Role 'n' Roll

XENO HUNT - SKETCH RULES

2012-01-01T19:01:00.003+01:00

First of all, let me wish you all a happy new year. Last one wasn't exactly good, in any aspect; so we'd better keep our fingers crossed for this 2012.

Second, welcome to my last follower. I hope you find something to ignite your own imagination here.

Third, I have absolutely no idea why the display is broken. I haven't touched anything; simply, one day it was OK and the following everything was screwed up. It must have been either Blogger or Picassa, I don't know; and I don't know how to fix it... but I'll try to, anyway.

And so, without further ado, because honestly this update was due months ago, I'm presenting to you the sketch rules of "Xeno Hunt", the boardgame inspired by the Aliens movies franchise that takes place in my Galaxtar setting. Bear in mind that this game will be closely based on the "Doom boardgame" created by Fantasy Flight Games, so you may want to read its rules to have a better understandment of what I'm trying to achieve here. Let's start:
· It's a game of one player controlling the xenomorphs and "directing" the game against 3-5 players controlling the light infantry marines.
· It's played on a modular board composed of rooms and corridors, laid according to the map of the scenario created by the xeno player.
· The board is gridded. So movement and range is done counting squares.
· Said scenario determines not only the map, but also the goals for the marines, and everything that may be encountered, be it xenos, weapons, or ammo.
· The goal of the xeno player is to kill all of the marines. Anyway, "killed" marines won't be removed from play, but respawn (it is assumed they have "just" been impregnated).
· When playing with three marines, one is the sergeant, other the medic, and the last a grunt. If more marines are used, they are grunts, too.
· Xeno forces are drones, warriors, and the queen.
· Marine weapons are: contact taser for melee fighting, pulse SMG (for sergeant and medic) and pulse rifle (for grunts, it has a small grenade launcher), shotgun, smartgun, and flamer.
· Weapons have a maximum range at which they can be used. And that is divided (by two) in short range and long range. When shooting a target in the long range the attacker has a -1 penalty.
· Shotgun has the shortest range, 6 squares. But at short range it inflicts 1 extra damage whenever it hits.
· Smartgun has the longest range, 12 squares. And because of its auto-aiming system, all range is considered to be short range.
· Pulse SMG and rifle have a range of 10 squares. The rifle grunts use also has a small grenade launcher, with same range.
· Whenever a new section of the map is revealed, the xeno player will place "blip counters" to represent xenomorphs. The marines know there are enemies, but not how many of them. Once they come into line of sight, the blip is turned to see whether it was one, two or three xenos.
· Marines will find weapon crates and ammo crates, but the exact content will only be revealed when they get to it.
· Every turn two actions may be performed. Actions are: moving (up to the movement rating), attacking, or "interacting" (i.e. opening crates, activating machinery, registering corpses...).
· The sergeant can "give orders": he loses one or two of his actions but another marine gains that or those action(s).
· Marines will find first aid kits that allow to restore one point of health, or two if used by a medic.
· The xeno player gains "reinforcements" too, in the form of a deck that allows him to spawn more xenos, or have different effects. He begins game drawing as many cards as players (him included) plus two, and then must discard until he has only as many cards as players. Every turn he draws two cards, and again maximum size of hand is number of players.
· Xenos are sneaky buggers, so they can be deployed in line of sight of marines, and even in hand to hand combat.
· Xenos have acid blood. So when they are hit with a fireweapon they spill acid in all adjacent squares, causing one direct wound to any non-xeno miniature there.
· I want to include a homage to Doom, so there will be red, yellow and blue doors that can't be opened without the corresponding coloured key.
· There will be other keys, too, needed to open some lockers and crates. Unlike with the previous keys, these will never be needed to complete an scenario (but can be extremely useful).
· Combat is resolved by the attacker choosing the appropriate rating, MAR (Melee Attack Rating) or RAR (Ranged Attack Rating), rolling a standard d6, and adding both numbers. If the result is equal or greater than the defender's DR (Defense Rating), defender is hit. Attacker rolls di(c)e for damage according to weapon, and substracts defender's AR (Armour Rating) from result. That is the number of wounds inflicted.

Those are the bare bones of the system. Adapted they'll be the bones of the other two boardgames. If you have any auggestion just comment.
See you!

