Wednesday, March 29, 2023

The Witch Queens of the Basic Bestiary

 On Monday, I mentioned some plans for Basic Bestiary, namely to include many of my various Witch Queens with stat blocks.  I wanted to talk about it today.

As my Basic Bestiary project has grown (and grown, and grown) it has also morphed. I originally planned this to be a collection of monsters from my various witch books and monsters from my notes that never had a proper home. Later it morphed as a nod to not just the Monster Manual, the book that got me into D&D, and two of my favorite books the Fiend Folio and Deities & Demigods. What I liked about both was the variety of creatures and beings they included.

Tea with the Witch Queens by Brian Brinlee
Tea with the Witch Queens by Brian Brinlee

While I have a lot of Witch Queens, I can only include some of them. Many belong to other people and IPs. Great for a game here in my home, bad for a publication. Others would not work for the scope and design for Basic Bestiary.  

The idea started when I was trying to figure out what to do with Baba Yaga. Was she Faerie Lord? Some sort of Outsider? Something else? No. She was a Witch Queen, and in my worlds, that is something special.

Here are the ones I am thinking about so far. Linking to stats when I have them, but all will need to tweak all of them at some level.

I would like to include Ceridwen, Louhi, Lilith, and Sycorax. While I am at it, I would like to also include others like Bloody Mary, Grimhild, Mother Carey, Prättäkitti, and Sebile.

Others I have good substitutes for. For example, much of what I have been doing with Kersy of Mystara is close enough to the witch Urganda to work as a stand-in, much like Vasilisa works for Elena the Fair.

So far, my plan is to put them all in an appendix at the end of the book. They are not really monsters, even if myth and history have portrayed them as such.  I also don't think a major heading like Witch Queens (like how many books do with Demons or Devils or Elementals) will work because other than being witches and immortal, they are not allied and don't have a lot of powers in common.  Still, I might change my mind about that. 

Something fun to look forward to.

I also have to get art for all of them too. And...there is still the question of the cover art for all four books.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 29

 This room opens up from the hallway to reveal the last creature worked on by the Necromancers. 

Zombie Owlbear

It is a Zombie Owlbear (5HD, attacks like an owlbear, but last in initiative like a zombie).

This creature lacks any intelligence including the knowledge or the will to move to another room. It will attack anything this room.

There are three skeletons on the ground. They wear the remains of what could have been wizard robes. The robes have been slashed. The story here is a little obvious, these were the wizards working on this beast and it killed them. 

One of the robes has a wand of magic missiles with 5 charges left. Another has a ring of protection +1, and all have about 45 GP total.

Searching the room will find a lot of lab equipment, some materials for sewing up corpses and surgical gear. There is a stone slab near the door out with the word "Jabrexi" on it in the language of magic.


Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Review: Blue Flame, Tiny Stars

Blue Flame, Tiny Stars by Stephen Wendell
I was on Mastodon a while back (and I really do need to do more over there) and I struck up a conversation with Stephen Wendell.  He was promoting his new book Blue Flame, Tiny Stars, and I asked for a copy, which he happily sent me.  I got it in the mail about a month ago and I finally sat down to read it.  Honestly it was hard to put down.  While he was not expecting a review when he sent it, I said I would review it. So here it is. 

Blue Flame, Tiny Stars

Blue Flame, Tiny Stars, or more properly, "Blue Flame, Tiny Stars: A Memoir of Early Experiences Playing the Holmes Edition of the World’s Most Superlative Role-Playing Game" by Stephen Wendell, is a memoir of one man's first experiences with Dungeons & Dragons. 

Stephen's story here is a familiar one. I could have recounted a very similar tale of the summer of 1980 after being exposed to D&D back in December of 1979. But his tale is an earnest one and an engaging one.

The sales pitch for this book includes the line "Warning: Reading this book will make you want to play D&D!" and that is 100% true. Reading through Wendell's recollections of his first encounter with D&D, via the Holmes Basic Rules (same as me) made me want to pull out my Holmes set and roll up a new character. It reminded me of summer days coloring in my own dice with a white crayon and then playing games at night with my brother or friends. 

This is not a long book, a little more than 30 pages. It also reads much faster than its size would suggest because it is so engaging. Wendell manages to do something rather magical here. He engages you in his own discoveries and makes you recall your own at the same time. It is not just a fantastic new tale; it is a fantastic OLD tale that you already know. 

I have talked a lot about Holmes Basic and its enduring appeal. This book is a love letter to that set and that time. 

Holmes Basic

The book is on sale in lots of places, and Wendell sells it in a variety of formats (print, pdf, epub), all at Pay What You Want (at DriveThru).  But seriously, find the suggested price and pay more than that. 

Regardless of what you pay for it or how long it takes you to read it do pick this one up. Especially if you started as part of the "Second Generation" of Gamers that did not learn from war games or from the ancient masters. We taught ourselves or learned from others that also taught themselves. This is the group that both Wendell and I (and likely many of you) claim membership in. 

Props also for including the quote from Carl Jung. Seriously was this book custom-made for me? We even have the same dice.

Polyhedrons

If you are part of that Second Generation, then you owe it to yourself, or at least that 9-11-year-old version of yourself, to pick up this book. It is more than just a nostalgia grab. It is the real thing, and I am happy to have it.

