OSR Guide For The Perplexed Questionnaire

G+ is dying, but there has been a renewed energy to the OSR. Many within the community have decided to try out the social media startup MeWe and the OSR group is here, a new DIY forum has sprung up, James Young created a compiled list of blogs to help get the blogosphere restarted, and Ramanan and John Carlson created an .opml file to use with your feed reader, like Feedly or Inoreader (go to the little cog by subscriptions > manage subscriptions > import/export). Ramanan also wrote a tutorial for it. Right now, undeath after G+ is pretty cool.

Finally, Zak S also posted a questionnaire challenge for the OSR blogs, and here are my responses.


OSR Guide For The Perplexed Questionnaire

1. One article or blog entry that exemplifies 

the best of the Old School Renaissance for me:

   Jeff Rients' 20 Quick Questions

2. My favorite piece of OSR wisdom/advice/snark: 

   Just because you and I play DnD, doesn't mean we

   can or should be friends, and that is okay.

3. Best OSR module/supplement:

   Blackmarsh.

   4. My favorite house rule (by someone else):

   Zack S.'s D100 Fighter.

5. How I found out about the OSR:

   Grognardia.

6. My favorite OSR online resource/toy:

   The OSR on MeWe.

7. Best place to talk to other OSR gamers: MeWe.

8. Other places I might be found hanging 

out talking games:

   Twitter.

9. My awesome, pithy OSR take nobody 

appreciates enough:

   Masters of the Universe makes EVERYTHING better.

10. My favorite non-OSR RPG:

   Shadow of the Demon Lord.

11. Why I like OSR stuff: It's DIY and it empowers

   the players and the DM.

12. Two other cool OSR things you should know 

about that I haven’t named yet:

   Untold Adventures has replaced Swords and 

   Wizardry for me. Weird Adventures is a great

    setting.

13. If I could read but one other RPG blog 

but my own it would be:

   From the Sorcerer's Skull by Trey Causey.

14. A game thing I made that I like quite a lot is:

   The Class Hack for David Black's The Black Hack.

15. I'm currently running/playing:

   Running Dragon Heist for DnD 5th Edition. 

   Just completed running a Shadow of the Demon Lord 

   campaign.

   About to start playing Vampire: the Masquerade 5E.

16. I don't care whether you use ascending or 

descending AC because:

   I used THAC0.

17. The OSRest picture I could post on short notice:

This sums up everything I love about RPGs and the OSR.

Manimals: Level 4 Otter Psychic Magican for Shadow of the Demon Lord & Godless

In my last post I began exploring mixing After the Bomb with Shadow of the Demon Lord's Engine. First, I think that Pallaidum's rules could easily be bolted onto SotDL with some basic tweaking.

I'm working up a second character an Otter, I decided to give them +1 Perception, Swimmer, and Darksight for their Ancestry. Otherwise I used the SotDL rules as written.

Here is a level 4 Otter Psychic Magician

Strength 10 (+0)       Agility 11 (+1) 
Intellect 13 (+3)       Will 11 (+1)
Perception 14 (+4)   Defense 10 (Leather)
Health 26                  Healing Rate 6
Speed 10; swimmer  Size 1/2         Power 2

Languages and Professions 

   Common Tongue (read and write); Astrology
   Nature

Catch Your Breath 

Darksight
Psychic Power 4
Psychic Defense 
Psychic Spell Sense Magic

EQUIPMENT

Pistol (range 35) +1 with 1 boons (2d6)

TRADITIONS
Telepathy Sense Thoughts (3), Share Thoughts (3), 
   Message (2), Mind Stab (2), Read Minds (1)
Telekinesis Mind Over Matter (3), Crush (2), Hold (1)

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GameStorming: Shadow of the Demon Lord + After the Bomb or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I've been thinking about mixing the Shadow of the Demon Lord (SotDL) Engine to run Palladium RPGs, in this case, I'm looking at using it for After The Bomb (AtB) or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I've used the Human Ancestry as a base and used the AfB species description to adjust ability scores and the skill system for professions.

Here is a level 2 Bantam Chicken Warrior

Strength 11 (+1)       Agility 10 (+0) 
Intellect 10 (+0)       Will 11 (+1)
Perception 10 (+0)   Defense 12 (Leather)
Health 15                  Healing Rate 3
Speed 10                   Size 1

Languages and Professions 

   Common Tongue; Artisan, Mechanic

Catch Your Breath You can use an action

   or a triggered action on your turn to heal 

   damage equal to your healing rate. Once 

   you use this talent, you cannot use it again 

   until after you complete a rest.

Weapon Training When attacking with a 

   weapon, you make the attack roll with 1 boon.

