Product Development: Stat Blocks

I'm stepping back into the publishing arena and am developing a product for the OSR and DnD 5th Edition.

At the moment, as I work out stat blocks I'm pondering two issues.  

First, should I simply include a PDF for the OSR, in this case Labyrinth Lord and a PDF for 5E? Or should I feature dual stat blocks within the same PDF?

Second, here is the format for both stat blocks, please tell me what you think?

For the OSR
Yvelda Rivenheart (Female Hobgoblin AL C, MV 30', AC 5, HD 4 +1, #AT 1 [weapon], THAC0 16, DG 1d6 or weapon, SV 4 fighter, ML 11, XP 80)

For 5E

Yvelda Rivenheart (Female Hobgoblin AC 18, hp 97, 3 maul +9 (2d6+3), hobgoblin abilities,  Str +3, Dex +2, Con +3, Int +3, Cha +2. CR 1)

And

For the OSR

Argyle Fayde (Male Tiefling AL C, MV 30', AC 9, HD 2, #AT 1 [weapon or spell], THAC0 18, DG 1d4 or weapon, SV 2 magic-user, ML 7, XP 20)

For 5E

Argyle Fayde (Male Tiefling  AC 13, hp 33, 1 firebolt +4 (1d10), fire resistance, tiefling abilities, Dex +1, Int +1, Wis +1, Cha +2. CR 1)

Opinions would be appreciated.

Gamestorming: Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortles

Growing up in the 80's and being a comic book nerd, I've always loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Battle Beasts...basically I like humanoid Animals who use martial arts and guns.

Friday, Wizards of the Coast released the Tortle Package with it's proceeds going to the Extra Life charity. You get the tortle race and some additional information on Chult. 

It's worth the $10.

After reading through it, I started realizing that the tortle race, along with lizard folk, minotaurs, arakocra, kenku, and tabaxi, formed the backbone of a Mutant Animal game. You can stick with fantasy using straight DnD 5E or you can use UltraModern5 or Modern 5E for a game closer to the inspiration, or even Hyperlanes for SF.

I'm pretty stoked about the idea, but I don't have room to start another game right now, so I'm hoping to work this out sometime next year.

At this point, I'm leaning toward a modern setting probably working with UltraModern5, but allowing at least Warlocks and Mystics. The players would be raised in the Nursery, a base owned by the CHON Corporation. Are the mutants uplifted or hybrids? What is CHON's purpose for them? Why does the Si Fan have an interest in them? And last but no least, why is the sasquatch known as Howard Bly spying on them?

1,000 Faces: Sabrina and Serena Wollstonecraft

The Wollstonecraft twins are ambitious up and comers within the Contractor's Guild of Zobek. Their mother is Enchidna Wollstonecraft of Lem, Qent's most successful caravan magnate who has opened trade routes throughtout most of Tarth. Their oldest sister, Amarilla, went off to study wizardry at the Tower of Omens and Enchidna assumed her twins would want nothing more than to assume her place in the family business when she retired.

However, Sabrina and Serena despised their step-father, Piers Arliss-Wollstonecraft and their younger half-sister, Vyvian. Both women were always far more interested in stories of lost treasures and piracy, eventually found their way to Zobek and in the business of their uncle, Taurus Wollstonecraft, a moneylender who had ties to the Minerva crime family.

The twins were drawn to their Uncle's darker life, filled with violence, intimidation, and murder.  Eventually, a lover they shared named Norrin Dard, introduced them to the worship of Zehir and from there they used that thread to gain the access to the Contractor's Guild for the training they desired.

Rumor has it that the twins have deeply impressed Guild Master Yuanna Shadowspear and have continued to perform above expectaions for assassins of so little experience.

Sabrina (7th Level Human Assassin Rogue and 1st Level Sorcerer) is the quieter of the two, she notices everything and truly enjoys the kill. She believes that some strange heritage flows through the blood of her family and spends her downtime perfecting it. She is very close to their oldest sister and exchanges letters with her often.