I am sticking my copy inside my Holmes boxed set where it belongs.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 28

This room is really a wide hallway with many smaller cells on each wall to the left and right. There are four on each lower row on both sides and four above these in an upper row for a total of 16 cells.

Room 28

The cell doors are steel and not bars. It is difficult to hear anything at all on the inside, but the doors do feel warm. The locking mechanism is broken so unlocking one will cause the others to open as well.

Opening the cells will release 8 Hellhounds (3 HD each).  These animals were going to be used for breeding purposes but they have been forgotten. They are hungry and quite insane. They will attack everything in the room, including each other.  

Once one Hellhound is down the nearest three will attack it and attempt to eat it. If they succeed (two rounds to do this) then their HD increases to 4 HD.

Each hound is wearing a jeweled silver collar with 500 gp.  The magic of the collar kept them locked onto this plane.

Monday, March 27, 2023

Monstrous Mondays: What's Next for This Old Dragon (and more BB updates)

Combining two posts into one today. Mostly because I don't have a monster to share.

A few years back, I bought two large collections of Dragon Magazines. They were in terrible shape, most missing their covers, many had water damage, and a few were in great shape. So I started on a plan to do "This Old Dragon." I'd pull one out at random and review the contents. Not review-review, but talk about what was inside and reminisce about what was going on for me then and how I could or still do the material inside.

It has been a fun trip.  One of my personal goals was to reread the ones I had in the past AND to find new material from Dragons Issue #50 and below.  I had one other goal that developed in my readings too. More on that.

But I am now running out of Dragons. I grabbed one the other day, Issue 95, only to remember I had already done it

So how does this all relate to monsters?

The goal I developed while reading these was how much I enjoyed the old Ecology Of articles.  Since so many of these were in terrible shape to begin with, I was fine with cutting out these sections and putting them into my AD&D 2nd Ed Monstrous Compendium binders. I am growing the definitive collection of AD&D monsters over here. 

So for the next phase of my This Old Dragon, I want to go in the other direction. I want to find Dragons that cover the 2e era. 

My personal start of the AD&D 2nd Era would be sometime after Dragon #150. I know for a while Dragon was doing both 1st Ed and 2nd Ed stats for monsters, and some of those I still have here. I might re-sort what I have left and clear out all my ones from below #150. I think my cut-off Dragon for AD&D 2nd then needs to be #274 when Paizo took over.

Now I need to find a good collection that covers the 90s issues of Dragon.

Do not tell me I can get issues online. I don't condone piracy of any sort. Besides, I have the Dragon Magazine CD-ROM that goes all the way to issue #250. 

The goal here is to have physical magazines in hand to review.

I don't need collector's copies; I don't even need table copies. I need readable copies, and if they are missing a page here or there, no big deal.  Nor am I looking for handout copies. I will buy what I need. 

I will wrap up my "Classic" This Old Dragon copies and then move on to the ones I have that are after issue #150.  After that...well, it depends on what I can find out there.

If you see any for sale online, let me know!

Basic Bestiary Updates

Did not get as far as I wanted to get last week. I made some more updates to BB1 and BB3. What can I say? Demons are fun to write about. I am not happy with my stat-blocks for dragons yet. Glad that is for BB4, and there are no plans to get that out until 2024. All four may come out then unless I get busy.

I do need new cover art for all four, and I would like them all to be from the same artist.

I *DID* however, come up with the plan to include the various Witch Queens in my game world in an Appendix. Obviously, I will not include ones based on others' intellectual property. But I have enough mytho-historical ones and my own for it not to matter.  I like this idea a lot and it fills a gap I had in the various power structures of the book. These witches will be part of BB1. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 27

Coming down the hall from Room 26 is another chamber. This one has a locked door similar to those on Level 2.

Inside, this room appears to be empty. There is a door directly in front of the door the party just came in. Next to the door is the statue of a knight.

Room 27

The statue is a Living Statue (D&D Basic Set).

This is a Rock Living Statue, a creation of the wizards that used to control these lands. Now it is a forgotten guard to the magic laboratories beyond.

Instead of spotting magma from its fingertips it will spit it up from its mouth. It can only do this once every other round. It does 2d8 points of damage. Its fists do 1d6+1 twice per round.

Sunday, March 26, 2023

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 26

Going left, you go through a hallway to another chamber. This one is square. There is an opening straight ahead.  There is a statue of a demonic-looking dragon figure. It has gems for eyes.

Room 26

The gems are not real but the dragon is.

Coming within 5' of the "statue" will breathe a gas that turns the victim to stone.  They get a saving throw vs. Petrify/Paralysis. Victims get a +2 bonus to their save, the dragon is rather hungry.

This is a creature, but its own skin has been turned to stone due to a horrible magical experiment to create a dragon that could breathe a cloud of petrification gas and it worked, to a degree.  The dragon turned itself to stone.  It is still alive and it can't move or eat, so it is quite insane now.  It can't be killed. 

Once it breathes it has to wait another hour to breathe again. Anyone turned to stone will become normal again in 5 turns, but their Dexterity will suffer a permanent reduction of 1 point. 

