Darkest Dungeon - The Leper

I've recently had a lot of interest in Darkest Dungeon. While I've not heard the best things about the gameplay (check out David at Points of Light had to say about it here), I absolutely love the Mike Mignola-esque art style. I think the Leper is my favorite. I might play some sort of warrior leper in a future game.

Witch-Hunts and Violent Mobs

This variant cover with Nightcrawler promoting Marvel's Death of X event has me thinking:

Have you included witch-hunts and violent mobs of torch and pitchfork bearing peasants in your games?

I can honestly say that I've never really had either occur in my games. This might be because my games tend to be more high fantasy, but I'm not sure.

I'm currently running Curst of Strahd, so I think this will change soon, but it was an interesting revelation. 

Tell me about your heathen slayers, violent rabble, and inquisitions. 

BTW, if you're using Swords and Wizardry (Complete) you should check out this free Witchfinder class created by +MonkeyBlood Design (Glynn Seal).

The Sword is OSR

Yesterday I was talking about my DCC Youtube playlist on Facebook and posted a video by The Sword. They just have a 70's fantasy vibe that's great. I have at least one post on here inspired by them. I think +Timothy Brannan said it best, "The Sword is OSR."

These are my favorites. I also love How Heavy This Axe, Winter's Wolves,  Arcane Montane, Eyes of the Stormwitch, Freya, and The Hidden Masters. Honestly, it's all great. So what do you think? Do you have a favorite? Or can you think of another "OSR" band?

Monstrous Monday: Scabbed-Wing Angels

"He's the angel with the scabbed wings. Hard-drug face, want to powder his nose. He will deflower the freshest crop. Dry up all the wombs with his rock and roll sores."

Marilyn Manson - Angel with the Scabbed Wings

Sometimes the divine servants of law get a taste of mortal pleasure. Most that do, repent of their worldly indiscretions and return to the Heavens. However, a few forsake their holy nature and choose to remain on the material plane. These angels, sacrifice their divinity and quickly find that their wings rot off, leaving perpetually painful wounds. The angels, now known as scabbed-winged angels, medicate this pain with excess, whether it be sex, drugs, food, alcohol, or some other vice entirely. 

Each scabbed-wing angel is different, consider this a base template to work from.

Scabbed-Wing Angel 

Init +6; Atk Draining Touch +8 Weapon +6  (Damage Varies) 

AC 14; HD 6d12; MV 60’; Act 2d20; SP:   Infravision, Telepathy, Immune to weapons of less than +2 and natural attacks from creatures 5 HD or less, half damage from fire, acid, cold, electricity, and gas, Scabbed Wings (see below),  Always Unholy (see below) SV Fort +10, Ref +8, Will +6; AL Neutral or Chaotic

Scabbed Wings - The angel may disturb their scabbed wings. They then inflict 1d6 damage to themselves, but gain The affects are unpredictable, but always beneficial to the angel.

 

d5   Result

1 - Blood Seeks Blood: A tendril of blood shoots forth from the angel's wound towards the nearest enemy. They must make a DC 14 Reflex save or take 1d4 damage and an addition 1d2 every round afterwards as their blood seeks to leave the body and join the angel. A creature can take a round to bandage the wound to prevent any additional bleed damage. Receiving magical healing will also end this effect.

2 - Powder His Nose - All creatures (other than the angel)  within 30' feet must make a DC 14 Fortitude save or be dazed for 1d4 rounds.

3 - Deflower the Freshest Crop - For the next hour, the angel deals an extra 1d8 on all melee attacks the first time it hits a creature. 

4 - Rock and Roll Sores - Until the end of combat, if a creature strikes the angel with a melee attack they must make a DC 14 Reflex save or take 1d6 Acid damage.

5 - Scab Armor - For the rest of the encounter the angel gains an additional 1d4 bonus to its AC.

Always Unholy-  Scabbed-Wing Angels do not fit in any paradigm and are always considered un-holy for the purpose of clerical turning.

June Mythoard

My June Mythoard has arrived! I think the stand out products of this hoard are the Far Away Land quickstart, sticker, and The Eye of Malas mini adventure. I've had an interest in the Adventure Time-esque rpg for a bit, but hadn't got around to checking it out.

