Author Archives: the venomous pao

The Duke’s Grand Masquerade

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

The party has been invited to attend the Duke’s Grand Masquerade in honor of the New Year. A number of other NPC adventurers are present as well, but just who is behind those masks? Roll up a few encounters ahead of time (or fly by the seat of your pants), stir in some intrigue (a devil in disguise? a challenger to the throne?) – et voilà! – instant role-play heavy adventure. And if you need some less-random characters, there’s always the Strange Stones Rogues Gallery.

Character Class, 1d4 (roll again for subclass, if desired)

Fighter (1-2 Fighter, 3 Ranger, 4 Paladin)
Cleric (1-2 Cleric, 3 Druid, 4 Monk)
Magic-User (1-3 Magic-User, 4 Illusionist)
Thief (1-2 Thief, 3-4 Assassin)

Character Level, 1d6

Average Party Level −1
Average Party Level
Average Party Level
Average Party Level +1
Average Party Level +2
Average Party Level +3

Character Race, 1d8

Human
Dwarf
Elf
Gnome
Halfling
Half-Elf
Half-Orc
Human

Alignment, 1d10

Lawful Good
Lawful Neutral
Lawful Evil
Neutral Good
True Neutral
Neutral Evil
Chaotic Good
Chaotic Neutral
Chaotic Evil
Roll Again

Ulterior Motive?, 1d12

None, just having fun
Here to steal something from another guest
Here to steal something from the Duke or one of his entourage
Here to kidnap a wealthy target
None, dragged along by family/friend (bored!)
Here to assassinate another guest
Here to assassinate the Duke of one of his entourage
Here to curry favor with the Duke
None, just having fun
Here to deliver a secret message to another guest
Here to deliver a secret message to the Duke of one of his entourage
Here to win the heart of a lady/gentleman

Mask, 1d20

Cat (Black or White)
Cassanova
Bird (Lark/Raven/etc.)
Jester
Three-faced
Long-nosed, ornate (Gran Naso)
Long-nosed, pain (Peste, Plague Mask)
Venetian, feathered
Venetian, jewelled
Venetian, plain
Butterfly
Wolf
Tragedia
Comedia
Peacock
Leopard
Bat
Horned Devil
Rat/Mouse
Crowned

Sunken London: Echo Bazaar Meets Mini Six

Wherein your humble scribe attempts to emulate Echo Bazaar, using Mini Six.

Introduction

Mini Six is a marvelous and imminently hackable little game. Echo Bazaar is a flavorful and engaging browser-based adventure RPG set in a strange subterranean Victorian London of sorts. Two great tastes that go great together? I think so!

This is really just a little thought exercise and not meant to be too detailed – heck, I’m not even going as far as the microsettings included in Mini Six go – so don’t expect too much. And since I’ve just read that some fairly big name indie RPG folks have acquired the license and will be producing a “real” tabletop RPG for the setting I don’t imagine there’ll be much demand for this. But still, it’s my first official foray into hacking Mini Six, so I figured I’d share.

Attributes

Mini Six uses four attributes: Might, Agility, Wit, and Charm. Oddly, Echo Bazaar also uses four attributes: Dangerous, Shadowy, Watchful, and Persuasive. I figure we’ll just map those over in the semi-obvious order and run with it. Oh, and starting at 12 dice for attributes seems reasonable, though one could easily argue for higher or lower numbers.

Skills

For the most part, skills in Mini Six should translate fairly well to the attribute mapping we just made, with one notable exception: combat. In Echo Bazaar all combat is tied to one’s Dangerous attribute, so I’m sliding every combat skill – melee and ranged – under Dangerous for this hack. Yes, this means that Dangerous is a pretty powerful attribute. But if played right, combat should be far from the only activity in Sunken London.

So here’s the skill list I’ve come up with:

Dangerous
Brawling, Melee, Ranged, Dodge, Intimidate, Stamina

Shadowy
Stealth, Hide, Pick Pockets, Pick Locks, Tailing, Sleight of Hand, Streetwise

Watchful
Search, Tracking, Secrets, Sunken London History & Culture, Investigation, Research

Persuasive
Contacts, Diplomacy, Seduction, Rumors, Oratory, Gambling

Perks and Complications

Echo Bazaar is chock full of things that can be used as Perks and Complications, and since my goal is not to delve too deeply into the setting here, I’m not fleshing this section out. Suffice it to say, though, that a relationship with the Brass Embassy could easily be a Perk, a Complication, or both.

