Where Imagination Takes You
That’s a tabletop roleplaying game by the way, not a rocket-propelled grenade. I’m not sure how you could publish one of those, though given the current media euphemisms for killing I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.
Anyway – apropos of nothing except for having some time on my hands recently I decided to tinker with some roleplaying rules, using the “Powered by the Apocalypse” rules engine which has been my go to for a while.
Continue reading “I just published an RPG”I haven’t posted for a while so here’s a quick round up of what’s been going on in the world of Finn
RPG Stuff
We’ve finished the most recent story arc of Rogier’s epic D&D campaign with my stoic old veteran Alaric Helm and his stalwart companion Lia the half elf misanthropist/ranger (a non standard dual class) defending the border realms of men from a goblin invasion. We’ll be returning there soon after a spell of me running Blades in the Dark for them – a more supernaturally focussed visit to Doskvol as their characters are a Whisper/Leech team faking seances and selling magically infused dream potions to the wealthy and decadent.
My other Blades in the Dark campaign is less esoterically focussed with the HellRunner Corp of smugglers dividing their time between hunting down a serial killer in Crowsfoot (now revealed to be an Iruvian diplomat who is being shipped out of the city by his superiors) and getting involved with the machinations of the dreaded Izing Consortium a shadowy group of businessmen who seem to be trying to start a new war in order to boost their profitability.
In my Knight City cyberpunk homebrew the former corporate action team DSI-9 are coming to terms with a world on the brink of collapse, with their corporate employers struck down and implicated in the deliberate release of a bio-weapon that has turned Manhattan into a nest of crazed feral lunatics. They’re currently trying to work with the insane biochemist who created the plague in the first place who is dangling a genetic kill-switch for them IF they indulge his every whim. They’ve just smuggled a live victim of the plague through quarantine in the hope this will help in developing the cure.
Back in the lands of the Sundered Seven (another homebrew, this time classic Swords & Sorcery), our heroes have assisted in the defeat of the treacherous Lord Osten of Tyaldi and mopped up the supernatural incursion into his stronghold with the aid of some Carcosan influences. They’re now in the great city of Hrafburg hunting down the paymasters of Osten who seek to bring civil war to the land.
I’ve also been doing some research so that I can fill out the handouts for a Cthulhu Dark one off that I’ll be running and I’m so far down the rabbit hole of esoteric elliptony that I’m starting to wonder if it’s all real after all.
RTC Stuff
For those unfamiliar with the term, an RTC is a Road Traffic Collision – formerly called an RTA (Road Traffic Accident – they changed the term because it implied accidental cause). My car was struck by an out of control driver at the end of August and totalled between two impacts from the other driver and the steel roadside barriers. I was knocked out (briefly) and pretty battered but walked away.
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| My Lovely Car – now an expensive paperweight |
I had my first bout of physiotherapy yesterday and it went well. I’m still stiff and aching particularly in my back & right shoulder but got off pretty lightly.
Writing Stuff
Finishing Chapter Ten of Crow Journal took a while. It had the potential to be exposition heavy but after a few attempts at it I’ve managed to wrestle it into shape and conveyed – I hope – the information that needs to be conveyed in a way that isn’t too heavy handed and mixed in with some incident and character development that means it works. Again, I hope so. Crow Journal should be about 15 chapters in total so I’m in the home stretch now.
And of course A Step Beyond Context remains on sale – If you haven’t as yet read it but think you might be interested in a multi-world Cyberpunk thriller with a Regency drama heroine then you can pick it up at Amazon in paperback or Kindle format.
Description
These shambling humanoids are composed of vegetable matter and exhibit a basic level of sentience. They have no language, no culture, they are effectively a means for the species to propogate itself. Originally encountered within the Minecraft game these silent and explosive monsters are a threat to anyone who ventures into the dark places of the world. Creepers are roughly human sized and human shaped (understandably given their origin- see below) but they are comprised entirely of a mottled green-brown fungal substance. Their bodies lack definition and fine detail, with lumpy misshapen faces and hands like they have been badly formed by a lazy worker in clay. Amid the fungal masses that make up the body are black specks with short sharp cactus like spines emerging from them. These are the spores that are disseminated by the creature to propagate its species. In many ways the Spores are the monster – the Creeper is just the delivery mechanism.
They do not speak, they do not think, they have no society. They live like moss or slime or fungus in dark damp places and become active only when a humanoid being moves, or speaks within a couple of hundred feet of it. Then they stir and move and seek to draw near to them… And once near enough they explode and shower their targets with the Spores.
Shambling vegetative humanoids
Attacks. None normal
Stealth Surprises a foe on a 1-4 on d6. If the foe is not surprised they are alerted to the Creeper’s presence by a soft hissing sound if it is within Close combat range.
Explosion Every round the Creeper is in close combat range with a human foe roll 1d6. On a roll equal to or less than the number of rounds they have been within close combat range they explode.
