Monster Mash Classes as Old-School Essentials Advanced Classes

 Monster Mash is now out in both PDF and Print on Demand, and I am very, very happy with it.

Work is going on for Monster Mash II: A Green and Pleasant Land now. Classes are built, just need some edits. I also bought a bunch of art from Dean Spencer so his art will fill the book for a single artistic vision.

But one thing people have asked me is, "Can I use Monster Mash" with the OSE-Advanced Rules?

While my intent was always to stick with OSE-Classic, there is nothing stopping you from using OSE-Advanced rules.  In fact, here are my guidelines.

For this, I am going to use the races and classes from OSE-Advanced. If there is another race or class (say from one of Carcass Crawlers or other sources) you can use the closest analog. 

Races

OSE, for the moment still uses the out-moded "Races." I fully expect that will change but until I am using it as a "rules term" only.  

Note: ANY Game Master can over-rule these level limits as they see fit.

In every case these different races retain any abilities from 1st level on. 

Awakened Golem 

Requirements: 13 or greater in STR and CON, 10 or greater in WIS
Ability Modifiers: +1 to STR and CON, -2 to CHA

Acrobat: NA
Assassin: 10th (must have a DEX score greater than 13
Barbarian: 14th
Bard: NA
Cleric: NA
Druid: NA (and I would add they are so far removed to nature they can never be druids)
Fighter: 14th
Illusionist: NA
Knight: NA
Magic-User: NA* (special cases could arise)
Paladin: NA
Ranger: NA
Thief: 14th
Gothic Witch: NA
Profane Necromancer: 10th (similar special cases)

Catflok

Requirements: 12 or greater in DEX
Ability Modifiers: +1 to STR and CON, -2 to CHA

Acrobat: 10th
Assassin: 10th
Barbarian: 9th
Bard: 7th
Cleric: 8th
Druid: 9th
Fighter: 10th
Illusionist: 7th
Knight: NA
Magic-User: 7th
Paladin: NA
Ranger: 8th
Thief: 10th
Gothic Witch: 9th
Profane Necromancer: 7th

Ghost

Requirements: None
Ability Modifiers: STR, DEX, and CON are effectively 0

Ghosts can be anything but are limited to 10th level.

Hagling

Requirements: 12 or greater in WIS
Ability Modifiers: +1 to WIS

Acrobat: NA
Assassin: NA
Barbarian: 8th
Bard: NA
Cleric: 10th
Druid: 10th
Fighter: 10th
Illusionist: 10th
Knight: NA
Magic-User: 11th
Paladin: NA
Ranger: NA
Thief: 10th
Gothic Witch: 13th
Profane Necromancer: 13th

Hobgoblin

Requirements: None
Ability Modifiers: +1 to CON

Acrobat: NA
Assassin: 8th
Barbarian: 10th
Bard: NA
Cleric: 5th
Druid: 6th
Fighter: 10th
Illusionist: NA
Knight: NA
Magic-User: NA
Paladin: NA
Ranger: 5th
Thief: 10th
Gothic Witch: 4th
Profane Necromancer: 4th

Lycanthrope, Wererat

Requirements: 11 or greater on DEX and CON
Ability Modifiers: +1 to DEX

Acrobat: 8th
Assassin: 8th
Barbarian: 5th
Bard: 5th
Cleric: 4th
Druid: 4th
Fighter: 6th
Illusionist: NA
Knight: NA
Magic-User: NA
Paladin: NA
Ranger: NA
Thief: 8th
Gothic Witch: NA
Profane Necromancer: NA

Lycanthrope, Werewolf

Requirements: 11 or greater on STR and CON
Ability Modifiers: +1 to STR

Acrobat: NA
Assassin: 8th
Barbarian: 10th
Bard: 5th
Cleric: 4th
Druid: 4th
Fighter: 10th
Illusionist: NA
Knight: NA
Magic-User: NA
Paladin: NA
Ranger: NA
Thief: 8th
Gothic Witch: NA
Profane Necromancer: NA

Revenant

Requirements: None
Ability Modifiers: +1 to STR, DEX, and CON

Revenants can be anything but are limited to 9th level.

Shade

Requirements: 12 or greater on CHA
Ability Modifiers: None

Shades can be anything but are limited to 10th level.

Shadow Elf

Requirements: 15 or greater on DEX
Ability Modifiers: +1 to DEX

Acrobat: 10th
Assassin: 10th
Barbarian: NA
Bard: 10th
Cleric: 5th
Druid: 5th
Fighter: 10th
Illusionist: 9th
Knight: 10th
Magic-User: 8th
Paladin: NA
Ranger: NA
Thief: 10th
Gothic Witch: 10th
Profane Necromancer: 10th

Vampire

Requirements: 13 or greater on STR and CHA
Ability Modifiers: +1 to STR

Vampires can be anything, but combined with a class they are limited to 12th level.

Classes

Monster Mash also includes two "human" Classes, the Gothic Witch and the Profane Necromancer.  The Gothic witch follows the same format of my other witch classes. The Profane Necromancer is essentially a Necromancer with various evil Cleric abilities added in.

Here are some suggestions.

