In the wake of the announcement of the next edition of D&D, I've been thinking a bit about what parts of 4th Edition might be worth keeping. The rules for minions, elites and solos are a good concept, but they're limited in that they don't allow for a standard monster to be converted into a minion, and conversion into an Elite or Solo is possible but only in specific ways. The edition's focus on the “monster math” creates balance at a high cost in flexibility, in my opinion.
So I decided that I could adapt the idea to Labyrinth Lord, and having a simpler base system would allow for easy dynamic adjustment. This system allows the DM to add “templates” to monsters and NPCs. With templates in play it's best to have non-templated “normal” monsters have 4 HP per HD (instead of the usual range), but this isn't essential.
Pawn:
HP: 1 per HD.
Attack: +1 to hit and damage.
Champion:
HP: 8 per HD.
Attack: +2 to hit and damage.
Saves: +2 bonus.
AC: -2 bonus.
XP: Each Elite is worth double usual experience.
Master:
HP: 15 per HD.
Attack: Two sets of actions per round, at +3 to hit and damage.
Saves: +4 bonus.
AC: -2 bonus.
XP: A Master is worth four times usual experience.
Special: Attacks that normally instant-kill instead cause the loss of 1d8 HP per HD of the Master (allow the attacking player to roll). Attacks that normally paralyse or debilitate (including mind control) instead only cost the Master it's next round's actions, then it resists the effect.
Usage Notes:
Pawn: DMs may add this template to groups of enemies who are weaker than the PCs. The reduced HP allows them to be killed quicker (usually in one hit), but the attack bonuses make them a more credible threat while they live. This allows battles against hordes of enemies to be less tedious and more decisive. Don't use this template for monsters who only have half a Hit Die or less (like kobolds) – they have few enough HP already to die easily in one hit.
Champion: This template allows an easy way to boost a monster to a “mini-boss” status, without requiring any special XP recalculations because it simply counts as two of the normal kind. Compared to two normal monsters, one Champion may be harder to kill (it only takes damage once from area attacks and has stronger AC and saves) but the attack bonuses aren't as good as having two sets of attacks, so Champions are good for stand-up hack-and-slash matches.
Master: Major “bosses”, Masters are intended to be able to face a party alone, but can be used with some lesser allies too. They are champion-Champions, and similar concepts apply to their game mechanics. They are not as deadly on attack as four non-templated monsters all attacking together, but their very high HP keep them in the fight where the four basic monsters would soon lose some of their number and therefore have weakening offence. Their special defence ability keeps them from losing anticlimactically to a single spell in round 1, yet still allows special-effect magics to play a major role in the fight.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
It has been a long time since I posted here. My Labyrinth Lord campaign is on hiatus, I'm running Star Wars Saga Edition instead, and thanks to persistent scheduling problems my group hasn't gamed for months and may not for months to come. So I haven't had much to post about because I'm not running or even seriously planning to run any D&D for quite some time.
However, I have made a New Year semi-resolution to read some of the many books I have unread. In the area of RPGs, I'm pretty bad for spending my free time for RPGs reading forums (which do have some really good content but in the middle of lots of useless stuff) instead of reading books I've bought. I made a start on this project yesterday, and thought I'd share my thoughts here.
Inspired by a thread I've been reading on rpg.net about the "lost endgame" of D&D – becoming a ruler after Name Level, which modern editions dropped – I decided to read Birthright for AD&D. Or, to be more precise, the rulebook from the Birthright core box set (not the setting books, which I'm not interested in), for the domain management systems. I already vaguely knew some of it, partly from playing the old PC game spin-off years ago: "Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance" (a very underrated empire-building/RPG hybrid). I've also flicked through the rules a few times before; I couldn't remember why, but I never managed to do more than skim before putting the box away, which is odd because since my longest-running campaign featured PC rulership it's a subject I'm interested in.
I read the whole thing through last night, and now I remember why I'd never finished it before: it's a difficult dry read, and Birthright's domain systems are a full-on game in their own right, not something you toy with for a little interval between adventures. In Birthright, it's the other way round: you go on adventures during domain turns, and it costs you a domain action at that, so getting "leave" to go dungeon-delving may not be possible when things are hectic. On the other hand, some random events (mostly bad ones) rolled for each domain turn can require adventures to solve the problem or they will get worse. The book actually recommends that in some campaigns players of regent PCs have a second character to take on adventures if his regent can't spare time from his duties, hinting at the possibility of Ars-Magica-style troupe play.
One of the two main issues I'd have with adopting Birthright's rules is that they're tied to the setting: there are bloodlines of heroes from an ancient war, and only the blooded heirs can rule (unblooded are out of luck: they can become respected and personally powerful, but can never hold a throne under any circumstances). A bloodline grants some special abilities (randomly determined by rolling on a table, old-skool style!) but more importantly, bloodline strength is tied into the regency point rules, which measure a regent's political power and influence and are central to the system. Using Birthright's rules out of the setting context would require a certain amount of work (I'm not sure how much) to decouple the bloodline rules from the rest of the regency system.
