Spes Magna Games

I am almost done with the first six episodes of Netflix’s Kingdom. This South Korean TV series is great. Set during the Joseon period of Korean history, it tackles common tropes related to political intrigue and official corruption common to many period dramas. To this somewhat standard fare, Kingdom adds a plague of nocturnal zombies, once again showing that Korean film makers know how to do survival horror better than almost everything churned out by Hollywood. (Also see what is probably the best zombie movie in the last several years, Train to Busan.)

Goemul
Frequency: Very rare (see below)
No. Appearing: 1-6
Armor Class: 8
Move: 12″
Hit Dice: 1-6 hit points
% in Lair: Nil
Treasure Type: Nil
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 1-4
Special Attacks: Disease
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Animal
Alignment: Neutral
Size: M
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
Level/XP Value: II/36 + 1/hp

Climate/Terrain: Any climate/any land
Organization: Mob
Activity Cycle: Nocturnal
Diet: Carnivore
Morale: Fearless (20)

Goemul appear much like zombies, but they are not undead. Instead, they are the victims of a disease that rapidly causes what appears to be death followed by renewed, violent activity aimed at further spreading the contagion. The disease destroys the victim’s intelligence and personality, turning the victim into a ravenous cannibal.

A goemul does not feel pain or exhaustion. It is immune to effects that inflict pain or cause sleep. Weapons inflict minimum damage on a goemul. Most of its organs are no longer vital. A strike to the head inflicts normal damage. Treat the goemul’s head as a armor class 4 for melee attacks. For ranged attacks against the head, treat short range as medium and medium range as long.

A goemul’s typical attack involves charging its victim in order to overbear. The goemul makes a melee attack as normal. If the victim is wearing leather or padded armor, the goemul gets a +2 “to hit” bonus. Against chain, ring, or scale mail, it gets a +4 “to hit” bonus. Against banded, plate, and splint, the goemul gets a +6 “to hit” bonus. If the overbear attack succeeds, the victim takes 1-4 points of damage, but only 50% of this damage is actual; the balance is restored at the rate of 1 hit point per round. Of course, the victim becomes prone.

The goemul’s most dangerous attack is its bite. The goemul has a +2 bonus “to hit” a prone target with its bite. A target damaged by a goemul’s bite must make a saving throw versus paralyzation, modified by dexterity defensive adjustment and bonuses to armor class due to armor and shield. A failed saving throw results in the target being incapacitated due to intense pain for one melee round. After this time, the victim ceases movement and appears dead for another 1d2 melee rounds. Then, the victim’s transformation into a goemul is complete. A cure disease spell applied before the transformation is complete stops the disease from the transforming the victim into a goemul. The victim remains unconscious with 1 hit point.

Goemul are active only at night. As the sun rises, they quickly find a place to hide and then become dormant. A goemul will not wake up until after the sun sets, remaining unconscious even if moved or attacked.

Goemul are very rarely encountered. A goemul is first formed when a living humanoid consumes the flesh of a chulcheo-goemul’s victim. A chulcheo-goemul results from attempting to treat a terminally ill humanoid with the so-called “resurrection plant”. This rare flower restores the patient to life and health, but transforms the patient into a chulcheo-goemul. A chulcheo-goemul’s victims do not transform into goemul.

Goemul are much feared. Unleashed in a crowded area, such as in a village, a mob of goemul can quickly grow into a horde that may overwhelm the countryside and beyond.

Tags: monsters, ThursdAD&D

As promised last Savage Wednesday, here’s the link to the work-in-progress The Kids’ Game campaign setting for the Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer’s Edition game that starts this coming Saturday.

Now that you’ve read over the document, you can see the heavy borrowing from Torg by West End Games. I played Torg quite a bit while stationed in Hawaii. I was publised in two of their monster books and even got to rep WEG at a gaming convention in Honolulu. Good times.

Two key concepts from Torg are that there are alternative realities ruled by malevolent powers and that the heroes can bend the rules of reality. I’m keeping both of these concepts for The Kids’ Game, albeit in altered forms.

Speaking of those Torg monster books, they were Creatures of Aysle and Creatures of Orrorsh. One my contributions were the shadow dogs, the idea for which I took from a Grant Morrison Doom Patrol comic book.

