Spes Magna Games

Check your conscience before you go to bed. Check under your bed, and in your closet as well, especially if your conscience isn’t clear. And I mean really clear, not just rationalized into something you think qualifies as clear. The sudden feaster smells your sins, and their stench whets its appetite for flesh. Your flesh. When a sudden feaster appears, seemingly out of nowhere, its fanged maw gapes wide and snaps shut fast and hard enough to sever limbs, making it all the easier for the feaster to gorge itself on your blood.

A sudden feaster is a fearsome, ogre-like creature driven by dark urges to hunt and devour the wicked. This monster is not, however, some righteous avenger of wrongs. Rather, it delights in the pain it inflicts, in the seeds of terror it sows in its victim’s life before it strikes.

Stats for Barbarians of Lemuria:

Attributes
Strength: 4
Agility: 1
Mind: 1

Combat Abilities
Attack: bite +0 (damage d6+2)
Defense: 2
Protection: d3-1 (magical hide)
Lifeblood: 14

Special
A sudden feaster can appear from and disappear into spaces too small to accommodate its bulk, doing one or the other once per round. If its victim cannot see it, a sudden feaster may make a check, modified by its mind and opposed by its victim’s mind, to create a sense of dread in the victim.

Stats for Dungeon World:

Intelligent, Large, Solitary, Stealthy, Terrifying
Bite (d10+1 damage, 1 piercing)
16 HP
1 Armor
Close, Forceful, Reach
Instinct: To eat the wicked

* Appear from or disappear into surprising places
* Make scary noises
* Sniff out the wicked

Stats for Swords & Wizardry:

Hit Dice: 6+2
Armor Class: 5 [14]
Attacks: 1 bite (1d10+1)
Saving Throw: 11
Special: appear/disappear, sow terror
Move: 9
Alignment: Chaos
Number Encountered: 1
Challenge Level/XP: 8/800

A sudden feaster can disappear into or appear from spaces too small to accommodate its bulk, doing so once per round. If it is unseen, it can sow terror by scraping its nails slightly on a solid surface, causing a board to creak ever so lightly, rapping on a window pane, et cetera. The victim’s idea that something might be lurking nearby festers in the subconscious. The victim must make a saving throw or suffer a fear-induced –2 penalty on attack rolls and saving throws for 1d4 rounds.

Tags: Barbarians of Lemuria, Dungeon World, monsters, Swords & Wizardry

A few days ago, I posted stats for the man-owl. As usual, I shared the post’s link via Facebook and G+. Not too long after, Eric Webb posted a picture in response, stating “A challenger appears”. The picture is to the right of these words, and my game stats for this alleged challenger appear below. Again, I offer the stats for three different games.

Spiky Golem

The spiky golem is an animated construct made of cuir bouilli with iron fastenings and hundreds of iron spikes, all fashioned around the skeleton of an executed criminal. It is given life by its creator, who summons and binds an infernal spirit to the man-like construct. As a result of this binding, a spiky golem has a dull, malevolent intelligence. Due to enchantments on its intelligence, the golem’s creator forces the monster’s obedience while earning its hatred.

A spiky golem attacks savagely with its powerful arms, delivering blows that both crack bones and tear flesh.

Stats for Barbarians of Lemuria:

Attributes
Strength: 4
Agility: 2
Mind: -1

Combat Abilities
Attack: 2 clubbing blows +0 (damage d6)
Defense: 2
Protection: d6 (rugged materials)
Lifeblood: 14

Special
A spiky golem takes half-damage from spells, and it is immune to mind-affecting spells. Due to the magical enchantments that strengthen its materials, roll 2d6 and take the larger of the two rolls when determining protection.

Stats for Dungeon World:

Construct, Group
Clubbing Blows (d8+2 damage, 1 piercing)
10 HP
2 Armor
Close, Forceful, Messy
Special Qualities: Covered in spikes
Instinct: To crush

* Detach animated spike
* Follow orders hatefully

Stats for Swords & Wizardry:

Hit Dice: 6 (30 hit points)
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Attacks: 2 clubbing blows (2d6)
Saving Throw: 11
Special: Hit only by magical weapons, immune to most spells
Move: 9
Alignment: Chaos
Number Encountered: 1d4
Challenge Level: 9/1,100

Only +1 or better magic weapons can harm a spiky golem. Magic Missile inflict normal damage to a spiky golem. An evil reversal of a Cure Light Wounds or Cure Serious Wounds spell heals a spiky golem a number of hit points equal to half the damage it would normally inflict. No other spells affect a spiky golem.

