Wednesday, September 30, 2015

I'm a DT-RPG publisher now!


I'm done with my Enchanter class for commanding nature spirits, such as fairies, nymphs, kami, and more. I also put it up on DriveThru, my first official release as Welsh Bard Games and my first product on DT. PWYW.

This class is based on my "A little mixup bears fruit: Spirit Magic for Labyrinth Lord" post from February 2014.






Tuesday, September 22, 2015

U-Con Tekumel Track Schedule

We have the schedule for the U-Con Tekumel Track. I'm running two games, Fresh Off the Boat using Heroic Age of Tekumel, and Princess Zira and the Jungle Ruins using Warriors of the Red Planet.

Sometime today, event registration begins! Register here!

10a
Ahoggya Ark, GM: John Till, 6 players, Metamorphosis Alpha 1st edition, Friday 10a-2p. 
Humans, mutants, & thousands of disgusting Ahoggya, trapped together on an out-of-control generation ship! If you like Metamorphosis Alpha, Tekumel, or are Ahoggya-curious, this adventure is for you!
5p
Tekumel: Joyful Sitting Among Friends, GM: George Hammond, 30 players, Friday 5p-7p. 
This is the annual welcome gathering for the Tekumel Track. Join us to find out about the weekend's Tekumel events, or the Tekumel setting in general, and meet other fans of the setting. 
8p
Tekumel: Hlaka 2: The way home, GM: Patrick Brady, 7 players, Friday 8p-12a. 
You are a group of Hlaka mercenaries who find themselves on the losing side in the civil war.

Rumble in Jakalla 2, GM: Brett Slocum, 8 players, Friday 8p-12a. 
Jakalla, the City Half as Old as the World, trembles before the power of the Gods! Priests of the Temple of Thumis, Stability Lord of Knowledge, must deal with the aftermath of an earthquake and the crack in the temple foundation.
Saturday
9a
A Night’s Entertainment, GM: Krista Donnelly, 6 players, Bethorm , Saturday 9a-1p. 
Emerald Circlet may be the lowest of the low clans, but you sing, you dance and you entertain as you make your way along the Sákbe Road of life. Sometimes the Guard chases you away, but sometimes the high clans just want some amusement. Today is your lucky day - you are on your way to your biggest commission yet. 
2p
Fresh Off the Boat, GM: Brett Slocum, 8 players, Heroic Age of Tekumel, Saturday 2p-6p. 
After a disaster, your entire tribe pulls up stakes and moves across the ocean to the sparkling gem of Jakalla, The City Half as Old as the World. Is civilization all it's cracked up to be? Can you survive in an urban metropolis? Will you see what lies beneath the streets and live to tell about it? 
8p
Princess Zira & the Jungle Ruins, GM: Brett Slocum, 6 players, Warriors of the Red Planet, Saturday 8p-12a. 
On the way to a peace conference, Princess Zira and her entourage are kidnapped. Survive the trials of Ayo-Xatl, a ruined city in the jungle, including cultists of the Outer Space Goddess, Vu-bats, and the legendary Beast of Ayo-Xatl. Experience Tekumel during the Latter Times, only a couple thousand years after the entire star system was sucked into a pocket dimension, in this Sword and Planet adventure. Using the new Warriors of the Red Planet rules, a D&D clone for Sword and Planet roleplaying. 
Sunday
9a
Trouble in the Foreigner's Quarter, GM: John Till, 5 players, Fate of Tekumel, Sunday 9a-1p. 
Strangers in the Foreigners' Quarter bring trouble to the Great Stone clan of Thraya! Clan members must investigate, before embarrassing affairs come to light! Tekumel adventure for fans new and old! 
2p
A Guard’s Life, GM: Krista Donnelly, 6 players, Bethorm, Sunday 2p-6p. 
Life is sweet as a Sákbe Road guard. Opportunity abounds, especially when the tirrikámu is away on mandatory training. But he will only be gone for one day so you had better make the most of it. 

Monday, September 21, 2015

Gamer ADD

I have a lot of projects going on, but for some strange reason, I don't feel fractured or grinding my gears. Here's what I working on currently:

  • Heroic Age of Tekumel: my own sequel to Empire of the Petal Throne. Almost finished with the quickstart rules. I've also prepared a Fresh Off the Boat scenario for U-Con and Con of the North. This will let me test out the tribe rules. 
  • I ran an old school solo hexcrawl using the Outdoor Survival map and Delving Deeper. The rules worked nice and could easily be tweaked to give custom responses. I so liked the idea of running myself through solos that I want to do it for other games. 
  • Warriors of the Lost Planet: my house rules for running adventures on Tekumel during the Latter Times, only a few thousand years after the Time of Darkness, using Warriors of the Red Planet rules. House rules, races, equipment, etc. First draft done. I've prepared a scenario called Princess Zira and the Jungle Ruins for U-Con and Con of the North. I've made a small 50x50 mile sandbox (vinebox? since it's mostly jungle?) that I want to run through solo to familiarize myself with the rules in play.
  • I'm creating a Greek-themed saltbox of island-hopping adventure. This has a working title of Ancient Adventures, but that's not final. Priest class: first draft done. Enchanter class: first draft in progress. Three sets of D12 subclasses: first drafts in progress. I've been collecting thoughts on a bestiary (simply pull the classic Greek ones out) and encounter tables, an elemental spell lists for nature spirits, and spell lists divided by Olympian deity. This would be suitable for solo play.
  • Rabbits & Ronin: This is a campaign inspired by Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo comic and the RPG from Gold Rush Games in the 1990s. I'm basing this off of Ruins & Ronin with anthropomorphic animals as races. I discovered Mad Monks of Khantoom, a fantastic oriental campaign generator where exploring the 1001 Padogas is the goal. 
  • I also have plans to run Isle of the Unknown as a solo adventure, just to get familiar with LotFP.
  • Dyson's Sandbox: I'm ruminating on all the wonderful adventures written by +Dyson Logos, and have started on making a sandbox to explore them. 
  • Narcosan Stashbox: I'm doing the thinking part of developing a sandbox for Narcosa. I really want to test out my Drug Trance magic users from that august book. #narcosa

