It's The Adventures, Stupid

I've had this blog post on my mind for a while now...  It all started with a discussion on g+ about Labyrinth Lord.

How one of the first big retro-clones has been virtually eclipsed, why, and if it's possible for Labyrinth Lord to reclaim its former glory.

Well, what makes for a successful RPG?  I'm sure there are many factors that could and should be discussed by those interested in the answer.  But today, I'm going to focus on the primary reason: SUPPORT!!!

Support for that RPG keeps it going, makes it feel alive, engages players, and provides material for using that game now and in the future.  The ideal kind of support is adventures, the backbone of roleplaying.  Various supplements can't hurt, but a large number of scenarios is probably the best gauge for success when it comes to new RPGs.

Just look at your DCC, LotFP, and S&W.  They come out with adventures all the damn time.  If Labyrinth Lord wants to compete, it's got to have just as many high-profile scenarios coming out under the Labyrinth Lord name.  That's why it's so hard for the little guys to compete... any one-man shop is going to be hard-pressed to generate one adventure a month or more.  You need a team!

On that LL thread, I made the boastful statement that I could turn LL around if put on the payroll as brand manager, scenario connoisseur, or whatever to the tune of $50K a year.  Yeah, that seems like a lot, but the juice has to be worth the squeeze.

What's funny is that it's all compatible!  There's no earthly reason why you can't swap one system's adventure for another.  But perception matters with these kinds of things.  Brand awareness affects the market.  We're only human, after all.

I've tried to maintain a regular flow of adventures myself with the several RPGs for Kort'thalis Publishing, but in the end I only succeeded with Alpha Blue.  Crimson Dragon Slayer almost kept pace, but I think sci-fi more lenient than the over-saturated genre of fantasy.  Alas, I realized the full extent of this lesson too late.

Having said that, I'm going to make an announcement regarding Kort'thalis Publishing's RPG lines.  But first, I want to finish Alien Ass, Hydrogen Gas, or Cosmic Grass... No One Warps For Free!  It'll be released before the end of July.

I've already mentioned elsewhere that I'm taking a break from RPG publishing once this last adventure is completed.  There are juicier fruits out there that I have to find.

VS

Player's Handbook like a Fucking Boss

Yes, I've been busy (again)!

Just a few moments ago, I completed the upload process for my latest fantasy roleplaying game aid.  It's called Player's Handbook like a Fucking Boss, a 32 page PDF that's got everything from the defining moment that forged you into an adventurer to badass names for your magic items.

This book is for all the various iterations of D&D, including retro-clones and 4th wave OSR weirdness like Crimson Dragon Slayer.  It's strong enough for a GM, but PH-balanced for all you struggling players out there who keep dying all the fucking time.  Aren't you a little sick and tired of not surviving the first level of the dungeon or a raucous tavern brawl?  Yeah, I thought so.

Do yourself a favor and check out Player's Handbook like a Fucking Boss!

As usual, lots of fantastic artwork and +MonkeyBlood Design (Glynn Seal) made it that much more awesome because of his mad layout skillz.

Venger As'Nas Satanis
High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing

Battle For The Purple Islands

I've come full circle.  My very first Kickstarter campaign was for The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.  I've covered a lot of ground since then, and now it's time to return to those dreaded islands purple.

This project wasn't on my mind at all.  I didn't plan for it.  In fact, I made quite a few plans going into 2018 that had nothing to do with the purple islands.  But inspiration struck when I noticed a new exhibit in an art museum near my work.

I went in, looked around, saw some cool stuff and then found this little room - an entrance covered with a black velvet curtain showing this weird art film.  Strange words, bizarre imagery, and dark ambient tones reverberating in the void.

But it was that first moment walking into the room, before I knew what was ahead.  For a couple seconds I was completely enveloped in blackness.  The fear and thrilling joy of anticipation awakened my senses.  What would I encounter beyond?

Upon leaving the art museum, I knew that I wasn't done with those islands - not by a long shot.

So, if you're down for some more purple action, back this project.  It's going to be fucking awesome!
And it will include stats for both conventional OSR/O5R and the OSR outsider 4th Wave type stuff that I've been doing with Crimson Dragon Slayer and Alpha Blue.

Got a question?  Please ask!

VS

The S'rulyan Vault II

It's here!  ;)

I had a lot of fun with this one.  It was nice having a template and then doing things a bit different to both add to and diverge from what Glynn and I did with the original S'rulyan Vault.

