Small texts, thoughts and images related to the OSR, the RPG Svärd och Svartkonst, Aenglum and Under. Everything from Space Invasions to cave crawling in the most primitive barbarian burrows.
fredag 21 november 2014
fifth advent is closing in
The work on this religious detective sandbox set in the lands of Aenglum are delayed but not forgotten. How, when and what? That I can't say but you will get a glimpse on one of the illustrations from it. This one is made by my wife +Josefin Magnusson and her sweet diffrent style is always inspiring for me and my own creations. Oh, how I lack her patience! :)
torsdag 13 november 2014
P is for Postcards
MoRe PoStCaRdS!
---The number of postcards I sent, before the patreon project, could easily be counted on the fingers of just one hand. Now I must say it is both a fun privilage and hard work that let me send a couple of postcards each month to some awsome people out there in the world.---
---But very soon it is december and christmas is upon us, and I must do something fun of it all. Therefore I will change the rules of the patreon a bit and make the theme fitting with the holidays, I will also have guest-writers on the cards whom will decide the stats and flavor texts on the cards. In the celebration of christmas we must have some community gathering to all of these, even if there are the 15 coolest people in the patreon club, the cards will be found in lesser resolution here on the blog.---
---So, in my world, december will be a fun month full of christmas cards!!---
Oh, how fun if more of you were to send a christmas card!
---If this become a reality I also intend to get them out to the public to order so you can send christmas monsters to your relatives and friends!---
---If this become a reality I also intend to get them out to the public to order so you can send christmas monsters to your relatives and friends!---
---I have reached out to some of you as writers of these cards and two awsome people jumped on this christmas train!---
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
fredag 7 november 2014
Final Days
"Hell is overflowing. And Satan is sending his dead to us. Why? Because you have sex out of wedlock. You kill unborn children. You have man-on-man relations. Same-sex marriage. How do you think your god will judge you? Well, friends, now we know. When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth."
- Teleevangelist, dawn of the dead 2004
I should ask some of you the details of american national guard and what equipment they have. I guess for the mood it is best to put the story in good old USA cause 99% of all zombie flicks are from there and that setting is totally workable. Would be cool to put it in sweden but we do not have guns, people or that bad foundation to build upon - we are not densly populated, have robust houses and it would not be as fun, The US it is.
319,000,000 zombies are more fun than 9,000,000 zombies.
ok, some points to figure out:
- what type of zombies should I use? (I'm leaning towards a mix between the fast and slow and with some varieties, not really liking the exploding bloater. I don't want them to fast either. A most is the aim for the head tho.)
- What started it all? Do people know this? (No, of couse. Some clues should be prepared in news and rumors)
- Where should the players start? What will they encounter?
"Dr. Millard Rausch, Scientist: [on a TV] They use... consume maybe 5% of the food available in the human body. With that small amount, the body is usual intact enough to be mobile when it revives.
TV Commentator: What are you saying? Are you saying...
Dr. Millard Rausch, Scientist: [interrupting] It is worth saving? Is a bite victim worth saving? For all I know, it's the brains that are already dead. It's the idiots that are still alive.
TV Commentator: You can't help us deal with your calm illogical ways...
Dr. Millard Rausch, Scientist: Illogical hell! I'm showing you a way we can up the food supply 20 times.
TV Commentator: Food supply for who?
Dr. Millard Rausch, Scientist: For a whole specimen that is walking around out there in increasing numbers, we should...
TV Commentator: Are you saying we should FEED them? The bite victims...
Dr. Millard Rausch, Scientist: What else are you going to do with them? Give me an alternative.
[various arguing among the studio audience is heard in the background]
TV Commentator: You scientists are supposed to come up with a way of solving this problem rather than feeding the opposition? It doesn't make any sense.
Dr. Millard Rausch, Scientist: Well, I can think of another alternative. Since these things seem to congregate in heavily populated areas and since we have not touched upon any of our nuclear resources... why don't we drop bombs on all the big cities?
TV Commentator: You're not serious?
Dr. Millard Rausch, Scientist: I am deadly serious! What are the choices? They won't run out of food, that's the problem you see. And they won't run out of food as long as we're still alive."
-Dawn of the dead 1978
tisdag 4 november 2014
The Block: Illustration 1
Court with the Muschroom King
Had to stop working on it cause it ate all the time. :)
Music in background: Apotygma Berzerk
The great drawing and writers block
My life is god damn awsome. BUT I have this block that prevents me from beeing creative, be it a quick dose of fall depression or a strange worm eating my brain.
That is why I hereby give a promise I will make 10 ugly, sweet, good, bad or otherwise splendid or disgusting illustrations and put on the blog today. A real trolly day that is and if you can't stand it it is just to close your eyes, block me or come kill me. (I rather not want to be dead tho)
Ok, off to do numro ono!
That is why I hereby give a promise I will make 10 ugly, sweet, good, bad or otherwise splendid or disgusting illustrations and put on the blog today. A real trolly day that is and if you can't stand it it is just to close your eyes, block me or come kill me. (I rather not want to be dead tho)
Ok, off to do numro ono!
fredag 10 oktober 2014
Third postcard: The undead/braindead Dwarf
A third card got loose on the population. This one is public and all but for the next card the card will be kept secret till they arrive at their destinations. I will make it this way once in a while to keep the suspense among the subscribers. So as you will see this card will be the last one for yer eyes in a week or two, who knows? ;)
torsdag 2 oktober 2014
And man created the Angel
Alternate Art of the created angel. I'm not sure how I want them and a few versions are starting to show up and I may or may not redo the whole concept. We'll see
söndag 28 september 2014
The created Angel
"They were a proud and faithfull people. They worshiped their gods and their messengers. But one day they got this feeling they were not listened to. They realised they had not seen their gods for many years and no signs or nothing, just that silence. But they were a crafty people. They had the means to help their gods. Yes, they created their own god machines. Cause if they only were pure in their sould the machines would be pure and holy. But the poor people would soon know better! They would learn the hard way that they could not cheat the gods."
2. The Angel need to feed on the pure and so they must hunt the innocent!
3. The Angel just hate mortals and will cleanse the world from this filth!
4. The Angel hunt the evil and will only hurt a creature full of sin!
5. The Angel only attack when he feel threatened!
6. The Angel is very territorial and he has a big territory!
2. The Angel speaks with an heavenly voice!
3. The Angel speaks as an old recording.
4. The Angel speaks as a chorus
5. The Angel speaks very mechanicly
6. The Angel does not speak, but he can scratch messages with his claws
2. No, the wings are just for show!
3. No, but they are a great when shielding against attacks!
4. Yes, but the wings seem to have nothing to do with it!
5. Yes, somehow those blady wings does make him fly!?
6. Yes, and he flies very gracefull as a dove at dawn!
2. Souls
3. Oil
4. Diamonds
5. sorrow
6. Happiness
2. In the ruins of an old city
3. It is wandering around the wastland
4. It is hiding in the temple
5. It stands as a statue in the cemetary
6. It lives in a cave in the mountain
Why do it kill people?
1. The Angel hunt for sin and all man is sinfull!2. The Angel need to feed on the pure and so they must hunt the innocent!
3. The Angel just hate mortals and will cleanse the world from this filth!
4. The Angel hunt the evil and will only hurt a creature full of sin!
5. The Angel only attack when he feel threatened!
6. The Angel is very territorial and he has a big territory!
How does it communicate?
1. The Angel does not speak, only stares at people with lifeless eyes!2. The Angel speaks with an heavenly voice!
3. The Angel speaks as an old recording.
4. The Angel speaks as a chorus
5. The Angel speaks very mechanicly
6. The Angel does not speak, but he can scratch messages with his claws
Does it fly?
1. No, the angel uses his wings to cut people up!2. No, the wings are just for show!
3. No, but they are a great when shielding against attacks!
4. Yes, but the wings seem to have nothing to do with it!
5. Yes, somehow those blady wings does make him fly!?
6. Yes, and he flies very gracefull as a dove at dawn!
What does it eat?
1. Meat2. Souls
3. Oil
4. Diamonds
5. sorrow
6. Happiness
Where does it live?
