Spes Magna Games

As previously implied, I recently acquired Amazing Adventures in PDF from Troll Lord Games, and I really like it. I’ve some experience with the d20 System variant at the heart of Amazing Adventures by way of Simon Washbourne’s nifty Wild West RPG Go Fer Yer Gun!. It’s a simple and flexible system, and Amazing Adventures is my top contender for the next game I’m going to run for my twice-monthly group.

By way of learning the system (any system, for that matter), I spend some time making up characters, monsters, et cetera. No better way for me to see the nuts and bolts of a system that to get under the hood, so to speak. To that end, here’s John Jackson:

Born in Galveston, Texas, in March of 1878, John is the third of child born to Hank and Christina Jackson, former slaves and then domestic servants. By the time he was 10, John divided his waking hours between school and work, helping sweep classrooms after school and helping the local milkman with his deliveries before school.

The Galveston of John’s childhood, although segregated, saw little racial strife, at least in the 12th Ward that was John’s home. Everyone there was poor regardless of color. John ran with a gang of white boys, and he was a welcome guest in their homes, and they in his.

Of poor health as a child, John fell under the protection of his two older sisters, using his wits to avoid confrontation when they weren’t around. This changed when an older boy picked a fight with John, punching him in the jaw. When John reported the incident to his grandmother, she told the boy, “John, if you don’t whip him, I shall whip you.” John confronted the older boy and beat him in a fist fight.

At the age of 16, John quit school and started working the local docks. Later he moved to Dallas and spent some time exercising horses at the race track. During this time, he met Lewis Walters, a carriage painter and boxing enthusiast, who took on John as an apprentice. It was Lewis’s influence that led John into becoming a boxer.

By the time John was 18, he was living in Manhattan, training for the ring and working as a janitor for Bernard Hermann, a German-born heavyweight who owned a gym. After a few penny ante fights, usually on beaches or in warehouses, John got his chance to fight professionally in 1898. Thus began John’s highly successful career as a professional boxer, a career that has permitted John to semi-retire from the ring and live a life of privilege and luxury that his parents could have only dreamed of.

In Paris, France, walking back to his hotel late one night in the company of a chanteuse, John witnessed an elderly man being assaulted in an alley. John rushed to the man’s defense, only to find himself in a life-and-death, bare-knuckle struggle against one of the many ghouls that lurk in the Paris catacombs. Although badly injured, John managed to hold off the undead monster long enough for the ruckus to attract the attention of the locals and the police. The monster fled, and John was taken to the hospital.

Confronted with the existence of a chilling world of monsters, John’s life has since moved in new directions. He hopes to find other intrepid persons with similar experiences. If things that go bump in the night are going to prey on innocent people, John figures he needs to bump right back. It’s what his grandmother would want him to do.

Strength: 18 (+3)
Dexterity: 13 (+1)
Constitution: 14 (+1)
Intelligence: 10 (+0)
Wisdom: 13 (+1)
Charisma: 13 (+1)

Primes: Strength, Constitution, Charisma
Languages: English
Class/Level: Pugilist/1
Hit Points: 13
BtH: +0
Fate Points: 10
Backgrounds: Mechanic, Professional Athlete
Traits: Musclebound (+1 STR-based checks, -2 DEX-based checks).
Abilities: Overwhelming Personality (CHA, +2 to CHA-based saves); Tough as Nails (CON, +1 to CON-based saves); Unarmed Attack (1d4).

Tags: Amazing Adventures

Inspired by a Facebook post by Joe Pizzirusso in the 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons group, here comes two special abilities for more scientifically accurate giant spiders. If you want more information about the discovery of a new species of tarantula, check out this NatGeo article. Also, this is not the first time I’ve visited monstrous arachnids. Check out these older posts:

* The Spiders from Mars, monstrous foes for Fate Accelerated Edition.
* Plague of Spiders, a terrifying Third Magnitude spell for Barbarians of Lemuria.
* The Pholcids of Orgimchak, magical spiders for Swords & Wizardry.
* Day 17: My Animal/Vermin for assorted spider facts.

But enough of that. Giant spiders stalk hereafter.

Everyone knows that giant spiders are web builders who construct their webs “horizontally or vertically so as to entrap any creature which touches the web.” Of course, a giant spider’s bite packs a poisonous punch. “A victim must save versus poison or be killed.” All of this is explained on page 90 of the Monster Manual. Go ahead and check. While you’re at it, look at the glorious full page illustration on page 91. See those bristles and hairs on the giant spider fixing to pounce on the unsuspecting adventurers?

Those are urticating hairs, which aren’t really hairs. Instead, they’re bristles covered with microbarbs, and they’re a defensive adaptation. When bothered or angered, a giant spider shakes and scrapes its legs together and across is abdomen. This kicks up a cloud of urticating hairs in a 1/2″ or 1″ radius around the spider (50% chance of either). The cloud lasts for one to three rounds, depending on air conditions (shorter duration in wind or rain, for example).