Saturday, March 25, 2023

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 25

The hallway leads to another room. There is an opening on the right and one to the left.

Room 25

In this room are 3 Giant Pythons.

How they got here is anyone's guess, but they attack the party as soon as they enter. They do not have any treasure.

The opening to the right leads back to Room #12. The opening to the left leads on to the rest of the level.

--

Today's monster comes to you because I needed to reinstall Python 3.11.2 on my computer for work.

Friday, March 24, 2023

Kickstart Your Weekend: My Last Sunrise 2 - Women of Horror

A late entry today; really busy at work.

My Last Sunrise 2 - Women of Horror - 28mm Minis for TTRPG

My Last Sunrise 2 - Women of Horror - 28mm Minis for TTRPG

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/badsquiddogames/my-last-sunrise-2?ref=theotherside

I like these minis, they have a really cool Hammer Horror vibe to them.

So much great stuff here I can't decide what level to pledge at!

I should at least get a Vampire Queen right.





#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 24

Further down the hall there is a cell to your left. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 24

This cell is filled with a thick green haze/mist. Visibility, including dark vision and infravision, is reduced to 1 foot. 

After 1 round the mist will start to poison the PCs.  They must make a saving throw vs. Poison or be rendered unconscious. Any unconscious PC will loose 1 point of Con every turn until they are taken out of the mist. Any character reduced to 0 Con dies.  An unconscious character will revive in 1 turn and be back at normal Con with 1 hour of rest per Con lost.

I the character makes the save, their Con loss is 1 point per hour. These characters will regain Con at the rate of 1 point every 30 mins of rest.

There are three skeletal remains from previous victims here. They have 200 gp, 300 sp,  55 cp, five gems of 5 gp each, and a dagger +1.

 

Thursday, March 23, 2023

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 23

Continuing through the door of Room #23, the hallway continues there is a cell on your immediate right.

Room 23

Inside this room are three (3) large Giant Crab Spiders. They have maximum hp. Their bite has poison as per the B/X rules.

There is a glow coming from a portal 10' from the ground. If the PCs stay in this room for longer than 1 hour three more crab spiders will appear.

--

Another dip into my Monster and Treasure Assortment tonight!

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Welcome to the NIGHT SHIFT

I have a little project going on, and it would be nice to make a formal introduction to the NIGHT SHIFT Veterans of the Supernatural Wars Role-Playing Game



What is NIGHT SHIFT Veterans of the Supernatural Wars?

NIGHT SHIFT Veterans of the Supernatural Wars is a modern urban fantasy role-playing game with horror roots but with multi-genre elements as well. It is designed to be played the way you want, from light and fast to gritty and complex. It also features of examples of play thanks to our various Night Worlds. So you can be a student in Chicago's only school for Magical Youths and partake in various magic-fueled hijinks, all the way to a post-apocalyptic Earth where the forces of Good and Evil battle it out in the skies above and the streets below. Or to play a supernatural creature that just wants to live and get by in a world full of humans trying to hunt them down.

Play it silly, straight, dangerous or just fun, NIGHT SHIFT can do it.

Wait. What is a Role-Playing Game?

Role-playing games have a LONG history. But the modern role-playing game (RPG) began, roughly, in 1974 with the publication of the Dungeons & Dragons rules.  You can read more about what a role-playing game is in this excerpt from the NIGHT SHIFT core rules book.

NIGHT SHIFT Veterans of the Supernatural Wars is self-contained. Meaning every rule you need to play is found in the covers of the core book. You will need dice (available nearly everywhere now), some paper, some pencils, but most of all some good friends to play with. No computers, no phones, and if your internet goes down, you can still play!

What Can I do With NIGHT SHIFT VSW?

Anything you want! As a multi-genre game NIGHT SHIFT VSW is open to all sorts of situations and ways to play.  Have a favorite TV show, movie, or book series? NIGHT SHIFT VSW with its varying degrees of play difficulty (Cinematic, Normal, and Gritty) allows the players to set the tone of the game.

Players take on the roles of various characters of their own creations. It's the game of Chosen Ones, Survivors, Witches, and Something Weird.  YOU decide what you want to play and how to do it.

NIGHT SHIFT is an urban fantasy, horror, and dark modern supernatural game that uses a brand new system of old-school mechanics inspired by and derived from the original, basic, expert, and advanced versions of the World's Most Famous Role Playing Game. It allows you to mimic all the tropes of just about any film, TV series, or novel you like.

All of the following are possible with NIGHT SHIFT VSW:

  • Cheerleaders that are chosen to slay vampires
  • Sisters imbued with the power of chosen witches
  • Worlds where Fae of all manner battle in the politics of light and dark
  • The great-grandniece of a famous gunslinger inherits the legacy of the demon hunter.
  • A world where two brothers armed with knowledge and weapons hunt the supernatural in their father's name
  • And more!

What is Old-School Play?

Old-school play in RPGs refers to a style of play that emphasizes fewer rules and more freedom to play. This is why NIGHT SHIFT VSW is complete as a single book. Players familiar with new RPGs can still do all the same things they had done before or want to do, now it just depends on how they all want to do it. It is more about how you play with each other rather than how you play with the rules.

