Wasted Lands: Melissa Belladonna

Our weekend Fifth Edition D&D games are slowly sliding over into the Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age RPG. We have been able to pivot so well because a lot of what we have been doing in D&D 5 comes from the same roots that you find in the Wasted Lands.  But there is one thing the Wasted Lands doesn't do out of the box that many of the D&D 5e players love, and that is to play non-human characters. 

That is until now.

If you are a backer, you already got the preview of nonhuman species so you can play the likes of an Elf, Dwarf or other stranger things. This is one of the key D&D experiences, and it is a welcome addition for those who want them. The rules addition from Jason includes the expected ones; elves, dwarves, gnomes and the like. But D&D 5 is full of all sorts of species to play. Can you do that in WL?

Yes.

Keep in mind one very, very important thing about the "humans" in the Wasted Lands. They are not really humans at all. They are proto-humans, proto in the sense that they very well might look like us but they were created by the Old Ones as sort of a "rough draft" of humans. So they could have ancestry from just about anything to be honest. Birds, reptiles, snakes, and yes, primates. The changes are largely cosmetic and immaterial to a group of mortals fighting evil elder things from beyond the stars. So adding an elf, dwarf or even dragonborn is really trivial.

Today I want to try a tiefling. Not just any tiefling, though. 

It dawned on me a couple weeks back that I do not have a tiefling character to call my own. I still didn't but needed an NPC to fill a certain role.  Enter Melissa Belladonna. 

Melissa is a tiefling Artificer that runs an alchemist shop. You can follow her exploits on Twitter and Twitch (links below). But I was thinking here is a good character to try out. She has a 5e class. She is a tiefling. And she serves a role I needed of an alchemist. Plus, she is fun, and NPCs should be fun.

The party got to meet up with her, and she was great. I had more planned, but they had other things to do (and tacos were done).  But she will certainly be back.  Here is how I did her for the Wasted Lands.

Part of her background is should used to pretend to be human and used a glamour. That still works here, to be honest. There are demons in the Wasted Lands, so it is possible that there is an offspring of a demon and human that is also good. 

Melissa Belladonna

Class: Sage
Level: 17
Species: Tiefling (Mammon heritage)
Alignment: Neutral Good (Twilight Good)
Background: Sage, Alchemist

Abilities
Strength: 14 (+1) 
Agility: 12 (+0)  
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 18 (+3) A
Wits: 15 (+1) N
Persona: 17 (+2) N

Fate Points: 10
Defense Value: None 10
Vitality: 60 (d6)
Degeneracy: None
Corruption: None

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+5/+3
Melee Bonus: +5 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +5 (base)
Saves: +1 Fire-based effects, +1 to Magical-effects (Tiefling), +7 to saves vs. Magical Effects (Sage)

Sage Abilities

Languages (18), Lore (188%)*, Mesmerize Others (170%)*, Suggestion, Renegade Skills, Spells, Read Languages

Renegade Skills

Hide in Shadows: 95%
Open Locks: 90%
Bypass Traps: 100%
Sleight of Hand: 100%

Spells
1st Level: Mystical Senses (Tiefling), Beast Speech, Glamour, Read Languages, Restore/Drain Vitality, Summon Familiar (Perry, a Raven)
2nd Level: Create Water, Eternal Flame, Invisibility, Subtle Influence, Zone of Honesty
3rd Level: Anti-toxin, Dispel Magic, Remove Curse, Slow, Zone of Protection from Evil
4th Level: Befuddlement, Conjure Fire, Kiss of the Succubus

Divine Touchstones
Level 1: 
Level 2: Arcane Ability: Enhanced Senses
Level 3: 
Level 4: Luck benefit (1d6)
Level 5: 
Level 6: "Spirit Guide" Her cauldron homunculus. 
Level 7: 
Level 8: Magical Recovery
Level 9: 
Level 10: 3rd level spell: Conjure Fireworks
Level 11: 
Level 12: Glamour at will
Level 13: 
Level 14: Slow aging
Level 15: 
Level 16: Signature Item: Cauldron
Level 17:

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Sage, Occultism, Dragons

Here lore skill covers her alchemy and artificer skills. She is also widely regarded as an expert on dragons, having conducted extensive field work on studying them for years.

Thank you to Melissa Belladonna for letting me borrow such a great character to play with! Everyone loved her.

Melissa's Links

• Carrd.co links
• Twitter
• Twitter Art, #ArtMelissa
• Twitter Lewd Art, #Lewdlissa (NSFW)
• Twitch
• Discord
• Merchandise 
• Mini with homunculus servant
• Printed
• STL

Please check out and back the Wasted Lands Kickstarter.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 18

 Going back to Room #15 and taking the corridor on the left leads to a large obsidian-paneled room.

This room is a scene from a horror movie. 

The five walls are covered with paintings of demons by various artists. There are notes under each painting detailing when each demon was summoned and subjugated by the Vampire Queen. There are dozens here, and many of the names are unknown to the characters.

There are secret doors behind the three largest paintings. The demons are:

• Xorxith - This demon is known as the Destroyer in the Darkness. It is a powerful and destructive demon who is feared for its ability to tear through its enemies. He appears as a giant demon (60 ft high) with his head obscured by darkness.
• Brog'lar - This thin, sexless demon has long delicate fingers and a mouth filled with needle-like teeth. It sits on a pile of skulls.  It is a cunning and manipulative demon who is known for its ability to control others.
• Gzor'nak - The Hunger. This demon appears to be a huge demonic monster with a giant mouth with thousands of teeth, a large belly, and huge legs. It is a voracious and insatiable demon who is always hungry for more power and destruction.

