Succubus Sunday - Goddess

Goddess by Jiyeon Ryu

Thinking About Swords and Wizardry Light

I think this coming week I'm going to try to give +Erik Tenkar's baby, Swords & Wizardry Light a test drive. I love the idea of condensed rpg for teaching new folks and taking to conventions (especially since I think I might go to Origins this year).

+Timothy Brannan has expanded Light with a two page witch class (three if you count the licence). You can pick up the pay what you want pdf here.

+Thom Wilson's kickstarter, Off the Beaten Path, Forest Excursions looks like a fun addition to S&W Light (or any game considering there's a system neutral version). The print book will be at least 24 pages of one to two page forest adventures, including all sorts of things. If you'd rather just have pdfs of things like this, you can follow Thom on Patreon.

Given the condensed nature of Swords & Wizardry Light, I think it might be a fun exercise to create some new content for it. We'll add this onto my Year of the Nephilim work.

Normally I love Goblins, But...

You can find stats for these guys here. The artwork is by TrashMobMinis. You can find another great piece of art inspired by the original here.

Shia LaBeouf (LotFP)

This isn't the first time I've referenced this video in a post. You can buy the track here.

Armor: 12,  HP: 20, Movement 150', 1 knife (1d4) or 1 axe (1d8), Morale 12

Skills: Bushcraft 5 in 6, Climb 2 in 6, Search 3 in 6, Sneak Attack 4 , Stealth 4 in 6, Tinkering 2 in 6

Shia LaBeouf lives for the hunt and the kill. He has been known to leave bear traps in the woods. Anyone stepping on one of these traps must make a device save or take 1d6 damage, become immobilized until the trap is removed (which does another 1d6 damage), and finds their movement speed halved until they heal this damage. Shia is known to get on all fours and sprint (which is why his movement is as high as it is). Being an actual cannibal he heals 5 for every round he eats human (but not demi-human) flesh. If reduced to 0 HP Shia will spring back to life in 1d4 rounds unless he is decapitated. Also, due to the reality warping nature of Shia LeBeouf humans and demi-humans within 30' of him gain the ability to do Jui Jitsu. Their unarmed attacks gain a +4 bonus and do 1d6 damage.

Source

Ash Wednesday - Green Horror

What if the Necronomicon was used in a desert? Instead of trees, would the Watcher take over other plant life... like let's say a cactus? Is that the true origin of the Green Horror? Or maybe the Green Horror is the Watcher in the Woods jealous "little brother." Yeah, that sounds like a fun idea.

Name: Green Horror

Motivation: Create evil minions, destroy all humans, prove he's better than the Watcher
Critter Type: Pure evil's little brother?
Attributes: Str 8, Dex 4, Con 10, Int 6, Per 6, Will 8
Ability Scores: Muscle 22, Combat 14, Brains 17
Life Points: 150  Drama Points: 5
Special Abilities: Armor Value 10, Attractiveness -10, Increased Life Points
                         
       Maneuvers
Name                   Score   Damage               Notes
Grapple                   14          10                   Resisted by dodge, slash/stab
Pummel                   14         18                    Slash/stab

Except where as noted above, the Green Horror has the powers of the Watcher in the Woods.

Great Point

Monstrous Monday - Green Horror (LotFP)

The story below is taken from the public domain comic, Fantastic Fears #8, which you can read in it's entirety here.

 

Green Horror
Armor: 14,  HD: 4 (24 HP), Movement -/120', 2 spiny bashes (1d8) or wrestling (1d6 spine damage), Morale 12

The Green Horror is a (hopefully) solitary creature. As the comic says, it's quite patient. Once it finds an object of desire, it does what it can to eliminate all other sources of affection. It typically kills via death hug. It will wrestle an opponent (with a +4 bonus). Targets grappled take 1d6 spine damage every turn). The Green Horror is stationary. However, it can uproot itself and gain a movement of 120' feet. However if it does so it will die in 1d8 hours.

Succubus Sunday

Succubus Serilda by Maximko

Tales of the Scarecrow Review

Tales of the Scarecrow is a mini adventure/site for your Lamentations of the Flame Princess or other OSR games. If you think  you'll ever play it, stop reading now.