But if you want more details here is co-Author and lead designer Jason Vey on what Old-School play means for NIGHT SHIFT VSW over on his blog for Elf Lair Games.

Sounds Great! How Do I Get Started?

Well, start with some friends who all want to play. One person (maybe you!) will be the Game Master or the one that builds the adventures that everyone goes on. They are like the writer, director, and producer of a movie or TV show. As everyone gets more familiar with the rules you switch off Game Master roles so everyone has a chance to build your new world. Unlike watching a movie or reading a book, everyone playing gets to decide what is happening in the world. 

You can certainly buy the NIGHT SHIFT VSW core rules and supplements. But in the meantime here are free resources to get you started right now.

Not to mention all the free NIGHT SHIFT content found on the authors' personal blogs and websites.

If you are a fan of physical books you can get NIGHT SHIFT VSW directly from the publisher or if PDFs are your thing you can buy NIGHT SHIFT VSW from DriveThruRPG.

We hope to see you on the NIGHT SHIFT!

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 22

Returning to Room #20, the characters can now go to the right (previously left).  

Room 22

This hallway leads to a closed door. The door is not locked.  Inside is a circular chamber.  There is a door just like the one the PCs entered on the other side.

On the walls above the characters are 2 Gargoyles.  As soon as the PCs are all in the room, they will swoop down and attack.  

Behind a loose stone near their roosts is their treasure hoard.  There is C x2 treasure, as well as an additional 1,000 gp in assorted gems. 

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Mail Call Tuesday: The Twisted Twins

Everyone knows I love horror. I watch more than I can ever review here to be honest and don't always talk about the ones I enjoy.

Case in point I rather love "American Mary." It is so twisted, and really Katharine Isabelle (the star as Mary) is just so great to watch in everything she is in.

But the real stars of the movie are the directors (and occasional actresses) Jen and Sylvia Soska, aka the Soska Sisters, aka the Twisted Twins.

They were having a special on their Etsy webstore before closing it down for a bit and I knew I needed something. 

Well, I got it over the weekend, and I am pretty happy.

Jen and Sylvia Soska

Jen and Sylvia Soska

I mean really? "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?" "Blessed Be!!" "Wanna Join our Coven?"

How could I possibly say no!

Yeah sorry for the glare, but I wanted to get them into frames before I scratched them. 

They would also make great "live-action" stand-ins for my two blood witches Kimbra & Kelleigh.

Now I need to find a place on my game room walls to hang them. Though knowing the Soskas they would want me to hang these with a meat hook!

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 21

Going straight takes the characters to a large room with wooden doors.  There is an eerie glow from the inside of the room.

Room 21

This is a storage chamber for various items needed to keep and feed the monsters here.  All the food is long gone, but there are a few normal weapons here as well as the following magical ones.

A sword +1 / +2 vs Lycanthropes.

A gem of light (casts light 3 times per day) This is causing the glow.

A shield +2

A dagger +1

A mace +1 / +2 vs Undead

Finding these items is worth 1,500 xp total.

This room is a dead end.

Monday, March 20, 2023

Monstrous Mondays: But What About Dragons?

Did quite a bit of work on my Basic Bestiaries last week.  Mostly edits and some large-scale moving around of content. I am close to publishing yet, though I have more art for BB1.

Dragon

Here is where I am on content.

akaCompleteStarted
Basic Bestiary IWitch Monsters284339
Basic Bestiary IIUndead131378
Basic Bestiary IIIDemons155240
Basic Bestiary IVDragons1220

So, nearly 600 monsters are complete, and nearly 1,000 total started in one form or another.

A couple of things. 

Basic Bestiary I has shrunk while Basic Bestiary III has grown. I moved over about 20-25 creatures from I to III since they fit better.

Also, you might notice Basic Bestiary IV, aka Dragons.  I have talked about it, but not much. Mostly because I kept it closer to my chest, but really because so little of it was done.

This project grew out of something my oldest had been working on for a while, a book about dragons we were calling "Here There Be Dragons." It has been an on-again, off-again project for a while (ok 11 years) but I was leaving it in the hands of a then 11-year-old to work on. We resurrected it a while back and I have been slowly converting material from it to my Basic Bestiary format.  But that is not all, I also want to come up with a good monster stat block that will really take advantage of how awesome (in all senses of the word) dragons are.  I experimented with this one, but it is not 100% where I want it to be yet.  

I love the idea of Dragons getting their own book. I mean if I am going to do a book of Undead and Demons then Dragons really should get their own too.

In addition to the stat block, I have other issues to work out. Should Tiamat be in the Demon book or the Dragon book? Right now she is in both. What about one of my favorites, the Piasa Bird? Is it a dragon?

Next year, 2024, is not just the 50th Anniversary of D&D but it is also the Chinese year of the Dragon.  Feels like to me that an Old School monster book about dragons would be perfect.

I just need to get my ass moving on these.

I am also ditching the current covers I have for them and looking for something new. Still figuring out what to use.  I want the same artist for all four and they must feature the creature types covered. Still searching.

BTW if you want some cool dragon content now, Bruce Heard has a bunch up on his blog.