Interested in Far Away Land? You can download the quickstart pdf here for free. You can also download several adventures here.

Succubus Sunday - Lilith as a DCC Patron (Part I)

Alright, ladies, gents, and other sentients, the next few Succubus Sundays are going to be a little different. Inspired by my excitement for Mutant Crawl Classics, I've decided to make one of my Dungeon Crawl Classics dreams a reality. Over the new several Sundays I'm going to be turning Lilith into a DCC Patron, complete with spells and everything.

Next week I'll do a write up of her background. Followed by the Invoke Patron table, Patron Taint table, and finally some new patron specific spells.

I'm going to use Cradle of Filth's Lilith Immaculate as my chief inspiration. I know the song isn't for all folks, but I like it and love the lyrics. which can be read here.

The Time of Atom is Upon Us

It's finally happened.

Did you see it?

The Mutant Crawl Classics kickstarter is live and funded in less than 10 hours!

It's time to prepare myself, all shiny and chrome.

Mutant Crawl Classics is a stand-alone expansion for Dungeon Crawl Classics. The hardcover contains everything you need for a complete mutants and magic game. That being said it pairs perfectly with Dungeon Crawl Classics and together they make the most epic game of epicness!

DCC material is fantastic, Goodman Games do great kickstarters, and +Jim Wampler is a great writer (and according to my pal, +David Coppoletti, an amazing GM). Back this one, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Cinematic Heroes In A Half-Shell - The Purple Dragons

It's time for more Cinematic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles goodness. The Purple Dragons have been a part of various TMNT continuities. My version is a mix of the classic street toughs with the young Foot Clan gang from the first live action TMNT movie. 

By the way, I've watched the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and my son and I LOVED it! The first Bay produced TMNT movie was entertaining (to me at least), but not great. This one is fantastic!

----------------------

Many of the young Purple Dragons aren't bad, just lost 

The Purple Dragons

Based in NYC, the Purple Dragons are a street gang. Originally from the of the Lower East Side, their influence has spread through out the city. They tend to recruit the young, angry, and disenfranchised  youth, providing them with family and a place to stay. Unfortunately, they are also a tool of the Foot Clan.  

but those that stay are some of humanity's worst.

For regular Purple Dragon members, I'd use the street scum from the Angel core book. For a lieutenant or veteran member, I'd go with a hardened criminal.

In my upcoming game, they are led by Sly, a charismatic man with ties to one of the cast members.

Name: Sly

Sly, charismatic leader

Motivation: Serve the Foot Clan, Lead the Purple Dragons

Critter Type: Human 

Attributes: Str 4, Dex 6, Con 4, Int 4, Per 4, Will 6

Ability Scores: Muscle 14, Combat  15, Brains 15

Life Points:  57 Drama Points: 10

Special Abilities: Attractiveness 3, Criminal, Hard to Kill 5

                                   Maneuvers

Name              Score    Damage               Notes

Punch                15          8                     Bash
Glock                15          12                   Bullet
Switchblade      15          8                     Slash/Stab

Dodge               15          -   

Sly is the current head of the Purple Dragon Gang. Quick-witted and talented, it didn't take him long to rise through the ranks of the Dragons. Though he seems caring and like an older brother to the new recruits, veteran Dragons know that he doesn't take kindly to failure.

Maze of the Blue Medusa

I received my copy of Maze of the Blue Medusa today. Like most books Zak's involved with, this is a piece of art. The book is mainly system agnostic and doesn't have to-be-read-aloud sections. I don't think I'll use this anytime soon, but I am looking forward to have a group of pc's enter the painting. You should expect to hear more about the exploits in the maze in the future.

You can pick up your own copy here.

The Shambling Un-Dead

I like to post original content, but I'll admit sometimes it's just fun to share different finds with you folks.

The Shambling Un-Dead is a free level 0 tournament adventure for Dungeon Crawl Classics. Unlike typical O level funnels, players only control one character at a time. Death isn't the end though. When one character dies, another crawls out of the woodwork.

The adventurers are common folk trapped within a city overrun with undead. It's a classic scenario idea, but the adventure presents it in a fun and refreshing way. The encounters are really cool and sort of creepy. There are undead fiddlers, babies, and sailors.

