Fantasy South America Map

I hope to slowly go continent by continent and doodle up some fantasy versions of the real world using Paint.  Yes... Paint.  :)  This was my take on South America.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HB2hR5N1bsLfCqaQKPxqBfcHZUFcQmDz/view?usp=sharing

Fantasy Age: Yeti Homebrew Race

Fantasy Age: Yeti Homebrew Race

* +1 Str
* Sturdy (Big Oaf, Knock Prone and Skirmish Stunts used on you need +1SP).
* Pick One: Con (Stamina), or Str (Climbing).
* Speed 10 + Dex (minus armor pen.).
*  Yeti, and Wolfen languages.
* Roll Twice (2D6)
2) +1 Perception
3) Armored (Natural Fur: +2 Armor Rating).
4) Focus: Str (Might)
5) Focus: Perception (Tracking)
6) +1 Fighting
7) Focus: Fighting (Bite) [1D6 + Str]
8) Focus: Str (Intimidation)
9) Focus: Fighting (Claws) [1D6 + Str]
10) Focus: Perception (Smelling)
11) Focus: Communication (Animal Handling)
12) +1 Con

#FantasyAge

Fantasy Age: Wolfen Homebrew Race

Fantasy Age: Wolfen Homebrew Race

* +1 Perception

* Pick One: Accuracy (Brawling), or Perception (Smelling).

* Pick One: Dex (Stealth), or Int (Natural Lore).

* Speed 14 + Dex (minus armor pen.).

* Wolfen, Elven, and Yeti languages.

* Roll Twice: (2D6)

2) +1 Str

3) Focus: Dex (Acrobatics)

4) Focus: Perception (Hearing)

5) Focus: Str (Jumping)

6) Focus: Int (Navigation)

7) +1 Dex

8) Focus: Int (Cultural Lore)

9) Focus: Perception (Tracking)

10) Focus: Perception (Seeing)

11) +1 Fighting

12) +1 Con

#FantasyAge

Fantasy Age: Blood Elf Homebrewed Race

Fantasy Age: Blood Elf

* +1 Dex
* Pick One: Dex (Crafting), or Perception (Hearing).
* Pick One: Int (Natural Lore), or Perception (Tracking).
* Speed 12 + Dex (minus armor pen.).
* Elven, Wolfen, and Common Tongue
* Roll Twice (2D6)
2) +1 Perception
3) Focus: Int (Navigation)
4) Focus: Perception (Seeing)
5) Focus: Dex (Riding)
6) +1 Accuracy
7) Weapon Group: Bows
8) +1 Fighting
9) Focus: Willpower (Courage)
10) Focus: Perception (Smelling)
11) Focus: Int (Cultural Lore)
12) +1 Str

#FantasyAge

Fantasy Age: Twilight Elf Homebrewed Race

Fantasy Age: Twilight Elf

* +1 Int
* Pick One: Int (Arcane Lore), or Willpower (Morale).
* Novice Level in Fate Arcana (2 spells).
* Speed is 10 + Dex (minus armor pen.).
* Elven, Dwarven, and Common Tongue.
* Roll Twice (2D6)
2) +1 Communication
3) Novice level in Divination Arcana (2 spells).
4) Focus: Communication (Etiquette).
5) Focus: Dex (Calligraphy)
6) Focus: Int (Research)
7) Focus: Int (Natural Lore)
8) Focus: Int (Musical Lore)
9) Focus: Perception (Empathy)
10) Focus: Communication (Leadership)
11) Novice level Healing Arcana (2 spells).
12) +1 Perception

#FantasyAge

Fantasy Age: Shadow Elf Homebrewed Race

Fantasy Age: Shadow Elf

* +1 Con
* Pick One: Dex (Acrobatics), or Con (Stamina).
* Novice Level in Shadow Arcana (2 spells)
* Speed 12 + Dex (minus armor pen.).
* Elven & Common Tongue
* Roll Twice (2D6)
2) +1 Int
3) Focus: Communication (Deception)
4) Focus: Int (Healing)
5) Focus: Dex (Riding)
6) Weapon Group: Bows
7) Focus: Dex (Stealth)
8) +1 Accuracy
9) Weapon Group: Light Blades
10) Focus: Int (Brewing) [Poisons]
11) Focus: Perception (Tracking)
12) +1 Dex

