Spes Magna Games

When Andrej Cherno married outcast harridan Vilma, the newlyweds dedicated themselves to Seskoe*, the goddess of winter, witches, and creation. Andrej and Vilma have three daughters: Mária, the eldest; Anastázia, the middle girl; and Dorota, the toddler. All members of the Cherno family thrive on murder and terror. Andrej and Vilma plan atrocities as creative undertakings designed to both honor Seskoe and encourage the twisted development of their wicked daughters.

In order to protect their identities, the Chernos wear bizarre disguises when on their family outings. These outings include such foul deeds as arson, murder, abductions, and acts of terrorism. Andrej and Vilma are careful to ensure that their daughters all have a chance to contribute to the family’s activities.

Seskoe has granted special powers to the Chernos as rewards for their service:

• Andrej’s melee attacks are vampiric, inflicting an additional 1d4 points of damage. Andrej gains one-half of this additional damage as hit points, healing his injuries and even permitting him to increase his hit points beyond their normal amount (up to a maximum of 44 hit points). Andrej’s bonus hit points fade at a rate of 1d4 points every turn.

• Vilma can use Charm Person, Darkness 15-Foot Radius, Invisibility, Polymorph Self, Sleep, and Suggestion once per day each. Also once per day, she can summon an 8-HD ice elemental.

Ice Elemental: HD 8; AC 3 [16]; Atk 1 strike (2d8 plus Slow); Move 9; Save 8; AL N; CL/XP 9/1100; Special: immune to cold and non-magic weapons.

• Mária can transform herself into a cloud of chilly mist. In this form, she can fly, albeit slowly (speed 3), as well as flow through small spaces.

• Anastázia’s gaze paralyzes those who meet it. Her own family members are immune to Anastázia’s gaze.

• Dorota can backstab for double damage like a thief. She hides in shadows and move silently with a 75% chance of success.

*Seskoe turns water to ice, rain to snow, and sorrow to callousness. She is served by witches who seek to swallow life’s warmth. At the same time, Seskoe represents creation, but devoid of the light of inspiration. She creates without originality or love for her creations.

For Swords & Wizardry:

Andrej
Hit Dice: 5+4 (26 hit points)
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Attacks: 1 weapon (1d6 plus 1d4 vampirism)
Saving Throw: 12
Special: Vampirism
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 6/400

Vilma
Hit Dice: 5+4 (22 hit points)
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Attacks: 1 weapon (1d8)
Saving Throw: 12
Special: Magic use, regenerate 1 hp/round
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 7/600

Mária
Hit Dice: 4+3 (20 hit points)
Armor Class: 5 [14]
Attacks: 1 weapon (1d6)
Saving Throw: 13
Special: Gaseous form
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 5/240

Anastázia
Hit Dice: 3+2 (16 hit points)
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Attacks: 1 weapon (1d6)
Saving Throw: 14
Special: Freezing gaze
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 4/120

Dorota
Hit Dice: 2+1 (10 hit points)
Armor Class: 7 [12]
Attacks: 1 weapon (1d4)
Saving Throw: 16
Special: Backstab x2, stealth
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 3/60

Tags: horror, monsters, Swords & Wizardry

It’s been a while since I posted a new spell. As I’m going down a list of randomly generated Vancian spell names, here’s what’s next:

Biderukic’s Dense Salamander
Spell Level: Magic-User, 5th Level
Range: NA
Duration: 6 rounds

The caster summons 1d4 dense salamanders, who serve him until slain or until the duration of the spell expires. The dense salamanders do not appear immediately; there is a delay of 5 rounds before they appear.

Dense salamanders are sluggish, somewhat intelligent creatures of the elemental planes of fire. They appear to be large snake-like beasts with tough scales that give off dangerous heat. The very touch of a dense salamander deals 1d4 hit points of fire damage, and they wrap their tails around foes to cause an additional 1d4 points of crushing damage per round as the victim writhes in the deadly heat of the serpentine coils.

Dense Salamander: HD 2+2; AC 4 [15]; Atk touch and constrict (1d4 + 1d4 heat); Move 9; Save 16; AL C; CL/XP 4/120; Special: constrict, immune to fire, heat.

Tags: monsters, spells, Swords & Wizardry, Vancian magic

Last week, we teachers of 4th and 5th graders field tripped our students to the Texas Renaissance Festival. The highlight of the Texas Renaissance Festival for me is always the Mud Show. I especially adore Billy Billy VonBilly. How much do I adore him? Enough to turn him into a Swords & Wizardry monster:

The mud sprite, a creature of joy and mischief, dwells in muddy places such as a swamp or a pig-cote. They are often encountered in troupes that love to perform low-brow comedy acts for rewards of money, beer, and food. Mud sprites appear human, but they are diminutive, invariably filthy, and often quite hairy. These fey creatures can breathe water and can hide in mud or muddy areas (75% chance of success). When forced to defend themselves, they melee with daggers or throw balls of mud. A target struck by a mud ball must make a saving throw or be blinded for 1d4 rounds.

