Spes Magna Games

Today I revisit Old-School Essentials via a portrait from Jeshields – RPG Stock Art.

Through the open flaps of the ragged, colorful tent, you see an unpleasant creature. Stunted and wizened, large pointed ears below his stained turban, the stench of urine thick in the air around him, the aged goblin grins, showing scab-black gums almost devoid of teeth. Rats wriggle in the folds of his baggy clothes. One fat rodent sprawls atop his turban, its shiny eyes studying you.

“Welcome!” the goblin says, “I am Yad Al-shaytan. Enter my shop freely and in peace.”

Yad Al-shaytan appears as an aged goblin, itself an unlikely encounter given how nasty, brutish, and short goblin lives tend to be. In truth, Yad has more than goblin blood coursing through his veins. He has lived several decades beyond the normal lifespan for goblins. Despite his apparent age, he remains healthy and vigorous. Some of Yad’s abilities have birthed rumors that Yad is some sort of half-vampire, but he is not undead.

Yad’s colorful, ragged tent looks to have a diameter of about 20 feet with a 20-foot tall center pole. Its inner dimensions are considerably larger, and tables, chests, barrels, freestanding shelves, taxidermied creatures, et cetera crowd the interior, turning the inside into a veritable maze of twisting aisles. Visitors often catch glimpses of strange shadows moving about, but direct observation fails to reveal the true nature of these fleeting impressions.

Yad Al-Shaytan: AC 4 [15], HD 3+3 (16 hp), Att 1 × weapon (1d6+1 or by weapon +1), THAC0 16 [+3], MV 90’ (30’), SV D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (5), ML 8, AL Chaotic, XP 35, NA 1, TT S x4, T x2
Hates the Sun: -1 to-hit in full daylight.

• Infravision: 90’.
• Regeneration: Yad gains 3 hp at the start of each round, as long as he is alive.
• Summon Beasts: Creatures from the surrounding area: 1d8 x 8 rats, 4d4 giant rats, 1d8 x 8 bats, 3d4 giant bats, 2d4 wolves, or 1d4 dire wolves. Yad uses speak with animals to communicate with these types of beasts.
• Teleport Shop: Within his shop, Yad can cast teleport once per day, causing him, his shop, and all of his property to vanish.

Tags: monsters, NPCs, Old School Essentials

If you’re wondering, no, I’ve not forgotten about the goblin spider lair. I just have to remember to find the maps that I was working on.

And, so, onto today’s post.

Patreon artist Fernando Salvaterra recently posted this fun illustration of three skeletons about to teach a group of tomb trespassers a lesson about property rights. Nota Bene: If you click on the pic, it embiggens.

Each skeleton has a magic item it uses in combat. These magic items detect as evil. Each has the same deleterious effect when used by non-evil creatures, namely that the creature suffers a -1 penalty to saving throws against fear effects per item used.

The Archer
Number: 1
Size: Medium
HD: 2 (d12) (13)
AC: 13
Saves: P
Move: 30 ft.
Attacks: 2 with Short Bow (1d6 plus magical effect) or 1 with Short Sword (1d6)
Special: +1 or Better Weapon to Hit, Magic Quiver, Regeneration 1, Undead
Int: Average
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Type: Undead (Unique)
Treasure: 4
XP: 56

Combat: The Archer prefers ranged combat, firing two arrows per round from its shortbow. If forced into melee, it pulls the short sword from its skull. The Archer cannot be harmed by nonmagical weapons, and even magical slashing or piercing weapons inflict but half damage to it.

Magic Quiver: The Archer’s magic quiver holds a dozen arrows. Each day at sundown, the magic quiver refills with a dozen arrows. When an arrow is pulled from the magic quiver, roll 1d6 to determine that arrow’s magical effect:

1-4 = +1 to hit and damage
5 = +2 to hit and damage
6 = +3 to hit and +1d6 damage against a living creature

Regeneration: The Archer regenerates 1 hit point per round until reduced to 0 hit points, at which time it regenerates 1 hit point per hour. The Archer cannot regenerate damage from holy water.

Undead: The Archer is immune to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, and all mind-affecting spells (charms, compulsions, et cetera).

The Spearman
Number: 1
Size: Medium
HD: 3 (d12) (20)
AC: 13
Saves: P
Move: 30 ft.
Attacks: 2 with Magic Spear (1d6+1)
Special: +1 or Better Weapon to Hit, Magic Spear, Regeneration 1, Undead
Int: Average
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Type: Undead (Unique)
Treasure: 4
XP: 120

Combat: The Spearman prefers melee combat, attacking twice per round with its magic spear. The Spearman cannot be harmed by nonmagical weapons, and even magical slashing or piercing weapons inflict but half damage to it.