+MonkeyBlood Design (Glynn Seal) has done another amazing job!

Basically, the dungeon is bigger (there are more areas within the space) and the PDF has a lot of cool stuff in it.

My favorite is the d100 table for faction quirks.  This table alone makes it fast and easy to come up with a unique faction on the fly.  Just roll on the table 3 times and the results will inspire you to fill in the rest of the details.

Thanks for all the Kickstarter backing and support - and thanks to everyone who purchases this!

VS

Printed out the first S'rulyan Vault map

I shall be buried with this giant bastard of an old school dungeon map.  Let this blog post serve as my final will and testament.

For those curious, after my 25% off coupon from FedEx Office, this 46" x 36" color printed and laminated sheet cost me about $90.  Yeah, I didn't have to go that big (see that diminutive blue thing on the right - that's a full-size set of Chessex dice).  No, I didn't have to laminate it.  Sure, it's a pretty penny, but this is my "forever dungeon."

The thing I love most about it?  The little cracks drawn into the dungeon floor.

It'll take up the majority of damn near any gaming table you set it on.  The thing is beautiful!  +MonkeyBlood Design (Glynn Seal) did an amazing job.  This Saturday afternoon, I finally get a chance to try it out.

You see, my lame hand-drawn map of Dwimmermount sucked and even though the rooms and corridors are different shapes and configurations, I'll make it work for the monthly old school D&D dungeoncrawl.

I'm putting the whip to Glynn in order to make The S'rulyan Vault II even more badass, so definitely swing on by and back this Kickstarter.

Thanks,

VS

The S'rulyan Vault II

It's not the Kickstarter project I planned on (Gamma Turquoise KS happening spring, 2018), but it's the one I'm doing right now.  I'll be moving sometime in December, and didn't want the time, energy, and stress of that to affect what I can do for my wonderful backers (Love you guys!).

Plus, it's just fucking time for more dungeoning, am I right?  Glynn's already got his dungeon thinking cap on and will get me some preliminary sketches next week.  I want this mega-map (each quadrant is like it's own dungeon - put them together and it becomes a mega-map) to be different - older, deeper, and stranger... also more dense.

And I've got some exciting ideas for the PDF of random tables and whatnot that will accompany the map files.  I want to help GMs quickly and easily make "normal" dungeons more exotic and special, allowing you to run an awesomely non-standard dungeoncrawl on the fly - without any more than a few minutes of preparation!

I set The S'rulyan Vault II Kickstarter for 15 days, so there's about 2 weeks left.  If this is something you might want, please help us make it a reality with your generous support!  Be sure to get the word out - share this news with your gaming friends.

Thanks,

VS

50 Shades of Vorpal review

"No one knows what offense the Taurian Empire gave to the Lich King, perhaps he was just being a dick."

I was not a part of the 50 sHAdes of VORpal kickstarter by Arthas Soulgazer (cool name), though I checked it after reading Tenkar's non-review last week.

Based on the kickstarter page and free preview on DriveThruRPG, I decided to give it a whirl.  Even if the whole thing is a pile of humorous excrement - at least it's funny!

Last night, I purchased the PDF for $5 and here is my impression...

Comparisons have been made with Encounter Critical.  While both games are comedic pranks on gamers, allowing readers to peek inside the fantasy heartbreaker minds of the authors, there are several differences.  Encounter Critical is a sophisticated, innovative, old school, labor of love by one or more slightly confused yet well-meaning amateurs.  It's meant to be a product of the mid-70's that reaches for the stars.

50 Shades of Vorpal comes from the mind of one or more contemporary dudes who purposefully set out to emulate something like old school Dungeons & Dragons, but way more juvenile, idiotic, and single-minded in its love of hack and slash.  It's like if HackMaster 4th edition were re-imagined by Beavis and Butthead.

While Encounter Critical and 50 Shades of Vorpal have similarities, they are completely different games with night and day approaches to the ultimate goal - making the awesomest parody game possible!  Although, this being 2016/2017, the latter not only wants to set down their idealized dreams of dark magic, deadly swords, and touching boobies in concrete, effectively cementing their glory in the halls of RPG fame and infamy - this is also clearly a way to make some cash.

