The Old School Holiday Adventure Bundle

Ho, ho, hozzah!

The Old School Holiday Adventure bundle is now ready for you to stuff into someone’s virtual stocking. For $11, you get these OSR-compatible products:

Goshahri: The City in a Cave
The Bishop’s Secret
Narvon’s Sinister Stair
Aquatic Depths & Denizens
Chance Encounters
Demi-Human Adventurers
El Mariachi de Combate
Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods
Gruß vom Krampus!
Map Collection I
Map Collection II
Rantz’s Fair Multitude
Shallows & Sharks: Old School Fantasy Version
That’s a Goblin!?
The Bard
The Magus

That’s 16 titles full of adventures, monsters, magic items, character classes, and more.

December 8th, 2018  in RPG No Comments »

Shoes of Plenty

One of the many cool things about being Catholic is that once a year you get to eat food out of a shoe. That day is today, the feast day of St. Nicholas of Myra, who was born some time around the late 3rd century in Asia Minor. Nicholas was imprisoned for being a Christian under Diocletian, but gained his freedom after Constantine legalized Christianity (Nota Bene: Not made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, as far too many people wrongly claim.)

Nicholas had a reputation for covert generosity, allegedly sneaking around Myra at night, chucking bags of gold through the windows of poor fathers faced with the prospect of having to sell off their daughters into slavery. Supposedly, one such bag of gold landed in a shoe, and thus the Catholic tradition of eating chocolate coins out of shoes today.

Shoes of Plenty
Wondrous item, rare

These normal-seeming shoes possess a remarkable power. When unworn and left in an unobserved place for a long rest, they magically fill with fresh fruit, nuts, and 1d6 gold pieces. The quantity of fruit and nuts is equivalent to one meal for one person.

December 6th, 2018  in RPG 1 Comment »

The Old Crone of Pohjola

And it’s back to my series of 5E D&D conversions of material from the AD&D Deities & Demigods. When last I left off, I’d tackled a bit of the Finnish Mythos as well as several magical items. Returning to the Finnish Mythos, I’m faced with a minor irritation. Most of the Finnish Mythos consists of heroes, and converting heroes to 5E D&D is a bit of a pain. So, in order to minimize the pain bits, I’m going to limit myself to three final Finnish Mythos conversions.

The first is Louhi, the wicked crone who rules “the evil land of Pohjola with an iron hand.” In later posts, I’ll get to the Son of Pohjola, Louhi’s savage offspring (and one of the few NPCs from Deities & Demigods that I ever used while DMing). I’ll finish up the Finnish Mythos with the air maidens, those angelic servants of Ukko, the supreme god of the Kalevala.

(Nota Bene: That link above is an affiliate link.)

Louhi rules the evil land of Pohjola with an iron hand. She opposes all of the good heroes of Kalevala, and works continuously for their downfall. (Deities & Demigods, page 60)

Louhi
Medium humanoid (human), lawful evil

Armor Class 14
Hit Points 110 (13d8+52)
Speed 25 ft.
Ability Scores STR 8 (-1), DEX 18 (+4), CON 19 (+4), INT 19 (+4), WIS 14 (+2), CHA 7 (-2)

Saving Throws INT +14, WIS +14, CHA +3
Skills Arcana +9, Intimidation +3, Perception +9, Nature +9
Damage Resistances necrotic, poison
Senses passive Perception 19
Languages Common, Giant, Infernal
Challenge 14 (11,500 XP)

Illusion Immunity. Louhi cannot be fooled any illusion created by a cantrip or 1st-level spell (or their equivalent).

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If Louhi fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.

Magic Resistance. Louhi has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Mind of Iron. Louhi’s proficiency bonus for Intelligence and Wisdom saving throws is doubled.

Queen of the Dead. Undead never attack Louhi unless controlled to do so, and even then, the undead have disadvantage on attack rolls to hit Louhi. When Louhi casts animate dead or create undead, the undead she creates have 15 additional hit points and inflict an additional 5 points of damage with their attacks.

Spellcasting. Louhi is a 15th-level spellcaster. Her spellcasting ability is Intelligence (save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). She prepares spells from the cleric (up to 5th-level spells), druid (up to 5th-level spells), and wizard (up to 8th-level spells) lists. She has the following spells prepared:

Cantrips (at will): dancing lights, mage hand, minor illusion, poison spray, sacred flame
1st level (4 slots): cure wounds, mage armor, silent image, thunderwave
2nd level (3 slots): hold person, phantasmal force, spike growth
3rd level (3 slots): animate dead, protection from energy, vampiric touch
4th level (3 slots): divination, phantasmal killer, wall of fire
5th level (2 slots): contagion, mislead
6th level (1 slot): circle of death, create undead
7th level (1 slot): etherealness
8th level (1 slot): incendiary cloud

Spell Recovery (1/Day). Louhi has learned to regain some of her magical energy by meditation. When she finishes a short rest, she can choose expended spell slots to recover. The spell slots can have a combined level that is equal to or less than 15, and none of the slots can be 6th level or higher.

Actions

Quarterstaff. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2 (1d6-1) bludgeoning damage plus 4 (1d8) poison damage, or 3 (1d8-1) bludgeoning damage plus 4 (1d8) poison damage if used with two hands.

