#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 23

 The corridor goes on and on for several hundred feet. There are slight turns here and there and there is a gradual decline. 

The corridor open into a large, as in giant cave, the floor has fallen away as the volcanic activity of this level as gotten to this section.  Whatever room was here has fallen into the lava bed below.  

Ahead there is a bridge that leads to the other side. The heat and smoke in this room are great, characters must save vs. paralysis to keep from choking. A failed save means the character can't move and must rest for five minutes.  Characters need to make a save once when entering this chamber and once again at the bridge. Any character that fails also moves at a reduced half, rate of speed.

Lava flows in small "lava falls" from above.

It is 1000 ft from the opening of this chamber to the other side of the bridge.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 22

 The corridor beyond widens. The passageway is an art gallery with portraits of the Vampire Queen (you are unable to tell), each in what looks like a wedding portrait. In each one, she is with a different husband. 

There are dates under each portrait. The years are unknown to the party, but it seems every few years the Vampire Queen remarries. 

The ornate frames are guided and fitted with all sorts of gems. The frames with portraits are worth 1,000 gp each (x4). The pieces separated will only bring in 2,500 GP total.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 21

 Going back to Room #18 and taking the door behind Gzor'nak this leads to a long hallway covered in gravel. When the party reaches a large chamber (Room 21) the gravel begins to move and form itself into a giant monster.

The monster has the stats of a Stone Giant. It regenerates 2 hp per round. 

If it is reduced to 0 hp it will fall apart but reform when it reaches 10 hp.  

This can be prevented by mixing the gravel with volcanic ash (everywhere prior to room 10) and water.  OR by use of a Dispel Magic.

The corridor continues on.

Wasted Lands: Nymwen the Necromancer

 A while back, I posted B/X-OSE stats for the wonderful Morelia the Wood Witch. An "adoptable" NPC from the equally wonderful Ginny Di. With the release of the nonhuman species rules for The Wasted Lands, I thought I might revisit her. BUT while re-reviewing it all, I figured out two things. 1.) I really like Morelia, where I have her now.  And 2.) One of her other characters Nymwen would be much more fun to have in the Dreaming Age!

Nymwen the Necromancer, courtesy of Ginny Di

You can read all about Nymwen on Ginny's World Anvil site. You can also watch her introduction video here:

And Nymwen on her own:

She is a Necromancer and a Sage, so honestly, she would fit right into my notion of Wasted Lands as D&D.

Nonhuman species get a level in their species first and then choose to move on to a class. This gives them abilities that many here would largely expect. 

Nymwen here is a High Elf. She was born and High Elf and was raised as a High Elf, so she takes full advantage of these sorts of rules. So she gains the following.

Vitality Die: d6 (at "first level" only)
Saves: +1 to Persona, +1 to Agility, and +2 to mind-affecting spells 
Senses: Elves are Nightsighted.

She also gains a free 1st level spell.

In Ginny's D&D (Di&Di?) worlds, Nymwen is a cleric with a penchant for Necromancy but is described as a Sage. Here she can do both.  Ginny has her at level 12 and may be a potential villain/adversary. I am going to put her at level 6 and see where she goes. 

Nymwen the Necromancer

Class: Sage
Level: 6
Species: Elf (High)
Alignment: True Neutral
Background: Sage, Occultist

Abilities
Strength: 12 (+0) 
Agility: 13 (+1)  
Toughness: 14 (+1) N
Intelligence: 17 (+2) A
Wits: 16 (+1) N
Persona: 15 (+1) 

Fate Points: 10
Defense Value: None 10
Vitality: 25 (d6)
Degeneracy: None (yet, outside of Alignment)
Corruption: None

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+1
Melee Bonus: +2 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Saves: +1 to Persona, +1 to Agility, and +2 to mind-affecting spells (Elf), +4 to saves vs. Magical Effects (Sage)

Sage Abilities

Languages (17), Lore (75%), Mesmerize Others (60%), Suggestion, Renegade Skills, Spells, Read Languages

Renegade Skills

Hide in Shadows: 40%
Open Locks: 45%
Bypass Traps: 40%
Sleight of Hand: 50%

Necromancer Abilities (from Divine Touchstone)