#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 20

This room is another semi-circular chamber, like Room #12. The room has a hallway to the left, and the hallway continues straight. 

Room 20

This room, like Room 12, shows signs of a recent battle. There is a dead orc here with a usable sword, non-magical. He has a pouch of 23 cp that his "killers" missed.  There is a poison dart in his neck.

The orc is lying on top of a trap trigger; this is what killed him. Moving the orc will trigger it again.

Finding the trap and disarming before it fires is worth 50xp. After it fires, it is only worth 0 xp.

Sunday, March 19, 2023

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 19

 Moving down the hall another 10', there is another cell on the left.

Room 19

This room was recently sacked by the group in room 18. There are three dead orcs here. If the party searched they will find a potion of healing that was missed. 


Saturday, March 18, 2023

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 18

Taking the left turn you continue down the hallway there is a door to your immediate right (18), and another further down to the left (19). The door to the right is open.  

Room 18

This is a much larger cell, and inside are 6 Human Fighters (level 3, Chaotic).  They all wear platemail (AC 4) and carry swords (1d8+1).  Their hp are 16, 13, 11, 11, 10, 9.

Fighter #1 (16hp) has a dagger +1 that he will use if combat is going against them.

They have a total of 250 pp, 800 gp, 1,250 ep, 220 sp, and 3,000 cp.  This is the group that has been looting the dungeon ahead of the characters. Adjust their number and hp as needed. 

Friday, March 17, 2023

Kickstart Your Weekend: All About Those Witches!

So new Kickstarters up from the last week or so. All are doing well and certainly don't need my signal boost, but I feel obligated to do so.

MythCraft | A Complete TTRPG Universe and Game System

MythCraft | A Complete TTRPG Universe and Game System

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/quasigrant/mythcraft-rpg?ref=theotherside

MythCraft aims high. It looks great and the team certainly put a lot of love and care into it.  What I am hearing most about it is the detailed character-building rules and options.  Indeed it looks quite fun to be honest and the game is attractive as hell. They are going all out here.

It *might* just be another Fantasy Heartbreaker, but even if it is, it is still detailed enough to have my attention.  There is a Quick Start here, and I am quite excited for them.

There is a lot, and I mean A LOT of material here and there is no way I can do it justice, but check them out and see for your self. 

Can You Play A Witch? Yes! In fact the witch is one of the four classes (out of 11) that they are featuring here.  You can see her on the cover, upper left. 


All the Witches

All the Witches

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/allthewitches/all-the-witches?ref=theotherside

I interviewed the project lead and "head witch" Emmapanada yesterday. Well this one came screaming out the gate and was funded in under 3 hours!  

What else can I add? I love the art and I am really looking forward to seeing this one become a reality.

Can You Play A Witch? Yes! Correction. HELL YES! That's what this game is all about and honestly, I am all here for it.


Shadowdark RPG: Old-School Gaming, Modernized

Shadowdark RPG: Old-School Gaming, Modernized

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadowdarkrpg/shadowdark-rpg-old-school-gaming-modernized?ref=theotherside

The current darling of the Old-School crowd. It is fun, I have had the QuickStart since Gary Con last year and played around with it.  The production values here are top notch, so it is certainly a very attractive set.

It is fun yes and has a lot going for it. I think it lives somewhere in between DCC and OSE. Though I do admit I can't really see what this does for me that OSE can't do.  Still, I know this will be fun for the right groups.

Can You Play A Witch? Yes, but you will need to grab her from the Cursed Scroll #1 zine to add her. 

ShadowDark books

ShadowDark witch

ShadowDark warlock

--

Lots of great games out there!

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 17

The hallway continues a bit and then turns to the left, but before that, there is another cell on the right.

Cell 17

The doors are open. Inside this cell are three orcs with swords.  They are searching the cell, but have not found anything, they attack the party.

They have normal amounts of treasure for wandering orcs.

--

The orcs come from a portal on the second level.


Thursday, March 16, 2023

Interview with Emmapanada of "All The Witches"

Something special today.  I had the chance to talk to Emma, aka Emmapanada, the lead designer of the RPG "All the Witches" that is Kickstarting today.  What is "All the Witches?"  Well, let us find out!

All the Witches

All the Witches

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/allthewitches/all-the-witches?ref=theotherside

Tim Brannan/The Other Side: It is my pleasure today to be interviewing the team that is currently Kickstaring a new Witch-based RPG, “All The Witches.” Which you can find here, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/allthewitches/all-the-witches

Today I am talking with Lead Designer Emma for today’s launch. 

Before we get into all the questions, please introduce yourself and tell us all what your role is on this team.

Emma: My name is Emma, also known as Emmapanada! I use they/she pronouns and I’m the Creator, Lead Developer, Lead Game Designer for All the Witches. I’ve been playing TTRPGs for a little over 10 years now, and I started creating systems in September of 2020. I’ve been working on All the Witches since about December 2021, and I’m incredibly excited to have it finally come to Kickstarter!

TB/TOS: What are some of your favorite games? Why?