CURRENT PROJECTS

2011-10-23T18:03:00.001+02:00

To start with, I'd like to welcome my latest four followers. That panel on the right is starting to become serious; let's see if I can live up to the expectation.

Something I haven't been able to lately, I'm afraid. The frequency of my posts are horrendous at best. Actually, I've been thinking a lot about that these last weeks. I've wondered why I just can't keep a steady output for the blog. Clearly there are many reasons, but one I'd like to address now is that I have too many ongoing projects, and a distinct lack of focus on one.

So which are my current projects and their status?
To start with, the three rpgs (Ajsalium, Necronomicon, and Galaxtar) that prompted me to start this blog. Because this was started as a place to post the background fluff for those settings, ideas for possible adventures, and to help me develop the rules with possible incomes from other people. Truth be told, this is all very stagnated. Well, not completely, as in August I invented a group of infernata for Ajsalium and began writing their little bios (I must finish writing that, damnit!). And I have been thinking, again, to play the Necronomicon adventure "Have you seen the Yellow Sign?" in a purely conversational way, that is, without any rules. A risky bet, I know, but I have faith in that that style of playing may fit well the Necronomicon setting.
There's the fourth rpg I brought up, Supers. Well, after some thought, I've given up on that, sorry. I don't think I'd be able to properly translate the superpowers with the ruleset I had in mind. But still, since I really like the superheroes thing, I want to write the background fluff of the setting, and more specifically, bios for superguys, in the manner of the Official Handbooks from Marvel comics. You can expect more of that... somewhen.
Also, all three original rpgs were going to be accompanied by their own boardgames. Did I give the names? If not, they are Dragonquest, Mythos Horror, and Xeno Hunt. Cheeky names, I know, but I wanted them to be cheeky. These have seen many different incarnations (in my mind), until I have reached a conclusion about how I want them to be: one player (director) against the others, on modular boards, and ultra-simple rules with only standard d6 dice. The main difference, apart from the setting, would be the nature of the modular board; Xeno Hunt will be played on narrow corridors and small rooms, for a claustrophobic effect; Dragonquest will be played on a modular cave, for that exploring effect; and Mythos Horror will be played on the whole Arkham city, because, you know, that city is doomed (and the world with it). These last two weeks I've been working on Xeno Hunt, thinking now specifically about the rules, and in my head they are very advanced. So that project at least has had some progress.
And finally, there's the neverending quest of finding and collecting the minis I can't live without, too.

And there's also my job with its odd shifts.
And moving house, and having to find the money to pay the mortgage, buy furniture, and all that.
And my other hobby, bodybuilding, that happens to be very demanding and tiresome (who would have thought, eh?).

Well, that's all for now. If I can keep focused enough on that Xeno Hunt boardgame, next post may be an overview of its rules. At least I have started to write them... and that's an improvement!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

2011-08-04T23:04:00.001+02:00

It's been more than one year since my last post. What has been going on?
Well, a bunch of things, some good, some bad. I won't go into much (or any) detail, but suffice to say that I haven't got either time or enthusiasm to maintain steady posting here. Yet, three important things have happened lately that have prompted me back here.
First one is that I've gotten rid of a big burden. I bought a flat last year, and I've been completely reforming it. Nine months later, I'm still busy, looking for furniture and the like, but that's not as stressfull. So I have a little more time and spare energy.
Second, I've seen two people join my small group of followers. Welcome here! You must be brave, joining a blog that had had no updates in more than a year, lol. And to mend my previous lack of education, here's a welcome to my previous followers too.
And third, but not last, the sad news. One of the followers, 'Grekwood', won't be here any more. He was a young lad, in his twenty-something, welsh, and as full of enthusiasm as he was ill (CGD, a immune system disorder). With his death, without his light, the world is a darker place. To keep his legacy, it is our duty to make that extra effort to add a little joy to the world, as he did despite his unfavourable circumstances. That's why, tired as I may now be, I'm writing this.

