Friday, July 31, 2020

TMNT: Triceratons for Survive This!! Vigilante City





TRICERATON for Survive This!! Vigilante City

ARMOR CLASS: 17 

HIT DICE: 3 (20 HP Armor)
MOVE: 15
 
ACTIONS: 2 
ATTACK DAMAGE: Laster Pistol (2d6), Maul (1d10+3)
SPECIAL: Breathe Nitrogen and Sulfur
BONUSES: Toughness +2 (Armor), +4 to Attacks, 
+3 to Melee damage, +4 to Spot, +4 to Listen, +6 to Initiative, 
+5 to Intimidation, +3 to Athletics: Basic
MORALE: 9 
TERROR: 9
HDE: 4

ITEMS: Life Support Armor (Environmental, HP 20), 
Frag Grenade x2, Med-Pack 1

"The Triceratons usually breathe a mix of nitrogen and sulfur and thus usually use helmets or some other device to provide themselves with a suitable breathing environment. They are a saurian species and may be genetically similar to the Triceratops from Earth. The Triceratons are an extremely strong and aggressive species, as well as very loyal to their race, and are herbivores. They make their homeworlds on asteroids, building ion drives on them, and turning them into mobile cities. The Triceratons also use these asteroids as military staging grounds, factories, universities, research centers, and arenas for sporting events. They are highly successful conquerors, thanks to the fact that they eagerly use new technology and always change their tactics to adapt to that. The Triceratons are also able to adapt to new atmospheres well thanks to their technology. Some of their agents also take a drug called Xemorene, which is an extremely, addictive drug that enhances speed and nervous systems, but withdrawal can cause heart failure and death. The Triceratons' technology is quite advanced and uses anti-gravity vehicles and energy weapons regularly. Their government is known as the Triceraton Republic or Empire."

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Micronauts: Repto for Stars Without Number

They Came From Inner Space!

Dave Dorman


HD: 1
AC: 13
Atk: +1

Dmg: 1d4 (1 point/AC 15), 1d8+1 (2 points/AC 15) lasersaw, 
          1d6 (100/300) blaster
Move: 10m, 20m flying
Morale: 8
Skill: +1

Save: 15a+

Repto are evil winged reptiles from the Microverse that serve the apostate Baron Karza. They have razor-sharp claws but the Baron often equips them with lasersaws and blasters as cybernetic enhanements.



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Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Dungeon Crawl Classics: Ragnacök

A day or two ago someone posted this image in an OSR Facebook group and wanted to know it's story. Here is my answer.



"It sates itself on the life-blood of fated men, paints red the powers' homes with crimson gore. Black becomes the sun's beams in the summers that follow, weathers all treacherous. Do you still seek to know? And what?"

-- The Poetic Edda


Init +8; Atk laser vision +8 missle fire (3d6+3, range 100'); AC 17; HD 10d8; MV 30’; Act 2d20; SV Fort +6, Ref +9, Will +7; AL C.





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Labyrinth Lord: Cavalier Kit



Cavalier Kit for Labyrinth Lord

Glibness: When a monster rolls a 6 for its Reaction roll, it can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 6. 

Horse Soldier: A Cavalier may use a shield, lance, or long sword.

Riding: At 1st level, a Cavalier has an 87% chance of success to ride a horse which improves at the same rate as a Thief's Climb Walls Skill.

Strong-Willed: ACavalier has a +2 to the Saving Throws of all mind-affecting magic.

Monday, July 27, 2020

Monstrous Monday: Grendel Prime for Stars Without Number




HD: 8
AC: 18 (19 with energy shield)
Atk: +8 (2 attacks per turn)

Dmg: 2d10 plasma sword
Move: 15m
Morale: 10
Skill: +3

Save: 11+

"Ten years after the death of Orion I, his son Jupiter was kidnapped from his home/prison at a base in the Dakota Black Hills by a lone Grendel in black full-body armour, called by the other characters "the paladin," and later known as Grendel-Prime. The regent, Orion's widow Laurel Kennedy, sent the empire's elite Red Devils after the renegade Grendel and his hostage, further neglecting and alienating her daughter Crystal in the process.