Everyone in close combat distance takes 2d6 damage and must make an immediate save versus poison or be infected with the flying spores (non-humans save at +2). The Creeper is killed by its own explosion of course.
Spore Infection If a character caught in a Creeper explosion fails its Save v Poison then spores from the creature have pierced the character’s skin and taken root there. Each day thereafter the character will lose 1 point each in Wisdom and Intelligence.
When either of these attributes drops below three the character will lapse into a stupor and over the course of the next 1d4 hours transform into a Creeper and will seek out the nearest humanoid target. If a character receives a Heal spell during the process of losing Intelligence and Wisdom the transformation is halted.
If an infected character is killed while infected (including by the original explosion of the Creeper) the transformation is hastened, and occurs the very next day.
Creepers tend to remain silent and relatively dormant until they sense a potential host for their spores. If they detect a human or other sentient humanoid creature they will start to wander until the target’s exact whereabouts is determnined at which point the Creeper will move directly and stealthily toward them, intending to explode and shower them in spores.
A Creeper cannot really tell the difference between humanoids but while anyone of any species can be damaged by a Creeper explosion, species other than humans save versus Spore Infection at +2 since the Spores have evolved with humans as their preferred medium for growth.
If you feel like taking a look at my first novel, a reality-jumping Cyberpunk Regency mystery with a kick-ass heroine then check out A Step Beyond Context available on Kindle for less than $3.00 and in paperback for less than $10.00. It’s really good, honest, and gameable as hell.
The land of Atar is a land beset on every side by the forces of chaos and wildness. Lawless men and creatures from out of nightmare roam the land and the wilderness is a little explored new frontier. Only the Star Stones provide sanctuary.
The Star Stones are powerful artifacts whose origin is a source of speculation and superstition. Some say they were a gift from the gods. Some say they fell from the heavens. Some say they are the crystalline hearts of ancient immortal beings whose dreams created all things.
Nobody knows for sure where they came from but everything depends upon them. Each Star Stone is a gem or crystal the size of a man’s head, of a shape that is hard to define and which seems to contain too many angles and facets. Each shines with its own light that seems to come from within it and the shadows of which extend in unnatural ways that make no sense.
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| OnionVolcanoArt – DeviantArt |
Each Star Stone protects its surroundings from the chaos in the world. The city that houses a Star Stone is a sanctuary against the foul creatures of darkness that ravage in the unprotected wild areas. Dark magic cannot hold sway within the boundaries of Star Stone’s presence, and the worst abominations of malevolent nature cannot draw close to it.
The city that houses a Star Stone is a safer place than anywhere else in the land of Atar. Such a place can grow and prosper, and people can dwell there in a state of relative security. The further one gets from the Star Stone the weaker its protection grows but even the borders of a city state are safer than the lands further out. Towns, villages, farms and mines can grow up in these outskirts with less immediate danger than otherwise.
This is a world where there is not a single frontier but rather a number of perimeters around the cities of the Star Stones. When people must travel – merchants, explorers, people seeking work or adventure – they find the way hard and dangerous and there is always a need for protection from the threats that lurk in deep woods or endless plains, trackless mountains and haunted marshes.
Humans represent the forces of order and it is they who have built the cities in which the Star Stones are housed.
Dwarves exist in small communities, usually family groups, in caves and other remote places. They are reclusive beings with great skill in crafting and forging artifacts of power. They are not just short viking alcoholics, they are magical beings of earth and stone and metal whose ways are not comprehensible to mankind. Resembling short and often twisted men (no women have been seen) each has some distinctive physical feature such as a single eye, a hunched back, a mouth in their belly and so on.
Elves are immortal spirits of nature made flesh, beings of supernatural substance who sometimes, for reasons unknown even to themselves choose to take on a humanlike form for a period. They appear like shorter, slighter, more beautiful interpretations of humankind and they retain their affinity with the natural world, finding human settlements crowded and oppressive. They have a deep understanding of the magic of nature and sometimes their memories of previous lives can surface in an unpredictable manner allowing them to ‘recall’ encounters from centuries before.
Orcs are violent beast-men and some scholars suggest that they are literally twisted parodies of the worst of humankind’s aggressive and territorial natures. They seem to have no community or culture beyond the war band and the raiding party and nobody has yet seen a female orc or an infant. One dark rumour suggests that they defile the fallen bodies of their foes and from that dark remnant a new Orc will rise to join the endless battles. They will kill without mercy and spread without restraint if they are not stopped wherever they are met.
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| Yoshitaka Amano |
Spellbooks
Each sorcerer maintains a spellbook which is a working journal containing the details of the spells he or she knows. Each spell consists of a complex geometric form or sigil that the caster must visualise as he or she reinforces the form with gesture and spoken incantation.
If the spellbook is lost or destroyed the sorcerer can recreate it but this will take time – one 8 hour workday per spell per level.
The sorcerer must revise from the spellbook for at least an hour each day, practising forming the sigils. If the sorcerer is not able to do this – either because of time constraints or the lack of access to their spellbook – then spellcasting becomes a greater effort for them. They can cast only half the normal number of spells per spell level each day until this situation is remedied.
