Abilities and Skills

Ability Bonus

Ability Score	Modifier	Bonus Spells per Day
		1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1-2	-4	Can't cast spells tied to this ability
3-4	-3	Can't cast spells tied to this ability
5-6	-2	Can't cast spells tied to this ability
7-8	-1	Can't cast spells tied to this ability
9-10	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
11-12	+1	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
13-14	+2	1	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
15-16	+3	1	1	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
17-18	+4	1	1	1	1	–	–	–	–	–
19-20	+5	1	1	1	1	1	–	–	–	–

List of Skills

• Acrobatics [DEX]
• Appraise [INT]
• Climb [STR]
• Disable Device [DEX]
• Disguise [CHA]
• Handle Animal [CHA]
• Heal [WIS]
• Knowledge [INT]
• Linguistics [INT]
• Perception [WIS]
• Perform [CHA]
• Ride [DEX]
• Sense Motive [WIS]
• Sleight of Hand [DEX]
• Stealth [DEX]
• Survival [WIS]
• Swim [STR]

Knowledge: Arcana, Astronomy, Dungeoneering, Engineering, Geography, Nature, Planes, Religion, Technology.

The Ygòthlaq

Elder Ygothlàqi

History: Ygòthlaq (sing. Ygothlàqi) are one of the most mysterious sentient species of Yaqqothl. They claim to be the last descendants of an eons ancient society, which mastered the secrets of the universe since its dawn. They left their dying planet about a thousand years ago, and wandered through the galaxy looking for a new place to call home. They eventually reached Yaqqothl, and decided to settle down. Nowadays Ygòthlaq have lost most of their powers and knowledge, and rely on powerful hallucinogens and odd rituals to perform their magic. Few as they are, they live isolated from the other primitive forms of life, safe in their unreachable cities of shining metal and led by the Councils of the Elders.

Ecology: Ygòthlaq are all men. They have no sexual organs, and reproduce by means of a weird plant native of their home world, which they technologically refined during the course of many eons. This plant they call Klaq'kàdu is a proper symbiont for the Ygòthlaq: it feeds on their blood, and produces big, slimy eggs which mature during the course of a year giving the birth to a new Ygothlàqi. One of the main problem they are facing on Yaqqothl is that for some reason, their life span decreased drastically. If on their home world the average life span for a Ygothlàqi was hundreds of thousands of years (so that some of the Elder Ygòthlaq still remember much of their old native planet), nowadays is slightly higher than the one of a Terran, which is unbearable to them. This is the reason why more and more young leave their houses and rebel to their master, preferring to seek fortunes and glory among the lesser species, rather than dedicating their lives to the study and uncovering of the most precious secrets of the Ygòthlaq.

Statistics:

• +1 to Wisdom and Intelligence, -2 to Constitution;
• Always treat Knowledge (Technology) as Class Skill;
• Natural +2 bonus on Spell Save DC (only Sorcerers.)

Addendum: I guess Ygòthlaq should work fine also for Humanspace Empires, so if you want to write a more Tékumel-ian variant of this race, please do it!

The Yaqqothl Notebook

I've just removed and updated the free pdf I posted this morning, so as to include the better b/w map. I think it definitely looks better now!

So just download it, print it, hole punch it and put it in your three-ring notebook for random use. I mean, if I can play a game for five hours with only those notes (and a couple of dungeon maps), you can certainly find a way to put it to better use.

Download it here!

Mapping Experiment: Yaqqothl the Robert S. Conley Style

Campaign Map #01

This new experiment took me about 1 hour and a half of heavy photoshopping. Given that it was the first time (although I already had a quite accurate idea of how the map should look like, since I had already done it in Hexographer), I trust that further experiments should take less time. I like it very, very much. Also, I've used Georgia font instead of the usual Futura, and I think it really makes a difference (looks much more "Yaqqothl" to me, probably because this is also the blog font.)

I just want to play some Yaqqothl

This is a pic I have just taken from the train I'm on heading back to home. I love the idea of being now able to post from wherever I am. By the way, this is not the point of this post.

The point is I want to play some Yaqqothl! Unfortunately, being currently involved in two other campaigns (as a player), it's not likely that I will find room for some other DMing in the near future. And this sucks, a lot, since I would love to involve the friends that played in the Birthday Party game into some regular campaign - especially since they looked like they enjoyed the game very much. Well, It's a matter of "wait and see" I guess.

Sorry for the pointless post, get the freebie below as an apology.

posted from Bloggeroid

Questions, Updates & Cool Stuff

First of all, let me say that I'm so excited to see the magical number "100" to show up in my Followers bar!