The other problem, and the real deal-breaker, is that it would take a lot of work to run, from both regent players and the DM. Birthright is functionally a full-blown kingdom-running/diplomacy/empire-building boardgame plugged into AD&D. The setting map is in effect a game-board with all the provinces statted out – they have multiple ratings for things like the strength of law&order, temples, economic relationships, sites of magical power (and any of these "holdings" can belong to the province ruler, a non-ruler, or even a rival). There are rules for province creation tucked away in an appendix, but using the rules in another setting would require writing up a great many provinces and politically mapping them too.
Aside from that, not only do PC regents get actions during domain turns, NPC regents do too. The book acknowledges that running ALL of them in the same turn isn't practical and suggests how to choose which ones to run based on relevance and importance, but still, the DM has lots of management to do. This section contains some tantalising glimpses into the potential of a Birthright game: the GM can, with his knowledge of what NPC regents are up to strategically with/against other regents (including PCs), think through their plans and come up with character-scale adventures resulting from these maneuverings, and the outcome of these adventures could impact on the domain game in turn. For instance, an NPC might try to destabilise an economically important province of another NPC regent (one allied to a PC) by supplying local brigands with weapons and information. The regent of the province might need to enlist the aid of the PC regent (perhaps with the offer of trade concessions), and if the PC party manage to deal with the brigands and uncover who was behind them, it could lead to war. Since these NPC actions are also going to be affected by the actions of PC regents' domains, this could make for a campaign with cascading cause-and-effect consequences that could surprise the DM as much as the players.
There's a nifty mass battle system in Birthright that occupies a middle ground between the Battlesystem miniatures-gaming mass battle rules that TSR supported for AD&D and the War Machine rules in the D&D Companion set that required only dice rolls. Birthright's system uses cards, each with stats for a different type of unit (pikes, archers, etc.) played on a special mat marked out into abstract zones of the battlefield (attacker's left flank, defender's reserves, etc.). Battles are played out in turns, with attacks resolved by drawing other cards and cross-referencing the results with the cards of the units involved. It looks pretty good and feels very different to personal combat; the morale rules ensure that standing and fighting to the last man are unlikely.
Unfortunately, the battle rules are very limited when used outside the Birthright setting. They depend on having cards for the units, and the included cards cover the usual types of units plus some non-humans (elves, dwarves, goblins etc.) that have armies in the Birthright world, but other monsters aren't covered. AD&D monster stats don't correspond to the battle card stats, and no conversion guidelines are offered. This isn't a major problem in a Birthright-setting game where true "monsters" are extremely rare to keep the focus on the conflicts of people, but if you want to run a battle in the Forgotten Realms with a red dragon leading an attack on a castle while the defenders summon devils to counterattack, the Birthright rules are little help. There is a skirmish rules section which you could use, but it's a messy handwave and has big granularity problems (for example, if the AD&D combat stats allow 12+ maximum attack damage, damage in the skirmish game is doubled, but 11 or less max damage gives no benefit; so 1d4 damage and 1d8+3 damage attacks in AD&D are identical in skirmish, but 1d8+4 is twice as powerful as 1d8+3!).
So one of the running limitations on the Birthright rules system is that it isn't easy to use outside of the Birthright setting. Ironically, it would actually be easier to use them outside of the AD&D rules system, and perhaps even preferable! Birthright is from the 2nd Edition AD&D era, the time when D&D's aesthetic had moved from the swords-and-sorcery mercenary adventuring of 1st Edition and earlier to the post-Dragonlance epic quest storytelling model; but the mechanics were still AD&D and rooted in the old-school sensibilities where an adventurer is never more than a few dice rolls from sudden death. This shows in Birthright – the game portrays regents going adventuring quite blithely, giving no advice to the DM or players about dealing with the consequences of a single save-or-die effect leaving a throne suddenly vacant. There's still clerical magic to raise the dead, but again Birthright never gives any attention to the consequences of an adventuring regent owing his (second) life to a high priest. Really, magic receives little coverage in Birthright besides some specific applications in mass battle, even though this game could really benefit from examining its possible uses (and abuses) in larger society. By also de-emphasising monsters in the setting to reinforce the medieval clash-of-armies style of conflicts, it seems like Birthright is straining against being AD&D.
However, I have made a New Year semi-resolution to read some of the many books I have unread. In the area of RPGs, I'm pretty bad for spending my free time for RPGs reading forums (which do have some really good content but in the middle of lots of useless stuff) instead of reading books I've bought. I made a start on this project yesterday, and thought I'd share my thoughts here.