#FantasyAge

Fantasy Age: Ice Dwarf Homebrewed Race

Fantasy Age: Ice Dwarf

* +1 Con
* Pick One: Con (Stamina), or Strength (Climbing)
* Pick One: Dex (Stealth), or Willpower (Self-discipline)
* Dwarven & Common Tongue
* Speed 8 + Dex (minus armor pen.).
* Roll Twice (2D6)
2) +1 Dex
3) Focus: Perception (Hearing)
4) Focus: Dex (Initiative)
5) Weapon Group: Bows
6) Accuracy +1
7) Fighting +1
8) Focus: Int (Natural Lore)
9) Weapon Group: Axes
10) Novice Level in either Air or Water Arcana.
11) Focus: Con (Swimming)
12) +1 Con

#FantasyAge

Fantasy Age: Fire Dwarf Homebrewed Race

Fantasy Age: Fire Dwarf

* +1 Intelligence
* Pick One: Perception (Searching), or Willpower (Faith).
* Novice Level in the Fire Arcana Talent (2 spells).
* Dwarven & Common Tongue
* Speed 8 + Dex (minus armor pen.).
* Roll Twice (2D6)
2) +1 Willpower
3) Focus: Int (Nature Lore)
4) Focus: Int (Healing)
5) Focus: Dex (Initiative)
6) Focus: Per (Seeing)
7) Weapon Group: Light Blades
8) +1 Accuracy
9) Focus: Int (Arcane Lore)
10) Focus: Int (Religious Lore)
11) Focus: Willpower (Morale)
12) +1 Perception

#FantasyAge

Fantasy Age: Mountain Dwarf Homebrewed Race

Fantasy Age: Mountain Dwarf

* +1 Con
* Pick One: Communication (Bargain), or Strength (Climbing)
* Pick One: Con (Drinking), or Willpower (Self-discipline)
* Dwarven & Common
* Speed 8 + Dex (minus armor pen.).
* Roll Twice (2D6)
2) +1 Communication
3) Focus: Int (Historical Lore)
4) Focus: Dex (Crafting)
5) Focus: Accuracy (Brawling)
6) Con (Stamina)
7) Fighting +1
8) Weapon Group: Axes
9) Focus: Dex (Stealth)
10) Focus: Dex (Lock Picking)
11) Focus: Str (Smithing)
12) +1 Str

#FantasyAge

Fantasy Age: Deep Dwarf Homebrewed Race

Fantasy Age: Deep Dwarf

* +1 Str
* Pick One: Int (Brewing), or Accuracy (Brawling)
* Pick One: Str (Might), or Per (Secret Doors)
* Dwarven & Common
* Speed 8 + Dex (minus armor pen.).
* Roll Twice (2D6)
2) +1 Con
3) Focus: Str (Jumping)
4) Focus: Dex (Traps)
5) Focus: Str (Intimidation)
6) Weapon Group: Spears
7) Focus: Str (Smithing)
8) Fighting +1
9) Weapon Group: Bludgeons
10) Focus: Dex (Lock Picking)
11) Focus: Willpower (Courage)
12) +1 Dexterity


I modified the format a bit of the races in the core Fantasy Age book.  I added some more random results and removed Dark Sight (I am going to push for torch and lantern use as well as bring in more of the fear of the dark).

#FantasyAge

#100StatementSetting

#100StatementSetting

This worldbuilding idea just popped into my head a few days ago.  Feel free to share this idea to make other new settings.

Reply below with a statement that describes a new setting. It cannot undue or contradict any of the previous statements submitted by others. The setting will be entirely described in 100 statements about it.

-----

I posted that on: MeWe, and in 3 Facebook tabletop groups.  Surprisingly the only one that got to 100 was on MeWe.

If I can get on my laptop soon (and have some time off work) I'll post up some of the results in another blogpost and video on YouTube maybe).