1. In a ruined clocktower2. In the ruins of an old city
3. It is wandering around the wastland
4. It is hiding in the temple
5. It stands as a statue in the cemetary
6. It lives in a cave in the mountain
tisdag 23 september 2014
The first two monster pages
It all started a bit better than I thought it ever could. 11 people supporting this project and making it a reality! What a bunch of totaly awsome group of heroes! The second card goes into the mail tomorrow and I need to slow down a bit so not to spoil all the fun to fast!
Here I present to you the first two pages supported by patreon and soon in a mailbox close to you.
The Shreak serpent is a screaming sea monster that will scare the hell out of a group of heroes on the sea.
When the Tri-pods arrive to any gaming world the end of that world is near! How this one didn't make it into the original monster manual of your choice is beyond me! ;)
Thank you all whom have supported this project! And I hope you all stay whit me for many cards to come! :D
Here I present to you the first two pages supported by patreon and soon in a mailbox close to you.
When the Tri-pods arrive to any gaming world the end of that world is near! How this one didn't make it into the original monster manual of your choice is beyond me! ;)
Thank you all whom have supported this project! And I hope you all stay whit me for many cards to come! :D
torsdag 18 september 2014
T.L.M.M.P.P: Attack of the tri-pods (from behind the mountain)
(from space? from the underworld? From another dimension?)
The second page is showing an fantazy Tri-pod war machine whatever that is!?
(the map making genious +Simon Forster choose the theme)
The second page is showing an fantazy Tri-pod war machine whatever that is!?
(the map making genious +Simon Forster choose the theme)
This picture may be on the second page of the lost monster manual page postcard. A patreon project you can find over HERE
I hope to hear some response of the first card soon and hide under the table if it is to awfull :P
söndag 14 september 2014
Lost Monster Manual: The First monster!
So the first monster is born and the lost monster manual has a first page (postcard)!
Ok, it is not actually ON the postcard yet and the above is just a protoype so I could have it in my hands and feel it if it was good enough. And I must say I am satisfied with the border and +Josefin Magnusson helped me out as always. (One could not wish for a better wife! I really love her!)
I'm still not at 100% done and posted but I am allready thinking of what will be on page #2 and whom are to choose that theme!
Oh, the satisfaction! :D
The Shreak Serpent!
I'm still not at 100% done and posted but I am allready thinking of what will be on page #2 and whom are to choose that theme!
Oh, the satisfaction! :D
torsdag 11 september 2014
The lost monster manual page postcard
Heh, if you missed it I made the crazy idea a reality and a handfull of stalwart heroes have jumped on to the train as patreons of this project!
+Daniel Sell got to choose the first theme and it is on its merry way! If it will be the above wip "shreak Serpent" we'll see. But I think it would look good on a postcard, what do you say?
The patreon site is found - HERE
A good article on OSR today about all this is found - HERE
I'm really looking forward to put my teeth in this project!
The patreon site is found - HERE
A good article on OSR today about all this is found - HERE
I'm really looking forward to put my teeth in this project!
tisdag 9 september 2014
The Lost monster manual postcard
I get these cool postcard maps from +Simon Forster. This really sparks ones imagination and yesterday I got this idea of "The lost monster manual" postcard project.
The above postcard is just an example of how they could look like. I wonder how many would be intrested in receiving cards like those? Could it be maintained by patreon and could one get enough income for the stamps required?
If I were to patreon this the low dollars really would be the online version to print yourself and those whom provide that little extra would get about two postcards a month with strange monsters with stats and all to throw at players. Some bonus cards a year providing random encounter tables and stuff?
Leave a comment if you would like this project to take off or if you think this is the most stupid idea in the history of the universe! Well I like all kinds of comments! ;)
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| Lost monster manual postcard |
If I were to patreon this the low dollars really would be the online version to print yourself and those whom provide that little extra would get about two postcards a month with strange monsters with stats and all to throw at players. Some bonus cards a year providing random encounter tables and stuff?
Leave a comment if you would like this project to take off or if you think this is the most stupid idea in the history of the universe! Well I like all kinds of comments! ;)
söndag 7 september 2014
Convention time: Fifth Advent
"It is said that every age is born a great evil to the world. Several hundred years ago, at the Fourth Advent a group of heroes of the holy temple, managed to imprison this darkness. Our noble god and protector Aeidmar has watched over us, and time after time, given us the power to stop this darkness from ever breaking free.
But now, after many years, the day has come when the oracles has seen the signs and warned us that the darkness once again can wake up, that the fifth Advent is finally here and, if that is the case, time has come for humanity to finnaly face the end of days.
But then again, the temple has put together a group consisting of the greatest champions of goodness and faith, and these are now on a mission to Cloister hill, the place where the Lord of Darkness is fettered, and they are to make sure everything is secure, that the ancient oracles must have read the signs wrong, and so the sigils are intact!
Fifth Advent is an investigatory small dungeon crawl set in the world of Aenglum but can easily be converted to fit into most games of your choice. The characters will belong to the classes of temple guardians, priests and witch hunters. The theme is that of religion, detective work and crawling into confined spaces. The pregenerated classes can also be changed so to fit just about any group hired by the temple to do its bidding. This is foremost written as a convention adventure tho hence the way this is made." - the text from the convention folder. (or actually as it say in the booklet )
I got to play two sessions of Aenglum: Fifth Advent this weekend. I were to play today to but there was to few players this early in the morning.
How did it go? The first group only scratched on the surface and just had to go to the one area that I really wasn't a hundred percent finniched with. It is a sandbox tho so it was just as much improvisation as anything but I think they had a good time.
I had to do a handout 1 minute before start and laminated all the character sheets that had a certain look to them. This turned out good and before running it or releasing it I must write together some more handouts.
If running with laminated sheets and handout the feeling of having a few papers in stack in this thin shape was quite cool.
I'm looking forward to running fifth advent further with some of the players in the future and it is always cool to see the decisions people make. They all knew it was a sandbox but I see a pattern of maybe human behaviour or the fault of modern gaming that they make almost the same decisions. Nah, they were maybe just following orders? Need to examine this further in future groups! ;)
And the maps of +Simon Forster in this adventure is awsome and need to be remarked on once again! ;)
But now, after many years, the day has come when the oracles has seen the signs and warned us that the darkness once again can wake up, that the fifth Advent is finally here and, if that is the case, time has come for humanity to finnaly face the end of days.
But then again, the temple has put together a group consisting of the greatest champions of goodness and faith, and these are now on a mission to Cloister hill, the place where the Lord of Darkness is fettered, and they are to make sure everything is secure, that the ancient oracles must have read the signs wrong, and so the sigils are intact!
Fifth Advent is an investigatory small dungeon crawl set in the world of Aenglum but can easily be converted to fit into most games of your choice. The characters will belong to the classes of temple guardians, priests and witch hunters. The theme is that of religion, detective work and crawling into confined spaces. The pregenerated classes can also be changed so to fit just about any group hired by the temple to do its bidding. This is foremost written as a convention adventure tho hence the way this is made." - the text from the convention folder. (or actually as it say in the booklet )
How did it go? The first group only scratched on the surface and just had to go to the one area that I really wasn't a hundred percent finniched with. It is a sandbox tho so it was just as much improvisation as anything but I think they had a good time.
I had to do a handout 1 minute before start and laminated all the character sheets that had a certain look to them. This turned out good and before running it or releasing it I must write together some more handouts.
 |
| This is how the sheets turned out. |
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| a typical handout in Fifth advent. |
And the maps of +Simon Forster in this adventure is awsome and need to be remarked on once again! ;)
onsdag 3 september 2014
Art of today: A mystery of Sigils lost
This weekend I will DM an adventure earlier mentioned on this blog, "the Fifth Advent". Today you will get to see one of the illustrations from this;
It is a dark religious mystery sandbox that take way to long time to play for a convention but what the hell, it will be fun and I'm looking forward to it! :)
(oh, it contains maps from +Simon Forster so it is destined to rock! ;) )
It is a dark religious mystery sandbox that take way to long time to play for a convention but what the hell, it will be fun and I'm looking forward to it! :)
(oh, it contains maps from +Simon Forster so it is destined to rock! ;) )
tisdag 2 september 2014
Fourth time is a charm?
I hope you haven't missed the awsome Noh-Cha classbook released a short while ago! It was the fourth time I made something and the second (ok, third maybe) time it showed up in a product that people actually pay for. (Just Art as of now but maybe some text in the future??)