Inspired by a thread I've been reading on rpg.net about the "lost endgame" of D&D – becoming a ruler after Name Level, which modern editions dropped – I decided to read Birthright for AD&D. Or, to be more precise, the rulebook from the Birthright core box set (not the setting books, which I'm not interested in), for the domain management systems. I already vaguely knew some of it, partly from playing the old PC game spin-off years ago: "Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance" (a very underrated empire-building/RPG hybrid). I've also flicked through the rules a few times before; I couldn't remember why, but I never managed to do more than skim before putting the box away, which is odd because since my longest-running campaign featured PC rulership it's a subject I'm interested in.
I read the whole thing through last night, and now I remember why I'd never finished it before: it's a difficult dry read, and Birthright's domain systems are a full-on game in their own right, not something you toy with for a little interval between adventures. In Birthright, it's the other way round: you go on adventures during domain turns, and it costs you a domain action at that, so getting "leave" to go dungeon-delving may not be possible when things are hectic. On the other hand, some random events (mostly bad ones) rolled for each domain turn can require adventures to solve the problem or they will get worse. The book actually recommends that in some campaigns players of regent PCs have a second character to take on adventures if his regent can't spare time from his duties, hinting at the possibility of Ars-Magica-style troupe play.
One of the two main issues I'd have with adopting Birthright's rules is that they're tied to the setting: there are bloodlines of heroes from an ancient war, and only the blooded heirs can rule (unblooded are out of luck: they can become respected and personally powerful, but can never hold a throne under any circumstances). A bloodline grants some special abilities (randomly determined by rolling on a table, old-skool style!) but more importantly, bloodline strength is tied into the regency point rules, which measure a regent's political power and influence and are central to the system. Using Birthright's rules out of the setting context would require a certain amount of work (I'm not sure how much) to decouple the bloodline rules from the rest of the regency system.
The other problem, and the real deal-breaker, is that it would take a lot of work to run, from both regent players and the DM. Birthright is functionally a full-blown kingdom-running/diplomacy/empire-building boardgame plugged into AD&D. The setting map is in effect a game-board with all the provinces statted out – they have multiple ratings for things like the strength of law&order, temples, economic relationships, sites of magical power (and any of these "holdings" can belong to the province ruler, a non-ruler, or even a rival). There are rules for province creation tucked away in an appendix, but using the rules in another setting would require writing up a great many provinces and politically mapping them too.
Aside from that, not only do PC regents get actions during domain turns, NPC regents do too. The book acknowledges that running ALL of them in the same turn isn't practical and suggests how to choose which ones to run based on relevance and importance, but still, the DM has lots of management to do. This section contains some tantalising glimpses into the potential of a Birthright game: the GM can, with his knowledge of what NPC regents are up to strategically with/against other regents (including PCs), think through their plans and come up with character-scale adventures resulting from these maneuverings, and the outcome of these adventures could impact on the domain game in turn. For instance, an NPC might try to destabilise an economically important province of another NPC regent (one allied to a PC) by supplying local brigands with weapons and information. The regent of the province might need to enlist the aid of the PC regent (perhaps with the offer of trade concessions), and if the PC party manage to deal with the brigands and uncover who was behind them, it could lead to war. Since these NPC actions are also going to be affected by the actions of PC regents' domains, this could make for a campaign with cascading cause-and-effect consequences that could surprise the DM as much as the players.
There's a nifty mass battle system in Birthright that occupies a middle ground between the Battlesystem miniatures-gaming mass battle rules that TSR supported for AD&D and the War Machine rules in the D&D Companion set that required only dice rolls. Birthright's system uses cards, each with stats for a different type of unit (pikes, archers, etc.) played on a special mat marked out into abstract zones of the battlefield (attacker's left flank, defender's reserves, etc.). Battles are played out in turns, with attacks resolved by drawing other cards and cross-referencing the results with the cards of the units involved. It looks pretty good and feels very different to personal combat; the morale rules ensure that standing and fighting to the last man are unlikely.
Unfortunately, the battle rules are very limited when used outside the Birthright setting. They depend on having cards for the units, and the included cards cover the usual types of units plus some non-humans (elves, dwarves, goblins etc.) that have armies in the Birthright world, but other monsters aren't covered. AD&D monster stats don't correspond to the battle card stats, and no conversion guidelines are offered. This isn't a major problem in a Birthright-setting game where true "monsters" are extremely rare to keep the focus on the conflicts of people, but if you want to run a battle in the Forgotten Realms with a red dragon leading an attack on a castle while the defenders summon devils to counterattack, the Birthright rules are little help. There is a skirmish rules section which you could use, but it's a messy handwave and has big granularity problems (for example, if the AD&D combat stats allow 12+ maximum attack damage, damage in the skirmish game is doubled, but 11 or less max damage gives no benefit; so 1d4 damage and 1d8+3 damage attacks in AD&D are identical in skirmish, but 1d8+4 is twice as powerful as 1d8+3!).
