Spes Magna Games

My Ludi Fabularum game club continues for another school year, this time running during the lunch/recess period, which lets more students play more often and keeps me from having to stay after school. Win, win. So far, I’ve got more than a dozen middle school lads divided into two groups playing an old-school hexcrawl using Castles & Crusades and several TSR D&D and AD&D modules along with a dash of Dungeon Crawl Classics. The picture below is the slowly expanding campaign map.

And here’s action so far:

Star. The shipwrecked adventurers swam to shore, ending up on the cold beach. To the northwest, they could see ice-capped mountains behind a vast forest. To the east? Nothing but rolling, grassy hills dotted with small woods.

1. To the Forest. The adventurers traveled to the forest to seek shelter from the icy wind and the coming night. They encountered a frogbold raiding party. After a fierce but brief battle, the adventurers won the fight. Several surviving frogbold’s fled deeper into the forest. The adventurers rescued several sprites who had been captured by the frogbolds.

2. A Home Away From. The sprites led the adventurers to Brú na Bóinne, a magically hidden fort home to a community of friendly sprites ruled by the aloof Queen Titania. This fort now serves as the adventurers’ home base.

3. The Mad Hermit. The adventurers split into two teams that set out to explore Shipwreck Island. They hope to find a way off the island. One of the teams traveled north through the forest, where they found savage, dwarf-like creatures that had caught a mountain lion. The adventurers freed the mountain lion, which fled, and then defeated the dwarf-like creatures. They tracked the mountain lion to the tree-home of Phosterius and his shape-shifting daughter Susuarana. Phosterius told the adventurers that a way home might be found in lost Quasqueton, which lies somewhere to the west near the sea cliffs.

Group two meets tomorrow for the first of three consecutive sessions of gameplay. I’ve no idea to where group two’s PCs will travel other than they’re not heading out to look for the Mad Hermit.

Tags: C&C, DCC, Ludi Fabularum

The shipwrecked adventurers followed the freed sprites to Brú na Bóinne, a magically hidden fort home to a community of friendly fey creatures ruled by the aloof Queen Titania. From this safe haven, the adventurers split into two groups determined to find a way off the island. Group one set out in search of the Mad Hermit said to live in the woods. After several hours of careful travel, the party encountered a trio of savage, dwarf-like creatures trying to kill an ensnared mountain lion, which wore a collar.

The adventurers freed the mountain lion, which fled the battle, and also defeated the savages. Then, tge adventurers tracked the mountain lion back to its lair: a massive tree in the center of a circular clearing. The heroes circled the clearing, spotting a dimly lit entrance into the tree. After they had reached about the half way point to the tree, a voice boomed:

“Turn back! The Mad Hermit tolerates no trespassers!”

Phosterius the Mad Hermit
Size: Medium
HD: 5 (d6)
HP: 25
AC: 15 (leather armor, small wooden shield, +1 ring of true protection, DEX)
Saves: M, P
Move: 30 ft.
Attacks: +1 dagger (1d4+1)
Special: Druid and rogue abilities (see below)
INT: High
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Type: Humanoid
Treasure: 5
XP: 365

Phosterius, known as the Mad Hermit, has lived on Shipwreck Island for a bit more than two decades. His reputation for insanity and wild dangerousness is not completely without merit, but he neither truly mad nor murderous. What he values most is being left alone with his only companion, Susuarana, his daughter who was an infant when they were stranded on the island.

Phosterius has all the skills of a 3rd-level rogue, and he can sneak attack and back attack as a 5th-level rogue (+2 “to hit” and +4 damage versus an unsuspecting target or +4 “to hit” and triple damage with a successful move silently or hide check). He also zealously protects the territory around his tree-home, striving to live in harmony with nature. He enjoys a +2 bonus to saving throws against air, earth, fire, water, lightning, and cold attacks, speaks the druidic language, and casts spells as a 5th-level druid. Phosterius prepares four 0-level, four 1st-level, three 2nd-level, and one 3rd-level druid spells per day. He typically prepares these spells:

0th Level: create water, endure elements, first aid, light
1st Level: alarm, entangle, goodberry, invisibility to animals
2nd Level: cure light wounds, heat metal, summon swarm
3rd Level: snare

Phosterius avoids direct combat when possible. If pressed, he uses his +1 dagger. His magic ring adds its +1 bonus to both armor class and saving throws, but the former bonus does not function with magic armor. He owns a magic collar. When worn, the wearer becomes a mountain lion (M&T 204-205) in all ways except intelligence, maintaining this form as long as the collar is worn. Phosterius’s daughter often wears the magic collar on her jaunts through the forest.