Well, let's see you soon. What's to expect? A huge box is at my side, with an equally huge dragon, by Heresy Miniatures, inside. It can do with some 'unboxing review', don't you think? ;-)

EUROFORCE

2010-05-02T18:05:00.001+02:00

Continuing with the superhero trend from the last post, I'm going to present the main group of superheroes that may make an appearance in a possible Supers RPG: Euroforce.
The setting will be roughly based in that presented in the first volume of the Ultimates, by Marvel Comics. There, the USA government create a team of superheroes to counteract terrorism by supervillains (i.e. Magneto). Later in volume two it's shown that the European Union is creating its own superteam; but instead of the boring "Captains " I prefer to create a team with more unique supers.
The given name is Euroforce, based on the term "international task force". Doing a bit of wiki-fu I've discovered that there was a short-lived team named "Euroforce", in Marvel Italy; so think of this as an ultimate reboot. This group is part of the European Super Heroic Defense Initiative, or E.S.H.D.I. for short.
What follows is a brief introduction of the main members of the group:

· FUSION
Real name: James Bertrand.
Nationality: French.
The leader of an international scientific research group into cold fusion, that got caught in an accident that made him the wearer of ultimate nuclear power.
His powers include super-strength, invulnerability, the ability to fly, and project beams of pure nuclear or calorific energy.

· S. T. ROID
Real name: Stephan T. Roissburg.
Nationality: German.
He's the abominable result of the abuse of hormones and steroids genetically engineered by a former R.D.A. scientist.
His main power is his top super-strength, as well as enhanced resistance and stamina.

· NIGHTSLIP
Real name: Dionne Backingsdale.
Nationality: British.
The last in a long tradition of London vigilantes that dates back to the XIX century, and the second one to don the "Nightslip" warname.
She has no true super powers, but she's been trained to become the pinnacle of human performance and she's an excellent shooter.

· AFTERBURN
Real name: Tuomo Heikkinen.
Nationality: Finnish.
This is a case of a cybernetic suit of armour using the pilot's nervous system as a C.P.U. to bypass the need of an ultra-advanced A.I.
His powers are: super-strength, super-resistance, flight, repulsion beams and a lesser wireless hacking ability.

· ZENITH
Real name: Antonio Ferrari.
Nationality: Italian.
A former athlete banned from competition accused of doping abuse, due to his constant breach of records, who's actually a mutant that became a superhero to clean his name.
Super-speed and super-agility are his super powers, along with ultra fast recovery from damage and injuries.

· GRIFFON
Real name: Ferenc Balogh.
Nationality: Hungarian.
He's a monstrous amalgamation of human, lion and eagle. A new incarnation of the mythological creature, he's actually a very late product of alien DNA mixing.
He can fly with his wings, has super-sight, and he also possess great strength and dexterity for close combat.

Also, alongside these supers, all the other countries from Europe demand to have a member in the group. In order to satisfy those demands ESHDI has developed a super-soldier program akin to that of the USA, and so there's always a reserve of enhanced humans for minor missions or support to the front team.

Finally, there are two superheroes waiting to enter the group; both of them with powers of mystical origin. Rasputina hasn't been able to enter yet because of diplomatic problems with Russia (her country of birth); and the morals of Diablo are the subject of much debate (he likes walking the thin line between superhero and supervillain).

· RASPUTINA
Real name: Anastasia Morzova.
Nationality: Latvian (Russian).
Anastasia has been trained since childhood to master the magical forces of Nature; she escaped Russia, though, to have more freedom in the use of her wizardry.
She's an accomplished mage, and that means she has telepathy, telekinesis, and conjuration abilities, among others.

· DIABLO
Real name: Eduardo Arregui.
Nationality: Spanish.
He's got a devilish look and hellish powers; thought by many to be a mere mutant, he claims to be a mystical embodiment of evil who plays the good side because it's more fun.
He's got superhuman strength and resistance, but his main power is the control of hellfire, with which he fights or hurls at enemies, and his capacity to induce fear.

SUPERS !

2010-04-26T12:30:00.007+02:00

Well, finally I've stopped resisting the urge to buy some superheroes minis. As far as I remember, I've always been a fan of superheroes' comics (I traditionally belonged to the Marvel "sect", although more recently I've become fond of DC goodness too). And lately there are two companies that are releasing some amazing sculpts of superhero minis: Pulp City, and Reaper Minis in its Chronoscope range.
The Pulp City minis have a coherent look to them, that can be easily compared with the modern and realistic designs of the Ultimate line from Marvel comics. The superheroes from Chronoscope are more diverse (as is always the case with Reaper minis), and lean more towards the old style of four-colour heroes. From these manufacturers I've selected some 15-20 minis that will be added to my collection. To these I'll add a conversion for a superhero player character I envisioned some years ago (a Devil's Child alter-ego).