Written by +James Raggi, Tales of the Scarecrow clocks in at 10 pages (including front cover, table of contents, and the back cover).

The set-up is simple. The party will wonder through a cornfield, investigate a farm house, and then find themselves trapped. Beneath the cornfield is a eldritch grabboid-esque horror. Unfortunately the water and corn the players have access to will kill them, so the scenario becomes a test of creativity and survival.

This scenario has a lot going for it. The writing is fantastic and the premise is interesting. There are three really cool items. The first is a sword that can be a bane or boon. The second is a Book of Vile Darkness-esque blasphemous spellbook. Finally, there's the Tales of the Scarecrow, which is a storybook found on a desk. This is one of my favourite parts because it's the players chance to flex their weird and creative muscles. Players get to come up with the story of the scarecrow. Whoever creates the most interesting and/or dangerous gets an XP bonus and  the scarecrow gets imbued with that power.

While it's short, this is one of my favourite LofFP releases because it really lets the player's creative energies flow. Also, the adventure has one of my favourite pieces of Flame Princess artwork. If you don't want to play in LotFP's early modern era setting, this can be placed in any setting really.

Zombie Lord

I found this guy on DeviantArt earlier this week.

Zombie Lord by DaveAllsop

Who do you think he is? Is he a corrupt witch hunter for Lamentations of the Flame Princess or an undead Puritan for Ash to find in the Army of Darkness RPG? Or is he something else entirely?

Leave a comment with a sentence or two about who you think he is. I'll take my favourite (or favourites), flesh them out, and give them stats for everyone to use.

Herbert West, Re-Animator (LofFP)

This is my OSR version of Dr. Herbert West. I was definitely more inspired by the films than the original short story. This is basically Jeffrey Combs portrayal of West, but set in the early modern era of Lamentations of the Flame Princess.

Herbert West, Re-Animator

Armor: 12,  HP: 30, Specialist 8, Movement 120', 1 scalpel (1d4) or syringe (1 plus + Re-Animation Serum) attack, Morale 8

Skills: Architecture 2, Bushcraft 2, Climb 1, Languages 3, Search 6, Sleight of Hand 2, Sneak Attack 2, Stealth 2, Tinker 6

Special Items: 
Re-Animation Serum - This glowing green fluid is the culmination of West's lifework. It will re-animate corpses, giving them the semblance of life. The intelligence and demeanor of the corpse will be greatly affected by it's freshness. However, the serum tends to be a death sentence to the living. If injected with the serum a person must make a Poison saving throw. Failure means they die in 1d6 rounds unless they are the recipient of a Cure Disease, though Delay Poison will allow another saving throw.

Re-Animated
Armor: 12,  HP: 20, Movement 100', 1 bash (1d4) or weapon attack , Morale 12

Fresh corpses (dead for less than a month) make more lifelike and intelligent re-animated. While they share many qualities of the undead, due to their scientific origin they are not undead and are unaffected by Turn Undead spell. They are nearly unstoppable as well, a re-animated reduced to 0 HP is momentarily disabled (for 1d10 rounds at which point it gains that many hit points). To truly defeat a re-animated you must dismember them or dispose of their bodies in some other way.

Ash Wednesday - Evie Barret (Stan Against Evil)

Evie Barret

Hero

Life Points: 49

Drama Points: 10

Attributes:

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 4

Constitution: 3

Intelligence: 3

Perception: 4

Willpower: 4

Qualities: 

Cop  (+5)

Fast Reaction Time (+2)

Hard to Kill 5 (+5)

Nerves of Steel (+3)

Situational Awareness (+2)

Status 3 (Current Willards Mill Sheriff) (+2)

Drawbacks: 

Adversary 3 (Witches of Williards Mill) (-3)

Dependent (daughter) (-2)

  

Skills:  

Computers 2
Crime 3

Doctor 1

Driving/Riding 3

Getting Medieval 3 

Gun Fu 4

Influence 3
Knowledge 1

Kung Fu 2

Mr. Fix-It 2

Notice 2

Occultism 2

Maneuvers:          Bonus     Damage           Notes

Dodge                         7            None        Avoid getting hit; -2 against ranged,; p. 89

Pistol                          7             12           Bullet

King Arthur Pendragon 1st Edition

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that King Arthur Pendragon: 1st Edition is free on OneBookShelf until the end of the month. I never played Pendragon but I have several books (from various editions) and it always seemed like an interesting game to me. What's your experience with the game? 