Is there an actual system here, an actual RPG?  No, not really.  There's a bit of setting, a few monsters, loads of character classes and several races, but combat consists of adding a silly list of bonuses to a couple d30 rolls and comparing that with an opponent's ARMOR RANK.  If you hit, you do damage.  That's the core of the engine... pretty much the entire engine.  The rest is badly spelled window dressing like deth magic, preoccupation with loot, and sexism.

And that's part of the joke.  So many aspects of 50 Shades is phoned in that the game feels incomplete.  Various sections are blank, many earmarked with notations for adding future content - content that never actually made it into the book.  While that, too, is funny, after the first couple times, it loses something.

However, it is the attitude on display that provides the most humor.  Laser-focus on what makes an awesome character class and race shines a light on the worst gamer stereotypes.  But unlike the negative stereotypes which we, hopefully, don't embody, like living in our mom's basement well into our thirties and not showering regularly, 50 Shades brings up traits that are present, albeit in small quantities, in almost every gamer...

Awkward phrasing, typos, and combining tired fantasy cliches with not-well-thought-out flashes of inspiration all in the pursuit of that ever elusive awesomeness.  I've chased that particular crimson dragon myself on a thousand occasions.  The only difference is that my unsightly excretions get edited over and over again, or should I say flushed down the toilet of bad ideas implemented poorly.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading these 64 pages - including several blank pages - and got my money's worth.  Before I go, let me showcase a few of my favorite things from 50 Shades of Vorpal...

• It uses a d30 because that's 10 more than a d20, reminding me of the amp that goes all the way up to 11 in This is Spinal Tap.
• It has weapon coolness ratings based on how awesome someone looks when wielding a certain weapon.  
• The illustrations - right out of high school study hall.  Most are decent in a youthful amateur hand-made kind of way, though some are actually fairly badass!
• The never-solved divide between warriors and wizards.  Both sides feel they need to escalate the cold war and so each struggles to become even more ridiculously awesome.
• Going further than explaining the rules or giving helpful advice, the text pretty much tells you what to think and occasionally comes up with raw truthisms such as, "Bosses get to boss."
• Diving into the dark recesses of this male-dominated hobby with both feet.  Here's an over-the-top offering, "Female characters retire after making babies, so don't get pregnant.  This is a fantasy game, so you can't just go making stuff up that you didn't get pregnant when you really did."

Well, that's all for my review.  While neither version of Crimson Dragon Slayer goes anywhere near this level of awesome/awful, I was inspired to create a d30 random table for only the most "deth knight" kind of fantasy roleplaying!  Also, this!!!

VS

Revelry on Amazon.com

Just found the Amazon/CreateSpace proof in my mailbox.  Guess it came yesterday without my knowing.  Usually, they leave large and/or awkward packages upon my front door or in the garage.  Luckily, it wasn't damaged by shoving it in and then back out of the mailbox.

Anyway, the proof looks awesome!  I just approved it.  That means a softcover is immediately available on CreateSpace and it'll be 3 - 5 days before Revelry in Torth shows up on amazon.

Now that I know Amazon is covered, I'm 99% sure DriveThru's print version files will also be OK.  However, I'd feel like a real jackass if I approved that shit before actually seeing the proof and then found out that DriveThru somehow mishandled it or there was an error created by Lightning Source's interpretation of the files.  So, probably another week on that.

Still waiting on reviews.  All I've been able to find is a 5 star "Nice job, Venger!" on DriveThru and a longer, so-so review over here.  I considered writing a tit for tat rebuttal of his analysis, but realized that probably wouldn't be very productive.  Not that Merric doesn't have valid points, just that his expectations are probably a bit off in regards to my style, how I write, how I GM, etc.  And what he said about my short short story seemed kind of mean-spirited.

My work is somewhere between my personal adventure notes (before, during, and after sessions) and what a big RPG company usually puts out, like Wizards of the Coast or Pathfinder.  Those expecting more of the latter will most likely be disappointed.  As mentioned in Liberation and Purple, I've put 85% of what's required to successfully run a mini-campaign on an aesthetically pleasing platter (you should see the horrendous scribbles from my actual session notes!), it's for individual GMs to add their personal 15%.  The combination is what makes it magical.

VS

Revelry in Torth PDF

Despite my attempts to schedule the PDF release of Revelry in Torth a few days from now, DriveThru thought fit to put it up for sale ahead of time.  Who knows, maybe I forgot how to use a calender?  Anyways, it's live now.

