Spes Magna Games

In life, her name was Annabella Jenkins. She was a student at New Falls High School, but she had few interactions with her peers during the school day due to her mental disability keeping her out of general education classes. Pretty and too trusting, Annabella desired very much to fit in, to have friends, to go to dances, and, above all, to have a boyfriend like Cindy Robinson had.

It was this latter desire that Cindy and some of her friends used to lure Annabella to the catwalk around the town’s watertower. Everyone, even Annabella, for a time had fun. A few beers and a few cigarettes were shared. When things took a turn toward the ugly, it took most of the high schoolers a while to notice. Annabella was the last to notice, and by then she’d agreed to go swimming in the tower.

Frustrated, angry at herself, and too ashamed to admit that she was being made fun of, Annabella climbed the rest of the way to the top of the tower. One of the boys opened it, and Annabella jumped in. It proved a fatal mistake. Pretty and too trusting Annabella drowned. Of course, the death shocked and saddened the town, but shock and sadness were all the justice Annabella got.

The Girl in the Water Tower is a Scary Monster.

The Girl in the Water Tower is scary when it throws down its hair. It wants a real friend.

Fight 4
Grab 5
Chase 3
Scare 3

Qualities
It’s a drowned teenage girl.
Its hair snakes, stretches, and entangles.
It can appear as it did in life.
It cannot be away from the watertower during the day.

Virtues
Health 40
Terror 8

Stuff
Climb Like a Spider ØØØ
* Scuttle Rapidly (Chase +2)
* Stick to Walls and Ceilings

Dangerous Hair ØØØ
* Entangling Mess (Move -1)
* Grab at a Distance
* Wield Weapons (Damage +1)

Weep Horribly ØØ
* Mind-Numbing Grief (Think -2)

Tags: Little Fears, monsters

Favored Magnate Lirram, Archpriest of Tourr, enjoyed manifold blessings from his goddess. When he died, the faithful buried Lirram with all due pomp and circumstance. Years later, his remains were exhumed and cleaned. His bones were fastened together with gold wire and dressed in regal finery. Gold, silver, and jewels decorated his skull. The fabulously ornate skeleton, displayed in the Grand Cathedral, reminded Tourr’s followers that their goddess does reward those she favors.

Then the Merciless Throngs swarmed from the northern wilderness, their rapacious eyes filled with visions of pillage and slaughter. They laid siege to the capital, which quickly fell due to treachery from within. Barbarians surged through streets and into homes and public spaces. Even the Grand Cathedral did not escape the defiling touch of the invaders. One of the Throng snapped Lirram’s skull from its body, hauling away the prize as a trophy.

Since that dark day, Lirram’s Inequitable Fastigium, as the Archpriest’s skull has come to be called, has passed through many hands. Its sacred powers serve the self-serving well, at least for a time. When Tourr’s favor is withdrawn, however, the relic’s owner faces catastrophe and loss.

When Lirram’s Inequitable Fastigium is visible during negotiations of any sort, the relic’s owner has leverage and enjoys +1 forward to parley. In addition to the normal results of parley, *on a 10+, choose 2. On 7-9, choose 1.

* The other party does not later plot against you.
* You do not attract the attention of Tourr†.
* Word of the relic reaches interested ears.

† Tourr: The Goddess of Abundance and Fate. Tourr chooses who prospers and who doesn’t. She rewards her faithful as she sees fit. It is the faithful one’s task to grapple with and to accept the consequences of Tourr’s decisions.

Tags: Dungeon World, magic items

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