Random 1D10 Table: What's In Its Guts? (RPG Brigade Community Project)

A few of us old timers who've had RPG YouTube channels for awhile are trying to get people in that group of people to be more active.  Here is a random table to add to a recent idea posted there.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/RPGBrigade/?ref=share

What's In Its Guts?

1. An ancient game played bt a forgotton local culture comprised of 1D100 intricately carved alabaster pieces.  The creature ate it along with the game's owner.

2. 1D4 Gems that pulsate along with the notes to a silent song trapped within them.  If these gems are broken the closest intelligent being will be able to perform the song (singing and playing instruments) perfectly for the rest of their life.

3. A moderately sized ball of half-digested hair that will animate to grapple and protect the creature that last touched it.

4. A magical sword that can be folded 20 times in on itself to make it very small (the size of a penny).

5. A complex holy symbol that took a master craftsman 100 years to make.  Inside a forgotten trapped god waits to be released.

6. A pair of match8ng blood-stained bracelets with five attached twisted nails.  If nailed into two people they can speak telepathically with each other up to one mile away.  Once a month the users must save vs. diseases or contract an illness that will wither that hand.

7. A bottle filled with a weak poison that refills itself once a week.

8. Bones of a squirrel that once was a potent wizard's familiar.  Once freed from the stomach it will befriend and assist the closest magic-user for 1D100 days.

9. 2D12 arrows that will reform after they are broken, burned, melted, etc.  The arrow heads deal much more damage when the arrows are removed from a creature (critical hit).

10. Roll again.  The item that you roll has 1D4 copies instead of just one of them.

Solo Role-playing: The Lost City of Barakus Part 4 (Reflections / A Form of GM Prep)

I could be playing another session of this solo campaign right now, but I find myself just pondering the basic concept of solo role-playing instead and some possible other benefits of doing it.

In many ways I think this form of solitaire is actually a great method for GM prep.  You get to experience an adventure first-hand as a player, and see what you enjoyed about it and what you really didn't like at all.  You can use those experiences to better run the game for players in a more traditional session later on down the road.  Playing through an adventure is an experience unlike just READING over everything and taking notes, and really... it's more fun too.  It feels like you are crawling around in the guts and bowels of an adventure and not just looking down on it from some lofty vantage point.  It feels more personal, and the elements of the adventure are sticking in my mind more so than via other methods that I've used to memorize adventures.

I have run some adventures multiple times for multiple groups, such as The People of Pembrooktonshire from Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LotFP), and while that helped me learn it, there is just something different (perhaps even better) about being a player inside an adventure that helps me remember things in more detail.  I tend to learn by doing, and in this case, by playing rather than just skimming over things. 

When you play, you don't go through the encounters in the adventure in an orderly fashion either (or at least I don't).  Often players will: skip encounters, bypass interesting NPCs (or kill them before they utter a word), and meander around in a chaotic fashion that the adventure designer could never anticipate.  Again, this is a different way of interacting with the adventure than just reading it over in an orderly fashion.

Solo role-playing in this light, as being a form of GM Prep, I think should help some people remove that stigma that is sometimes associated with this style of play.  I know I found myself thinking before trying it that playing through an adventure by myself was pathetic, or just seemed lonely, but I've been pleasantly surprised with this whole experiment.

Experimentation.  Sometimes you will be surprised when you try new things, as I have been via solo-role-playing.  I know I've been surprised in how vested I am in the player characters.  In each campaign I always try to do some new trick, or use a new technique that I heard about from some other role-player and this campaign is no different.  I love the interaction of the randomness of tables and dice blended with whatever just "makes sense" for a given encounter, and knowing the characters.

Another aspect is getting to know these characters in and more intimate way, and I suspect sole-roleplaying could help authors flesh out protagonists in unforeseen ways too.  I don't see myself every writing a true novel, but perhaps a short story about these characters might be in order. 

Just a few thoughts.  I hope everyone is having a decent day out there.

P.S. I miss the days of these blog entries automatically being posted to Google+.  Oh well.  It was fun while it lasted. 

