Gamers Rock on Toast!

As anyone who follows or even occasionally reads this space (or recognizes me from message boards) knows, I'm not one who publicly pontificates or opines. I'm a reserved, somewhat stoic person that way. Usually my opinions come across in jokes or smarty-pants sarcastic comments. Go figure, I'm a gen-Xer. (There's an example for ya!) Mostly this blog is about old-school game guts, nuts-and-bolts kind of stuff, the bits you can take and use/abuse/jigger-with/mock/what-have-you. Today I'm cross-posting something I wrote at the Necromancer Games boards, just as a thank you to all the well wishes I've received from folks in comments here, there and privately.

As is probably evident, I'm going through a separation/divorce right now (I wont get into legal mumbo-jumbo), so here goes:

The well wishes of people here [Necroboards] and who follow the blog are very much appreciated. One of the things I like about us gamers, particularly the more seasoned crowd here [at the Necroboards], is that we all kind of got each others' backs even when we don't know each other outside the interwebs or agree on editions or other trivial bits of gamer ephemerae. It's encouraging and an emotional boost, at least for me. If there are positives right now with my ex it's that we don't have kids, so the separation/divorce part is pretty easy if a bit tense. And I'm single again and only 38, plenty of life left for me to razzle-dazzle the ladies. ;-)

So, once again, a hearty thanks all!

P.S.: Actual game shit to follow tomorrow. I'm off to play poker and get drunk tonight. :-)

P.P.S.: I lied, I'm 38 next month, I'm a Leo. Sue me! :-)

Golden Eye of the Kobold King [S&W]

GOLDEN EYE OF THE KOBOLD KING

The Golden Eye of the Kobold King is, literally, a solid golden eyeball -- completely smooth, round and undecorated. It is also terribly cursed. The possessor is magically compelled to pluck out his own eye and replaced it with the Golden Eye.

Found dozens of years ago in an unnamed place by the chaos-worshiping kobold named Greebok, the Golden Eye enabled the weak-willed cretin to rise to power and claim himself a small following of fellow kobolds and malformians. Drawn to the power of chaos, Greebok and his minions eventually found a home in the dreaded Tar Pits of Gazkruul. There, the ragtag band of misfits and their charismatic leader defended the upper caverns of the Tar Pits from wilfull and annoying adventurers and other chaos-hating do-gooders.

That is until the group of mercen ... er, heroes ... Myckali, Pyros, Udo, Lysander and Darvig skillfully fought their way through the shifty kobold defenses and brute strength of the malformian guards, all the way to the very chamber of the Kobold King himself. There, in an epic battle, they slew the kobold king Greebok and his henchmen, and Pyros plucked the Golden Eye from Greebok's left socket -- only to succumb to the vile magics of the Eye and tear out his own and replace it with the cursed dweomercrafted treasure.

The Golden Eye of the Kobold King has the following properties:

*+4 to Charisma ability score
*Allows sight as a gem of seeing 1/day for 1 hour
*May cast charm person 1/week
*May cast detect magic 1/week
*-2 to all attack rolls
*Cursed! Possessor is compelled to pluck out his own eye and replace with the Golden Eye. A saving throw is permitted to avoid the curse on the first day, with -1 cumulative penalty to saving throws each following day. If successful, after the first day, the possessor must be the subject of a remove curse spell to willingly give up the Golden Eye. And the cycle starts again with a new possessor. Once the Golden Eye replaces a real eye, only a wish spell will negate its cursed effects upon the character. However, the character will still have only one eye ...

The Borderlands Campaign Party

Introducing the PCs and assorted NPCs and hirelings for my Borderlands campaign, statted-up Swords & Wizardry format. This is an unusual campaign in that I have but one dedicated player; all other players in the campaign are stand-ins, one-shots, or irregular in some other way. Regardless of the number of actual players at the table, though, all characters are used in each session.

Player Characters:

MYCKALI
Level 3 Dwarven Warmachine (i.e. warrior)
Alignment Good
Strength 16, Dexterity 11, Constitution 12, Intelligence 11, Wisdom 13, Charisma 11
AC 4 (chain & shield)
HP 23
Saving Throw 14 (+4 vs. magic)
Melee Atk/Dam +2*
Missile Atk +0
Weapons Handaxe +1, battleaxe, dagger
Special Darkvision 60'*
Note Myck is a follower of the dwarf deity Klangeddin, father of battle.
*See house rules

PYROS
Level 2/2 Elven Adventurer King (i.e. fighter/magic-user or elven adventurer)
Alignment Neutral
Strength 13, Dexterity 17, Constitution 10, Intelligence 17, Wisdom 13, Charisma 8(12, from minor artifact Golden Eye)
AC 7 (-2 Dex bonus*)
HP 13
Saving Throw 15/14 (immune to sleep/charm)
Melee Atk/Dam +1 (-1, from Golden Eye)
Missile Atk +2 (+0, from Golden Eye)
Weapons Longsword, longbow, sling
Magic Items Golden Eye of the Kobold King (see next post above for details of this minor artifact)
Special Darkvision 60', find secret doors, 1-2 (d6)
Spells light, protection from evil, shield
*See house rules

DARVIG
Level 2 Human Cleric of Astrid
Alignment Neutral
Strength 13, Dexterity 11, Constitution 10, Intelligence 9, Wisdom 15, Charisma 9
AC 4 (chain & shield)
HP 14
Saving Throw 13
Melee Atk/Dam +1
Missile Atk +0
Weapons Heavy mace, sling & stones
Special Turn undead
Spells (typically) cure light wounds x2
Note Astrid is the human goddess of the moon, stars, fate and time.