Oh man, that look good. :) (link) Jason McCartan did a really nice classbook!
Oh, that one look good to! (link) I haven't read it yet but I am really looking forward to seeing this in the mail any day now! And I hope to work for +Tim Shorts again as he is a nice fellow!
It is really fun to work with the OSR society! Sweet people everywhere you look!
Oh man, that look good. :) (link) Jason McCartan did a really nice classbook!
It is really fun to work with the OSR society! Sweet people everywhere you look!
måndag 1 september 2014
Fun times at the minicon Cavecrawl ("Gröttröj")
I must say I was positively chocked this saturday as I arrived to the minicon just some minutes walk from home. This minicon "Grottröj" (when talking to someone outside sweden I call it Cavecrawl even tho it should be something like CaveBrawl but that sounds even more strange. A great many things sound strange one way or another, a whole generation of swedish Roleplayers pronounce Orc the wrong way as Drakar och Demoner just had to add an H, Orch. [Or-sh]), was attended by a whole frigging army! I guess we were like 25 people or something! I must have missed the fact that the OSR are a whole lot bigger than I thought it was. First time I was at Grottröj we were like five people, and now in a year that number was four or five times bigger!
It was great fun meeting a lot of people sharing the same intrests as oneself. I got to play two diffrent games. The first adventure was a strange encounter with a spaceship where all kinds of psycadelic things happened. This adventure will be released later on, "Proteus Sinking".
My best moment this day was playing Svärd och Svartkonst with a bunch of players that together created f***ing harmony in the universe, nah, but I really liked it.
I played a colonial drunkard whom got fooled out of his drinking in this "bangladeshy" city (colonial india setting sort of). Accompanied by Bobby-Tommie "the undying", a mutant with snake underbody, and a fragile scholary wizard. Even if I had been the lowest of ranked officers in the army they insisted on calling me captain, and the monkey gods know that a captain he was this last days of his life. The group made out for the jungle in search of the temple of the monkey god, with promises of gold and riches!
And what happend? Oh, we all die of course. This was a real tragedy! A TPK just because the captain had some phobia of snakes!
Last but not least I got to play my own adventure (at least for a few hours. It was getting late) and had a blast. This will be played even more the coming weekend at KlossCon and then we see what happens.
If you are swedish you must check out Svärd och svartkonst review of Grottröj
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| Playing "the temple of the mad Monkey god-king" (el tempelguldet som det heter egentligen.) |
My best moment this day was playing Svärd och Svartkonst with a bunch of players that together created f***ing harmony in the universe, nah, but I really liked it.
I played a colonial drunkard whom got fooled out of his drinking in this "bangladeshy" city (colonial india setting sort of). Accompanied by Bobby-Tommie "the undying", a mutant with snake underbody, and a fragile scholary wizard. Even if I had been the lowest of ranked officers in the army they insisted on calling me captain, and the monkey gods know that a captain he was this last days of his life. The group made out for the jungle in search of the temple of the monkey god, with promises of gold and riches!
And what happend? Oh, we all die of course. This was a real tragedy! A TPK just because the captain had some phobia of snakes!
Last but not least I got to play my own adventure (at least for a few hours. It was getting late) and had a blast. This will be played even more the coming weekend at KlossCon and then we see what happens.
If you are swedish you must check out Svärd och svartkonst review of Grottröj
tisdag 26 augusti 2014
Monster: The Deamon Hamsterdog
The great old wizard Haeglunn experimented on animals to create the most dangerous animal to be known by man. He was feared by the local populance cause of all the misstakes that had escaped his cages and found their way down to the village. Eighteen Sheeps and a cow had lost their lives to these abominations! How long would it take before a human had to put his life on the line?
The village were almost ready to revolt when one of the more dangerous creatures were let loose. Haeglunn were really really bad when it came to locking the doors of the cages! The most dangerous animal known to man slew a lot of people and left no witnesses. The great adventurers arrived to the scene only to find that the great animal were afraid of them and run to the woods.
The village were almost ready to revolt when one of the more dangerous creatures were let loose. Haeglunn were really really bad when it came to locking the doors of the cages! The most dangerous animal known to man slew a lot of people and left no witnesses. The great adventurers arrived to the scene only to find that the great animal were afraid of them and run to the woods.
Ok, the truth is that the real killer had allready run away in hunt for some other prey while the poor creature called the deamon hamsterdog had just escaped and came to the scene of the slaughter only to be found by the heroes! He ran away in fear and got the infamy not deseved. His poor face on a hundred posters offering tons of gold in reward for the innocent head on his neck!
No. Attacks: 1, HP: 2d6, Att: +1 (1d6 horns)
Art of today: Lanterns Light
Sometimes you draw some illustration and they just go sour on you. At a first glance I guess some people think this look good in some way but the truth is that I just think this picture have 29 faults and the fake light is just one of them. ;)
I have posted very little on the blog lately. I have been writing on some adventure for KlossCon and it really just consume all the time I have when not at work. This above picture is actually one of many lunch-break pictures I make. The lunch is often a small drawing session for me and it is both relaxing and fun.
tisdag 19 augusti 2014
Why the dragon in my nose ate the bugger
When I was young I always bealived I were to become the new HR Giger or something, cause you need a little delusions of grandeur to kickstart your life. The truth became that I took a lousy job, as each struggling artist need a lousy one, but then I forgot to draw and paint. I had this gap of no roleplaying and no drawing for almost ten years.
Then two of my friends contacted me and wanted me to draw some illustrations for the swedish RPG "Svärd och Svartkonst" and I jumped on this train with no expectations on my own skill, what this OSR thing really was and if I could deliver anything after this large gap.
I can't say I am great at drawing but I can say I am quite good. The positive response from a lot of you reading this blog at times is proof enough for this conclusion how much I still want to be modest.
Ok, this is the tuesday rant but I need you to bear with me a bit longer.
Back in the days when I did the obligatory swedish military service I met this sweet strange man, +Jonas Wideen , that later became a friend of mine even if we haven't met for some century. Good thing social media exist so people don't loose all contact with eachother. :)
Anyways, I draw smaller illustrations and are quite happy with that. He on the other hand do this more proffesional drawings with real paint and such.
My plan is to feature a few of his pieces here on Aenglum so we can broaden his audience as some of his art are right down the pocket of OSR I think and if you THE READER want this piece on your wall at home, you should contact either me or Jonas Wideen even better. He is one of those artist that actually live on his art, contradictory to me... as +Erik Tenkar call it; beer money. I just do all this for fun and beer and not profit. ;)
Todays art of Jonas is a fire breathing dragon;
Then two of my friends contacted me and wanted me to draw some illustrations for the swedish RPG "Svärd och Svartkonst" and I jumped on this train with no expectations on my own skill, what this OSR thing really was and if I could deliver anything after this large gap.
I can't say I am great at drawing but I can say I am quite good. The positive response from a lot of you reading this blog at times is proof enough for this conclusion how much I still want to be modest.
Ok, this is the tuesday rant but I need you to bear with me a bit longer.
Back in the days when I did the obligatory swedish military service I met this sweet strange man, +Jonas Wideen , that later became a friend of mine even if we haven't met for some century. Good thing social media exist so people don't loose all contact with eachother. :)
Anyways, I draw smaller illustrations and are quite happy with that. He on the other hand do this more proffesional drawings with real paint and such.
My plan is to feature a few of his pieces here on Aenglum so we can broaden his audience as some of his art are right down the pocket of OSR I think and if you THE READER want this piece on your wall at home, you should contact either me or Jonas Wideen even better. He is one of those artist that actually live on his art, contradictory to me... as +Erik Tenkar call it; beer money. I just do all this for fun and beer and not profit. ;)
Todays art of Jonas is a fire breathing dragon;
söndag 17 augusti 2014
Daughters on adventure
A good friend of mine has conspired with my wife to have my daughters starting to play an easy form of RPG of his own design. I have no clue what they are up to except that I have in my possession the first draft of the character sheet.
An old school character sheet usually doesn't contain that much but I see they have puched the boundries of what is really needed on a sheet.