Friday, September 18, 2015

Priest Class for Greek-themed Campaigns

Here is my Priest class for my Greek-themed saltbox (island-hopping in the Mediterranean). It is basically the LL Cleric, with no specific combat abilities. Instead of Turn Undead, I'm using Paolo Greco's powers from his Hubris adventure from Santicore 2013.

Olympian Priest Class

Requirements: None
Prime Requisite: WIS
Hit Dice: 1d6
Maximum Level: None
Humans who become priests have pledged their lives to serve a deity. To this end, they conduct their lives in a way to further the desires and will of their gods or goddesses. Priests may use divine energy in the form of spells, which are granted through prayer and worship (use Cleric spells). The power and number of priest spells available to a character are determined by level. Unlike clerics, priests in general are not trained to fight unless they worship a martial god, like Ares or Athena. Priests have the Attack Value of a magic user, and the Saving Throws of a cleric, except for martial gods, who have the Attack Values of a cleric. If a priest ever falls from favor, due to violating the beliefs of his god or breaking the rules of his clergy, the god may impose penalties upon the priest. These penalties are entirely up to the Labyrinth Lord, but may include penalties to attack (-1) or even a reduction in spells available.
Usually, priests serve male gods and priestesses serve female gods. Priests can use armor and weapons appropriate to their deity, given in the table below. Priests can also wield clubs, staves and daggers.



DeityWeaponDeityWeapon
AphroditenoneHadestwo-pronged staff
ApollobowHephaestushammer
Aresany weaponsHeranone
ArtemisbowHermesstaff
AthenaspearPoseidontrident
DemetersickleZeuslightning javelin
Dionysusstaff

Class Abilities
Divine Power
Each deity has a power that priests and priestesses can call upon to serve their god. A priest of a given god can use the god’s power once per day per level:
  • Aphrodite’s Beauty: the priestess can cast Charm Person.
  • Apollo’s Prophecy: the priest can cast Augury.
  • Ares’ Might: after the priest hits, the damage dealt can be doubled.
  • Artemis’ Bow: the priestess can use a bow and the arrow hits automatically.
  • Athena’s Strategy: the priestess is inspired with a battle plan that either wins initiative or gains automatic surprise.
  • Demeter’s Care: the priestess can cast Cure Light Wounds.
  • Dionysus’ Wine: the priest can cause an opponent to stop what they are doing and dance for 1d6 rounds, no save. If attacked, the victims will stop dancing.
  • Hades’ Helm: the priest can cast Invisibility Self for 6 rounds.
  • Hephaestus’ Hammer: for the rest of the combat, the priest’s weapon can ignore armor. All opponents have AC 9 [10].
  • Hera’s Revenge: if the priestess is wounded, the same amount of damage is dealt to the attacker. This power can be used instantly and during the opponent’s turn.
  • Hermes’ Speed: the priest can run a mile in a minute.
  • Poseidon’s Spawn: the priest can call a small ugly monster (2HD, ATK bite 1d6) to fight his enemies.
  • Zeus’ Bolt: the priest can call lightning from the sky, dealing 1d6 damage on an opponent.


Reaching 9th level: Once attaining 9th level, a priest may establish or build a temple. So long as the priest is currently in favor with his god, he may buy or build a temple at half the normal price due to divine intervention. Once a temple is established, the priest's reputation will spread and he will attract 1d6 acolytes (level 1-3) will arrive to aid the priest.



Priest Class Progression



Spell Levels
Experience
Level
Hit Dice (1d6)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1,501
2
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
3,001
3
3
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
6,001
4
4
3
2
0
0
0
0
0
12,001
5
5
3
2
1
0
0
0
0
25,001
6
6
3
3
2
0
0
0
0
50,001
7
7
4
3
2
1
0
0
0
100,001
8
8
4
3
3
2
0
0
0
200,001
9
9
4
4
3
2
1
0
0
300,001
10
+1 hp only*
5
4
3
3
2
0
0
400,001
11
+2 hp only*
5
4
4
3
2
1
0
500,001
12
+3 hp only*
5
5
4
3
3
2
0
600,001
13
+4 hp only*
6
5
4
4
3
2
0
700,001
14
+5 hp only*
6
5
5
4
3
3
0
800,001
15
+6 hp only*
7
6
5
4
4
3
1
900,001
16
+7 hp only*
7
6
5
5
4
3
2
1,000,001
17
+8 hp only*
8
7
6
5
4
4
2
1,100,001
18
+9 hp only*
8
7
6
5
5
4
3
1,200,001
19
+10 hp only*
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
1,300,001
20
+11 hp only*
9
8
7
6
5
5
3
* = do not add CON modifier

(The Divine Powers were created by Paolo Greco for his Hubris adventure, published in Santicore 2013, and they are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License unless stated above. The rest of the Priest class is pulled from Labyrinth Lord with minor tweaks and is licensed under the OGL.)