Monstrous Mondays: Wood Trolls

First Monday after spring break and I have a cold. Yeah, it sucks.  But thankfully I worked a bit on this one.  And it's a fun one.
We spent some time last week at the Morton Arboretum and went on a troll hunt.

Here they are for two similar systems; B/X Essentials and Blueholme Journeymanne Rules.

Wood Trolls
Wood Trolls are intelligent and remarkably passive creatures for the most part.  They stand anywhere from 9' to 16' tall (with some rare cases of 30' tall varieties).  Their skin and hair appear to be made up of wood. Their skin is hard inflexible and their hair looks like twigs and sticks.
Wood Trolls, as their name implies, live in deep woods.  They try to avoid other creatures when possible. Wood Trolls are often thought to be the more malevolent Earth Troll.  These trolls tend to be less evil than other trolls. 50% of these trolls are Chaotic Neutral in alignment, 30% are of the chaotic good variety and the remaining 20% are chaotic evil.
These trolls prefer to eat wild pigs with only the evil ones resorting to eating children.
Like all trolls they can regenerate, likewise they are also vulnerable to fire. Moreso than other trolls; taking double damage from fire.

B/X Essentials
AC 2, HD 8+4* (40hp), Att 2 × talon (1d6), 1 × bite (1d10), THAC0 11, MV 120’ (40’), SV D8 W9 P10 B11 S12 (F8), ML 10 (8 fear of fire), AL Chaotic*, XP 1,750, NA 1d4 (1d6), TT D

• Regeneration: 3 rounds after being damaged, start regaining 3hp per round. Severed limbs reattach.
• Return from death: If killed (0hp), will regenerate and fight again in 2d6 rounds.
• Fire: Cannot regenerate damage from fire. The only way to permanently kill a troll.
• Fear of fire: Morale 8 when attacked with fire.

Blueholme

AC: 2                                        XP: 1,725

HD: 8d8+4                               Alignment: CN (50%), CG (30%), CE (20%)

Move: 30                                  Treasure: 13 (0)

Attacks: 1 bite + 2 claws / 1 weapon

Damage: 1d6 each / 1d8

Abilities: Strength +1, Dexterity -1

Trolls from the Morton Arboretum Troll Hunt.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Gothic Horror, Supers, Zines and the 8.2M lb Gorilla

Lots of great Kickstarters today!  Let's have a look.

Leagues of Gothic Horror RPG Expansions

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1588759266/leagues-of-gothic-horror-rpg-expansions?ref=theotherside

Leagues of Gothic Horror is one of my favorite games and these three books are a must have in my opinion. Not much time left on this one.


Prowlers & Paragons Ultimate Edition

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1977703373/prowlers-and-paragons-ultimate-edition?ref=theotherside

I have been featuring P&P all week.  It is a fun game and character creation is a snap. Plenty of demo videoes out there to see game play as well.

The Way of Wicked Sin #ZineQuest

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1666739355/the-way-of-wicked-sin-zinequest?ref=theotherside

Three Zines about the evilest races in FRPGs.  A zine each for Orcs, Drow and the worst of all, Humans!  Stated for 5e, S&W, Pathfinder, and Runequest.
Don't want all three? No problem pick the ones you want.


And finally, let's address the 8.2 Million Pound Dollar gorilla in the room.

Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina Animated Special

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/criticalrole/critical-role-the-legend-of-vox-machina-animated-s?ref=theotherside

Critical Role has blown past its funding goal, all of its original stretch goals and its second batch of stretch goals.  With 20 days still to go it is sitting at $8.2 Million (right now, but it grew by $100,000 while I was writing this post). 

I am coming around to agreeing with the Diana Jones award for "Actual Play" in 2018.  This is a huge phenomenon and like it or not one that will shape what the RPG industry does in the future.

Vampire Willow & Vampire Tara: Ubiquity / Leagues of Gothic Horror

I love Ubiquity.  It's a great system that has the cinematic feel of Unisystem and the grit of Savage Worlds.

Leagues of Adventure, Leagues of Gothic Horror and Leagues of Cthulhu are Ubiquity powered games from Triple Ace Games.  The Hollow Earth Expedition RPG is a Ubiquity powered adventure game from Exile Game Studios.  All these games are compatible and together give us a world full of adventure and horror.

There is a new Kickstarter for Leagues of Gothic Horror RPG Expansions from Triple Ace Games.  It looks like a bunch of fun (as all the LoGH books are).

So today though I wanted to come back to some characters near and dear to my heart.
The Vampire versions of Willow & Tara.  In of particular use to us here is Leagues of Gothic Horror: Guide to Vampires and Guide to Black Magic.