A shadow dog is an Aylish creature which resembles a canine to some extent, but is in truth a magical creature gifted with the ability to track virtually anything with uncanny success. The shadow dog’s head is a flat wedge split by a great, drooling mouth filled with long, needle-sharp teeth. It has no eyes or ears, and relies solely on its enhanced sense of smell and its sorcerous talents. The lean, hard flesh of the shadow dog is covered with short, wiry black hairs that serve as olfactory receptors. Its large paws sport thick, curved talons.

Shadow Dog

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d4, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d6, Fighting d6, Notice d10, Stealth d6, Tracking d10
Pace: 8″
Parry: 5
Toughness: 4
Special Abilities:

Bite: STR + d4.

Detect: The shadow dog detects the “scent” of its quarry’s aura in a 100 yard radius with a Notice or Tracking roll.

Fleet-Footed: Roll a d10 when running instead of a d6.

Senses: A shadow dog is blind and deaf. Its sense of smell is supernatural, removing trait roll penalties for physical action. The shadow dog’s sense of smell functions out to 12″ under normal conditions.

Size -1

Tags: monsters, Savage Wednesday, Savage Worlds, The Kids' Game

This week’s Tuesday Terror comes from the AD&D Monstrous Compendium Annual: Volume Two, published in 1995.

Also called deep men or dark men, amiq rasol are vengeful undead spawned from pirates who were lost at sea, murdered, or marooned. These creatures haunt coasts and islands, preying upon the living. Amiq rasol appear much as they did in life, albeit perhaps paler with shabbier clothing. When seen through magic (such as true seeing) or when they attack, the amiq rasol’s true appearance reveals itself: that of a corpse whose eyes glow with hellish green fire and whose nails and teeth have become bestial.

Amiq Rasol
Medium undead, neutral evil

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 58 (9d8+18)
Speed 45 ft., swim 25 ft.

STR 13 (+1), DEX 14 (+2), CON 15 (+2), INT 12 (+1), WIS 13 (+1), CHA 12 (+1)

Saving Throws DEX +4, WIS +3
Skills Deception +3, Perception +3, Stealth +4
Damage Resistances necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities cold
Condition Immunities charmed, paralyzed
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages the languages it knew in life
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

False Appearance. Unless seen via appropriate magic (such as true seeing) or when it attacks, the amiq rasol appears to be a living creature.

Actions

Multiattack. The amiq rasol makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its claws.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing damage. Against a creature that is grappled, incapacitated, or restrained, the bite inflicts an extra 7 (2d6) necrotic damage. The target’s hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken, and the amiq rasol regains hit points equal to that amount. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d4+2) slashing damage. Instead of dealing damage, the amiq rasol can grapple the target (escape DC 13).

Charm (3/Day). The amiq rasol targets one humanoid it can see within 30 feet of it. If the target can see the amiq rasol, the target must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw against this magic or be charmed by the amiq rasol. The charmed target regards the amiq rasol as a trusted friend to be heeded and protected. Although the target isn’t under the amiq rasol’s control, it takes the amiq rasol’s requests or actions in the most favorable way it can, and it is a willing target for the amiq rasol’s bite attack.

Each time the amiq rasol or the amiq rasol’s companions do anything harmful to the target, it can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success. Otherwise, the effect lasts 24 hours or until the amiq rasol is destroyed, is on a different plane of existence than the target, or takes a bonus action to end the effect.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters, Tuesday Terror

This Sunday, the AD&D game continues as the characters — all squires serving Lady Mirelyn — continue to investigate sinister and secretive skullduggery in Saltmarsh’s allegedly haunted house. So far, the squires have found little evidence of haunting, but they have found evidence of murder in the form of a rot grub bloated corpse in the house’s basement.

Last Thursday, I presented AD&D versions of two creatures from the 1981 printing of TSR’s Gamma World. I’m a little more pressed for time this week, so here’s one more mutant monster reimagined.

Fen
Frequency: Rare
No. Appearing: 4-40
Armor Class: 7
Move: 6″//12″
Hit Dice: 2+1
% in Lair: 30%
Treasure Type: D
No. of Attacks: 2
Damage/Attack: 1-6/by weapon
Special Attacks: Nil
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Low to average
Alignment: Neutral (evil)
Size: M
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
Level/XP Value: III/65 + 3/hp (Assistant or guard: III/110 + 4/hp. Leader: IV/170 + 5/hp. Chief: V/300 + 6/hp. Shaman: III/135 + 4/hp.)