Money And Gear

Money and gear are hard to come by in the early stages of Echo Bazaar, so if you aim to emulate the game you should probably keep the players poor and poorly equipped at the outset. Make those blighters earn that rostygold and those moon-pearls.

Optional Rules

Obviously you don’t need to go this route if you like the default wound system in Mini Six (I hate wound systems, myself) or if you prefer the traditional OpenD6 combat. But me, I’m going with Fast Static Combat and Body Points (where Dangerous is the Attribute that contributes to Body Points).

Two Sample Characters

Because nothing works better to show a setting than sample characters…

Malachai Dunbar
A sly and dangerous gentleman
Dangerous 3D Shadowy 2D+2
Watchful 4D Persuasive 2D+1
Skills: Brawling 4D, Dodge 5D, Investigation 6D, Search 5D, Sunken London History & Culture 5D
Perks: none
Gear: none
Static: Dodge 15, Block 12, Parry 9
Body Points: 32
Armor: none

Edgerina Thrombly
A shadowy and persuasive lady
Dangerous 1D+2 Shadowy 3D+1
Watchful 3D Persuasive 4D
Skills: Dodge 2D+2, Stealth 4D+1, Tailing 4D+1, Sleight of Hand 4D+1, Secrets 4D, Seduction 5D, Gambling 5D
Perks:
Gear:
Static: Dodge 8, Block 5, Parry 5
Body Points: 26
Armor: none

Traveller: Sneaking Stinson Through The Stratosphere

Wherein, in honor of the currently free classic Traveller Starter Edition, your humble scribe presents a group of three characters for (classic) Traveller. All of these were rolled up by-the-book using said Starter Edition.

Mustered out on Budapest in the Claybourne Subsector, this group of miscreants is looking for work. One of them overheard a little rumor in the B-class starport bar that there’s a scientist in the capital city who is looking for a group to escort her (or him?) offworld so that he can conduct his research without further interference by the planet’s highly bureaucratic government. Of course, just finding this scientist (Stinson? Simson? What was that name, exactly?) will be hard enough. Getting him (or her?) through the red tape to get offworld might prove to be nearly impossible. Maybe they’ll just go back to drinking until an easier patron comes along…

Ernesto Meltzer
686A48 Age 22 1 Term (Service: Marines, Final Rank: NCO)
Cutlass-1
Cr5,000

Keisha Benton
8CB838 Age 38 5 Terms (Service: Merchants, Final Rank: 2nd Officer)
Steward-2, Steetwise-1, AutoPistol-1, Electronics-2, Jack of All Trades-2
AutoPistol
Cr80,000

Katie Craine
78B674 Age 30 3 Terms (Service: Army, Final Rank: Major)
Rifle-1, SMG-1, Blade-1, Forward Observer-1, Mechanical-2, Tactics-1
Low Psg
Cr30,000

Rodney Calastine
7C78A3 Age 26 2 Terms (Service: Navy, Final Rank: Lieutenant)
Medical-1, Engineering-1, Navigation-1, Pilot-2
Cr15,000

Free Traveller!

Cheers to Dyson Logos for pointing this out on his blog, but in case you don’t happen to read his stuff (and you really should be), the “Starter Edition” of classic Traveller is currently available for free!

It’s a little hinky to download because there are three files and the “Get It Free” button only gives you the first file. You can get the other two either by looking at your order history or by checking the receipt email RPGNow should send you after downloading the first file.

Pretty much everything you need to play classic Traveller is included in the three files, so if you don’t have the King of SciFi Games (or just don’t have it in a digital format), get to downloading, people!

Notes And Video From The Michael Moorcock Reading

Below are a couple of relatively short video clips from this afternoon’s reading by Michael Moorcock here in Austin (where he lives, in case you didn’t know).

Big thanks to Austin Books for making this experience possible for those who were able to take advantage of this intimate little reading, Q&A, and signing opportunity with one of the absolute greats of fantasy.

Things I Learned Today

I will actually enjoy Doctor Who: The Coming of the Terraphiles
Mike’s favorite Doctor was Tom Baker
Mike knew Tom Baker, and Baker was apparently prone to, shall we say, chemically induced improv while working on Dr. Who
The BBC has some quaint, vintage standards rules they apply to Doctor Who novels (alas, no miniature smoking lizard dudes allowed)
Mike is working on some fresh Jerry Cornelius stories

And I really can’t stress enough just how nice Mike and his lovely wife Linda are. If you ever get a chance to meet these folks, do not pass it up.

