The door to this room is also open and there is a commotion coming from inside.
A group of 3 goblins is attacking a single kobold. There are three other kobolds dead on the ground.
The goblins will attack the party when they enter, the kobold will try to find a way to escape. It will attack the party to get out of this room.
Each goblin has a sack of 50+1d10 CP and 2+1d4 SP. They have spears and daggers. The kobolds have 20 CP in total.
Lots for you this week. All worth your time to look into.
Demonology For Old-School Essentials - Zinequest 5
We always need more demons. While I do have my own I have been using for a while now this will be a welcome addition to my OSE library.
Kibbles' Compendium of Legends and Legacies
I am still supporting third-party 5e folk. I am sure they panicked when the OGL fiasco broke, so I am here to boost their signal. Still looks like a lot of fun.
After Winter Dark: Aihrde A Fantasy Campaign Setting
How do I love thee Castles & Crusades? Let me count the ways. Wait, that will take too long. Instead I'll just back this new book!
I mean this just looks so cool, and I have been dying to do something that I have been calling "endless Winter" in my mind. Maybe this is it?
Escape from Undergarden - RPG Adventure for 5e D&D
Another adventure and it looks like a lot of fun. I will admit a certain level of dissatisfaction with some of the D&D 5 adventures of late. This one looks like it could turn that trend around. Of course I would run it under Castles & Crusades now.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/peterelroy/feathertail-falls?ref=theotherside
Ok now this one looks like a lot of fun. From the creator:
This adventure collection is a mouse-fantasy tabletop role playing game that builds on the free Mausritter rules, a deceptively simple system perfectly suited for mouse-sized expeditions. The collection’s adventurous yet melancholy tone is inspired by Over the Garden Wall, Hilda and Studio Ghibli’s Arrietty, as well as the art of Júlia Sardà.
The adventures take place in Feathertail Forest, a place little mice pups may know from bedtime stories, about mice that dream to fly. When you start to explore it, you will find that the unwelcoming forest has been petrified in time. It is up to you to decide if and how to reawaken it, and how to deal with the consequences as you discover more of the forest's secrets.
This would be great for the right group!
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So much great stuff and so little time and money.
Room 10 is in the middle of this long hallway. This door is not only not locked, but the door is also slightly ajar.
There is a golden glow coming from this room. Inside the room is a shimmering portal. The portal connects this room to another room elsewhere. The elsewhere is much warmer, and the night time sky can be seen outside of large windows. The room seems to be in a palace in a desert somewhere.
Inside this larger-than-expected room (160' x 160' x 20' tall) are 10 large Constrictor Snakes that attack.
The snakes guard a treasure of 10,000 GP in gems. Rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. There are also three bags of gold worth 150 GP each.
The room has no other doors. The windows are 15' to 20' up. If the PCs climb (via any ropes they bring) they can see they are in a tower some 350' up from the desert floor below.
As the PCs leave the room back through the portal, it closes.
It is no secret. I really love witches and anything and everything to do with them.
It is also no secret that I used to be a pretty solid Potter-verse fan. I have read all the books, seen all the movies, been to the theme park, and played the mobile game. It was something fun I could do with my family, and we all enjoyed it.
And then, J.K. Rowling began to show her ugly side. I am not going to debate what she said here. Why? She is wrong, plain and simple, but I am not out there burning my Potter books (besides, burning books is a coward's move) I am just not supporting her and trying in my own small way not to popularize her. Trust me, I have no illusions about my effectiveness here.
So the new game coming out was going pass by these pages unremarked.
Then I saw this post on both Facebook and Twitter.
All of the profits that @JonGilmour, @SpenserStarke & I earn on DriveThruRPG this Friday for Kids on Brooms will be donated to charities supporting trans folks.
— Doug Levandowski (@DougLevandowski) February 8, 2023
We want to make our love and support for the trans community clear every day—but especially this Friday.
And I realized that, yes, there is something I can do. I have a LOT more books about witches.
So. In solidarity with Kids on Brooms team and always in solidarity with the LGBTQI, but especially the trans community I will donate ALL profits from ALL my witch books starting at 12:00 am Midnight Friday, Feb 10, 2023 to 11:59 Sunday, Feb 12, 2023 to the Trevor Project.