Jupiter and the Grendel fled through wastelands and the wreckage of cities, across the ocean, and into the jungles of Africa. Along the way, they encountered not only the Red Devils but also bandits, mutants, pirates, dangerous wildlife, and other Grendels (both friend and foe). In the OPEC wastes, Grendel and Jupiter were captured by a band of rebels opposed to the misrule of Laurel Kennedy. Grendel-Prime was disassembled and revealed as a solar-powered cyborg created by Orion I to protect Jupiter from political manipulators until he was old enough to assume the throne of the Grendel-Khan.

Jupiter was abducted from the rebel base by a group of vampires who took him back to their lair in Siberia. The rebels and their charismatic leader, Azif a-Barouk, accompanied Grendel-Prime to rescue the boy, and Grendel-Prime managed to slay the vampires' lord in the process - who turned out to be none other than Orion Assante's old foe, Pellon Cross.

Laurel Kennedy's rule was undermined by the lack of an heir, so she tried to arrange a suitable dynastic marriage for her daughter, Crystal. But Crystal, who had begun an affair with her guard, a Grendel named Susan Veraghen, escaped the Black Hills complex and fled into the wilderness. Laurel became increasingly irrational, and effective rule of the empire passed to her minister, Abner Heath.

Ten years passed. Laurel Kennedy had been quietly displaced and imprisoned by Abner Heath, who took on the role of world leader. In attempting to hold the empire together Heath wanted to learn how to activate the Sun-Disc, Orion's most formidable weapon, but was met with continual failure. But during a televised worldwide broadcast Jupiter - now a young man - and Grendel-Prime made their move. Grendel-Prime and his team captured the Imperial palace, and Jupiter raided the Black Hills complex, encountering a wasted and frail Laurel Kennedy. It turned out that the missing component of the Sun-Disk was contained within the body of Grendel-Prime. He activated the weapon and destroyed the government's broadcasting satellites, enabling Jupiter to take over the airwaves and announce his succession. After Jupiter's coronation, Grendel-Prime took his leave of Jupiter and disappeared off into the wastelands."



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Sunday, July 26, 2020

Spotlight on Neurocity




Neurocity is a cyberpunk RPG created and published by Gavriel Quiroga and in my opinion, it carves its own niche into that genre quite nicely.

I received a PDF of this product in exchange for this spotlight.

The PDF is 126 pages and covers the setting and the game's rules system.

The book opens with this:

"NEUROCITY is a technological city complex crowned by a glitched digital sun ruled by an ever-watchful supercomputer called I.S.A.C (Intelligent Singular Artificial Consciousness).


The history behind the founding of the city is shrouded in mystery. However, an unquestionable official version has been created in which Man existed in a state of perpetual ignorance and confusion until he stumbled by chance on I.S.A.C. Then everything changed. I.S.A.C gave Man a purpose and granted him immortality with the creation of Samsara and the process of Renewal.

This happened a long time ago, in a past as remote as it is uncertain. Now only the present matters. The effort and sacrifice of Man has borne fruit and Neurocity now enjoys an immortal society that is increasingly perfect or at least boasts so"

Neurocity has 5 social castes and your place is determined by I.S.A.C. Deltas are the lowest and they dressin black and use Soma to "relax the mind"; Gammas are laborers and while Soma is not required it is encouraged and they dress in dark gray; Betas are committed and loyal and have access to the Intranet and wear light gray; Alphas are supervisors and have their own language in addition to the Neurocity's common one, they are wealthy, and dress in white; Finally, there are the Epsilons, anomalies that are considered broken and a threat to I.S.A.C. and his creation.

The City is run by the Ministries of Health, Technology, Truth, and Peace and Order.