If you are intrested in how this plays out, and if you are curious if your own children are ready for an adventure, just give me a shout. I got at this moment no clue what rules he will use, other than that he mentioned some morphed version of mouseguard. Only the future can tell if he permanently will damage the frail minds of my children, or suceeding in raising the next generation of Roleplayers, but it is worth the risk, isn't it!? ;)
Oh, glad you asked! My children are at an age of 4 and 6.
fredag 15 augusti 2014
The swedish RPG "Svärd och Svartkost" is written
When I began with the OSR I was mostly involved with illustrations for the swedish RPG "Svärd och Svartkonst" and now the text is done for this awsome forthcoming book! This is cool news and I am really looking forward to having the finnished book in my hands.
My own Aenglum is originally from this RPG but eventually it ran its own course and is now a freelancing bandit and not to much alike its origins, but still a few bits and pieces are intact.
If you are a swede I can really recomend you follow the link, and if you are not fluent in swedish I say you can go at your own risk. You will find the free Svärd och Svartkonst rulebook over there.
My own Aenglum is originally from this RPG but eventually it ran its own course and is now a freelancing bandit and not to much alike its origins, but still a few bits and pieces are intact.
If you are a swede I can really recomend you follow the link, and if you are not fluent in swedish I say you can go at your own risk. You will find the free Svärd och Svartkonst rulebook over there.
tisdag 5 augusti 2014
H is for Hexcrawl
I was pondering how to implement a good hexcrawl in my campaign. I had a dream about this and this is actually me impementing that dream to reality.
"Here is my dollar's worth of answer.
1) How would you define a hexcrawl in your own words if you would keep it short?
Hexcrawl is a format for presenting a setting where a numbered hex grid is overlaid on a map and locales are referred by their hex number. It can pack a lot of easily referenced ocal level detail in a minimum number of works.
A sandbox campaign is traditionally associated with the hexcrawl format. It is a campaign where the referee defines a setting, and defines his NPCs goals, plans and motivations. The PCs are give given an initial set of circumstances and the expectation they do whatever they want to do in accordance to their goals and the limits of their characters.
2) What module or article is the one that is influencing you the most regarding a good hex crawl? Do you follow these rules or guidlines?
Wilderlands of High Fantasy, City State of the Invincible Overlord, and the associated Judges Guild's Wilderness series (Spies of Lightelf, etc).
The downside it is a pretty big place. After surveying what was released in the past, I decided I had to write my own introductory setting, Blackmarsh. You can download it for free from RPGNow. The physical book is only $4.99
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/89944/Blackmarsh
3) What is the major rules or thing to think about when designing a good hexcrawl in your opinion?
Hexcrawls and Sandbox can be run using any set of RPGs rules. What you want to look for is good support for the random generation of content, and support for in-game world building for example Traveller's Trading and Starship economics, or AD&D's stronghold building rules.
I strongly advice assembling a nice set of random tables. Generally I find I have about a dozen to two dozen specific ideas. For the rest of it I just randomly roll and explain the results consistently with the rest of the setting.
As for rules.
If you want detail and playability Columbia Game's Harnmaster is probably the best. But it is an investment. If you want a solid D&D like rule system then you can't go wrong with Adventurer Conqueror King by Autarch Games.
http://www.columbiagames.com
http://www.autarch.co/
Note with Harnmaster you also have the option of ignoring the core rules and going with the world building stuff like Harnmanor. They are all mostly self-contained subsystems.
The Red Tide series by Sine Nomine is also good.http://www.rpgnow.com/browse.php?manufacturers_id=3482
While this is tooting my own horn, I think my Scourge of the Demon Wolf is a good example of what an adventure looks like in a sandbox campaign. Plus in the appendices you get a full write up of various locales to use as a springboard for further adventures.
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/106705/Scourge-of-the-Demon-Wolf"
+Eric Hoffman and I are actually play testing a hex crawl we wrote, so I’m going to speak about what we thought was important as we wrote it.
"Hex crawl: Exploration of a large area, overlaid by a hex grid, where travel is governed by set rules, and where the majority of encounters are random and unexpected."
To be continoued or edited?
The Thing in my dream was to disturb every genious/grognard/old oaf out there I know or pretend to know. So I thought I run to a couple of people with three questions each and the answers to these, I would publish on the blog, so some other noob can come along later and stumble on some good answers in a big collection.
Or it could just be some fun reading, if it is your cup of tea that is.
The questions are;
Or it could just be some fun reading, if it is your cup of tea that is.
The questions are;
- How would you define a hexcrawl in your own words if you would keep it short?
- What module or article is the one that is influencing you the most regarding a good hex crawl? Do you follow these rules or guidlines?
- What is the major rules or thing to think about when designing a good hexcrawl in your opinion?
- "A numbered hex map with a corresponding key explaining the contents of each (or each important) hex.
- The classic Judges Guild stuff is my model for this sort of thing. (Judges guild booty list)
- Less is more. As in less detail is always better than too much. Leave enough undone so the DM has room to improvise."
Our second runner is +Joseph Bloch from Greyhawk Grognard
"I'd define a hexcrawl as an adventure setting that gives the PCs unlimited choices of action; where to go, what to do, how to interact with the NPCs, etc., in such a way that no choices they make can derail the DM's plans for the game. Compare to a plot-driven game, where failure to follow the plot can derail the game completely if the DM is unable or unwilling to improvise.
The single-best reference on how to put together a good sandbox is the West Marches campaign over at Ars Ludi. http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/ It should be required reading for anyone interested in doing a hexcrawl.
Good hexcrawls require that the PCs be able to make informed choices. Just shoving them out the door without any sort of rhyme or reason robs them of their agency, since all the choices they make are blind choices. Make their choices at least semi-informed, and have plot threads dangling that the PCs can tug on if they wish.
The PCs should have some (vague) idea of what's out there to be found, and many encounters should be constructed so that they point the PCs to at least one more, should they decide to pursue the lead. "
The single-best reference on how to put together a good sandbox is the West Marches campaign over at Ars Ludi. http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/ It should be required reading for anyone interested in doing a hexcrawl.
Good hexcrawls require that the PCs be able to make informed choices. Just shoving them out the door without any sort of rhyme or reason robs them of their agency, since all the choices they make are blind choices. Make their choices at least semi-informed, and have plot threads dangling that the PCs can tug on if they wish.
The PCs should have some (vague) idea of what's out there to be found, and many encounters should be constructed so that they point the PCs to at least one more, should they decide to pursue the lead. "
Third voice is +Rob Conley , a guru of hex-crawling and behind Bat in the attic
1) How would you define a hexcrawl in your own words if you would keep it short?
Hexcrawl is a format for presenting a setting where a numbered hex grid is overlaid on a map and locales are referred by their hex number. It can pack a lot of easily referenced ocal level detail in a minimum number of works.
A sandbox campaign is traditionally associated with the hexcrawl format. It is a campaign where the referee defines a setting, and defines his NPCs goals, plans and motivations. The PCs are give given an initial set of circumstances and the expectation they do whatever they want to do in accordance to their goals and the limits of their characters.
2) What module or article is the one that is influencing you the most regarding a good hex crawl? Do you follow these rules or guidlines?
Wilderlands of High Fantasy, City State of the Invincible Overlord, and the associated Judges Guild's Wilderness series (Spies of Lightelf, etc).
The downside it is a pretty big place. After surveying what was released in the past, I decided I had to write my own introductory setting, Blackmarsh. You can download it for free from RPGNow. The physical book is only $4.99
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/89944/Blackmarsh
3) What is the major rules or thing to think about when designing a good hexcrawl in your opinion?
Hexcrawls and Sandbox can be run using any set of RPGs rules. What you want to look for is good support for the random generation of content, and support for in-game world building for example Traveller's Trading and Starship economics, or AD&D's stronghold building rules.
I strongly advice assembling a nice set of random tables. Generally I find I have about a dozen to two dozen specific ideas. For the rest of it I just randomly roll and explain the results consistently with the rest of the setting.
As for rules.
If you want detail and playability Columbia Game's Harnmaster is probably the best. But it is an investment. If you want a solid D&D like rule system then you can't go wrong with Adventurer Conqueror King by Autarch Games.
http://www.columbiagames.com
http://www.autarch.co/
Note with Harnmaster you also have the option of ignoring the core rules and going with the world building stuff like Harnmanor. They are all mostly self-contained subsystems.