EQUIPMENT

Baseball Bat (melee) +1 with 1 boons (1d6)
Machine Pistol (range 35) +0 with 1 boons (2d6)
Talons (melee) +1 with 1 boons (1d3)

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Labyrinth Lord: Phantom Stranger

Phantom Stranger for Labyrinth Lord
AL N, MV 30', AC 6, HD 6, #AT 1, THAC0 13, 
DG 1d6, SV 6 cleric, ML 12, Turn Undead as a 6th level cleric, Hide In Shadow and Hear Noise as a 6th level thief, XP 570

The Phantom Stranger is a being caught in a time loop. Near the end of the universe, the Phantom Stranger approached a group of arcanists who are trying to transfer energy from the Big Bang to extend the life of the universe. The Phantom Stranger realizes that one of the scientists is in reality an Avatar of Anti-life, and that their efforts will prevent the universe from ever existing. The story concludes with the Phantom Stranger passing a portion of himself to a scientist, who dives through the portal to the Big Bang, intercepts the beam that would have drained the Big Bang, and becomes the Phantom Stranger, completing the cycle.

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Labyrinth Lord: The Pholcitaur

Pholcitaur for Labyrinth Lord
AL N, MV 40', AC 7, HD 2, #AT 1 (weapon), THAC0 17, 
DG 1d6, SV 2 thief, ML 9, Climb Walls as a 2nd level thief, XP 80

The pholcitaur generally dwell in ancient ruins that they worship as the Progenitors. The pholcitaurs believe that they were created by the Progenitors and that is their sacred duty to preserve the secrets of their creators. Sadly, this often brings the generally peaceful folk into conflict with adventurers and treasure seekers.

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Darkest Dungeons: Swine Chopper for Shadow of the Demon Lord

Many years ago, when the Ancestor still had a small vestige of human decency left within him, he decided to use pigs as test subjects for his grim experiments rather than humans. Since the flesh of pigs is so similar to that of humans, they made nearly perfect vessels for the eldritch entities he was attempting to summon via blood magic and dark rituals. Many of the pigs that were possessed by these unspeakable horrors began to walk upright and gained more human-like features and intelligence, while others became weak and misshapen wretches -- the lucky ones, that is. Those specimens unfortunate enough to have been neglected and forgotten were left as little more than twisted piles of undulating, misshapen flesh.

When the Ancestor discovered the ancient Warrens, he repurposed them into a dumping grounds for his most underwhelming results and disappointing failures. By the time the Heir arrives, the Warrens have become home to the descendants of those experiments called The Swinefolk, a warrior race of pig people whose sole desire is to butcher and feed on any human they can get their hoofed claws on.

This large, brutish and disgusting hybrid of man and pig is the one of the more common and healthier specimens of the Swinefolk, serving simultaneously as meat butchers and warriors. When not ferociously butchering the cold and mangled flesh of his soon-to-be dinner, the Swine Chopper will happily test its bloody, serrated cleaver upon the bodies of naive adventurers who might happen upon its squalid home. Slow and hulking, the Chopper relies on its trusty ball and chain to end tiresome chases with ruthless and brain-splattering efficiency.
Swine Chopper          DIFFICULTY 10
Size 1 frightening swinefolk
Perception  10 (+0); shadowsight
Defense 12 (hard leather); Health 25
Strength 13 (+3) Agility 10 (+0) 
Intellect   8 (-2) Will         9 (-1)
Speed 10

ATTACK OPTIONS

Ball and Chain (melee or short range) +3 (1d6+2 
   plus the target is Dazed until the end of it's next 
   turn on attack roll of 20+)

Butcher Cut (melee) +3 (1d6 plus Bleeding on 
   attack roll of 20+)
Bleeding The target must make a Str challenge 
   roll with 1 bane. On a failure, it takes 1d3 
   damage. At the end of each round, a bleeding
   creature must make a Strength challenge roll. 
   On a failure, it takes 1d3 damage. On a 
   successes, the creatures wound stops bleeding.
   

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1,000 Faces: Chestnut Boykin

Chestnut Boykin
Female Stout Halfling
5E Level 4 Mastermind Rogue
LL Level 4 Rogue

Ability Scores:
Str 11    Dex 15    Con 13
Int 13    Wis 9      Cha 14 

Appearance: 
Chocolate Brown Eyes
Curly Auburn Hair
Curvaceous
Tall For A Halfling

Traits:
Educated

Flight Over Fight
Likable
Looking for Love
Loyal

Role: Chestnut is best used as a major ally or handler for a group. She's well connected and loyal, but will always look to flee the scene over fighting. She is also a potential love interest for a member of the group and potentially, forcing the best interests of her lover over her loyalties.