Going WAY back for this week's beast, we've got one of the oldest known monsters from the Epic of Gilgamesh, Humbaba, the guardian of the Cedar Forest that the hero and his companion Enkidu capture then slay so that they can bring cedar wood back to Gilgamesh's city of Uruk. Here's a stab at him in D&D terms:
Humbaba*
Armor Class: -1 (21)
Hit Dice: 12***
Move: 120 (40)
Attacks: 2 fists/1 bite + gaze
Damage: 3d6/3d6/3d6/special
No. Appearing: -- (1d4)
Save As: Fighter 12
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: H
Alignment: Neutral
XP: 3500
Humbabas are lion-faced giants, standing 18' tall. They serve as protectors and guardians of ancient otherworldly forests, and will violently oppose any who trespass within their domains. A humbaba is able to communicate with normal animals and plants at will (as the spells), and they can stretch their senses out to a radius of 3 miles through the trees. They are thus never surprised unless somehow encountered away from their forest homes. In combat, a humbaba batters opponents with its fists and rends them with its long leonine fangs. Its gaze is also deadly, and the first time any character meets the gaze (once per encounter), the character must Save vs. Death Ray or die. Furthermore, each humbaba knows seven Magic-User or Cleric spells of at least 5th level, each of which may be cast once per day. Each humbaba's spells can be selected as the DM desires, or rolled randomly.
For ease of use, here's a random table to determine spell levels:
Roll 1d8
1: 5th level Magic User spell (roll 1d12 to determine which spell)
2: 5th level Cleric spell (roll 1d8 to determine which spell)
3: 6th level Magic User spell (roll 1d12 to determine which spell)
4: 6th level Cleric spell (roll 1d8 to determine which spell)
5: 7th level Magic User spell (roll 1d12 to determine which spell)
6: 7th level Cleric spell (roll 1d8 to determine which spell)
7: 8th level Magic User spell (roll 1d12 to determine which spell)
8: 9th level Magic User spell (roll 1d12 to determine which spell)
Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Flying Swordsmen play report
Dean wrote up this play report. He said I'm free to edit it, but I'll just make two notes:
1. Josh's Ghost Hunter character is named Lao Zun. Dean couldn't remember.
2. Jeremy's Taoist was using the Heart Crusher spell, not sleep. No need to have moral debates about throat slitting of sleeping foes when their chests have already been caved in!
Here's Dean's report of play, just as he sent it to me:
1. Josh's Ghost Hunter character is named Lao Zun. Dean couldn't remember.
2. Jeremy's Taoist was using the Heart Crusher spell, not sleep. No need to have moral debates about throat slitting of sleeping foes when their chests have already been caved in!
Here's Dean's report of play, just as he sent it to me:
August 24, 2012
Last weekend (August 24, 2012) we playtested Dennis’s roleplaying game “Flying Swordsman.” There was Wu Xiaowei the Taoist magician played by Jeremy; a Ghost Hunter (similar to an assassin) played by Josh; and Xiong Di Di, an Animist Shaman of the Great Bear played by Dean.
Very Elder Karl was summoned across the veil from Ur by the prayers of a group of monks to the Great Panda. The monks called him Xiong Di Di, Little Brother Bear, in their language. The Ghost Hunter had already adventured once previously, so he instructed the two new party members on the convolutions of intrigue in this town. At the outset of this current adventure the party was seeking information about a star map which had been pulled out of the butt of a wooden monkey statuette.
Gong Lan the beautiful and deadly thief aided us and persuaded us to help her further. We visited Dian Ma Su the County Examiner, one of whose bureaucratic duties was to store and catalogue the county’s maps. This man revealed that the map was not a star map of any known stars, but that it was probably a map of local features encoded as a fake star map: a treasure map in other words. The Examiner was very friendly, suspiciously so, and helpful to a point, at which he quickly made his exit and refused any enticement to linger. Our wizard detected a faint glamour upon him.
