Spes Magna Games

My Stars Without Number-inspired setting mixes fantasy elements with the sci-fi.

Castoran Zombie
Armor Class: 8 (or better)
Hit Dice: 2
Attack Bonus: +3
Damage: 1d6 (unarmed) or by weapon
No. Appearing: 1d20 (or more)
Saving Throw: 14+ (see below)
Movement: 20 ft.
Morale: NA

The dead tend to not stay dead on Castor, and the shuffling horrors called zombies are the planet’s most common undead menace. Zombies are walking corpses with a hunger for living flesh. They decay in their undeath, albeit not as quickly as an actual corpse would. Regardless of their state of decay, zombies are not easily mistaken for the living.

Zombies are seldom armed or armored, at least to any great extent. These monsters lack human intelligence, operating almost entirely on an instinctual level. They can make use only of the simplest of tools, but even then not often using them for much more than bludgeons. Of course, some zombies may happen to wear armor or have a melee weapon in hand. Since zombies are undead creatures, they cannot be affected by attacks that require a living body or mind. This includes diseases, poisons, many psionic powers and spells, et cetera. Zombies simply ignore the effects of such attacks. Zombies also never make morale checks. Attacks which damage the body are less effective against zombies since their bodies do not suffer pain, shock, blood loss, and so forth. Such attacks inflict 50% normal damage (round down) unless the attack roll is a natural 20, in which case the attack inflicts full damage as normal.

Castoran zombies occasionally have different stats that make them more dangerous. Some zombies can move at normal human speeds. Others carry terrible infections communicable by bite or scratch. The rarest zombies have human intelligence (but still remain immune to effects that require a living mind) and the ability to mentally command lesser zombies.

Tags: planetary tour, Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne, undead

Excerpts from my first non-Pathfinder project, Tiamat’s Throne, a sci-fi/fantasy setting using the Stars Without Number core rules:

The Rage of Dragons

In 2665, the time-space continuum ripped. What I mean is this: A hole was torn from another universe into ours. This was no accident. Forces beyond human comprehension purposefully rent asunder the fabric of reality separating the two universes.

And through this tear came the dragons.

Hundreds of them, each one with the size, speed, and power of a frigate. They rampaged across the sector, raining down death and terror on world after world. Humanity — reeling from the sudden disruption of technology and the psychic chaos of that metadimensional “shriek” — rallied as well as could be expected. Some dragons died in combat against armed spaceships. A few worlds managed to lessen the destruction wrought by the dragons.

Then, the dragons turned on each other. By the end of 2675, only four dragons survived, and the weaker three combined could not match the power of Her Draconic Majesty Tiamat the Unconquerable.

…

Kouranism: Many wizards suffer from Kouranism, a magical condition that mutates the body and mind while making it possible for the sufferer to manipulate eldritch energies in ways not possible for the unafflicted. Rules for this new skill are found in the Kouranism section below.

…

When the Eugenics Commissars finished designing the duonos genome, the plan was that the new species would be genetically predisposed toward obedience. Thus, genome manipulation aimed at docility and timidity. The first two or three generations of duonos functioned well in their various roles as compliant domestic servants too afraid of their masters’ authority to be disobedient. In the fourth and following generations, however, a genetic instability evidenced itself. Centered in the amygdala, this instability resulted in a minority of duonos exhibiting the binary psychological traits of fear or wrath. Put more simply, some duonos were typically docile and timid, but only up to a point. After that, these aberrant duonos — called koleros — became violent, sometimes shockingly so as they fell into the grip of rage verging on psychotic in intensity.

…

Wizard Class Traits

Prime Attributes: Intelligence or Dexterity
Hit Dice: d4
Special Ability: The wizard is the only class that can learn to cast spells.
Wizard Class Skills: Artist, Combat/Magitech, Culture/Any, Kouranism, Language, Religion, Perception, Profession/Any
Additional Skill Points per Level: 2

…

While most worlds have intermittent problems with the undead, Castor is overrun with them. Her cities exist in a state of constant siege. The most prominent undead menace are the hordes of zombies. Tens of thousands of zombie surround the cities, and more wander the wilderness between Castor’s urban centers. Other undead monsters are less common, but more dangerous, especially those that can fly such as ghosts and spectres. These types of monsters can not only bypass city walls, but they can also threaten the dirigibles that link the cities via the airways.

Despite the planetary quarantine, groups of adventurers sometimes travel to Castor. Caches of pretech can be found in ancient ruins by those willing and able to brave Castor’s the undead terrors.

Tags: Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

Well, Texicon 2012 is almost here. Giant Boy and I are heading up to the Dallas/Fort Worth area this Friday. At the convention, I’m running Dyson Logos’s Geodesic Gnomes and a Go Fer Yer Gun!/Call of Cthulhu mash-up. The former adventure, Metro Gnomes, is going to be made available via the regular sources for Spes Magna PDFs by the end of this month (in theory). I’d like to publish the other adventure, but I need to contact GFYG!‘s author Simon Washbourne. I’d like to note that my adventure, BR&ND, is compatible with GFYG!, but I won’t use someone else’s product identity like that without their permission.

I’m also behind the curve on getting the metric system version of Dodeca Weather done. Once I get caught up, it’ll be made available as well. Those of you who’ve already purchased Dodeca Weather will receive the metric system version for free when I update the files.

Tags: adventure design, Convention Gaming, Dyson Logos

Do you want a small slice of fame? How about a small slice of fame with a side of free PDF? If so, I need playtesters/proofreaders for three PDFs:

Dodeca Decor: In this PDF there are many tables, 12 of which have more than 20 different dungeon details each. Most of the dungeon details don’t come with any specific game effect. They’re merely decorative or inspirational. In the former case, a merely decorative element may inspire your players into fits of speculation and investigation that lead nowhere. In the latter case, you the GM may have one of those great aha! moments and what started as merely decorative may become functional or even dangerous.

The Swamp Isle of the Croaking Priestess: This short adventure pits the PCs against a boggard army led by the Croaking Priestess herself. The PDF includes full stats for the Croaking Priestess, links to d20pfsrd for quick rules references, tips for running the adventure, and a cross-section map of the isle. Let the blood flow, and don’t fall off your lilypad!

A to Z: All 26 of my A to Z Challenge blogposts are collected in one volume. Edited, revised, and improved, these blogposts feature foes for your PCs to fight, alternate rules, two archetypes, as well as advice, wit, and wisdom.

All playtesters/proofreaders get credit on the table of contents page and a free copy of the completed PDF. If you’re interested in helping, please email me at mark at spesmagna dot com.

Due to a flood of requests (Well, really three of them.), I’ve started to compile all 26 A to Z blogposts into a single PDF that will at least be distributed for free to Quid Novi? subscribers. I’m shooting for a release date of no later than 31 May.

I’m also about ready to start would should be the last round of edits for Dodeca Weather, a new PDF compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game that will add more detail to your campaign’s meteorological verisimilitude. This product is months overdue, and I really can’t blame all of that delay on my heart attack. I’ve just been in too much of a funk, which is not a good thing. (While being in a funk is bad, funk music is good, and certain ways of being funky can also be good. What a strange world we live in!)

I also nearly finished with Dodeca Decor, a smaller PDF that includes hundreds of decorating tips for your dungeons.

If I stay on track, both of these should be available to the gaming public by the end of May.