Mega-Dungeon Project: Tharzad-Dul

Tharzad-Dul-Level 1: The Mountain Door

Before I started working on my most recent project, the Digital Dark Age, I spent some time collecting artwork. I did this because I wanted to find aliens that were different from the norm and quite frankly I needed some inspiration. I didn’t want to just make space orcs, space elves and so on. I found that these images really helped inspire me. They made putting word to the blank page a little easier.

Another thing I've discovered while working on this project is how much of a joy it is to work with such a rules light system. Stating up new aliens and monsters takes next to no time.

All this got me back to thinking about one of my long time obsessions, the mega-dungeon. So I thought to myself, hey theres plenty of maps to be found on the internet, why don’t you grab a few and stock those suckers to the gills with traps, monsters and treasure?

So I started writing a background for an old dwarven citadel and how it had fallen to their ancient nemesis of goblins and orcs. Nothing too original. But, then I came upon the secret reason that the goblins and orcs had finally been able to take the mountain fortress.

Thats when I knew that I had something special. To me at any rate. I needed this thing to be mine. Something that if I decided I wanted to, I could publish it.

So heres the first level of Tharzad-Dul another writing project I'll be posting up in between the Digital Dark Age stuff, and whatever else I feel like writing about. While you can use your favourite fantasy rpg, I'll be using Swords & Wizardry as my base line rules set.     

Friday Night Magic

I started playing Magic when the Revised edition came out in 1994 and played pretty religiously until about the time that Tempest came out in 1998. Eventually the money I spent on cards went into buying RPGs instead.

For some time now I've been wanting to jump back into the game. Last night the whole family made a trip to the game store and while my oldest picked up dice, and my wife scoped out the board games, I picked up a 2014 deck builder box and two intro packs.

Later that night my oldest daughter and I played a game. I have to say aside from a new look for the cards and the rules being a little better defined, its essentially the same game I played all those years ago. I had a lot of fun, and I think she did too.

That familiar excitement of opening boosters and creating a deck has returned, and I cant wait to teach my the dads and kids from my D&D group how to play.  

Pathfinder Beginner Box: Session 4

Last weekend we played our fourth session of PFBB. We finished off the a modified version of the free downloadable adventure “Hollows Last Hope”. My players really enjoyed it and starting next session (which should be next saturday) we will continue on to “Crown of the Kobold King”. I'm excited in part because I've been wanting to run this for a while, but also because I really like the whole series of adventures that revolve around the dungeon below the Dwarven monastery and Falcons Hollow.

I made some more changes to the rules. This time it was based on hit points and healing.

First off I've changed the hit dice characters receive. Wizards now get a d6, rogues a d8, clerics a d10, and fighters a d12. Since those are the only classes available in the Beginner Box, I didn’t need to worry about any of the other classes. Every level the characters get max hp plus their Constitution bonus or penalty as the case might be.

Lastly for healing, I handed out three poker chips to each player. They could turn in a chip at any time to heal themselves to full. Of course this turned magical healing on its head. I didn’t have enough time to look into a proper solution for that, so I told the cleric to not worry about healing spells and instead focus on some of the other spells available. I hate that clerics are combat medics, and I'd much rather see them focus on things like demon hunters, or undead slayers, or whatever. In practice it didn’t work out the way I liked. Going forward I think I'm going to adapt the healing surges from the 13^th Age RPG.

While theres a lot I like about Pathfinder, the rules are just too dense at this point for the level of my kids to grasp. I know the two dad's I play with would like to get more gritty with feats and class options, but for now I've just had leave all that behind. No one seems to notice, and everyone seems to have fun. The more we play the more I keep thinking I should just move wholesale into Swords & Wizardry, which is probably a lot closer to what where playing right now anyway.

All in all it's been a nice experience to teach the game to a whole new generation of gamers. I even had one girl who asked her mom if she could skip skiing lessons so she could game, and has been harassing her to buy her dice!          

Dungeon Keeper

One of the games I've been playing virtually non-stop has been the iOS version of Dungeon Keeper on my iPhone. I never played the original PC game back in the day but damn I wish I had. It's so addictive. I think the part I enjoy the most is the building the dungeon as opposed to raiding other people's dungeons.

For the most part I play the game is short bursts through out the day. When I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is check up on the dungeon and give my imps a good slap. I love the smell of imp in the morning! Smells like victory!

The one part I don't like is that everything take so much time. In a way thats good because it limits how much time you could actually spend playing the game. On the other it's annoying when you have a good amount of time on your hands and thats all you feel like doing.

All in all I would recommend this game to people like us who love chucking dice and and crawling through dungeons D&D style. Just remember I said it was addictive, I dont want any emails threatening me with how I'm somehow responsible for you selling yourself on a street corner somewhere for more bloody gems.   

The Aerie Club

This post is part of a series related to the Digital Dark Age, my space opera blogging project. It uses the free version of Stars Without Number as it's game engine, but is designed to be system neutral. You can learn more by searching the Digital Dark Age Index sidebar, or by searching the labels.

The Aerie Club is located in a mega high rise building on the planet Pegasus, in the city of Kardiff. The club caters to the wealthy and elite. Unknown to virtually everyone is that the club is the front for a sinster secret society. Within the glamorous bars, meeting rooms, offices , and luxury suites the the Halo Society pushes forward whatever Machiavellian agenda aligns with their needs. The society was founded by a consortium of men and women who were all once members of various Chimeran special forces units. Those who have never been through the rigours of special forces training are considered outsiders and would never be privy, nor deemed trustworthy enough to what goes on during one of their board meetings. Today, far from the grunts they once were all Society members are elite. High level bankers, lawyers, politicians, CEOs and other executive business professionals. The Society uses much of their past military knowledge and connections to perform a multitude of tasks both legal and illegal in order to bolster their bank accounts, prestige and careers.

