Saturday, July 15, 2023

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 15

Past the fire elemental, the passageway continues on and the area cools a bit from the previous room. 

Room 15
Free Art Assets - Grey Gnome Games - Jason Glover

This corridor looks more constructed than the rest of this level. There are two other corridors to the right and the left. 


Friday, July 14, 2023

Wasted Lands Playtest: Superheroes in the Dreaming Age, Part 5 The Occult Detective

John Constantine
 The Dreaming Age is an age filled with magic. Dangerous to both the wielder and those around them, the magic is the leftovers of the Deeper Dark; an aberration of a time when the Old Ones walked this Earth. Magic is dangerous, seriously deadly, and ultimately corrupting. It should only be handled by the most serious and dedicated of practitioners. 

And then there is this arsehole.

The Occult Detective is the guy who has a little bit of knowledge, a little bit of magic, a little bit of luck, and a whole lot of bad choices.

He is obviously modeled after John Constantine, but his type ends up in all sorts of horror-related media. It makes him perfect for the world of the Wasted Lands.

The Occult Detective

Class: Sage
Level: 9
Species: Human
Alignment: Twilight Neutral
Background: Con-man, Occultist

Abilities
Strength: 12 (+0) 
Agility: 13 (+1) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) A
Wits: 15 (+1) N
Persona: 16 (+2) N

Fate Points: 10
Defense Value: None 10
Vitality: 36 (d6)
Degeneracy: Uncomfortable Aura
Corruption: 5

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +5/+3/+2
Melee Bonus: +3 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Saves: +5 vs. Spells and Magical Effects

Sage Abilities

Languages (16), Lore, Mesmerize Others, Suggestion, Renegade Skills, Spells, Read Languages

Renegade Skills

Open Locks: 55%
Bypass Traps: 50%
Sleight of Hand: 60%
Sneak: 60%

Spells
1st Level: Chill Ray, Command, Obfuscation, Protection from Evil
2nd Level: Conjure Flame, Invisibility, Subtle Influence
3rd Level: Clairvoyance, Globe of Darkness, Zone of Protection from Undead
4th Level: Conjure Fire

Divine Touchstones
Level 1: Arcane Power: Mystical Senses
Level 2:  Level 1 Sorcerer: (Arcane Power Attack Supernatural)
Level 3: Hedge Mage
Level 4: 
Level 5: Psychic Power: Photokinetics
Level 6: Psychic Power: Telekinetics
Level 7: Arcane Power: Exorcist
Level 8: 
Level 9: Astral Projection

Superhero (Divine) Archetype: Occult

The Divine Touchstones are really what separated the normal people from the heroes and the heroes from the legends. 

Damn. Now I want this character moved over to NIGHT SHIFT.

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#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 14

 Going back to Room #2 and taking the last passageway on the right.  This passageway leads to a hard right (and down, as detectable by Dwarves) to a chamber filled with fire. 

Once inside, one of the fires jumps out to attack the party.

Fire Elemental

The attacker is a fire elemental with instructions not to let anyone pass. It has been doing this for 1000s of years.

--

Tonight's monster and encounter was inspired by my "new" Monster Manual now sitting on top of my reading pile. 

Thursday, July 13, 2023

Wasted Lands Playtest: Superheroes in the Dreaming Age, Part 4 The Demon's Daughter

The Demon's Daughter
Okay, let us scale things down a bit and see what we can do with some mystical characters and some that are not super-powerful. At least not yet.

Another concept that comes up is the Demon Spawn that tries to do good. These characters often appear in comics with magic as a theme and they are a great choice for a Wasted Lands game since there is likely to be a lot more interaction with demons. 

This character could be a lot of different things, and "demon" might even be an alien, say in the case of Karolina Dean from Marvel's Runaways. But my example here will be borrowing heavily from DC's Teen Titan, Raven.

Now there are a lot of ways to do Raven. We have Psychics, Sorcerers, and even Necromancers. But Raven's primary powers come from her empathic abilities and astral projection with some spells. So I am going with Psychic for her here.

The Demon's Daughter

Class: Psychic (Persona Aspect)
Level: 6
Species: Human-Demon
Alignment: Twilight Good
Background: Student

Abilities
Strength: 12 (+0) 
Agility: 13 (+1) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 15 (+1) N
Wits: 15 (+1) N
Persona: 17 (+2) A

Fate Points: 10
Defense Value: None 10
Vitality: 30 (d6)
Degeneracy: 
Corruption: Unnatural Parlor

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+0
Melee Bonus: +2 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Saves: +3 to Persona based saves

Psychic Powers

Supernatural Attacks, Sixth Sense, Empathy, Psychokinesis (Telekinesis, 2d6+1), Temporal Sense, Shadow Walking, Astral Projection

Superhero (Divine) Archetype: Rebilous Child of older God/Demon

Divine Touchstones
Level 1: Mystical Senses (as Sorcerer spell)
Level 2:  
Level 3: Additional Movement: Fly
Level 4: 
Level 5: First-level Sorcerer
Level 6: 

Spells
1st Level: Protection from Evil

The Divine Touchstones are really what separated the normal people from the heroes and the heroes from the legends. You likely will not use all of these on one character. I'll have some less-super examples coming up.