So one of the running limitations on the Birthright rules system is that it isn't easy to use outside of the Birthright setting. Ironically, it would actually be easier to use them outside of the AD&D rules system, and perhaps even preferable! Birthright is from the 2nd Edition AD&D era, the time when D&D's aesthetic had moved from the swords-and-sorcery mercenary adventuring of 1st Edition and earlier to the post-Dragonlance epic quest storytelling model; but the mechanics were still AD&D and rooted in the old-school sensibilities where an adventurer is never more than a few dice rolls from sudden death. This shows in Birthright – the game portrays regents going adventuring quite blithely, giving no advice to the DM or players about dealing with the consequences of a single save-or-die effect leaving a throne suddenly vacant. There's still clerical magic to raise the dead, but again Birthright never gives any attention to the consequences of an adventuring regent owing his (second) life to a high priest. Really, magic receives little coverage in Birthright besides some specific applications in mass battle, even though this game could really benefit from examining its possible uses (and abuses) in larger society. By also de-emphasising monsters in the setting to reinforce the medieval clash-of-armies style of conflicts, it seems like Birthright is straining against being AD&D.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Morrowind Monsters: Beasts of the Waters
Mudcrab
Mudcrabs are hard-shelled creatures, smaller than humans but still big enough to still be dangerous. They are commonly found near water around Morrowind. Mudcrabs usually attack man-sized prey if they feel threatened, but a mudcrab tastes human or demihuman flesh even once it becomes a maneater until death – this behaviour usually gets it killed before too long.
No. Enc: 1-3 (1-6)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 60' (20')
Movement: Swim: 60' (20')
Armour Class: 3
Hit Dice: 1
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d6
Save: F1
Morale: 7 (11 for maneaters)
Hoard Class: None
XP: 10
Slaughterfish
Slaughterfish are carnivorous fish up to two feet in length, with sharp pointed teeth. They form into large schools, deadly to unlucky swimmers.
No. Enc: 1-20 (1-20)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: Swim: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 7
Hit Dice: 1+1
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d4
Save: F1
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: None
XP: 15
Dreugh
Dreugh are a hybrid of human and octopus in appearance, with a humanoid upper body with pincer hands and a mass of tentacles for a lower body. They are said to have underwater kingdoms ruled by fabled "trident-kings", but are savagely hostile to intruders in their watery domains.
No. Enc: 1-2 (1-4)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: Swim: 90' (30')
Armour Class: 2
Hit Dice: 5
Attacks: 2
Damage: 2d6
Save: F5
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: XIX
XP: 200
Special Notes: These creatures are easily transported to other settings, to help pad out the slim lists of aquatic monsters.
Mudcrabs are hard-shelled creatures, smaller than humans but still big enough to still be dangerous. They are commonly found near water around Morrowind. Mudcrabs usually attack man-sized prey if they feel threatened, but a mudcrab tastes human or demihuman flesh even once it becomes a maneater until death – this behaviour usually gets it killed before too long.
No. Enc: 1-3 (1-6)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 60' (20')
Movement: Swim: 60' (20')
Armour Class: 3
Hit Dice: 1
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d6
Save: F1
Morale: 7 (11 for maneaters)
Hoard Class: None
XP: 10
Slaughterfish
Slaughterfish are carnivorous fish up to two feet in length, with sharp pointed teeth. They form into large schools, deadly to unlucky swimmers.
No. Enc: 1-20 (1-20)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: Swim: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 7
Hit Dice: 1+1
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d4
Save: F1
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: None
XP: 15
Dreugh
Dreugh are a hybrid of human and octopus in appearance, with a humanoid upper body with pincer hands and a mass of tentacles for a lower body. They are said to have underwater kingdoms ruled by fabled "trident-kings", but are savagely hostile to intruders in their watery domains.
No. Enc: 1-2 (1-4)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: Swim: 90' (30')
Armour Class: 2
Hit Dice: 5
Attacks: 2
Damage: 2d6
Save: F5
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: XIX
XP: 200
Special Notes: These creatures are easily transported to other settings, to help pad out the slim lists of aquatic monsters.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Morrowind Monsters: Undead
Morrowind has several types of unique undead. This is mostly because of the cultural practice of "sacred necromancy". This is the raising of ancestor spirits as undead to guard their own tombs from robbers. Those who practice "profane necromancy" (raising any other sort of undead for any other reason) in Morrowind are liable to be lynched or burned at the stake if caught, even though most outsiders see little moral difference between the two types of necromantic arts.
Ancestor Ghost
Ancestor ghosts are semi-transparent, and look like a floating tattered burial shroud, with bones and a skeletal face sticking out.