Mike’s Intro

Mike Actually Reading

New Mutants, Michael Moorcock

No, Mr. Moorcock hasn’t gone in for that particular crossover (thankfully). Instead I’m combing two posts into one.

First, as you’ve probably already read elsewhere, Mutant Future is getting a facelift in advance of its coming out party (i.e., going into actually gaming store distribution). Three cheers for Goblinoid Games on this one. Though, as my wife who deeply loves the game said of the new cover this morning, “Hey! Where are the spider goats?”

Second, Michael Moorcock, who may not be writing for Marvel but who has now written a Dr. Who novel, is doing a reading and signing at Austin Books this afternoon. You can bet yer boots I’ll be there to hear the man and shake his hand (again, he did a reading/signing there a while back in ’08 the first volume of the Elric reprint/compilations was released).

I’ll let y’all know how it went and maybe even share some pictures or something. Or, if you’re in Austin, go. Mike, as he insisted we call him last time, is a very funny and engaging person to chat with. Plus, it’s Michael Moorcock, people. I’m not insisting he’s god or anything, but damn. Michael Freaking Moorcock.

Experts On Sale

Experts by Skirmisher Publishing is on sale at RPG Now. Lots of other things by Skirmisher are on sale, too, but I point our Experts in particular because it was easily my favorite thing that came out for 3rd Edition D&D back in the day. I truly loved the concept of the NPC classes (Expert, Warrior, Shaman, etc.) in Third Edition and I always wanted to run a game using this supplement that would focus on a group of Experts as guildsmen on some kind of Chaucer-esque pilgrimage. It never happened, of course, but maybe I’ll make something like that happen someday. With a different system (*cough* BRP *cough*), though.

Anyway, I just thought I’d share. Because I can.

Oh, and for the record, I actually liked 3rd Edition D&D when it first came out, before it got bloated and absurd. Heck, it was part of what got me back into gaming on any consistent level after my late 90s GURPS burnout. Of course, as we all know, they went and ruined it by making it a never-ending stream of upgrades and splatbooks and such. But I always enjoyed the core game.

That said, I wouldn’t play it now if you paid me, unless everyone at the table agreed to using nothing but the core books and perhaps one well-chosen supplement. Like the aforementioned Experts. Even then, though, probably not. But Experts could still be a solid resource for another game.

BoL Bestiary: Quilitlconcuanacatl – Man-Eating Plants Of Tlactoztlan

Although they are largely immobile, Quilitlconcuanacatl pose a serious threat to jungle travelers. These carnivorous plants blend in almost perfectly with their surroundings and surprise all but the most alert eyes when they snap with their powerful jaws. Fortunately, Quilitlconcuanacatl require food only once every 6-12 days, and they will not attack if they are currently digesting a meal. The area immediately around a digesting Quilitlconcuanacatl is far more likely to be occupied by jaguars, crocodiles, and other predators as these awful plants emit a sickening aroma that attracts such creatures to the vicinity.

Quilitlconcuanacatl

When a character has been bitten by a Quilitlconcuanacatl, he or she must succeed at a Hard Agility-based task check or be swallowed whole by the massive plant. Creatures swallowed by a Quilitlconcuanacatl are immobilized and will suffer 1 LB damage each hour they remained trapped inside the creature, as they are being slowly digested. Only the complete destruction of a Quilitlconcuanacatl can save the “meal” from its fate. Once a Quilitlconcuanacatl has successfully swallowed a creature it will not attack or otherwise engage any other creatures in the vicinity. However, the aroma released by a digesting Quilitlconcuanacatl attracts other predators to the area, making it hard for “survivors” to focus on destroying the plant.

Attributes
Strength 5
Agility −1
Mind −3

Combat Abilities
Attack with Bite +3; 2d6
Defense: -1
Protection: d6 (tough, fibrous “skin”)
Lifeblood: 50

BRP WWII Notes: November Company

A while back I posted a couple of NPCs (here and here) I had put together in relation to a World War II scenario I intended to run over Thanksgiving using Basic Roleplaying, but other gaming got in the way (darn the luck!). Before I realized that was going to happen, though, I started work on some brief notes designed to help the players produce “new recruits” quickly, since we were likely to have 6 hours at most for gaming. Rather than toss these, or worse, risk losing them to my “special” filing system, I thought I’d post them here. They ain’t pretty and they ain’t detailed, but if you know BRP then they should make sense. Oh, and cheers to the mighty Charles Green for his work on Dragon Lines, where I more-or-less swiped the skill distribution concept from.