Reading over these paintings and notes provides characters the following XP.

Magic-users and witches: 100 xp
Clerics: 75 xp
Fighters and thieves: 50 xp 

Xorxith

Brog'lar

Gzor'nak

Monstrous Monday: Monster Mash II A Midsummer Night's Dream!

New Release Monster Mash II: A Midsummer Night's Dream!

Now available in PDF and Print on Demand.

Monster Mash II: A Midsummer Night's Dream

More Monster Classes for Basic-era Games

For years brave adventures have been going into the dangerous wilderness and fighting monsters.  

Now the monsters are fighting back.

Monster Mash II is an Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy compatible game that allows you to take on the role not of a stalwart hero but as one of the monsters.

This book features 12 faerie and sylvan-based classes.

Bugbears, Centaurs, Hamadryads, Leprechauns, Nymphs, Pixies, Púcas, Satyrs, Werebears, Werefoxes, Woodwoses, and the Faerie Witch.

New spells for Clerics, Druids, Illusionists, and Magic-users. 

New spells, occult powers, and ritual spells for Faerie Witches. 

All are completely compatible with Basic-era OSR games and my previous witch books.

Includes an Advanced Classes Appendix for using this book with "Advanced" versions of your favorite Old-School games.

All art by Dean Spencer. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 17

 A secret door behind one of the shelves leads to a hidden and sealed room. The room is small, but filled with books and scrolls. One wall is dominated by an ancient painting of Darlessa, the Vampire Queen, when she was a young student learning magic. 

The books detail the history of the Citadel of Necromancers.  Five of them are incredibly ancient and are worth at least 5,000 gp each if they can be brought back to a collector. 

Another 5+1d6 books also have random magic-user spells of First to Fifth level.

• First level: 10+1d8
• Second level: 8+1d6
• Third level: 4+1d6
• Fourth level: 2+1d4
• Fifth level: 1d6

The total value of these treasures is 40,000 GP and worth 25,000 xp. 

The portrait is large and seems to be part of the wall and can't be removed.

Adopt this NPC! Doreen, the Goblin Girl

 Going to try something a little different this week and hopefully fun!

I want to introduce you all to a new character, Doreen the goblin witch and her toad familiar Toad-O!

Doreen by Daniel Brannan

What do I know about her? Not much! But here is what I have so far.

- She is a young goblin and is very curious about EVERYTHING

- She is a witch, and her magic started when she discovered she could speak to frogs and toads.

- Her goblin clan is not really evil, per se, but they are a rather chaotic neutral lot.

- She lives in "The Goblin Wood." Called that by the local humans or just "The Little Forest" by the goblins. 

- She is fascinated with (and a little scared of) Elves.

And that is the extent of what I have figured out. So I thought it might be fun to try her out as an "Adoptable NPC."

Much in the same spirit as Jenny Everywhere, you take little Doreen here and remix her or do what you like. I am really curious to see what is everyone can do with her.

So make art, make stats, make whatever you like and your details are still 100% your own to use. I am giving her away and hope she finds some good homes. After all she is not a bad little goblin girl. 

I am planning on having something up for her on Wednesday.

So show me what you got!

Wasted Lands as a Dungeons & Dragons Replacement

All month long, I have been talking (rather obsessively so) about the Wasted Lands RPG. I make no apologies for this. It is a great game, and it shares DNA with my own NIGHT SHIFT, which is just a bonus.

I talked about how I can emulate superheroes, our modern Gods and Myths, as Wasted Lands Archetypes all last week. This week is going to be all about how I plan to use Wasted Lands (with a little help from NIGHT SHIFT) as my go-to Dungeons & Dragons replacement.

I have been talking bout this topic all year too, with examples from Castles & Crusades and Pathfinder 2e.  I hope to have some good examples this week to show how well this works.

Obviously, Wasted Lands shares some DNA with D&D. NIGHT SHIFT was an OGL game and Wasted Lands grew out of that. It also shares DNA with Spellcraft & Swordplay. This is why you will find the O.G.R.E.S. and O.R.C.S. from each game (respectively) in The Wasted Lands.

If you are a backer, you already got the preview of nonhuman species so you can play the likes of an Elf, Dwarf or every stranger things. This is one of the key D&D experiences there is and it is a welcome addition for those that want them. I have already shared my two Shadow Elf, or Dökkálfar, characters Runu & Urnu. 

Can Wasted Lands replace D&D at my table? Easily. In fact, it is has been doing that for a little while now.

Can Wasted Lands replace D&D in my heart? That is a different thing, but I aim to find out.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 16

 Taking the corridor on the right, this area looks less and less like the front door to Hell and more like a carved-out room in a castle. Though this room appears to have been a library of sorts only now all the books and scrolls are gone leaving only ash.

There are some clay tablets that have survived. These are mostly mundane affairs, but some include very old spells:

First Level: Read Languages, Shield 
Second Level: Web 
Third Level: Hold Person
Fourth Level: Massmorph
Fifth Level: Hold Monster

The clay is a bit damaged, but in good shape. The tablet itself is very old and worth quite a lot, it could be sold, intact, for 5,000 GP to a collector or 2,000 to a magical school. Finding it is worth 2,000 XP.

If the spells are read off of it as a scroll then like a scroll the spell disappears and renders the tablet worthless.