Further questions in the market place and in taverns from such men as Old Kwan “who loves maps” revealed that an old gentleman scholar and cartographer named Hwang lived two hours walk from town in a country villa. The heroes traveled there immediately, and the scholar informed them that he would gladly help decipher the map, if only the party would take care of the local bandits for him. Said bandits had paid especial attention to stealing rare and learned books.
We decided to rush back to the town and use various resources to locate the bandits by drunken rumours, thievish secrets and monastic wisdom. The Abbot of the Great Panda revealed that the bandits were a threat to sacred texts as well, and that there was a rumour that the bandit chieftain was a monster of some sort who appeared human. Then everyone returned to the scholar’s villa, attempting to draw out the bandits by appearing as learned and feeble scholars debating along the road and with scrolls sticking from our backpacks.
Xiong Di Di mentioned that at dawn the next day, he could pray to a minor spirit of the Great Panda and ask four questions. We decided to ask, “Where is the bandit lair?” “What is the key to the code of the map?” “Who personally knows the bandits?” “What sort of creature is the bandit leader?” Of course there was little guarantee that such a minor spirit would know much regarding these questions, but we hoped for the best.
However even before darkness had settled long that night, the villa was attacked by twenty bandits! We ran to the gatehouse and saw three tough-looking leaders among the throng. Gong Lan immediately sprang down into the midst thereof though to little effect at first. The Ghost Hunter prepared to fight, Elder Karl blessed everyone and Wu Xiaowei cast a spell of sleep upon some of the lesser bandits.
Two of the bandits jumped high into the air onto the ramparts of the wall, and there they struck down the Ghost Hunter with two mighty blows. Xiong Di Di healed him, but things were desparate. Wu Xiaowei continued to cast spells of sleep, followed eventually by a charm spell against one of the leaders. The fight quickly turned against the bandits. Xiong Di Di realized that most of the bandits were not at the gate and hurried back to the inner house, but it was too late: the bandits had knocked the scholar unconscious and stolen some sort of document or map.
Fortunately the charmed bandit proved very willing to discuss his comrades’ immediate plans and location. The party made great plans for the next day as rest and recuperation were required now. The next chapter awaits.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
It's worse than that, it's physics, Jim!
Thanks to Typhoon Bolaven, we had the day off. Of course, it also meant we spent the majority of it indoors. What to do?
Well, first of all, in the morning my son wanted to listen to his new favorite song, Star Trekkin' by The Firm. This is an old novelty song from the 80's that I included on a CD to use with my kindergarten students.
After listening to it about 5 times, I answered a few questions, and before you know it, we were watching an episode of TOS (Space Seed, the one where they find Khan in cryogenic sleep). We also watched an episode of the D&D cartoon.
My son is now a big fan of James T. Kirk, mostly thanks to them sharing the name James.
Just before bed, we watched some Land of the Lost and a bit of Super Friends.
Thank you, Typhoon Bolaven!
Nothing special gaming-wise to report, although Tenkar's Tavern is featuring my little contribution to the OSR, Flying Swordsmen, this week. Thanks, Erik!
Well, first of all, in the morning my son wanted to listen to his new favorite song, Star Trekkin' by The Firm. This is an old novelty song from the 80's that I included on a CD to use with my kindergarten students.
After listening to it about 5 times, I answered a few questions, and before you know it, we were watching an episode of TOS (Space Seed, the one where they find Khan in cryogenic sleep). We also watched an episode of the D&D cartoon.
My son is now a big fan of James T. Kirk, mostly thanks to them sharing the name James.
Just before bed, we watched some Land of the Lost and a bit of Super Friends.
Thank you, Typhoon Bolaven!
Nothing special gaming-wise to report, although Tenkar's Tavern is featuring my little contribution to the OSR, Flying Swordsmen, this week. Thanks, Erik!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
OSR Obituaries?
Some people have been reporting the death of the OSR. In reply, I say:
It had to be Python or Twain. Python won.
It had to be Python or Twain. Python won.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Beast of the Week: Space Monkey
Having a little fun this week with the beast. I've been watching the old Super Friends cartoon, as well as some Cartoon Planet, with my son. Both feature heroes with cosmic simian sidekicks.
Should I start a poll? Who is better, Blip or Gleek?