The Intranet is open to Betas and Alphas and is an extension of I.S.A.C.'s nervous system, those of lower castes can access via public terminals and cyberdecks.

I.S.A.C. created Samsara that allows those who are no longer functioning properly (Epsilons) to be reborn and refreshed, allowing functional immortality. Vitalogy is I.S.A.C.'s idealogy that teaches Obedience, Discipline, and Order and reinforces that a citizen's sole concern is their place within Neurocity.

Cyberware is not utilized or considered appropriate with Samasara's ability to replace and refresh a flawed citizen. The rest of the City's technology is inefficient due to the controlled nature of the resources available to the castes. In fact, it is going through a technological involution from the digital to the analog for all but the Alphas.

The game system has five Attributes Logic, Personality, Technocracy, Instinct, and Violence and they are generally 5 to 10. Players roll 2d6 trying roll equal to or less than the appropriate Attribute. If you succeed by rolling an 8 or higher it is a critical success while if you roll two 1s the roll is generally unsuccessful or at least requires another roll. Rolling two 6s can be interpreted as a critical failure but the Director should only enforce that once per story.

I haven't played many cyberpunk games in the last two decades but Neurocity is a really well-done setting with a lot going on in a mere  126 pages.

I cannot recommend it enough.

You can buy it here.


Thursday, July 23, 2020

Labyrinth Lord: The Barbarian Kit



ADnD 2nd Edition was the first version of the game I played and by the time I rolled my first Fighter the Complete Series of sourcebooks was already pretty well established. I've always thought Kits were a good idea though some of them had some real problems with certain role-playing requirements in exchange for other mechanical benefits.

At this point, a Kit isn't tied to a specific class or race-as-class and takes inspiration from how they were presented in ADnD 2E's Skills and Powers.


Barbarian Kit for Labyrinth Lord

Alertness: Roll a d8 instead of a d6 for your side's Initiative.

Endurance: A Barbarian may use their Strength in place of Wisdom for their bonus to Saving Throws vs All Magical Effects.

Intimidation: A Barbarian my substitute their Strength for Charisma when rolling for Reaction.

Weapon Training: A Barbarian my use a hand axe, short sword, or spear.


Monday, July 20, 2020

Monstrous Monday: Bionic Bigfoot

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BIGFOOT - BIONIC for Dark Places and Demogorgons

ARMOR CLASS: 14 
HIT DICE: 5+5
MOVE: 12, IGNORE ROUGH TERRAIN
 
ACTIONS:
MORALE:
TERROR: 12
HDE: 6

Attack Damage: Slap (d6+2), Charge (2D6+2), Slam (2D4+2)
Special: Run x4 Move
Bonuses: +4 to Melee attacks, +6 to Spot, +6 to Stealth, +6 to Swim, +6 to Climb, +6 to Jump, +6 to Track

Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is an alien cyborg created by a group of aliens visiting earth; he was constructed by the alien Shalon in imitation of a lower form of life from the alien homeworld, using a technology called "Nyosynthetics," an advanced form of Bionics which are powered by Mergeron. He was created to cultivate mystery and fear in a remote part of the Pacific Northwest in order to protect the location and identity of the alien's secret base.

Monday, July 13, 2020

Monstrous Monday: Moloids






Many falsely believe that moloids are the creation of the wizard Rupert the Elder in the laboratory of his underground lair known as Subterranea. In fact, his work opened a gateway to the demi-plane they originate from and the moloids quickly began to worship him as a living god. Using them as a labor pool and sentinels to guard Subterranea, Rupert undertook the creation of dungeon known as Erdfalle which is an experiment designed to lure in adventurers so that he could kill them and take their magic items.

Construction of the dungeon began around six months ago and Rupert is quite pleased with the moloid's work. He is so pleased, in fact, that he has already begun planting knowledge of the dungeon's existence and even sold maps to it on the black market. The experiment of Erdfalle has expanded to a breeding program for more powerful moloids.


