Author Archives: the venomous pao

BRP Bestiary: Flail Snail!

Wherein your humble scribe presents a classic weird-ass AD&D monster written up for Basic RolePlaying. He’d change the name to avoid litigation, but really, you just can’t come up with a better name than Flail Snail. Club Slug might have worked but for the shell.

Flail Snails are large, slimy mollusks with multiple flail-like tentacles rising from their heads. Their shells are brightly-colored and unnaturally magic resistant. In addition to this magic resistance, flail snails are completely immune to poison and only suffer 1/4 damage from any fire-based attack. Flail Snails are very sensitive to bright lights and will not be found outside during daylight hours. Further, they will retreat from any light source brighter than a torch or lantern.

A dying flail snail may emit a piteous wail that has a 50% chance of drawing the attention of another monster in the area. Then again, it might not.

Flail Snail, Absurdity Mollusk-onified

STR 4d6+12 (26)
CON 4d6+6 (20)
SIZ 4d6+11 (25)
INT 2
POW 3d6+6 (16-17)
DEX 1d6 (3-4)
MOV crawl-4

Average HP: 23
Average Damage Bonus: +2d6
Morale: 50%

Armor: 2d12-2

Attacks: Flail 25%, damage 1d4 + db
A Flail Snail has 1 flail per 5 HP and can attack with each one once per round. These attacks can be directed independently. Each 5 HP of damage sustained by a Flail Snail reduces the number of flail attacks it has available by 1.

Skills: Dodge 5%, Climb 35%, Sense 75%, Spot 20%, Track 30%

Powers:

Magic Resistance – Any person casting a spell at a flail snail must succeed at a Power Point:Power Point resistance roll or the spell will fail. On a fumbled Resistance roll the spell is redirected back at the caster.

A Brief, Slightly Spammy Appeal

Hey folks. If any of you aren’t already using Dropbox to store files online and are looking for a better solution to sharing stuff than any of the really annoying pop-up heavy Media Fire type sites, please consider signing up for Dropbox using my buddy link. If you do, we both get an extra 250 MB of storage space, which is a nice thing. You get 2GB for free, and can opt to buy more should you need it. But for general purpose usage, the 2GB plan seems quite solid.

I’ve been very pleased with Dropbox and find it a good place to back stuff up (like the PDFs some of you other blogheads so generously share with the world). And you can easily share or not share stuff you store there on a case-by-case basis. And, as I referenced above, if you are sharing something from there your sharees don’t have to deal with the annoyances that come with places like Media Fire. I’m not really using it for sharing since I can host stuff freely here at strangestones.com, but one never knows when one might need such a thing.

You can also easily access stuff you store at Dropbox from an iphone or ipad (and maybe other smartphones, I’m not sure), which makes it a nice way to get to PDFs of rulebooks and stuff, too.

Ok, begging and spieling over. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled geek blogging 🙂

Local Trouble Yields Adventure Opportunities

Wherein your humble scribe, drawing on the “All The Dice” random generator concept (tip of the hat to Grim), presents a random table for your nerdly needs. This table is built for Labyrinth Lord + Advanced Edition Companion. You should be able to tweak it to your needs for just about any other old school fantasy RPG, though.

It’s a brand new year, which might just mean you’re looking to kick off a new campaign. If not, you might still need a starting point for a new adventure or two. In any case, this handy table can help you put together the bones of a mission for your rag-tag band of murderous hoboes no matter what kind of community they’ve stumbled into. So grab those dice, give ’em all a good roll, and see what the locals need done (and what they’re willing to hand over to the first group of fools who actually do it).

Who is having the trouble? 1d4
1 Townsfolk or Farmers
2 Clergy or Scholars
3 Merchants or Miners
4 Royalty or Leaders

Strength of threat (may represent number as well), 1d6
1 Significantly weaker than characters
2 Slightly weaker than characters
3 Approximately same as characters
4 Approximately same as characters
5 Slightly stronger than characters
6 Significantly stronger than characters

Location of threat, 1d8
1 Immediate vicinity (in town, just outside the monastery, etc.)
2 Nearby (1/2 day journey or less)
3 Close (2 day journey or less)
4 Not Far (4 day journey or less)
5 Far (1-2 week journey)
6 Distant (multiple month journey)
7 Hard-to-reach (under water, in the sky)
8 Very hard-to-reach (on another plane/world/etc.)