And now for some serious shit about the New Blood-gers column. I'm trying to get two very cool bloggers to participate in a little Round Table in the style of the one that appeared on Beyond the Black Gate quite a few days ago – I really hope they're going to answer the call! Still, I have two new unpublished interviews to post, and some others that should arrive sooner or later. My question is this, should I post them daily? Weekly? Monthly? I'm thinking that if I post'em weekly, I can have a "blog free" day once in a while, which is not a bad thing at all. Be sure to post your own opinion in comments.

And now for a very exciting, upcoming product, check out the announcement of the new Exquisite Corpses edition by Lamentations of the Flame Princess here and there! I can't help but say that between Zak, Geoffrey and Stefan, Mr. Raggi has truly found the way to make all my dirty dreams come true! Definitely can't wait for these.

And finally, for some (Hopefully) Cool Stuff! The bad news is that I have completely lost interest in posting the game recap of my birthday party, because it's too boring. Seriously. The good news is that instead I'm gonna give you my notes from the session! As long as Austrodavicus proofreads them for me (you don't wanna read my crappy english, I guess.) So stay tuned, the good stuff is on the way.

Birthday Party Game Recap

FIRST you get a pic of me wearing most of the presents:

Front Me

Back Me

And yes I had a Black Cloak, Some Stupid Fake Glasses, a Scepter, a Crown and a home-made t-shirt of Zardoz (which I'm wearing right now.) Other presents included some home-made hydromel, a bottle of Trappist Beer and a bottle of Cider – I call this fucking loot!! Also, my girlfriend gave me a Mokone (or a very big moka that is not really a moka in that it is actually an espresso machine), and me myself presented me with a wonderful new mobile phone (hell yeah finally I will blog from the phone!) aaaand I'm planning to also present myself a copy of Vornheim City Kit – goo! And also a copy of Carcosa, when Jim'll finally manage to get it in print (MAAAN I'M DYING FOR THAT CRAZY BOOK!!) (YEAH I'M SCREAMING RIGHT TO YOUR FACE BUDDY GIVE IT UP NOOOOW!!!)

Ok, so that's me and my loot – MUHAUHAUHAUHAUHAUHA. Fine.

I had six players (four guys decided not to play but to get drunk laughing loudly – I was already drunk and, yeah maybe also something else that I'm not explaining to you) (to be honest the only non-drunk guy was my brother) (screw you brother! WTF?! Wasn't it supposed to be a party?!). Character creation took about 10 minutes: roll attributes, tell me about your attributes, I suggest a class for you and if you're fine it's okay, then you choose a race between the standard ones or something else (unfortunately, only my brother dared to play a Wookiee.) Then you have chainmail (if you are a warrior) or leather armor (if you're one of the sneaky types) or nothing at all (if you're a mage) and a two-handed weapon/weapon + shield/missile weapon of your own choice. Fine, now the guy playing the Dwarf Warrior has a two-handed double-headed battle axe and shuriken – that's so fucking punk yes. Also, my girlfriend made up Xeena, but unfortunately she didn't actually play (as she was too involved in getting drunk – my sweetie.) Recap from hereon in is in the form of the conversation as I recall it from saturday night.

Human Paladin, Human Magic-user, Dwarf Warrior, "alotofbeer"

DM: "So you start in this city named Ibkah. The place is particularly famous for its slave market, its sorcerer ruler and some other shit. You were told of the great possibility for adventure: to the east, there's an dense jungle which is said to contain a Black Ziggurat; to the west, there's a venomous swamp which is said to be the site of the temple of a truly powerful demon; and finally to the north there are some mountains and a village, and most merchants will be happy to hire you as mercenaries."
Barbarian: "Uh, Black Ziggurat – sounds groovy."
Paladin: "We go to the fucking Ziggurat!"
DM: "Fine, you walk for a couple of days following the river *check-check-check* and nothing relevant happens. The fourth day you sight a colossal Monolith. It looks like you're not alone: some figures are approaching the monolith too, but they are too distant to tell who they are."
Paladin: "I want to go closer and loudly say «HELLO THERE!»"
DM: "Still too distant – they can't hear you."
Paladin: "Ok so I go even closer."
DM: "As you approach them you see that they are wearing strange suits – blue, red and yellow. The one that looks like the leader (who is tall and blond) says something to one of the guys that looks somehow like an elf. «Who are these autochthonous Mr. Spock?»"
Paladin: "Did he actually say Spock?"
DM: "Yes, at least..."
Paladin: "...I stab him in the face!"
DM: "Oh - fine. Ok so this is combat: all of you tell me what your characters are doing."
Dwarf Warrior: "I shoot 'em with my shuriken!"
Half-orc Barbarian: "I charge!"
Hobbit Thief: "Can I hide?"
DM: "Of course you can! As a matter of fact, you're pretty good at hiding."
Hobbit Thief: "Oh! So I don't hide, I ultra-hide! And if someone dies I take his stuff."
DM: "Fine!"
Magic-user: "I cast Magic-missile!"
Wookiee Warrior: "I charge with my halberd!"
DM: "Ok, fine, let's check initiative. One of you guys rolls a regular die for your party, I roll one for mine, the highest attacks first."
*roll roll roll*
DM: "You have initiative. All of you attacking, roll the funky die and tell me what you hit – the MU only rolls a d6, for Magic-missile never misses, and the Thief is just sticking close."
*roll roll roll*
People: "We all hit Kirk."
DM: *shock* "Oh, so Kirk falls dead to the ground."
Thief: "I TAKE HIS STUFF!!"