Given that the game was intended to be a one shot (or, at best, a once-a-year shot) I was purposefully limiting all of the players to making soldiers rather than letting a motley crew of spies, femme fatales, and archaeologists (or femme fatale archaeologist spies) take the stage. Still, I believe there’s enough room for customization below that the characters would all have been unique enough for the game. At least, I think they’d have been unique enough for a vintage WWII movie, which is the feel I was going for, after all.

But enough about me. Here’s the notes:

Attribute Determination: roll 2d6+6 seven times, place in desired order
Step Six is on
Professional Skills
- Put 25 points each (in addition to skill base) into each of the following:
  - Brawling
  - Dodge
  - Firearm: Rifle
  - First Aid
- Put 25 points each (in addition to skill base) into any six of the following:
  - Artillery: Howitzer, Mortar, etc.
  - Climb
  - Command
  - Drive: Jeep, etc.
  - Firearm: Machine Gun, Submachine Gun, Revolver
  - Grapple
  - Heavy Machine: Tank
  - Heavy Weapon: Tank Gun, Turret Machine Gun
  - Hide
  - Language: French, German, Italian, etc.
  - Listen
  - Jump
  - Medicine
  - Melee Weapon: Bayonet, etc.
  - Missile Weapon: Crossbow, Thrown Knives, etc.
  - Navigate
  - Repair: Mechanical
  - Ride: Horse, Camel
  - Spot
  - Status: Army (base 20)
  - Stealth
  - Technical: Radio Ops
  - Throw
Put INT value into 10 skills of your choice, either Professional Skills above or other era-appropriate skills (Perform: Jitterbug, anyone?)
Army Status skill indicates rank as follows:
- 01-29 Private
- 30-39 Corporal
- 40-49 Sergeant
- 50-59 Lieutenant
- 60-69 Captain
- 70-79 Major
- 80-89 Lt. Colonel
- 90-99 Colonel
- 100+ General

For the record, I am in no way, shape, or form a WWII buff. I built a few airplane models (P-51D Mustang, P-38 Lightning) and played with army men when I was a kid. I’ve watched a fair number of vintage WWII movies (and too much Rat Patrol), but not a lot of the modern ones. I’ve never played any of the WWII-based computer games. I have played Wings Of War WWII (and WWI, but that’s not important right now), but only a few times. In short, I am a complete and utter tourist in the genre. This means that I’m open to suggestions if anyone has any, but they must be delivered gently and with patience 🙂

I hadn’t gotten too far into thinking about the exact weaponry that was going to be involved, and I was likely to depend on what info I could track down at Wikipedia on the subject. I’d also considered picking up a few of the GURPS WWII books in PDF format, but once I realized we weren’t going to be playing this particular game, I decided to save my pennies for another day. Maybe next year when this particular group of old-timers gets together I’ll think about trotting this out again. And thanks to the blog, I’ll actually be able to find it!

Addendum: As the title of this post suggests, I was planning on referring to the game as November Company. It was a nice reference to the fact that we were going to be playing around Thanksgiving. I discovered a little later (thanks, Wikipedia) that “November” wasn’t used as the indicator for “N” in the phonetic alphabet until 1956, which is just a bit after the time period in question. If this ever does get run, I’ll likely stick with the anachronism though because, as I said, I’m a tourist. That and the fact that November Company sounds way cooler than Nan Company. Naan Company, on the other hand, sounds tasty.

BoL Bestiary: Hueyatocatl – Giant Spiders Of Tlactoztlan

With a tip of the hat to Jeff Mejia of Evil DM Productions for his work on the BoL version of Legends of Steel, I present the Giant Spider (Tlactoztol variant).

Eight-legged death awaits the foolhardy in the jungles and ruins of Tlactoztlan in the form of giant spiders the natives call Hueyatocatl. These malevolent creatures possess a deadly poisonous bite delivered with terrible mandibles. Look carefully before you step into that darkened room or seemingly innocent clearing, traveler.

Hueyatocatl

Hueyatocatl poison causes nerves to burn with a searing agony as it courses through the veins of the unlucky victim. Immediately after being bitten the victim must make a Hard Strength-based task check or take an additional d6 damage that bypasses any armor or other protection. Subsequent bites in the same encounter do only an additional d3 damage unless a Tricky Strength-based task check is made.

Attributes
Strength 3
Agility 0
Mind -1

Combat Abilities
Attack with Bite +1; d6 + poison
Defense: 0
Protection: 1 (chitinous hide)
Lifeblood: 10