Space Monkey
Armor Class: 1 (19)
Hit Dice: 1
Move: 120 (40) Climb 120 (40)
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d4 or by weapon
No. Appearing: 3d4 (3d8)
Save As: Fighter 1
Morale: 9
Treasure Type: N
Alignment: Lawful
XP: 10
Space Monkeys are simian creatures from another world. They are extremely agile and their long prehensile tails can be used for many purposes. They are intelligent, but speak only their own strange language of grunts, hooting, and cries similar to that of normal monkeys. They can understand Common, however, and often communicate with sign language. Space Monkeys may become fond of certain heroic individuals or duos, and serve them. If a Lawful character of at least level 4 or Charisma 16+ gains a Very Friendly reaction from a group of Space Monkeys, one of them will become that character's sidekick.
Dual Stats for Star Frontiers
Space Monkey
Type: Small Omnivore
Number: 3-30
Move: Medium
IM/RS: 8/80
Stamina: 40
Attack: 40
Damage: 1d10
Special Attack: none
Special Defense: none
Native World: unknown
Space Monkey
Armor Class: 1 (19)
Hit Dice: 1
Move: 120 (40) Climb 120 (40)
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d4 or by weapon
No. Appearing: 3d4 (3d8)
Save As: Fighter 1
Morale: 9
Treasure Type: N
Alignment: Lawful
XP: 10
Space Monkeys are simian creatures from another world. They are extremely agile and their long prehensile tails can be used for many purposes. They are intelligent, but speak only their own strange language of grunts, hooting, and cries similar to that of normal monkeys. They can understand Common, however, and often communicate with sign language. Space Monkeys may become fond of certain heroic individuals or duos, and serve them. If a Lawful character of at least level 4 or Charisma 16+ gains a Very Friendly reaction from a group of Space Monkeys, one of them will become that character's sidekick.
Dual Stats for Star Frontiers
Space Monkey
Type: Small Omnivore
Number: 3-30
Move: Medium
IM/RS: 8/80
Stamina: 40
Attack: 40
Damage: 1d10
Special Attack: none
Special Defense: none
Native World: unknown
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
D&D Next Spells - some problems
I'm not quite halfway through the Spells document of the updated play test, but already I'm seeing some potential problems, WotC.
The very first spell on the list, Aid. A third level Cleric spell that gives three targets d8 damage reduction on the next hit they take within the next minute. Seriously? Third level? The orignal Aid spell in AD&D Unearthed Arcana (unchanged for 2E) gave the benefits of Bless, as well as d8 temporary hit points. Not damage reduction on a single hit, temporary hit points. And it's only second level.* Granted, it only affected one target, not three. But still, this version sucks. Even if the Cleric's player rolls well and gets an 8, by the wording of the spell if something dings you for only 1 point of damage, the other 7 points are then wasted.
Meanwhile, Crusader's Strike on page 5 is a first level spell that gives +2d6 damage to a weapon on its next attack, and even if you miss still does 1d6 damage. Obviously this is a 4E power converted into a normal spell.
It looks to me like Mearls and Co. are continuing their nerf of the Cleric at least with regards to any spells with pedigree. Anything that they developed for 4th and are carrying over is allowed to be overpowered.
It's just a first impression. I really need to go through the document completely. It would help if they'd organized the spells in the old fashioned way, divided by class and level. Makes for easier comparison.
A little voice in the back of my head is wondering if they organized them this way on purpose to make it difficult to compare...
*Update - Just checked the 3.5 SRD. In that edition, it was still second level, and gave the benefits of the AD&D version (Bless + 1d8 temp. hit points to one target) PLUS +1 hit point per level of the Cleric up to level 10. 3E made it better. 5E is making it demonstrably worse (maybe it was 4E, I'm not gonna waste time checking that one).
The very first spell on the list, Aid. A third level Cleric spell that gives three targets d8 damage reduction on the next hit they take within the next minute. Seriously? Third level? The orignal Aid spell in AD&D Unearthed Arcana (unchanged for 2E) gave the benefits of Bless, as well as d8 temporary hit points. Not damage reduction on a single hit, temporary hit points. And it's only second level.* Granted, it only affected one target, not three. But still, this version sucks. Even if the Cleric's player rolls well and gets an 8, by the wording of the spell if something dings you for only 1 point of damage, the other 7 points are then wasted.