Gothic Witch

Drow: 10th
Duergar: 7th
Dwarf: NA* (Dwarf witches are known as Xothia and use other witch rules.)
Elf: NA* (Elf witches are known as Kuruni and use other witch rules.)
Gnome: NA* (Gnome witches are known as Good Walkers and use other witch rules.)
Half-Elf: 14th (Half-elves can choose a variety of witches.)
Halfling: NA* (Halfling witches are known as Herb Women and use other witch rules.)
Half-Orc: 10th* (Half-orc witches are also known as Bogglebos.)
Human: 14th
Svirfneblin: NA (Svirfneblin would likely be a type of Xothia.)

Profane Necromancer

Drow: 9th
Duergar: 7th
Dwarf: NA
Elf: 8th
Gnome: NA
Half-Elf: 9th
Halfling: NA
Half-Orc: NA
Human: 13th
Svirfneblin: NA

A note about the Profane Necromancer. 

There are so many Necromancer classes for Basic-era rule and OSR rulesets. Even OSE has its own Necromancer. Mine is an homage to the Death Master of the late Len Lakofka. But use whichever one you like the best, and feel free to use some or all of my spells with it. 

Again, individual GMs can make adjustments as they see fit.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 2, Room 15

Continuing down this hallway, there is another door on your left. Like all the cells on this level, this one is locked.

This room is empty though there is an eerie, eldritch glow to everything. Lying on the ground is a large shield.

The shield is heavy and requires a Strength of 16 to use properly. It is magic. It provides +2 to AC and even a +1 to magical attacks that are directed (fireballs, magic missiles, curses) but not non-combat-based magic (area of effect spells where the bearer can walk in or illusions).

Witches (and Monsters too) to the Rescue, Part 2

I did some fundraising over the weekend. Not a lot, but I hope it helped.

Last week I mentioned that I was going to donate all the profits of my various witch books to the Trevor Project in support of LGBTQ people, but in solidarity with the trans community.  When the print copy of Monster Mash went live yesterday, I thought, what the hell, I'll add yesterday in as well.

The results are in.

Not as much as I would have liked to be honest, but I guess I can't complain.

So $40.00 in sales. I said I would match all sales, so $80.00 and I figure I will round that up to $100.00.

So donation was sent in, and I asked my day-job employer to match my donation, which they will since I know The Trevor Project is on their list of approved charities.

IF you buy a copy of Monster Mash this week and want your purchase to go towards this donation then just shoot me an email and I'll get it added in a future donation (likely next week).

Thanks, everyone!

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 2, Room 14

After turning the corner to get to Room 13, you continue on. All doors are on the right-hand side of this hallway.

Inside room 14 is a human male looking over another portal. On the other side of the portal is a dungeon room that looks very similar to the one they are currently in.  

The man, a Warlock, will speak to the characters in a language they do not understand.  After a few tries of failing to communicate, he will blast what he believes to be the wizard with an Eldritch Blast. He has to roll to hit (THAC0: 19), and it causes 1d6+2 points of damage. He can do this every round.  He has AC 9 and 11 hp.

There is a 30% chance he has a magic item suitable for a wizard/magic-user.

The portal leads to another world that looks exactly like the one they have left, and they might not even realize they have gone anywhere. The world is the same, but the rules here use the Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition rules.  Tell the players to give you back their sheets and hand them the same characters for the 4th Edition version of the game.

--

This monster for this room was inspired by the old Monster & Treasure assortment for the Second level.

I figure if he was a warlock, then he might as well be a 4th Edition one!

Monstrous Monday: Monster Mash in Print!

This one took a little longer, but I am very pleased with the results.

As of today, you can now get my Monster Mash in Print on Demand! 

Monster Mash Now in Print on Demand

This FULL-COLOR Hardcover is A5 sized, 148mm X 210mm, (8.3" x 5.8"), so it will look great sitting next to your copies of Old-School Essentials on your shelf. It will look even better sitting next to it on your gaming table.

I admit that I think this one is the most attractive of all my recent books.  I have never done a full-color book on my own, and I am pleased with the results. It has given me some ideas on how to improve it for next time.

It looks great with Old-School Essentials Classic as well as my OSE witch books and my A5-sized books like Craft of the Wise and the Pumpkin Spice Witch.

I guess now is as good as a time as any to mention I am working on Monster Mash 2: A Green and Pleasant Land.  Hopefully in your hands soon now that the OGL drama has died down for now.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 2, Room 13

This room has another open portal. Coming through is a sight terrible to behold.

Coming through is a group (6) of Madhatter Goblins. These goblins do not appear to be similar at all to the other goblins encountered so far.

These goblins wear the skulls of their kills on their own heads. The leader is the one with the most heads.

The portal closes when the last goblin comes through. Any character on the other side when it closes is lost forever.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 2, Room 12

This room is locked as the others are.

When the door is opened the room empties of its contents.

Inside are three Titanic Centipedes. These creatures are like Giant Centipedes but much larger. They have 2HD each. Their bites cause 1d8 damage and the same poison of their smaller kin. 

Inside their stomachs are a total of 42 gems worth a total of 2,300 GP.