Ed and I are still working on the print files for Amazon/CreateSpace and DriveThruRPG.  Will post about those when they're squared away.

Thanks again to all the Kickstarter backers who supported this project.  I hope everyone finds many things to enjoy.  Happy gaming!


VS

Old School... something or other

Funny, I was thinking of the topic for this blog post halfway through my vacation.  Then I get back and read Tenkar's Tavern and RPGPundit's blog to find out they're talking about something similar.  But let's not put the horse before the cart, guys.

For a few weeks (this was about three years ago), I was fuzzy on what it meant - not realizing that would be a hallmark of the OSR itself up until the present.  I believe I kept calling it Old School Revolution.  Then, a month or so later I guess someone clued me in to the word Renaissance.  Intervening years have brought up Revival, Rules, Roleplaying, and probably a half-dozen others.

Maybe it's me.  Yes, it could very easily just be me, but I can't get past the fact that we don't have a universally recognized name.  I mean... it's the name.  It's in the title, for godsakes!

Let's not even get into what the OSR movement means to an individual, let alone the world before we hammer down what the "R" refers to.

I assume there's at least a little bit of consensus out there in cyber-land.  Most of us have come to the OSR later than when it was forged.  At most, a small handful was there actively participating in its origin discussion.

I don't care if we go with their original intent or pick something else.  It would be nice to have something to say when people ask - without being "corrected" by the blogger down the street.  You know, an actual definition of what those letters represent.

On the other hand, it could simply remain a revolving door of "r" words.  Nothing set in stone, subjective, flexible, do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.  But if that's the way it's going to be, I think it would be great to have a consensus on that direction.

Obviously, we're not going to get 100% on anything.  We're human, after all.  Nevertheless, I believe it's time to look that "r" square in the eye, deal with it, and move on to greener pastures.  Agree, disagree, just want to put in your two cents?  I want to read what you have to say, so comment!


VS

p.s.  Yeah, I'm not sure why I chose that particular image to adorn this blog post.  It came up in a google image search for "Old School Renaissance".  The box is from 1981 and I remember owning it or a similar set with those little plastic figures.  Ah, good times...

[Kickstarter] Revelry in Torth

Yes, I'm at it again.  Couldn't stay away.  Here is the KS page.

Thanks for backing Revelry in Torth!


VS


p.s.  Cover art by Carlos Valenzuela.

The Second Wave of Draconic Magazine

Even though there aren't "issues" per se, I think readers will see a pattern.  A flurry of activity followed by a lull week so that new content can be properly digested; crests and troughs.

That means wave #2 is crashing upon the rocks of tabletop fantasy roleplaying!  Below is a list of recent articles...

• Q&A about noticing secret doors and skill checks.
• A new spell called Singing Spheres of Yogsoggoth.
• Trade-offs for investigative scenarios.
• A video review of The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.
• A new character class for ex-paladins who fall into a really, really bad crowd.
• A new monster called the Verge Fungoid.
• The 1st weekly advice column from Kodarr the barbarian!
• An article on becoming a better GM.
• A new magic item called the rainbow shadow cloak.
• An article on looking back at plain old failure.
• An amusing vignette about a chaotic halfling.
• And a suggestion about what to do with those expired character sheets.

Whew, that's quite a bit of new stuff in the last couple weeks.  Thanks to +Shane Ward, +Shawn Hartnell, Savage GM, and +Grand DM for their help.  The second wave wouldn't have been as strong without you guys.

If anyone else wants to submit an article or some artwork, please let me know.  More content coming next week!

VS

Purple in Print!

This is your first chance to obtain The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence in softcover.  It should be up on amazon and DriveThru in about 5 days, but it's available right now via CreateSpace (amazon's e-store and affiliate link for self-published authors).

As a special incentive, forward your CreateSpace order confirmation to me and I'll email you the PDF for free!


VS

Purple Progress Report

For those who don't know, I've been working on a new OSR campaign setting and hex-crawl book with optional rules since December 2013.  It wasn't supposed to be as lengthy as it's turned out to be.  The more I wanted to include, the longer the book became, and with that, the greater my challenge.

Right now, Ed Wedig and I are about halfway through the layout phase of the book.  It's a process of trial and error, getting things just right, making sure illustrations are correctly placed, realizing our mistakes or miscommunication and then going back to fix whatever needs fixing.