There is no need for a sorcerer to memorise specific spells for the day ahead. They are assumed to be familiar with all the spells in their spellbook and can cast them as required – assuming they have enough spell slots available.
The spell slots available to a sorcerer relate to the amount of magic essence or vita they have access to, and more experienced sorcerers can use theirs more efficiently, reflected by the greater number of spell slots available
A higher level spell slot can be expended to cast a lower level spell with the excess vita being lost. Burning lower level spell slots to cast a higher level spell is possible but it will take a total of spell slots equal to the level of the spell being cast plus one.
Scrolls
Scrolls containing one or more sorcerous spells can be used in two ways. Either the sorcerer can transcribe the details of the spell they contain into his or her spellbook and thus add it to their known spells, or the vita contained within the scroll can be expended along the channels of magic created by the creator of the scroll and casting the spell (or one of the spells) written thereon. Once a spell is cast from the scroll in this way the details fade forever from the scroll.
If a sorcerer is in dire need and has a scroll available they can draw the vita from it to use for their own spells. If this happens all the spells on the scroll vanish at once but the sorcerer can use the vita in it as though it was a spell slot equal to the total levels of the spells written thereon minus one (so if the spell contains 2x 2nd level spells, it could be used up to give the caster a single 3rd level slot).
Some items can be enchanted to hold vita either one a one use basis or reusable. An enchanted gem in a necklace for instance may hold a pool of six spell slots that can be used by a sorcerer at will until they are used up. Alternatively the gem may hold a single level one spell slot but this replenishes each day at dawn.
Evil sorcerers may find that acts of abominable cruelty and sacrifice release vita in their commission which explains why they resort to such horrors to power their dread rites.
Now that I’ve discovered the Homebrewery I’m getting carried away with prettying up some otherwise drab notes and handouts.
This link HERE will take you to a work in progress document that summarises (so far) the 17th century apocalyptic Europe setting I’m working on, and also a sample antagonist that fits (the dreaded Inquisitors and their minions)
I recently wrote and ran a very simple one-shot for Lamentations of the Flame Princess and it went well. Rather than write up the adventure as a module with GM advice, suggestions for play etc, I’m just uploading my actual notes from which any GM worth her salt should be able to improvise around the player’s choices and their characters actions. 
In the adventure I ran the end turned out very differently to the most likely outcome as one of the party realised that her only chance of saving her downed allies from the dreadful undead was to make a deal with the devil…
Anyway, make of it what you will – The Blackspire Horror
I’m working on the background for a new fantasy horror setting and the following idea interrupted me this morning:
Every generation produces zealots who believe that they are living in the End Times.
At midnight of June 1st 1660 the bells of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican began to ring by themselves, a long and melancholy peal of bells that lasted for five minutes. As they stopped, every single church bell in Christendom tolled a single note in response.
Some saw this as a miraculous sign of God’s providence. Some saw this as a warning of God’s wrath. The next few years became a time of turmoil and wonder.
Wars began and ended and began again along once stable borders. Civil uprisings occurred and revolutionary sentiments were widespread.
Reports of miracles and healings were heard from far off places and sometimes holy shrines nearer at hand. Tales of the rise of witchcraft and dark sorcery haunted the fears of those who would listen. Ghosts and apparitions were rumoured to appear and prophesy doom and despair. Stories of strange creatures in the margins of civilisation, and the resurgence of superstition to ward off the fair folk who were not so fair as everyone had pretended to themselves. Fierce preachers arose and witchfinders to seek out the heretics who consorted with devils. Wise women in remote villages conjured familiar spirits to divine the future and cure illnesses. Bands of men used to war wandered the land as free companies and swords for hire seeking employment in new conflicts.
When the famine of 1664 struck Europe people made up their minds. God was not provident. God was angry. Many died, many more fled the barren countryside into the cities. Villages and small towns were abandoned by mankind, but not perhaps by everything that walked on two legs. Some espoused a philosophy of nihilism since the wrath of God was already upon the world, why seek to please him? Others doubled down on their faith and became fanatics. Natural philosophers – scientists – toiled away in their laboratories to understand what was happen without recourse to religion or superstition and some unleashed horrors upon themselves in so doing.
The plague of 1665 struck the crowded cities and turned them into charnel houses. The unquiet dead stalked the dark midnight streets and spread the pestilence further. Scholars of old books found to their delight and dismay that the spells contained in those old grimoires had a dreadful efficacy now and there were always consequences to every action. The Pope declared that God had abandoned the world to ruin.
Every generation produces zealots who believe they are living in the End Times.
Sooner or later they will be right.
1666
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My novel A Step Beyond Context is currently on sale at Amazon (until June 24th) – if a dimension-travelling heroine facing down Regency intrigue and cyberpunk mayhem appeals then there has never been a better time to go along for the ride.
Otherworlds 