No. Enc: 1 (1-6)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 60' (20')
Armour Class: 7
Hit Dice: 1
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d4
Save: E1
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XVIII
XP: 19
Ancestor ghosts are immune to non-magical weapons, except those made of silver.They have all the usual undead immunities too. They can bestow a curse (as per the clerical spell Bless reversed) upon any who invade their tomb.
Bonewalker
Bonewalkers are the corporeal equivalents of amcestor ghosts, whose remains have been animated instead of just their spirits. They have a particularly intimidating appearance because their shattered bones stick out from their flesh all over their bodies.
No. Enc: 1 (1-4)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 5
Hit Dice: 4
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d10
Save: E4
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XVIII
XP: 245
Bonewalkers have all the usual undead immunities. They can bestow a curse (reducing the target's Strength by 1d6 points for 1 minute, save negates) upon any who invade their tomb.
Greater Bonewalker
These are more powerful versions of the bonewalker.
No. Enc: 1 (1-3)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 3
Hit Dice: 7
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d12
Save: E7
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XVIII
XP: 1490
Greater bonewalkers have all the usual undead immunities. They can bestow a curse (reducing the target's Strength by 2d6 points, save negates) upon any who invade their tomb. Strength loss from this curse returns at a rate of only 1 point per day naturally, but a Remove Curse spell remedies the whole loss immediately.
Bonelord
Bonelords are dangerous tomb guardians. Their form is a skeletal body within a hooded burial shroud, with an extra pair of arms attached.
No. Enc: 1 (1-2)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 3
Hit Dice: 8
Attacks: 2
Damage: 3d6
Save: E8
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XVIII
XP: 1560
Bonelords have all the usual undead immunities. They have all the usual undead immunities too. They can bestow a curse (as per the clerical spell Remove Curse reversed) upon any who invade their tomb.
Skeleton
Sacred necromancers often animate common skeletons, either to support the more formidable tomb guardians or instead of them if the more difficult rituals aren't possible. These are exactly the same as the Skeletons from the Labyrinth Lord rulebook (pps.95.96 in the revised edition).
Dwemer Spectre
These are the restless spirits of dead Dwemer, still roaming their lost halls, and adding to the danger already presented by animunculi. Treat them as Spectres from the Labyrinth Lord rulebook (p.96 in the revised edition), except that they can be harmed by silver weapons.
Special Notes: These undead are easily used in other worlds, as long as there exists some individual or group willing to animate the dead to guard their own tombs.
Ancestor Ghost
Ancestor ghosts are semi-transparent, and look like a floating tattered burial shroud, with bones and a skeletal face sticking out.
No. Enc: 1 (1-6)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 60' (20')
Armour Class: 7
Hit Dice: 1
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d4
Save: E1
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XVIII
XP: 19
Ancestor ghosts are immune to non-magical weapons, except those made of silver.They have all the usual undead immunities too. They can bestow a curse (as per the clerical spell Bless reversed) upon any who invade their tomb.
Bonewalker
Bonewalkers are the corporeal equivalents of amcestor ghosts, whose remains have been animated instead of just their spirits. They have a particularly intimidating appearance because their shattered bones stick out from their flesh all over their bodies.
No. Enc: 1 (1-4)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 5
Hit Dice: 4
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d10
Save: E4
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XVIII
XP: 245
Bonewalkers have all the usual undead immunities. They can bestow a curse (reducing the target's Strength by 1d6 points for 1 minute, save negates) upon any who invade their tomb.
Greater Bonewalker
These are more powerful versions of the bonewalker.
No. Enc: 1 (1-3)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 3
Hit Dice: 7
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d12
Save: E7
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XVIII
XP: 1490
Greater bonewalkers have all the usual undead immunities. They can bestow a curse (reducing the target's Strength by 2d6 points, save negates) upon any who invade their tomb. Strength loss from this curse returns at a rate of only 1 point per day naturally, but a Remove Curse spell remedies the whole loss immediately.
Bonelord
Bonelords are dangerous tomb guardians. Their form is a skeletal body within a hooded burial shroud, with an extra pair of arms attached.
No. Enc: 1 (1-2)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 3
Hit Dice: 8
Attacks: 2
Damage: 3d6
Save: E8
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XVIII
XP: 1560
Bonelords have all the usual undead immunities. They have all the usual undead immunities too. They can bestow a curse (as per the clerical spell Remove Curse reversed) upon any who invade their tomb.
Skeleton
Sacred necromancers often animate common skeletons, either to support the more formidable tomb guardians or instead of them if the more difficult rituals aren't possible. These are exactly the same as the Skeletons from the Labyrinth Lord rulebook (pps.95.96 in the revised edition).
Dwemer Spectre
These are the restless spirits of dead Dwemer, still roaming their lost halls, and adding to the danger already presented by animunculi. Treat them as Spectres from the Labyrinth Lord rulebook (p.96 in the revised edition), except that they can be harmed by silver weapons.