 The Society operates through a vast network of cut outs, shell corporations, and other means to protect themselves and their identities. One would find it very difficult to find any kind of evidence linking the Society to any wrong doing, and those that do tend to find themselves dead of accidental causes.  

The Babel Harpy of Marduk

Artwork by J. S. Marantz

This post is part of a series related to the Digital Dark Age, my space opera blogging project. It uses the free version of Stars Without Number as it's game engine, but is designed to be system neutral. You can learn more by searching the Digital Dark Age Index sidebar, or by searching the labels.

The Babel Harpy is found in the mountainous regions on the jungle planet of Marduk. They tend to be night time predators that hunt in packs. One Harpy will use it's song to draw attention to it and to create a distraction while the rest of the pack sneaks up, or swoops in. Generally they try too create a perimeter around their prey and then close in for the kill. Harpy eggs are something of a delicacy and are in high demand in some of the high end restaurants of the galaxy.

Babel Harpy Statistics

Armour Class: 7                  No. Appearing: 1-8

Hit Dice: 3                            Saving Throw: 15 +

Attack Bonus: +3/+3           Movement: 30' (40'when flying)

Damage: 1d4 per claw         Morale: 10

Special: Confusing Babel

Confusing Babel: Upon first hearing a Babel Harpy's song all characters within earshot make a saving throw. On a failure effected creatures are under the influence of the harpy's song. Roll 1d20 to determine the effect. Each round a new saving throw is made and if failed a new effect determined.

Roll                       Behaviour

1-5                        Act normally.

6-10                      Do nothing but babel incoherently.

11-15                    Run away in a random direction.

16-20                   Attack nearest creature.

The Shrapnel Rat

A few years back I wrote a post of random encounter tables that included a monster called the "Shrapnel Rat" that could be found living in the Mega-City of Prospero's Underhive. It was something I was inspired to write from the video game Gears of War. Believe it or not the explosive rat was also an idea used by the Special Operations Executive in WWII. It didn’t end up panning out the way they wanted, but hey, that just a weird thing to read about. Fact is often stranger than fiction as they say. Anyway the idea has always stuck with me so I figured I'd finally write it up. The Swords & Wizardry version is called a Suicide Rat, that is often confused with the Giant Rat from the Core S&W book, and the Shrapnel Rat in Stars Without Number format.

Suicide Rat: Swords & Wizardry Version

The origin of the suicide rat are disputed. According to the Sages of Nemite, these rats were created as a weapon in a bloody drawn out war. Created to infiltrate enemy positions, and booby trap battle fields. If a well known tavern legend is to be believed, the rats were crafted by a vengeful wizard. According to this tale his brother, a cotter in the town Ulthar, was murdered by a pack of felines. What ever the truth is these creatures have been spreading far and wide across the lands.

Shrapnel Rat: Stars Without Number version
The Mega City of Prosperos Underhive, a never ending catacomb of death and despair is the home to many dangerous creatures. Shrapnel Rats have quickly risen to the top of this deadly underground ecosystem due to the multitude of ambush and nesting sites. A number of therories have been circulated as to where these deadly creatures came from. One story by a Hiver suggests that they were purposefully created to kill off those lining in the dark service tunnels and sewers. An undisclosed corporate whitleblower stated that the rats were part of a Black Lab experiment that went out of control and escaped into the environment. A xenobiologist specializing in the Underhive believes that this just might be part of the evolution process in such a hostile environment.

Suicide Rat: Swords & Wizardry Statistics

Armour Class: 7 [12]

Hit Dice: 1d4 Hit points

Attacks: Bite (1d4) or Explosion (2d6) 10' radius,

save for half damage.

Saving Throw: 18

Special: Implant Embryos

              Explosion 

Move: 12

Challenge Level/XP: 1/15

Shrapnel Rat: Stars Without Number Statistics

Armour Class: 7                           No. Appearing: 1-8

Hit Dice: 1/2                                  Saving Throw: 15+

Attack Bonus: +1                         Movement: 20'

Damage: 1d4 Bite                         Morale: 8

                2d6 explosion                            

Special: Implant embryos

Rules 

These rules can be used for whichever version of the game you are playing.  

Explode: After a successful attack the rat has been primed and will explode 1d6 rounds later. It may also explode if its surprised or frightened. The rat will charge its target (+2 to attack) and explode immediately afterwards. Damage that reduces the rat's hit points to zero or lower causes the rat to explode. An exploding rat deals 2d6 damage to everyone in a 10' radius of itself (successful save for half damage).

Implant Embryos: Any creature damaged by the exploding makes a saving throw. On a failure the creature has been implanted with suicide rat embryos. Every day the creature must make a new saving throw. On a failure the target loses 1d4 Constitution points. Once three successful saves have been made or the a cure disease spell has been cast the creature is fully cured. If the creatures's Constitution score reaches zero before it's cured, 1d6 regular rats will chew, claw, and burst out of it's stomach. If these newborn rats are not being threatened they will feed on the corpse, otherwise they attack and/or flee for safety. These newborn rats have the same statistics, but cannot yet explode or implant embryos. After a 24 hour period they will have matured into full blown suicide/shrapnel rats themselves. For Stars Without Number the Implant Embryo ability is considered a disease with a Toxicity 8 and a Virulence of 3, all other effects remain the same.