For Swords & Wizardry:

Hit Dice: 1d6 hit points
Armor Class: 5 [14]
Attacks: dagger (1d4)
Saving Throw: 18 (14 vs. elemental effects)
Special: Breathes water, hide in mud, mud ball
Move: 9 (Swim 12)
Alignment: Neutrality
Challenge Level/XP: 2/30

Tags: Billy Billy VonBilly, monsters, Mud Show, Swords & Wizardry, Texas Renaissance Festival

It’s been a little quiet around this site for a few days. Busy, busy, busy. I’ve got about 30 pages of Rantz’s Fair Multitude, my next PDF, typed up and semi-formatted. Obviously, my original goal of having this product done by the end of October has fallen apart, but that’s okay. I’d rather it get released later than I planned (or not at all) than it get rushed to the “presses” and end up a mess.

What with today being a holy of obligation for us Catholics, I took the day off from work. I’m right now hanging out at Houston Community College’s Katy campus waiting for my son Christopher to get done with the mandatory exam he has to take before he starts college classes for dual credit for both high school and college. Once he’s done with the test, I’m going to head home, take care of little bit of paper work for school, and then probably relax until this evening when it’s time to go to Mass.

Part of the hanging out/relaxing equation involves typing stuff, including what you’re reading now. I’d like to keep updating this site two or three times a week with OSR stuff, but to do that I have to use my down time to get ahead of the curve.

Anyhoo, enough about me. Let’s look at a new monster inspired by a combination of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary and George Gershwin’s “My Man’s Gone Now”. A version of this monster was featured in the Halloween game of Little Fears that I ran.

Huzuni are a demonic creatures that feed on sorrow, grief, and pain. They enter our world through tears in the barriers that normally keep hellish planes separate from the mortal realm. These tears can be caused by tears shed in desperate sorrow by people who refuse to accept the reality of their losses, who instead, often unwittingly, bargain with chaotic powers for a second chance to be with their deceased loved ones. Huzuni wait hungrily for the chance to slip free of their infernal realm in order to cause more death and pain. A huzun’s natural form varies, but they are invariably a distorted and horrible parody of humanoid. Features are always twisted, out of proportion. Limbs have too many elbows, too many knees. They scuttle about on all fours as much as they walk on their feet.

Many people cannot see a huzuni for what it really is unless it chooses to reveal itself. Children who’ve not yet reached puberty and animals always see the monster’s true form. Otherwise, only intelligent creatures with more than 4 Hit Dice can hope to pierce a huzun’s sinister false form, and even then doing so requires a saving throw. These demons’ false forms vary, but are always seemingly normal and harmless. They often appear in the form of deceased loved ones, especially if those loved ones were children. Some huzuni look like common domestic animals, such as dogs.

Huzuni have the horrifying power of autodismemberment, which permits them to tear their bodies apart into as many three pieces. Each piece darts about independently, and can attack with the demon’s claws and fangs, depending on which body parts a particular piece has. For example, a huzuni could split into three pieces, an armless torso that could bite and two separate arms that can slither about like serpents and claw. Even pieces without apparent sensory organs can still see and hear. Each piece can be attacked and damaged as if the monster were whole.

A huzun’s most dreaded attack is its ability to manifest its foes’ darkest fears, affecting all desired targets within 30 feet who can see the monster. Targets who fails their saving throw against manifested fears can do nothing but stand helplessly, overwhelmed by the terrifying sights and sounds conjured up by the huzun. This fear effect lasts 2d4 minutes.

For Swords & Wizardry:

Hit Dice: 8
Armor Class: 3 [16]
Attacks: 2 claws (1d8), 1 bite (1d6)
Saving Throw: 8
Special: +1 or better weapon to hit, autodismemberment, false form, magic resistance (35%), manifest fear
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaotic
Challenge Level/XP: 12/2,000

Tags: Little Fears, monsters, Swords & Wizardry

Every now and then in the Old School Gamers Facebook group, people post pictures and say, “Stat this.” On Tuesday, 8 October, Ethan Myerson posted the picture you see to the right of these words. (Click on the pic to embiggen. Click here to check out Ethan’s iStock site.)

Ethan’s stat request struck a chord with me because he said his kids came up with the idea for the firefrog, and then he drew the picture to fit their idea. That’s just cool, and so I tossed together this as my version of the firefrog:

About five feet long, firefrogs are the product of mad breeding experiments. They have claws and teeth, and attack relentlessly. Three times per day, a firefrog may spew a 5-foot-wide, 30-foot-long line of caustic chemical that ignites shortly after coming into contact with air. Creatures struck by this burning liquid suffer 1d8+4 points of damage (saving throw for half damage permitted).

Swords & Wizardry Stats

Hit Dice: 2+8
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Attacks: 2 claws (1d3), 1 bite (1d6+1)
Saving Throw: 16
Special: Leap, liquid fire
Move: 6 (Leap 12)
Alignment: Neutrality
Challenge Level/XP: 4/120

Tags: monsters, Swords & Wizardry