Sunday, July 12, 2020

Night Shift: Goodbye Kitty




"Remember Halloween 3?  The one without Michael Meyers.  Yeah, that one.  Well, I was reading about this toy company that is owned by Satanists and these demonic toys they're selling.  Who's Chucky? Child's what? Stop talking about Chucky I'm trying to tell you...where did I read this? It...it  was on 7chan, but so what? Kids.  Are.  Dying.  By demon kitty toys."


Just because a supernatural evil is ancient doesn't preclude it from adapting, even flourishing in our modern era. Lilith is that kind of person, smart, enigmatic, charming, even conventional. She has long taken an interest in modern corporations and thoroughly enjoyed the films of the '80s. A few years ago she found herself on the Board of Directors for Kenbro, the largest toy manufacturer in the world. And in a fit of wine-dark humor, she decided to take inspiration from Halloween 3 and Child's Play to create and distribute cursed toys. She had her worshipers perform unspeakable rites to both prepare the way for the I Luv U Kitty doll to become an overnight sensation and bind each doll to a bakeneko cat kami. She even picked a holiday to unleash the bakenekos inside each doll, December 25th instead of Samhain's night.

Now the delicious part, will those, poor, dumb altruistic hunters she put on the trail of her plot stop it in time? She honestly doesn't care. Eternity can be so boring and every once in a while you just have to stir some shit up.


Common Goodbye Kitty Abilities:

• Enhanced Senses: A Goodbye Kitty sees and hears on 1-4 on a d6.

Goodbye Kitty For Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars
No. Appearing: 1-6
AC: 5
Move: 50 ft.
Hit Dice: 1
Special: Two attacks (claw and claw)


XP VALUE: 15

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Dungeons & Shivan Dragons: Living Twister




The Boar God Ilharg is the bringer of the End-Raze of Ravnica, as prophesied by the druids of the Old Ways from the Gruul Clans.

The druids believe that civilization will never be eradicated by scattered raids and petty skirmishes. They cling to the idea of a coming apocalypse, the End-Raze, when Ilharg's hooves will trample every brick and stone of Ravnica's soaring skylines to rubble. The world will return to a state of nature in which the lawless code of muscle and savagery will reign once again. With the growing unrest between the guilds of Ravnica, the ascension of Domri Rade as guildmaster, and the start of the War of the Spark it is thought that the time of the End-Raze has come. 

The living twisters are harbingers of the End-Raze and Gruul druids are eager to bring it about.

Night Shift: Penaggal Spell



Centuries ago, the leader of the Viridescent Ixora witch Coven, Noor Binti Shukri, was being investigated by a family of witchhunters known as the Silver Hounds. The Hounds mistakenly murdered Noor's eldest daughter, Aiesha, in their attempt to destroy the Coven. Noor was consumed with rage but was determined to destroy this family without endangering the rest of her family and Ixora. She convinced all of them to flee their village to the South, while she headed North. She used the time she had before the Hounds found her to create the penaggal spell. Through sheer will she destroyed the witchhunters and found her way back to the Coven, passing along the secret of the new spell before succumbing to her wounds.



Penaggal (3rd level spell):
When this spell is cast, the caster must be sitting within a bath of vinegar and they are able to detach their head and organs from their body until dawn. They gain the abilities and statistics of a penaggal below. If they do not return to their body by dawn they begin taking 1d6 per turn and if they are reduced to 0 hit points this way their head and organs ignite and their body breaks down into vinegar in 1d6 hours. 


Common Penaggal Abilities
• Cackle: All penaggal can cackle which causes fear in any that hear it.


• Garrote: All penaggal may make an Attack roll at -3 and if they hit they have wrapped their organs around their target's neck and they begin to choke their victim. Until the target is able to succeed at a Strength Saving Throw they cannot break free and take damage equal to 2d6 and keep the better roll at the end of their turn.

• Flight: All penaggal can fly at a speed of 50ft.

• Spellcasting: Penaggal cast spells as Witches equal to their Hit Dice.