Special Notes: These undead are easily used in other worlds, as long as there exists some individual or group willing to animate the dead to guard their own tombs.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Morrowind Monsters: Animunculi
Animunculi are the automata created by an extinct race called the Dwemer. The creations outlived their creators, and still guard the Dwemer ruins scatted across Vvardenfell. The exact nature of the animunculi is – like most things about the Dwemer – mysterious. Their nature seems to a mixture of technology and a lost magical art. Animunculi have articulated joints and seem to be partly steam-powered (steam hisses out irregularly as they move), but boiler machinery alone couldn't remain active after such a long period of neglect.
Animunculi are made of a metal known as Dwemer Brass. Not to be confused with the ordinary alloy called brass, Dwemer Brass (capital "B") is stronger than steel but much heavier, but the secrets of forging it are long lost. Salvaged parts of plating from Steam Centurions and other animunculi can be fashioned by an expert armourer into plate armour, but the result is cumbersome because of its makeshift construction. Such armour has an Armour Class of 1, but weighs 150 pounds (three times as much as regular plate armour). A true master armourer with quality salvage could partially articulate the plating like regular plate armour, so the only problem is the heavier weight of the metal – this changes the encumbrance to 100 pounds (only twice that of conventional plate mail).
The animunculi defend the Dwemer ruins from intruders, showing no mercy and never retreating. Whether they ever showed more complex behaviour is not known to anyone living. They never leave the area that they guard, and are unable to: if they are taken more than about a mile away, they instantly shut down, but reactivate if they come back in range. Whether this is due to a loss of power, loss of behavioural command, or something else is also unknown.
All animunculi are immune to poison and disease. They take half damage from fire and lightning attacks but double damage from cold because of their dependence on steam. They are too noisy to be able to surprise any opponent, with the exception of the Centurion Sphere's initial attack (see below).
Centurion Spider
These are the smallest and weakest of the animunculi, but are still deadly to the average looter. They have an egg-shaped central body surrounded by six narrow legs that make a distinctive fast clicking sound as they move.
No. Enc: 1 (1-4)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90' (30')
Armour Class: 1
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d8
Save: F3
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XI
XP: 80
Centurion Sphere
Centurion Spheres are the most unusual in appearance of the animunculi. When inactive, they rest in the shape of a ball, with only a few joins in the shell giving a clue to their true nature. They activate when they detect an intruder nearby, causing a roll for surprise. The shell opens down the middle, with a torso-like body extending upright. One arm has a pincer-like weapon, while the other resembles a shield. The two main halves of the outer shell tilt out to the sides and work like wheels, enabling them to patrol and attack quickly when active.
No. Enc: 1 (1-4)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 0
Hit Dice: 5
Attacks: 1
Damage: 3d6
Save: F5
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XI
XP: 500
Steam Centurion
Steam centurions are hulking humanoid guardians. At the end of their right arm is a huge spiked mace-head instead of a hand, able to strike with tremendous power.
No. Enc: 1 (1-2)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90' (30')
Armour Class: -1
Hit Dice: 10
Attacks: 1
Damage: 10d6
Save: F10
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XX
XP: 2,400
Special Notes: Outside of the Elder Scrolls setting, animunculi could be hard to justify unless a peculiar technomagical lost civilisation like the Dwemer exist in the world's history. This could actually make them a good candidate for one-off special cases, especially in cross-genre adventures in some old-school games. Animunculi might be a better choice for guardians of (for instance) a crashed spaceship than normal robots. The players know, more or less, how robots work and what they are, even if the characters don't, but animunculi are more mysterious because there's no telling where the technology ends and the magic begins. That means that the players are in the dark about their enemies out-of-character, just as much as their characters are.
Animunculi are made of a metal known as Dwemer Brass. Not to be confused with the ordinary alloy called brass, Dwemer Brass (capital "B") is stronger than steel but much heavier, but the secrets of forging it are long lost. Salvaged parts of plating from Steam Centurions and other animunculi can be fashioned by an expert armourer into plate armour, but the result is cumbersome because of its makeshift construction. Such armour has an Armour Class of 1, but weighs 150 pounds (three times as much as regular plate armour). A true master armourer with quality salvage could partially articulate the plating like regular plate armour, so the only problem is the heavier weight of the metal – this changes the encumbrance to 100 pounds (only twice that of conventional plate mail).
The animunculi defend the Dwemer ruins from intruders, showing no mercy and never retreating. Whether they ever showed more complex behaviour is not known to anyone living. They never leave the area that they guard, and are unable to: if they are taken more than about a mile away, they instantly shut down, but reactivate if they come back in range. Whether this is due to a loss of power, loss of behavioural command, or something else is also unknown.