Channel the Dead (30%), See Dead People, Summon the Dead (35%), Command Spirits, Protection from Spirits, Death Knell, Suggestion (Spirits)

Spells
1st Level: Mystical Senses (Elf), Protection from Evil, Read Languages, Chill Ray (DT)
2nd Level: Eternal Flame, Zone of Protection vs. Evil
3rd Level: Dispel Magic

Divine Touchstones
Level 1: 
Level 2: 1st level Spell
Level 3: Level 1 of Necromancer
Level 4: 
Level 5: Level 2 of Necromancer
Level 6: Level 3 of Necromancer

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Death, Love

Nymwen can be a figure of tragic love or one of obsession (Ayana). I'll have to see what happens with her as she grows in level. 

Notes on Wasted Lands D&D

The Divine (called here "Heroic") touchstones, allow the character a bit more flair and a bit more power. 

I have not worked out how many Heroic/Divine Archetypes would be right for a D&D style game. If it is 5e I am emulating, then maybe one every level or two every three (like above). One every other level might also be good. One every third level for older style play or even none at all.

Also, if I am going to keep the Divine/Heroic touchstones I think I will also keep the Degeneracy and Corruption rules. It help balance it all out and reinforces the idea that power has a price. 

This will al be fun to figure out.

The outstanding feature here is that with all the rules options in place in O.G.R.E.S., The Wasted Lands RPG is a Rosetta Stone of D&D and ORD games. A game system where anything can be easily added.

As always, thank you to Ginny Di for giving everyone such a great character to play with! 

Please check out and back the Wasted Lands Kickstarter.

Nymwen's Links

• World Anvil: Nymwen
• Get her mini
• See the mini painted here
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Her Pateron

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 20

 Going back to Room #18 and taking the door behind Brog'lar the party is met with a similar corridor and ending in a similar room.  Though the contents are very different.

In this room there is a glowing orb of light around where the pentagram and magic circle would have been (inspection will see the powder has been blow away).

Voices can be heard coming from the light, sibilant whispers promising all sorts of treasures and power.

If any character touches the light with a bare hand (not a weapon, pole, or even gloved) will be sucked into the light never to be seen again. They are trapped the demonic realms.  

Game Masters can give a character a Save vs. Death to avoid being taken.

There are five gems embedded in floor. Each is a large diamond at the points of the former pentagram. Each is worth 1,000 GP.  Removing them causes the light (and portal) to fade.

Wasted Lands: Larina Nix

 If I am going to try to convert my D&D games over to Wasted Lands, then it only makes sense to try to convert my witch Larina. 

I have already converted her modern incarnation to NIGHT SHIFT, which is the one I am happiest with. But Wasted Lands has a lot to offer, and I want to see what she can do here.

In this case I want to convert her AS&D 1st Edition version to Wasted Lands, though it will not be a 1 to 1 conversion. Instead, I will convert her concept. Also, this will not be a conversion of her NIGHT SHIFT stats. They will be similar, to be sure, but I want to rebuild her from the ground up.

I always imagine that the various versions of Larina were all in some way different aspects of the same character or even past lives. One thing I have never, to date, figured out was who was the very first (game world chronology) Larina.  It makes sense then to base this build on the first Larina (real-world chronology) from AD&D 1st Edition.

This would be that very first one. Maybe not the first witch in the world (that is a bit presumptuous even for me), but certainly the first one in her line. 

Larina Nix

Class: Sorceress (Persona Aspected)
Level: 16 
XP: 2,741,986
Species: Human (Avian heritage)
Alignment: Neutral-Light
Background: Sage

Abilities
Strength: 9 (+0) 
Agility: 11 (+0)  
Toughness: 12 (+1) 
Intelligence: 17 (+2) N
Wits: 16 (+2) N
Persona: 18 (+3) A

Fate Points: 10
Defense Value: 7
Vitality: 33 (d4)
Degeneracy: 14
Corruption: 3

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+5/+3
Melee Bonus: +3 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Saves: +6 vs magical effect