Succubus Sunday - Swords & Wizardry (Third Printing)

I really like the newest printing of Swords & Wizardry. I've seen some grief directed at the cover. Personally, I really like the piece though for me it seems like it would be better suited for a witch themed book. That being said, I wasn't a giant fan of the last cover. That discussion is not why you're here though. You want succubus artwork, right? Well, you're in luck because the new printing has new succubus art.

Succubus by +Gennifer Bone 

High School of the Dead - Takashi Komuro (AFMBE)

I really like High School of the Dead. Considering how over the top the fan service is in the series is, it's not a source of pride, but overall I still think it's a good zombie series. I'm going to stat out some of the characters (mainly because I think it's fun). I'll start with my favourite, Takashi.

Takashi Komuro
Type: Survivor

Strength 4  Intelligence 2
Dexterity 5  Perception 3
Constitution 3  Willpower 3

Life Points 53  Speed 16
Endurance Points 35 Essence Pool 20

Qualities: Attractiveness 2, Fast Reaction Time, Hard to Kill 5,  Nerves of Steel, Resistance (Fatigue) 2, Situational Awareness

Drawbacks: Honorable 1

Skills: Acrobatics 1, Brawling 2, Climbing 2, Dodge 3, Driving (Motorcycle) 3, First Aid 1, Guns (Handgun) 3, Guns (Rifle) 2, Guns (Shotgun) 2, Intimidation 2, Handweapon (Club) 4,  Notice 2, Sport (Baseball) 3, Streetwise 2, Stealth 2, Swimming 1

The Buried Zikurat

Overview: The Buried Zikurat is the second part of Kevin Watson's Haunting of Hastur series. You can read my thoughts on the first one here. It's for a party of characters level 6-8. It has an implied setting, but is easy to import into any game. A zikarut has been discovered by a clay mining operation and the pc's are hired to investigate.

Layout: Each room of the zikarut is presented in a simple and useful layout like this:

# - Name of Room
Ingress/Egress: how to get in and out of the room and where it leads
Description: Detailed description for the DM.
Players: Descriptions for players:
Lore: History of the room. Not all room descriptions feature this.

Crunchy Bits: 1 new monster (Nexus Guardian), 1 new spell (Destroy Stone), 3 new magic items (Boots of Formene, Cloak of Formene, Ring of Elvenkind)

 Thoughts: This adventure is full of puzzles/riddles.  This is a nice change of pace from most published adventures I see, which are light on encounters like that. However, if those aren't your players' style they can just fight nexus guardians to get past locks.

I like Kevin's take on elves. In particular the Formene's are an interesting version of "dark elves." They live underground, but they are definitely not Lolth-worshiping spider-kissers.

Overall, I think this is a fun adventure with a nice connection to otherworldly horrors. It's got a mythos vibe, but not a beat you over the head with tentacles mythos while you're looting the random dungeon type.

Jason Vorhees (AFMBE)

Okay so he doesn't eat people, but Jason Vorhess is and undead killing machine so I thought it'd be fun to do Jason stats for All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Warning, he is a true monster and will slaughter your cast members... but then again isn't that part of the fun?

Jason Vorhees

Str: 7 Dex: 2  Con: 2
Int: 2  Per: 1 Wil: 2

DPs: -                                Strength: Monstrous Strength, Iron Grip, Hug of Death

EPs: n/a                             Senses: Like the Dead

Spd: 4                                Sustenance: Who Needs Food

Skills: Brawling 2                Intelligence: Problem Solving, Long-term Memory

Attack: Machete                  Spreading the Love: Nobody Loves Me (Coffee Break of the Living Dead)
d8 (4) X Str slashing

Weak Spot: None                Getting Around: Life-Like (appears to be Slow and Steady)

Power: 55

Vorhees A Jolly Good Fellow...

It's Friday the 13th again! Check out my Cinematic Unisystem stats for undead Jason Vorhees and cybernetic Jason X.

In addition, you might like my Ash Wednesday series. Remember the Necronomicon is in Jason Goes to Hell, so it's obvious that Jason's a Deadite... right?