Creatures other than giant spiders caught in a cloud of urticating hairs must save versus paralyzation. Failure means the creature has inhaled some of the hairs while other hairs have embedded themselves in the creature’s eyes and skin. This is not a good thing as it renders the victim blind and in pain for 1d4+1 turns. The pain part is simulated by suffering 2d4 points of damage per turn unless the victim remains very still.

Rarely, a giant spider’s urticating hairs grow sturdier and sharper. The saving throw against these sorts of urticating hairs is made with a -2 penalty, and the victim suffers the aforesaid effects for 1d6+1 turns. What’s more, a combatant who attacks such a giant spider with a weapon no longer than 2 feet must make a saving throw versus paralyzation if the combatant’s attack roll fails. An attacker who fails this saving throw is jabbed by 1d8 urticating hairs. Each hair inflicts 1 point of damage.

If you add either or both of these abilities to a standard giant spider, adjust the spider’s XP value accordingly. Here’re my recommendations:

Standard Giant Spider Level/XP Value: V/315+5/hp
With Urticating Hair Cloud: +75 XP
With Sturdier Urticating Hairs: +40 XP

Tags: AD&D, monsters

“He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, ‘Where is the LORD God of Elijah?’ and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.” (2 Kings 2:13-14)

The Mantle of the Prophets appears to be nothing more than a normal cloak of the sort worn by many people, especially to keep warm during the night or during chilly weather. In truth, the Mantle is a powerful Lawful relic once worn by at least two of the holiest of the People’s prophets. When worn by a Lawful Cleric who has been chosen by the Lord, the Mantle serves to channel divine power through the wearer in order to demonstrate the power and majesty of the Lord. The Mantle has had the following reputed powers:

1. Once per day, create highly nourishing food and clean, fresh water in sufficient quantity to provide for 27 human-sized creatures for a full day.

2. Once per month, permit the wearer to Raise Dead (as the spell).

3. Once per week, permit the wearer to Control Weather (as the spell).

4. Once per day, the wearer can call down a column of holy fire. The column is 10 feet in diameter and 30 feet high. It inflicts 6d8 points of damage on creatures caught in its area of effect. A successful saving throw halves this damage.

5. Once per week, permit the wearer to Part Water (as the spell).

6. Once per day, the wearer can summon a bear to fight his enemies. The bear arrives in 1d4 rounds, and it serves the wearer for 1 hour or until killed. Use standard bear statistics as the base, but the animal summoned by this ability has no fewer than 5 hit points per Hit Die, and it enjoys a +1 bonus on attack rolls.

Tags: Catholic, magic items, Swords & Wizardry

I recently rewatched Horror Express. Here’s the monster from that movie imagined as a recurring villain for Amazing Adventures, published by Troll Lord Games.

Chuluurkhag, a nearly immortal alien being, came to our world hundreds of millions of years ago as part of an exploratory mission. Due to circumstances beyond its control, it was left behind when the mission departed. Chuluurkhag used its psychic powers to survive, transferring its consciousness from one primitive life form to another, gradually taking control of more advanced animals until it assumed control of an early hominid, an event that put the alien onto the path toward a human guise. Chuluurkhag’s painfully slow ascent of the evolutionary ladder came to a halt during the last major ice age when it fell into a glacial crevasse. There it remained, trapped in a frozen, dead body in a cave in Manchuria until discovered by Alexander Saxton, a renowned British anthropologist affiliated with the Royal Geological Society.

Chuluurkhag reanimated the thawing body it had been trapped within for centuries. As its strength returned, it used its psychic powers again, transferring its consciousness into a Russian police inspector named Leo Mirov. After this, Chuluurkhag bided its time aboard the Trans-Siberian Express. Still occupying Mirov’s body, Chuluurkhag vanished shortly after arriving in Moscow. Its current whereabouts are unknown, but members of the Brotherhood of William St. John believe that a recent spate of strange murders by dissection in Whitechapel, London, show signs of an alien and malevolent intelligence. Could the Brotherhood have stumbled upon Chuluurkhag?

Chuluurkhag: # Enc 1; SZ as current form; HD as current form; Move as current form; AC as current form; Atk as current form; Special animate dead, drain memory, psychic transfer; Sanity 1/1d4; SV M; Int High; AL LE; Type aberration; XP as current form with one additional Special II ability and two additional Special III abilities.

Animate Dead: Chuluurkhag can animate the corpses of any creature it recently has killed via psychic transfer. This functions as the spell of the same name, except that Chuluurkhag animates one zombie per round it concentrates on the task. Chuluurkhag’s zombies obey its mental commands.

Drain Memory: Chuluurkhag gains the skills of whatever creatures it kills via psychic transfer, and Chuluurkhag has killed many over the millenia. As such, Chuluurkhag can be assumed to have at least a +2 bonus for pretty much any skill check imaginable. At the GM’s discretion, Chuluurkhag’s bonus may be even higher, maybe even as high as +6, especially when it comes to Knowledge skills.