To be continued...

Mutants, An Improved Algol Race for [O][A]D&D

Fact #1: I suffer from a really bad case of GADD. Fact #2: Using Mutant Future mutants out of the box doesn't work (way too many and too powerful mutations.) Fact #3: Blair already had the "definitive" idea on this topic, but actually never posted a complete race (I mean, with the attribute tables and so on.) Consequence: While I was having a shower and thinking about all the dungeon levels that await me, I came up with the idea of merging Blair's take with what is already provided by Mutant Future to come up with something great, virtually edition neutral (although marked for use with AD&D.) Thus, here I am speaking about a new race while I was supposed to be working on lots of dungeons for the upcoming saturday night game. Sigh.

Note: You will need to download Mutant Future (don't worry, it's free.)

Also: Someone should really develop a DIY logo like the one Thomas developed for the OSR.

And: You should really listen to Kyuss while reading this.

The Mutant
No need to explain to anyone what a mutant is I hope. Regular mutants are "human mutants", but you may also add special abilities and modify stuff so as to also have mutant elves, dwarves, hobbits, whatever is in your campaign. Mutants can be of any class except Paladin, Cleric or Druid (again, if you're not a pure human, you have no soul.)

Roll Ability Scores: Mutants roll 1d20 for each ability, assigning results in straight order. This will make for wild and weird results, as we'd expect. If you roll a 1-2 on a physical ability (STR, CON or DEX), or on a mental ability (INT, WIS, CHA), round it up to 3 and pick a physical/mental drawback. If you roll a 19-20 on a physical ability (STR, CON or DEX), or on a mental ability (INT, WIS, CHA), round it down to 18 and pick a physical/mental mutation. Scale down mutations as you see fit (for example, gigantism is totally out of scale.)

Final Note: If you're using BtB AD&D psionics, mental mutations may create some issues in your game.

Special Encounters in Map 01

Refer to this map. I've tried to follow the advice ChicagoWiz kindly left to me in the comments of this other post:

For instance, the wandering monster tables you mention. In opening up new areas, I don't do that so much. I just have a list of monsters that I'll use and I roll against generic tables like from the ref sheets or in OSRIC/DMG. Depending on that result, I'll check against the monsters I've specified. So if the result is dragon, I'll see what is dragon-like in my own list, or what is as strong as a dragon, and go from there.

As you will note, I went even a bit further. The following encounters share the same structure of the ones found in Carcosa or Planet Algol. Only, they aren't hex-fixed. Once I give this a try, I will let you know if/how it works.

Ibkah City Encounters

1. Òzmul The Mad sit in his sedan chair surrounded by his eunuch bodyguards and slave chicks.
2. Thief trying to jostle the characters.
3. Naked mad preacher predicting The Day of Judgment.
4. Cardinal Azor and his servants.
5. Pusher selling hallucinogen drugs, stimulants, opiates and such.
6. Slave market – very good prices (discount up to 40% on emasculated kleengons.)
7. Gambling house.
8. Kids playing (will offer aid to strangers in exchange for 1cp.)
9. Pimp offering pussies for a penny.
10. KORGOTH.

Jungle Encounters

1. Patrol of 2-12 cannibal aborigine hunters.
2. 1-4 alien, talking, albino baboons armed with laser weapons.
3. Vampire flowers.
4. Random colored lotus*.
5. Giant stone heads.
6. Ruins hunted by 1-6 radioactive ghouls lead by a ghast.
7. Patrol of 2-8 Mi-go scientists**.
8. Ooze/Mud/Pudding and the like.
9. Congo's giant killer gorillas.
10. Tropical downpour (lasts at least a week.)
11. Mutated T-Rex.
12. Decrepit robot*.