Emma: Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition has a special place in my heart, because it was the first TTRPG I played long term. My friends and I would play every Saturday in College for 12-14 hours, and it was an absolute blast. Dnd 5e was starting to get playtested when we were playing, so we were way behind the times, but it was a ton of fun. Once I started playing more systems, I really fell in love with Kids on Bikes because sneaking around town hunting for ghosts and cryptids is really fun and stressful, and World of Darkness holds a special place in my heart because it was the first game I played with my partner. 

All the Witches

TB/TOS: That is great, I also rather enjoyed the World of Darkness, as well, and Kids on Bikes is great fun. Tell us a bit about this game and what backers should look forward to when they get it.

Emma:  Absolutely! All the Witches is an original Tabletop Roleplaying Game with some deck-building mechanics utilizing the standard array of dice except for the D100. In the system, you have 5 attributes that any skill checks made during gameplay will fall under. Those attributes are Power, Agility, Soul, Mind, and Endurance. When you try to make a check, your GM will tell you what attribute they think that check relates to, and then they'll tell you to roll a certain die. In this system, the die you roll determines the difficulty of the check, and you succeed on the check if you roll at or below the corresponding attribute's rank. So if your GM tells you to make a D10 Agility check, and your Agility is rank 4, then you succeed on rolling a 4 or below. As you play the game, your Attributes will rank up, and over time you'll automatically pass certain levels of difficulties for checks because you Attribute rank is higher than the value of the die. 

The deck building comes into play during encounters. Your deck is made up of number cards from either the Minor Arcana of a Tarot Deck, or from a deck of playing cards. At the start of the game, you'll have 5 cards in your deck that numerically equate to each of your Attributes' ranks. When you enter an encounter, you'll draw three cards from your deck and when it's your turn, you'll play a card from your hand. The card you play determines the number of Actions you get in that turn. If you play a 4 of Swords, then you have 4 actions that turn. You can use actions to cast spells, move, interact with objects, attack, or use abilities. As you play the game you'll add more numbered cards to your deck, some special face cards that give you special abilities on your turn, and as you reach certain parts of the game the suits of the cards you play will come into effect. 

Our goal as a team is not to create an entire world in All the Witches. Instead, our plan is to feature 3 regions of the world and flesh them each out with rich detail. Groups that play All the Witches can start off in one of these regions and have entire adventures there, they can go and travel to the other regions to explore, or they can collectively imagine what the rest of this world might look like and build things together to make their stories truly theirs. 

All the Witches

The three regions that All the Witches will feature are:

-Tane: A dense forest region that once thrived with life and beauty. Long ago, some adventurers slew a great spirit that resided in Tane, and its death sent the entire region into a spiral of corruption and Discordance. Not many live there now because the region is extremely toxic and dangerous, but those that do rely heavily on Witches to keep their towns free of corruption, poison, and dangerous creatures. Groups that start here will often find themselves fighting against the very nature around them in order to survive. 

-The Golden Islands: A large chain of islands that house two civilizations that couldn't be more opposite to one another. The United Islands of Sunder are a free people that use magic to sail the seas, explore the unknown, and keep the treasures they find. Darkhammer on the other hand is a society with strict rules that uses magic to strengthen and protect their ships and trading routes. These two come into conflict often, and groups that start here will find themselves fighting people from either civilization in order to survive. 

-Cyllynys: A verdant gem in the northern seas, Cyllynys is a small nation with a big impact on the world at large. Settled long ago by a diverse array of peoples, its earliest history is shrouded in myth and legend; ancient monuments of mysterious origin dot the landscape. The people of Cyllynys have, since their earliest days, put a tremendous value upon knowledge and wisdom, and this led to their development of steam technology. Now, that same technology threatens to take over the traditions and ancient monuments that once meant so much. Groups that start here will face a changing nation, and the tensions that arise because of that change.

We're committed to being a digital-only product with our Kickstarter launch for a number of reasons:

1. We're a small TTRPG project and printing generally takes up about a third of a project's entire budget. In a COVID world where a lot of groups are currently playing digitally, we think that money can be better spent on accessibility resources to help people learn and play our game. We're hoping to build a website to help people with character creation and upkeep, to incorporate links into our PDF that lead to short, professionally produced videos explaining certain portions of the rules for people that struggle learning systems just from reading text, and more.

2. Due to the world wide paper shortage the past few years, a number of TTRPG projects have been delayed, and we think that as a small project we should do what we can to encourage others to seek a paperless route. We hope to show the TTRPG industry what all can be done with your project when you aren't focused on physical prints of your books.

3. Because we're focusing on a digital product, we'll be able to include a lot more to enhance the player experience. With each purchase of All the Witches, we'll be including various music files, portraits for NPCs and Characters, digital maps, and more. 

Since this is a digital product where everyone will get all the resources that are made, there will only be a few pledge levels on the Kickstarter itself. The main pledge level will be $30, and that will get you the PDF as well as all other digital resources such as musical tracks, character and NPC portraits, maps, stream overlays, stream assets, emotes, and more. There will be a $50 pledge level that's for those that want to support the book a little more, and for those that pledge at that level there will be thank you pages dedicated to them at the back of the book with fun art. Then there will be a $200 pledge level that will get a personalized thank you at the back of the book, and a Character/NPC portrait will be made based on them. 