The Red Tide series by Sine Nomine is also good.http://www.rpgnow.com/browse.php?manufacturers_id=3482
While this is tooting my own horn, I think my Scourge of the Demon Wolf is a good example of what an adventure looks like in a sandbox campaign. Plus in the appendices you get a full write up of various locales to use as a springboard for further adventures.
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/106705/Scourge-of-the-Demon-Wolf"
And here is his how to make a fantasy sandbox
1. How would you define a hex crawl in your own words if you would keep it short?
"Hex crawl: Exploration of a large area, overlaid by a hex grid, where travel is governed by set rules, and where the majority of encounters are random and unexpected."
2. What module or article is the one that is influencing you the most regarding a good hex crawl? Do you follow these rules or guidelines?
"Actually, I find more influence is being pulled from literature, especially Treasure Island and many of R.E. Howard’s stories. There’s a mood, a feeling, that I’m looking for in this hex crawl, and rules themselves aren’t going to supply that.
The hex crawl writer’s choice of creatures, NPCs, locations… even treasure… all need to fit together. These elements help the players tell the characters’ stories, because without a plot thread, the GM has little to no narrative. Your choices of what goes into the hex crawl, not how you run it, will affect the theme and personality of your adventure.
Also, I find that descriptive text before ‘set piece’ encounters is immensely helpful to both players and GM’s. Set the scene, and let the players take it from there. Set piece encounters are locations like tombs and NPC's that exist on the island, but their location can vary. It all depends on the dice rolls as they characters explore."
3. What is the major rules or thing to think about when designing a good hex crawl in your opinion?
"Obviously, freedom of choice is big part of a hex crawl, but I still think the players need to get invested. We chose a simple overlying goal: The discovery and subsequent plundering of the fabled treasure vaults of Zadabad. If that’s not enough, we’ve included personal adventure hooks in the player’s guide that players might choose for their characters, among them being;
1)The island, once being a grand center of worship, contains religious artifacts that must be preserved (or destroyed!)
2) A friend or relative was sold into slavery and is currently somewhere on the island.
3)You are fleeing the law, an assassin, or unforgiving debtors.
Once again, this puts the story into the hands of the players, and the GM can have fun molding the hex crawl to his and his players' desires.
We also included enough room for the GM to put his own stamp on the adventures. We expect the GM to insert the hex crawl (an island in this case) into his current campaign. It should be easy for him to do so.
The island is big enough to require multiple days to travel across, but small enough that it could remain an isolated, mysterious, and largely unknown island in the GM’s campaign world. While we have various factions on and surrounding the island, we’ve included only enough detail to get the ball rolling. Additionally, there is a combination of set pieces and plenty of interesting locations that are unnamed, waiting for a creative judge to drop-in something of his own.
I’d like to close by saying that GMing a hex crawl can be both intimidating and rewarding. Because everything is largely random, the GM won’t know what’s coming. There’s more thinking on your feet required. You may have read the entire adventure and know all the monster stat blocks by heart, but the order of appearance, the sequence of events, will change how various factions, NPCs and monsters react. Killing the Great White Elephant of Tribella ‘before’ meeting Nashta the Holy Man is a much different encounter than meeting the holy man first.
However, these same surprises are also rewarding! Your players will take things in directions you never expected. It’s a very different experience than a scripted adventure, where the goal is set and the sequence of events is important. You’ll live in the moment, and your creativity will be tested repeatedly. What was once a choice that would have derailed an adventure, will be the start of yet another exciting side-trek!"
"Actually, I find more influence is being pulled from literature, especially Treasure Island and many of R.E. Howard’s stories. There’s a mood, a feeling, that I’m looking for in this hex crawl, and rules themselves aren’t going to supply that.
The hex crawl writer’s choice of creatures, NPCs, locations… even treasure… all need to fit together. These elements help the players tell the characters’ stories, because without a plot thread, the GM has little to no narrative. Your choices of what goes into the hex crawl, not how you run it, will affect the theme and personality of your adventure.
Also, I find that descriptive text before ‘set piece’ encounters is immensely helpful to both players and GM’s. Set the scene, and let the players take it from there. Set piece encounters are locations like tombs and NPC's that exist on the island, but their location can vary. It all depends on the dice rolls as they characters explore."
3. What is the major rules or thing to think about when designing a good hex crawl in your opinion?
"Obviously, freedom of choice is big part of a hex crawl, but I still think the players need to get invested. We chose a simple overlying goal: The discovery and subsequent plundering of the fabled treasure vaults of Zadabad. If that’s not enough, we’ve included personal adventure hooks in the player’s guide that players might choose for their characters, among them being;
1)The island, once being a grand center of worship, contains religious artifacts that must be preserved (or destroyed!)
2) A friend or relative was sold into slavery and is currently somewhere on the island.
3)You are fleeing the law, an assassin, or unforgiving debtors.
Once again, this puts the story into the hands of the players, and the GM can have fun molding the hex crawl to his and his players' desires.
We also included enough room for the GM to put his own stamp on the adventures. We expect the GM to insert the hex crawl (an island in this case) into his current campaign. It should be easy for him to do so.
The island is big enough to require multiple days to travel across, but small enough that it could remain an isolated, mysterious, and largely unknown island in the GM’s campaign world. While we have various factions on and surrounding the island, we’ve included only enough detail to get the ball rolling. Additionally, there is a combination of set pieces and plenty of interesting locations that are unnamed, waiting for a creative judge to drop-in something of his own.
I’d like to close by saying that GMing a hex crawl can be both intimidating and rewarding. Because everything is largely random, the GM won’t know what’s coming. There’s more thinking on your feet required. You may have read the entire adventure and know all the monster stat blocks by heart, but the order of appearance, the sequence of events, will change how various factions, NPCs and monsters react. Killing the Great White Elephant of Tribella ‘before’ meeting Nashta the Holy Man is a much different encounter than meeting the holy man first.
However, these same surprises are also rewarding! Your players will take things in directions you never expected. It’s a very different experience than a scripted adventure, where the goal is set and the sequence of events is important. You’ll live in the moment, and your creativity will be tested repeatedly. What was once a choice that would have derailed an adventure, will be the start of yet another exciting side-trek!"
+Simon Forster, a very good mapper and the man behind ...And the sky full of dust.
"I have had a think: and you know what, I realise that I've never really ran a hexcrawl. I have an overland map with areas labelled, and when the PCs wander into those ares they come across whatever place I've stuck there, but not really a hexcrawl the way others mention it. I did, however, once write up something that I was going to run once, which is sort of like it: http://www.theskyfullofdust.co.uk/in-the-name-of-the-king-4-iv-hex-exploration-tables/"
Other usefull stuff
I got some great links from +Terje Nordin
- Gnome stew has some hexcrawl resources
- Hexcrawl.net basics
- S is for sandbox
To be continoued or edited?
måndag 4 augusti 2014
G is for Goats again
I only say run to Gorgonmilk today and get the Goat-generator (Final!)
I shall have no credit in this as I only drew him a goat-man after being impressed with the draft he ( +Greg Gorgonmilk ) released.and I am still impressed with how it turned out.( +Gavin Norman shall have some credit to I guess. Co-creator of Dolmenwood)
Be sure to check out what theses guys are up to in the future as they are to release even more sweet stuff and "Everything will eventually be compiled into a Dolmenwood Folio PDF, and later find its way into the Dolmenwoodbook."
I shall have no credit in this as I only drew him a goat-man after being impressed with the draft he ( +Greg Gorgonmilk ) released.and I am still impressed with how it turned out.( +Gavin Norman shall have some credit to I guess. Co-creator of Dolmenwood)
Be sure to check out what theses guys are up to in the future as they are to release even more sweet stuff and "Everything will eventually be compiled into a Dolmenwood Folio PDF, and later find its way into the Dolmenwoodbook."
söndag 3 augusti 2014
D is for more dogs
The last part of the dogs chart was dogs of war. But what other kinds of dogs are there? I was looking through some books and the dogs seem to be missing and getting no love at all. They are mentioned in a couple of places and there seem to be some reference to them but when looking for rules they are all but abscent.
When shopping for dogs, the war dog is the most effective dog for combat and dungeons, but shouldn't be the only choice for players I think.
