Spes Magna Games

About two years ago, I posted conversions to the The Black Hack of some favorite Fiend Folio monsters. That was for the first edition of The Black Hack. Well, now there’s a second edition, and it’s a great game. Seriously. You need the second edition of The Black Hack. (Nota Bene: The aforementioned product links are affiliate links.)

So, in the spirit of second editions, here’re those same Fiend Folio monsters, updated for the new The Black Hack, an even ebonier slice of RPG genius.

Al-Mi’Raj (HD 1)

This large, yellow rabbit sports a unicorn-like horn. Adventurers may find al-mi’rajes in pastures and woodlands, or perhaps lairing in a small cave.

Melee: STR (1 Close) 2 dmg
They Dart! Gives Disadvantage to Attacks made against it by Characters farther away than Close.

Bloodworm (HD 6)

Found in shallow pools in underground caverns. Cannot swim, but instead wriggle along the bottom of their watery lairs. Reach lengths of nearly 20 feet, but slender and lithe.

Melee: STR (1 Close) 7 dmg
Blood Drain! Deals Ongoing Damage that requires a STR Test to end.

Coffer Corpse (HD 2)

Emaciated, rotting flesh, eyes burning with hatred, fingernails grown into talons.

Melee: STR (2 Close) 2 dmg
Not Dead Yet! Collapses after taking Damage only to jump back up on its next action. A WIS Test avoid being forced by fear to Move away from the Coffer Corpse next turn.

Death Knight (HD 9)

Skeletal creature in ancient, decaying finery and plate armor.

Melee: STR (1 Close) 10 dmg
Spellcaster! As an Action, cast one of the following spells. Each spell as a Usage Die to track its limited power.

* Detect Magic (Ud8): Everything Nearby that is magic glows. Lasts for Ud6 Minutes.
* Fireball (Ud4): 1d4 Nearby Creatures take 9d6 damage.
* Power Word, Kill (Ud4): A Nearby Creature with fewer than 50 HP must make a CON Test or die without possiblity of resurrection.
* See Invisibility (Ud8): Everything Nearby that is invisible becomes visible to the Death Knight. Lasts for Ud6 Minutes.
* Wall of Ice (Ud8): Wall of ice covers a Nearby area. Any Creature that comes Close takes damage equal to its HD.

Tags: monsters, The Black Hack

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned Dangerous Monsters for 5E over on Patreon. Dangerous Monsters 3 is on track for release by Easter. Here’s a preview. Here’s another preview.

Did you know that most of what I write for Spes Magna Games gets published on this site and then that’s it? In many cases, this is because I’m writing monsters or villains for game systems for which one cannot publish. For example, check these posts related to AD&D.

If you’ve ever thought that it’d be nice to help support this site, please notice the addition of a tip jar in the sidebar to the left. One may choose to drop $1, $5, or $10 into the tip jar. PayPal processes the payments, which then helps me do things like buy groceries, pay for Internet access, et cetera.

And now for more fun with The Black Hack.

The hamlet of Blato has seen better times. Few residents remain. Most have abandoned their homes. With one exception, ruin has visited the surrounding farms, and the one remaining farm family fights a losing battle against the creeping blight that has devastated crops and livestock.

Blato’s end started when Eadgar Iarna, proprietor of the Brass Knave, decided to expand his basements. Workers broke through a layer of rock and plunged into flood caverns. The shift in pressure altered water levels, and ruined the hamlet’s well water. A few days later, the worms arrived, burrowing up through poorer residents’ hard-packed dirt floors in the dark of night. Nearly a dozen residents died screaming that night.

Between the contaminated well water, the deadly worms, and the altered water levels turning the streets and much of the immediate countryside into a sodden mess, the first typhus outbreak did not come as a surprise. Today, Blato is almost a ghost town. Eadgar remains, trying to eke out a living even as the Brass Knave slowly sinks into the muck. One farm family struggles to bring in a crop. A handful of others stubbornly refuse to leave. One of those who remains is a thief and possibly a murderer as well.