Climate/Terrain: Coastal waters and swamps/tropical to temperate
Organization: Tribal
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Omnivore
Morale: Elite (14)

Fens are intelligent, man-sized humanoid fish. On land, they walk on stubby fins that double as legs. Fens have both lungs and gills, and they may remain out of water for as long as 24 hours without suffering any ill effects. Due to their translucent skin, fens blend into their environs when underwater so as to become invisible (requiring the ability to see invisible objects to locate them) as long as they are not attacking.

Fens are immune to electricity, and they take half damage from fire-based attacks. They make saving throws against light-based attacks with a +2 bonus. Fens fight with weapons, especially stabbing weapons and nets. They also use their tails to club their enemies. Once per day, a fen can polymorph into a large bird (treat as a giant eagle, but the fen’s hit points do not change). A fen can maintain its bird form for up to 1 turn.

For every 10 fens encountered, there will be a leader with armor class 5, 19 hit points, and 4+1 hit dice and four assistants with with armor class 6, 14 hit points, and 3+1 hit dice. If more than 24 are encountered, there will be in addition a chief with armor class 4, 22 hit points, and 5+1 hit dice and 12 guards with armor class 5, 12-14 hit points, and 3+1 hit dice. For every 10 fens encountered, there is a 50% chance for a shaman with 3+1 hit dice and the spell ability of a 3rd-level cleric.

The lair of these creatures is usually underwater in caves. Fens rarely build crude villages on the coast or on a hillock in a swamp. A fen lair will be protected by 2-8 giant electric eels (if underwater) or 2-5 crocodiles (if built on land). Female fens are nearly indistinguishable from males, and usually stay in the lair, where they guard hatcheries and train the tribe’s animals. Females and young typically number 85% and 125% the total number of males.

Fens are omnivorous, but they are likely to prefer human flesh to other meats.

Tags: AD&D, Gamma World, Mirelyn's Skyrealm, monsters, ThursdAD&D

So, my Saturday gaming group brought to a close our foray into 5E D&D. While discussing what to play next, the consensus developed that we would play Savage Worlds and that I would be the GM. So, I bought Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer’s Edition (because it was cheap and two other players own it as well) and cobbled together a campaign hook. Here’s the gist of it:

A group of kids: all from the same school, all in the same trouble for doing something stupid, all punished by having to help Old Man Sutherland clean out his attic. The kids find a manuscript that Old Man Sutherland says is a “role-playing game”, a new type of game he created years ago. He helps the kids make up characters. With the first roll of strange dice, the lights go out inside and come on outside, glaring through the windows. Old Man Sutherland shoves the manuscript and the dice into the kids’ hands.

As the front door bursts open, Old Man Sutherland utters his last words to the kids, “Protect the book! Use the dice! Run!”

I’m putting together a player’s guide that explains the modified character creation rules, the amended lists for skills and edges and what not, and talks a bit about setting rules. It’s still a work-in-progress, but I’ll post a link to the most current draft next Wednesday.

In The Kids’ Game campaign, everyone runs a kid between the ages of 10 to 14, all of whom attend the same school. Their world is very much like our world, but with one seemingly minor difference: There is no such thing as a roleplaying game in their universe. Very quickly during the first session (scheduled for 2 February), the kids will rush from point A to point B, but point B doesn’t exist in their universe and, when they arrive, they’re not the same as they were. The kids change to forms with abilities suitable for whatever universe they find themselves in.

No matter which universe, however, the kids face danger and intrigue. Creatures of Hostile Intent want the book and the dice. Not only is Mr. Sutherland’s manuscript the only roleplaying game in existence where the kids come from, but the book and dice hold Amazing Secrets that must not fall into the Wrong Hands.

Here’s a sample kid made up with my modified character creation rules:

Billy Moore

Small, scrappy, not too bright, and with poor personal hygiene skills. Billy is possessed to skate, as announced by his Suicidal Tendencies T-shirts that get worn too many times between washings.

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength d4, Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d4, Fighting d4, Skateboarding d6, Stealth d6, Streetwise d6, Taunt d4
Charisma: -1
Pace: 6″
Parry: 4
Toughness: 4
Hindrances: Habit (bad hygiene), Hard of Hearing (-2 to notice sounds), Small (-1 Toughness, -1 Fighting and Strength rolls)
Edges: Luck, Quick

Tags: Savage Wednesday, Savage Worlds, The Kids' Game