Nature of Trouble, 1d10
1 Have stolen a thing of great value
2 Have stolen a magical thing
3 Are disrupting trade/travel
4 Are disrupting normal activity
5 Have kidnapped a person of some importance
6 Have kidnapped a person of little influence
7 Are demanding tribute or they will… (roll again using 1d6)
8 Are constantly raiding
9 Are the source of a plague/disease
10 Are drawing the attention of a second source of trouble with their presence (roll a second d20)

Reward for Ending the Trouble, 1d12
1 A small sum of coins
2 A cherished non-magical heirloom
3 A small favor owed
4 Useful knowledge (a map, a legend, etc.)
5 A reasonable sum of coins
6 A low-powered magic item
7 A reasonable favor owed
8 A work of great art or craftsmanship
9 An extravagant sum of coins
10 A powerful magic item
11 A large favor owed
12 Roll twice using 1d8 each time, add results

Type of Threat, 1d20
1 Lycanthropes (wererats, weretigers, etc.)
2 Humanoid monsters (goblins, gnolls, etc.)
3 Humans or Demihumans (thieves, highwaymen, etc.)
4 Undead (skeletons, wights, etc.)
5 Humanoid monsters (orcs, ogres, etc.)
6 Non-humanoid monsters (owlbears, giant ants, etc.)
7 Humans or Demihumans (spellcasters, shamen, etc.)
8 Demons or Devils
9 Lycanthropes (wererats, weretigers, etc.)
10 Undead (zombies, vampires, etc.)
11 Non-humanoid monsters (bulette, naga, etc.)
12 Dragons
13 Undead (specters, wraiths, etc.)
14 Humans or Demihumans (spellcasters, shamen, etc.)
15 Humanoid monsters (orcs, ogres, etc.)
16 Roll again twice using 1d6 each time, add results
17 Roll again three times using 1d6 each time, add results
18 Roll again twice using 1d8 each time, add results
19 Roll again three times using 1d8 each time, add results
20 Roll again twice using 1d12 each time, add results

Some Sample Adventure Opportunities

  • While waiting around Luem for everyone to heal up from their last foray into the Caverns of Ice, a member of the local Scholars’ Guild approaches the party. It seems that a bloodthirsty gang of devils made off with the Guild’s Candles of Wisdom and taken those magical treasures to an abandoned monastery they use as a base on this plane. It is a perilous, multiple month journey to reach the devil’s demesne, but if the heroes will undertake this quest they will be rewarded with a beautifully-crafted Carpet of Flying and a reasonable sum of coins.
  • Reaching the town of Tion’s Pass, the heroes discover that town has been overrun with miners who have been forced to flee their mines due to the constant raids of a small band of Troglodytes. If the party can defeat these foes and clear the mines the miners will owe them a large favor, perhaps providing them with the rare ore the need to forge a weapon of great power.
  • The townsfolk of Mittbridge have a problem. Actually, they have lots of problems. It seems that Black Edna and her gang of thieves have managed to annoy the normally peaceful wereboar clan that lives in the nearby woods. Worse still, they’ve also taken to robbing the graves at the old cemetery, and all those freshly unearthed bodies have drawn the attention of a band of ghouls. The citizens of this troubled little hamlet have pooled together a reasonable sum of coins to pay some fine group of adventurers to deal with Black Edna and her minions, smooth things over with the wereboars, and eliminate the danger of the ghouls.

