Wednesday, November 24, 2021
Flash Gordon: Lion Men for Old School Essentials
▶ Leader: Groups are led by a lion man with 16 hit points. The leader gains a +1 bonus to damage rolls.
▶ Lion Man Royalty: A 4HD (22hp) royal rules a lion man pride. The royal gains a +2 bonus to damage rolls.
Monday, November 22, 2021
Marvel Monday: Doctor Doom for Old School Essentials
"King of Space." "Master of the Sun." You claim such vast domains. Is it to balance your small souls? Could I not lay claim to the light and the void, if I wished it? Have I not earned such titles? I, who have mastered all arts, all sciences, all secrets? Whose technology and magic cross the stars as easily as they scramble an alpha telepath's mind? Who would dare to say I have not earned the right? Yet I am king of a simple nation. On a simple planet. A beloved garden tended by iron hands. And the only title I have ever claimed... is doctor."
> Spells: Has three 1st level, three 2nd level, three 3rd level, two 4th level, and one 5th level spell memorized (choose or select at random). Additionally, he can cast detect magic, magic missile, read magic, and shield without memorizing them.
> Knight and retainers: Accompanied by three 3rd level fighters (knights), up to 3 2nd level fighters (squires) and up to ten 1st level fighters (retainers).
Sunday, November 21, 2021
Cryptid Con
As a kid, the TV show In Search Of led me do further reading about cryptids, forteana, and high strangeness and I've been able to share that interest with my family. Yesterday and today we spent at the 4th Cryptid Con in Lexington, KY (little over an hour away from Boone County KY where I live) and it was just a total blast.
I've been to plenty of gaming conventions and I've worked plenty of comic conventions and there is nothing quite like Cryptid Con in my opinion. From my experiences, the comic and gaming industries are filled with large egos and plenty of drama and there has been none of that at any of the Cryptid Cons I've attended.
Even people with TV shows like Ghost Adventures and Finding Bigfoot are not only very easily accessible but really cool to talk to. You aren't going to be in long lines to have them charge you for an autograph and get a pic with your phone you are going to stand right next to them and talk to them or run into them in a restaurant or a hallway and they seem to be having as much fun as I am. I realize cryptids are a niche within a niche, but in 2021 its really cool to have nothing but positive experiences with like-minded, kind people.
One of the things that I feel makes this community so cool is that its predicated on listening to other people's experiences--yes, it might be a ghost, a snallygaster, or an alien but even the biggest names at the show have to listen to other stories for their job. And I think the world could use a lot more of that. Someone to listen to you and someone to say, "I get you, I might not have had your experience, but I get you and you are not alone."
How cool is that? I watched people from every walk of life hang out and create memories with each other instead of finding ways to divide themselves further. It was cool. Really cool. Heck, the Cryptid Con in 2018 was where I met the extradordinary Eric Bloat of Bloat Games. We missed him this year, but may next year y'know?
I realized years ago that what works for me isn't by any means universal. I sell comics books and DnD for a living. My wife, my kids, and I are always together (we home school). And when it comes to the paranormal and fortean I'm big kook. I hope that all of you find something that...heals you the way Cryptid Con me. This life is short and these times are strange and its good to know you fit somewhere.
Be good to each other!
Thursday, November 18, 2021
Warlord: Deimos for Worlds Without Number
Deimos for Worlds Without Number
Atk: +2
Dmg: 1d6 + 1 (+1 mace/orb)
Skill: +2
Save: 9+
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Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Warlord: Hyaenodons for Old School Essentials
HYAENODONS
> Coordinate: Communicate messages such as the location of prey, warnings, anger, and even frustrations through giggles, laughs, and barks.
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Inhumanoids: D'Compose for Stars Without Number & SIlent Legions
D'Compose for Stars Without Number
Dmg: 1d8 + 2, Shock 3/AC --
Save: 10+
• When a creature takes 7 or more damage from D'Compose it must make a Physical save or transform into a zombie. The only way to end the transformation is to expose the zombie to sunlight.
Zombie
Dmg: 1d6
D'Compose for Silent Legions
HD: 11
Atks: Claws +8
Dmg: 1d8 + 2
Skill: +1
Special: Undead, Skeletal, Immune to firearms
Madness: 1d6 + 2
Save: 10+
• When a creature takes 7 or more damage from D'Compose it must make a Magic save or transform into a zombie. The only way to end the transformation is to expose the zombie to sunlight.
Zombie
HD: 1
Atks: Bite +0
Dmg: 1
Skill: +0
Special: Undead, Skeletal, Immune to firearms
Madness: 1
Save: 15+
Monday, November 15, 2021
Marvel Monday: Omm for Hyperborea
No. Encountered: 1
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Size: L
Movement: 50
Dexterity: 18
Armour Class: 5
Hit Dice: 7
Attack Rate: 1/1 (bite)
Damage: 2d8
Saving Throw: 7
Morale: 9
Experience Points: 255
Treasure Class: C, G, X
Sunday, November 14, 2021
The Modern Flesh Golem for Lamentations of the Flame Princess
The Modern Flesh Golem AKA Eldo for Lamentations of the Flame Princess
Armor 14, Movement 45’, 7 Hit Die, Attacks 2 with fist 1d6+4 or weapon+4, Morale 10, Climb 3, Sneak Attack 5,
Armor 12, Movement 30', 3 Hit Die, Attacks 1 with weapon or spell, Morale 8, Languages 3, Stealth 2, 3rd level Magic-User, Ring of Protection +1, Wand of Magic Missles 4 charges
Saturday, November 13, 2021
Krampus for Old School Essentials
AC -1 [20], HD 6 (27hp), Att 2 × claw (1d6), THAC0 13 [+6], MV 120’ (40’), SV D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (6), ML 10, AL Chaotic, XP 400, NA 1 (1), TT V
> Change Visage: Can alter appearance to appear human.