• The Dreamlands (Nightmare on Elm Street)
• Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street)
• Dream Warrior Quality (Nightmare on Elm Street)
• Frank West (Dead Rising)
• Chuck Green (Dead Rising 2)
• Nick Ramos (Dead Rising 3)
• Bit Part Demon (Evil Dead: The Musical)
• Knightrider Archetype (Knightrider) 
• The King (Bubba Ho-Tep)
• Old Coot Quality
• Rick Taylor (Splatterhouse)
• Col Herzog (Dead Snow)
• Crab People (South Park)
• Martian Soldier (Mars Attacks!)
• Half-Deadite Berserker
• Deadite Ash (Evil Dead 2)
• Mia (Evil Dead Remake)
• Tool Man Attachments
• Wolverine Scout Archetype (Evil Dead: Hail to the King)
• Howard the Zombie Duck (Marvel Zombies)
• Christmas Themed Deadite Traits
• Hellbillies
• LARP Massacre Survivor Archetype (Knights of Badassdom)
• Juliet Starling (Lollipop Chainsaw)
• Turkie (Thankskilling)
• Squirrel Girl (Marvel Zombies)
• Sam and the Half-Deadite Quality (Evil Dead Regeneration)
• Bruce Campbell (My Name is Bruce)
• Ash (Lady Killers)
• Jaycee Vorhees (Lady Killers)
• Frieda Krueger (Lady Killers)
• Geek Store Clerk Archetype (Lady Killers)
• Little Lori (Ash vs Evil Dead)
• Krampus (Evil Dead 2: Revenge of Krampus)
• Morty Smith (Rick and Morty)
• Rick Sanchez (Rick and Morty)
• Similacrum Quality (Evil Dead 2 comics)
• Stan Miller (Stan Against Evil)

Dungeonology

Dungeonology is the D&D themed addition to the always fun, Ologies book series. The book is written by none other than Volothamp Geddarm (with annotations from Elminster of Shadowdale. The book has several two page chapters that deal with all sorts of topics: adventuring parties, equipment, magic, monsters, heroes, etc.  Like other books in the series it has cool pull-out things and pop ups. It's pretty interactive. I think the book is also cool because while it's primarily Forgotten Realms oriented, it mentions Ravenloft and Greyhawk a few different times.

If you know someone that's getting into D&D or are a D&D player with young kids, this is a great gift. I plan on showing it to my new players.

Fold out Sword Coast Map

A letter from Elminster

A smaller second book, Volo's Guide to the Forgotten Realms

Pathfinder Worldscape Humble Bundle

If you're interested in Pathfinder you should check out the Pathfinder Worldscape Humble Bundle. It has pdfs of several Pathfinder products (including the core rulebook, Beginner Box, and bestiary) and comics. Many of the comics are Pathfinder comics (which tend to contain gaming material). Others are comics related to the current Pathfinder Worldscape storyline (which is Pathfinder meets Red Sonja, Tarzan, and John Carter.

This is what you get:

Email Address Sign-Up
Iron Gods Player's Guide
Pathfinder: Worldscape #1

Tier 1 ($1)
BeginnerBox
Core Rulebook
Fires of Creation (Iron Gods 1)
Lords of Rust (Iron Gods 2)
Pathfinder #1-12
Pathfinder: Goblins #1-5

Tier 2 ($8)
Strategy Guide
The Choking Tower (Iron Gods 3)
Valley of the Brain Collectors (Iron Gods 4)
Palace of the Fallen Stars (Iron Gods 5)
Pathfinder Companion: People of the Stars
Pathfinder: Worldscape #2
Dynamite Exclusive Battle Map Comic Store Invasion
Humble Bonus Map: Infernal Sanctuary
Humble Bonus Map: Feast Halls

Tier 3 ($15)
Pathfinder Society: Year of the Demon Scenario Maga-Pack (27 adventures)
The Divine Drive (Iron Gods 6)
Ultimate Campaign
Bestiary
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Technology Guide
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Distant Worlds
Red Sonja Volume 2 #1-6
Thun'Da #1-5
Warlords of Mars #1-9
Lords of the Jungle #1-15
Pathfinder Hollow Mountain #1-6
26 assorted unique posters showcasing various Pathfinder characters

Bonus Tier ($25)
Red Sonja: Worldscape Special (Physical Copy)
John Carter of Mars: Worldscape Special (Physical Copy)
Tarzan: Worldscape Special (Physical Copy)
Pathfinder Worldscape Special (Physical Copy)
---------------------
Again if you like Pathfinder or have ever wanted to mix sci-fi into your game, this is the bundle for you. Iron Gods is basically Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, the campaign.