Psychic Transfer: Chuluurkhag properly exists today only as mental energy. As such, it is both limited to the strengths of its current form and nearly impossible to kill. Regardless of form, Chuluurkhag’s main attack is psychic. Any living creature that meets Chuluurkhag’s gaze can be subjected to this attack should Chuluurkhag will it. A saving throw resists the attack, but a new saving throw must be made each time a victim meets Chuluurkhag’s gaze. Failing this saving throw paralyzes the victim as long as Chuluurkhag maintains contact. Each round, the victim loses 1d6 points of Intelligence and Wisdom. If both Intelligence and Wisdom reach 0, the victim dies and Chuluurkhag gains all of the victim’s skills and memories. If it wishes, Chuluurkhag may transfer its consciousness into the victim’s body, animating and using the body as its own.

If Chuluurkhag is reduced to 0 hit points, it abandons its current form and unleashes its full psychic might against the nearest creature within 120 feet. The victim suffers 3d6 points of Intelligence and Wisdom drain. A successful saving throw halves this damage. If this attack reduces the victim’s Intelligence and Wisdom to 0, Chuluurkhag takes control of a new host.

Tags: Amazing Adventures, horror, monsters

Today offers three more monsters, one each for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Mutant Future, and Swords & Wizardry, respectively. Enjoy!

Dringwr

Not all halflings are “hard-working, orderly, and peaceful citizens”. A few embrace lives of sloth, disorder, and violence. These aberrations seldom last long in the typically lawful and good villages of their fellow halflings. Exile or even execution for their crimes are the most common consequences. Very rarely, such a wicked halfling returns from the grave as a dringwr, a terrible undead monster that loves nothing except for inflicting pain and causing sorrow. Of course, a dringwr prefers to prey on halflings, but its spiteful nature delights in harming any living creature that it can. A dringwr can summon and control dogs, calling 3-18 such animals to arrive in 2-12 melee rounds. It also moves with great stealth, surprising other creatures 4 times in 6. A dringwr cannot be harmed by normal weapons, and it makes all saving throws as if it had 6 Hit Dice. In combat, it attacks with its talons and fangs.

Of grayish-green complexion, a dringwr tends toward rust-red or black hair coloration. Its eyes are solid white. It dresses in drab trousers and coat, and often uses a hooded cloak to hide its obvious undead appearance. Short, ragged fangs line its gums, and its fingernails and toenails hook like talons. A dringwr speaks whatever languages it knew in life.

Dringwr: Freq very rare; # App. 1-6; AC 5; Move 9″; HD 2; % in Lair 35%; Treasure B; # Atk 3; Dmg/Atk 1-3/1-3/1-4; SA summon/control dogs, surprise others 4 in 6; SD +1 or better weapon to hit, save as 6-HD monster; MR standard; Int Very; AL CE; Size S; Psi nil; Lvl/XP III/52 +2/hp.

Demodex

Eight-legged with a flat tail, growing to the length of a man’s arm, fleshy with a rippled and leathery back, its blunt head featuring antennae and multiple small black eyes, the horrid demodex attacks with its spiked, oval mandibles. This mutant monster feeds on skin and sebum, the oily or waxy matter secreted to lubricate and waterproof the skin and hair of mammals.

Demodexes are aggressive and voracious. They use their remarkable olfactory abilities to detect and track mammals, which are their preferred prey given the demodex’s unusual diet. A demodex’s attacks can cause an allergic infection in mammals. Such a victim has a 2% cumulative chance per point of damage suffered from a demodex to develop such an infection. Treat allergic infection as a disease with the following statistics: save modifier -1; infection duration 1d12 days; affected stats DEX -2, CHA -1 (if visible); damage/day 1d4.

Demodex: # Enc. 2d4; AL N; MV 120′ (40′); AC 6; HD 2; Atks 5 (4 claws, bite); Dmg 1d4/1d4/1d4/1d4/1d6; SV L1; Morale 7; Hoard None; XP 38; Mutations Allergic Infection, Increased Smell.

Skacina

Skacinas are brutish humanoids with a thick, wrinkled hide. A peaked, heavy plate of bone tops a skacina’s heavy skull, which is supported by powerful neck and shoulder muscles. These creatures live in rugged hills and mountains, and make their lairs in natural caves or abandoned structures built by others. Skacinas practice only the crudest of crafts, making simple tools from hide, bone, wood, and stone. While they are not particularly intelligent, skacinas are territorial and prone to violence.

For some reason, skacinas are immune to petrification. Some sages conclude that these monsters have a distant origin on the Elemental Plane of Earth. This theory seems to gain support due to the fact that skacinas often kill captured trespassers by crushing them beneath large rocks or by burying the captives alive.

Skacina: HD 3; AC 6 [13]; Atk 1 head butt (1d4) and weapon (1d6); Move 12; Save 14; AL C; CL/XP 3/60; Special: immune to petrification.

Tags: AD&D, monsters, Mutant Future, Swords & Wizardry