Speciality Dogs
Step 1 - Make a note of the basic values for a dog
Basic values, the untrained puppy stats
MD (Morale dice (Aenglum)/ Hit dice (other systems)): 1 (1d6)
Life: 4
DV (Defense value (Aenglum)/Armor class): 10
Attack: #1, +0, bite 1t4
Movement: 6 sq (other systems: 12 )
Personality: None
Abilities: Good senses (+2 on smell/listen rolls, harder to surprise)
Order Difficulty: 14 (The difficulty to make a dog do what you want it to do. A roll made with your charisma modifier. The difficulty can be modified depending on some factors.)
Price: 10 Aengels
MD (Morale dice (Aenglum)/ Hit dice (other systems)): 1 (1d6)
Life: 4
DV (Defense value (Aenglum)/Armor class): 10
Attack: #1, +0, bite 1t4
Movement: 6 sq (other systems: 12 )
Personality: None
Abilities: Good senses (+2 on smell/listen rolls, harder to surprise)
Order Difficulty: 14 (The difficulty to make a dog do what you want it to do. A roll made with your charisma modifier. The difficulty can be modified depending on some factors.)
Price: 10 Aengels
1. Sled dog
Ability: Can pull sleds, usually in a group of 4-8 dogs.
Order diffculty +4 when ordered to do something it isn't trained to do.
Price: +0 (10Aengels)
2. Untrained pet
Order diifculty: +4
Ability: Lick balls
The untrained pet like to do just about anything that is useless and do not often do what it is told.
Price: -7 (3 Aengels.)
3. Trackers
A dog trained to track scents, but not to attack or fight.
Ability: tracking
Order diffculty +4 when ordered to do something it isn't trained to do.
Price: +3 (13 Aengels)
4. Guard dog
A dog trained in keeping guard but otherwise not to attack or fight.
Ability: Guard
Order diffculty +4 when ordered to do something it isn't trained to do.
Price: +5 (15 Aengels)
5. War dogs
Go to war dogs, in the previous blog article.
fredag 1 augusti 2014
G is for Goatmen
Or Goatmen to +Greg Gorgonmilk. If you haven't seen his latest project The Goat-man you really should run and see it. It is totally inspiring and fun and made me wanna draw him alot of illustrations! The bad thing in the equation is that I have never drawn goatmen before and need to learn this so I maybe maybe can do his project justice!
One thing is certain tho and that is the fact that Aenglum is gonna have goatman in an abundance!
One thing is certain tho and that is the fact that Aenglum is gonna have goatman in an abundance!
First try
Second try
Third try... a half-goat??
4th goat
You just gotta love goats!
ok this was the first try
Will soon figure out a good way how to draw one of these sweet creatures.
tisdag 29 juli 2014
D is for Dog (WIP)
In the last session my players started to plan the expedition to Under. One of the players wanted to buy a dog, and of course he or she can buy a dog, but I got a feeling that the rules or the way we use dogs are not the way I want.
The dog is a mans best friend and all, but it is still only an animal. They can be more usefull than many henchemen but we talk about the arse-sniffing and ball catching creatures with a will of their own and all.
And the better the dog, the bigger the pricetag.
oh, and we are not talking small poodles or something but we talk about ten diffrent breed of trained killing machines and usefull dogs. Not that kind you put in your purse or anything.
Availabe dogs are at no price adjustment, "ex" are exclusive dogs with a loving owner whom can part with their dogs only because they feel that the money are really needed in their life right now,
Traders camp: 1t3-1 available, 1t3-1 ex.
small hamlet: 1t4 available dogs and 1t3-1 ex.
Village: 1t6 available dogs and 1t4-1
Small town: 2t6 dogs, and 1t6-1 ex.
Sprawling city: 2t8 dogs, and 1t8-1 ex.
MD (Morale dice (Aenglum)/ Hit dice (other systems)): 1 (1d6)
Life: 4
DV (Defense value (Aenglum)/Armor class): 10
Attack: #1, +0, bite 1t4
Movement: 6 sq (other systems: 12 )
Personality: None
Abilities: Good senses (+2 on smell/listen rolls, harder to surprise)
Order Difficulty: 14 (The difficulty to make a dog do what you want it to do. A roll made with your charisma modifier. The difficulty can be modified depending on some factors.)
Price: 10 Aengels
1, Eizenheimer warbred.
The Eizenheimer warbred is a big mastiff dog from the cold north. It is bred for war and a rough life in the northern wastes. It is big as a dwarf and have jaws from hell. It is considered the most intelligent of all dogs and like to have his own will in any group even tho it can't talk.
MD: +1 (2d6+2), Life: +4 (8), DV: +2 (12), Attack: #1 +2, Damage: bite 2d4+1
Racial ability: Dog of war (is a tough son-of-a-dog)
Order Difficulty: -2 (12)
Price: +20 (30)
2. Draengherder.
The Draengherder is a common dog in the borderlands used mostly by farmers and hunters. They are mostly double coated with a tan body with a black sadle colouring. It has a good reputation for its good temper and obidience.
MD: +1 (2d6), Life: +2 (6) DV: +2, Attack: #1 +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability:
Order Difficulty: -4 (10)
Price: +15 (25)
3. Alkenhaerth hound.
The Alkenhaerth is a dog used primarily by hunters and scouts. It is known to find its way around the wilderness and is a favourite to any rangers of the wild.
MD: +1 (2d6), Life: +0 (4), DV: +3 (13), Attack: #1 +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability: Guide (is really good to know its way around the wilderness)
Order Difficulty: -2 (12)
Price: +10 (20)
4. Lirdian Sheepdog
Used mostly by farmers and herders. This white long-haired beast likes to play but have a good way of combining this with following most commands.
MD: +1 (2d6), Life: +0 (4) DV: +2 (12), Attack: #1 +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability: Herder (is very usefull to encircle prey and drive them in the right direction)
Order Difficulty: -4 (10)
Price: +5 (15)
5. Hjaelmengard.
The Hjaelmengard is a large molosser dog used most often in the Haergard army. This big black and mean dog is great for guard duty. Outside of the hard and diciplined life in the army it is known to misbehave and need a sturdy hand to keep it in order.
MD: +1 (2d6+2), Life: +1 (5) DV: +3 (13), Attack: #1 +2, Damage: 1d6+1
Racial ability: Guard (almost impossible to suprise)
Order Difficulty: -0 (14)
Price: +15 (25)
6. Imperial Lostrian.
The Imperial Lostrian is a dog that came with the imperial fleet at the landing. It is a huge dog of golden colour and is valued very high. It is often found in imperial bastions in the south.
MD: +1 (2d6+2), Life: +2 (6) DV: +3 (13), Attack: +2, Damage: 1d6+1
Racial ability:
Order Difficulty: -0 (14)
Price: +20 (30)
7. Lenjin Strongnose.
The Lenjin Strongnose are very popular among bounty hunters.
MD: +1 (2d6), Life: +0 (4) DV: +2 (12), Attack: +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability: Tracker (is very good at tracking someone)
Order Difficulty: -2 (12)
Price: +10 (20)
8. Romphin Minepaw.
The dwarven dog of the underworld. As short and sturdy as their masters this grumpy dog is used to living in the dark.
MD: +1, (2d6) Life: +0 (4) DV: +2 (12), Attack: +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability: Stone sense (good at finding secret passages, detecting traps and navigate underground)
Infravision (these dogs can see in the dark, at least a few feet)
Order Difficulty: -0 (14)
Price: +10 (20)
9. Haestrinn buch-hound.
The Buch-hound is a common dog among the villages in the swamps of the south. They are known to turn on their masters at times and even themselves. If you want a shit-eating big angry unpredictable killing machine you would want a Haestrinn buch-hound.
MD: +1 (2d6), Life: +0 (4) DV: +2 (12), Attack: +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability: Unpredictable
Order Difficulty: +2 (16)
Price: +5 (15)
10. Midlander Thucker.
These large long-legged mastiff dogs are well reputed in the midlands and are seen as great companions. The long legs make them as high as the Eizenheimer. They often have an harlequinn coating (White with black spots)
MD: +1 (2d6+1), Life: +1 (5) DV: +2 (12), Attack: +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability: loyal
Order Difficulty: -2 (12)
Price: +10 (20)
This dog may have been some hero-dog once upon a time but it has been left lazy for to long and is now an overweight and clumsy joke-of-a-dog. The price goes down by -1d10 Aengels. as do a MD and -2 on movement.
