Spes Magna Games

Recent posts elsewhere on the interwebz about revisualizing the kobold both charmed me and also got me thinking about retooling kobolds to be closer to the ways they’re depicted in their mythological origins. Thus, here are kobold reimagined as spirit creatures capable of taking corporeal form.

Common Traits

Kobolds live most of their lives as invisible, intangible spirits. Kobolds tend toward capriciousness, but they are generally well-meaning so long if treated with respect and appeased by regular gifts. They are natural shape-changers. To detect invisible, a kobold in spirit form appears as a halfling-sized, humanoid shape, and it cannot be harmed except by magical weapons.

A kobold must manifest to attack. A kobold cannot attack the same round it changes form. There are three known types of kobold: aquatic, domestic, and mining. Regardless of type, all kobolds can manifest as fire. In this form, a kobold cannot be harmed by nonmagical weapons, and it takes double damage from water. All kobolds have Darkvision with a range of 60′ (or 90′ for mining kobolds). They speak their own language as well as Common.

XP Value: 16

Kobold in Fire Form: AC 13; HD 1d4 Hit Points**; #AT 1; D 1d4 (+1d4 against creatures which are cold or icy in nature); MV 30′, fly 20′; #APP 1d4 (1d12+3 Wild, 1d12+3 Lair); SV Normal Man; MOR 8; TT P and Q each, C in lair.

Aquatic Kobold

These kobolds live in coastal regions and on ships. They help sailors and fishermen, and they are expert carpenters. In spirit form, they move through water, coral, and sand as easily as humans move through air. They can polymorph self into any sort of coastal bird, fish, or crustacean. They can also assume a humanoid shape, roughly halfling sized with noticeable piscatory features such as gills, small fins, et cetera. Once per day, an angry aquatic kobold can become visible to a single creature with no more than 7 Hit Dice; this creature must make a saving throw versus Death Ray or die instantly.

Aquatic Kobold: AC 13; HD 1d4 Hit Points**; #AT 1; D 1d4 or by weapon; MV 20′, Swim 30′; #APP 1d4 (1d12+3 Wild, 1d12+3 Lair); SV Normal Man; MOR 8; TT P and Q each, C in lair.

Domestic Kobold

These kobolds live in homes or on farms. They help the residents with domestic chores. In spirit form, they move through wood and stone as easily as humans move through air. They can polymorph self into any sort of domestic animal. They can also assume a humanoid shape, roughly halfling sized and resembling a pudgy child with a short tail. Once per day, a domestic kobold can cause disease.

Domestic Kobold: AC 13; HD 1d4 Hit Points**; #AT 1; D 1d4 or by weapon; MV 30′; #APP 1d4 (1d12+3 Wild, 1d12+3 Lair); SV Normal Man; MOR 8; TT P and Q each, C in lair.

Mining Kobold

These kobolds live underground in or near mines. They help the miners find valuable ore and avoid subterranean dangers. They are expert miners (equal to dwarves) as well as skilled metalworkers. In spirit form, they move through earth and stone as easily as humans move through air. Unlike other kobolds, they cannot polymorph self in animal forms. In humanoid form, they appear much a like a gaunt dwarf or gnome with luminous eyes. They can use ventriloquism at will, phantasmal force twice per day, and wall of stone once per week.

Mining Kobold: AC 13; HD 1d4 Hit Points**; #AT 1; D 1d4 or by weapon; MV 20′, Climb 20′; #APP 1d4 (1d12+3 Wild, 1d12+3 Lair); SV Normal Man; MOR 8; TT P and Q each, C in lair.

Tags: Basic Fantasy RPG, monsters

Aggressive, territorial, covered in spiked chitin, these insects grow as large as ponies.

Krekel

Init +2; Atk antenna +2 melee (1d4) or kick +2 melee (1d6); AC 15; HD 2d8; MV 30′; Act 1d20; SP charge, chirp; SV Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +2; AL N.

Krekel live on windswept grasslands, which provide these herbivores with plentiful food. They are solitary most of the time, but during mating season, the female congregate while the males compete with combative courtship displays and cacophonous chirping that can be heard for miles.

A krekel charges when threatened, doubling its move, gaining a +2 “to-hit”, and inflicting double damage as it rams an antenna home like a lance on the first round of combat. Each round after the first, a krekel has a 2-in-6 chance of emitting an ear-splitting chirp. Creatures within 10 feet of the krekel take 1d8 points of damage and must make a DC 12 Fortitude save or be deafened for a number of hours equal to the damage sustained.

Tags: DCC, monsters

“It was a monster boar indeed–one as huge as a bull, with tusks as great as an elephant’s; the bristles on its back stood up like spear points, and the hot breath of the creature withered the growth on the ground. The boar tore up the corn in the fields and trampled down the vines with their clusters and heavy bunches of grapes; also it rushed against the cattle and destroyed them in the fields. And no hounds the huntsmen were able to bring could stand before it. And so it came to pass that men had to leave their farms and take refuge behind the walls of the city because of the ravages of the boar.”