Meanwhile, Crusader's Strike on page 5 is a first level spell that gives +2d6 damage to a weapon on its next attack, and even if you miss still does 1d6 damage. Obviously this is a 4E power converted into a normal spell.
It looks to me like Mearls and Co. are continuing their nerf of the Cleric at least with regards to any spells with pedigree. Anything that they developed for 4th and are carrying over is allowed to be overpowered.
It's just a first impression. I really need to go through the document completely. It would help if they'd organized the spells in the old fashioned way, divided by class and level. Makes for easier comparison.
A little voice in the back of my head is wondering if they organized them this way on purpose to make it difficult to compare...
*Update - Just checked the 3.5 SRD. In that edition, it was still second level, and gave the benefits of the AD&D version (Bless + 1d8 temp. hit points to one target) PLUS +1 hit point per level of the Cleric up to level 10. 3E made it better. 5E is making it demonstrably worse (maybe it was 4E, I'm not gonna waste time checking that one).
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Double Feature: The Murder Machine/The Apes of Wrath
Got to play games on G+ both Friday and Saturday night this weekend. My wife was in a good mood. ;) Here's a double feature summary of events.
Friday, Jeremy ran a game set in Eberron using his own simple Microlite/Risus hybrid 2-page system, Super Simple 20. [Jeremy, you should update your blog with your recent pictures and your system!]
Playing were Dean as Bumblesnick d'Sivis the Gnome Illusionist, Adam as Nurzhanbek the Wand Wizard, and myself reprising my old Eberron PC from the Ebisu Group 6 years ago, Ysberir d'Medani the Half-Elf Ranger.
We were sent to Thrane to investigate a series of murders. The victims were all human, with no apparent links to who they were or where they were murdered. We did our best to track down clues to the murderer's identity, and were sent on the path towards a heretical cult of the Whisperer in the Flame (for those not familiar with the setting, Thrane is the home of paladins who worship The Silver Flame, and don't take kindly to thoughts of demon worshipers worshiping their sacred fire). Also Bumblesnick had a wine-induced dream of small creatures in the sewers worshiping giant albino cockroaches.
A helpful paladin sent us on the trail of the local cafe-lounging wizards. One of them was making creepy racist remarks at Bumblesnick, which freaked him out and sent him back to the guild hall early. Ysberir and Nurzhanbek followed the younger wizards to a frat-party style bar, where after drinking contests and head-butting contests (I won the drinking, Nurzhanbek lost the head-butting), the same creepy wizard led us to a goblin information merchant named Scuttle.
At Scuttle's, we learned some information about the cults, and then Ysberir noticed something hanging from a wall above us. It was humanoid, with a pale bone-white face and six eyes. We fired on it, with Nurzhanbek's spell causing it to fall. It landed heavily. Ysberir (his bow string again broken - Steve, laugh away!) hit it with his axe. It took the hit and didn't flinch. Then it just stood there examining me. Nurzhanbek blasted it again. Ysberir tried his longspear, but the creature snapped it in half. Nurzhanbek started running, and it started following, making only a brief pause to once again examine Ysberir only to find too much Elf in the Half-Elf to bother killing.
It chased Nurzhanbek to a Paladin Temple, where the priests and monks thought he must be a crazy drunk. And that's where we ended things for the night.
____________________________________________________________
Last night, we continued our Vaults of Ur game, Justin of course is the DM. We had a big group: Jeremy as Ripper the Resurrected, Tedankhamen as Digger the Orc, Alexei as Maya Culpar the Elf, Dean as Elder Karl Cleric of the Great Bear, and myself as Thidrek the Sleestak.
Our previous adventure to resurrect Ripper left us indebted to the Priests of the Great Bear. They asked us to investigate and exterminate a pack of giant carnivorous apes. A renegade heretic priest of the Bear had thought to use them in a power play, but instead released them on the city.