Villains of the Undercity RPG Adventure Review (Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3)

Villains of the Undercity was written by Mark Taormino of Dark Wizard Games, and it is meant for characters of first to third level.  It is statted up for OSRIC but as with most Old School Renaissance (OSR) adventures it would be easy to run this with another retro-clone or fantasy system of your choice.

https://www.darkwizardgames.com/

It should be noted that I was given these adventures by Mark free of charge, for which I am very grateful.  These all look like a blast, but for this review I'll focus on this specific adventure.

The PDF is black and white in a two column format which is pretty standard for OSR publications.

The adventure takes place in a coastal city, and a dungeon lurks beneath it.  It is a straight-forward setup that I have used in other campaigns (namely Empire of the Petal Throne).  I do love Undercities and dungeons beneath settled areas.  They remind me of the film As Above, So Below.  If you've never watched it, check it out.

The included dungeon maps are that nice nostalgic light blue and white, and while the layout of the dungeon isn't super complex or novel it is clean and easily read.  The map should be easily to map out on graph paper for the players.

 
Rumors can be easily heard about the Sinister One, and his bands of Bugbears, Lizard Men, and Orcs running a slave trade.  Townsfolk have gone missing in greater numbers as of late, prompting the need for desperate and reckless adventurers to explore the depths below to find those kidnapped by this nefarious organization.  This slave trade could lead the group to other locations if the GM wishes.  It would be easy to include wagons loaded with slaves that head off to other locations to be sold off to the highest bidder.

A rumors table, random tavern events, and random encounter tables are a nice old school touch that are useful and easy to read.  Some of the results are rather crass and humorous.  :)

The included art is black and white and it reminds me of the TSR Choose Your Own Adventure books from my youth.  I do appreciate good B&W art!

The stat blocks and NPC speaking lines are bold, as well as text that NPCs might utter to the players.

A sample stat block is included below:
(8) Skeletons (AC: 7, MV: 120 ft, HD: 1, HP: 8 each #AT: 1, D: 1d6, SZ: Man Sized, MR: Standard, SD: Immune to cold, sleep, charm, hold and other mental based attacks, AL: Neutral, Level/XP: 1/15 + 1/HP)

The hanging dead? troll encounter is a fun one.  I think I would have its appendages have a life of their own. (Evil GM Cackle)

Snoot's Rock n' Roll Pit Fight Arena is a bit silly, so you might want to modify this encounter.  I think some more standard bards could foot the bill here.

There are a good many NPCs included in the adventure and that is cool to see.  They are described well.

As with most adventures a GM will need to read through the adventure, make notes, emphasize parts of the text that need to stand out more, etc.  You know, standard GM prep work for running a published adventure.

The art for Cavern of the Snare Beast is really evocative.  Just look at that evil bastard!  Woah!

There is a good amount of treasure, and useful magic items littered here and there in the dungeon IF the player characters can manage to find them.

I love the My Giant and Me encounter.  I want a giant pet spider now!  The art is also very evocative with a Dwarf holding onto a chain leash that holds his eight-legged pet in tow.  The art is included over there. <---

While there isn't a ton of art included, almost every piece is impressive.  Some of the pieces are a bit too "cartoony" for my tastes, but I do like most of it. The pieces I am including here are my favorites.

This adventure looks like it will kick a party's ass if they are the types that just go toe-to-toe for every encounter.  They will need to use magic items, have a good amount of healing and offense, and a good amount of luck to get through it all I think.  Good luck, it looks like a fun challenge.

One of the rooms has chess pieces that animate and attack.  I love this idea.  It reminds me of battle at the end of Time Bandits and that one scene in one of the Harry Potter flicks.

Wendell Hobblefoot (an evil Halfling) literally rules the dungeon and I like that twist, but his art is a bit on the cartoony side as well.

New monster stats are included in an appendix, as well as pregenerated characters to use for the adventure.  I wish more adventures included those. 

While this adventure seems to be on the short side (at 36 pages) it is densely packed with encounters and what appears to be a lot of over-the-top fun.  If you want a more gonzo adventure this can cover you, and if you want to slightly tweak it for a more serious game that is easy to do as well.