Serena (8th Level Human Mastermind Rogue) is talkative and vivacious. She likes to be the center of attention and is always aware of the most recent gossip, a literal encyclopedia of who's who in both the underworld and high society. She is plagued by recurring nightmares of murdering her mother, which she has hidden even from Sabrina.

Both women are very loyal to the Guild Master and to their mentor Trok of Brimmen. While they learned the tenets of Zehir, they have no interest in the religious aspects of the Guild and therefore despise Highs Shroud Cedric, an old friend of their father who seems to always be keeping his eye upon the two women.

Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan: The Olman

My Oakhurst game started with the Sunless Citadel and has just entered the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan.

While my game is set in my own world, Tarth, which is a mixture of homebrewed sandbox and Nentir Vale, and Greyhawk. Reading through the adventure, the Olmans and their language come up regularly. None of my Players speak Olman and I didn't plan ahead enough to factor them.

My solution is to have the Olman people be the source of genasi for my campaign and exchange the Olman language for Primordial.

While I currently have no genasi characters, it gives me options for how they might enter the Campaign if word gets out that the Players found Tamoachan and raided it of it's treasures.

Thinking about WotC's Campaigns for D&D 5th Edition

Because I run a Wizards of the Coast Premier Store, I got my stock of Tomb of Annihilation in today and I took my lunch to browse through it. It's awesome, gorgeous, I can't recommend it enough.

But as I was browsing through it, a thought occurred to me. The campaigns and adventures that have published for 5th Edition, to me, channel the spirit of early DnD and ADnD. I don't say this simply because many of them draw deeply on classic roots, but in the sense that yes, they are mostly set in the Forgotten Realms, but in the same way that early adventures were set in Greyhawk or Blackmoor. Sure, they can expand that world, but they are just as much a DM's tool to shape their world.

I'll be the first to admit, I didn't start roleplaying until 1991 and ADnD 2nd Edition is where I started, so I'm not really an authority on those earlier modules. But I've read them since and again, in my opinion, each new Adventure WotC releases gets better and this impression I have feels more accurate.

Whatever the truth is, I feel like I'm living in another Golden Age of DnD and I'm very happy to be doing so.

Starfinder: Part 1

As a fan of Dreadstar and FFG's Dragon Star, I picked up Paizo's Starfinder RPG.

While Pathfinder is not my game of choice, I admire what Paizo has done with it and the direction it has taken. I've never been a min/maxer so the sheer number of options within Pathfinder are a bit overwhelming to me as a player. Those options and the Pathfinder rules themselves are doubly overwhelming to me as a Game Master.

Diving into Starfinder was not an easy decision for the above reasons.

The book is gorgeous, as beautiful as any product Paizo has produced. However, at 45, these eyes aren't sure how I feel about a 500 page book with something along the lines of an 8 point type font. The page count alone is intimidating to me.

I like the rule change where Hit Points are a flat number (as I did when I first encountered it in FantasyCraft), but I'm uncertain about adding Stamina Points. I'm guessing this is to allow a broader range of weapon damage, but I'm not sure why a laster gun has to be more deadly than a sword?

I'm still making my way through it and I'll post more thoughts as I continue.

Fiend Folio: Cifal

"The cifal — the name is acronymic of 'colonial insect-formed artificial life'  used by gnomes — refers to several swarms of insects (several hundred thousand insects to each swarm) which come together to form a single amorphous creature about man-sized."
CIFAL
Medium beast, unaligned
________________________________________________

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 45 (7d8 + 14) 

Speed 30 ft.
________________________________________________

   Str            Dex         Con           Int         Wis         Cha
16 (+3)        11 (+0)        14 (+2)        4 (-3)      10 (+0)      6 (-2)

________________________________________________

Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing

Senses blindsense 30 ft. 
passive Perception 10

Languages --
Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

ACTIONS
Swarming Insect Bites. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (3d6 + 3) poison damage.

If you like this post and others like it and have an extra $1 a month, please consider becoming a Patron of Cross Planes at Patreon.