Spes Magna Games

Evil and intelligent, the bajang, a type of lesser spirit, lives in tropical jungles, where it delights in terrorizing settlements. Wicked magic ties the bajang’s lifeforce to a single tree in the forest in which it dwells.

In its true form, the bajang looks like a stunted, stocky human with a blunt nose, wispy hair, and pale brown skin. Its beady orange eyes glare malevolently, and a permanent evil sneer creases its wide, lipless mouth. Instead of fingers, it has bony claws, and its feet resemble the talons of a vulture. The bajang can also take the form of a small wildcat, and its victims most often encounter the bajang in this form. As a wildcat, it has light brown fur and retains its distinctive orange eyes.

A vicious and devious fighter, the bajang delights in attacking the wounded, weak, or otherwise helpless. This monster seldom negotiates, and it may be incapable of telling the truth even to save its own life.

For Barbarians of Lemuria

Attributes: Strength 2, Agility 2, Mind 1

Combat Abilities: 2 bony claws +1, damage d6-1 plus poison; Defence 1; Protection 0; Lifeblood 12

Special: The bajang can turn into a small wild cat at will. It uses magic as if it has two ranks in the magician career. Bajang poison forces the victim to make a Hard strength roll to avoid suffering from painful cramps that impose a -1 penalty to strength and agility for 1d6+1 minutes.

For Dungeon World

Intelligent, Magical, Medium, Solitary, Stealthy
Bony Claws (d10 damage, messy)
16 HP
0 Armor
Close
Instinct: To terrorize the weak
* Ambush even the alert
* Form of a wild cat
* Weave enchantments of disease and loss

For Swords & Wizardry

An opponent struck by the bajang’s claws must make a saving throw or succumb to the monster’s poison, which inflicts wracking pains that cause a -1 penalty on all saving throws and attack rolls for the next 1d6 + 1 rounds. The poison’s effect is cumulative; each failed saving throw increases the penalty and adds one round to the duration. In its natural form, the bajang can cast control winds, hold person, and locate object three times per day each. It can cast cloudkill once per day.

In wildcat form, the bajang retains the Armor Class, Hit Dice, movement, and hit points of its original form. It attacks three times per round, inflicting 1-2 points of damage for each successful bite and front claw attack. If both forepaw attacks are successful in the same round, it can attempt two rear claw attacks for an additional 1-2 points of damage each. A bajang cannot cast spells while in wildcat form.

HD 6; AC 2 (17); Atks 2 claws (1d4 plus poison); SV 11; Special 10% magic resistance, change form, poison, spells; MV 12; AL C; CL/XP 11/1,700

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

The humid night breeze rustled the leaves, which shifted just enough to reveal the corpse’s pallid arm.

“Look,” the thief said, pointing.

The thief’s companions followed the finger with their eyes. The leaves covering the body rustled some more, revealing more of the corpse.

“What caused all those wounds?” the fighter said.

“I have a better question,” said the wizard. “Why are those leaves starting to swirl about when the wind hasn’t picked up?”

The pile of leaves, as if they heard the wizard’s query, roared into a vortex of autumn colors before they raced toward the adventurers.

“We’re in trouble,” said the cleric, gripping his holy symbol.

Vampire Tree

The tree itself is immobile, but its leaves fly in swarms at night, hunting for prey much like vampire bats. When a swarm of leaves has drank their fill, they fly back, reattaching their swollen bodies to their branches to pump the blood into the tree. A vampire tree possesses dim intelligence, and its leaves have rudimentary visual and auditory senses combined with keen olfactory powers. A vampire tree fears fire, and will never send its leaves near flame.

For Barbarians of Lemuria

A full-grown vampire tree has hundreds of leaves. The stats below are for the tree’s leaves. The tree itself has no attributes or combat abilities.