Scouring the ruins southwest of the Obelisk, we encountered some relatively fresh bodies of three adventurers. They seemed to have been rent by animals as well as slashed by blades, within the past 48 hours or so. Following a blood trail south through the ruins, we came to a warehouse that was still mostly intact. There was one door, no windows, and the blood went right up to the shut doors. On the roof, Thidrek noticed some holes in the wood, and looking in, saw a pair of boots. Calling down, there was a cry for help followed by someone muffling the voice.
Wasting no time, Elder Karl used his stone fist to blast open the door. We rushed inside, through the door we thought led to the people. There were three battered humans with two trussed up and unconscious Orc Magi. Not sure who were the good guys and who were the bad guys, we struck to subdue, and soon knocked the three humans out. Searching them revealed Spiked Circle necklaces, so we quickly trussed them up. The Orc Magi were adventurers from Fort Low, companions to the three we had found earlier. The Spiked Circle set upon them and captured these two. Then the Spiked Circle were set upon by the apes.
We thought we'd make sure the building was clear then rest there before heading back to Fort Low (the orcs wanted to high tail it out right away). Karl and Maya's torchbearer went to repair and lock the front door. Thidrek stayed with the orc magi to guard the prisoners. Ripper, Digger and Maya went to the next room, and found a giant spider, which they quickly dispatched. The door secured, Karl joined them in the third room. This time, a gigantic beetle attacked from under the floor. Karl got pulled half under the floorboards and bitten several times. Thidrek and the orc magi finished off the Spiked Circle guys and Thidrek rushed to help as everyone stabbed furiously at the beetle to save Karl.
Thidrek (thanks to a natural 1) also fell in with the beetle, as did Digger. One chicken from Thidrek's bag later and the beetle decided it had taken enough punishment and had enough to eat in the bird, and turned tail. Last minute strikes from Elder Karl and Maya dropped it, and a natural 20 on the corpse allowed Ripper to decapitate the dead bug in one swing.
Thidrek and Karl explored the beetle's tunnels, and found a bag of gems and a scroll case (but no dead halflings wrapped in mithril coats - Elder Karl's holy grail of treasure). Following the tunnel to the surface, we used the stone fist again to close the hole. That's when we noticed the building surrounded by apes. 8' tall apes! Backing away, Elder Karl made some noise, and the apes were on us. Karl used the stone fist one more time to knock a wall over on them. We screamed and yelled to attract the attention of the others.
With Karl and Thidrek in melee with the five apes, and the others peppering them with arrows, we took down two and the other three turned tail. We followed them a bit, but they seemed to be calling for help from more apes, so we retreated to the warehouse, gathered the orc magi and a barrel of very nice wine we found in the spider room, and headed back to Fort Low.
Friday, Jeremy ran a game set in Eberron using his own simple Microlite/Risus hybrid 2-page system, Super Simple 20. [Jeremy, you should update your blog with your recent pictures and your system!]
Playing were Dean as Bumblesnick d'Sivis the Gnome Illusionist, Adam as Nurzhanbek the Wand Wizard, and myself reprising my old Eberron PC from the Ebisu Group 6 years ago, Ysberir d'Medani the Half-Elf Ranger.
We were sent to Thrane to investigate a series of murders. The victims were all human, with no apparent links to who they were or where they were murdered. We did our best to track down clues to the murderer's identity, and were sent on the path towards a heretical cult of the Whisperer in the Flame (for those not familiar with the setting, Thrane is the home of paladins who worship The Silver Flame, and don't take kindly to thoughts of demon worshipers worshiping their sacred fire). Also Bumblesnick had a wine-induced dream of small creatures in the sewers worshiping giant albino cockroaches.
A helpful paladin sent us on the trail of the local cafe-lounging wizards. One of them was making creepy racist remarks at Bumblesnick, which freaked him out and sent him back to the guild hall early. Ysberir and Nurzhanbek followed the younger wizards to a frat-party style bar, where after drinking contests and head-butting contests (I won the drinking, Nurzhanbek lost the head-butting), the same creepy wizard led us to a goblin information merchant named Scuttle.
