First Annual SWAD

It's official - the First Annual Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day has been set for April 17, 2013.  See the announcement and details here and here.

I'm on the list!  Let's see...I have an idea and something like 18 days to pull it off...I'm on it!  ...that and the Divine Item and Minion I want to submit to Gorgonmilk.

Stupid Math Tricks I

Ah, the Fibonacci Sequence...how will I ever use that in my day-to-day life?  Turns out the relationship between miles and kilometers is pretty close for reasonable values:

5 miles is about 8 kilometers...

km	mi	mi	km
2	1.24	1	1.61
3	1.86	2	3.22
5	3.1	3	4.83
8	4.97	5	8.05
13	8.07	8	12.87
21	13.04	13	20.92
34	21.12	21	33.8
55	34.17	34	54.72
89	55.3	55	88.51
144	89.48	89	143.23
233	144.78	144	231.75
377	234.26

Random

So Gorgonmilk has breathed life into Petty Gods.  What would I submit?  What has been submitted so far?  Don't know, but in looking around I see several interesting entries.  There appears to be two camps: the serious attempts at creating gods for things too obscure for a full fledged church (eyes - and no offense, it's a great write up) and things that are just ridiculous (unexplained smells).  Personally, I much prefer the ridiculous.

Would you rather see a write-up for the Master of Wagon Wheels or the Lord of Iron Spikes and Iron Rations???  Do you need the details for the Patron of Town Criers or the St. of Sex You Hope Your Fiends Don't Find Out About.  The god of Picking Locks or the Protector of Familiars?  The Supreme Being of Cozy Beds or He Who Procrastinates (and thus will not appear in the book)?

I suppose my main fear is the the stat block (can I pray to that god?).  I have no idea what is appropriate...so here is one attempt:


Name: Mar Nod
Symbol: Two crossed swords, one breaking the other
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120' (40')
Armor Class: Special
Hit Points (Hit Dice): 150 hp (20 HD)
Attacks: (short) spear +1
Damage: 1d6+1
Save: F20
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: XXI
XP: 10,000

Mar Nod, the Unexpected, is the petty god of rare and seemingly random fortune and misfortune during combat. Both cursed and praised when melee a battle takes an unexpected turn, Mar Nod is incited too infrequently to garner a true following. He travels the multiverse looking for worthy opponents and may be summoned (1%) whenever a natural 1 or 20 is rolled during combat.  Mar Nod appears as a warrior appropriate to the given circumstances but wields an obscure bladed weapon with an unusually long handle.  This unique weapon is never subject to a critical fumbles and scores a critical hit on rolls 18-20.

Reaction Table (1d20)
1 Curses the summoner - when rolling to hit roll two dice and take the worst value, when rolling for damage roll the value twice and take the better. This curse stays in effect until cured with a Remove Curse or the likes.
2-19 Mar Nod does nothing but observe the battle with a bemused look on his face
20 Blesses the summoner - when rolling to hit roll two dice and take the better value, when rolling for damage roll the value twice and take the worst. This blessing stays in effect until cured with a Remove Curse or the likes.

Attacking this divine being is a terrible mistake although Mar Nod will engage with gusto. Every attack against him has a 50% of missing and all misses are treated as critical fumbles.  Any hit has a 10% chance of being a critical hit.  Any critical hit against Mar Nod heals him instead.  After 1d6 turns he will grow bored and simply disappear.

Sample Critical Fumble Chart
Roll Result
1 Sign of weakness, all nearby opponents will target you on their next turn
2 Save vs Petrify or Paralyze or drop your weapon
3 Swing wide, if there is an adjacent friend or foe, roll to see if you hit them instead
4 Ruined, mundane weapons are destroyed and no longer usable  magic weapons loose their enchantment until the end of the next turn (subject to an optional save)
5 Disorientated, you loose your next turn
6 Pulled a muscle, take 1d3 point STR damage until you can rest at least 8 hrs
7 Broken, the weapon is -1 to damage until you have time and materials to repair it
8 Easy to predict, -2 to hit opponent on next turn
9 Strained something, take 1d3 point DEX penalty until you can rest at least 8 hrs
10 Bent, the weapon is -1 to hit until you have time and materials to repair it
11 Misdirection, you hit yourself, roll for damage normally
12 Off balance, your opponent gets +2 to hit you next turn

Sample Critical Hit Chart
Roll Result
1 Stunning display of prowess, force moral check (or all opponents will avoid you if possible if moral is not used)
2 Disorientating hit, opponent's AC is 2 worse on next turn
3 Powerful swing, roll to hit an adjacent enemy, too (if there is one)
4 Solid hit, add 1d6 damage
5 Deep wound, opponent continues to take 1 pt of damage each turn until healed
6 Trick shot, opponent looses next turn
7 Brutal hit, double damage
8 Crushing blow, opponent must save vs Petrify or Paralyze or fall prone
9 Fierce hit, roll damage twice
10 Staggering blow, gain +2 to hit this opponent next turn
11 Mighty swing, opponent is forced back 5 feet
12 Precision attack, opponent must save vs death or die

Thoughts on Neutrality

Who doesn't remember this?  Chaos guy is about to kill the prisoner while Lawful man is holding him back.