So every book. Every profit. Even my newest one, Monster Mash.
Yeah, I know some will call this "Virtue Signaling," but I want to clarify where I stand and let others know what their purchases will do this weekend. Besides, calling out Virtue Signaling is just virtue signaling to other assholes. Don't like what I do here? I don't care. Get your own fucking blog and books and sell them how you like.
So pick up some books about witches this weekend. Go grab Kids on Brooms tomorrow and some of my stuff later. And avoid the Potter game.
This room is up from Room #8 and is also locked.
How they got in is anyone's guess, but now they are too large to leave and they are starving. There are the bones of many other smaller rats here, ones they have eaten prior to this.
Due to their hunger they gain +1 on initiatives and attacks. They also suffer a -1 penalty to their AC since they are not taking the time to guard themselves. Their morale is 12 and they will fight to the death.
There is no treasure in this room.
Like my last conversion, this is not going to be a full conversion but rather a character with a high concept. While the OGL kerfuffle has more or less died down into a steady state of noise, the issues brought up then are still good now. There are more games out there than just D&D5.
Today I am converting a major NPC of my Second Campaign to Castles & Crusades.
I have often said that Castles & Crusades is the spiritual descendent of AD&D, so let's see how that works out.
So in truth this one is likely to be very easy in terms of game system. The Second Campaign is made up of a lot of AD&D 1st ed and BECMI D&D adventures. Ones I enjoyed but were not part of the Gygaxian-cannon. Other adventures for it to help fill in some gaps are all solid OSR ones. So converting the actual adventures was something I had to do anyway to make them work for D&D 5e. Now I am converting them to Castles & Crusades and that conversion is so much easier.
The Second Campaign began, much like the Order of the Platinum Dragon/Come Endless Darkness, as an AD&D 1st Ed/OSRIC game and, for a brief moment, as a BECMI game. Over the years, it morphed into other things until it settled as a 5th Edition game.
The next adventures for this campaign have been fairly well decided:
The Desert of Desolation series:My NPC going along with the group then is a traveling scholar. I wanted her to be something of a magical dabbler, an occultist, and lore expert. Given the desert theme here I was thinking of someone like Rachel Weisz's character Evelyn Carnahan from the 1999 movie The Mummy. I
The Character: Celeste Holmes
Celeste is a character concept that has seen a few iterations over the years. This current Celeste is as much Charlie Bradbury from Supernatural as she is Evelyn Carnahan. There is also a bit of Poppy Kline in her from the Magicians series. Both characters, Charlie and Poppy, were played by Felicia Day, so it makes sense that she looks like her. Given the Basic-era roots of the character giving her the last name of Holmes seemed to be the right thing to do. Very recently I also remembered that Celeste, as she is presented in D&D 5 for me, is also a nod to "Lady Nyctasia Selesqe Rhaicime brenn Rhostshyl ar'n Edonaris" of the Silverglass series, a witch and noble who pretends to be a student and bard. I always pronounced her "middle" name, Selesqe, as "Celeste."
Also, Celeste is not the firepower of this group. She is the translator and the one who sets up the shield spells and figures out what monsters will attack or talk.
In D&D 5e Celeste is a Wizard/Bard multiclass. This gave her a lot of skills and some magic, but not as much as her level might suggest. She is not a combat character, so feats largely went to improving how many languages she knew.
She has 5 levels in Wizard (Order of Scribes from Unearthed Arcana then Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything) and 1 in Bard (College of Lore). Again to get a few more cantrips and 1st level spells, but mostly for the skills. I see her Bardic inspiration as being able to urge the team on with her pep talks.
What would she be like in Castles & Crusades?
Castles & Crusades has a lot of "multiclass" options, and they would all work for her. But there is one I think is suited to her concept the best. Celeste is a "Class and a Half."
I mean, it fits her concept well, and it is a uniquely Castles & Crusades option. She is a 5th-level Wizard/1st-level Bard, so in C&C Class-and-a-half, that will make her a 5th-level Wizard, giving her 2nd level in Bard (main class divided by 2 and rounded down).