Legendary Actions

Louhi can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Louhi regains spent legendary actions at the start of her turn.

Cantrip. Louhi casts a cantrip.

Detect. Louhi makes a Wisdom (Perception) check.

Teleport. Louhi magically teleports, along with any equipment she is wearing or carrying, up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space she can see.

Lair Actions

Within the evil land of Pohjola, Louhi reigns supreme. If Louhi is encountered in her lair, she has a challenge of rating of 15 (13,000 XP). While in her twisted forest home or forboding castle, on initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), Louhi takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects:

Blinding Ice and Snow. A whirling cloud of ice and snow roars up around Louhi. Each creature within 10 feet of her, including around a corner, must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of Louhi’s next turn. A creature that succeeds on the saving throw is immune to this effect until the end of the Louhi’s next turn.

Grasping Shadows. Sinuous shadows appear in a 20-foot radius centered on a point on the ground that Louhi can see within 60 feet of her. That area becomes difficult terrain, and each creature there must succeed on a DC 18 Strength saving throw or be restrained by the shadows. A creature can be freed it it or another creature takes an action to make a DC 18 Strength check and succeeds. The grasping shadows fade away when Louhi uses this lair action again or when Louhi dies.

Queenly Might. Louhi rolls 1d8 and regains a spell slot of that level or lower. If she has no spent spell slots of that level or lower, nothing happens.

Regional Effects

The region around Louhi’s forboding castle is warped by her powerful magic, which creates the following effects, all of which fade within 1d10 days if Louhi dies.

* Icy fog lightly obscures the land within 6 miles of Louhi’s castle.

* While Louhi is at rest, storms rage within 6 miles of Louhi’s castle, forming blizzard conditions.

* Icy, jagged formations create labyrinthine passages within 1 mile of Louhi’s castle. The formations act as 10-foot high, 10-foot thick walls that block line of sight. Creatures can move through the passages as if they were difficult terrain. Each 10-foot cube of ice has AC 5, 30 hit points, resistance to bludgeoning and slashing damage, vulnerability to fire damage, and immunity to psychic and lightning damage.

November 15th, 2018  in RPG No Comments »

Frog Wraiths

Emerging from the darkness, bones sizzling and glowing, hovering just above the rippling water, nearly as tall as a man. Frog wraiths!

Nota Bene: All links below are affiliate links.

*****

For The Black Hack:

Frog Wraith (HD 5)

Chilling Touch: STR (1 Close) 6 dmg
Croak: DEX (1 Nearby) 6 dmg

Incorporeal! Ignores all damage from even damage die rolls.
Soul Rending! Armor Dice cannot be used to negate damage dealt by the Croak.

*****

For Mutant Future:

Frog Wraith
No. Enc.: 3d6
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: fly 120′ (40′)
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 6
Attacks: 1 (cold ray)
Damage: 4d6
Save: L3
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: None
XP: 1,000

Mutations: Energy Ray; Unique (Out of Phase, Vampiric Croak)

The strange, deadly frog wraith attacks either with a ray of intense cold out to a range of 50 feet or else with its vampiric croak, a mental attack with an effective WIL of 2d6+6 that drains 2d4 hit points from each affected creature within 30 feet. These absorbed points go into a separate reserve for the frog wraith, and any damage inflicted on the frog wraith is taken from these reserve points first. Frog wraiths exist partially out of phase with reality. Non-mental attacks are 50% likely to not harm a frog wraith.

November 12th, 2018  in RPG No Comments »

Q – The Winged Serpent!

Yes, that’s right. Quetzalcoatl lives in the Chrysler Building and Shelly Desai offers sacrifices while David Carradine and Richard Roundtree try to stop the monster and the murders while dealing with the vainglorious Michael Moriarty, who delivers a performance so method that it’s almost a caricature, especially within the context of a joyfully B-movie. Trivia: David Carradine’s half-brother Bruce plays “The Victim”.

Q – The Winged Serpent: The only 80s monster/crime drama that features a police officer/mime silently emoting his horror and anguish while watching a fellow officer die off-screen.

(Nota Bene: All links below are affiliate links.)

*****

For The Black Hack

Q (HD 8)

Part bird, part serpent. It’s Q, and it hungers for sacrifices!

Claws: STR (2 Close) 5 dmg
Gotcha! Deals Ongoing Damage that requires a STR Test to end.

Bite: DEX (1 Nearby) 9 dmg
Bloodthirsty! Deals double damage against targets below one-half their maximum HP.

*****

For Swords & Wizardry

Q
Hit Dice: 8
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Attack (Damage): 2 Claws (1d6), 1 Bite (2d8)
Move: 9/15 (when flying)
Save: 8
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 9/1,100
Special: Grab

If Q’s target is hit with a claw and fails its saving throw, Q holds the target, struggling, until a saving throw is successful.

*****

For Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

Q
Alignment: Chaotic
Psychological Traits: Q causes fear in all living creatures.
Special Rules: Q flies as a swooper, and the Move score given below is for ground movement. Q attacks with one bite and two claws. Its claws inflict one-half Strength damage.

Basic Profile
M 3, WS 75, BS 0, S 6, T 5, W 40, I 30, A 3, Dex -, Ld 45, Int 30, Cl 45, WP 45, Fel

October 31st, 2018  in RPG No Comments »