Come on in, the acid's fine...

Ok folks, doing it again - a sit-down straight through populating of another of Jackson's Quarantine Specials. Matt "helped" this time by filling in the hows and whys of the place, along with several suspiciously-named NPCs.

And that evocative pool of acid - no self-respecting evil lair should be without an extremely hazardous room. Written primarily with the OSE pieces-parts and the baddies get a hopefully fun collection of cherry picked spells to assail the hapless with...

Not much more to say but, "watch your step."

What's in The Tombs, Jackson?

Jackson has been busy cobbling together some excellent maps on 'vintage' notebook paper for folks to keep themselves entertained during our communal isolation.

A few days back he posted this bundle of joy:

http://www.msjx.org/2020/04/qa04-tombs.html

with the teaser,

"You traveled the gorge, met Tomlin and he mentioned that farther along the gorge there is rumored to be some tombs. So, being of sound mind, you decide to explore further.
He mentions one tomb is rumored to already be open, inside it is haunted but there is some sort of glowing archway that the old timers say used to whisk you away somewhere. Where? He has no idea, perhaps to a secret tombs locked away in the rock?
Another tomb is rumored to be in the same area, one for the three sister of Agmorda who prayed to the toad god Ptturib. It is said, around the drunken tables at The Dead Rabbit, that the tomb is home to a room littered with gold coins. So many that it would take multiple trips to remove them all. Course, the sisters aren't too keen on all their pretty coinage leaving their tomb, but hey, y'all are adventurers, brave and whatnot, right?"

So - the current ongoing environment is wearing on me. Like most of us. Even though I can get out of the house for work, it's still an isolating world, and I just feel unmotivated and dull. So this morning it was time to bear down and create a bit.

Normally when I write, I'll note/outline each room, maybe use Moldvay's 2d6 random stocking method to suggest some fillings, then backfill the room descriptions, contents, and encounters. Today, I wrote from the empty page, starting at "Room 1" and moving in order through the complex. Matt threw enough seeds in there (Three Sisters, possible teleportation, toad god, and room of gold) that I just allowed myself to point and go.

So here it is - writing in a single sitting (more or less), one draft straight through. Written with the assistance of:

Yeah, it's a potential meatgrinder (besides the (SPOILER) literal meatgrinders)... Written primarily with OSE and a few extra bits and bobs.

Have fun, and...

Pyramid of the Restless Eye - A Walthall interpretation

Greetings from CoronaCon2020, Day Whatever.

Doing pretty well here, and hope that you all are safe and sound as well. Trying to keep up fitness, both physical and mental, so regarding the second - a writing exercise for today:

Daniel's Patreon

Ganked another of Daniel Walthall's recent maps - an evocative pyramid, and wrote it up as an objective location with a number of undead guardians that will require negotiation (and potentially a quest) rather than combat to gain information or other desires from the target MacGuffin. It's a bit open-ended, and an eccentric undead has their potential, as do the undead's companions, hopefully.

deviantart.com/kostya-pingwin

So hack and slash your way through the jungle until you reach the Pyramid of the Restless Eye, and find out what Amenhemti is interesting in adding to his collection in exchange for his services.

Happy Jackalope 2020! A Writing Prompt...

James Young has helped run the Secret Santicore community writing 'gift' project over the last secret years. With the demise of G+, the project was ported over at the OSR Discord Server. And with the current state of the world, James added the Easter equivalent for a bit of creativity and levity - Behold, the Secret Jackalope!

I've played in these projects on and off, so threw my prompt into the list. In return, I received my Secret Jackalope prompt:

Hello Vance!

The Jackalope is here, and requires a SACRIFICE.

SherlockHole requests the following gift:

Weird monsters to stalk through some post-apocalyptic ruins in a world with lovecraftian horrors & GLOG sorcerers, or some plot hooks/ a dungeon for investigations within a walled-off city at the edge of the world

And a prompt needs inspiration. Serendipitously, a piece of 'appropriate' art popped across my DeviantArt recommendations:

https://www.deviantart.com/ondes7

All things considered equal, this fit. And so did the rest of Ondes7's work, a collection of surreal and adequately creepy pen and ink and graphite pieces that fit the imagery of Lovecraftian horrors...

So off to the races with several atmosphere-pieces of creatures that have invaded the world from the Void.

So these monstrosities aren't statted out - more notes, impressions, and perhaps a few strategies that have been found effective to counter them. But hopefully something useful as think-pieces and inspiration for a twisted world.

And I did have to shoehorn some background for the city of Redoubt, and some rumor seeds, as well. Because apparently prompts for last cities is a thing for me...

So, thanks to SherlockHole for the prompt, and thanks to Ondes7 for a batch of inspiration.

Welcome to a City on at the edge of a ruined world, and the things that prowl beyond the walls. 

The Dragonborn for the Black Hack

Still here, still essential, so out and about in the big scary world now and then. Picked up a couple of online games with various folks, so that's been a fun distraction, as well...

Hope all of you are staying healthy and relatively sane, as well.  Good thoughts to all, folks.

And as CoronaCon2020 goes on, I convert another of the darlings of 4e/5e, the Dragonborn, over to The Black Hack...

https://www.deviantart.com/mattplog

Because why not? Because you want to play a big sexy fire-breathing brute! Yes.. you...

DOWNLOAD ME

Here, our Black Hack version's d6 table is, naturally, the scale color and breath weapon of the PC. I bonused their physical attack a bit to reflect their size, but avoided giving them a 'dealer of death' type skill, particularly because of their having the breath weapon. They do get a bit of extra resilience to draw on for valient last stands and the like, which allows for some cinematic play. And Dragonborn PCs can use their appearance and bearing to their advantage in RP or interpersonal situations.

So try one on for size, and have fun. Let me know if a Dragonborn makes their way into your Black Hack game.

https://www.deviantart.com/ivannamatill