TB/TOS: What do you all feel makes All The Witches different from games currently on the market? What do you say makes it special? Or, bottom line, why should people want to buy this game?

Emma: On top of having a unique rule system that I think will surprise a lot of people, our commitment to being a wholly digital game gives us the opportunity to do a lot that other games aren’t doing. With the release of our game, we’re also sending backers tools to help enhance their online roleplaying experience including original orchestrations that tables can use in their games, NPC and Character tokens, emotes, stream overlays and assets, and professionally produced videos to help people learn our system who have a hard time learning just by reading. Additionally, since we’re digital, after release we can continue making new content for All the Witches and releasing it for free in content patches to the PDF. I like to think of All the Witches as a living TTRPG, because I have plans to keep updating it after release at no additional cost to those who have already purchased the book. 

TB/TOS: Tell me a bit more about the deck-building mechanic. This is a feature of a few games, but not really a lot.

Emma:  I talked a bit about the deck-building mechanics above, but it’s a really hard system to incorporate into a TTRPG without those mechanics becoming the sole-identity of the rules. I wanted to find a way to have deck building, but also have it be balanced with the rest of the system without stealing the spotlight from the other mechanics. It took me a long time to figure out, but I think I found a really great way to do it, and I’m excited for everyone to see the ways deck building influences the entire system and what it brings to it as a whole. 

TB/TOS: What sorts of games do you see others playing with these rules? In other words, what can players do in this game?

Emma: There are so many different kinds of games that people can play with All the Witches. Groups can use All the Witches to have a magical school simulator where you live as students, recruit new professors to your schools, meet new students, establish new traditions, and more. They can use the system to play an entire campaign centered around the magical sport that we’ve created called Ryndarost. They can follow a traditional story of adventure and fighting monsters that have been brought about due to the corruption in the world. They can even become heroes that ease the corruption in the world through a special mechanic called a Harmonization Ceremony! The goal is to build a system full enough that a group can take it and use it for any kind of story that they’d like to explore about Witches, and I think we’ve got a really amazing team in order to bring that vision together. 

TB/TOS: The art so far in All the Witches looks amazing. What is the diving vision here on the art and how does that influence the game design and vice-versa?

Emma:  That’s incredibly kind of you to say! I think art is one of the most important things for an indie TTRPG, and it absolutely helps bring life to the world. I’m not an artist, but working with artists causes me to think about how things look visually, because they ask me a lot of questions, and that causes me to have to make a lot of stylistic decisions about the system that have an impact on everything. Do Witches use a staff or a wand? What do they look like and what are they made of? Do Witches have to have them in order to cast magic? What benefits does using a staff or wand give to a Witch that they wouldn’t have normally? One simple question often branches off into so much more, which helps our team develop a fuller and more cohesive game. 

Because I’m not an artist, I’ve been working alone for a lot of this pre-Kickstarter process to pull together cool images to help give life to All the Witches. But hiring Nala Wu has been incredibly helpful, and they’re expertise has already proven invaluable. They’re going to start working fully on all the art for All the Witches after the Kickstarter, but they helped me put the cover and the landscape pieces together, and those pieces bring so much life and character to our game that I’m excited to see what we’re able to make together next once we have our funding. 

All the Witches

TB/TOS: Who would you say All the Witches is for?

Emma:  All the Witches is a game made for those who grew up escaping into worlds of fantasy and magic that have felt abandoned by those world’s creators. We are here to give you the tools and resources to explore a world full of magic and adventure with stories built by you and those you love. Escape into a new world of fantasy and magic built by a team of Queer and BIPOC writers and designers.

TB/TOS: What are your future plans for this game?

Emma:  If all goes according to plan and we successfully fund and are able to fully create and release All the Witches, the plan is that I’ll periodically keep updating the game with new content that will be released for free to everyone who owns a copy of the PDF while I continue working on my next two unannounced TTRPG projects. 

TB/TOS: And, for the benefit of my audience, well, and me (!), who are all of your favorite witches or magic-using characters?

Emma:  I grew up on Final Fantasy games and RPGs, so Vivi from Final Fantasy IX will always have a special place in my heart on top of Morrigan from Dragon Age: Origins! 

TB: And finally, where can we find you all on the internet?

Emma:  You can find us on Twitter @allthewitches_ to keep updated on everything going on, and you can find my personal account @emmapanada! 

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All the Witches is Kickstarting right now! Check it out.

All the Witches


#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 16

This room is down the hall and to the left.

Room 16

Inside this room is a Lesser Iron Golem. It is like an iron golem in all respects, but only has 4HD and it does 1d8+1 points of damage per hit.

It instructed to attack, the problem was it attacks everyone even its makers. So they left it here. 

There is double treasure type E scattered about the floor of this room. 

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Blogging A to Z Theme Reveal: Doctor Who

Once again, I am participating in the April A to Z Blogging Challenge, but this year I wanted to do something a little different than more normal witch or monster-related postings. 

This year is the 60th Anniversary of my favorite sci-fi show of all time, Doctor Who!

Doctor Who 2023 Logo

I thought it would be fun to celebrate all things Doctor Who next month. 

Not 100% sure what I'll talk about, but I know I have plenty to work with.