The only thing I didn’t force into this table was a specific way of deciding whether or not things were as they seemed and/or on the up-and-up. I figure that’s best left to the individual GM. But, if you really want to randomly determine that kind of thing, I’d say roll a d4 and on a 4 then there’s some kind of trickery involved in the set up. Adjust for the honesty level of your world as needed 🙂

2010 Year In Review

Ladies and Gentlemen, 2010 has left the building. On momentous occasions such as these we humans really get off on looking back and taking stock of the year that we endured. We also like to look forward, predicting the year that we will endure. So in that fine tradition, here’s the Strange Stones 2010 Year In Review.

Where Have You Been, My Blue-Eyed Son?

What have I done with the time I’ve sunk into Strange Stones? Well, as far as putting out content goes:

I also got to play host to the design diaries for Barbarians of Heavy Metal (thanks, Nathaniel!) and turned some folks on to The Sword. I got to see (and film) Michael Moorcock doing a reading and share some of that with my readers. I made some friends (cheers, Gobbo and G-Man and Mike and Geordie and anyone else I’ve left out!) and generally had a good time. All in all, not bad for 10 months of doing in public what I normally do in private, I think.

After starting out as a hosted WordPress.com blog I moved to my own self-hosted WordPress install at StrangeStones.com. In case you never quite understood why I did that, let’s just say that I’m a Texan and we tend to prefer not having people tell us what colors we can and can’t paint our houses.

I flirted with a couple of other mediums, primarily Tumblr and Twitter. Neither of these went very far in expanding my audience, nor did they seem to provide any additional benefit to the folks who are already getting whatever it is they get out of visiting Strange Stones. So while I won’t be closing up shop at these places, I expect I’ll continue my relatively minimal exertion of effort regarding them as well.

What’ll You Do Now, O Venomous One?

So where am I going now? Well, I intend to make a concerted effort to finish out the Demons of Adad Untash and Tlactoztlan. I can’t say they’ll be done right away, but those two things are definitely solid goals that I aim to accomplish sooner rather than later. And once they’re done content-wise, I plan to put both things together as PDFs for distribution. I’m probably not going to go whole hog on those with art and such, and consequently I probably won’t try to sell them through Lulu or anything. But I would like to have them as convenient downloads rather than just a series of scattered blog posts.

Along with those, I’m sure I’ll keep pumping out random monsters, NPCs, scenario tidbits, and such. I also suspect that I’ll find some new projects on the order of Adad Untash and Tlactoztlan to build out, but at present I don’t know what they’ll be. With Mesopotamian and MesoAmerican in the can I’ll have to find some other Meso- culture to explore 🙂

They Say That System Matters

And I generally don’t believe them when they do. I can run any damned game I desire using any old system I pick up off the shelf and it will be fun. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about (Strange Stones isn’t really an RPG theory site, in case you hadn’t noticed). Nope, this section is here to highlight the systems that I think I’ve fully settled into for both playing and writing. And while I’m always open to a new system or two, these are the key systems you can expect to see me talk about and/or monkey with for the foreseeable future:

  • Labyrinth Lord/Advanced Edition Companion
    It’s just so easy to write for, and it represents the World’s Most Popular RPG quite well (especially if you consider its compatibility with other retroclones and their source material).

  • Basic RolePlaying
    This is the game I run most because, as I’ve noted elsewhere, it’s the one my players prefer. And that’s cool, because I truly dig it, too. Viva BRP!

  • Barbarians of Lemuria (and its derivatives)
    Good god, I just love the simplicity of the BoL system. It’s a snap to write for and, as I mentioned a while back, it’s easy for me to “think in BoL” and “act in BRP” with just a little conversion. Now if only I could get my players more interested in it.

  • Mini Six
    It’s so light and hackable I just want to tear it apart and put it back together, like Legos or Tinker Toys. And it’s different enough from the other games I dig that it makes a nice escape. Also, since I have exactly zero prior experience with the D6 system, I have no preconceived notions about what can and can’t be done with it.

  • (Classic) Traveller
    I don’t really play Traveller anymore, but it’s just such a great way to break out of writers’ block, with all its random charts and stuff. And it’s fun, too.

  • Mutant Future
    This is, at present, the game I’m taking part in most as a player. I’m not sure I’ll ever run it (situational, not taste-related), but it, like LL, is easy to write for.