The rest of May will be a race to the finish line.  Yet, I won't sacrifice quality.  Worse case scenario (other than my untimely death or something) is we'll be a couple weeks late.  However, at this stage I'm still confident that the kickstarter deadlines will be met.  Thankfully, I built-in a month of cushion time just in case.  Purple would be in your hands by now (or at least on your computers) if it was only 32 pages long.  Hard to say exactly what the page count will come in at once it's all finished, but I think 111, ballpark.

Anyways, the color version of the map is finished.  Alyssa Faden did an excellent job!  So, here are a few zoomed-in snapshots around the purple islands to tide everyone over until the next update.

If you have a question about The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence, feel free to ask.

One last thing... your support and enthusiasm are very much appreciated.  No one should have to suffer through a six month slog without the awesome encouragement I've received from all quarters of the paper & pencil RPG community.  Thanks, everyone!


VS

p.s.  You can read the teaser flash fiction here.

Stealing from Doctor Who (Keys of Marinus)

There's free time (sweet, sweet free time) and there's work... or just stuff that one has to do.  In the middle, there are grey areas where one has a certain amount of freedom.  My limited liberty appears in the form of early morning TV/movies/DVD watching.

Our 18 month old gets up about an hour and a half earlier than anyone else in the family.  Since my wife gets up in the middle of the night to breastfeed, I pick up the slack at the day's start.  There's a lot I can't do when she's running around the living room - computer and reading are out (she's a grabber), but having an old-timey scifi show on in the background is doable.

Anyways, I was watching The Keys of Marinus this morning, and discovered there were several aspects which could be awesome in a science-fantasy RPG.  The story itself is spread over 6 (nearly) half-hour episodes.  For those who grew up in the 21st century, watching it from beginning to end might be tedious.  It's a little slow even for me.  It's also in black and white.

Without further ado, let me mention some cool stuff...

Eye-stalk brains in large glass domes!  It's creepy, weird, mysterious, and gamers have seen it enough times to visualize it easily.  Even though these things don't show up until a bit later, the picture is in color!  That's why it's showcased at the top of the post.

Grotesque demon statue/idol with humanoid hands!  Why isn't this in my living room?  Oh yeah, I'm married.  :(  Now, you don't have to emphasize the fleshy arms that jut out of this sinister horror's sleeves.  Just seeing this thing should make half the party crap their imaginary pants.  In the Who episode, the statue grabbed people and then swiveled with a blank wall on the opposite side.  So, GMs could use that feature if they were so inclined.

The 12-sided, glass, high-tech instrument which sets everything in motion.  Cool idea - it's supposed to morally judge everyone and everything and guide the planet's population into making the right choices.  Unfortunately, it could also fall into the wrong hands which could turn the whole world into the kind of hell where Sam Neill's eyes are sewn shut, his head's shaved, and his blood-drenched visage simply laughs into the darkness.

The keys themselves are micro-circuits.  They look cool and it's something the adventurers can collect in order to save the day or control everyone's mind, depending on alignment.

There's a sea of acid, beach of glass, and ominous looking temple in the distance.  Who wouldn't want to check that out?  Want to navigate those acidic waters?  Pictured are some one-man submersibles.  Just to be on the safe side... WEAR A WET-SUIT WITHOUT ANY HOLES!!!

Last but definitely not least, there's an ice cave containing a block of ice surrounded by frozen knights.  Within the block is one of the keys, although pretty much anything could be substituted - a magical ring, perhaps?  When the ice is melted (the episode used a volcanic spring faucet), the knights come alive and start attacking everyone in sight.

Visual aids help both players and GMs.  Hopefully, this blog post whets your appetite.  I'll be posting more stolen Doctor Who elements in the months to come.  If you find any of this useful, let me know.  If you actually use some of this in a game, let me know.  If you want me to feature a specific story (must be vintage Who!), let me know.  Basically, I'm looking for some motherloving feedback, y'all!  ;)


VS

Three Swordsmen

It's come a little early, but my old school fighter classes PDF is available on DriveThruRPG here.  It's free, so please check it out.  I hope it adds something awesome to your games.

Let me know what you think by posting comment here, writing a short review over there, or both!


VS


p.s.  Also wanted to give a big THANKS to the artists who contributed their work:  Tom Isaksen, Zarano, Dario, Boniburini, and SOLIDToM.  Much appreciated, guys!