It appears like this adventure could possible take up to 2 to 4 sessions to play it all out, but I'll need to playtest that.  Maybe I'll get to use this in my solo campaign, or at my local convention that I run games for twice a year.

I hope to review the rest of the Maximum Mayhem Dungeon adventures, and perhaps get a review up on my RPG YouTube channel as well.  Only time will tell though.  Have a good one.  -Tim

Solo Role-playing: The Lost City of Barakus Part 3 (LL) Dretches & Death Dogs

The party was still mucking and sloshing about in the sewers when they stumbled upon two hideous little Dretches (Demons) dumping soil in the sewer near a now opened secret door.

Giladrina went unconscious again after several bites and claws landed brutal hits.  The Dwarven Cleric saved her from death's door and she managed to cast a Burning Hands spell to take the demons out.

Further into the secret lair they were ambushed by twin Death Dogs and two of the characters were infected with Rotting Death (-1D6 Con).  A Sleep spell put them down but the party fled back to the city of Endhome to lick their wounds.

At Endhome the Priests of Freya cured their diseases and they rested at their rooms at The Lion's Side Inn.  They paid for back rent and two more weeks stay there (6gp per week each).

By this point the group has been adventuring for 12 days.  Some shopping and upkeep was in order.

I really need to improve my record keeping and I started using a group xp sheet, a wealth sheet, and a house rules sheet.  I'm taking notes as I go on college ruled paper in a three-ring binder and that seems to be working well.

My house rules so far are:
*0HP = Unconsciousness
*Sell items for 50% of value
*1gp = 1xp
*If shooting into melee a natural 1 = Friendly Fire

I also need to keep better track of food and expended torches but it's going well and I'm having fun.

Solo Role-playing: The Lost City of Barakus Part 2 (Labyrinth Lord)

I had some more time today than I expected so I got in a second solo RPG session.  It almost ended in a TPK but I'll get to that below.  I'm really enjoying rolling on random tables, going with "whatever makes the most sense," and just enjoying the various sections of The Lost City of Barakus as a player.  I tend to be the GM so it's a nice change of pace.

The characters were all 3rd level but I'm keeping track of individual XP as I go from here on out.  It's actually been awhile since I even worried about XP but for this it just seems to fit.

I'm using a variety of random tables but I need to get them all into physical format so I don't need to be checking my phone so often which comes with distractions.

The Party:
Driya is an Elf Fighter,
Giladrina is an Elf Fighter / Magic-user,
Marzul is a Half-orc Thief,
Tralina is an Elf Thief,
and Ulfgar is a Dwarf Cleric

I'm using some of the options from Advanced Labyrinth Lord aka the Advanced Edition Companion (AEC).

Randon Encounter: Upon leaving the city Ulfgar had his pockets picked my some wandering merchants.

The group then traveled and ambushed The Greentree Bandits but the tide of battle turned against our intrepid heroes (bad dice rolls).  The leaders actually went down easily but the bandit minions were bloodthirsty jerks haha.  Tralina went unconscious and the rest of the party only had a few hit points at the end.  It was interesting to see how invested I was in having the characters survive.

The characters looted the corpses, stole the available wealth, and went back to Endhome to heal up at the inn while the magic-user spent a week doing magical research at the Wizard Academy to acquire a new spell.

The characters upgraded equipment and their armor and were attacked by a Shadow that drained some Strength from them before they could flee.

Next up was visiting the Temple of Freya and the priest sold some healing potions and gave them a new quest to find a missing priestess.  This was a hook to another adventure supplement so I just rolled up 3 random encounters: Giant Lizard (Gecko), Giant Ants, and an Albino Ape which were all from Labyrinth Lord.  Only the ape proved to be a little trouble by rolling two back to back critical hits. In the end they brought back the priestess to her temple.

The last encounter involved a diseased rat swarm that infected Giladrina thereby making her deaf for the near future.

Next up, more splashing around in raw sewage.

Solo Role-playing: The Lost City of Barakus Part 1 (Labyrinth Lord)

I had some downtime so I figured I would try to do some solo role-playing for the first time.  I'm used a variety of random tables, Labyrinth Lord, and The Lost City of Barakus as the adventure.