Of course, everyone knows who Vampire Willow is. Vampire Tara appeared in the video game Chaos Bleeds and the related stories, all by Christopher Golden.  They also appear in the Wish-verse comic One Soul.

I have also used Vampire Willow and Tara in my adventure Through a Glass Darkly. I stated up Vampire Tara for both Cortex and Unisystem.  I always meant to do Vampire Willow, but never got around to it.  Well, in truth Vamp Willow for Unisystem appears in one of the books (forget which one, I remember writing the stats) and I don't play Cortex anymore.

Here they are for Leagues of Gothic Horror, though for a modern age game.

Vampire Willow

Vampire Willow
Willow Danielle Rosenberg
Female Vampire Witch

Patron 3
Archetype: Vampire
Motivation: Mayhem, Protect Tara

Style: 5
Health 11*

Primary Attributes
Body 5, Dexterity 6, Strength 5, Charisma 6, Intelligence 6, Willpower 5

Secondary Attributes
Size 0, Move 11, Perception 11, Initiative 12, Defense 11, Stun 5*

Skills
Academics: Computers 7, Religion 3, Athletics 6, Brawl 6, Con 5, Diplomacy 4, Intimidation 7, Linguistics 5, Science 4, Survival 3

Talents
Attractive +3, Fearsome, Fearsome Attack, Magical Aptitude, Tough, Unarmed Parry (can block melee weapons), Well Educated

Resources
Contacts 2

Rituals
Empower, Fear, Greater Hex, Harm,

Flaw
Thirst for Blood (+1 Style point when her unholy appetite reveals its true nature), Lustful

Weapons
Bite 9L**, Punch 9N

Vampire Willow has less experience as a witch than her human counterpart.  This is not a problem as Willow prefers to use her vampire powers to scare and intimidate.

Vampire Tara

Vampire Tara
Tara Ann Maclay
Female Vampire Witch

Patron 2
Archetype: Vampire
Motivation: Stay with Willow

Style: 5
Health 11*

Primary Attributes
Body 6, Dexterity 5, Strength 5, Charisma 6, Intelligence 4, Willpower 6

Secondary Attributes
Size 0, Move 10, Perception 10, Initiative 9, Defense 11, Stun 6*

Skills
Academics: Art 4, Religion 1, Animal Handling: Horses 4, Athletics 3, Brawl 5, Diplomacy 5, Empathy 4, Intimidation 7, Linguistics 4, Performance 3, Survival 3

Talents
Animal Affinity, Attractive +2, Danger Sense, Fearsome Attack, Magical Aptitude, Tough, Unarmed Parry (can block melee weapons),

Resources
Contacts 2

Rituals
Empower, Fear, Greater Hex, Harm, Lesser Hexr, Spirit Binding, Summon Animal

Flaw
Thirst for Blood (+1 Style point when her unholy appetite reveals its true nature), Danger Magnet

Weapons
Bite 9L**, Punch 9N

Tara was essentially the same witch she was in Season 4 prior to becoming a vampire.

* Vampires are immune to lethal and nonlethal damage except fire or holy objects.
** If Vampire Willow or Tara scores 3+ successes on her bite attack, she has latched onto her victim’s neck. Until she ceases feeding voluntarily or is forcibly removed (as per ending a grapple), the victim takes automatic damage equal to her Strength rating each round.

Decapitation/Piercing the Heart: This requires a Called Shot against a vital area. If the damage exceeds the Vampire’s Body rating, she is instantly killed, otherwise, the attack has no effect.

All in all good builds I think.
Make sure you check out the Kickstarter for Leagues of Gothic Horror Expansions.

Return to the Nentir Vale

I am on Spring Break now.  Yeah, that is still a thing here in the Brannan Household.
Got back into my Into the Nentir Vale which I am setting in the Forgotten Realms.

I am doing the second part of H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth, The Well of Demons.  Throughout the course of today's adventure, the characters discover that more gods than they knew have been killed.  They are are a little disturbed.

Now I am really messing around with the Faerûn gods and history here, so bear with me.  They learned today that Bhaal the God of Murder is dead and likely killed by Baphomet.  They already knew that Mykrul was dead, but unknown who did it. They will soon learn that Moander was killed by Zuggtmoy in her attempt to open the Temple of Elemental Evil. Other gods that are dead are Azuth, Amaunater, Bane, and Leira.  There might be more.  Shit is getting serious in the Realms.

This campaign is my attempt to revive my abandoned 4e game.  My attempt to make some use of all my 4e books.