Tags: C&C, Ludi Fabularum, monsters

While searching for shelter from the icy wind and the coming night, the shipwrecked adventurers trekked to the forest where they encountered encamped frogbolds and several war-trained axe beaks. The fight was fierce but brief. The adventurers won, and several frogbolds escaped into the deeper woods. Among the camp gear the frogbolds abandoned, the adventurers discovered several crude boxes on a cart. In the boxes? Sprites captured by the frogbolds for some dark purpose.

Frogbold
Number: 4-24, 40-400
Size: Small
HD: 1 (d4)
AC: 15
Saves: P
Move: 20 ft., hop 30 ft., swim 20 ft.
Attacks: By weapon
Special: Darkvision, 60 ft., Hopping Charge, Light Sensitivity
INT: Low
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Type: Humanoid
Treasure: 1
XP: 7 + 1

Frogbolds are small, frog-like humanoids, the largest being somewhat bigger than a halfling. They have moist, smooth skin that has an almost leather-like toughness. Neither particularly clever nor notably brave, frogbolds prefer to attack outnumbered or obviously injured prey. Their tactics tend to be simple: charge into the fray and gang up on enemies as often as possible.

Frogbolds make their lairs in caves near bodies of water, whether fresh or salt. When above ground, they may set up crude shelters for a temporary camp used as a central location from which to radiate out and make raids to capture weapons, armor, and prisoners (for use as food or sacrifices). Frogbolds know little of crafting or mining, and so they seldom modify their cave lairs to any great extent, nor do they manufacture their own tools.

Female frogbolds lay eggs, which must be deposited in water (again, either salt or fresh). The frogbold spawn consist of round clusters of eggs connected into ribbons by a gelatinous substance. The tadpoles develop and hatch quickly, and they are cannibalistic, ensuring that only the strongest survive the few weeks necessary to grow into air-breathing humanoid form.

Most frogbold lairs have no more than 40 or so adult male members. Rarely, a strong chieftain (2 d8-HD) rises up to rally several family groups into a tribe numbering as many as 400 adults. A chieftain is served by one sub-chief (1 d8-HD) for every 10 frogbolds in the tribe. The number of females in a tribe typically equals two-thirds the number of adult males with an additional one-fourth the number of adult males in hatchlings.

Combat: Frogbolds can make a hopping charge into melee combat, leaping up to 30 feet (reaching a height of 15 feet during the jump), thus gaining a +2 to hit and damage for that attack (but suffering a -4 to AC until the start of their next turn). They use basic weapons, especially spears and javelins. They wear crude leather or hide armor, and seldom use shields. Chieftains and sub-chiefs have better armor and weapons, and any magic items possessed by the tribe are surely in the possession of these leaders. Due to their light sensitivity, frogbolds suffer a -1 to hit penalty when fighting in bright light.

Special: Frogbold witchdoctors are druid/wizards, but they are limited to fifth level. They do not use spellbooks even for their wizard spells, but instead prepare their spells once per day as does a druid. Some chieftains may have levels as a barbarian or a ranger, but they seldom have advanced to higher than third level in either class.

Tags: C&C, Ludi Fabularum, monsters

There are just a handful of days left for the Merry Christmas in July sale at DriveThruRPG. More ominous: I return to work next Thursday to prep for the start of another school year. This marks my third year teaching at a Catholic school for boys, and I’m almost to the point where I’m looking forward to the students’ boisterous return.

N.B. That previous link goes to my DriveThruRPG store. The links below are affiliate links. If you click and purchase, I get a few coppers.

It seems likely that I’ll be permitted to resume Ludi Fabularum, the story game club that I’ve facilitated for several years, both at my current school and where I taught previously. This means figuring out what game to use with the boys. So far, I’ve got a few choices mulling about in my mind. Here are those mulling choices, in no particular order.

5E D&D: Odds are good that several of the students already play this one. It’s easy to teach and easy to learn, and there is no shortage of support for the game.

OSRIC: Odds are good none of the students already play this one. It’s not as easy to teach or to learn as 5E D&D, but it has the advantage that the rules are available for free. I also own a great deal of compatible material.

The Hero’s Journey: This is a gem of a game. It’s also easy to teach and learn, and I own the core books. THJ was my first choice going into last school year, but the lockdowns, et cetera put the kibosh on Ludi Fabularum for the entire school year.

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: I adore this game, and I’ve used it for Ludi Fabularum before. The learning curve can be a bit steep. Since it’s no longer published, getting the rules can be tricky.

Prowlers & Paragons Ultimate Edition: This is a new game, an update of the original Prowlers & Paragons. I’ve like the looks of this game. It appears flexible, easy to teach, and easy to learn.

Tags: Ludi Fabularum