All animunculi are immune to poison and disease. They take half damage from fire and lightning attacks but double damage from cold because of their dependence on steam. They are too noisy to be able to surprise any opponent, with the exception of the Centurion Sphere's initial attack (see below).
Centurion Spider
These are the smallest and weakest of the animunculi, but are still deadly to the average looter. They have an egg-shaped central body surrounded by six narrow legs that make a distinctive fast clicking sound as they move.
No. Enc: 1 (1-4)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90' (30')
Armour Class: 1
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d8
Save: F3
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XI
XP: 80
Centurion Sphere
Centurion Spheres are the most unusual in appearance of the animunculi. When inactive, they rest in the shape of a ball, with only a few joins in the shell giving a clue to their true nature. They activate when they detect an intruder nearby, causing a roll for surprise. The shell opens down the middle, with a torso-like body extending upright. One arm has a pincer-like weapon, while the other resembles a shield. The two main halves of the outer shell tilt out to the sides and work like wheels, enabling them to patrol and attack quickly when active.
No. Enc: 1 (1-4)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 0
Hit Dice: 5
Attacks: 1
Damage: 3d6
Save: F5
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XI
XP: 500
Steam Centurion
Steam centurions are hulking humanoid guardians. At the end of their right arm is a huge spiked mace-head instead of a hand, able to strike with tremendous power.
No. Enc: 1 (1-2)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90' (30')
Armour Class: -1
Hit Dice: 10
Attacks: 1
Damage: 10d6
Save: F10
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XX
XP: 2,400
Special Notes: Outside of the Elder Scrolls setting, animunculi could be hard to justify unless a peculiar technomagical lost civilisation like the Dwemer exist in the world's history. This could actually make them a good candidate for one-off special cases, especially in cross-genre adventures in some old-school games. Animunculi might be a better choice for guardians of (for instance) a crashed spaceship than normal robots. The players know, more or less, how robots work and what they are, even if the characters don't, but animunculi are more mysterious because there's no telling where the technology ends and the magic begins. That means that the players are in the dark about their enemies out-of-character, just as much as their characters are.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Morrowind Monsters: The Kwama
I'm beginning a series of monster conversions from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind – one of my all-time favourite CRPGs – to Labyrinth Lord. One of the game's strengths is it's strange selection of creatures, so I think they're well worth spreading around. I've taken some liberties: the stats are converted by "feel" and gameplay experience instead of a strict formula, and I've added some things that weren't in the game to flesh them out.
Images are from the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.
KWAMA
Kwama are a species that make colonies in cave networks. They hatch from eggs laid by their queen. These eggs are found in clutches throughout the colony, and are edible and nutritious to humanoids, with a very strong flavour and odd texture. Some subspecies of the kwama (foragers and warriors) are hostile and aggressive to any beings not of their colony, but a peculiar trait is that they identify this purely by scent. Humanoids who spend about a week in an outer part of the colony (near to the non-hostile kwama) take on the scent, and then the whole colony treats them as one of their own kind, allowing them to move around the colony safely.
There are very different subspecies of kwama:
Scrib
Scribs are small (up to two feet long) hard-shelled kwama larva, often found scuttling around within the colony or nearby on the surface. They are not hostile unless provoked.
No. Enc: 1d3 (1d10)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90' (30')
Armour Class: 5
Hit Dice: ½ (1d4 HP)
Attacks: 1 (bite)
Damage: 1d2 + paralysis
Save: F1
Morale: 6
Hoard Class: None
XP: 6
Special: Scribs have a poison bite that causes paralysis for 1d3 rounds unless a saving throw is made to resist. Only the first successful bite in any combat has poison.
Kwama Forager
These wormlike foragers hunt for the colony. They prefer small prey but are unintelligent enough to attack humanoids despite being much smaller (similar size to scribs).
No. Enc: 1d3 (1d8)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 7
Hit Dice: 1
Attacks: 1 (pouncing bite)
Damage: 1d4
Save: F1
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: None
XP: 10
Kwama Worker
Workers are passive four-legged drones that toil away within the colony (they are rarely seen outside). They are not aggressive, but can be dangerous if provoked.
No. Enc: 1d2 (1d10)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90' (30')
Armour Class: 6
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: 1 (bite)
Damage: 1d6
Save: F2
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: None
XP: 20
Kwama Warrior
Looking much like upright workers, these are never found outside the colony, and attack fearlessly as soon as they detect a foreign being. Their sole role is defence of the colony and the queen.
No. Enc: 0 (1d6)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 4
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 3 (bite, claw, claw)
Damage: 1d8, 1d6, 1d6
Save: F3
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: None
XP: 65
Special: Kwama warriors have a magical power to generate an electrical strike. This has 30' range and does 3d6 damage (save for half) to a single target. It is usable once per turn.