Tags: Barbarians of Lemuria, Dungeon World, monsters, Swords & Wizardry

Earlier this week, I was working with a student during reading tutoring. Our topics for the day were idioms and common sayings, such as “It’s raining cats and dogs!” or “The cheese done slid off of his cracker.” (The latter must be said with an accent appropriate to the U.S.’s South.) One of the expressions that popped up during the lesson was “lick of sense”, which made me think of a possible spell to be created for use in a game.

Or, in this case, three different games.

Lick of Sense

For Barbarians of Lemuria:

Magnitude: First
Cost: 4
Requirements: Obvious technique
Minimum Cost: 2
Difficulty: Tricky (-1)

This spell’s arcane lick removes negative mental effects, including flaws that affect mind actions, so long as those negative mental effects are either natural (meaning innate to the target or the result of mundane circumstances such as poison) or are caused by magical effects no stronger than a first magnitude spell. Negative mental effects not innate to the target are removed entirely. Mental flaws (such as Fear of Fire) are suppressed for about an hour.

For Dungeon World:

Level: Cleric 3, Ongoing

You give your target’s skin a blessed lick. One of the target’s mental debilities is immediately removed. For the spell’s duration, the target takes +1 forward to avoid negative mental effects. While this spell is ongoing, you take a -1 to cast a spell.

For Swords & Wizardry:

Spell Level: Cleric, 3rd Level
Range: Touch
Duration: See below

With a lick, the target’s negative mental effects, including magically inflicted ones, are removed. For the next hour, the target enjoys a +1 bonus to saving throws against negative mental effects.

Tags: Barbarians of Lemuria, Dungeon World, spells, Swords & Wizardry

xanthic: (adj.) of, relating to, or tending toward a yellow color

Here I am, almost through a month of alphabetical adjectives focused on old school gaming. Most of this month’s posts have focused on Swords & Wizardry and Stars Without Number, but every Saturday and Monday have been devoted to various old school games, such as the first editions of Gamma World and Top Secret.

Today, however, I’m going for a newer game from 2009. It might not be old-school old school, but Simon Washbourne’s Barbarians of Lemuria does the pulp-era, sword-and-sorcery genre better than most games out there. The hardback clocks in at about 100 pages of muscle-flexing barbarian goodness. Seriously. Check out Beyond Belief Games. Mr. Washbourne puts out some great products. If you like BoL, you should definitely check out Dicey Tales, which “was created with the goal of giving the fan of the Barbarians of Lemuria (BoL) role playing game a chance to explore a variety of pulp genres while still remaining firmly within the BoL rules set.” Dicey Tales does two-fisted, square-jawed pulp heroes the right way.

But enough of that. Let’s get to a monster.

The Xanthic Monarch serves Morgazzon, the Demon of Madness. For more than a century, rumors have whispered about the Xanthic Monarch’s domain, Vicha’a, a ruined city deep in the Jungles of Qush, perhaps in the foothills of the Mountains of Axos. How reliable these rumors are is highly suspect, for no one who isn’t completely mad claims to have seen Vicha’a’s demon-haunted streets that twist and turn between dimensions.

If the Xanthic Monarch survived the fall of the Sorcerer-Kings, he may truly be immortal, and he certainly commands soul-searing magic. Perhaps even the fables about his xanthic sigil are true, but this seems unlikely, for otherwise the Xanthic Monarch would surely rule from the throne of some major city, surrounded by thousands enslaved to his will by the sigil’s power. In the middle of all of the rumors and tales, many of them contradictory, one fact is certain: xanthic sokwes hunt the region of Qush near where the jungle allegedly hides Vicha’a.

Xanthic Sokwe

A xanthic sokwe resembles a great ape, but its fur is a deep yellow, and its terrifying face twists into demonic expressions of hatred and rage. These monsters are cruel and remarkably strong. Most seem to be little more than savages, but a few exhibit unnerving signs of intelligence. These elite xanthic sokwes merit the strongest caution.

Attributes
Strength: 6
Agility: 1
Mind: 0

Combat Abilities
Attack: bite +1 (damage d6+1), 2 claws +2 (damage d6)
Defense: 2
Protection: d3 (tough hide)
Lifeblood: 16

Special
For an elite xanthic sokwe, increase Mind to 1 and add Appeal 0. Divide 6 points between Brawl, Melee, Missile, and Defense, with no more than 3 points added to any single category. Divide 2 points between two careers, usually savage, tracker, warrior, druid, or torturer.

