Spes Magna Games

Merry Eleventh Day of Christmas!

Ug. I’m tired. Today was my first day back on campus after Christmas vacation (which, the observant among you will have noticed, once again ended early as there are still Days of Christmas left). I like to make a big splash after an extended time away from school, so my students got class/homework, reading assignments, and a new poem to memorize. Huzzah.

So, if you’ve not seen The Last King, you owe it to yourself to watch it. It’s a hoot, and it has without a doubt the best scenes involving good guy medieval warriors on skis fighting to save the baby heir to the throne from bad guy medieval warriors on skis. Seriously. Check out the trailer at this link.

And now a new magic item.

Skis of Travail
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)

These finely crafted wooden skis are each about five feet long. It requires an action to don or doff the skis, and the magic of them makes poles unnecessary. While wearing the skis, you not only treat ice and snow as normal terrain, but you gain a +10 foot bonus to your speed. You also enjoy these abilities:

• You can use your bonus action to Dash across ice and snow.
• When using the skis to move across ice and snow, foes make opportunity attacks against you with disadvantage.
• As part of your move when skiing across ice and snow, you can jump three times the normal distance, but no farther than your remaining movement would allow.

Tags: 5E D&D, Christmas, magic items, movies

Merry Ninth and Tenths Days of Christmas!

I got distracted by Things yesterday and didn’t get a post posted, which means today we get two new magic items rather than just one. How exciting.

Even though Epiphany’s official date is 6 January, Epiphany was celebrated yesterday at my parish. One of the themes of Epiphany is the invisible becoming manifest, a word the Latin roots of which lean heavily toward meaning “caught in the hand”. While you can’t catch them in the hand (because they’re PDFs), you can get four of my OGL OSR publications at a 57% discount by purchasing the Epiphany Bundle. This bundle includes these Swords & Wizardry-compatible treasures:

Demi-Human Adventurers: The Dwarf, the Elf, the Gnome, and the Halfling presented as old-school race-as-class options.

El Mariachi de Combate: The character class for those who want to combine musical prowess, dazzling showmanship, and martial skill.

The Bard: Knower of untold wonders and secrets who survives by cunning and charm. The Bard includes new spells and new magic items as well as a full character class.

The Magus: Adventure as a student of hidden star signs, dreams, and the movements of both smoke and fire. The Magus also offers several new spells.

World War Weird Classes: Add some weirdness to your WWII: Operation WhiteBox game with ten classes ranging from Demi-God to Gremlin to Zombie.

And now for two new magic mirrors!

The Manifest Mirror: This mirror is tall and wide enough to fully show two humans standing side by side in front of it. It is meant to be attached to a wall as it is far too heavy and unwieldy for easy transport. The mirror’s magic shows clearly the true reflections of invisible, ethereal, or polymorphed creatures and objects. Shape-changing creatures, such as doppelgangers and lycanthropes, have their true selves shown in the glass as well. Usable By: All Classes.

Altar Mirror of Steadfast Purpose: This sacred mirror, set into a decorative box meant to be displayed atop an altar, aids Clerics in their daily devotions. The mirror is aligned to either Law or Chaos, and only a Cleric of that alignment can benefit from the mirror. A Cleric who prays for spells before the mirror gains a +1 bonus to-hit modifier to melee attacks and a +2 bonus on saving throws against charm and fear. These bonuses last as long as the Cleric does not cast the last of his highest level spells prepared for the day, but the bonuses do not last for more than one day in any event. Usable By: Clerics.

Tags: Christmas, magic items, Swords & Wizardry

Merry Eighth Day of Christmas, and welcome to the first day of a Happy New Year!

In keeping with today’s numbers of eight and one, I’m taking a familiar theme (the monstrous spider) into new terror-tory. Well, new to me. For Christmas, I picked up Green Ronin’s Fantasy AGE Basic Rulebook and Fantasy AGE Campaign Builder’s Guide. Below is my first ever attempt at making a new monster for Fantasy AGE.

The ng’urud, a monstrous arachnid, live in arid regions, preferring rocky terrain. Intelligent and clever, it monitors game trails, paths, and roads. It prefers to hunker down, perhaps camouflaging itself with sand or scrub, bursting from its hiding spot to ambush its prey. The ng’urud usually hunt alone, but several ng’urud may band together in order to stalk and kill more effectively.

Ng’urud

Abilities (Focuses)
3 Accuracy (Bite)
0 Communication
3 Constitution (Stamina)
4 Dexterity (Stealth)
3 Fighting (Leg Spike)
0 Intelligence
2 Perception (Tracking)
4 Strength (Intimidation)
2 Willpower (Morale)

Speed 14, Health 40, Defense 14, Armor Rating 5

Attacks
Bite: +5 attack roll, 2d6+4 damage
Leg Spike: +6 attack roll, 2d6+4 damage

Special Qualities
Favored Stunts: Knock Prone, Lightning Attack (2 SP), Poison Spit (2 SP), Skirmish

Exoskeleton: The ng’urud’s hardy exoskeleton provides an AR of 5.