• Vulnerability (Silver): Normal weapons do not harm hags. Only weapons forged of silver, or supernatural attacks, can harm them.

Penaggal

No. Appearing: 1
AC: 2
Move: 50ft.
Hit Dice: 7
Special: Cackle, Garrote, Flight, Spellcasting, Vulnerability (silver)

XP VALUE: 320

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Dungeons & Shivan Dragons: Phyrexium

This is an expansion of a much earlier article presenting the metal known as phyrexium that I had created for 7th level DnD Next playtest game. Now that Ravnica and Theros are settings for DnD I decided to further explore Magic: the Gathering's lore.



Phyrexian Angel wielding a phyrexium weapon.
Art by sunnykoda
   
   The metal phyrexium was created by Thran artificers after settling the plane of PhyrexiaIt is a metal matrix composite of titanium, sliver hide, glistening oil, fanatical hatred of Dominaria, and the shard of a powerstone. Scholars heatedly debate if the process to create the foul composite can be replicated outside of the plane of Phyrexia since slivers are believed to be extinct.

   Phyrexium armaments are +1 magic weapons that deal necrotic damage due to the powerstone radiation within them.  However, they are +2 magic weapons while on Dominaria because of the fanatical hatred of the plane used to forge them.  When a phyrexium weapon scores a Critical Hit on a creature they lose 1d4 Hit Dice. If they have no Hit Dice remaining they gain Disadvantage on Death Saving Throws until they recover at least 1 Hit Die.

Saturday, July 4, 2020

Apocrypha: Angels of P.E.L.O.R.



What if P.E.L.O.R. was an artificial intelligence brought to Oerth when the Starship Warden crashed there? What if nanites from the ship and a strange aspect of the planet's magical weave uplifted the AI even further? What if the human descendants of that crash worshiped the AI as the God of the Sun and misinterpreted the AI's history, falsely believing the Sun and P.E.L.O.R. are one and the same? What if the Church hid the truth for the good of their followers as Apocrypha?

Angels! Bah, we paint them now, as tiny things with smiles and wings. Fat babes that serve the Lightray.. You, each of you, would shit yourself if you saw a true Angel of P.E.L.O.R. They destroy cities with missiles far deadlier than even ballista or even a trebuchet. The sky screams as they race to their targets and scholars such as Avagodro of Ekbir and Nomo Lorekeeper have written about mushroom clouds and invisible poison that leave those places uninhabitable, far worse than merely salting the earth. You should be as afraid of the Cleansing Fire's wrath, perhaps more so, than any Archdevil or Demon Lord.
--Sargoo the Sapient


ANGEL of P.E.L.O.R. for Swords & Wizardry

Hit Dice: 12
Armor Class: 0 [20]
Attacks: Sword (3d6) and Missles (see below) 
Saving Throw: 3
Special: Magic resistance (75%) 
Move: 10/25 (flying)
Alignment: Law
Challenge Level/XP: 19/4,100

     Five Angels serve P.E.L.O.R. and they reside at the crash site of the Warden now known as the Arcanum. Each is stored in their own private sanctum and can be brought online with a moment's notice. They can fly fast enough to break the sound barrier to reach a target, generally, in a few minutes. The spells of casters below 6th level do not affect them, and against higher-level spellcasters they are 75% immune to all spells. There is speculation that each Angel's mind was downloaded from previously living guardians who served the Sun God before it crashed.

     In combat, an Angel uses a sword made of solid light for close-quarters fighting but if the battle appears to go poorly they will launch themselves into the sky and fire a barrage of missiles at their enemy. On a failed Saving Throw their target takes 1d6 x 5 damage and half as much on a successful one. 

Friday, July 3, 2020

Night Shift: Sasquatch



Jason Vey and Timothy S. Brannan's Nightshift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars was fulfilled weeks ago and I've been remiss in not posting about it. I've been alternating between reading through it and Max Brooks' excellent Sasquatch horror novel, Devolution.