Plain Encounters

1. Caravan of merchants (may hire adventurers as mercenaries, see Ibkah description for daily fee.)
2. Tribe of 30-300 nomadic barbarians (30% women, kids and elderly*** unable to fight, at least one 7th level barbarian leader and some 3rd level barbarians lieutenants – all other are 1st/2nd level barbarians.)
3. 3-6 pterodactyls**** attack from the sky!
4. Strange pool of brackish water, possibly radioactive or otherwise venomous.
5. 1-4 pilgrims, heading either towards Ibkah or the Monastery of Renewed Pain (50-50.)
6. Game (boars, gazelles and such.)
7. Farmers from Tadék headed towards Ibkah's monthly market.
8. Mr. Spock, Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy and two other anonymous officers headed to the monolith (strange alien activity detected.) Will attack Kleengons on sight.

Mountain Encounters

1. 1-3 Shoggoths**.
2. Abandoned outpost of the Space Aliens* – defense systems still active. The outpost is haunted by a mad AI (type G treasure inside, plus artistic stuff and some laser weapons.)
3. Pterodactyl's**** nest (1-8 adults plus 2-24 chicks.)
4. Lair of one Ettin.
5. Snowstorm (lasts 3-6 hours.)
6. Spawn of Shub-Niggurath*.
7. 2-4 megalo-centipedes.
8. One poisonous snake.
9. 7-12 dire wolves lead by one worg.
10. One carrion crawler.
11. Decomposed human remains.
12. Lair of one huge scorpion.

Venomous Marsh Encounters

1. One Spawn of the Toad Demon.
2. 2-12 sub-humans (worshipers of the Toad Demon.)
3. One crocodile.
4. Water pool with black lotus on the surface, full of leeches.
5. Giant mutated snail (acid slime.)
6. Toxic fumes! Chose a random lotus* for effects.
7. Tribe of 5-100 troglodytes lead by one evil troglodyte 2nd level shaman (qv DMG pg 40.)
8. Ooze/Mud/Pudding and the like.
9. 2-8 radioactive ghouls.
10. 3-9 white lotus zombies (once adventurers.)

_____________________________________

*Stats from Carcosa.

**Stats from D&DG

***Kids over 7, young women and men below 45 are regular fighters, so this percentage only shows "unable to fight" types.

****Same stats as Pteranodons (see MM, Dinosaur.)

A Much More Yaqqothlian Map

Birthday Party is coming, and I'm still fucking around with GADD – sometimes I just hate myself. By the way, here's another hex-map, which should resemble the old one, although it looks much more Science Fantasy to me (and this is what this blog was meant to be about, right?) So I'll keep it. Can I key all this stuff in less than two days? Hell, no! But I'll do my best, starting from right now.

0202: The Black Ziggurat. Hidden in the deepest jungle and chocked full of giant mutated fungi lies a colossal obsidian ziggurat, so ancient that even legend forgot its existence. The Black Ziggurat is one of the aspects of the Blackest Tesserzigguract, and a door to all the worlds that host one. This Black Ziggurat, in particular, is also the tomb of the most powerful king of a lost Maya-like civilization (probably the same which built the Ruined City in hex 0403.)
0403: The Ruined City. Once known as Makapìchu, this ruined city now host a tribe of 400 cannibal aborigines. They speak their own, incomprehensible language (though a Magic-user would roughly understand what they say because of similarities with ancient, forbidden tomes of eldritch sorcery), and are ruled by The Superior Bone-cruncher, a Chaotic Human Evoker. They worship the Hungry Mother, a Spawn of Yog-Sothoth that dwells in a well in the center of the city, and feed her once a month with a female child.
0509: The City-state of Ibkah, ruled by Òzmul The Mad, also known as the Iridium Sorcerer. It's a port, featuring a flourishing slave trade, and one of the most famous Assassins Guild of all Yaqqothl. The inhabitants of Ibkah actively worship The Demon Lords of Sarnath, and the city hosts one of the most impressive temples of the cult, The Cathedral of St. Bérzul, lead by the self-proclamed Cardinal Azor. Azor is famous for his extreme positions and iron fist against heresy and the worshipping of false gods. Merchants and slavers are always in search of brave (and unscrupulous) adventurers to hire as mercenaries, the regular fee being 1gp per day for land travel, and 5sp per day for boat trips.
0603: Nest and hunting ground of a couple of mutated T-Rex. Their mutation consists of the fact that they are able to breath acid just like a Green Dragon (you don't want to try.) If stolen, their eggs can be used to produce great quantities of a powerful hallucinogen, or sold for the same reason (worth over 500gp each in Ibkah.)
0705: The Crystal Monolith. This weird monument is a sort of landing signal left by the Outer Ones, just in case of a trip back to Yaqqothl. It was made out of an alien, transparent, iridium gem, and holds no special powers. According to the rumors, it shows the way to the Black Ziggurat.
0907: The Monastery of Renewed Pain, ruled by Father Garxygyg. A group of about 100, mad monks live here, committed to prayer, copying old tomes of lost knowledge, cultivating the land and producing a fine malt beer. They are all devoted to the Demon Lords of Sarnath, and keep a vow of chastity.
1103: The Village of Tadék. Once an important commercial crossroad between Karzahd and Ibkah, nowadays a small, well-defended farm-community. The village is ruled by Sir Belziel, a Lawful Human Lord. The peasants avoid both the jungle and the mountains, for great perils lurk therein. The most profitable activity is farming, and also the caravans of merchants who cross the valley to the north. Thus, the valley is full of bandits (there's also a tribe of nomad barbarians, but they don't attack the caravans, although it is commonly believed that they are responsible of all the attacks.)
1203: The Fallen Gates of Karzhad. Once a fortress of the Mole-men, it was abandoned eons ago. Some says the Mole-men still live beneath the mountains, others that they dug too deep and too greedily and eventually awakened He Who Must Not Be Disturbed. Whichever way it went, during the curse of thousands of years many, nightmarish creatures have crawled into the darkness beneath, to avoid sunlight and look for easy prey to eat. None have dared to enter here from time immemorial.
1209: The Forgotten Temple of the Toad Demon. Hidden in the deepest recesses of the Venomous Marshes lies this temple, which once attracted thousands of faithful. During its decline, the most fervent believers refused to leave the cult, and over the course of hundreds of years evolved into primitive sub-humans, totally bound to the Toad Demon. They still celebrate obscene ceremonies and sacrifices in his name.