2. Small & Weak
It may happen that this dog is loyal and well trained but it is really small for its race and have less muscles. It lose 1 MD and does a damage die less (d6 become d4, a d4 become a d3) One get 1d10 discount.
3. Short legs
This dog has short legs for its breed. it get -2 in movement and can jump shorter distances, -4 on jump checks. you get a 1d10 discount.
4. Holy teeth of the inqusition
This dog is great for hunting the undead and have +2 damage against them.
5. Hungry
If one doesn't feed this dog regulary it will have an order difficulty of +4. It will have to make a Willpower (wisdom in other systems) check every 2 hours or have an 1d4 morale damage.
6. Bad temper
This dog is temperate and like to bark at people and seem upset. It has a +2 order difficulty.
7. likes to play
This dog likes to play and if someone take their time and play around with it he will get a -2 order difficulty for the next two hours. The dog regenerates morale (HP in other systems) while playing.
8. Ghast Sniffer
This dog has a knack for finding ghost and other unseen horrors. He will bark at invisible things.
9. Pure Breed
This dog has an ancestry and are the purest of his kind. He will cost an additional 1d10 Aengels but has an additional strong attribute consistant with his race.
10. Mixed breed
This dog is a mix of two diffrent breeds. There is a small chance that this other mix is of a magical or otherwise supernatural sort.
11. The jesters companion
Some jester must have trained this animal as it is very good at tricks and can balance stuff on its nose.
12. Magical Sensitivity
This dog can sense magic and will bark at magical items.
13. Witch hunter
This dog can sense the smell of corruption and will bark at witches, wizards and deamons alike.
14. Scary looking
This dog may have a white eye and scars. Well something makes it very scary and it has a fear attack each combat. 1d6 morale damage against weak opponents. (a morale check in other systems)
15. Torch bearer
This dog is not afraid of fire and is trained to carry a torch.
16. Fast
This dog is very fast and have a base movement of +2
17. Hunter
This dog is trained in the art of hunting and can track and hunt at +2
18. good climber
climbs with a +2 modifier
19. Mans best friend
this dog really attach to another being and this being get +3 on Order Difficulty. The first person who succeed on a charisma check at difficulty 20 is this dogs best friend. Each person can only try one time each day. The person who want to charm this beast must really make an effort to make the roll.
20. the Holy dog of the gods
This dog is chosen by the gods as it will seem. Once per day the dog can cast the miracle of the god.
1d6 1. Aeidmar - light 2. Haergmor - cone of cold, 3.Laeendur - Heal 4. Dyince - pass without trace 5.Elmendar - bound by faith 6. shield against the corrupt
The dog is a mans best friend and all, but it is still only an animal. They can be more usefull than many henchemen but we talk about the arse-sniffing and ball catching creatures with a will of their own and all.
And the better the dog, the bigger the pricetag.
oh, and we are not talking small poodles or something but we talk about ten diffrent breed of trained killing machines and usefull dogs. Not that kind you put in your purse or anything.
step 1 - decide the number of available dogs in town.
Not everyone wanna part with their dog of course but a few dogs at least could be available.Availabe dogs are at no price adjustment, "ex" are exclusive dogs with a loving owner whom can part with their dogs only because they feel that the money are really needed in their life right now,
Traders camp: 1t3-1 available, 1t3-1 ex.
small hamlet: 1t4 available dogs and 1t3-1 ex.
Village: 1t6 available dogs and 1t4-1
Small town: 2t6 dogs, and 1t6-1 ex.
Sprawling city: 2t8 dogs, and 1t8-1 ex.
Step 2 - Make a note of the basic values for a dog
Basic values, the untrained puppy statsMD (Morale dice (Aenglum)/ Hit dice (other systems)): 1 (1d6)
Life: 4
DV (Defense value (Aenglum)/Armor class): 10
Attack: #1, +0, bite 1t4
Movement: 6 sq (other systems: 12 )
Personality: None
Abilities: Good senses (+2 on smell/listen rolls, harder to surprise)
Order Difficulty: 14 (The difficulty to make a dog do what you want it to do. A roll made with your charisma modifier. The difficulty can be modified depending on some factors.)
Price: 10 Aengels
Step 3 - Roll the race of the dog
10 diffrent races of dogs in Aenglum. If they are at a breeders house there should be a 1-4 chance on a d6 that one dog share the same race as one of the other dogs.1, Eizenheimer warbred.
The Eizenheimer warbred is a big mastiff dog from the cold north. It is bred for war and a rough life in the northern wastes. It is big as a dwarf and have jaws from hell. It is considered the most intelligent of all dogs and like to have his own will in any group even tho it can't talk.
MD: +1 (2d6+2), Life: +4 (8), DV: +2 (12), Attack: #1 +2, Damage: bite 2d4+1
Racial ability: Dog of war (is a tough son-of-a-dog)
Order Difficulty: -2 (12)
Price: +20 (30)
2. Draengherder.
The Draengherder is a common dog in the borderlands used mostly by farmers and hunters. They are mostly double coated with a tan body with a black sadle colouring. It has a good reputation for its good temper and obidience.
MD: +1 (2d6), Life: +2 (6) DV: +2, Attack: #1 +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability:
Order Difficulty: -4 (10)
Price: +15 (25)
3. Alkenhaerth hound.
The Alkenhaerth is a dog used primarily by hunters and scouts. It is known to find its way around the wilderness and is a favourite to any rangers of the wild.
MD: +1 (2d6), Life: +0 (4), DV: +3 (13), Attack: #1 +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability: Guide (is really good to know its way around the wilderness)
Order Difficulty: -2 (12)
Price: +10 (20)
4. Lirdian Sheepdog
Used mostly by farmers and herders. This white long-haired beast likes to play but have a good way of combining this with following most commands.
MD: +1 (2d6), Life: +0 (4) DV: +2 (12), Attack: #1 +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability: Herder (is very usefull to encircle prey and drive them in the right direction)
Order Difficulty: -4 (10)
Price: +5 (15)
5. Hjaelmengard.
The Hjaelmengard is a large molosser dog used most often in the Haergard army. This big black and mean dog is great for guard duty. Outside of the hard and diciplined life in the army it is known to misbehave and need a sturdy hand to keep it in order.
MD: +1 (2d6+2), Life: +1 (5) DV: +3 (13), Attack: #1 +2, Damage: 1d6+1
Racial ability: Guard (almost impossible to suprise)
Order Difficulty: -0 (14)
Price: +15 (25)
6. Imperial Lostrian.
The Imperial Lostrian is a dog that came with the imperial fleet at the landing. It is a huge dog of golden colour and is valued very high. It is often found in imperial bastions in the south.
MD: +1 (2d6+2), Life: +2 (6) DV: +3 (13), Attack: +2, Damage: 1d6+1
Racial ability:
Order Difficulty: -0 (14)
Price: +20 (30)
7. Lenjin Strongnose.
The Lenjin Strongnose are very popular among bounty hunters.
MD: +1 (2d6), Life: +0 (4) DV: +2 (12), Attack: +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability: Tracker (is very good at tracking someone)
Order Difficulty: -2 (12)
Price: +10 (20)
8. Romphin Minepaw.
The dwarven dog of the underworld. As short and sturdy as their masters this grumpy dog is used to living in the dark.
MD: +1, (2d6) Life: +0 (4) DV: +2 (12), Attack: +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability: Stone sense (good at finding secret passages, detecting traps and navigate underground)
Infravision (these dogs can see in the dark, at least a few feet)
Order Difficulty: -0 (14)
Price: +10 (20)
9. Haestrinn buch-hound.
The Buch-hound is a common dog among the villages in the swamps of the south. They are known to turn on their masters at times and even themselves. If you want a shit-eating big angry unpredictable killing machine you would want a Haestrinn buch-hound.
