Tuesday 30 June 2015

Dream Piper for Swords & Wizardry/USR/T&T


The Dream Piper was born of the roiling chaos deep within the Slumber Realm - a dimension created by the dreams of sleeping beings across the world. At the eve of a full moon, the Dream Piper materialises in the physical realm, taking on the form of a dark and sinister fawn - with large pearl-white eyes, green skin and clopping cloven hooves. The creature carries a long, strange pipe, which it plays through the night. As it plays, little bubbles are formed, each containing a nightmare dreamt up by some poor soul one night. The nightmare bubbles drift into the minds of those the Dream Piper targets, giving them intense, mind-shattering nightmares, often leaving them in a state of catatonia.

Dream Piper (Swords & Wizardry White Box)
AC: 7 (12)
Hit Dice: 3+2
Attacks: Kick (1d6)
Special: Nightmare pipe
Move: 9

The Dream Piper can play its nightmare pipe, which has a range of 30ft. The target must make a saving throw, where a failure results in the target reducing their AC by 2 and being unable to act for the next round. This effect stops after the next round.

Dream Piper (Tunnels & Trolls)
MR: 34 (4d6+17)
Spite Effects: 2/Nightmare pipe: A target within 30ft must make a L1SR vs Int. If they fail, the target may not act next round.

Dream Piper (USR)
Action: d6
Wits: d8
Ego: d10
Hits: 10
Attacks: Kick +1
Specialisms: Play the nightmare pipe +2 (Ego)
Guidance: The nightmare pipe targets one person to receive intense ans realistic nightmares. If the Dream Piper rolls a 7 on Ego, the target may not act on their next round.





Sunday 21 June 2015

Arachnomancer pre-gen for USR



This post is the beginning of a series of pre-generated characters for USR. I'm not following any particular genre here - just whatever characters I think are cool and that you might get a kick out of. First up is the Arachnomancer - a magic-user whose powers are defined by, well, spiders!

Arachnomancers are derive their powers from the spider-god Spin'tarr, one of the many insect gods. Their magic is divined from the Great Web, Arkolosh, of which all spider beings are connected, and where Spin'tarr sits in the centre. Very few mortals are able to tap into the Arkolosh - many who do are trapped like flies on the web, soon to be devoured by Spin'tarr or his demi-gods.

Arachnomancers may cast spells such as spiderclimb, allowing them to scale surfaces, arachno-sense, allowing them to sense when danger is present, and summon spider. Most arachnomancers belong to the Cult of the Thread, who meet in secret on moonless nights to plot and scheme the downfall of mortals and the uprising of Spin'tarr. However, some arachnomancers choose a purer path - helping others with their powers, rather than using them for ill gain.

Arachnomancer
Action: d8
Wits: d10
Ego: d6
Hits: 8

Specialisms: Arachnomancy +2 (Wits), Stalk the Shadows +2 (Action), Sense danger +2 (Wits)

Equipment: Staff +1, Web robes, spider familiar.

Arachnomancy: As with most magic, smaller, less-powerful spells require easy to medium attribute tests. These include spiderclimb and create web. Arachnomancers can summon different types of spiders depending on the target number of attribute test. Lower numbers will allow the PC to summon smaller spiders with d6 Action, while higher numbers can summon huge spider-beasts with d10 Action. These summons don't stick around for long, and will depend on the difficulty of the target number. Some will stay for one combat while others may stay for a day.

Saturday 20 June 2015

Get your free copy of The Trollmanac for Free RPG Day



Happy Free RPG Day! To celebrate, I'm making my top-selling Tunnels & Trolls supplement The Trollmanac free until 00.00am GMT.

The Trollmanac is a collection of Tunnels & Trolls goodies any player or GM shouldn't be without. Originally posted on The Trollish Delver, there's a plethora of new character types, kindred, GM guides, magic items, monsters and even two solitaire adventures to sink your teeth into.