Here are just some for your viewing pleasure (original studio paintjobs):

What will I do with these? Honestly, I'm not sure yet. I have limited myself to keep minis only for their use to represent PCs in roleplaying games. So in theory I should create a Supers RPG just to justify the minis! But I'm not sure if the common ruleset I'll be using (remember, that which adapts the Dragon Age RPG with my previous Arcade rules) is able to cope with the special powers that superheroes have. The most sensible course of action seems to be equating super powers to the special powers the PCs in the Ajsalium setting have. After all, their powers are not all that different to magic. Alternatively to the rpg, a Heroclix-like skirmish wargame would be a possibility, too. What is for certain is that those minis will look gorgeous in my display cabinet!

GALAXTAR ADVENTURE: IN THE WORKS

2010-04-16T01:25:00.002+02:00

After watching "2001: Space Odyssey" and having a look at the science fiction works by Arthur C. Clarke, I had the somewhat weird idea of an adventure based solely on the difficulties of life in space, instead of action and conflict. It's going to take place on the system of Stoicheyon, in the volcanic planet of Pyros. The surface of this planet is inhospitable, but that has been solved building a huge ring (a torus actually) around and above the equator, that receives just enough heat from the planet and light from the sun. But due to budget cuts and poor quality of materials a whole area has collapsed; logically, the contract with the building company is cancelled and a new one takes over the work. The PCs will be a group of engineers from said company, and they'll have to study the structure to guarantee its soundness before resuming the works; all the while trying to prove false the accusations of sabotage from the original company. To top that, a comet impacting on a nearby moon will shutter it, causing a cloud of asteroids to slowly drive towards Pyros attracted by its gravity, posing a serious danger to the ring. It's up to the PCs to devise a plan to avert that, if it is at all possible. No action, no shootings, no chases, no aliens... I know this adventure is a serious risk, but I hope to be able to make it interesting if I focus on the high stress of political, economical and technical problems each interfering and aggravating the rest. We'll see.

PAPER MODELS

2010-04-04T16:36:00.004+02:00

Lately, I've been up to paper models. I was randomly browsing the web when I came across the site of Topo Solitario (worth having a look, just click). Among other things, I found a very nice looking paper model of a dropship, named UD-12 Chickenhawk. I decided to build one for fun and also as a test to my own manual dexterity. Here you can see the result (minis shown for size reference):

It doesn't look bad from a distance, but once you get a closer look... ouch! Nonetheless I'm satisfied with it as it was printed on standard thin paper, instead of the heavyweight paper recommended for these models (not only does it make the model stronger, it also allows for an easier assembly).

As I like the model, I plan to use it as a prop in the Galaxtar adventure "Collateral Damage"; I'll personalize the model giving it the same colour scheme as the protagonists wear (khaki camo) and some logos of the company involved (Union Aerospace Corporation). Customization is easy because Topo offers the model as a UCM download, a little (and free) program that makes changing colour schemes a matter of a few clicks.
And a bigger plan is developing my own paper model based on this, the UD-13 Ironhawk, a little intrastellar ship (or perhaps an overpriced shuttle?). The idea is making it 50% bigger just by printing it in Din A3 paper instead of the usual Din A4, and probably giving it two extra engines, ans a dome for the black hole generator that would convert it into a interstellar ship. That ship, with a neutral grey colour, will be named "Winged Horse" and I'll use it as the prop for the spaceship of the group of scifi smugglers and criminals (Reaper's Sascha Dubois & Rosie and Heresy's Vincent B. Ruddock & Painless Joe).

And why this sudden urge for paper models? Well, their utility in rpg's is similar to that of minis (which I talked about here). Of course, they won't ever have the same level of detail; but they have the advantage that they don't need to be painted. In my opinion there are a couple (or three) of good uses for them:
· Counters / paper minis for combat encounters, as they are a very cheap alternative for minis, that can be printed on demand, thus saving storage space too.
· Props, for some elements of an adventure you want to give some extra importance to (as is the case with the dropship model I've shown you above).
· Also, for people with no storage problems, or very laborious, as scenery. Paper scenery is becoming very popular nowadays, and there are quite a bunch of companies selling very good looking packs. I can recommend World Works Games, which offers medieval, modern and futuristic buildings, sceneries and models.

