Spes Magna Games

…to make Farmer Vincent Fritters!

In the salubrious spirit of Thanksgiving feasting and fun, the family-owned businesses of Farmer Vincent Fritters and Motel Hello welcome your investigators to their table.

Your Hosts

Motel Hello and its famous Farmer Vincent Fritters are family-owned and operated by the Smiths for decades.

Farmer Vincent
Tall and elderly but still handsome with a warm smile and a welcoming demeanor, Vincent is the patriarch of the family.

Hit Dice: 3 (2d4 damage)
Notes: Vincent is an extremely high-functioning psychopath. He is a clever hunter and has a real talent for mechnical engineering. Saves to detect his lies and evade his traps are made with Disadvantage. He is proficient with a shotgun and a carving knife, but its with a chainsaw that he shows real skill. Strength Saves to avoid Vincent’s chainsaw attacks are also made with Disadvantage.

Ida, His Sister
Heavy set and childish even in her 30s, her facade of normalcy quickly becomes strained when frustrated or threatened.

Hit Dice: 2 (1d6 damage)
Notes: Ida is Vincent’s right hand. She has difficulty presenting herself as a normal, functioning adult, but as long as she’s under Vincent’s influence, she’s unlikely to be pegged as anything other than socially awkward. Despite her weight and clumsy appearance, Ida is remarkably stealthy. Saves to notice her when she’s being sneaky are made with Disadvantage. Ida is a competent nurse and can perform even simple surgery.

Bruce, His Brother
Tall with the physique of faded high school athlete, his sheriff’s uniform is always neatly pressed and his boots spit-shined.

Hit Dice: 2 (1d6 damage)
Notes: Bruce is the youngest of the siblings, and he is the least insane of the trio. This doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous. He’s not only a cannibal, but he’s also a duly-elected county sheriff, popular with and generally respected by his constituents.

Places to See

The Motel: Set a few miles off the nearest highway, Motel Hello presents a rustic, homey charm to patrons. The rooms are clean and neat, and prices are reasonable. The motel is set on several acres of rural countryside that includes copses of trees, hiking paths, a man-made pond, picnic areas, and a small farm where Vincent grows alfalfa.

The Pens: Vincent keeps hogs and chickens. Free bags of feed for children staying at the motel are available in the lobby.

The Smokehouse: This building is kept locked to keep visitors from discovering the secret ingredient in Farmer Vincent Fritters. A small but well-appointed slaughterhouse is adjacent to the smokehouse. There’s also a large walk-in freezer.

The Pond: Of modest size, visitors are welcome to take out a small rowboat or bob about in an inner tube, enjoying the cool water on those hot days. There are picnic areas near the pond as well.

The Garden: Hidden within a copse of trees, surrounded by a camouflaged fence that is kept locked, Vincent “grows” his most secret ingredient here. He and Ida “plant” people after surgically disabling their vocal chords. Buried up to their necks, Vincent feeds this “crop” a nourishing mix of special ingredients through funnels attached to snorkels. Vincent’s victims are usually travelers captured on the nearby highway with the help of one of Vincent’s clever traps.

The Traps: Vincent loves to come up with clever traps to get drivers to pull over so that he can capture them. He and Ida use a potent knock-out gas carried in thermos-sized canister with an attached anesthesia mask to knock out their victims. The gas works rapidly to render a victim unconscious. Constitution Saves to avoid unconsciousness after breathing the gas are made with Disadvantage.

Tags: horror, monsters, The Cthulhu Hack

First, an update. If you’re one of those few people who obsessively keeps track of the progress of Spes Magna projects, the reason nothing has been completed and released lately is due almost entirely to my real job. In short, I’m teaching about a dozen classes across five grade levels in a seven-period-a-day schedule. My committment to my students takes priority over Spes Magna Games, which, to be honest, is more of a hobby than a real business venture.

In other news, and before we get to some October horror, please note that I have a couple of items for sale via ebay:

1. The first edition of Cyberpunk from R. Talsorian Games, complete in its original box. The box is good shape considering it’s nearly 30 years old. Some corner wear. Some yellowing. No split edges or tape. Includes all the original books: Friday Night Firefight, View from the Edge: The Cyberpunk Handbook, Welcome to the Night City: A Sourcebook for 2013, and the player reference sheets. These materials are almost new as this game has only ever been gently used.

2. Path of Legend for Fantasy Flight’s Dawnforge campaign setting. I wrote this adventure shortly after contributing a chapter to the campaign setting itself. Path of Legend introduces players and their new heroes to the Dawnforge world with an epic quest that combines location and event-based encounters that include roleplaying, puzzle-solving, and, of course, combat. The book is most gently used. It is one of the complimentary copies I received for writing the adventure. It’s never been used for play, and it’s almost like new.

And now, let’s meet the Masks of Nyarlathotep.

Hit Dice: 2-5
Nota Bene: The Masks of Nyarlathotep, insane cultists who serve the Crawling Chaos, are kept in asylums under the care of loyal servants. When enemies of the cult require correction, the keepers of the Masks release their charges with necessary instructions, monies, equipment, et cetera. Masks vary in skill and deadliness, but even the weakest are a cut above the norm. In combat, they fight with mundane weapons, preferring razor-sharp blades so that they can better see the looks of terror in their victims’ eyes. A Mask wears a grotesque configuration of straps that affixes a leather strap across his or her mouth. Painted on this strap are a pair of smiling lips. While not monstrous enough to threaten Sanity, this accessory holds dark power. A Wisdom Save is necessary to see the accessory as anything other than a normal part of a trustworthy face. All Masks can cast a number of random spells equal to half his or her Hit Dice.