Even if you don't play DCC, you should check the adventure out. I'm sure you'll find something useful or entertaining.

Happy Father's Day

I just wanted to wish my fellow proud papas a happy father's day!

Origins Con Swag

Last night, instead of D&D my group decided to play board games. Two of the gang (Remy and Adam) went to Origins Game Fair this year. I was happily surprised when they brought me some swag (which by the way is a great way to get on your DM's good side).

The Fluxx cards are from the Firefly version and the Pathfinder cards are for Wrath of the Righteous. The lanyard is advertising the upcoming Legendary standalone based Big Trouble in Little China. The large sheets is an Origins exclusive set of paper miniatures for Storm King's Thunder.

A close up of the text.

The minis on their bases.

Succubus Sunday

Succubus by ArtofTy

Crush, Kill, Destroy

As a follow-up to Thursday's kaiju post  I wanted to post this awesome video for my friend Tribe One's track Kaiju (Crush, Kill Destroy).

If you like the track, you can purchase it here.

If you want something a seriously NSFW (but fun), you can always check out Schaffer the Darklord's track, Monster.

Kaiju Question

This one is fair simply:

Have you ever used Kaiju in your game? I realize that D&D has things like dragons and other huge, gargantuan, and colossal beasts that are kaiju-like but I'm just curious if anyone has ever done anything kaiju-related in their games. 

The Bestiary 4 for Pathfinder contains kaiju stats. Nothing official exists in, but if you want to include kaiju  there's a product on the DM's Guild site that may interest you. Gargantuas of Kara-Tur 5E updates Gargantuas (essentially Kaiju) from the Kara-Tur Monster Compendium to 5th edition. At only two dollars, the product doesn't have a lot of content, but it still gives you four varieties and something to work from when making your own. The four different gargantua represented are reptillian (Godzilla), humanoid (King Kong), insectoid (Mothra) and Krakentua (the Cthulhu in a kimono to the right). I've not used them yet, but they seem reasonably well balanced. 

5E Movie Magic Items

Geek & Sundry has posted more movie-inspired 5e goodness. Last time they brought us monsters, this time they bring us magic items.  I'm going to post the stats, but you can read the article here.

Succubus Sunday

Kiss of a Succubus by Karosu-Maker

Succubus Sunday

Succubus by shizen1102

Curse of Strahd - Session 6

The Party 
Victor Luna (CG human Oath of Vengeance Paladin) - The de facto leader of the group, Victor is a ceaseless hunter and protector of the innocent.

Adrick Balgart (CG human Light cleric) - Cleric of Lathander, branded a heretic, he seeks redemption and revenge against the creatures of the night

Simon Barhorn (CN half-elf bard) - Self-serving, yet charismatic, Simon is the party's spokesperson.

Session 6

We played by lantern and candle light (though we eventually had one lamp on in the background)

The session began in media res with the party bottle necking the vampire spawn. Strategic party placement, oath of vengeance smiting, and Protection from Evil, allowed Victor to hold his own and slay a second vampire spawn. After downing vamp number 2, Simon through lit oil and the group decided either the fire would get Strahd's minions or the sunlight would.

Unfortunately they discovered that the Dark Powers protect the creatures of the night and the sun doesn't truly shine in Barovia. Still having lost two of their fellows, the spawn decided to retreat, report, and regroup. Adrick wasn't having any of of this and tackled one of them, making an amazing strength check, and grappling one. Simon used a stake and hammer and incapacitated the vamp. According to the Monster Manual, a stake driven into the heart of a vampire in it's burial ground kills it, that being said, it was a ballsy move and I applauded it. Instead of dusting, I ruled that it paralyzed the suckface. The remaining three bolted.

The trio met the demon-armed Izek Strazni and his master, the baron who invited his heroes to join him for tea and sandwiches the next day. They discovered that "malicious discontent" was a punishable crime and were shocked to see children in stocks. This is when the session felt a little like Game of Thrones. The party discussed over throwing the baron and taking out Lady Fiona Wachter and installing Father Petrovich and/or his sister, the baroness in charge. They've planted the seed of rebellion in a few ears, but have decided to visit the Vistani at the Tser Pool for wisdom before acting on anything.