Encounters and more soon!

Demi-humans in Yaqqothl

A typical Yaqqothl Elf

As I've said, I'm going to use OD&D for the upcoming Birthday Party session. Since in Men & Magic there are no real rules about demi-humans, only guidelines and references to Chainmail, I'm going to redefine them this way:

Dwarves: Can be Fighters or Rogues, as in Men & Magic and Greyhawk, get +1 Con and -1 Cha, have +1 to hit using hammers and axes.

Elves/Vulcanians: Can be Fighters, Magic-users or Rogues, as in Men & Magic and Greyhawk, get +1 Dex and -1 Con, have +1 to hit when using long bows and long swords.

Hobbits: Can be Fighters or Rogues, as in Men & Magic and Greyhawk, get +1 Dex and -1 Str, have +1 to hit when using slings or small missiles (small rocks and such.)

Half-orcs/Klingons/Wookies: Can be Fighters (7th) or Rogues (Unlimited), get +1 Str and -1 Cha, have +1 to hit when using two-handed weapons.

Half-demons/Tieflings/Deep Ones: Can be Fighters, Magic-users or Rogues as elves, get +1 Int and -1 Wis, have +1 to hit when using natural weapons (such as claws, fangs, horns, tail et al – every half-demon/tiefling/deep one has one of these.)

See how it works? You can access one to three classes (Clerics are for men only – as previously stated, demi-humans have no soul), get some bonuses and penalties on abilities and a bonus when using some particular weapon. That way, it's pretty easy to come up with new races on the spur of the moment. Some of you may turn your nose up at seeing that this way some very basic special abilities are missing, but honestly, who cares. If you have something interesting to say (y'know, like "this corridor looks brand new", then just say it for Demogorgon's sake!) Next time, classes.

Lake Kalij, Part II

Part I.

The problem with using the 2-20 table for random encounters is that you come to have a great variety of encounters you may not want. Thus, I've implemented the following 2-12 table:

2. Very Rare
3. Rare
4. Uncommon
5. Uncommon
6. Common
7. Common
8. Common
9. Uncommon
10. Uncommon
11. Rare
12. Very Rare

This way, for those of you who love statistics, you have 36 possible dice combinations (6x6), of which 16 (5+6+5, roughly 45%) will result in Common encounters, 14 (3+4+4+3, roughly 38%) in Uncommon encounters, 4 (2+2, roughly 11%) in Rare encounters and 2 (1+1, roughly 6%) in Very Rare encounters. You may add more complexity by rolling 3d6 for each encounter (in that case curves are in the DMG, so it's even easier.)