It's actually been a lot of fun.  I even worked out a quick method of converting any 4e stat to 5e.   Typically any 4e number (level, HD, hp) can become a 5e number by multiplied by 2/3rds. It's worked out to be pretty close to what I see in 5e.

I am keeping track of experience points, but I use the 5e Milestone advancement for this.  Each of the published 4e adventures (HPE, 9 in total) the characters level up one level halfway through and then one level again at the end of the adventure.  So 18 levels all together.  I am doing this to keep the levels from going crazy. I can hear people now complaining that characters need to earn their levels, but trust me they are getting far more experience points.

Really it has been a blast and I can't wait to do some more. 

Justice for Prowlers & Paragons Ultimate Edition

Since I started reading over Prowlers & Paragons Ultimate Edition I have wanted to come back to one of my favorite characters, Astra Kal-El, aka Justice.
I introduced Justice waaay back in 2011 as the daughter of Superman and Wonder Woman. She was inspired by my favorite comic Kingdom Come where Superman and Wonder Woman eventually have children after the death of Lois.

Astra was raised by the Amazons but sent to be fostered by Bruce Wayne where she learns to be the superhero Justice.

Justice by Jacob Blackmon

Justice

HERO
Edge 10
Health 9
Resolve 4
Hero Points 125

ABILITIES
Agility 6d
Intellect 4d
Might 9d
Perception 4d
Toughness 9d
Willpower 3d

TALENTS
Academics 4d (Law, Political Science)
Charm 3d
Command 3d
Covert 4d
Investigation 4d
Medicine 2d
Professional 3d
Science 4d
Streetwise 5d
Survival 4d
Technology 3d
Vehicles 2d

POWERS
Heat Vision (Blast 3)
Blind Fighting (3)
Flight (9)
Hyper-breath (3)
Resistance (6 ranks)
Super-Senses (Analytic Vision, Enhanced Vision, Telescopic Vision, Thermal Visions)

PERKS
Contacts 2
Patron (Bruce Wayne)
Resources 2
Wealth

FLAWS
Alter Ego (Astra Kent, Justice Studies graduate student at Gotham University)
Code Conduct (will not use her heat vision anymore)
Enemy (Iron Maiden, The Refrigerator)

GEAR
Superhero outfit

DESCRIPTION
Age: 24
Sex: Female
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue

MOTIVATION
Justice

CONNECTIONS
Bruce Wayne, Foster father
Diana Prince, Wonder Woman, Mother
Barbara Gordon, Mentor

Monstrous Mondays: Lady Midday

One of my favorite games is Leagues of Adventure along with the Leagues of Gothic Horror setting.   It is a Ubiquity power game and it gives me the same feeling I get from Cinematic Unisystem.  So I was quite pleased to see three more books are coming out for it;  Guides to Faeries, Hags, and Walking Dead.

I'll post more about this later in the week, but today I wanted to update a monster I have used in the past, but have not featured here before.  Since I am on a Basic-era kick, let's do stats for Basic D&D (esp. as presented by Blumeholme and B/X Essentials) and Ubiquity.

Poludnitsa, Lady Midday

The Poludnitsa or Poludnica, also known as Lady Miday, is a relative of the more common Hag races. She is a creature of faerie (like all hags).  Unlike the more common hags, Lady Midday is very beautiful, unearthly so, and is only encountered on midday on hot summer days (thus her name). She appears as a very tall, beautiful pale woman with long white hair wearing a long white dress. Though it is said her true form is that a sundried corpse.

She will often appear in the middle of fields of wheat, barley or rye carrying a large set of antique looking shears or a scythe.  She will stop to ask anyone working in the field a question. If they fail to answer to it or answer incorrectly she will cut off their heads with the shears.
She is also known to kidnap girls under the age of 12 to take them back to her lair where she teaches them witchcraft if she doesn't eat them first.
Those she doesn't kill she can curse with madness or the "Heat Sickness".  Those that are not treated will die.

Poludnitsa lives in vast underground complexes, filled with ovens and roaring fires. Her captured slaves fulfill her wishes, roasting sheep and baking bread for her, all day long. Poludnitsa exits her underground lair only during sunlight hours. She usually perches in the immediate vicinity of her lair, waiting for unwary travelers to pass.

She is not commonly encountered, but parents of children commonly warn about her. Any child that wanders off, especially into fields of rye, run the risk of being captured by Poludnitsa. Parents will often warn “Don’t go to the rye, Poludnitsa will eat you!” or “Poludnitsa will burn you up!”

It is unknown if she is a unique creature or if there are many such creatures, but very, very rare.