That’s six systems, and that’s probably enough for any one person to be focused (for some value of focus) on. Any more than that and I think I risk drowning. That said, I’m not entirely well known for my ability to focus, so don’t expect that those are all you’ll ever see here. At the very least, I’m bound to whip up a couple of additional Where No Man Has Gone Before characters when the mood strikes. I might even do some more stuff for a BoL- or BRP-powered Mythic Russia.

It’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

Or, A Brief Divergence Into Some Thoughts On The Old School Renaissance And Me

It is my personal opinion that things have gotten pretty fractured (and in certain corners, at certain times, downright fractious) in the thing they call the OSR. And that means, for my own sake and to my own tastes, I have to make some tough choices on which games I want to spend my time and money on.

All of the “These rules! No wait, this publisher! No, that publisher with those rules and this other cover!” stuff with Swords & Wizardry has grown really tedious and put me off my feed. Or, more plainly, I no longer feel the warmth I used to feel for S&W. It’s just gotten too jumbled for me to continue focusing on it. Plus, to be honest, my players are not keen on the ultra barebones nature of S&W and I’m not of a mindset to flesh it out for them. If I wanted to take a skeleton and build it up into my dream system I’d start with something that wasn’t class-based D&D at its core (hello, BRP and Mini Six). Still, I hope the S&W players out there can make use of the stuff I’ve already done for it as well as the easily convertible LL content I have and will produce. I wish everyone involved with S&W well and I’ll happily buy them a drink at NTRPG Con if I make it up to Dallas this year. I’m not condemning the game. I’m just saying it’s not the game for me.

The addition of Dark Dungeons to the fray only exacerbates things in my mind. I’ve looked DD over, and it’s just not my cup of tea. It emulates an iteration of Dungeons & Dragons that I never played and have precious little interest in. Sure, that version is quite close to the versions I’m fond of, but it’s definitely a road I’m not looking to travel. But if it brings joy to people, good for it and good for them. Just don’t expect to see me say much more about it than I just did.

I freely admit that ORSIC calls to me (and always will) since I love the arcane nature of 1st Edition AD&D. It was my first “real” game – by which I mean it was the first game I played with people who knew what they were doing, as opposed to Moldvay Basic, which was me fumbling around like a virgin monkey. But in spite of (or because of) those awkward moments with B/X, I’m still fond of that flavor of D&D and Labyrinth Lord, combined with the Advanced Edition Companion, lets me scratch both Basic and Advanced itches quite nicely. So OSRIC sits there as a shiny, complex thing I like to see on my shelf but am not so inclined to take down and play with lest I get a nasty pinch from all those gears.

All of those things are what have lead me to my decision to work primarily with Labyrinth Lord/Advanced Edition Companion when I do things that can be considered OSR stuff. I learned to play with Moldvay Basic and then cut my teeth on AD&D. LL/AEC lets me have the best of both of those worlds easily (and in nice packages, too).

But Really, How Classless Can I Be?

Nicely mirroring my early days in the hobby, I find myself growing weary of class-based systems. When the retroclones first appeared I was excited by the thought of returning to the simpler, archetype-based models of gaming that the main pillars of the OSR/clone movement seek to emulate. But after a while I began to itch to revert to skill-based games that don’t rely on the class construct to enforce niche protection (or any of the other fancy design speak that comes with classes). I mean, the game I really grew up on was The Fantasy Trip, after all. So when I play or run games, I almost invariably lean towards the non-class games on that list up there. It doesn’t hurt that my group remains strongly anti-class-based in their tastes as well.

That said, in the BRP Fantasy game I’m in the midst of using to introduce some new folks to our geeky little hobby I am drawing heavily from the outstandingly well done BRP Classic Fantasy to give something of a D&D feel to the game to help the new folks find those niches and work within them. Of course, what I actually did was use CF to make a BRP-powered TFT-style game with D&D spells that uses a magic points system instead of a Vancian approach to magic. In other words, I hacked together bits from some of my favorite games over the course of the years into a system I wanted to run and that I felt (and have since proven) was easy for this particular group of new players to learn and get into. Fingers crossed that this particular game thrives.