Venger's Adventure Writing Tips

Johnn Four of roleplaying tips fame asked me to do a guest post for him a couple weeks ago on the topic of writing adventures.  It's repeated here for those who aren't part of his mailing list.

1.  Write in stages!  If you have the time, a relaxed deadline, etc. leave blocks of time between creative spurts.  Those non-writing periods allow the subconscious mind to influence the creation in unexpected ways.  I call this period shadow creation because it happens in a sneaky, crafty way under cover of darkness.  Using shadow creation, things are being put together and designed without our direct awareness.  One just needs to space out those active periods of writing in order to activate the subconscious.  The bigger the project, the more frequent and longer the blocks of time should be.

2.  Start each session with the three sentences of power!  Most players don't actually want to hear a GM read a couple pages of flavor text or "interesting" historical facts... they want to get straight to the action.  All that writing is unnecessary for the GM and just bogs down the game at the most crucial point - the beginning.

Ok, so what are the three sentences of power?  Your elevator pitch, that's what!  Think of it as a fast-paced movie trailer.  Sentence one:  "In a world..."  This describes the overall place or setting.  Sentence two: "During the time of..."  This describes the when, giving a general idea of what's going on.  Sentence three:  "One rag-tag group stands in the way..."  This is the basis of your adventure.  It makes things personal.

Alright, let's put it all together.  "On the desert planet Xixt, surrounded by three black suns, everyone is a slave to the necromancer king.  An uprising has just been squashed, millions dead... hope being the last casualty.  Lord Nocren has decreed that every male child is to be killed and every female child brought to him when the largest of the black suns rises above the others - in seven days time."

Now, you have an adventure.  It gives just enough detail, the right kind of detail, to get players interested and eager to involve themselves.  Move outward from the three sentences of power.

3.  Borrow from the best!  Take an idea or concept from your favorite movie, tv show, or novel and adapt it to suit your needs.  Several months ago, I planned on running The Lost City D&D module.  Just for fun, I wanted to add something new.  I borrowed the test of manhood scene from 80's movie Flash Gordon.  Instead of a mound of dirt or whatever it was, this was a metallic column or pillar with holes.  Certain holes would chop the hand off a character instead of yielding a poisonous bite like in the film.  Unfortunately for the PC, he happened to put his hand in a chopping hole.  For the rest of the adventure, that player's wife teased him by calling him "lefty".  Incidentally, she also spotted the borrowing.  "That reminds me of Flash Gordon."  She said.  "Yep, that's where I got the idea from."  Came my reply. 

It's important to note that having our influences or borrowed elements recognized doesn't detract from the encounter.  In fact, the passing familiarity can be an advantage!  Feel free to borrow, just remember to at least make one small change so it's not a total rip-off of the source material.

4.  Come up with at least one really cool and unexpected feature in your adventure!  Unexpected is the operative word as this adventure aspect must be as creative as it is unfamiliar - the stranger the better.  We've all fought orcs and kobolds.  We've all found a sword +1.  We've all experienced the flaming end of a fireball spell.  Predictable.  If the whole adventure is filled with that kind of stuff, then it goes one step past predictable - boring.  Ouch!  No one wants to play a boring adventure, right?  Who wants to be known as "the boring GM"?

Before running the session, create at least one monster, magic item, spell, NPC, or location that will blow the socks off your players.  Just one should be enough.  Sure, it might take an extra 20 minutes of brainstorming to come up with a worthy piece of singular strangeness, but the work will be worth the effort.

5.  Put a little of yourself into each adventure!  What are some of your problems?  Strengths and weaknesses, favorite things?  What are you afraid of?  What are your aspirations?  Favorite character traits, hobbies?  What comic book were you reading last week?

While this tip isn't as crucial as the others, I still think it's kind of a good idea.  Why not include a wizard and a cleric playing chess if that's something you're into?  Put your arachnophobia to good use by including half elf / half giant spider hybrids!  Did you ever write a short story about a citadel made out of ice when you were in junior high?  Now's your chance to re-use it.  Deposit a little of your own subjective taste or experiences into every session.  It'll be just that tiny bit more personal and satisfying.

VS

p.s.  Why, yes, The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence kickstarter is still going on.  About 5 days left to help make this weird, sci-fantasy module a reality!  ;)

Save versus Purple

The Purple-Haunted Putrescence isn't just part of my 2nd module's name... it also happens to be a gargantuan monstrosity spawned by the unholy union betwixt Yogsoggoth and the mother of all purple slimes!  Those unlucky enough to be caught beneath the massive, tentacled, open-mawed ooze as it wafts dreamily above the islands' surface must save vs. purple.