Western Forest
2. Troll
3. Convoy
4. Patrol, orcs
5. Patrol, goblins
6. Boar
7. Squirrel
8. Wolf
9. Centipede, giant
10. Patrol, worg rider goblins
11. Worg
12. Patrol, Gruknartz

Plains
2. Centipede, megalo-
3. Wolf, dire
4. Boar
5. Mercenaries
6. Convoy
7. Bandits
8. Patrol, peasants of Stadt
9. Horse
10. Snake, poisonous
11. Worg
12. Pilgrim

Mountains
2. Carrion Crawler
3. Caveman
4. Snake, poisonous
5. Scorpion, huge
6. Orc
7. Ogre
8. Bugbear
9. Hobgoblin
10. Weasel
11. Gorgon
12. Ettin

Hills
2. Ettercap
3. Pilgrim
4. Snake, giant poisonous
5. Bandit
6. Skunk
7. Raven
8. Mule
9. Ghoul
10. Bear
11. Patrol, Baron Petrowitz Knights
12. Basilisk

Swamp
2. Spawn of the Toad Demon
3. Sub-human
4. Basilisk
5. Toad, giant
6. Centipede, huge
7. Flying, swarm
8. Crocodile
9. Snail, giant
10. Leech, giant
11. Ghoul
12. Ghast

Eastern Forest
2. Dryad
3. Ant, giant
4. Badger
5. Skeleton
6. Toad, giant
7. Squirrel
8. Wolf
9. Zombie
10. Leprechaun
11. Brownie
12. The Silent Watcher

Convoys are usually composed of 10-20 men-at-arms and 6 light horses. The merchant is demi-human only 1 in 6 (2-3 dwarf, 4 elf, 5 hobbit, 6 other). Most merchants (80%) sell slaves – male slaves are chained and must walk, women and children are transported in wagons. Other goods include jewels, weapons and armor, food and wine. Roll a d6 to determine destination: 1-4 Ibkah, 5 Stadt, 6 Castle Petrowitz/Broon.

Special Monsters are described in their respective one-page adventures.

Random Weather (Winter)
2. Snowstorm
3. Snow
4. Storm
5. Rain
6. Cloudy
7. Windy
8. Cloudy
9. Rain
10. Storm
11. Snow
12. Snowstorm

Random Weather (Autumn/Spring)
2. Storm
3. Rain
4. Rain
5. Cloudy
6. Windy
7. Sunny
8. Windy
9. Cloudy
10. Rain
11. Rain
12. Storm

Random Weather (Summer)
2. Hailstorm
3. Storm
4. Rain
5. Cloudy
6-8. Sunny
9. Cloudy
10. Rain
11. Storm
12. Hailstorm

Birthday Party House Rules, Final Draft

Ruleset: 3LBBs + Greyhawk.
Other Books on the Table: Player's Handbook*, Monster Manual**, DMG*** & Carcosa****.
Dice: 20-sided, 6-sided.
Abilities & Saving Throws: 4d6 drop the lowest, assign in order; no minimum for classes; easy peasy modifiers (i.e. >15 +1, <6 -1.) Single Saving Throws as per S&W (Thieves save like Magic-users.)
Classes: Fighter, Magic-user, Cleric or Thief. Sub-classes like Barbarian, Ranger, Paladin, Druid, Illusionist, Monk, Assassin et al are available on request.
Hit Points: 6 + Con mod. at first level, then 1d6 + Con mod. each new level; Fighters get 6 + 1d6 + Con mod. at first level, another d6 + Con mod. at second level and so on.
Races: Standard; those required by players (i.e. wookie) get one or two special abilities by DM's fiat.
Psionics? Maybe Carcosa ones.
Spell Casting: Magic-users memorize spells, then cast, then they can memorize again (even if just one turn has passed since they last memorized a spell.) Point is that to be able to do this, they have to carry their books around, and you know this may be very dangerous. Clerics do the same, but the divinity may not answer their call (i.e. you cure someone, than ask again for another cure and no one is listening to you, fucking jerk.) Point is divinities are just like Dungeon Masters: unpredictable. Clerics need no spellbook.
Equipment: basic class equipment is provided by the DM (i.e. armor and weapon for Fighters, weapon and spellbook for Magic-users, holy symbol, armor and weapon for Clerics, rope, armor and weapon for Rogues), then you get 1d6x10gp to buy whatever you want.
If you want do to something that is not in the rules and I really need to roll some dice rather than just issue a decree: You roll a d20, modified by one relevant ability, and I consult the following table – if you score higher, you succeed.

Difficult 9
Hard 12
Very Hard 15
Nearly Impossible 18
R'u Serious?! 21+

_____________________________
*Only for equipment.
**I'll use monster stats from Monster Manual. It's way easier to read.
***I'll use To Hit and Item Saving Throws from DMG.
****It's always cool to have Carcosa on the table, and I can also have spawns and droids and cool technological stuff on the spur of the moment. Yeah maybe also Cthulhu if I'm a bastard.