But What About That Arabian Nights Thing?

The regular readers out there are aware that I’ve been running a BRP-powered Arabian Nights-themed game. We’re not quite done with the story arc (yes, this thing has a story arc and isn’t a sandbox – how painfully new school of me), but when we do wrap things up I’m likely to call this one done. It’s been a lot of fun, and we’ve gotten some memorable events and characters and NPCs out of the run. But ultimately it’s just a one-shot that went long due to us old dudes not having enough time to bang out 8 hour sessions anymore. So eventually something else will rise to take its place. But there’s no telling what that will be.

In Conclusion

Geek blogging over most of the past year has been a fun and enjoyable hobby. It is one I expect I will continue to pursue, but not to the exclusion the other ways I like to pass my time. I’m not here to win any prolific or profound blogger awards. I’ll leave that stuff up to the other guys out there. Heaven knows there’s some good reading to be had on the internet, and I’m grateful for the quality stuff folks are putting out there for free. I’m just here doing my thing as I feel the need.

Once again, I’d like to thank the folks who read this blog. Odds are I’d be writing at least some of this stuff anyway, but being able to share it with friends and strangers sure makes it more compelling to me to keep doing. I’ll be back in a day or two or three with something new for you to take and use as you see fit. Also, I’m sure I’ll see some of you kids out there on the various geek forums. That’s a habit I wish I could kick, but I just don’t seem to be able to no matter how hard I try.

Happy New Year, everyone. Here’s to hoping you all have a wonderful 2011!

Happy New Year!

This post is set to go off at midnight Central Standard Time, so forgive me if I’m early or late with my wishes to you and yours. I’m most definitely not at the wheel right now (in any sense of the phrase) – I’m out playing board games and eating enchiladas with my beloved wife and some very good friends. I’ll probably be hung over in the morning and won’t post anything, but you never can tell with me.

So happy new year one and all. To celebrate, I’ll share a touch of my dabbling with the world famous Stylophone…

[display_podcast]

Here’s to a great 2011!

BRP Bestiary: Giant Poison Salamander

Wherein your humble scribe presents a monster writeup he’s using in a D&D-style Basic RolePlaying game, enabled in no small part by the delightful majesty that is BRP Classic Fantasy.

Giant poison salamanders grown to nearly 7 feet long. They are typically night-black with bright red or yellow markings on their rubbery, damp skins. These incredibly agile beasts are dangerous hunters whose bite delivers a deadly poison. Wugs often train and keep these creatures as guard animals in much the same way that goblins employ wolves.

Giant Poison Salamander, Crawling Hunters Of The Swamp

STR 2d6+6 (13)
CON 3d6 (11-12)
SIZ 2d6+6 (13)
INT 3d6+3 (14-15)
POW 2d6+6 (13)
DEX 2d6+6 (13)
APP 2d6+3 (10)
MOV run-8

Average HP: 11
Average Damage Bonus: +1d4
Morale: 85%

Armor: 1d4-1

Attacks: Bite 40%, damage 1d6 + poison (POT = SIZ)
Claw 30%, damage 1d3 (+db)

Skills: Dodge 75%, Hide 65%, Jump 35%, Listen 65%, Sense 80%, Spot 45%, Stealth 75%, Swim 25%

New Mutant Future Photos

My hardback copy of the revised edition of Mutant Future arrived today, and I gotta tell ya, it looks sharp! But why use words when pictures work better?

I love the new art and the cover, which I was lukewarm on on-screen, really pops in person. If you’re at all inclined to pick up the new hardcover I think you’ll be pleased if you do.

5 Room Dungeon: Cave Of The Kobold Seer

Wherein your humble scribe presents a Five Room Dungeon for use with Mini Six, with some creation help from the random tables in D6 Fantasy Locations. This is, of course, largely compatible with D6 Fantasy as well.