Arcane Abilities
Arcana, Spellcasting (140% base + bonus)

Sage Abilities

Languages (17), Lore (37%), Mesmerize Others (20%), Suggestion, Renegade Skills, Spells, Read Languages

Renegade Skills

Hide in Shadows: 20%
Open Locks: 15%
Bypass Traps: 10%
Sleight of Hand: 20%

Spells
1st Level: Black Flames, Arcane Darts, Mystical Senses, Night Vision, Chill Ray, Read Languages (Sage)
2nd Level: Beguile Person, See Invisible, Locator Spell: Objects, Magic Lock, Levitate
3rd Level: Clairvoyance, Globe of Darkness, Concussive Blast, Dark Lightning
4th Level: All-seeing Invisible Eye, Befuddlement, Protection against the Deeper Dark, Hop and Skip
5th Level: Convert Stone to Mud, Passageway, Shadow Armor, Dominate Other
6th Level: Dispel Evil, Invisible Servant, Enchant Item
7th Level: Ball of Sunshine, Wave of Mutilation, Widdershins Dance
8th Level: Animosity/Affinity, Wail of the Banshee

Arcane Powers
Level 1: Telekinesis 
Level 4: Beguile 
Level 7: Empathy
Level 10: Precognition
Level 13: Psychic Power: ESP
Level 16: Shadow Walking

Divine Touchstones
Level 1: Sense Magic
Level 2: 
Level 3: Bonus to Spellcasting (+10%)
Level 4: 
Level 5: 
Level 6: Level 1 of Sage
Level 7: 
Level 8: 
Level 9: Spirit Guide (Nightbird) 
Level 10: 
Level 11: Glamour
Level 12: 
Level 13: Magical Recovery
Level 14: Level 2 of Sage
Level 15: 
Level 16: 2 Level Ones: Arcane Power: Astral Projection. Psychic Power: Bio-feedback

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Witchcraft, Occultism

Gear
Staff, dagger, ring of protection

Why this Build is Important to Me

AD&D Larina was a very special character for me. I rolled her up as a "Magic-user" with the goal of playing her as a witch. We used our new method of rolling up psionic abilities and she ended up with psychic powers. I thought this was great. Later the infamous Dragon #114 came out, and I converted her to a proper witch. She kept her level of Magic-user (Dual classing), and we said it was because, as a witch, she was pretending to be a wizard so as not to get caught being a witch.

As the game progressed, she became less the magical powerhouse I envisioned back then and more the group's sage, occult expert, and polyglot. So when it came time to level her up I took the spells that gave her more social and mental power/aspects. If the choice was to take a power/spell/magic item that gave a blasty power OR say, learn a new language, then I always took the language.  

For me, the Wasted Lands rules had to capture what happened by happenstance in 1986. Her odd combination of magic-user, psychic, sage, and witch.

I was able to replicate the feel of that AD&D 1st Edition Character rather perfectly, I think. She even has a bit of corruption to cover her, occasionally dipping her toes (sometimes a whole foot) into dark magic. In AD&D, I covered this by having her eyes change color and would replicate in other ways in other games.

Please check out and back the Wasted Lands Kickstarter in its final week!

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 19

 Going through the door with the portrait of Xorxith, the party finds themselves in a dark room, there is a small child lying on the floor inside a magic circle. The powder glows faintly.

The child is a demon of course, the room has been sealed up for centuries and the demon has been stuck here. It's been so long that the demon barely remembers who or what they are. So it is not very convincing as a demon or as a child. 

If the child ruse does not work (it is not likely to work), it will shift to a demonic form of a child (thinking it might be better) where it will try to convince the characters to free it so it can reap vengeance on those who imprisoned it. Those mages are dead, but the demon will not let the characters know it knows that. 

The demon will attack once free. It is a demon, after all, and it really wants to kill something.

Ördög

AC 4 [15], HD 6+6* (33hp), Att 2 × claws (2d6), 1 × bite (1d4), THAC0 14 [+5], MV 180’ (60’) / 240’ (80’) flying, SV D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (6), ML 10, AL Chaotic, XP 500, NA 0 (1), TT None