Magic Spear: The Spearman’s magic spear is a +1 weapon. If thrown, it splits into two spears that may target any two creatures within 10 feet of each other (or both may target a single creature within spear range). The thrown magic spears disappear at the end of the round, reappearing in the Spearman’s hand as a single spear.

Regeneration: The Spearman regenerates 1 hit point per round until reduced to 0 hit points, at which time it regenerates 1 hit point per hour. The Archer cannot regenerate damage from holy water.

Undead: The Spearman is immune to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, and all mind-affecting spells (charms, compulsions, et cetera).

The Captain
Number: 1
Size: Medium
HD: 4 (d12) (26)
AC: 18
Saves: P
Move: 30 ft.
Attacks: 2 with Magic Sword (1d8+1)
Special: +1 or Better Weapon to Hit, Magic Sword, Regeneration 1, Undead
Int: Average
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Type: Undead (Unique)
Treasure: 4
XP: 224

Combat: The Captain prefers melee combat, attacking twice per round with its magic sword. The Captain cannot be harmed by nonmagical weapons, and even magical slashing or piercing weapons inflict but half damage to it.

Magic Sword: The Captain’s magic longsword is a +1 weapon. Against lawful good creatures, the sword inflicts an addition 1d6 points of damage with a successful hit.

Regeneration: The Captain regenerates 1 hit point per round until reduced to 0 hit points, at which time it regenerates 1 hit point per hour. The Archer cannot regenerate damage from holy water.

Undead: The Captain is immune to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, and all mind-affecting spells (charms, compulsions, et cetera).

Tags: C&C, Goblin Spider Lair, monsters, undead

Well, my summer vacation is about 3/4 done, and it’s been an odd one.

We’ve had two storms that took out the power in Houston, the latter being Hurricane Beryl, which left pretty much the whole city in the dark. For about two weeks of my eight week vacation, Casa Chance has had no electricity. Good times.

I continue to GM games. I’m running a C&C/DCC/MCC mash-up every other Saturday. This campaign is loosely set in The Marmoreal Tomb. The PCs live in Sisak (from Dungeon #24 [July/August 1990]), very nearly the easternmost vestige of civilization. There are two groups of PCs. They’ve fought an evil wizard, a murderous demon-wolf, a human-sacrificing gnome, a hill giant family, a stone minotaur, and a bevy of evil humanoids. They’ve also started to deal with the meta-plot consequences of the campaign world being invaded by modrons.

I’m also running a DCC/MCC mash-up set in a post-apoc World of Greyhawk. In the funnel session, a mob of 0-levels defended the Inn of the Welcome Wench from a bullywug invasion during a horrific thunderstorm. In the second session, the survivors investigated the absence of Rufus and Burne. The PCs broke into the pair’s tower to discover the wizard Burne transformed into a horrid creature using its eye and mouth tentacles to operate Rufus as a puppet. The PCs found themselves facing a deadly threat, and so they fled the tower.

During and since North Texas RPG Con, I’ve picked up a few new RPG products. Let’s read about one of them now. I’ll get to the others later.

Tales from the Tavern, Issue #1 from Elven Maid Inn. This 98-page, system-agnostic gaming magazine is full of good stuff. There’s an essay. There are two interviews. There’s an explanation of Dystopian Dawn character creation. I dig the crossword puzzles and the two “NPC Extravaganzas”, which give system-neutral write-ups for NPCs to be dropped into my campaigns. There’re also monsters, fiction, spells, and campaign lore. It’s a great debut issue, and I’m looking forward to Issue #2.

Caveat: The editing in Issue #1 is spotty. There are numerous typos throughout, some of which would have been caught by spellcheck. This doesn’t make Issue #1 not well-worth checking out, but it does irritate my inner English teacher. Also, those last two links are affiliate links, and I’m the affiliate.

If you’re looking for worthwhile creators on Patreon, here’re the ones I currently support:

Talons and Tales: Art and stories created by a youthful artist. There’s not a lot of content here yet, but what there is amuses and inspires. Talons and Tales had me hooked with 29 June’s “Squirrel Rogue” post, especially the sketch of the squirrel rogue crouched in front of a locked chest, pausing long enough to give the viewer the side-eye.