Lake Kalij, Part I

Part II.

First of all, this ain't no Grognardia! Just my last layout deviation. Don't worry, things may return to normal in a while as I change my mind again. I like to reskin The Grimoire once in a while. By the way...

Map 01

Introduction: I decided to run a very small sandbox for my birthday party. I think this is absolutely the best way to introduce the noobs to D & D, since it allows rooms for exploration and decisions. The map was, in some way, directly inspired by this map posted yesterday over at The Underdark Gazette. I wrote no introduction, and put my notes together in a way similar to the One Page Wilderness Template (although I didn't use the template itself.) Unfortunately my notes are in italian, so my pdf is not suitable for publication. Thus, I decided to report everything here for you to comment on.

HEX KEY
0208: The City-state of Ibkah, ruled by Ozmul The Mad, also known as the Iridium Sorcerer. It's a port, featuring a flourishing slave trade, and one of the most famous Assassins Guild of all Yaqqothl. Here lies the Cathedral of St. Berzul, where Cardinal Azor lives. The Cardinal is one of the most influential men of the Church, and it's said that he could be the next Pope. Azor is famous for his extreme positions and iron fist against heresy and the worshipping of false gods.
0306: A tribe of orcs and goblins ruled by an ogre known as Gruknartz The Harrier. They live in a complex of natural caves beneath a small hill in the wood. They train wargs, and usually plunder the caravans of merchants that cross the wood on the road from Ibkah and the Village of Stadt. Sir Belziel would pay for Gruknartz's head.
0405: The fortified Village of Stadt. Once an important commercial crossroad between Karzahd and Ibkah, nowadays a small, well-defended farm-community. The most profitable activity until a few years ago was hunting, but now going into the forest has become dangerous. The village is ruled by Sir Belziel, a retired adventurer.
0503: Karzahd, The Lost Fortress of the Grey Dwarves. The Fortress has been abandoned eons ago, so that not even the dwarves can recall where the entrance is. Some says the dwarves still live in beneath the mountains, others that they dug too dee[ and too greedily and eventually awakened He Who Must Not Be Disturbed. Indescribable treasures are said to lie beneath the mountain.
1205: The fortified Village of Broon, a small well-defended farm-community. They pay a tribute to The Lord of Castle Petrowitz in exchange for protection. The people of Broon love Lord Petrowitz, and actually put great trust in him. A High Druid secretly lives in this village, and celebrates the rites in a little clearing in the wood in hex 1305 (the clearing is half a day's walk from the village.) If Cardinal Azor gets to know about the druids, he would certainly send Brother Ruin to "purge" the inhabitants (i.e. burn the village and execute the Lord of the Castle.) For quite some time now, some disappearances have occured in the village, at a rate of about one every two months. The Wicked Witch of the Woods or The Dwellers of the Black Marshes are typically held responsible.
1206: Castle Petrowitz, ruled by Baron Petrowitz. The Baron sincerely cares for the inhabitants of Broon, and is really worried about the disappearances. What he doesn't know is that his eldest son Vlad is responsible. Seemingly sweet and gentle, Vlad is actually a sexual sadist and a cannibal. He firmly believes that the Demon Lords of Sarnath are commanding him to act this way. The Cardinal Azor knows that, and considers Vlad to be a living prophet.
1310: The Forgotten Temple of the Toad Demon. Hidden in the deepest recesses of the Black Marshes lies this temple, which once attracted thousands of faithful. When the Church began to Preach the Word of God, the temple was eventually left to its destiny. The most fervent believers refused to leave the cult, and during the course of a thousand years evolved into primitive sub-humans, totally bound to the Toad Demon. They still celebrate obscene ceremonies and sacrifices in his name.
1504: The Lair of the Wicked Witch. The Witch is not evil, but very powerful. Securing her friendship can be very useful, as she is a powerful diviner. Anyway, the Witch has to be defeated to earn her respect.

Religion on Yaqqothl

You'll never be as badass as this man

DISCLAIMER: If you are particularly sensitive to religious topics, or too stupid not to understand the difference between games and reality, stop reading now, for some of the following sentences may upset you. Being agnostic (insofar as I believe that the problem of the existence of God or other supernatural beings is not only misplaced, but also not worthy of my attention*) I can't be as delicate as the situation would require.

The day before yesterday I had this idea for a monotheistic cult on Yaqqothl. Now I'm going to expand and explain this, as succinctly as I can (yes, probably for the sake of being succinct I shouldn't have used the word succinctly, still it sounds wonderfully weird, as well as wonderfully and weird.)

Problem: D&D Clerics are by definition of the catholic kind, rather than pagans.

