhelmed by metamagic feats? Wish your casters had more flexibility when modifying their spells? Then get Ars Metamagica today.

This 13-page, printer-friendly PDF describes an alternate metamagic system that replaces metamagic feats with a metamagic check mechanic. Spellcasters daily select a palette of metamagic arts with which to modify their spells. Whether a prepared caster or a spontaneous caster, the spell-slinger makes a metamagic check at casting time to successfully reshape the magical energies. Success means greater customization of spells, but failure risks magical feedback. Also included are these:

* Specific recommendations about modifying class features, spells, and other rules impacted by Ars Metamagica.
* Five new feats that let casters dig deeper into the metamagic arts.
* Two new traits for casters with an affinity for the metamagic arts.
* A new type of metamagic rod that works with rather than replaces the metamagic system.

On the homefront, a year of underemployment and unemployment came to end on 9 August. I’ve been hired as the library coordinator and part-time physical education teacher at Aristoi Classical Academy. This isn’t quite the job I was wanting. I’m much better teaching history or literature. Still, there are benefits that cannot be ignored. The princpal, who I’ve worked for before, is top notch. I’ve not met anyone who understands classical education for children better than Mr. Johnson. Also, my kids are enrolled now, which got them out of the achievement-challenged public school we suffered through last year. Lastly, I have a job. Employment beats unemployment.

Yesterday, the family and I trundled over to the dollar theater. (It’s really a buck-fifty theater, but why quibble?) We watched the homage to the original Karate Kid. Surprisingly more affecting than I anticipated, but I ought not have been caught flat-footed. I’ve maintained for years that Jackie Chan is a fine dramatic actor, albeit finding examples of these talents is harder since he overwhelmingly favors action-comedies. Best of all, it wasn’t a remake of the original so much as a re-imagining. Also DVRed Shane and High Plains Drifter for the family to watch. Two very different but excellent westerns riffing the theme of the mysterious drifter facing injustice.

But back to writing.

I’ve done some more writing for Game Geek. The most recent issue includes me opining about the virtues of in media res as a storytelling device in adventure design. My thoughts about how only substandard DMs nerf character abilities in order to make situations more challenging are likely to show up in October’s issue.

Worked a bit on Quid Novi? XVII. I’m off-schedule with Quid Novi? due to adjusting to the new job, but issue 17 will hit subscriber in-boxes this coming Sunday, 12 September. The upcoming issue will include a Chance Encounter, a Five-Room One-Shot (probably inspired by a favorite Jonny Quest episode, and some more Recommended Reading.

Well, that’s it for now. Good gaming!

Well, August is shaping up to be a good month, at least in Spes Magna world. Sales are going well at both DriveThruRPG and Paizo. On the former site, In One’s Blood actually hit number 32 on the Top 100 Small Press Items list. I’ve gotten a few good reviews as well. The aforementioned In One’s Blood has a 5-star review at Paizo and a 4-star review at DriveThruRPG. Making Craft Work received three 5-star reviews at Paizo and another at DriveThruRPG. Rewarding Roleplaying has a 5-star review at Paizo.

With the constant stream of rejections from prospective employers this week, it’s nice that at least that much goes well.

The Barbaric Traits Preview PDF lands in Quid Novi? subscriber in-boxes this Sunday. This preview of character traits inspired by Robert E. Howard and Thundarr contains 12 new traits, divided evenly between the Combat, Faith, Magic, and Social categories. The for-sale Barbaric Traits PDF sits on my table in very rough draft form. The for-sale PDF offers 36 new character traits. I’m shooting to have it available for public consumption by about 15 August 2010.

Playtester volunteers still have their capable hands on Ars Metamagica. I’ve received some insightful feedback already. A couple of playtesters homed in on some unintended quirks in the system. I’ve got high hopes for this PDF. Ars Metamagica guts the metamagic feat system in the core rules, replacing it with a metamagic check system not tied to either skills or feats.

My adventure-writing funk still hasn’t completely passed. My much delayed The Case of the Purloined Princess still remains unfinished. A shorter adventure, Down the Rabbit Hole, is closer to completion. I’m not sure why I’m having such a hard time getting these done. I used to love writing adventures.

On the homefront, I got sick and tired of sitting around the house this week. My daughter was visiting one of her friends. I woke up my son Giant Boy and urged him to get bathed and dressed posthaste. We then walked about a mile to Denny’s and split the discount biscuits and gravy, pancakes, eggs over easy, sausage, and hashbrowns. After breakfast, we mosied over to the movie theater and saw Salt. It is a wildly improbable action flick, which, as Roger Ebert notes, manages to do everything that bad movies do in a really good way. Giant Boy and I then trekked through the 100-degree Fahrenheit heat to relax in the dim, air-conditioned comfort of our living room.

Tags: Salt movie

Why, hello there!

I’ve made a few posts here about Man Day’s new “We’re Not In Arkansas Anymore!” campaign. I’ve also received nice feedback about WNIAA from an RPG vee-eye-pee, who shall remain nameless so it doesn’t like I’m just name-dropping. Recently, fellow Man Day adventurer Terry convinced me to check out Obsidian Portal. I fixed my skepticism firmly in place to help convince me that something new and wiki wouldn’t be to my liking.

I was wrong. Obsidian Portal is a hoot. It’s easy to use, comes with friendly how-to videos, and has a cool name. Seriously. Obsidian Portal. That right there just screams, “Open me! Adventure awaits!”

So, WNIAA is now officially an Obsidian Portal campaign. You check it out by clicking here.

In company news, Spes Magna Games now has a store at Paizo.com. Now you can purchase Spes Magna products with the easy convenience of the Paizo on-line shopping experience. You Quid Novi? subscribers can still use your subscriber discount code. Also, starting this Wednesday, 16 June, we launch our 25% off Father’s Day sale that lasts until Wednesday, 23 June. Visit the store today to check out what we have to offer.

Tags: Spes Magna Products