Spes Magna Games

First, a big “Thank you!” to everyone who made the Spes Magna Games 25th Wedding Anniversary a big success. May was my best month for sales so far this year by almost two to one. Huzzah.

And now, once again, I pillage the AD&D Deities & Demigods for things to convert to D&D 5E. This time, I travel back to ancient Mesopotamia to visit Dahak, the three-headed dragon spirit of death, and Gilgamesh.

The result is two rather beefy stat blocks, so rather than squeeze all of that beefiness into a blogpost, I’ve formatted it into a PDF that you can download by clicking here.

Tags: 5E D&D, Deities & Demigods, monsters

This morning on FaceBook, Scott Denman asked, “Can a devil and modron have offspring??”

The answer is, of course, “Yes.”

Theirs was a forbidden union, an erinyes and a rogue pentadrone, and Pentastrife, their only child, is a fearsome creature. Pentastrife resembles a tall human of indeterminate gender. It has five arms, five legs, and five great fleshy wings. It has five eyes, five mouths, and ten each nostrils and ears, arranged in rings around its bald head.

Frequency: Unique
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 2
Move: 12″/15″
Hit Dice: 60 hit points
% in Lair: 20%
Treasure Type: R
No. of Attacks: 5
Damage/Attack: By weapon (x5)
Special Attacks: See below
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: 15%
Intelligence: Very
Alignment: Lawful evil (neutral tendencies)
Size: M (6-1/2′ tall)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/Defens Modes: Nil
Level/XP Value: IX/7,610

Pentastrife fights with all five arms at once, wielding whatever combination of weapons it has available. For example, it might wield a longbow with two arms and three long swords with its other limbs. Regardless, Pentastrife always makes five attacks per round, whether wielding one weapon or five. It is also quite strong, possessing an 18/51 strength (apply +2 to-hit and +3 damage bonuses where appropriate). Instead of its weapon attacks, Pentastrife may spew a stream of paralyzing gas from one of its five mouths, doing so no more than once every 5 turns up to 5 times per day. The gas forms a cloud 3″ long, 2″ wide, and 1″ high. Any creature caught in the cloud must make a save versus paralysis or remain immobile for 5 rounds.

Pentastrife cannot be affected by illusions or magic that affects the mind (beguilement, charm, domination, hold, hypnosis, sleep, et cetera). Fear and other emotion spells have no affect, nor do attacks based in the Positive or Negative Planes (including life-draining or life-stealing). Cold, gas, and acid attacks against Pentastrife are always at -2 per die of damage. It cannot be harmed by nonmagical weapons, fire attacks, or by iron weapons (even magical ones). Pentastrife has potent magical powers, usable at will, once per round: animate dead, cause fear, charm person, detect invisible, illusion, invisibility, know alignment, locate object, polymorph self, produce flame, suggestion, and teleport (no error).

Pentastrife has double human senses and double normal infravision and ultravision (180 feet and 200 yards, respectively). It cannot be surprised by visible creatures.

Tags: 1E AD&D, monsters

Presenting the Snail Monster for both Mutant Future and the third edition of RuneQuest.

The dreaded snail monster is a monstrous mollusk, easily twice the size of an adult African elephant. It fleshy body is not especially resistant to harm (AC 7), but is covered with a viscous slime that acts as a Class 6 poison (6d6 damage but save for half). An attacker seeking to avoid contact with this toxic goo must either use a weapon or else attack the shell. The spiked shell (AC 3) lacks pain sensors, blood vessels, et cetera. Non-energy Attacks against the shell inflict only half damage. The shell is impervious to poison.

If provoked, the snail monster attacks twice per round, using some combination of its powerful bite, its blinding eye beams, or a project shellspike. The eye beams project out to 30 feet and blind for 1d4 rounds. A shellspike has a maximum range of 1,500 feet. Shellspikes regenerate with remarkable speed.

Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 45′ (15′)
Armor Class: 7 (3 for shell)
Hit Dice: 12
Attacks: 2 (bite and/or eye beams and/or shellspike)
Damage: 2d8 (bite), blindness (eye beams), 1d12 (shellspike)
Save: L6
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: None
XP: 4,400

Mutations: Dermal Poison Slime (Class 6), Gigantism, Optic Emissions (bright eyes), Spiked Shell

———

STR 8D6+32 (60)
CON 4D6+20 (34)
SIZ 6D6+24 (45)
INT 5
POW 2D6+6 (13)
DEX 2D6+3 (10)
Move 2
Hit Points 53
Fatigue 94

Hit Location (d20/Armor/Hit Points) Left Eye Stalk (1-2/3/9), Right Eye Stalk (3-4/3/9), Head (5-7/3/9), Upper Body (8-10/3/14), Lower Body (11-13/3/18), Shell (14-20/8/22)

Weapon (SR/Attack%/Damage)
Bite (9/45%/2D8+5d6
Eye Beam (6/75%/blindness)
Shellspike (6/35%/1d8+3d6)

Notes The snail monster may fire its eye beams or a shellspike and bite in the same round, against one or two opponents. The attacks take place 3 strike ranks apart. Creatures hitting the snail monster with a natural weapon (such as a claw or fist) somewhere other than the shell take dose of POT 10 poison. A target hit by the snail monster’s eye beams is blinded for 1d4 rounds. A shellspike as has the same range as a heavy crossbow (55/300).

Skills Listen 35%, Scan 65%

———

In other news, there’s about a week left in the 25th Wedding Anniversary Spes Magna Games Sale.