The Trollmanac has everything you need to take your Tunnels & Trolls game to the next level, including rules for:

  • New Types like Starwatcher, Wytchfinder and Wildfarer
  • Character build options like Assassin and Godsword
  • New Kindred such as Darkwitch Night Elf, Toath and Automaton
  • A menagerie of new creatures like the Icy Deathseeker and Shivering Crawler
  • Magic items like The Sword of Absolute Awesomeness
  • Guides for playing vampires, sea adventures and spicing up combat
  • Two Micro-solos

Grab your copy here: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/110305/The-Trollmanac


Wednesday 10 June 2015

Masquerade of the Sundered Sky: a USR micro game


I've been knocking this around as an idea for a while now, so I thought it would make a nice micro-game for USR. You'll need the free USR 2.0 rules to play.

Welcome to the Masquerade

In the year 1578 a storm erupted over the continent of Tuscarro, turning the skies a fiery red. The clouds tore asunder, emitting a great bright swirl of light that appeared to reach towards the earth. That is when people began to change. Some inhabitants of Tuscarro began to alter their physique, becoming monstrous beings with a taste for blood and flesh. Each mutation was different - from squat, jibbering goblin-like beasts to giant, fat foul creatures who feasted on human bones.

War came to Tuscarro - a war between man and devil, or Monstrum, as they were called. But the Monstrum had the unholy ability to turn humans into one of them but spitting gobs of bile in their victims' faces. The generals realised that they had to equip their warriors with masks to prevent this from happening - specifically masks layered with a substance called 'selum' on the inside. The selum killed any bile should it leak into the mask.

But selum didn't come cheap, so this ingredient was reserved for only the most elite of the King's Guard - the Twilight Order. The Twilight Order, also known as Maskers to the lay-people, were tasked with going and slaying the Monstrum. Each Masker has a different ability, some are elite swordspeople while others specialist in poisons or assassinations. Together they are the kingdom's last hope against the growing forces of the Monstrum.


Types of Maskers

Below are archetype packages that you can use to create your Masker. They contain specialisms that are suited to that Masker type, but feel free to create your own.

Sword Masker
The toughest members of the Twilight Order are the Sword Maskers - soldiers who have honed their abilities with a one or two-handed blade. Sword Maskers are on the front line of a fight, using a unique martial art known as the Ballet of Blades, their deadly but graceful technique soon has their enemies in pieces.

Specialisms: Ballet of Blades (Action), Grim Veteran (Ego), Tactician (Wits)

Shadow Masker
Silent and stealthy, the Shadow Masker is the master of moving unnoticed and striking when least expected. They wear all black, including a black mask, and a hood to help conceal them.

Specialisms: Stealthy (Action), Acrobatics (Action), Bluff (Wits)

Arrow Masker
Adept at ranged combat, no matter the weapon, Arrow Maskers sit at the rear of a battle firing off deadly shots with supreme accuracy.

Specialisms: Dead Shot (Action), Perceptive (Wits), Tracker (Wits)

Poison Masker
Apothecaries by trade, Poison Maskers are proficient in the science of concocting potent poisons as well as healing remedies.

Specialisms: Create Poison (Wits), Healing Hands (Action), Medical Knowledge (Wits)

Brute Masker
Sacrificing stance and form for pure strength, Brute Maskers are generally large, muscular and can pack a punch.

Specialisms: Hideous Strength (Action), Intimidating (Ego), Built Like a Rock (Action)

Monstrum

The following are some examples of types of Monstrum that exist in the game.

Chitter
Action d6
Wits d6
Ego d6
Hits 7
Specialisms: None
Attacks: Bite +1
Description: Chitters are squat, hunched-back goblin-like creatures with tiny yellow eyes and penchant for flesh.

Gloam
Action d6
Wits d6
Ego d8
Hits 10
Specialisms: Incredible Stink +2 (Ego)
Attacks: Club + 2
Description: Gloam are fat, smells fleshbags with wide, open mouths and yellowing teeth. They are slow, but their noxious scent has been known to send warriors reeling.