Ash Wednesday - Stan Miller (Stan Against Evil)

One of my favourite shows this past year was Stan Against Evil. It's a comedy horror series on IFC created by Dana Gould. The series owes a lot of Evil Dead and is very similar to Ash vs Evil Dead in a lot of ways. The main difference in my mind is that Stan Against Evil is a comedy series with horror elements, while Ash vs. Evil Dead is a horror series with comedic elements. 

I could explain the plot, but honestly you get all you need from the season one trailer:

The series has been renewed for a second season and I'm stoked. 

Stanley "Stan" Miller

Hero

Life Points: 61

Drama Points: 10

Attributes:

Strength: 4

Dexterity: 3

Constitution: 5

Intelligence: 2

Perception: 3

Willpower: 4

Qualities: +20

Ex-Cop  (+4)

Fast Reaction Time (+2)

Hard to Kill 5 (+5)

Natural Toughness (+2)

Nerves of Steel (+3)

Situational Awareness (+2)

Status 2 (Willards Mill Sheriff) (+2)

Drawbacks: -6

Adversary 3 (Witches of Williards Mill) (-3)

Dependent (Denise Miller) (-2)

Emotional Problems (Fear of Commitment) (-1) 

  

Skills:  

Crime 3

Doctor 1

Driving/Riding 3

Getting Medieval 4 

Gun Fu 3

Influence 2

Kung Fu 4

Mr. Fix-It 2

Notice 3

Occultism 1

Sports 3

Maneuvers:          Bonus     Damage           Notes

Dodge                         7            None        Avoid getting hit; -2 against ranged,; p. 89

Pistol                          7             12           Bullet

Shovel                        7             16           Bash

Nephilim (S&W)

I'm in the process of writing my first rpg supplement. While I was originally going to do a nephil class for Swords & Wizardry, the plan has changed. This is what I'm thinking now.

1. Nephil race - large humanoids descended from angels and humans. They are considered a corruption of the divine plan by the gods of law and their servants. I was inspired by The Engine of Oracles classic angel/demon/nephilim posts.
2. Monster/NPC Stats

• Nephil - "standard" representative of the nephilim
• Nephil Blackheart - angered at his people's treatment by the gods of law and their servants, this nephil has made it his mission to battle paladins and clerics of law
• Visionary - solitary nephil with oracle abilities
• Ogrilim - an ogre/degenerate nephilim half-breed

     3. Magic items - a have a few unique items for nephilim.

I received some great feedback on this post and from my friends. The racial background and stats are done (other than a bit of editing). I'm working on the monster stats now. I hope to have this finished in the next week or two. After that I plan on uploading it to OneBookShelf.

If all goes well, my next project will be a nephil racial class for B/X, Labyrinth Lord, and other Basic Era style games. I think the Year of the Nephilim is off to a pretty good start.

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress - Wazatori

Wazatori are a more dangerous version of a kabane. Unlike the near mindless kabane, wazatori can use weapons and tactics.

Name: Wazatori

Motivation: All Flesh Must Be Eaten
Critter Type: Zombie
Attributes: Str 5, Dex 6, Con 5, Int 2, Per 2, Will 1
Ability Scores: Muscle 16, Combat 16, Brains 10
Life Points: 50  Drama Points: 5
Special Abilities: Armor 5 (heart only), Minor Vulnerability (Heart), Resilience (Angel pg 203), Kabane Virus*
                         
       Maneuvers
Name                   Score   Damage               Notes
Bite                          16          9                  Slash/stab; target must be grappled
Grapple                    16          -                   Resisted by dodge
Katana                      16         30                 Slash/stab  

*Anytime a mortal is bit by a wazatori, he must make a Willpower (doubled) roll with a  penalty of -3. If failed (and the victim is still alive), he slowly loses 1 Life Point a hour until he dies. At this point he becomes a kabane. If the infection is stopped within the first minute (via amputation or other means), the person may be cured or even become a kabaneri (demi-corpse).