From “Atalanta the Huntress” in The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived before Achilles by Padraic Colum.

Boar, Monster

AC 5 [14], HD 6* (26 hp), Att 2 x tusk (2d4) or 1 x trample (2d6) or 1 x breath (2d6), THAC0 14 [+5], MV 180′ (60′), SV D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (6), ML 11, AL Neutral, XP 500, NA 0 (1), TT None

▶ Charge: If disturbed or threatened, will charge to attack. Requires a run of at least 20 yards. Make a tusk attack that inflicts double damage on all in the path.
▶ Fearsome Aura: Animals within 30 feet affected by fear (save versus spells resists).
▶ Scalding Breath: 3-in-20 chance per round of exhaling scalding air. 15′ long, 15′ wide, 15′ high cloud. Save versus breath for half damage.
▶ Trample: 10-in-20 chance of trampling each round. +4 to hit human-sized or smaller creatures.

Tags: monsters, Old School Essentials, OSE

Well, the new year is here, and so it’s time to start a new project. With determination and hard work, maybe this project will get done. “What is the project?” you ask. Well, I’ll get to that in a paragraph. But, first!

In December, I leaped into Dicember 2022, posting almost daily something new at least vaguely related to Old-School Essentials. This weekend, I compiled all the posts into a Word document, did some light formatting and editing, and PDFed it. You can download the PDF via this link.

And now back to that project. I’m shooting to complete two different writing projects, combining them into one. That’s right! I’m tackling both Roy Otus’s Gygax 75 and Sean McCoy’s Dungeon 23. You can read about both at their respective links in that last sentence. Nota Bene: Much of the Dungeon 23 link is hidden behind a Substack subscription box.

Now, practically speaking, since I go back to work on Tuesday, I’m not likely to adhere devoutly to either schedule. Also, since with Gygax 75 I’m writing up the start of a fantasy world, much of what I’m doing at the outset isn’t really coming up with a dungeon room a day for 365 days. Still, I think I’m off to a good start, as shown in the pics below.

The first pic shows the Flux’s Flying Fort. The second pic shows the Eastern Reaches, the rugged environs in which the adventure involving the Flying Fort takes place. I’ll likely run some version of the adventure at OwlCon in February. I might attempt a second run at North Texas RPG Con in June. Also, it’s quite probable that some variation of the adventure will kick off my soon-to-begin Old-School Essentials campaign that I’ll run for my Sunday group.

Huzzah!

Tags: #Dungeon23, #Gygax75, adventure design, Old School Essentials, world-building

Probably my favorite thing about the Old-School Essentials combat sequence is the declaration phase at the start of each round. This phase occurs before initiative is rolled. Placing the declaration phase prior to initiative injects a further degree of uncertainty into something as dangerous as combat involving swords, spells, and sinister monsters. Since I’m looking to start something like an OSE campaign about mid-January, I’ve started tweaking the core rules a bit. One of the things that’s gotten the tweak is the combat sequence. My rough draft version follows this paragraph. Nota Bene: Thirds of movement are always bumped up to the next 5-foot increment (e.g., 13.33 feet rounds to 15 feet).

Phase 1 – Monster Morale. Checked after the first round of combat in most cases.
Phase 2 – Declare Spells. PCs that are going to cast spells start the process this phase by committing to spellcasting.
Phase 3 – Initiative. Roll 1d6 for each side. Individual modifiers are applied to the roll. Tied initiative is possible.
Phase 4 – Actions. The initiative-winning side acts first during each subphase. Slow weapons always act last in a subphase regardless of initiative.
▶ 4A – First Third Movement. A PC casting a spell may not move.
▶ 4B – Missile Attacks. Resolve all missile attacks before the next phase begins.
▶ 4C – Second Third Movement. A PC casting a spell may not move.
▶ 4D – Spells Are Cast. Resolve all spell effects before the next phase begins.
▶ 4E – Third Third Movement. A PC who cast a spell may move.
▶ 4F – Melee Attacks. Resolve all melee attacks before the next round begins.

Tweaking the combat sequence made tweaking Movement in Melee rules sensible:

Movement in Melee: If engaged in melee combat, movement is halved for the phase. Choosing to move at more than half speed means the mover cannot attack, and foes in melee with the mover get a free, immediate attack with a +3 bonus to hit.

Also, since I’m not particularly fond of precision archery into or while in melee combat, I’ve added this rule:

Missiles in Melee: Making a missile attack while engaged in melee combat imposes a -2 “to-hit” penalty. Launching a missile attack into melee? Roll to hit and then determine the actual target randomly. Small creatures count as 1, man-sized as 2, and larger creatures as 3 or more (at Referee’s discretion). For example, an elf fires an arrow at the ogre fighting a dwarf, a cleric, and a halfling. That’s 7 “size points” of creatures in the melee. Roll 1d8. 1 targets the dwarf, 2-3 targets the cleric, 4 targets the halfling, and 5-8 targets the ogre.

Tags: OSE