In bigger news, I’m also, I hope, not much more than two or so weeks away from bringing The Four Color Hack to print-on-demand. I’m working on a final edit and adding some more content. I’m not sure how much the POD version will sell for, but it will include the PDF as part of the purchase, and I’m certainly planning to send out a discount code to people who’ve already purchased the PDF version. Stay tuned. The Four Color Hack will be the first POD Spes Magna Games publication ever.

Huzzah.

Tags: monsters, Mutant Future, RuneQuest, TFCH

Some of the time, I think I’m in the wrong line of work. I mean, I can write, maybe not well, but certainly well enough to, say, churn out a remake of 1981’s laughably bad Blood Beach. What that’s, you say? Who in their right mind would remark Blood Beach? Well, you’ll have to ask Alex Greenfield and Ben Powell that question. My guess is that they wrote the laughably bad The Sand for the money, which presumably means there’s money to be made writing horrible movies. I wonder if The Asylum is hiring?

Presenting the Sand Monster for both Mutant Future and AD&D.

Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 45′ (15′), burrow 30′ (10′), swim 120′ (40′)
Armor Class: 9
Hit Dice: 18
Attacks: 1 (tendrils) or 4 (tentacles)
Damage: Paralysis or 2d6
Save: L9
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: None
XP: 9,000

Mutations: Burrowing, Gigantism, Unique Sense (vibrations)

The sand monster is an enormous mutant jellyfish that has adapted to life underground as well as in the water. Predatory and voracious, the sand monster burrows under a beach, lurking a few feet beneath the sand. It then spreads out its tentacles and tendrils, covering a 45-foot radius. Then, it lurks out of sight, using its highly attuned ability to sense vibrations to target its prey, which it tries to ambush. It prefers to attack with its tendrils, dozens of slender extensions that are covered with stinging cells that deliver a Class 11 poison (failed save causes 2d6 rounds of paralysis while a successful save results in half movement for 1d6 rounds). Against a helpless target, these tendrils shred flesh, killing the helpless victim in 1 round. If the sand monster abandons its subsurface position, it attacks with its powerful tentacles. These supple limbs can reach up to 30 feet, and they are also covered with the same type of stinging cells found on the tendrils.

Frequency: Very rare
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 9
Move: 3″//12″ (3″)
Hit Dice: 18
% in Lair: 85%
Treasure Type: Nil
No. of Attacks: 1 or 4
Damage/Attack: Paralysis or 2-12
Special Attacks: Paralyzation
Special Defenses: Nil
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Non-
Alignment: Neutral
Size: L (15′ long with 30′ long tentacles)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/Defens Modes: Nil
Level/XP Value: IX/6,550 + 25/hp

The sand monster is a strange sort of giant jellyfish adapted to life beneath the sands of beaches. This monster burrows a few feet beneath the sand and then spreads out, covering about a 45-foot radius. It senses vibrations within this radius and uses those vibrations to target its prey. The sand monster usually attacks with its tendrils, the sting of which force a saving throw against poison to avoid 2-12 rounds of paralysis. Even if the saving throw is successful, the victim is slowed for 1-6 rounds. If the sand monster leaves its hiding place beneath the sand, it attacks with four powerful tentacles, each of which can reach up to 30 feet. A tentacle inflicts 2-12 points of damage and also carries the same poison as the tendrils.

Tags: 1E AD&D, monsters, Mutant Future

Did you know I’ve released another PDF? Well, you do now.

Get your copy of Demi-Human Adventurers today, and expand your Swords & Wizardry White Box fantasy game with four new character classes: the Dwarf, the Elf, the Gnome, and the Halfling. Each race-as-class option presents ten levels of demi-human adventuring to thrill and delight your fellow gamers.

Next, an update on the domestic front. The Powers That Be that oversee the homeschooling program hosted by my parish have approved my “Introduction to Story Games” course. In addition to teaching writing and editing skills, we’ll also game. I have both Skill Centric Role Play by David Holmes and Hero Kids by Hero Forge Games en route to the house.

Huzzah!

On the movie front, I’ve recently watched 1959’s soporific Invasion of the Animal People, starring Barbara Wilson, Robert Burton, and Stan Gester, and, once again, the voice of John Carradine. Bumpy headed aliens invade Lapland, unleashing a giant shaggy monster that doesn’t do much more than lumber about and growl. I’ve heard that Rymdinvasion i Lappland, the original Swedish version, is better. It certainly couldn’t be worse.

Presenting the Bumpy-Headed Alien and the Animal Person, the first for Mutant Future and the second for Swords & Wizardry White Box.

Bumpy-Headed Alien
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120′ (40′)
Armor Class: 8
Hit Dice: 6
Attacks: 1 (weapon)
Damage: weapon
Save: L6
Morale: 7
Hoard Class: XVIII
XP: 1,070

Mutations: Ability Boost (WIL), Empathy, plus one other beneficial mutation

The bumpy-headed alien might not be an alien; it could be a Mutant Human. Regardless, it possesses impressive mental abilities (2d4+10 INT and 2d6+6 WIL). By focusing its mental energies, the bumpy-headed alien increases its willpower, making its empathic powers even more dangerous. The bumpy-headed alien often has access to technology combined with knowledge about how to use it.

Animal Person
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Hit Dice: 10
Attacks: Claw or Stomp (2d6)
Special: Immune to cold and piercing weapons
Move: 12
Save: 9
HDE/XP: 11/1,700

An animal person stands nearly 20 feet tall. Covered with long, shaggy fur, it walks on two blunt, elephantine feet. In combat, it attacks with its powerful claws or else stomps on its victim. An animal person is impervious to cold, and it cannot be harmed by piercing weapons such as arrows or spears.

Tags: monsters, Mutant Future, Swords & Wizardry, WhiteBox Adventures