The novel made me remember being a kid in the '80s when Bigfoot wasn't some gentle herbivorous primate hiding from humankind. It made me think of Legend of Boggy Creak, Snowbeast, and In Search Of when we didn't have the internet. Instead, the novel draws on some of the more terrifying encounters I read way back when. The humans of Greenloop encounter a terrifying troupe of Sasquatch's and I decided to write them up for Night Shift and the O.G.R.E.S. System.

There are legends of primates living in the wilderness all over the world, apart from humankind, but watching, always watching. As humanity spread all over the globe and created new and terrifying weapons to kill one another, these creatures, once our predator began to hide from us, choosing to hunt easier prey. But as humankind has altered their woodland homes some of these creatures have been forced to hunt us for prey...and a lone human is rarely the match for a troupe of Sasquatch.

Common Sasquatch Abilities:

• Strong and Fast. Sasquatch gain +2 to initiative rolls, and add half again their hit dice to attack rolls. They also deal 2 dice of damage on attacks, keeping the better.

Sasquatch For Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars
No. Appearing: 2-12
AC: 7
Move: 50 ft.
Hit Dice: 3
Special: They can hurl a rock dealing 2d6 damage and keeping the best of the two.*


XP VALUE: 50


* This write-up assumes Cinematic play. In Gritty games treat the damage like a firearm and in Realistic games treat damage as 4d6 totaled.

Thursday, July 2, 2020

Apocrypha: P.E.L.O.R.



I'm sure many of you are intimately familiar with the story of the Crossing, yes? How humanity came to this brave new world and founded our beloved Empire, traded with the Dwarves of Hearthhome and Furnace, united with Elves to drive out the Orcs from Thar and in one fell swoop dealt a decisive blow to the Drow-Giant alliance.

Well, that is all well and good but what if told you there were volumes of Apocrypha deep within the Bowels of the Pyre that were purposefully omitted by Keeper Arb, Lyddia of Quelm, Emperor Throngor, the First Host, and the Peacemaker himself?

I can see that this will be a long semester for all of us, I weep for our Empire that each of you represents its future.

Anyway, there are volumes in the Pyre. Keeper Arb did put politics before truth. Lyddia of Quelm did take seventeen years to curate the Holy Light of Pelor. Emperor Throngor was an uncouth rapist and murderer who often fucked his kills. The First Host tried to kill herself ninety-three times to get Pelor out of her head. And Gilead Peacemaker is a sociopathic jackhole who wishes he had exterminated us when the Warden first crashed here.

What you know to be the truth is what the Church, the Empire, and the Peacemaker have allowed you to know. But...but, for whatever reason, you chose to take my class and at the end of this semester you will have glimpsed the truth and perhaps that will lead one of you to burn this whole pyramid of lies down while I dance naked under the moon and sing your name to the dark between the stars.

Yes, I'm drunk, wouldn't you be? Do you really think the truth will set you free?

Anyway, Pelor, the Lightray, the Light of Truth, the Cleansing Fire, the God of the Sun, the Ever-Watching. Take a moment and understand that the Crossing did not occur over a sea in the sense that you have been taught. The Warden sailed the heavens and stars above and beyond us for centuries...perhaps even millennia? We didn't so much choose Bel Argent as our destination as we crashed into it. Many died in that crash, it wiped out whole species and most of humnity We had already lost much of the knowledge on why and how the Warden worked and the crash was the deathblow to science and history. Those first few weeks were awful as the survivors tried to set up a shelter and find food and water. They were attacked by some of the surviving species they had brought with them and by the fell monstrosities that Leekau Hunterkiller bred for the Peacemaker's entertainment.

Imagine that for a moment, the Peacemaker sees the Warden crash and goes to that green-eyed hag Leekau and tells her to let her pets out to greet us.

Do you know while owlbears exist? Because Hunterkiller is more depraved than Gilead Peacemaker, the Elven Paternal himself.

