The Blind Lamia's Cave-

So, I've had notes for the concept and stocking of Dyson's Blind Lamia's Cave in my WIP file for a bit...

One of the few DeviantArt lamia illustrations
sticking to the original myth Source

 I was slowly adding a room descriptor or note, when, dammit, Dan and Paul used the same map for their latest "Dungeon Design Dash" one-hour dungeon stocking exercise... 

They chose to use a random dungeon name generated from one of the myriad tables from the Tome of Adventure Design as inspiration for their environment and foes. (By the way, for folks interested in a fresh copy of that most excellent resource, author Matt Finch is gearing up for a Kickstarter of a revised and expanded version.)

So I'd better post up my interpretation of the map, in turn...

I chose to take my cue from the original map title. Who is this lamia, why is she blind, and why are there so many statues in this cave?

I'd originally pulled this map from Dyson's commercial map files as a contender for use in a contest or similar project, but had let it go fallow after selecting another map for the purpose. I liked the naturalistic, eroded characteristic of the map, and it felt like it created a space to tell a bit of a story. And like many adventures, the titular character is no longer present in a living form, but her memory has been honored by followers, leaving potential boons and banes behind for the curious. Liberal use of illusionist spells or effects are present to create both atmosphere and hazards.

Get yer cave here!

Comes Chaos Review

As I mentioned before, to my pleasant surprise, my entry made a good showing in JB's Year of the Rat contest, and he was kind enough to gift me a copy of his latest publication, Comes Chaos, as a prize (I already have his prior two publications, the Complete B/X Adventurer, and the B/X Companion). 

Per his ad copy:

COMES CHAOS is a campaign setting designed for use with the B/X fantasy adventure game (and compatible retro-clones). It contains the information needed to transform your home campaign into a chaotic hellscape populated with mutants and demons, dark sorcery and depraved cultists. 

The book contains new ways to use old character classes. It contains dozens of spells of dark sorcery. More than 100 mutations and "gifts" of the dark powers. New combat options. Scores of monstrous foes and demons. More than 50 unholy magic items. Rules for creating chaotic wastelands, rules for corrupting player characters, rules for demons and cultists and for running a setting of ever encroaching chaos and the heroes that struggle against its rising tide. Information on running a villainous campaign for aspiring champions of evil, as well as guidelines for redeeming those who fall to darkness.

A 64 page book, illustrated by Kelvin Green. Whether you're looking for a unifying theme for your fantasy adventure game, or simply want to spice up your campaign with demonic possession and vile enchantments, COMES CHAOS has plenty of demented ideas for your enjoyment.

Confronting chaos is a dangerous affair. Even the most devout or righteous characters may be twisted and corrupted by exposure to these dark forces and dark gods. Sometimes, these individuals are even more easily brought down and under the sway of chaos.

Comes Chaos provides a number of resources for campaigns at the edge of blighted lands, where heroes (or antiheroes) probe past the borders and attempt to investigate or push back Chaos. In spite of PCs' best intentions, each exposure increases the chance that they will take on corruptions and mutations, and/or will gain the attention of some chaos champion, or even a more powerful being. And, with each exposure comes the growing allure of joining Chaos and the 'rewards' it offers...

The Dragonborn for your Old School Tastes.

Well, haven't been creating for a bit. After the winter 'break' of entertaining myself during flight cancellations, I started a new job. While still burned out from the last one. So it's been an adjustment, retooling myself to a different clientele and returning to a business sector I haven't worked in for a few years. And having to commute more than 20 feet. The Horror.

So my brain has not been in a creative space. I owe a review, and I have a couple of notebook pages of a mini-adventure outlined out. But that's all that's been rattling around up there, mostly.

Ok, get to work, you. 

Character class revisions and reinterpretations are always fun. So let's return to the Dragonborn. I previously ginned one up for The Black Hack, but realized that I hadn't modded up the race for the B/X-OSE rulesets. An obvious oversight.

www.deviantart.com/savedra

Improvised Solo Adventure

Greetings, fellow adventurers!

Currently having the mixed blessing of the inadvertent adventure of cancelled flights due to a combination of the plague and two atmospheric rivers gut-punching the West Coast.

Thankfully, I'm visiting family, so much better off than the poor souls stuck at airports or hotels. And I have a notebook and the interwebs. 

So I cobbled together a quick and dirty solo adventure of random rolls using OSE as a framework. 

Initially I grabbed a PC from a random character generator - yielding a cleric with above average WIS and CHA and equipped with plate and shield. Solid start. I bumped our hero to 2nd level for a spell, and gave him two Meatshields extras.

I could have found a procedural dungeon generator, but went bare-bones with a simple d6 roll:

1-3: corridor

4: Door

5: intersection ('T' or 'cross' 50/50)

6: Room

When a room was rolled, it got the B/X random stocking roll:

Monsters were generated using the OSE Reference Booklet.

Encounters were d6 for surprise plus 2d6 for reaction. Combat was loosely based on Kevin Crawford's Solo Heroes. Successful monster attacks caused 1 point of damage, and heroes/hirelings caused 1hd damage (e.g. a 2HD monster required 2 hits to go down).

How did it go?

The adventure:

The Grumpy Old Man character class

This came to me as I woke up this AM. So I had to write it down. And share. Sorry about that.

A friend was lamenting the impending passage into dotage with the purchase of a pair of readers. Welcome to the club, dude.

Oh look, time for a new pair of readers

Which must have inspired my morning meditations on that neighborhood terror, the Grumpy Old Man.

A dynamic duo for the ages

Anyway, I'm not sure how many of us get characters to name level/retirement age. Mine seem to get retired early in the depths of some labyrinth. But I'm sure it happens. And while one may aim to build a domain, lord over some vassals, and make a name for themselves, I'm sure that plenty of others are happy to hang up the spurs or spellbooks and just tend a garden, rock on the front porch, and complain about the kids and their too-loud lute music. 

So bask in the glory that is the convertible character class, the Grumpy Old Man. Simply take your 10th level PC, change their class to G.O.M., and park them on their porch.

Get off my lawn!

Ok, well, if someone askes nicely, they may step off to totter out and help out with a local problem.  Bulettes in the field, dragon eating sheep, necromancer defiling the graveyard. But don't ask much, because it's Tuesday, and that's the Early Bird Special at the pub.  

They're tough, they know stuff, and they are not ones to suffer fools. And don't you dare track across the lawn. They just mowed it.

Hmmf!

(Updated 15/5 - minor edits to character description and immunities)