Tags: horror, monsters, The Cthulhu Hack

Yesterday, I watched Be Afraid, a new-to-Netflix, painted-by-the-numbers monster movie starring TV’s Brian Krause as Dr. John Chambers, a dedicated family man who contends with sleep paralysis, things bumping in the night, and dark secrets in a sleepy town. It’s not a good movie, but it’s not horrible either. If you’re looking for a minimally suspenseful film that faithfully walks in the footsteps of dozens of other movies, you could do worse.

Also, here’s another movie monster for The Cthulhu Hack.

Shadow Men
Hit Dice: 3
Nota Bene: Shadow men, humanoid in form, have moist, hairless flesh that appears wrinkled and scarred, as if they had been skinned and burned. They have skull-like faces with hollow eye sockets and pointed jaws with ragged fangs. Their heads have no visible ears, and their long fingers end in talons.

Shadow men avoid light, coming out to terrorize and hunt at night or to defend the lightless entrances to their lairs. They exist only partially in our reality, and are able to move through shadows and darkness unseen and unimpeded by physical obstacles such as walls or distances. Shadow men attack with their claws and fangs (2d4 points of damage). They can be seen only via peripheral vision (Save with disadvantage when appropriate).

It is believed those killed by shadow men become ghosts of sorts, perhaps under the control of the shadow men.

Tags: horror, monsters, The Cthulhu Hack

Still at home due to Hurricane Harvey. I report back to work this coming Tuesday. One hurricane homebound activity included watching Tall Men, a 2016 slow-paced psychological thriller starring Dan Crisafulli as Terrence Mackleby and Kay Whitney as Lucy, Terrence’s sort-of girlfriend. It’s not a bad movie. Quirky in a way reminiscent of David Lynch. To keep it brief, after Terrence declares bankruptcy, he applies for the Card, impressed by its low interest rate and his compulsion toward debt. Terrence buys a new car, and then his first bill comes due. He can’t pay, and it turns out not reading the fine print has some pretty serious consequences, enforced by the movie’s eponymous tall men.

Here is a version of the tall men for The Cthulhu Hack.

Tall Men
Hit Dice: 2
Nota Bene: Tall men, some sort of lesser servitor race perhaps, appear very much as one would expect. Dressed in suits, always somewhat disheveled and often stained by dirt, these creatures stand at least seven feet tall, but their height seems to vary, as if they can grow taller at will. Their faces are never clearly seen, either obscured by shadows or else wrapped tightly in gray cloth. They never speak. Tall men are remarkably strong. Strength saves against tall men are made with disadvantage. Tall men are not particularly fast, but they move with stealth (Wisdom saves to notice them are made with disadvantage), and these creatures can somehow disappear and reappear as long as they are not viewed directly.

Tags: horror, monsters, The Cthulhu Hack

Today’s mash-up smooshes together From Unformed Realms and Mutant Future. I let the randomness of the former determine the mutations from the latter. The results ended up being two mutants because that just seemed like a fun idea.

Vertebral Dominator
Number Encountered: 1d6+1 (3d6+3)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 60′ (30′)
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 3+3
Attacks: 1
Damage:
Save: L3
Morale: 7
Hoard Class: IX, XVIII
XP: 170

Mutations: Dual Cerebellum (limited), Natural Armor, Pain Sensitivity, Parasitic Control

A vertebral dominator resembles a disembodied spinal column that slithers much like a snake. Thick, bony body segments provide good protection against attacks. Nerve clusters at its head approximate normal senses, but the mutant’s exposed nerves make is very sensitive to pain. Fortunately for it, a vertebral dominator can parasitically control a host organism. While latched onto its host, the vertebral dominator controls the hosts actions and reactions. The merged parasite-host creature enjoys the benefits of having two cerebellums.

Scolopendra
Number Encountered: 1d4+1
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 150′ (50′)
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 9
Attacks: 1d4+1 (pincers or thrown spines)
Damage: 1d10 or 1d6
Save: L5
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: None
XP: 3,800

Mutations: Aberrant Form (20 legs), Aberrant Form (pincers), Spiny Growth (medium spines), Toxic Weapon (Class 11)

A scolopendra is a large, predatory arthropod whose body is divided into ten segments, each segment sporting two legs, half of which end with powerful, tripartite pincers. The mutant’s chitinous exoskeleton is covered with sharp spines, each two to three feet long. It can break off these spines and hurl them like daggers, attack in melee with its pincers, or a combination of the two attack forms, making 1d4+1 attacks each round. Against creatures to its rear or rear flanks, a scolopendra may spew forth of a gout of toxic fecal matter in a cone 30 feet long and 15 feet wide at its base. Those hit that fail their saving throws are paralyzed for 2d6 rounds, while those who make their saves move at half speed for 1d6 rounds. Vertebral dominators prefer scolopendrae as host organisms since they appear especially suspectible to the vertebral dominator’s control.

Tags: monsters, Mutant Future, The Cthulhu Hack