Attributes: (for a batch of 10 or so leaves) Strength -3, Agility 3, Mind -1

Combat Abilities: Batch of Leaves +4, damage d6-1; Defence 4; Protection 0; Lifeblood 5

For Dungeon World

Large, Solitary
Flock of Leaves (d8+1 damage, 2 piercing)
20 HP
1 Armor
Close, Reach
Instinct: To drain blood
* Blend into woodlands
* Control flying, blood-sucking leaves
* Fill the air with danger

For Swords & Wizardry

These creatures use their leaves as weapons, releasing the leaves from the branches to fly toward prey. The leaves attempt to attach themselves (attacking as 12 HD monsters) to a body. When attached, they suck blood, doing 2d4 points of damage per attached leaf. Damage is automatic after the first successful attack, each attached leaf continuing to drain 2d4 hit points per round. The leaves are AC 9, and each has only 2 hit points, plus any hit points drained from the victim. The leaves will return to the tree when any being travels more than 120 yards from the parent tree or when the creature has no blood left. The tree can only control 10 leaves at a time. Vampire trees save vs. fire at a -2 penalty, and take +1 extra point of damage for every die of damage done by flame.

HD 12; AC 0 (19); Atks 1d10 leaves (2d4); SV 3 (18 for leaves); Special never surprised, vampiric leaves, fire vulnerability; MV 12 flying (leaves only); AL C; CL/XP 16/3,200

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

I’ve started a new project based on William T. Cox’s whimsically delightful Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, originally published in 1910.

Here’s an excerpt:

The gumberoo (Megalogaster repercussus) lives in foggy regions, especially near wooded ocean coasts in northern climes. Fortunately, gumberoos seem to be rare, but this might because this beast prefers “to remain in hiding most of the time in the base of enormous, burned-out cedar trees, from where it sallies forth occasionally on frightful marauding expeditions.” A gumberoo is always hungry and attempts to devour anything that appears to be food. “A whole horse may be eaten at one sitting, distending the gumberoo out of all proportions, but failing to appease its hunger or cause it the slightest discomfort.” A gumberoo resembles a coal-black, almost hairless bear. Its skin is “smooth, tough, and shiny and bears not even a wrinkle.” In fact, a gumberoo’s hide has amazing elastic properties. “Its elastic hide hurls back with equal ease the charging elk and the wrathy hornet.” Fire, however, proves to be a particular effective weapon against a gumberoo, but care must be taken, for these beasts tend to explode when burned.

HD 4+1; AC 2 (17); Atks 2 claws (1d4), bite (1d6+1); SV 13; Special elastic hide, fire vulnerability; MV 9; AL C; CL/XP 5/240

Elastic Hide: Any attack from a physical source, such as a sword or an arrow or a claw, may bounce off the gumberoo’s elastic hide without inflicting any damage. A gumberoo is permitted a saving throw against these attacks. Success means it takes no damage. If the gumberoo’s saving throw die roll equals 18-20, the attack rebounds to inflict normal damage to the attacker.

Fire Vulnerability: Any time a gumberoo is attacked with fire from any source, it must make a saving throw. Failure means the gumberoo explodes, inflicting 4d6 points of damage to creatures in a 10-foot radius. On the plus side, the gumberoo dies.

Tags: monsters, Swords & Wizardry

As my summer vacation winds down, I’m finally getting some new products on the Interwebz for you to purchase. This week, I’ve finished Ean Illiam’s Cavern Stores for Dungeon World and Aquatic Depths & Denizens for Swords & Wizardry. The links in that last sentence take you to DriveThruRPG where you can read the product descriptions. The rest of this post includes content excerpts from both PDFs.

From Ean Illiam’s Cavern Stores

Groitzarr’s Vile Menagerie (1 weight)
This common bamboo bird cage holds five scabrous, repulsive birds, each about the size of a parakeet. They perch silently, their rheumy eyes watching their surroundings with disturbing intensity. When you feed one of these foul birds a drop of your blood, roll+CHA. *On a 10+, the bird squawks out a clear, useful prediction of the near future. *On a 7-9, the bird’s prophecy is puzzling and riddlesome. Take a cumulative -1 forward each time to you use the birds more than once per day.

Custom Move: Dangerous Woods
When you act as scout while traveling through the woods near the village, roll+WIS. *On a 10+, choose 2. *On a 7-9, choose 1. If you’re known to have harmed local fey creatures, take -1 ongoing.

* No unwelcome attention is attracted.
* No equipment turns up missing.
* No clues to the true nature of the trouble are discovered.