Tome of Salvaterra: Many wonderful examples of stock art, maps, and creatures illustrated by Fernando Salvaterra, who is “a Brazilian freelance writer and illustrator who loves RPG and maps.” I get a real old-school vibe along with some whimsy as well.

Jeshields – RPG Stock Art: The title says it all. Illustrations come in black-and-white and/or color (depending on your level of patronage). There are monsters, characters, and items, oh my! There is a lot of content here. JE releases 10 illustrations a month and gives away credit for his on-line store of stock art. Not only that JE’s runs a great game of marines versus aliens.

Silver Compass Maps: Silver designs maps for table-top gaming. I’ve used several of them via Foundry when playing on-line. These maps usually have variants, such as daytime or night for outdoor maps. Silver does some lovely work, and my players have commented how nice her maps are.

AlexTheMapMaker: This my newest Patreon. Alex puts out one to three maps monthly. His town maps are what sold me. They’re simple, easy to read, and come with a handy key of main buildings. He also has battlemaps as well as isometric and traditional dungeons. What’s not to like?

I’m still not back on track with what’s supposed to be regular posting. It’s not that I’ve accomplished nothing since my last post, but nothing I’ve accomplished explores the goblin-spider’s lair enough to be worth a post.

But, I did do this!

Unidentified Female Observer
Number: 1-4, 6-24
Size: Medium
HD: 6 (d8)
AC: 15
Saves: M, P
Move: 40 ft.
Attacks: By weapon (see below)
Special: Alien Technology, Telepathy
Int: Superior to Genius
Alignment: Lawful Neutral/Evil
Type: Extraplanar
Treasure: 6
XP: 330 + 6

UFOs appear much like lovely humans (or maybe half-elves) who wear tight clothes made from what looks like shiny, metallic fabric. They wear strange masks and helmets or headdresses. Graceful and strong, many UFOs avoid combat, seeking to study what to them are strange forms of life, but evil UFOs may abduct creatures in order to perform painful experiments upon them.

UFOs speak their own language. They may choose to communicate telepathically, and this ability transcends language barriers.

Combat: UFOs use weapons in combat. A certain UFO will have 2-3 weapons available. See below for a suggestions.

Alien Physiognomy: A UFO’s Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores range from 13-18 (1d6+12). Adjust attacks, damage, hit points, et cetera as appropriate. When determining encumbrance, count Strength and Constitution as prime attributes.

Shiny Metal Fabric: A UFO’s clothing has a +5 AC bonus and an EV of 1.

Strange Helmet/Headdress: A UFO’s helmet/headdress has a +5 AC bonus and an EV of 1. It can be set to deepvision, see invisibility, locate object, or twilight vision.

Telepathy: UFOs may communicate telepathically. They understand all languages and can communicate with all creatures, save those with no discernible intelligence.

Weapon – Belt: When activated, the belt duplicates protection from arrows (1 charge), invisibility sphere (2 charges), teleport (3 charges), or wall of force (3 charges). These operate as if cast by a 9th-level wizard. The belt has 9 charges when fully charged. It regains 3 charges per day.

Weapon – Blaster: This hand-held ranged weapon fires a blast of destructive energy that duplicates burning hands (1 charge), magic missile (1 charge), shatter (2 charges), or lightning bolt (3 charges). These operate as if cast by a 5th-level wizard. The blaster has 7 charges when fully charged. It regains 3 charges per day.

Weapon – Rod: This hand-held melee weapon carries a powerful electrical charge that inflicts 1d8+5 points of damage with a touch attack roll.

Tags: C&C, monsters

I shall return to regular posts on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays aiming at a more-or-less complete goblin-spider lair. Work has begun. For example….

On the Water Pit Level of Bosukumo’s domain, intrepid adventurers can find a hidden door in the floor that opens to reveal a dark shaft leading down toward the unknown. While descending this shaft, adventurers pass through a planar effect. The top of the shaft begins in the Material Plane. The bottom ends into a pocket plane heavily affected by the Elemental Plane of Earth.

The Earth Level is the first of four more interconnected geomorphs. Exits from the Earth Level lead to twisting passages that randomly lead to another geomorph (most of the time). The Air, Fire, and Water Levels all present different environmental challenges.

Aside from completing the elemental geomorphs, I’m also working on a more detailed description of Bosukumo’s lair. This bit of effort will likely result in a downloadable PDF. Whether or not I further polish this projected rough diamond into something publishable remains to be seen.

The challenge in all of this is to complete a sufficient amount of drawing and writing so that I’m ahead of the game by enough that future posts in the series don’t get delayed.

Tags: Wednesday Lore