AtoZChallenge theme reveal 2023 #atozchallenge

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 15

Continuing down the hallway there is another cell on the right (where the ghosts seemed to have been running too).

Room 15

This room also has two more Wraiths. They appear to be two adventurers in the process of looting a corpse. The corpse is now only old bones.

The wraiths will break their loop and attack the characters.

The skeleton has a rusted sword, tattered clothes, and a dagger in its back.  There is a bag with 15 gp in it.



Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Jonathan M. Thompson Memorial Bundle

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the GoFundMe page for the funeral expenses of Jonathan Thompson. 

Pinnacle Entertainment has now set up a bundle on DriveThruRPG to help aid in more of his family's expenses. 

Jonathan M. Thompson Memorial

Jonathan M. Thompson Memorial [BUNDLE]
(not an affiliate link)

This bundle has close to 150 titles valued at $644.54, all yours for $25.

There is a wide variety here too. Old-school OSR, lots of Savage Worlds, even some Chivalry & Sorcery. Or, in other words, a lot of Jonathan's favorite games.

So please pick this up. Lots of great titles, and the proceeds go to help a grieving family.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 14

Continuing down the hallway, you see two figures leaving the cell on the left.

Ghosts from Cell #14

The figures are two Wraiths and they are leaving the cell, as they have done 1000 times since they died. They are vaguely humanoid. One appears to be a male fighter and the other a female wizard or cleric.

When they spot the PCs they will attack.

There is a small hoard of treasure in Cell #14. Items from previous victims. They used to be adventurers themselves but are now dead. 

Monday, March 13, 2023

Monstrous Monday: Monsters and XP

Lilith
Not the art I will use for Lilith, but it is cool.

The work continues on my Basic Bestiaries. I spent some time over the weekend working on various Demon Lords, and working on revisions to my stat block that work well for me and any potential readers.  This has lead me to an issue I need to resolve.

One of the goals for all my Basic Bestaries is to provide players of whatever version of the Great Game they are playing (pre-2000) and their clones a useful and complete stat block for their games.  Another goal was to add what I felt were the best options for new school (post-2000) play. Generally speaking this has worked out well enough with a few extra notes added. But I have come to place where things have gotten messy. That is, how should I denote XP gained.

There are minor differences between all the various clones and even in the versions of D&D itself on how XP should be calculated and/or displayed for defeating a monster.

Let's take an example, the Aglæca from a previous Monstrous Mondays.

Here is the stat block.

Aglæca
Large Humanoid

Frequency: Very Rare
Number Appearing: 1 (1)
Alignment: Chaotic [Chaotic Evil]
Movement: 180' (60') [18"]
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Hit Dice: 8d8**+16 (52 hp)
  HD (Large): 8d10**+16 (60 hp)
Attacks: claw, claw, bite
Damage: 1d6+4 x2, 1d8+4
Special: Cause fear, magic required to hit, regenerate 1 hp per round, infravision, sunlight sensitivity. 
Size: Large
Save: Monster 8
Morale: 12 (12)
Treasure Hoard Class: XIX [D] x2
XP: 1,750 (OSE) 1,840 (LL)

Ok, a few things first. Items in RED are AD&D/OSRIC and some Swords & Wizardry add-ons to what would be a Basic D&D stat block. Items in GREEN are "new school" add-ons like ascending AC and the XP values for OSE and Labyrinth Lord.  I also want to point out one other item I have discussed in the past using different die types for size categories.  This is something from D&D 5 (and in the SRD). Not only does it make sense, it also replicates something I was doing in AD&D 1 anyway (though I only used d6, d8, and d10).  It helps solve a lot of issues with hp spread and size. 

But...there is a consequence of this. 

So my issue recently has been one of XP calculation. I want a book that can be used by players of AD&D and Basic D&D, as well as OSE, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, OSRIC, and Basic Fantasy.  The trouble is they don't all line up with XP point calculations.  And more to the point even something like my Aglæca here is a Large creature, so it's hp, and thus it's XP value, will be greater in AD&D and OSRIC than they would by the book.

What should I do about this?

Solution 1: List Them All

I did this above with just OSE and LL above.  It is comprehensive but unwieldy. 

S&W CL: 10 / XP: 1400
OSE: 1750
LL: 1840
BF: 1015
B/X: 1250
OSRIC: 1150
Advanced: 1150

The OSRIC and Advanced could be collapsed into one (and should).  My d10-based hp calculations do make some of these a little different. 

This works, but like I said, it is unwieldy.

Solution 2: The Point Spread

In truth DMs/GMs always tweak their numbers. So why not a point spread?  Something like this:

Min: 1015
Mean: 1365
Median: 1250
Max: 1840

Smaller. And provides a nice spread without going into details for each system (though the calculations are from all the systems).

Of course, when I publish, the B/X and Advanced numbers have to be removed.

I am also considering a median value or even a weighted mean.  And despite my desire to do so, I doubt I'll add anything like a standard deviation.  (ETA: I added the Median)

Solution 3: The Big Table

I could provide a huge table in the end with all the monster and all their XP calcs.

It wouldn't be that difficult since that is already what I have.

XP Tables

It will likely be some combination of "all the above."

Next task. Reorganize the stat-block for easier reading.