"You have acquired the deed to a ruined tower" redux

So I haven't posted for a bit. But I haven't been idle. I was trying to work up a hex of a few small frontier towns and areas of interest. But it just wasn't gelling. So I have several locations to post. I'll trickle them out over the next bit - I've been having a difficult time sharing, not sure why. Let's just chalk it up to some winter malaise....

Anyway.

One of my favorite outcomes in Donjon's "Pickpocket Loot" random generator is the "Deed to a ruined tower." So much so, that it was the inspiration for my 2017 One-Page Dungeon entry. 

And lo and behold, Jackson had one floating about in his back catalogue. A tiny coastal settlement with the remains of a tower on the edge of town. 

So add a bit of a setup, and a collection of personalities inhabiting the thorp of Dawold. In the spirit of some of the original village modules, everyone has a brief description, a touch of personality or agenda, and a stash of coin, just in case the PCs decide to just rob the town. You never know.

I wrote this, and two other small settlements, with the intent of linking them along a frontier road. Interestingly, all three ended up with a theme of a frontier town whose development was stalled or inhibited due to some factor. In Dawold's case, the tower was to be the anchor for a small port and watch on a wild coast. A bad omen had put an end (maybe) to that aspiration, and with it, the settlement's growth. Not that at least a few of the residents don't mind the low profile.

I also made some notes and suggestions in case the PCs decide they really would like a tower with an ocean front view. After all, where's the fun in waiting until name level to have a killer pad? (The next town down the road is also referenced with respect to the tower build, stay tuned)

And, after I wrote up the three towns, I realized I'd made up a different randomly-named deity for each local preacher to honor. In the spirit of the Expanded Petty Gods project, it was a moment to write up someone new to worship. (Crap - just discovered that the original EPG project has been pulled from Lulu and DriveThruRPG over a potential copyright infringement. A shame - it was a great example of the group mind of G+ and a few people's dedication to move the project forward). That said, a piece of art from Henry Justice Ford served as inspiration for "Butia of the Field." Similar art and associated deities will follow with the other two towns.

Download your own ruined tower!

More to come...

Possum Junction, or Tim drew too much.

Sometimes you get an unexpected gift around Christmastime. Tim prefers to create smaller spaces (five-room dungeons and the like) for his mini-adventures. But apparently he got carried away with this piece, working on technique and experimenting with textures and the like. So sure, I ganked it. 

This is a most excellent space, with looping corridors and multiple pathways, as well as a fine smattering of interesting features to tell a story. Hazards are built in, and there are enough room details to fix a number of points of interest and potential encounters.

A few elements stood out: a pool, a few statues, an apparent chapel space, a lot of collapsed corridors, and started filling in the blanks from my end. Helped by a few die rolls, of course. 

Like many subterranean spaces (and historical ones), I figured there had been multiple tenants. And each had left their mark. For reasons unknown or partly explained, selected features from prior occupants were left in place. Some out of respect, some due to their inherent hazard. And of course, there are the new squatters here, making a mess of things, perhaps.

And since Tim recently mentioned some content and a contribution to Expanded Petty Gods, I had to pull the tome off my shelf and add a couple of names out of that mighty group project of the G+ days... just for fun.

Statted with OSE, a bit of 1e, and some homebrew...

So let's see who's up to mischief in The Caluromys Chambers.

I did abandon Idea #1: Dwarven Frat House. But there is always time to return to that...

Edit: Updated scenario with specific stats for the water spirit (figured that since I'd written a build-your-own-monster formula, I might as well use it), and made minor language and format edits.

Taking a Rest Stop at Longtooth

 Two post in two days? What madness is this?

Well, Shane made up a 'five-minute map' of a wide spot in the road named Longtooth (although "Village" is a bit of an optimistic appellation).  

And I figured I could do a five-minute (well, 45-minute) writeup to give a name and purpose for each of the residents.

So here it is.

A one-page village with descriptors of the occupants of each of the seven buildings. No stat blocks, just some quick and dirty whos and whys for some idea seeds. Somewhere for your PCs to take a break along the road, or perhaps they just stepped off the Longtooth ferry from points unknown to find themselves in this dusty huddle of buildings. 

Enjoy!