Save versus purple?!?  Why?  How?  Where?  What does it mean to be purpled by this godlike abomination?  Have you ever imagined a purpling effect happening to one of your characters?  And in what Lovecraftian universe?

Even though I have a pretty good idea [see the image above/right], I would love to see it through your artistic eyes... to understand it via your uncompromising description and philosophical musings.  I'm giving away two The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence PDFs, one for coolest art and the second for awesomest writing.

If a submission is used somewhere in the book, assuming permission is granted for me to include it, then credit will be given, as well as, a signed copy of the book.  Thanks for participating in this brain-tank-think-storming-group session!


Happy New Year,

VS

Deflected by Flashing Steel

This idea came from an online conversation "Save versus Sword!!" at Original D&D Discussion here.  I'd like to thank snakeeyes and Azafuse for the initial idea.  deadDMwalking and Exploderwizard from TheRPGsite helped me work out the kinks.  Here's my submission...

If a fighter is wielding a magic sword, he's able to deflect an amount of damage equal to the sword's enhancement (count the sword's highest plus possible), in addition to, the fighter's level to reduce damage. 

This applies to only fighters or straight-up warriors, no ranger, cavalier, barbarian, or paladin fighter sub-class types.  GMs can decide how narrowly they want to define the word "sword" in their campaign.  

This special maneuver is usable once per day and in response to any weapon, attack, or act of god - an arrow shot from a bow to a red dragon's fiery breath... even falling rocks during a cave-in.  The only thing for which there would be no possible defense is direct contact with a sphere of annihilation. The fighter does not have to be aware of the threat or danger in order to make use of flashing steel deflection.  However, utilization must be announced before damage is rolled (or after the GM rolls but before the player knows the extent of his character's wound).

This is not an automatic ability.  A religious battle-ritual must be performed by the fighter while his magic sword is wrapped in a crimson sheet or blanket... frequently a blood-soaked shroud.  If the fighter does not currently worship a deity of war (combat, battle, crusades, etc.), then a quest must also be completed before the feat is bestowed upon him.  Henceforth, the character may be recognized as a Templar Knight.

If the fighter forges (or re-forges) his own sword, with specific runes of war worked into the blade, then he may also include his strength modifier (the larger number if there's a discrepancy) in the deflection, as long as, that particular sword is enchanted, infused with magic, or blessed / made sacred by a war-god worshiping cleric.

Note, when a fighter falls out of favor with the god(s) of war or a magical sword is brandished which has not been through the blood-shroud ceremony, the maneuver cannot be performed as intended.

For example, if a 6th level fighter, Carr, with a +1 bastard sword, +3 vs. dragons is about to be slashed in twain by a giant mutated claw, the PC can elect to (partially) deflect said blow by 9 points of damage [11 assuming the character forged his own rune-sword and his strength bonus was +2].  

"I use Espada Bastardo to impede the creature's claw attack."  

"Very well,"  says the GM as he rolls a few dice.  "The mutant crab is thwarted to a degree.  Carr would have taken 25 points of damage, but instead takes only 16."

It may not be much, and the Templar Knight in question might still die, but at least his extraordinary blade gives him a chance of survival.


VS

p.s.  See this in its own slick PDF!  Give me feedback please.  Thanks.

LotDS on Amazon!

Liberation of the Demon Slayer is now available on Amazon.com!  Sweet.  That's pretty much all this blog post is about.  Just wanted to announce the Amazon release.  :)

I hope some of you are getting ready to read, play, run, blog about, or even review my old school, Lovecraftian, science-fantasy adventure and campaign guide because I would love to know your experiences... Just the thought of warriors, sorcerers, clerics, Elves, and thieves crawling through the dungeons I created (and Dyson Logos rendered) is a tantalizing thrill.

LotDS was spawned (according to the hellish and depraved sacraments of the K'tulu priesthood) so that like-minded gamers could have an incredibly dark and wild ride, reminiscent of the classic modules we all remember.  Yes, it's meant for D&Desque RPGs of zero - 3rd level PCs, but I think LotDS is adaptable to a wide variety of systems and levels.


By His loathsome tentacles,

VS