I'm surprised how much fun it was.  It reminded me of playing PC and NES games like The Bard's Tale and Wizardry. It's sure was better than just staring at a wall. Haha.

I added in a dose of common sense and I tried to flip back and forth from a player's POV and that of a GM.

I've never played or ran The Lost City of Barakus before and this seemed like a cool way to try out and learn the adventure before I run it for my friends or at a convention.

I also had to get over that internal self criticism about solo play.  It just sounded so lonely when I first heard about it.  For people like me though that work all the time it will help to pass the slow hours in an interesting way.

The characters had to fight their way into the city (killing 2 guards) and the Elf ended up doing some research at the magic academy.  The rest of the party got a room at an inn and got their first adventure hook (finding a lost husband in the dungeon).

There were some random encounters too pike thugs and helping a wounded man who gave the Dwarf Cleric a magic gem as a reward (it acts like an Identify spell).

So in closing, if you've never given it a try pull out some random tables and make up some characters and charge into a published adventure or randomly generate one on the fly.

Sea Magic aka Shell Spells

A friend posted about finding shells on the beach but my brain read his post as finding SPELLS on the beach.  That made me think about a shell-based system about a culture that harvests shells to cast sea-based magic.  Maybe they crush them, snort them, cut themselves with them, or inscribe spells onto them as a focus. 

Shell Spells... :D

Rolemaster Unified Stat Generation for Empire of the Petal Throne

Recently I watched a video by Bankbar Como on YouTube where he was generating a character for RMU from I.C.E. In that video he rolled 3D100 for each stat, dropped the lowest, used the next highest roll for the current stat, and the highest roll was used for the maximum Stat Potential (the highest that stat could ever be).

That stat generation method made me think of Empire of the Petal Throne.  As a house rule I always had the players roll 4D6, drop the lowest result, and then multiply the 3D6 total X 5 to get the final stat total.  Now I think I'm going to bolt on RMU's method.

EPT has random rolls at each new level to increase your stats.  I think I'll make that roll a bit easier but include the stat maximums.

Anyway, I thought I would share.

Here is Bankbar Como's YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqNR2CzK5eZDrqv2Cf2rQCw

Vs. Dragons RPG Review

#MiniRPGReview

There are only 2 Stats (Brains and Muscles) and that reminds me a bit of the Lasers & Feelings RPG.  You get to put 4/4, 5/3, or 3/5 in the Stats.

Core Mechanic: Draw cards = Stat.  If the highest card is equal to or greater than the set Target Number (7 average) success.

Classes provide only one special ability but it wouldn't be tough to add some free Gimmicks in the game to flesh them out more.  I like that they are simple.

Each hero (character) gets one good and one bad Gimmick of their choice.  Think of D&D Feats but more narrative.  These are like many Boons and Flaws in other games but more rules-lite.

Equipment is more on the "what makes sense" side of things as well.

Shields are awesome.  Hearts deflect hits, Diamonds or Clubs reduces damage, Spades reduces damage but shield is damaged.

Weaponds deal 1-4 damage depending on size.

Random Card Draw as an Oracle:

Hearts = Very Good,

Diamonds = Good,

Clubs = Bad,

Spades = Very Bad

Initiative is just clockwise around the table.

Actions are move and attack.

Melee Combat is a draw of # of cards = Muscle, if highest card is greater than or equal to target's Muscle hit.

Ranged Combat is a draw of # of cards = Brains, if highest card is greater than or equal to Range Value (based on distance) hit.

Toughness (Hit Points) is 10 or higher with Gimmicks.  At 5 -1 Pain mod, at 2 -2 Pain mod, at 0 -3 Pain mod, at -1 Unconscipus.  Any hit after -1 is death.

Natural Healing is 1/hour, or 5/4 hours.  First Aid/Medical Care is Heart it worked, Diamond or Club is. Nothing bad happened, and Spade is it failed and possible death.

The rest is optional rules, NPC and Monster stats, items, and spells.

Hero Rewards are via Stat increases, Bonus Cards, or new Hero Gimmicks.