 

Witebörd Dungeön

Well, last week's foray into Steve's White City of the Death Monkey God saw Shamus get feared out of the room, Vicil reduced to 3hp, and Sumeh avert a hold spell (and pending disaster) by judicious use of longsword. We did get some gems and a human femur with a crystal that seems to act as a detect magic. A qualified success, then. 

Steve also posted up his whiteboard the following morning. Obviously working on some Very Important Manager Stuff. 

And when people leave maps around, I may pick them up and make an even bigger mess of them. 

And I needed a focused writing exercise: About 90 minutes of freewriting produced the first draft, with some half-assed editing and additions this AM. Was good to just walk through the space room by room and say, "OK, what's here and why?" Steve says he's going to kill/run his home group in it. So we'll see how that goes...

 DARE YOU ENTER THE WITEBÖRD DUNGEÖN

As a bonus, the adventure also includes some brief advice for Dungeon Project Managers. You're welcome. 

Oh, and Matt prettied up the map.

Build-A-Bear, err... Monster!

December? Where'd the year go? Anyway... 

Someone on Reddit OSR asked about crafting up a monster if you didn't have access to a bestiary or similar, or perhaps to homebrew up a monster. Of course, there is always the most excellent advice of "Everything is a Bear"

But I haven't tinkered for a long time, and figured I could make a "Monster Cookbook" pretty quickly. 

(two weeks later) 

For old edition-style critters, I've often leaned on Swords & Wizardry's Challenge Level model for modding critters, such as adding an ability or effect to a "stock" monster for appropriateness for a scenario. 

So I took that as inspiration for making up a quick and dirty point-buy system based on a theoretical Hit Die monster. 

Roughly, with 2 points per hit die, distribute points to various attributes of your generic monster template. I included five very basic templates that should encompass most types of foes (Humanoid, beast, "monster," ooze, undead, abyssal). And a shopping list of available attributes for the different types and how to cost them for making up a foe. 

This hasn't been exhaustively stress-tested, but it seems to work in many cases. Some critters seem underpowered, and some end up with a surplus of points. But it's a starting place for experimenting, and as in all things old-school, it's a guideline.

Click to download

Here are a few examples I ginned up: 

Type: Abyssal, 5HD (“Nightfall Demon”) 10 points total 

Buy 

1. +4 AC (4 pts) 

2. Multiple attack (2 x 1d4) (1pt) 

3. Extra damage (1 pt) 

4. Special movement (fly) (1pt) 

5. Weapon resistance (silver/magic req.) (1pt) 

6. Spell Effect (Fear) 1/day (1pt) 

7. Spell Effect (Darkness) 1/day (1pt) 

Generic Stat Block: AC 5/14, atk 2x(1d4+1), Movement: Fly; Special: Fire resistance, Immune to mundane weapons (silver or magic required), cast Fear and Darkness 1/day each 

Type: Monster, 12HD (“Dragon”) 24 points total 

Buy 

1. +7 AC (7 pts) 

2. Multiple attack (2 x 1d4) (claws) (1pt) 

3. Extra damage, multi attack (2 dice size) – 4 pts 

4. Additional single attack (1d6) (bite) (1pt) 

5. Extra damage, single attack (2.5 dice size) – 5 pts 

6. Special movement (fly) (1pt) 

7. Intelligent/language (1 pt) 

8. Spell Casting (2pt) 

9. Breath Weapon (6xd8) (2pt) 

Generic Stat Block: AC 2/17, atk 2 claw (1d8), 1 bite (1d10+1), Breath weapon, 3x/day, (6xd8); Movement: Fly; Special: Language use, 12 points of spell levels 

Humanoid, 5HD (“Snow ogre”) 10 points total 

Buy 

1. +4 AC (4 pts) 

2. Extra damage, single attack (2.5 dice size) – 5 pts 

3. Resistance (cold damage) – 1 pt 

Generic Stat Block: AC 5/14, atk 1d10+1, Special: Cold resistance

Beast, 4HD (“Of Course It's A Bear”) 8 points total 

Buy 

1. +3 AC (3 pts) 

2. Multiple attack (2 x 1d4) (claws) (1pt) 

3. Extra damage, multi attack (1 dice size) – 2 pts 

4. Additional single attack (1d6) (bite) (1pt) 

5. Special attack/continual damage (hug, 1d6/round) – 1 pt 

Generic Stat Block: AC 6/13, atk 2x(1d6),bite (1d6); hug damage (1d6) after successful dual hit