Mastiff
Thick necked, solid skulled. Blunt muzzles. Crushing jaws and sharp teeth. Ean’s mastiffs are every bit as well-trained as his guards.

Group
Bite (d8 damage) | 6 HP | 1 Armor | Close
Instinct: To obey the master

* Drag down a foe
* Go for the throat

From Aquatic Depths & Denizens

Combat in Three Dimensions
Combatants who fight while swimming may jockey for advantageous position. Whenever an attacker wants to attack with a positional advantage, the attacker and the defender both make saving throws.

* Attacker Succeeds, Defender Fails: The attacker gains a +2 attack roll bonus.
* Defender Succeeds, Attacker Fails: The attack suffers a -2 attack roll penalty.
* Both Fail or Both Succeed: The attacker gains no advantage or penalty.

The Referee should describe the aquatic ballet of violence as attacker and defender push and twist against each other and the water as the attacker attempts to gain a momentary advantage.

Bahari
Squat, thick-skinned, hairless, spotted by barnacle-like growths, Bahari enjoy a +4 bonus on saving throws against poison and a +1 bonus to Armor Class due to their tough hides. They can see in the dark (darkvision) to a limit of 60 feet and have a natural swim speed of 6 and an out-of-water movement rate of 6. Bahari who are player characters may be Fighters, Thieves, or multi-classed Druid/Fighters or Fighter/Thieves.

Those Bahari who are not player characters might have abilities and limitations wildly different from those of an adventuring Bahar. The nature of the Bahar race as a whole is entirely the province of the Referee, and might include non-player characters of any class.

Jet
Spell Level Magic-User, 3rd-level; Range touch; Duration 1 turn/level + 1d6 turns

This spell triples the recipient’s swim speed for its duration. The Referee secretly rolls 1d6 additional turns; the recipient does not know exactly how long Jet will last.

Lycanthrope, Wereshark
HD 7; AC 1 (18); Atks bite (2d8), weapon (1d8); SV 9; Special breathe water, lycanthropy, hit only by magic or silver weapons; MV 0//18; AL C; CL/XP 8/800

Weresharks appear have humanoid torsos and powerful arms topped by the head of a shark. The shark’s distinctive dorsal fin grows from a wereshark’s back. Instead of legs, weresharks have a shark’s powerful tail. These monsters prowl shallow waters for prey. Weresharks can control normal sharks.

Tags: Dungeon World, magic items, monsters, spells, Swords & Wizardry

I decided to start hosting Dinner & Gaming nights again, doing so once a month. I like to game. I like to cook. (I even considered going to a culinary arts school until I figured out I have anosmia.) So, I fixed taco salad, got a couple bottles of sangria, and broke out the Swords & Wizardry, In Search of the Unknown, and a couple copies of my WIP Optional Skill Resolution Rules.

With only two players in attendance, I was flexible with class and race combinations. Alex made up Brother Zaphod, an Elf Cleric/Magic-User who had been raised by weasels in the woods. I imagine them to have been giant weasels. Christopher made up Weeble Kneecracker, a Halfling Fighter/Thief who is also a skilled chef and a pariah from polite Halfling society. This stalwart pair of rookie heroes hired two men-at-arms and a torchbearer: Maximilio, Baldrick, and Leofrick.

The party traveled north into the hilly woodlands between the frontier village and the realm of the hated barbarians. After some traveling and searching, they found the entrance to Quasqueton. Weeble picked the lock on the door, and the group moved into the hallway beyond. They were startled by magical mouths that pronounced a grim warning.

Weeble crept forward, searching for traps. He determined there were none, but his intense concentration led to him being surprised by a pair of ghouls. Weeble was clawed and paralyzed.

The hirelings and Brother Zaphod battled the ghouls, killing them. Brother Zaphod suffered a moderate injury in the process.

Skill checks using my OSR2 system were made to convince the hirelings to work for free in exchange for spiritual betterment, to open the locked door, to search for traps, and to determine the weaknesses of ghouls. Based on this brief session of actual gaming, I think the system works pretty well, although I did leave out one detail regarding the characters’ starting skills, which I’ll have to amend next time we play S&W.

Tags: Dinner & Gaming, Swords & Wizardry