She would need more experience points than a Wizard alone. So Wizard plus 1/2 of Bard per level.
She gets all the same powers, spells, and abilities of a Wizard here, plus some bard. The C&C Bard is not a spellcasting one, but they get some powers. The half-class bard does not get the Fascinate or the Exhort Greatness powers. Exhort Greatness is a 9th-level power, so it would not be an issue until she is 18th level anyway, and by then, I am sure she will have plenty of spells. The Fascinate one is a loss, but one I can deal with, to be honest. I really wanted the Legend Lore, Dechpire Scripts, and Exhalt powers. This also gives her slightly better HD and hp; d10 for the bard and d4 for the wizard gives us a d6 and +2 after "name" level.
Wizard pretty much stays the same. Spells and some other cool stuff at higher levels.
Honestly, the concept is so much fun I do want to try other class and half combinations. But that is for another time. I have to look for a way for her to be able to speak all the languages I want her to be able to speak. In D&D 5e she can speak Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Elvish, Infernal, and Primordial, thanks to Linguist Feat. Her Intelligence is 19 so that is +3 languages in addition to "common." Thankfully the C&C rules are pretty open here. There are options from Amazing Adventures I could borrow from. For example, sacrifice a level for the ability to speak a lot of languages. I am not sure how to do it yet, but I know there is a way. Actually, there are a few ways I can think of. She could be Powered 1 (for the languages) and then the Wizard 5/Bard 2 which would give her the 6 total levels she has in D&D5. Hmm. I think I will try that combination at a future date. Today I want to concentrate on the Class and a Half today.
Moving over to C&C from D&D5 is simple. So simple I went back to my C&C PHB just to ensure I did it all right. Yup. Everything looked good.
STR: 12 (+0)
DEX: 13 (+1)
CON: 16 (+2)
INT: 19 (+3) *P (wizard)
WIS: 15 (+1) *P (choice)
CHA: 16 (+2) *P (bard)
AC: 11 (no armor)
HP: 23 (HD d6)
BtH: +1
Weapons: Dagger, Staff
Class Abilities
Wizard (5th): Spells and spellcasting, bonus spells
Bard (2nd): Decipher Script (Int), Exalt (Int), Legend Lore (Cha)
Spells
Cantrips (5): Arcane Mark, Detect Magic, Light, Mage Hand, Message
1st level (4+1): Burning Hands, Charm Person, Comprehend Languages, Identify, Magic Missile
2nd level (2+1): Locate Object, Ray of Enfeeblement, Shatter
3rd level (1+1): Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Tongues
Details
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 129 lbs
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Hair: Red
Eyes: Brown
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Saves are largely the same in D&D5, and C&C. Primes help cover that. The spells are also very much the same drawing from the same sources. Weapons, armor, and the like are all virtually identical. Alignment and classes have the same names and work largely the same.
So yes, I am quite pleased with this build, and I am eager to try other class-and-a-half combinations. With just the Players Handbook alone, I can see about 150 possible combinations. Less when you remove ones that don't actually work out, but still, that is a lot to try.
To extend my Felicia Day/Charlie Bradbury reference a step further, the D&D 5 version of Celeste is Charlie in the "normal" world and the C&C version of her is Charlie from the Apocalypse World.
Edited to add: I was reminded that there is an official D&D 5 to C&C conversion document. Get is here for free.
Moving on from Room 6 down the hallway the characters will come up to Room #8 on the right. Note: All rooms are on the right-hand side of this hall.
Special Note: Dwarf characters will notice a slight downward slope to this hallway as well. It parallels the halls above them.
The lock on this door is very difficult with an extra 5% penalty above and beyond the penalty for other locks here. The zombies attack as soon as someone steps into the room.
Inside this cell are 1d4+1 Zombies in terrible shape. Each only has 2 hp due to how long they have been here but are fast due to all the necromantic energies they have absorbed. They turn as Ghouls and can attack at any point in the turn per normal initiative. They also have +1 to hit.
Their XP is the same as regular zombies due to their low hp.
They guard a small chest of 500 sp. Obviously left by other adventurers and not the original prisoners of this cell.