Goblins have always been a problem for caravans between Woodville and Stonekeep, but lately they have been plaguing the trade routes with greater accuracy than ever before. The party has been hired to determine how the Goblins are managing these highly successful robberies.

Some careful tracking from the site of the last attack has lead the heroes (following the trail of what appears to be two Goblins who split off from the rest of the raiding party) to a hidden cave deep within the Jorngast Forest.

Room One: Entrance and Guardian(s)

Well-hidden beneath carefully placed brush is a cave entrance that the Goblins’ tracks appear to enter. A simple crossbow trap has been placed here, aimed to shoot anyone taller than a Goblin who disturbs the brushy cave covering. A Search roll (TN 15) will spot it. A Dodge roll (TN 18) is necessary to avoid the bolt. If not dodged, the bolt does 4D+1 damage.

A short passageway leads to a cramped cavern where a half-dozen hungry, ill-trained Kobold Warriors loiter. They will happily attack any intruders who look like they might have (or be) food. The Kobolds will attempt to flee – heading for the outside – once they have lost 1/2 their number.

Kobold Warrior (Scale 0)
Might 1D+1 Agility 2D+2 Wit 1D+2 Charm 1D+1
Skills: Javelin 2D+1, Dodge 3D+2, Stealth 3D+2, Traps 2D+2
Gear: Javelins (+1D), Leather Armor (+2)
Static: Dodge 11, Block 3, Parry 7, Soak 3 (5)

Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge

Three Kobold Lieutenants sit about this mid-sized cavern, gambling with knucklebones by candlelight. If the players can beat the Kobolds at their game (skill resolution required: Gambling, Wit-based) and convince them that they are here “on business” (roleplaying resolution required, fairly easy since the Kobolds are lazy and would rather let the trap in the next room do the hard work), the guards will let them pass without a fight. These Kobolds will also lay in ambush for anyone coming back into this room from the rope bridge cavern ahead.

Bik, Haarlit, and Fythang, Kobold Lieutenants (Scale 0)
Might 1D+2 Agility 3D Wit 1D+2 Charm 1D+1
Skills: Javelin 2D+2, Dodge 4D, Stealth 4D, Gambling 2D+2
Gear: Javelins (+1D), Leather Armor (+2), Shield (+4)
Static: Dodge 12, Block 5, Parry 8, Soak 3 (9)

Room Three: Trick or Setback

A deep chasm cuts across this cavern, a fast moving and rocky stream lies some 40 feet below. A ratty-looking rope bridge spans the gap. The chasm is almost too wide to jump, but a very skilled (or lucky) person might make it across (TN 20, using Athletics).

The bridge itself is trapped. Its ropes have been carefully frayed to cause them to snap if traversed by anyone heavier than a Goblin. A Search check (TN 15) will notice the trap. A person falling with the bridge can make an Athletics roll (TN 18) to avoid suffering damage (4D) from the fall and may then climb up the other side.

Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict

The Kobold Seer and two emissaries from the Goblin King sit at a battered and wax-covered old table. The seer speaks to the Goblins in a gravelly and grandiose voice, telling them of visions and prophesies. These conspirators are not pleased to be interrupted by pinkies and will immediately move to attack. The Goblins will fight to the death in an effort to preserve their king’s lucrative raiding scheme. The Kobold has no such desire to die and will, if the fight begins to go against him, attempt to cast Invisibility and flee.

Vumra, Kobold Seer (Scale 0)
Might 1D+1 Agility 2D+2 Wit 3D Charm 3D
Skills: Dagger 2D+1, Dodge 3D+1, Magic 6D, Command 4D
Perks: Sorcerer
Gear: Dagger (+1D+1) -> magic, +1D to hit, +2 pip damage
Spells: Control Weather, Curse, Divination, Hasten, Heal, Invisibility, Paralysis
Static: Dodge 10, Block 4, Parry 7, Soak 4