Tags: A to Z 2014, Barbarians of Lemuria, monsters

A couple of days ago, I meandered through a post about Negative GMs to reach some basic ideas about a skill system for Swords & Wizardry. By the end of that post, I’d taken some inspiration from Barbarians of Lemuria and had also put together a list of things that a skill system should not include. Here’re what a skill system should be without:

1. Skill lists
2. Heat that melts special snowflakes
3. “No!” as the default answer
4. Any more than minimal modifications to Swords & Wizardry

BoL uses 2d6 for task resolution. The success number is always 9 or better, and certain modifiers apply to the dice, most of the modifiers providing bonuses. The task’s difficulty may apply a negative modifier. On 2d6 without modifiers, about 28% of rolls are going to end up 9 or higher.

For a S&W skill system, I’m leaning toward 2d12 since d12s don’t get enough table time. To get as close as possible to 28% success rate on 2d12 without modifiers, the target number is 16 or 17 or better (25% chance versus 31.25% chance, or a difference of 3% versus 3.25%). Since I like to make tasks easier rather than harder, let’s use 16+ on 2d12 for now.

So far, so good.

But (and There’s Always a Big But)

BoL‘s task resolution modifiers don’t mirror those available in S&W. In the former game, a character’s 2d6 roll will almost always be modified by an ability score and a combat (when fighting) or career rank (when not fighting). That could result in a +6 modifier for even a beginning character (+3 from an ability score and +3 from either combat rank or career rank). For 2d6 aiming at 9+, that’s a huge bonus that bumps the success rate to about 97%.

To mirror the effects of a beginning BoL best case scenario with S&W on 2d12, a 1st-level character would need about a +12 bonus. S&W characters don’t have these sorts of bonuses because S&W isn’t built with the same game engine as BoL. So, what does a 1st-level S&W character have that can be retooled for bonuses?:

1. Ability scores
2. Character class
3. Race

S&W doesn’t have careers like BoL. Character classes are sort of like careers, but not really. Sure, a fighter should be skilled at doing fighter things (such as bivouacking, riding, being intimidating, and repairing armor), but what if your fighter is also a pirate? A noble? For determining what a character can be skilled at, it seems as if character classes are more limiting than careers.

BoL‘s list of careers include alchemist, assassin, barbarian, beggar, blacksmith, dancer, farmer, gladiator, hunter, magician, mariner, merchant, mercenary, minstrel, noble, physician, pirate, priest, serving wench, scribe, sky pilot (!), slave, soldier, thief, torturer, and worker. That’s a pretty exhaustive list.

I like BoL‘s career concept. Every character starts with four careers and four points to divide between those careers. No career starts with more than 3 points allocated to it. A 0 career rank indicates basic training in that career. The careers themselves represent what the character did before he became an adventuring hero. Importing a career system into a game with character classes, however, presents certain difficulties.

For example, could a fighter (character class) have been a thief (career) before he became a fighter? Sure. Does that mean a fighter (character class) with a thief (career) in his past should be as good as a thief (character class) at doing thiefly things? Hardly, because that would melt a special snowflake.

Even if my WIP skill system facilitates a fighter do thiefly things, that thiefly fighter should not be better at those tasks than a thief (character class). A career like magician is even more problematic. I mean, anyone at least try to sneak, but not everyone should be able to cast spells.

I need some time to digest all that thought food.

Task Difficulty & Success

I like having a static target number for task resolution. It seems to make things easier. The player rolls the dice and applies modifiers. Is the total 16 or better? Yes? Success! No? Not success!

Of course, not all tasks are equally easy. A system with a static target number needs difficulty modifiers (which even a system without a static success number is going to have). I’ll take my cue from BoL, adjusting modifiers to account for the change from 2d6 to 2d12:

Difficulty: Modifier
Easy: +2
Moderate: +0
Tricky: -2
Hard: -4
Tough: -8
Demanding: -12

I’m also considering degrees of success based on the task resolution total. Right now, in my mind, the degrees look something like this:

Task Total: Degree of Success
16 or higher: Success. The character does what he set out to do.
14-15: Success, But. The character does what he set out to do, but with a complication, such as the task taking longer.
Below 15: Failure. The character does not do what he set out to do.

I want to introduce critical successes and critical failures as well. I’m looking at a natural 21-22 being a success with a minor benefit, and a natural 23-24 being a success with a major benefit. A natural 2-4 would be a failure with an additional complication. Monte Cook’s interesting Numenera proves inspirational here.

Anyhoo, that’s enough for now. Time for other activities while these ideas simmer beneath the surface.

Tags: Barbarians of Lemuria, game play, Swords & Wizardry