Kwama Queen
The largest of kwama, the queen has a large egg sac at the rear. Kwama queens are strong, but cannot move so they are dependent on the warriors for their protection.
No. Enc: 0 (1)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: None
Armour Class: 4
Hit Dice: 6
Attacks: 1 (bite)
Damage: 4d6
Save: F6
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XII
XP: Nil (the queen's immobility usually makes her no challenge, but if this isn't the case, her XP value is 320).
Special Notes: In Morrowind, the locals operate “egg mines”, in which workers lurk in the fringes of the colony to take their scent, then help the kwama out so that the queen's egg production increases. These eggs become a local staple, and some can be exported.
In other campaign settings, an enterprising person might have worked out how to “egg mine” a kwama colony, and the eggs could become a highly prized rare delicacy in the nearest big city. An adventure could be based on finding (or hiding) the secret of the eggs' origin. For a short adventure, perhaps a clever fugitive is hiding in a kwama lair, and adventurers who want to claim the price on his head have to also deal with the kwama who think he is one of the colony and fight in his defence.
Images are from the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.
KWAMA
Kwama are a species that make colonies in cave networks. They hatch from eggs laid by their queen. These eggs are found in clutches throughout the colony, and are edible and nutritious to humanoids, with a very strong flavour and odd texture. Some subspecies of the kwama (foragers and warriors) are hostile and aggressive to any beings not of their colony, but a peculiar trait is that they identify this purely by scent. Humanoids who spend about a week in an outer part of the colony (near to the non-hostile kwama) take on the scent, and then the whole colony treats them as one of their own kind, allowing them to move around the colony safely.
There are very different subspecies of kwama:
ScribScribs are small (up to two feet long) hard-shelled kwama larva, often found scuttling around within the colony or nearby on the surface. They are not hostile unless provoked.
No. Enc: 1d3 (1d10)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90' (30')
Armour Class: 5
Hit Dice: ½ (1d4 HP)
Attacks: 1 (bite)
Damage: 1d2 + paralysis
Save: F1
Morale: 6
Hoard Class: None
XP: 6
Special: Scribs have a poison bite that causes paralysis for 1d3 rounds unless a saving throw is made to resist. Only the first successful bite in any combat has poison.
Kwama ForagerThese wormlike foragers hunt for the colony. They prefer small prey but are unintelligent enough to attack humanoids despite being much smaller (similar size to scribs).
No. Enc: 1d3 (1d8)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 7
Hit Dice: 1
Attacks: 1 (pouncing bite)
Damage: 1d4
Save: F1
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: None
XP: 10
Kwama WorkerWorkers are passive four-legged drones that toil away within the colony (they are rarely seen outside). They are not aggressive, but can be dangerous if provoked.
No. Enc: 1d2 (1d10)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90' (30')
Armour Class: 6
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: 1 (bite)
Damage: 1d6
Save: F2
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: None
XP: 20
Kwama WarriorLooking much like upright workers, these are never found outside the colony, and attack fearlessly as soon as they detect a foreign being. Their sole role is defence of the colony and the queen.
No. Enc: 0 (1d6)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120' (40')
Armour Class: 4
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 3 (bite, claw, claw)
Damage: 1d8, 1d6, 1d6
Save: F3
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: None
XP: 65
Special: Kwama warriors have a magical power to generate an electrical strike. This has 30' range and does 3d6 damage (save for half) to a single target. It is usable once per turn.
Kwama QueenThe largest of kwama, the queen has a large egg sac at the rear. Kwama queens are strong, but cannot move so they are dependent on the warriors for their protection.
No. Enc: 0 (1)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: None
Armour Class: 4
Hit Dice: 6
Attacks: 1 (bite)
Damage: 4d6
Save: F6
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XII
XP: Nil (the queen's immobility usually makes her no challenge, but if this isn't the case, her XP value is 320).
Special Notes: In Morrowind, the locals operate “egg mines”, in which workers lurk in the fringes of the colony to take their scent, then help the kwama out so that the queen's egg production increases. These eggs become a local staple, and some can be exported.
In other campaign settings, an enterprising person might have worked out how to “egg mine” a kwama colony, and the eggs could become a highly prized rare delicacy in the nearest big city. An adventure could be based on finding (or hiding) the secret of the eggs' origin. For a short adventure, perhaps a clever fugitive is hiding in a kwama lair, and adventurers who want to claim the price on his head have to also deal with the kwama who think he is one of the colony and fight in his defence.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Sorry Gary...
I've only just discovered from reading a post by Frank Mentzer on the Dragonsfoot forums that I've been pronouncing Gary Gygax's name wrong all these years. I've always pronouned it like GUY-JACKS. Turns out it's actually GUY-GACKS (both G's are hard like in "Granite"). While I'm pleased to know at last, I'll now have to try to retrain myself to say it differently after a quarter of a century's habit of saying it wrongly.
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