Niish & Padlum, Goblin Emissaries (Scale 0)
Might 2D Agility 3D Wit 2D Charm 1D+1
Skills: Sword 4D, Dodge 4D, Stealth 3D+2
Gear: Short Sword (+2D), Leather Armor (+2), Shield (+4)
Static: Dodge 12, Block 6, Parry 12, Soak 6 (12)

Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Or Plot Twist

The Seer’s chamber, contains a small trove of gold coins (454), a rough seeing crystal (+1D+2 to Clairvoyance & Divination attempts), and his star charts and diary of prophesies, including information on where and when the Goblins have been told will be good times to attack the trade routes for the next six months. Surely the Merchants’ Guild in Stonekeep will pay a handsome reward for this information!

Strange Storms In The Mages’ Desert

Wherein your humble scribe, drawing on the “All The Dice” random generator concept (tip of the hat to Grim), presents a random table for your nerdly needs. This table is built for Labyrinth Lord + Advanced Edition Companion. You should be able to tweak it to your needs for just about any other old school fantasy RPG, though.

The Mages’ Desert is an area far to the west of most civilized lands, burned barren by a great magical duel that happened in aeons past. The sheer power of the arcane residue that haunts this place brings very strange storms to the region. The tables below will help construct just such a storm to bedevil your players if they should happen to be passing through. Sometimes these storms are strong enough that they even make their way to settled areas.

Time Of Day Storm Begins, 1d4

  1. Morning (6am-12pm)
  2. Afternoon (1pm-5pm)
  3. Evening (6pm-12am)
  4. Night (1am-5am)

Atmospheric Effects Of Storm, 1d6

  1. Heavy Lighting, No Thunder
  2. Heavy Thunder, No Lightning
  3. Disturbing Calm
  4. Heavy Winds
  5. The Roar of Wind without actual Wind
  6. Sudden temperature change (1-3 hotter, 4-6 colder)

Direction From Which The Storm Approaches, 1d8

  1. North
  2. Northeast
  3. East
  4. Southeast
  5. South
  6. Southwest
  7. West
  8. Northwest

Mood Engendered By The Storm, 1d10

  1. Gloom
  2. Melancholy
  3. Lust
  4. Contentment
  5. Mirth
  6. Unease
  7. Paranoia
  8. Rage
  9. Jealousy
  10. Roll again twice, add results

Color Of The Sky/Clouds During Storm, 1d12

  1. Crimson
  2. Ochre
  3. Pale Yellow
  4. Umber
  5. Pea Green
  6. Forest Green
  7. Cerulean
  8. Midnight Blue
  9. Royal Purple
  10. Bruised Purple
  11. Alabaster White
  12. Night Black

Odd Rains, 1d20

  1. Daggers (1d4 damage per turn exposed)
  2. Gold Coins (melt after 1d20 minutes)
  3. Silver Coins (melt after 1d20 hours)
  4. Copper Coins (melt after 1d20 days)
  5. Frogs
  6. Fish
  7. Skulls (1d6 damage per turn exposed)
  8. Eyeballs
  9. Blood
  10. Feathers
  11. Scraps of paper (books)
  12. Scraps of paper (magic scrolls)
  13. Scraps of paper (treasure maps)
  14. Gravel (1d4 damage per turn exposed)
  15. Ale
  16. Wine
  17. Miniature fully-formed snowmen
  18. Fruit
  19. Fire (1d4 per turn exposed, may cause more fires)
  20. Jewelry (rings, necklaces, etc. 1-2 real, 3-6 costume)

Merry Christmas From The Family

Merry Christmas, everybody! To my friends and readers who aren’t in Texas, let me let Robert Earl Keen show you how it’s done ’round these parts:

Actually, it’s not really like that in my family (well, maybe a little), but there’s still something that just feels right about this song. So I thought I’d share it with the marvelous folks who waste precious time reading this blog.

Merry Christmas one and all, and happy winter solstice celebration of a long a varied history to anyone who isn’t of the Christmas-celebrating persuasion. As another beloved Texas icon, the great Kinky Friedman, puts it, “May the God of your choice bless you.”