Giant Burrowing Worm
A thick as a man’s arm and twice as long, its smooth skin glistens with slime, its wedge-shaped head cracks open to reveal a jagged beak.

Hit Dice: 1
Damage: 1d4 (2)
Special: This horrid worm burrows through earth. It moves somewhere Close as part of an action at any stage of the move, or it can forgo its action and burrow somewhere Nearby. Its venomous bite forces a CON test to avoid paralysis. Make a new CON test at the end of each of your turns to recover.

Tags: monsters, places of power, The Black Hack

First up, a sales pitch for Spes Magna’s newest product and second release for the fifth edition of D&D:

Glory draws nigh! Grab your shield and axe! Defend dwarvenkind against your ancient foes!

Old School meets New School in The Dwarf. Now you can relive the glory days of the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game, back when a dwarf was a dwarf instead of a dwarf fighter or rogue or whatever. The Dwarf presents a complete race-as-class that includes two new subraces, three new archetypes, and three new backgrounds, all for a mere $2 US.

Speaking of 5E, Dangerous Monsters over on Patreon welcomed four new monsters this past weekend. I hoping Dangerous Monsters 3 will go out to patrons by Easter.

Next up, how about a quick movie review of Leprechaun: Origins? It’s 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s the official trailer. Watch it carefully. Who didn’t you see? That’s right. You didn’t see Warwick Davis as the Leprechaun. You don’t even see a leprechaun. Let’s face facts. No one can label any of the movies in the Leprechaun franchise as “good”. They’re all horrible, but at least some of them are memorable and entertaining in a way that one might not want to admit. In short, as horrible as the Leprechaun franchise is, Leprechaun: Origins is worse. Seriously. Leprechaun: Origins is dull, shrill, repetitive, and includes about 11 minutes of end credits punctuated by shots of someone off camera with a flashlight spotlighting the movie’s props because, gosh darnit!, I really loved that toolshed interior the first time it showed up in the film.

Rather than watch Leprechaun: Origins, just watch the trailer while swabbing a nostril with a Q-Tip dipped in Tabasco. It’s just as unpleasant, but is over in a fraction of the movie’s actual running time.

And now, it’s time to revisit the wonderfulness that is The Black Hack with a quick trip into the Gloaming Cave.

The Gloaming Cave gapes in a low hillside not far from a sluggish creek somewhere in Razorleaf Wood. Few travel too deep into that accursed forest, and not only because of the skulking greenteeth and mobs of arboreal spider-kobolds. Razorleaf Wood conceals many hazards both natural and supernatural.

No one says with accuracy where the Gloaming Cave waits because it doesn’t seem to stay in one place. Characters searching for the Gloaming Cave must contend with its penchant for not being where it’s supposed to be. Each Day of travel in Razorleaf Wood looking for the Gloaming Cave requires rolling the d6 On the Trail Usage die. Any result other than 1-2 with the On the Trail Usage die results in an encounter. Select a monster or monsters whose HD total the die result. On a 1-2, the characters draw closer to the Gloaming Cave, and the On the Trail Usage die is downgraded one step. When the On the Trail Usage die is used up, the characters find the Gloaming Cave.

The Gloaming Cave hates light. Even on the brightest day, sunlight penetrates the cave no more than a Nearby distance. Most of the time, sunlight reaches no farther than Close. After that, lightless black reigns. In the Gloaming Cave, Flasks of Oil and Torches have a d4 instead of a d6 Usage die. Even magical Light may fail; treat such spells as if they had a d6 Usage die.

The cave’s malevolent magic plays tricks with the senses. WIS saves to avoid sensory confusion are made with Disadvantage. Of course, the undead shadows lairing in the Gloaming Cave are immune to these effects.

Whether it is true that blind cultists interred Senka, that infamous shadow sorcerer, within the Gloaming Cave has yet to be confirmed. If the Gloaming Cave hides Senka’s tomb, it seems likely that his final resting place remains unplundered. Who knows what fantastic treasures may remain undisturbed?