LYSANDER
Level 2 Human Magic-User
Alignment Neutral
Strength 7, Dexterity 13, Constitution 10, Intelligence 16, Wisdom 13, Charisma 9
AC 8 (-1 Dex bonus)
HP 10
Saving Throw 14
Melee Atk/Dam -1
Missile Atk +1
Weapons Staff, dagger
Magic Items wand of magic missiles (charges unknown), healing potion
Spells detect magic, magic missile, sleep
Note Lysander is a follower of the human deity Folcoer, god of knowledge, learning and magic.

UDONATHAR ("UDO")
Level 2 Human Thief
Alignment Neutral
Strength 10, Dexterity 17, Constitution 9, Intelligence 9, Wisdom 11, Charisma 12
AC 5 (-2 Dex bonus*, -2 leather)
HP 10
Saving Throw 14
Melee Atk/Dam +0
Missile Atk +2*
Weapons Short sword, short bow & arrows, dagger
Special Thief abilities (as detailed in Knockspell magazine #2)
* See house rules

Hirelings:

GIMBY
Dwarf Man-at-Arms
HD 1 (hp 8), AC 5 (chain), Saving Throw 17
Weapons 2-handed axe, shortbow & arrows
Note Gimby and Dimby are dwarf twins who took up the cause of Myckali the dwarf warrior on a quest for great adventure in the Tar Pits of Gazkruul.

TRONDAR
Human Man-at-Arms
HD 1 (hp 7), AC 6 (leather & shield), Saving Throw 14
Weapons Longsword
Note Trondar was hired in Vander's Post to accompany the party during its exploration of the Tar Pits. He replaced Nudford.

DIMBY (R.I.P.)
Dwarf Man-at-Arms
HD 1 (hp 8), AC 5 (chain), Saving Throw 17
Weapons 2-handed axe, shortbow & arrows
Note Dimby was horribly slain by a tough malformian.

NUDFORD (R.I.P.)
Human Man-at-Arms
HD 1 (hp 8), AC 6 (leather & shield), Saving Throw 14
Weapons Longsword
Note Nudford was hired in Vander's Post to accompany the party during its exploration of the Tar Pits. He perished upon a kobold's spear.

Back in the Saddle

Sorry for the lack of updates recently! My home PC is basically shot and I've had a busy week or so at work and moving out the ex-wife's stuff. Yadda yadda, blah blah. :-)

I'll be back in the saddle with updates this weekend!

Chaos Beastmen [S&W]

Today we have Warhammer Beastmen. They average out to be much weaker than the "comparative" rank chaos warriors, but I think that's only right and proper. Actually, they are closer to marauders in terms of hit dice/damage output, but they move much more quickly (except mounted marauders or chaos knights, obviously).

To quickly list what's coming up this week: centigors, dragon ogres, chaos ogres/trolls/giants, chaos dragons, chaos demons, bray-shamans and sorcerers.

CHAOS BEASTMEN
Beastmen are hideously mutated humanoids with bestial traits. Due to the warping nature of chaos, they may appear in almost any form, but most commonly they possess bestial heads with twisted horns, torsos ranging from bloated to muscled, and goat-like legs. Beastmen dwell in the dark forests of frontier lands, engaging in raids upon civilized outposts and communities for food or for the sheer pleasure of violence. Beastmen are the most volatile and uncontrollable chaos worshipers, as prone to fighting amongst themselves and their tribes as they are organizing attacks upon settlements with other chaos warriors. It takes strong will as well as physical power to muster an effective beastmen warband.

There are four general types of beastmen: ungors, gors, bestigors and wargors. Ungors are the frailest beastmen and wargors are the toughest. One visual clue to the effective toughness of beastmen is the length of their horns. Ungors possess little more than stumps, whereas gors, bestigors and wargors have successively more wicked and cruel-looking horns.

Ungors and gors are unruly and will charge the closest possible enemies on a roll of 1 (d6), regardless of their orders or commands. Bestigors and wargors are the deadliest of the beastmen and gain +1 to attacks and damage rolls with melee weapons.

Ungor: HD 1; AC 7[12]; Atk 1 spear (1d6); Move 15; Save 17; CL/XP 1/15; Special: Unruly.

Gor: HD 2; AC 7[12]; Atk 1 hand axe or short sword (1d6) or thrown spear (1d6); Move 15; Save 16; CL/XP 2/30; Special: Unruly.

Bestigor: HD 3; AC 6[13]; Atk 1 longsword or battleaxe (1d8+1); Move 15; Save 14; CL/XP 3/60; Special: +1 to attacks and damage with melee weapons.

Wargor: HD 5; AC 5[14]; Atk 1 two-handed sword or great axe (1d10+1); Move 15; Save 12; CL/XP 5/240; Special: +1 to attacks and damage with melee weapons.