Solution A: Use pseudo-catholicism as the main religion. Drawback: You may not want magic-users and clerics to flame up your game. Solution B: Get rid of clerics (or at least don't allow them as player class). Drawback: Clerics are integral part of D&D and, all in all, are also pretty cool. Solution C: Play it Vanilla (or, who gives a fuck about cults?!). Drawback: Describing cults in detail is very cool. Solution D: Re-design the Cleric class. Drawback: Then why D&D? Go EPT!

This was my thinking until two days ago. Then an unexpected epiphany: why not re-design pseudo-catholicism? Demons are outstanding, thus turn God into a Demon. So came The Unspeakable Trinity and The Church. The Church is about the same as the Roman Catholic Church: there's a Pope, it's founded on dogmas, preaches Free Will but still fights to convert people. The good stuff is that, confronted with a moral issue, you can easily figure out the answer (or, at least, how your local penguin** would answer.) If you want, it's a distorted version of Roman Catholic Church, way more violent against atheists, non-believers and heretics, and way more corrupted and racist. For instance, only humans can be accepted as the faithful: it's self-evident that demi-humans have no soul, and humanoids are creature of nightmares only good for massacre and stakes. The other big difference is that god (the Demon Lords of Sarnath) lives exists on Yaqqothl. And you know what that means? You're right, he is for fucking slaughtering. Also, note that, since god is basically a demon now, you can still have Magic-users on good terms with Clerics (aren't Magic-users active Demon worshippers? Of course they are.) Other cults now include animist (Druids), Other Demons (Magic-users), Cthulhu Mythos (Cultists Carcosan Sorcerers) and, of course, heresy. Medieval heretic cults. You know, like Pharisees rather than Stoics. You can still have some friction between Clerics and Druids, but, as in real world, not all the Cleric PCs have to be crazy fundamentalists (while every NPC has to be, because, be honest, it sounds better in the game.)
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*I can explain this better, if you need a more in-depth explanation, so please don't flame, just ask.
**Penguin is italian slang for nun, although some people (including me) also use it for priests. It's not offensive, it's the same as calling a man in tuxedo a penguin .

The Purple Plateau

Yaqqothl is like a warm cloak. Yesterday Zak put out this pretty interesting post about how he wants to hear about settings. So why not? Maybe I can give this a try. Reference map here.

The Purple Plateau
The Purple Platea is a pretty weird a place, and very dangerous to venture into. Have you read The Abominations of Yondo? That. Purple sand and rocks are everywhere, and there's little to no vegetation at all. Definitely not a pleasant place. Near the coast is a barren heath, where grass is thick, low and colored blue and violet, with beautiful iridium flowers of all shapes and sizes, that grow in sparse shrubs. Encounters near the coast occur with a probability of 1 in 6 (check every 6 hours). Encounters in the center of the Purple Plateau occur with a probability of 1 in 6 (by day, check every 3 hours) or 3 in 6 (by night, check every hour.)

PS: Also, it's cold there!

Encounters in the Purple Plateau [1d8+1d12]
2. Remorhaz
3. Demon, Vrock (Type I)
4. Dervishes
5. Mastodon
6. Moon Dog
7. Ogre
8. Pilgrim
9. Scorpion, Large
10. Desert Crawlers*
11. Jackal
12. Wolf, Dire
13. Herd Animal
14. Scorpion, Huge
15. Abominations of the Purple Plateau*
16. Pudding, White
17. Purple Worm
18. Wolfwere
19. Gorgon
20. Troll, Giant

*New monsters, stats to come

The Unspeakable Trinity

During the last two months I have toyed a lot with classic fantasy, and very little with Yaqqothl, and I miss it. Although, it's not true that I didn't think about that world, and the idea I had has evolved naturally through my new comprehension of the game, its mechanics and assumptions. For the first time, Yaqqothl is ready to be brought into reality.

The Unspeakable Trinity
Or so are the Demon Lords of Yaqqothl called. In the lost, obsidian city of Sarnath they dwell, tended by untold hordes of mindless servants, Those Who Don't Have Faces. Many tales of terror about The Trinity are whispered all over the place, even though no one has ever seen them, except in nightmares. So they communicate to all the living, insinuating sly orders into sleeping minds. How many times has a murderer tried to justify himself by saying that the Demon Lords had told him to kill? For the voices are real, and none can resist their incessant pounding on the edge of dreams. Tireless and immortal, the Demon Lords of Yaqqothl pursue designs inexplicable and inconceivable, dragging the entire population of the planet into their eternal plots, with incomprehensible motives.

Still, the most disturbing aspect of the Demon Lords is that, though none have ever seen them, everyone knows that they are three, and yet only one: Father, Son, and Doom.