Poludnica’s Sheep
The sheep Poludnitsa keeps are anything but ordinary. Each is a Large sized monstrosity, with wool the color of fresh blood.

Poludnitsa Basic-era stats
AC: 5
HD: 6d8 + 12hp
Move: 30'
Attacks: 1 weapon + Heat Madness
Damage: 1d8* (beheading on a natural 20) + Special
Alignment: CE
Treasure: none
XP:  1,280
Abilities: Strength +1, Intelligence +1, Charisma +2

Poludnitsa can only appear during the hour before and the hour after midday.  During the Sumer Solstice though she can appear during all hours of daylight. 
She may only attack those that refuse her questions or answer them incorrectly.  Once that has happened she will attack with her shears or scythe.  They are treated as "vorpal" weapons in her hands (treated as normal weapons in anyone else's).

Once per day, usually at the height of noon or moment of greatest temperature, she can curse one humanoid creature with heat madness.  They must make a saving throw vs. Death or be strickened.  A successful save means the creature is dazed and cannot attack for two round.  If the save is failed then the victim suffers the full effect of the heat madness. They are treated as if they had a combination of Slow and Feeblemind spells cast on them. Failing the first save means they will need to make another Death save in one full day or die.  Failing the first save and making the second means the victim is bedridden for four (4) days, minus their Con adjustment.  A Bless, Heal or Remove Curse spell will remove the heat madness.

Poludnitsa is immune to all heat and fire based attacks. She takes double damage from any cold-based attack.

A witch or cleric can "turn" (but not destroy) Poludnitsa as a Vampire if they present a Moonstone.

Poludnitsa Ubiquity Stats
Patron 1
Archetype: Hag
Motivation: Survival
Style: 1
Primary Attributes:
Body 3, Dexterity 3, Strength 3, Charisma 2, Intelligence 2, Willpower 3

Secondary Attributes:
Size 0, Move 6, Perception 4 (8), Initiative 4, Defense 6, Stun 3, Health 8, Horror n/a (human form) or 4 (corpse visage form)

Skills: Athletics 5, Brawl 5 (Grapple 6), Intimidation 8, Stealth 5 (Hiding 6)
Talents: Fearsome 2 (Can temporarily frighten foes)
Resources: None
Powers: Madness, Immune to Fire and Heat based attacks.
Weaknesses: Cold vulnerability (She takes x2 damage from any cold-based attack.)
Flaws: Thirst for Flesh (+1 Style point when its unholy appetite reveals its true nature)
Weapons: Shears 7L

Zatannurday: Prowlers & Paragons Ultimate Edition

Let's try my hand at doing some stats for Prowlers & Paragons Ultimate Edition.  I can think of no one better than Zatanna.

Zatanna Zatara

Concept: Daughter of stage magician John "Giovanni" Zatara.  Both father and daughter can use real magic.

Joanie Brosas as Zatanna. This weekend at C2E2 Booth #1553

HERO
Edge 11
Health 6
Resolve 4
Hero Points 125

ABILITIES
Agility 3d
Intellect 5d
Might 3d
Perception 4d
Toughness 3d
Willpower 9d

TALENTS
Academics 6d (mostly related to magic and the occult)
Charm 5d
Command 4d
Covert 2d
Investigation 3d
Medicine 2d
Professional 4d (professional stage magician)
Science 3d
Streetwise 2d
Survival 2d
Technology 3d
Vehicles 1d

POWERS
Sorcery, Omni-Power (Sorcery, Broad) 14d (Area)
Cons: Concentration, Situational: Must say spells backwards

PERKS
Contacts (Justice League)
Fame
Wealth

FLAWS
Public Identity (not in the book, but going to try it)

GEAR
Stage magician's garb, top hat, and magic wand (the wand is only a prop).

DESCRIPTION
Age: Early 30s
Sex: Female
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue (varies on artists)

MOTIVATION
Responsibility (and Adventure)

CONNECTIONS
Dr. Fate: Fellow mage
Batman: Old friend
John Constantine: Ex-boyfriend, constant pain in her ass.
Madame Xanadu: Friendly Rival
June Moon / Sorceress: Frenemy, Less friendly rival?  Depends on June's attitude and sanity.

Ok, that took only about 20 mins.  I bet future characters builds will be much faster.
Most of her points are being dumped into her Sorcery Omni-Power.  She can replicate any other power in the book (within reason) but she must say the spell backward and she can generally only concentrate on one effect at a time.  I might not have gotten everything 100% by the book, but I will try some other builds in the next week or so.

Make sure you check out the Prowlers & Paragons Ultimate Edition Kickstarter.
I am going to try some more over the next week.