At Scuttle's, we learned some information about the cults, and then Ysberir noticed something hanging from a wall above us. It was humanoid, with a pale bone-white face and six eyes. We fired on it, with Nurzhanbek's spell causing it to fall. It landed heavily. Ysberir (his bow string again broken - Steve, laugh away!) hit it with his axe. It took the hit and didn't flinch. Then it just stood there examining me. Nurzhanbek blasted it again. Ysberir tried his longspear, but the creature snapped it in half. Nurzhanbek started running, and it started following, making only a brief pause to once again examine Ysberir only to find too much Elf in the Half-Elf to bother killing.
It chased Nurzhanbek to a Paladin Temple, where the priests and monks thought he must be a crazy drunk. And that's where we ended things for the night.
____________________________________________________________
Last night, we continued our Vaults of Ur game, Justin of course is the DM. We had a big group: Jeremy as Ripper the Resurrected, Tedankhamen as Digger the Orc, Alexei as Maya Culpar the Elf, Dean as Elder Karl Cleric of the Great Bear, and myself as Thidrek the Sleestak.
Our previous adventure to resurrect Ripper left us indebted to the Priests of the Great Bear. They asked us to investigate and exterminate a pack of giant carnivorous apes. A renegade heretic priest of the Bear had thought to use them in a power play, but instead released them on the city.
Scouring the ruins southwest of the Obelisk, we encountered some relatively fresh bodies of three adventurers. They seemed to have been rent by animals as well as slashed by blades, within the past 48 hours or so. Following a blood trail south through the ruins, we came to a warehouse that was still mostly intact. There was one door, no windows, and the blood went right up to the shut doors. On the roof, Thidrek noticed some holes in the wood, and looking in, saw a pair of boots. Calling down, there was a cry for help followed by someone muffling the voice.
Wasting no time, Elder Karl used his stone fist to blast open the door. We rushed inside, through the door we thought led to the people. There were three battered humans with two trussed up and unconscious Orc Magi. Not sure who were the good guys and who were the bad guys, we struck to subdue, and soon knocked the three humans out. Searching them revealed Spiked Circle necklaces, so we quickly trussed them up. The Orc Magi were adventurers from Fort Low, companions to the three we had found earlier. The Spiked Circle set upon them and captured these two. Then the Spiked Circle were set upon by the apes.
We thought we'd make sure the building was clear then rest there before heading back to Fort Low (the orcs wanted to high tail it out right away). Karl and Maya's torchbearer went to repair and lock the front door. Thidrek stayed with the orc magi to guard the prisoners. Ripper, Digger and Maya went to the next room, and found a giant spider, which they quickly dispatched. The door secured, Karl joined them in the third room. This time, a gigantic beetle attacked from under the floor. Karl got pulled half under the floorboards and bitten several times. Thidrek and the orc magi finished off the Spiked Circle guys and Thidrek rushed to help as everyone stabbed furiously at the beetle to save Karl.
Thidrek (thanks to a natural 1) also fell in with the beetle, as did Digger. One chicken from Thidrek's bag later and the beetle decided it had taken enough punishment and had enough to eat in the bird, and turned tail. Last minute strikes from Elder Karl and Maya dropped it, and a natural 20 on the corpse allowed Ripper to decapitate the dead bug in one swing.
Thidrek and Karl explored the beetle's tunnels, and found a bag of gems and a scroll case (but no dead halflings wrapped in mithril coats - Elder Karl's holy grail of treasure). Following the tunnel to the surface, we used the stone fist again to close the hole. That's when we noticed the building surrounded by apes. 8' tall apes! Backing away, Elder Karl made some noise, and the apes were on us. Karl used the stone fist one more time to knock a wall over on them. We screamed and yelled to attract the attention of the others.
With Karl and Thidrek in melee with the five apes, and the others peppering them with arrows, we took down two and the other three turned tail. We followed them a bit, but they seemed to be calling for help from more apes, so we retreated to the warehouse, gathered the orc magi and a barrel of very nice wine we found in the spider room, and headed back to Fort Low.
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