Frenzied Attack: The ng’urud makes one bite and one leg spike attack as a single attack action. Both of these attacks can generated stunt points.

Lightning Quick: The ng’urud performs the Lightning Attack stunt for -1 SP.

Many Legs: The Knock Prone stunt used against an ng’urud requires 1 more SP than normal to work.

Poison Spit Stunt: The ng’urud spits venom at a visible enemy within 12 yards as a special stunt costing 2 SP. The venom numbs the target’s higher brain functions and senses as well as causes searing pain. The target must make a TN 13 Constitution (Stamina) test or suffer the venom’s effects. An affected target takes 1d6 penetrating damage. The target also incurs a -2 penalty to Communication, Intelligence, and Perception, which remain until the end of the encounter or until the target receives magical healing.

Talent: Quick Reflexes (Journeyman)

Wall Crawler: The ng’urud can walk up walls and even on ceilings.

Threat: Moderate

Tags: Christmas, Fantasy AGE, monsters

Merry Seventh Day of Christmas!

Let’s go all the way back to 1987 in a galaxy far, far away to visit the Star Wars Roleplaying Game from West End Games, Inc.

CLAU5
Critical Law Authority Unit 5

Dexterity 2D
Blaster 3D
Heavy Weapons 3D

Knowledge 2D
Streetwise 3D

Mechanical 1D

Perception 2D
Search 3D

Strength 4D+1
Brawling 5D+1
Lifting 5D+1

Technical 1D
Security 3D

The CLAU5 is the latest model of law enforcement droids. Their use is confined almost exclusively to the largest, wealthiest cities. Law enforcement groups use CLAU5 droids as force multipliers deployed to support riot police or to patrol high crime areas. The CLAU5 has a built-in blaster pistol housed in its left arm. Its right arm has a built-in grenade launcher. In hand-to-hand combat, its construction grants it a +1D damage bonus. It has the equivalent of 1D of armor.

Tags: Christmas, monsters, Star Wars RPG

Merry Sixth Day of Christmas!

Dashing through the snow? Not as quickly as the snowdasher, a deadly predator for 2E AD&D.

Snowdasher

Climate/Terrain: Any cold
Frequency: Very rare
Organization: Solitary or family
Activity Cycle: Night
Diet: Carnivore
Intelligence: Low (5-7)
Treasure: E
Alignment: Chaotic evil

No. Appearing: 1-4
Armor Class: 4
Movement: 15, Cl 9, Sw 9
Hit Dice: 10
THACO: 11
No. of Attacks: 5
Damage/Attack: 3-10/3-10/3-10/3-10/4-14
Special Attacks: See below
Special Defenses: Impervious to cold
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: H (about 16′ tall)
Morale: Champion (15-16)
XP Value: 4,000

The snowdasher appears much like a polar bear from a distance, but it is larger, more intelligent, and far more malicious than any polar bear. It has six legs ending with enormous paws and fearsome claws. From its snout grows an iron-hard horn of twisted bone. The snowdasher speaks a debased form of the frost giant language.

Combat: The snowdasher blends in well with ice and snow. In such environs, the snowdasher imposes a -2 penalty on others’ surprise rolls. It often charges into battle, using its horn much like a lance. To make this charge, there must be at least 30 feet of open space between the snowdasher and its opponent (and ice and snow — even of a magical variety — never impede a snowdasher’s movement). An opponent struck by a charging snowdasher’s horn suffers 4-32 points of damage from impaling. The snowdasher cannot attack with its claws on the same round it charges, but it can bite the target of its horn. The snowdasher can also attack with its claws and fangs. A paw hit of 18 or better indicates a “hug”. This attack inflicts 4-18 (2d8+2) points of additional damage, and a snowdasher can “hug” up to twice per round.

Habitat/Society: The snowdasher usually stalks frozen regions alone, but may be encountered in a small family group of up to four, usually a solitary female adult and its offspring. This monster most often lairs in ice caves, glacial crevasses, or mountain caverns. The snowdasher survives by hunting, and it is an indiscriminate killer. Although territorial, it often ventures to new hunting grounds when prey becomes scarce. Arctic hunters from have unwittingly led a snowchaser back to their communities, and the monster revels in slaughtering humans, demi-humans, and humanoids.

Ecology: The snowdasher seldom has reason to fear other arctic predators. It has the strength needed to prey on a lone polar bear or even a small or sickly killer whale.

Tags: AD&D, Christmas, monsters