Shrade
Action d8
Wits d8
Ego d6
Specialisms: Stealthy +2 (Action)
Attacks: Sneak attack +2
Description: Shrades are shadowy humanoids

Thursday 4 June 2015

Vehicle rules for Somnium Void

Image: Mbow on DeviantArt

Somnium Void, the space opera ruleset for USR, is all coming together, so I wanted to share with you vehicle rules straight from the book.

Vehicles play a vital role in galactic life, enabling people to get from A to B, whether on land, sea or space. Ships are the most expensive vehicles and it’s likely that the group will be unable to afford one until they have a few adventures and creds under their collective belts. However, the GM may want to rule that the group begins with a low-class ship to give them more freedom to go where they want in the cosmos.

How to use vehicles

There are specific rules on how to use vehicles in your game. They each have their own stats which will allow for fantastic vehicle combat and thrilling chase scenes to be incorporated into your game.

Type: (Light, Medium or Heavy). The vehicle type determines the kinds of modifications that can be made to it.
Maneuver: This stat shows the number you have to roll on or above if you want to undergo a tricky maneuver. This could mean flying a zoom bike down a narrow alley, doing a loop-de-loop in an attack ship or gaining on an enemy skimmer. See vehicle stunts.
Hits: Just like characters, vehicles have hits. When their hits reach 0, the vehicle is destroyed, leading to all kinds of complications.
Armour: Like characters, attacks against a vehicle can be reduced by their armour score.
Weapons: Many vehicles have integrated weapons which are used in combat.
Cr: The credit cost for that vehicle.

Vehicle Combat

Whether on land or in space, players are likely to get into a fight while piloting a vehicle. The process is similar to regular combat. Vehicles may take two actions: move and attack.

1. Determine which vehicle goes first. Everybody in combat rolls their action die plus any relevant specialism such as pilot. The highest result goes first. Re-roll in the case of a tie.
The winner of the initiative can move and attack.
2. To attack, roll your action die and add any bonuses from vehicle weapons (choose only one weapon to attack with per combat round unless otherwise stated) and relevant specialisms such as pilot. The defending vehicle rolls their action die. If the attack total is greater than the defence total, the difference is deducted from the defender’s hits. Remember that armour can help reduce hits done to a vehicle.
3. Play passes to the person with the second highest initiative.
4. When a vehicle reaches 0 hits, the vehicle is destroyed and the player is killed.

Vehicle Stunts

There are times when you aren’t in combat but you might have to dodge quickly out of the way of a piece of space shrapnel, or deftly fly a zoom bike through a crowded market. These stressful situations are called stunts and call for the player to make a maneuver roll. Whenever the GM decides that an action is a stunt, the player rolls their action die plus any relevant specialism, such as stunts. If the result is equal to or higher than the vehicle’s maneuver number, the player has successfully done the stunt. If the player fails, the GM will decide what the negative consequence is. This is likely going to be harm done to the player in some way.

Example Vehicles

Skimmer

The skimmer is the most popular terrestrial vehicle in the galaxy, being relatively cheap and easy to manufacture. This transport can hold up to four people (one pilot and three passengers) along with room for a equipment in the rear hatch, which can hold up to 200lbs worth of items. As its name suggests, the skimmer hovers just above the surface of the planet, meaning they can reach high speeds, but can also be tough to handle. Skimmers do not come with weapons as standard, but can easily be rigged with two blasters.

Type: Light
Maneuver: 4
Hits: 20
Armour: 2
Weapons: None

500cr

Attack Ship

The lightest fighter ship model - the attack ship is a single-pilot vehicle used by navies across the galaxy, often in high numbers. Attack ships are nimble and quick, designed for shock and awe missions and aerial dogfights. Racial varieties include: Shriekers (Sketh), Ravagers (Wulfen), Mambas (Drakken), Squids (Cthoni), Phantoms (Shade) and Wasps (Human).

Type: Light
Maneuver: 5
Hits: 25
Armour: 1
Weapons: Linked blasters +2
5,000 cr