Greenteeth
Silent, well-camouflaged, its wide mouth full of fangs, the greenteeth skulks at the water’s edge, waiting patiently for a victim to drown and devour.

Hit Dice: 3
Damage: 2d4 (4)
Special: WIS saves to detect the greenteeth while it hides are made with Disadvantage. If it inflicts damage, it grabs its victim, who must make a STR save to avoid being dragged under the water.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters, place of power, The Black Hack

Now that I’ve finally finished The Four Color Hack, it’s time to finish The Grimm’s Fairy Hack, my second spin-off from The Black Hack. I’ve got one more section of essential rules related to the dark fairy-tale setting, and then the playtest rules are ready for upload to DriveThruRPG. This final section includes some special rules applicable to the fairy-tale world of TGFH along with some sample creatures, such as the Evil Tree below. After the Evil Tree comes rules for Temptations.

Evil Tree

The wild, wooded places between walled villages threaten travelers in a variety of ways. Even the trees themselves may seek to grab, tear, and crush.

Hit Dice: 7
Damage: 2d8
Special: An Evil Tree appears very much like a normal tree when it wants to (roll with Disadvantage to spot). It doesn’t move quickly, but its branches and roots have an extensive reach (attack anyone Nearby). An Evil Tree fears fire and axes (roll with Advantage when applicable). Some Evil Trees possess magical powers, such as the ability to animate normal trees or swallow a creature whole.

Temptations

Temptations abound in the fairy-tale world. Temptations exist to lure the unwary and thoughtless into danger. Temptations take a variety of forms, anything from delicious apples to piles of gold to beautiful ball gowns. No matter it’s form, a Temptation has four parts:

* A HD Equivalent: Temptations do not have HP, but they do impose a penalty on Stat checks to resist them.
* A Preferred Target: Temptations are often targeted against a specific type of character.
* A Preferred Stat: Temptations target a specific Stat that is used to resist the Temptation.
* An Effect: What happens if a character fails to resist the Temptation. This effect can range from something as simple as “The character opens the door” to powerful magical effects like “The character turns into a talking frog.”

For example, while traveling along the road, the characters sees stylish sunglasses resting on a fence post. The sunglasses are a Temptation.

Sunglasses (3 HD; Popular; Upbringing): The character takes the sunglasses and wears them all the time. The sunglasses allow the Goblin King to know the character’s whereabouts.

There is often a way to undo the effect of a Temptation. The method for undoing the Temptation may be simple or complex, easy or hard. In the case of the sunglasses, another character may take them away and break them, for example. On the other hand, perhaps a character transformed into a talking frog may regain his original shape only by receiving a willing kiss from a princess who holds a lilypad retrieved from the Marsh of Lost Heroes.

Tags: monsters, TGFH, The Black Hack

For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side! “Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, watching for my fall. “Perhaps he will be deceived, then we can overcome him, and take our revenge on him.” But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, they will not overcome me. (Jeremiah 20:10-11)

The Dread Warrior fights to defend holy causes against infidels, scoffers, blasphemers, and other evil-doers. He lacks the raw power and martial skill of the Warrior, but his righteous devotion grants him the ability to inspire dread in those he faces.

Dread Warrior
Starting HP: d8 + 4
HP Per Level/Resting: 1d8
Weapons & Armor: Any and All
Attack Damage: 1d8 / 1d4 Unarmed or Improvising

Special Features
Once per hour while in combat, a Dread Warrior can regain 1d6 lost HP.

When confronting evil-doers opposed to the Dread Warrior’s holy cause, the Dread Warrior inspires fear using his Dreadful Mien Usage Die, which starts at a d4 at 1st level. This fear affects a number of Hit Dice of enemies equal to the die’s roll plus the Dread Warrior’s level. For the next few minutes, the Dread Warrior rolls with Advantage against those foes.

The Dread Warrior rolls with Advantage when resisting effects that affect his emotions or loyalties.

Leveling Up
Roll to see if attributes increase. Roll twice for STR and CHA.

Every odd numbered level, step up the Dreadful Mien die.

Tags: Catholic, Character Classes, The Black Hack