MD: +1 (2d6), Life: +0 (4) DV: +2 (12), Attack: +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability: Unpredictable
Order Difficulty: +2 (16)
Price: +5 (15)
10. Midlander Thucker.
These large long-legged mastiff dogs are well reputed in the midlands and are seen as great companions. The long legs make them as high as the Eizenheimer. They often have an harlequinn coating (White with black spots)
MD: +1 (2d6+1), Life: +1 (5) DV: +2 (12), Attack: +1, Damage: 1d6
Racial ability: loyal
Order Difficulty: -2 (12)
Price: +10 (20)
Step 4 - How trained is the dog?
1. Trained by a sadist.
Some people should not get an animal and this poor beast have been trained into a world of hate, fear and bloodlust. It gets +2 on order difficulty and have a 20% chance of biting an innocent, bark at children and missbehave. If the sadist sell you this creature you will have to pay 5 Aengels extra but if there is a normal person selling tou this it will come with a warning and a discount of 10 Aengels.
2. Poor training
This dog is not finnished with his training. It will have an order difficulty of +2.
3-5 Normal training
This dog is propperly trained and ready for adventure.
6. Good training
The dog is trained very well and has an Order difficulty of -2, and +1 MD (HD in other systems) The price is at +1d10 Aengels.
7. Very good training
This is exemplary training and the order difficulty is at -4, and +1 MD (HD in other systems). The price on this dog is at +2d10 Aengels
8. Trained by the best!
This dog is extremly well behaived and trained. The order difficulty is at -6, and +1 maximum MD (+1 HD with maximum hit points in other systems). The price at +25 Aengels.
Step 5 - Quirks for the dog
1. Fat & ClumsyThis dog may have been some hero-dog once upon a time but it has been left lazy for to long and is now an overweight and clumsy joke-of-a-dog. The price goes down by -1d10 Aengels. as do a MD and -2 on movement.
2. Small & Weak
It may happen that this dog is loyal and well trained but it is really small for its race and have less muscles. It lose 1 MD and does a damage die less (d6 become d4, a d4 become a d3) One get 1d10 discount.
3. Short legs
This dog has short legs for its breed. it get -2 in movement and can jump shorter distances, -4 on jump checks. you get a 1d10 discount.
4. Holy teeth of the inqusition
This dog is great for hunting the undead and have +2 damage against them.
5. Hungry
If one doesn't feed this dog regulary it will have an order difficulty of +4. It will have to make a Willpower (wisdom in other systems) check every 2 hours or have an 1d4 morale damage.
6. Bad temper
This dog is temperate and like to bark at people and seem upset. It has a +2 order difficulty.
7. likes to play
This dog likes to play and if someone take their time and play around with it he will get a -2 order difficulty for the next two hours. The dog regenerates morale (HP in other systems) while playing.
8. Ghast Sniffer
This dog has a knack for finding ghost and other unseen horrors. He will bark at invisible things.
9. Pure Breed
This dog has an ancestry and are the purest of his kind. He will cost an additional 1d10 Aengels but has an additional strong attribute consistant with his race.
10. Mixed breed
This dog is a mix of two diffrent breeds. There is a small chance that this other mix is of a magical or otherwise supernatural sort.
11. The jesters companion
Some jester must have trained this animal as it is very good at tricks and can balance stuff on its nose.
12. Magical Sensitivity
This dog can sense magic and will bark at magical items.
13. Witch hunter
This dog can sense the smell of corruption and will bark at witches, wizards and deamons alike.
14. Scary looking
This dog may have a white eye and scars. Well something makes it very scary and it has a fear attack each combat. 1d6 morale damage against weak opponents. (a morale check in other systems)
15. Torch bearer
This dog is not afraid of fire and is trained to carry a torch.
16. Fast
This dog is very fast and have a base movement of +2
17. Hunter
This dog is trained in the art of hunting and can track and hunt at +2
18. good climber
climbs with a +2 modifier
19. Mans best friend
this dog really attach to another being and this being get +3 on Order Difficulty. The first person who succeed on a charisma check at difficulty 20 is this dogs best friend. Each person can only try one time each day. The person who want to charm this beast must really make an effort to make the roll.
20. the Holy dog of the gods
This dog is chosen by the gods as it will seem. Once per day the dog can cast the miracle of the god.
1d6 1. Aeidmar - light 2. Haergmor - cone of cold, 3.Laeendur - Heal 4. Dyince - pass without trace 5.Elmendar - bound by faith 6. shield against the corrupt
fredag 25 juli 2014
A is for Art
Mentioned earlier this week that you must get the next issue of the manor. +Tim Shorts posted some Art for this issue today where yours truly are featured among the other great illustrators.
Head over to Gothridge Manor and have a look and read all the other crazy stuff Tim can think of.
Head over to Gothridge Manor and have a look and read all the other crazy stuff Tim can think of.
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| "You are not getting any younger" - in a Manor near you |
torsdag 24 juli 2014
TFE #6: There is no place like home
The 6th session of the warming up of the expedition got to be a hot story.
Some background leading up to this sessions start:
First of all are the PCs all new to the lands. They have all travelled for one reason or another up to the north part of westforge (in the local tounge "Västhärd") and come to the village of Teirums Ro.
One of the characters, Mortissa Nibeling, a young blackling necromancer, had by her father gained the owners slip to the house called, "Rosbacka", or "Rosenhill Vineyard". It is in this house all the characters can gather and start to feel at home.
In their first adventure (#2-4 I think) they met this gathering called something like, "the cult of Sirtissa", that had kidnapped some locals and transported them up to this place in the north called the "theatre of eternal night". The cult was lead by Boldazar who were some nobleman in the area.
He had recruited both the foreman of the local sawmill and Gabor, the captain of the village guard, and these two were the liutenants in the cult whom otherwise consisted of local peasants.
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| Teirums Ro |
Needless to say that the local cult wore these silver masks, and Boldazar had the most exclusive one, an artifact of great corruption.
The Cults hangout were some hours to the north under an old burnt out mansion.
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| The cult of Sirtissa secret temple |
How did "There is no place like home" play out?
The session starts with the following lines,
"You wake up! There is something not quite right, drowsily you watch around the dark room, and you sit up on the edge of your bed. Then you suddenly feel that faint smell of smoke, feet walking across the floor, and hear the crackling sound of flames that grabs the wood! Are you under attack? Is Rosbacka on fire? You rush out of bed ... "
All the characters are located in Diffrent rooms in Rosbacka (Rosenhill Vineyard). There is bandits placed at diffrent locations around the house, most likely in corridors. They think that the characters are "magically" asleep and will be surprised to see them awake when they run into eachother.
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| Rosbacka, 1st floor |
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| Rosbacka, 2nd floor |
The first thing to explain is that they have only six seconds (or whatever your combat round is, usually 6-10 seconds) to describe what their characters will do.
I told them the only things they needed to know for now, you can move 6 squares, it will cost you half your movement if you stay to pick something up, it will cost all of your movement if you pick several things up and your movement ens at doors and windows.
As soon as they see a fire, I explained the rules of fire. first their is the players turn, then the enemy has their turn and after this their is a fire turn and then last a smoke inhalation damage turn.
A fire in a square had a number from 1 and up. 1 meaning that it was very weak and easily extiguishable and each strength after tgat made it harder and more dangerous.
If player X saw a fire I let that player roll the dice for that fire in the fire turn.
Fire 1d6 (+ 1 if the fire has reached a strength of 4 ) .
- loose -1 str
- nothing happen
- Spread in one direction (1t8, 1. SW, 2. W, 3, NW, 4. N, 5. NE, 6. E, 7. SE, 8. S.) If a fire spread to a square allready on fire the str is raised by +1
- burns stronger with +1 str + spreads in one direction as on 3.
- +1 str and spread 1 direction (see 3)
- Lesser explosion, spread in two directions, see 3, and roll two times.
- Greater explosion, spread in all directions.
- Fire tongue. fire jumps in one direction (3) but 3 squares away.
I had rules for navigating through fire, smoke inhalation, and stuck in the fire but never got to use any of these in my session. My players had to much respect for fire after seeing one henchman in an earlier session burn to death after a small jump. This fire were a bit more harmless tho but maybe I failed to explain that? We had fun anyways in the end.
One character died this night. RIP Raksen, the most greedy badger one could find in the kingdom, but he was polite and helpfull.
All in all, the players were shaken and stirred, and NOW they are on their way to UNDER for the first time. This campaign has the name "Under: The first expedition" so now it will finnaly make use of its name in a correct sense! ;)
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