Succubus Sunday

Succubi by GENZOMAN

Into the Demon Idol Review

Into the Demon Idol is a system neutral mini-adventure by Jobe Bittman. It was originally created for a one page dungeon contest. The original one page version can be found here. This low level (0-3) adventure is 18 pages. The basical plot is that lizard folk tribes are uniting and it looks grim for goodly folk, that is until local village elders inform brave adventurers that there may be magic relics of bygone eras in the local ruins that can help. The item in question just happens to be the demon idol from David Trampier's classic cover, which is in reality a magical mech of destruction! In the course of the adventure the party (hopefully) gets to the idol, figures out how to use it, and disrupts the gathering that will unify the blood thirsty lizard man tribes.

Despite being system neutral, this is designed with some form of D&D in mind. It make use of skill checks (but doesn't give set target numbers) and some game terminology, but it does so in most basic turns. If, for example, there is a ring of fire resistance mentioned, the stats are given. You assume it has the standard stats for one of those for your rules set. There are some new monsters and they are given stats, but the stats aren't a part of the adventure booklet. The stat blocks are on a double sided book mark and the monsters have stats for Labyrinth Lord, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and Swords & Wizardry (though could be easily adapted to any version of D&D).

This adventure seems like a lot of fun. It's over the top, but not quite to gonzo levels. There are also some nice nods, such as "Wampler's General Store," which I assume is shout out to Goodman Games Jim Wampler. I'm picturing a fun old school sandbox in mind using this and material from some other adventures (Keep on the Borderlands, The Horrendous Heap of 16 Cities, Death Frost Doom, and A Single, Small Cut).

You can purchase the digest-sized mini-adventure here.

Killer's Caress

I've been inspired by Pathfinder's Horror Adventures and White Box Gothic to create some horror movie inspired stuff for old school D&D.  Here's my first creation. I think it would be an awesome weapon for a reoccurring villain.


Killer's Caress

This +2 machete (treat as short sword) is no longer a simple tool. Used in a series of gruesome murders, the vile blade is now a symbol of darkness and death.

The magical blade allows the wielder to defy time and space to reach his victim. His movement is increased by 5 when holding Killer's Caress, though they always appear to be walking slowly.

Once per day the wielder can do something menacing with the machete (such as lick blood off of it, or point it at someone and laugh manically) to cast Fear.

Game Over

I found some great art to go along with the cinematic unisystem mimic stats I did last week.

Game Over by Alfredo Lopez Jr.

Dr. Herbert West (AFMBE)

I'm obsessed with the Jeffrey Combs version of Dr. Herbert West. If you've followed this blog for a while, I'm sure you've noticed that. In honor of my newest toys, I've decided to stat Dr. West for All Flesh Must Be Eaten.

Dr. Herbert West

Type: Norm

Strength 2 Intelligence 4
Dexterity 2 Perception 2
Constitution 2 Willpower 2
Life Points 41 Speed 8

Endurance Points 22 Essence Pool 14

Qualities: Hard to Kill 5, Nerves of Steel

Drawbacks: Humorless, Obsession (Conquering Death),

Skills: Dodge 3, Engineering (Biological) 2, First Aid 3, Hand Weapon (Knife) 2, Medicine 5, Notice 2, Research/Investigation 3, Science (Biology) 5, Science (Chemistry) 5

Gear: Labcoat, Reagent

Tales From the Yawning Portal

Earlier today Wizards posted the product page for their next 5E release, Tales From the Yawning Portal. This book contains 5E updates of several classic adventures:

• Against the Giants
• Dead in Thay
• Forge of Fury
• Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
• Sunless Citadel
• Tomb of Horrors
• White Plume Mountain

This is really damn exciting! Going to be honest, Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury, and Tomb sell it for me. The rest is just icing on the cake. I will admit I'm curious about how and if they're going to change some things. The Yawning Portal is in Waterdeep and almost all of these adventures took place on Oerth. I have noticed that Acererak is mentioned in the Forgotten Realms-centric Dungeonology, which also mentions he and his Tomb of Horrors being from Oereth originally. 

There is an interview with Mike Mearls on Forbes about it.