Game Calender

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

A Bit Pissed

Last night I had about an hour or so to work on campaign background.  I was typing away, things were coming quickly and I liked it.  I should have known it was going too well.  Then I went to close a website I was using to do a little research, instead I hit my Word document.  I was thinking, I don't want to close this.  Then the old yes or no question popped up on the screen (Would you like save?) and instead of answering that question it asked, I answered the one in my head.  I answered 'no'.............

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

No Alignments

So the countdown the to new AD&D campaign is started.  All the players have their concepts, Rob created his so I am waiting on Brian and Rusty to finish theirs.  Rusty is thinking of doing a cleric or cleric/magic-user.  I finished the pantheon over the weekend, I think it ended up being 13 gods, two of which are dead and one that in a catatonic state. 

When I finished the pantheon I decided not to use alignments.  I just feel they won't fit in with the world I'm building.  I want players to have the freedom to slide a little up and down the good, evil or neutral scale.  A cleric will of course need to play within the philosophy of their god to have their spells granted. 

A paladin is just a title for one god's champions.  Each god will have their version of a champion that will have special abilities as long as they adhere to their god's will.  I have most of those figured out.

Working on the background now and a map.  I wish I knew how to use those mapping programs, but I'll be drawing this one by hand.  Which I like, but i have a lousy scanner and sometimes it doesn't come out.  Anyway, it's Tuesday (blah), lunch is over and I'm looking forward to doing more work on the campaign when I get home.

Monday, September 5, 2011

The Verm - New Monster

As I was writing the dungeon for Starter Adventures I wanted to use a favorite critter of mine from the Fiend Folio, the Volt.  I really like the picture in the FF.  Although when I was hunting around I didn't see if it was under the OGL.   I'm lousy at figuring that stuff out.  So instead of trying to find out if it was covered under the OGL I decided to create my own critter based off the Volt.  This is how the Verm came about.  And Jason drew a kick ass picture for the Verm.  Because I have a handful of new monster I am adding a new section to Starter Adventures.  They will be a collection of low level guys you can throw into the fray.  Here is the Verm given in Swords & Wizardry Core stats.




Verm
HD:       1+1
AC:        5 [14]
Dam:     1d3 (bite), 1d4 (shock)
Move:   12
Save:     16
CL/XP:   3/60
Special: A successful bite causes 1d4 shock damage (save halves).

The verm are giant rats with a natural ability to channel electricity.  They travel within packs of normal giants rats.  They are territorial so only one is usually present in the pack, but sometimes there is a mating couple.  Verm are slightly more intelligent than normal rats and can use some minor tactics in a fight.  One of the more unusual things about verm is when not mating they often bond with an individual.  The individual can train the verm and the verm will serve them as the same as a dog.  But the territorial nature of the verm makes it difficult for the person to have friends.  The verm considers them competition and will look remove it. 

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Resurrecting Evil

The Briv'El waited twelve thousand and fifty-four years for this day.  The mountain eroded and the humans moved the great stones that marked their god's grave.  With quiet patience they watched the humans carefully remove the earth from Ba'al.  Bone-by-bone he appeared.  It would be time soon.  There was no prophecy, no portents nor visions of this day.  On a Sunday evening, on September 4th at 7:22pm the Briv'El sacrificed their lives to give life to their creator.  An evil being that walked this world before the oceans were born and before the sun burned bright, pulled itself out of the earth.  

Psychedelic Sleestak Sunday

Enik may cause seizures.  No really.  He's one trippy sleestak.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Building a Pantheon

I've been going over some of the gods and goddesses and epic monsters that I want to include in my campaign.  I have my own pantheon of gods with their build in history, legends and motives.  But  I thought I would crack open the Deities & Demigods and scavenge a few gods.  One addition and most obvious is Gruumsh.  Is there really any other orc god?  This one-eyed bad ass is perfect.  And his name is pronounceable which is not that common.  I plan on mixing in a few bad girls.  Loviatar, a demigod known as Mistress of Pain (Finnish).  Hecate, Goddess of Magic and the Night (Greek), and finally Kali, Mother of Creation and Destruction (Indian).  I've tweaked titles and will tweak mythology to fit.  This trio can cause a lot of grief.

In my own pantheon there are a total of ten gods, two of which are dead, but are still very prevalent in the overall mythology.  These gods were built using a non-alignment, non-aspect system so I will need to do some tweaking for this.  The good thing is I won't have to put too much effort into this since they have already been developed.  What I need to do is create a few interesting legends, heroes and those epic monsters I mentioned earlier.  I know I have at least to of these legendary beasts in my back pocket.

In the end I won't know what the complete pantheon will look like.  I will edit the gods by combining, deleting or expanding them.  Not a bad way to spend a humid and hot Saturday afternoon.  Being a god of gods is thirst work.  I think I'll go get an ice tea.