Lawful is the alignment of community and prosperity.  Order and structure, predictability, and the overall good of the group.  Men of intellect and conscience should lean toward a more holistic and selfless outlook.

Chaos is the embodiment of destruction and selfishness.  The knife wielder may be a good man.  The thing in his arms is obviously Evil and probably deserves to die.  I mean it's me or him, right?

So what about that third guy?  Mr. Neutral doesn't seem to care about what's going on - the fiend can live or die, and Lawful and Chaos can fight over it or not.  Whatever.

Why is this interesting?  Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classic RPG introduces Cthulhu as a Neutral deity.  Neutral?  I would imagine the consensus to be that Cthulhu is Chaotic, so saying he's neutral is a bit of a stir.  But think about it.  When did neutral become the embodiment of Balance?  It seems pretty obvious from the image above that neutrality is ambivalence.  Cthulhu isn't going to usher in an age of terror and pain to spite humanity - we're just the ants in his lawn.  Our blood-soaked demise is not personal and I would argue, not even the goal.  We are of no consequence - that is neutral.

Rat Swarms Part I

Does anyone know of any good OSR resources for dealing with swarms in general and rat swarms in particular?

Swords & Wizardry - no.  Delving Deeper - no.  LotFP - no.  Heros Against Darkness - kind of, but no.  Secret Fire - uh, if its there it's probably encrypted.  Barebones - nope.  Crypts & Things - no.  Champions of Zed - don't know yet...

Joseph Bloch's Adventures Dark and Deep - A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore mentions an Insect Swarm spell in passing without giving the actual spell or anything like in the monster section.

Goodman's Games DCC RPG uses the following mechanics

Vermin attractor. The spell attracts a swarm of bothersome insects to the caster’s location that arrive 1d4 rounds after the spell is completed. These insects mill about the caster, biting for 1 point of damage and causing the caster to suffer a -1 penalty to all saving throws, initiative rolls, and spell checks for 1d10 rounds or until he takes adequate measures to disperse or escape the swarm.

 Rat swarm: Init +4; Atk swarming bite +1 melee (1 plus disease); AC 9; HD 4d8; MV 40’ or climb 20’; Act special; SP bite all targets within 20’ x 20’ space, half damage from non-area attacks, disease (DC 5 Fort save or additional 1d3 damage); SV Fort +2, Ref +4, Will -2; AL N.

Labyrinth Lord uses

Ordinary rats range in size from 6" long to 2' long. They can be black, brown, or gray in color. They live in packs that can consist of great numbers. Rat packs get 1 attack per 10 individuals, inflicting 1d6 hit points of damage per hit. If a character is swarmed by a whole pack, he must succeed in a saving throw versus death or fall to the ground under the writhing rodent horde. He may stand up the following round, but makes a new saving throw if still under the swarm. The opponent can make no attacks until he gets back on his feet.

bats are small and do not attack for significant damage. However, when in a group of 10 or more they are able to confuse by swarming around an opponent. When confused by a swarm of bats, an opponent makes all rolls to hit and all saving throws with a penalty of –2. No spell casting is possible. Normal bats are not particularly prone to fight, and as such they are susceptible to a morale check once each round. This does not apply to bats that are under another's control.

I like the distraction mechanic.  Blood & Treasure by John Stater has a pretty good treatment

Any creature covered by a swarm must make a Fortitude saving throw each round or be distracted, suffering a ‐2 penalty to all attacks and saving throws. Distracted spell casters must succeed at a Will saving throw to cast spells.

He also goes on to outline how you damage a swarm since in his version they are immune to physical attacks

• A lit torch deals 1d3 points of fire damage per hit.
• A weapon with a special ability such as flaming or frost deals its full energy damage with each hit even if the weapon’s normal damage can’t affect the swarm.
• A lit lantern can be used as a thrown weapon against a swarm, dealing 1d4 points of fire damage.
• A spell that does damage to an area does full damage to a swarm.

Anyway, before I start crafting something custom, I was hoping someone out there cold point me to an module or system that uses an alternative.

Election Day '12

Voted!

...have you?

SW7 Leaked Images

I just found some evidently leaked pre-poduction images from the new Disney Star Wars VII film!!!

Check em out at James Hance's blog, especially like here, here, and here...

...sorry.