She has fewer to reflect that she is still just a teen or young adult. This also more likely the speed in which people will want to hand out the Divine Touchstones. 

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#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 13

 Moving on from room #12 the party enters a large spherical room 50' in diameter.  The walls of the room are polished obsidian.  The center of the room features a large monolith of the same material. Stalactites and stalagmites break up the otherwise uniform blackness of this room.

Room 13

Free Art Assets - Grey Gnome Games - Jason Glover

This monolith radiates evil and necromantic energies. It doesn't take a magic-user to figure this out, all the characters can feel it.

Touching the monolith a character hears a voice. The monolith is known as the Monolith of Evil. It brags that it is 1000s of years old and was worshipped by 1000s of acolytes. Offerings of blood and lives kept it powerful. But now it is drained of all power, the Vampire Queen drained came and took all of its power.

It lets the characters know that if they could just kill their fellows it will be able to grant them the power to kill the Vampire Queen.  

The monolith has no idea is the Vampire Queen is still active or not. 

There is no magical compulsion here, save for being creepy it has no real power left. 

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Wasted Lands Playtest: Superheroes in the Dreaming Age, Part 3 The Paragon

The Paragon
 We are working our way up the power scale to tackle the Paragon. Now this guy (or gal) has Power, with a capital P. They are also a favorite of late for deconstruction or alternate attempts (The Boys, Brightburn) but I am not interested in that right now. I am interested in the one that has power, great power even, and wants to use it for the right things. But this is also the Dreaming Age, and life is pretty rough and dangerous. The Paragon of this world and time will also need to be a little rougher around the edges.

In D&D, they would be a paladin or some other knight in shining armor. They are the bright reflection of the Dark Avenger. Thankfully they both have the Amazon Warrior Princess to help balance them out.  One of many reasons why this unlikely trio works so well together.

The Paragon

Class: Warrior
Level: 14
Species: Human
Alignment: Light Good
Background: 

Abilities
Strength: 22 (+5) A
Agility: 17 (+3) 
Toughness: 17 (+2) N
Intelligence: 15 (+1) 
Wits: 15 (+1)
Persona: 16 (+2) N

Fate Points: 10
Defense Value: Plate (7)
Vitality: 75 (d8)
Degeneracy: None
Corruption: None

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +5 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Saves: +5 to all saves

Warrior Skills

Combat Expertise, Improved Defense, Increased Damage, Melee Combat, Master of Battle (90%), Ranged Combat, Spell Resistance (36%), Supernatural Attacks (Melee), Tracking, Extra Attack (x4)

Improve Defense: -4

Superhero (Divine) Archetype: Justice, Hope

Divine Touchstones
Level 1: Mystical Senses (as Sorcerer spell)
Level 2: +1 to combat rolls
Level 3: Additional Movement: Fly
Level 4: Increased Ability Score (Strength +2)
Level 5: Divine Smite 
Level 6: Gout of Flame (as Sorcerer spell), as Heat Vision (unique mode of attack)
Level 7: Divine Aura
Level 8: Damage Immunity from missile fire
Level 9:  Increased Ability Score (Strength +2)
Level 10: Half Damage from Mundane slashing
Level 11: Chill Breath (as Ray of Frost Sorcerer spell)
Level 12: Unique Attack, Heat Vision 60' line
Level 13: Down But Not Out
Level 14: Divine Recovery

The Divine Touchstones are really what separated the normal people from the heroes and the heroes from the legends. You likely will not use all of these on one character. I'll have some less-super examples coming up.

This one looks great. And don't tug on his cape.

Please check out and back the Wasted Lands Kickstarter.


#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 12

 Heading back to Room #2 and taking the next tunnel on the right. The party does not get very fare into the next chamber when they encounter a group (five) of large and piggish-looking orcs.

Room 12

These orcs are infected with the Wearboar Lycanthropy and are known as War Pigs. They stay in hybrid form but once wounded they can go into their berserk rage.

They have food and water for five for a week, but it is generally unpalatable and smells terrible. It is however completely edible. 

They also have Treasure type C x5.