Wednesday, March 22, 2023

#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.