> Fireborn: Immune to damage from fire.
> Questing Beast: Searching for other devils so he can demand that they return him to Hell.
>Something is Killing the Children: Prefers to feed off of children.
Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Review: Evils of Illmire
We recently ended our latest Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition game and it was my turn to run something. I really wanted to run a Hex Crawl and had an acquaintance tell me how much they enjoyed running Hot Spring Islands as a busy Dungeon Master.
I asked for some recommendations and ended up reading The Dark of Hot Springs Island, Slumbering Ursine Dunes, and the Evils of Illmire.
While Hot Springs Island was pretty darn cool its nested tables' use at the table worried me. This is no slight to the module just how unorganized I can be.
Slumbering Ursine Dunes is phenomenal and was the in the lead at first. It is a Point Crawl, which means it focuse more on locations than an entire hex and I think that is better suited for how my mind works and how much I improvise at the table. It is really gonzo, which I love, but it felt small compared to Evils of Illmire.
For $5 the Evils of Illmire presents 19 Hexes to explore and 12 Dungeons to explore and they are laid out well, easy to print out and perfect for a busy DM running a weekly game. Also, I really enjoy the style of illustration used within the module and it really adds to the atmosphere of the product. Further, the organization really works for my brain and style as a DM. You get digital files of important in-game props and dungeons and though the module is designed for Old School Essentials, DnD B/X, or Labyrinth Lord it includes conversion files for Dnd 5E, Dungeon World, and Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells.
In my opinion, Illmire is closer to a Point Crawl than a Hex Crawl but its probably best described as a hybrid approach.
There are lots of neat extras that you are provided with such as character sheets, pregen characters with optional illustrations, and a GM Screen Insert for you to print off with lots of useful info about Illmire the town. There is an excellent Player's Guide to help fill out why a character would come to Illmire and how their journey to the region went.
Again, Hot Spring Island and Slumbering Ursine Dunes are very worthwile products but Spellsword Studios is on my radar now and if you are looking to add to a game or start a new game I urge you to pick Evils of Illmire up. I can't recommend it enough and it is a steal at $5.
Monday, November 1, 2021
Wish Upon a Demon Queen
This past Friday we finished our Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Campaign. We'd left Avernus months ago after freeing the city of Elturel and redeeming Zariel and after several years of peace discovered that our Bard's Mother, a Matron of the 8th House of Menzoberranzen, was creating monsters and unleashing them upon the surface world. This led us to Waterdeep, the Underdark, and then to most famous city ruled by Drow.
My character was a Divine Sorcerer named Clete and I really enjoyed playing him. He was an asshole through and through, even after his alignment shifted to Lawful Good, and our characters became a kind of family, though highly dysfunctional, I'm sure you saw that coming. Clete was a no good liar, lazy, a rule-breaker, and motivated by platinum, he didn't get out of bed for gold. He was my second character, I had made a Light Cleric from Elturel who had never experience night do to the Companion that guarded that city and he died quickly but heroically...mostly.
We knew the things were going to be tough when our DM let us level to 17 as we began to fight in our Bard's Mother's home. It was my fault because Clete walked up to our Bard's half-sister and invited her to aid us in killing her Mother. We made it out of the next two fights and even unleashed Zariel on the forces of the 8th house who were also battling the forces of the 9th House who were willing to work with us.
We then knew things would get worse when our DM leveled us to 18 before the final fight. Having access to Wish is a hard thing to pass up even though I've always wanted to cast Meteror Swarm and should have taken Heal.
Our tactics were poor and most of the party was down before the Bard's second turn and he cast Wish to bring our people back and transport, not banish, her lackeys which was promptly Wished away by his Mother's own action.
Our group are pretty good at 5E, we understand how to play our characters and understand the rules very, very well, its a daunting task for a Dungeon Master, but David, our current DM, really got the math working on the Challenge Rating system and we had some tough fights.
After the Matron's own Wish everyone at the table was pretty darn hangdog and now it was my turn. I should have taken Heal. I wanted to take Meteor Swarm. I took Wish.
And this time the Matron didn't have a 9th level spell slot.
Once we were all back up and her lackeys were down the Matron went pretty fast.
While we knew this was the last session we were still kind of surprised by it. Not 100% sure where we go from here long-term. I think I'm going to run a playtest of Robert Scwhalb's Shadow of the Weird Wizard and then maybe a new DM takes over.
No matter what we'll always have that session where three Wishes were cast to win the day.
Monster Monday: Obstrevoi for Shadowdark
You can download a PDF here.