But I'm losing focus, I'm sorry, I would love to watch as Gilead had a red-hot poker inserted into every orifice at once, the bastard.

Anyway, the Warden crashes, we set-up shelter, we find food and water, and then the monsters came. Ankhegs, behir, displacer beasts, even zegdar, they came in broad daylight, because Hunterkiller wanted to see our fear, our death.

But no one counted on the Clerics, the Warden was at least partially controlled by artificial intelligence, a machine made by humanity but whose intellect was far more than our own. The Church teaches you that our love and devotion to the Sun created Pelor but that isn't true at all. Curiosity and vanity created the Lightray and it is only by some strange twist of evolution, possibly even introduced by the A.I. itself, that the surviving Clerics that maintained its systems and backed-up its information, had a rapport with the Ever-Watching and this world...this place...it is unique and some combination of the tiny machines that were airborne aboard the Warden and within the bodies of the survivors and what we know as this land's "magical weave" allowed P.E.L.O.R. to answer the "prayers"...pleas really...for help and it worked. One Cleric conjured a stone wall to block the monsters, another conjured holy fire, then a guardian made up of solar rays, even a plague of insects was called forth!

Hunterkiller was enraged and emptied her quiver slaughtering her own monstrosities after their defeat, she even disemboweled her oldest daughter to pay for her own failure. You have to love Elves, yes?

Pelor and her Saints such as Istus, Pholtus, and Heironeous were made by the sciences that humanity had mastered well over two-thousand years ago, long before arriving here. Do you know what this world was called by P.E.L.O.R.? Greyhawk 3. The third planet of the star known as Greyhawk by the primeval charts that led us away from our homeworld. A place called Earth.

Clerics are not filled with faith, they have a stronger connection to P.E.L.O.R. which still resides in the Warden...you know it as the Arcanum...but its remains of the crashed Warden and it is magnificent, a monument to a past we have been manipulated to forget.  The atmosphere of the Warden was artificial, and it was filled with tiny airborne machines that were everywhere known as nannites. Some of the survivors and their descendants can still speak to P.E.L.O.R. It provides the "faithfull" with miracles that defy other types of magic we have encountered here. While Clerical "magic" shares some elements in common with pact-magic and sorcerous talents, it is unique and it is potent. But instead of acknowledging what humankind had achieved...could still achieve, we have been lied to so that we embrace ignorance and superstition. There are no Gods, there was only humanity and our desire to understand, even master our environment, in fact, the whole bloody Polyverse. We are bastards like that.

No, I am not a heretic, many have reported me to the Cleansing Fire's beloved Inquisitors, this is my "reward" for my "service" to the Empire, the Arcanum, and the Church. I am a hero, did you know that? I am...or was...these days I'm merely a drunkard and sentimental fool. The lies...they feel like they are suffocating me.

We are done for today so you may go forth and ponder everything but what we have discussed. Yes, I was young once too. No, there is no reading assignment, we will meet again next week.

Sargoo the Sapient is a lonely old man, a fool, a dreamer, a hero, a poet, and a liar. The worst lies he tells to himself, those are the ones where he convinces himself that what he does still matters and they usually end with dreamless, alcohol-drenched sleep. He has long served the Empire, tolerated the Church, and wishes to kill Gilead Peacemaker, the Paternal of the Elves, and founder of Hadron.

There has been quite a bit of discussion and ranting about some of the assumptions of Dungeons and Dragons in the last few months. I ranted about it last week, in fact. Apocrypha is my attempt to alter or even subvert some of those assumptions. Additionally, I haven't really done much worldbuilding recently and this is my chance to rectify that.

Finally, I've always hated Elves in DnD for a long time, I think it is because in ADnD 2nd Edition they were the best race mechanically. In our games, we rarely made it to 4th level and demi-human level limits never came up. Yeah, I hate Elves.

Monster Monday: Obstrevoi for Shadowdark

  You can download a PDF here.