So, to get you started, apart from the two sites linked above, here you have four more (thanks go to McFonz at the Forum of Doom for pointing me towards the first three):
Jay's Box of Sci-Fi CardToys
Fantasy Cutouts
Paper Model Directory
Ebbles Miniatures

ARCADE RULESET: REVAMPED

2010-03-22T23:31:00.002+01:00

As I intended, last weekend I run the introductory adventure for the Dragon Age RPG. And as I expected, I liked it very much; and I think the players liked it too, if only for the fact that they were able to learn a new rpg in about half an hour and start playing.

So now its thinking time again. I want to use it as the basis for my generic system, but without totally discarding what I had done so far with my own Arcade ruleset. How can I adapt and merge the two systems?
To begin with, so far I'll keep the general basis of Arcade, but giving it the two main DA characteristics: the 3d6 roll as the only type of roll, and the "dragon die" and its utilities. You may want to re-read now the article that offered general overview of the Arcade ruleset before continuing.
HP: You begin with 5 points for free, and then buy dice of HP. Two construction points per die.
MOV: Based on race. 5 is the standard free stat; you can add 1 per construction point, or substract one for one extra construction point.
INI: A derived stat, equals AGI (free) + racial bonus (add 1 per construction point) + class bonus or special training (add 1 per construction point).
MAR: Very changed, as there won't be special combat dice anymore, but the catch-all mechanic of the 3d6 roll. MAR will now be a bonus to the 3d6 roll; add 1 per 2 construction points.
RAR: Again, changed similarly to above: RAR will now be a bonus to the 3d6 roll; add 1 per 2 construction points.
MDR & RDR: Very changed. To start with, I'm fusing them together. Also, DR is now the number you have to roll equal to or higher with the MAR or RAR test. If you succeed, then you roll for damage. Armour won't add to the Defense Rating, instead its rating will be subtracted from inflicted damage (like Damage Reduction in the d20 system). Add 1 per 2 construction points.
MP & MR: Only for Ajsalium. Lightly changed, as I adopt the Dragon Age system. There will be a Magic skill for everybody, which will be used for resistance rolls. Only magic users will have also Mana Points, needed for casting spells. A spell is cast by spending the MPs listed, and then succeeding in a difficulty test. Add 1 to MAG per 2 construction points; add 1 to MP per construction point.
FOR: As it was before, but now it's also a damage bonus to weapons based on strength (see below). This last use make it more expensive than before: add 1 per 2 construction points.
AGI: As it was before, but now it's also an initiative bonus. This last use make it more expensive than before: add 1 per 2 construction points.
DEX: As it was before, but now it's also a damage bonus to weapons based on dexterity (see below). This last use make it more expensive than before: add 1 per 2 construction points.
PER: As it was before (add 1 per construction point).
INT: As it was before (add 1 per construction point).
SOC: As it was before (add 1 per construction point).
KNO: As it was before (add 1 per construction point).
Specialities: As they were before. Standard price will be one speciality (or +1 to an existing one) per construction point. Maximun number of specialities per corresponding "mother" skill equals to said skill's stat. I need to rethink the way these will be used in Necronomicon; if I get rid of the "automatic success" rule, the value will be 1 per construction point spent; but that would be compensated with making PER, INT, SOC and KNO more expensive, as they will be more widely used in these games (add 1 per 2 construction points).
Powers: Only for Ajsalium. As they were before, each class will have their own, and their construction point value will range from 1 to 3 depending on how useful they are for life-threatening situations.
Weapons: They'll be classified in two broad groups, based on the key skill to use them: FOR (such as axes, mauls or swords) and DEX (such as daggers, quarterstaffs or bows). Each weapon will cause some damage (typically, 1d6 or 2d6), to which the corresponding skill stat will be added.
Sanity points: Only for Necronomicon. Basically remains unchanged; the sanity test will be a 3d6 roll.
Stunts: They will (very likely) be added, in the three settings. But I still need to think quite a lot about them, truth to be told.

Ummm... that's basically the new Arcade ruleset incorporating principles from the Dragon Age RPG. It's a big change, but actually not a profund one. Next thing, I'll check how this version looks like redoing the character sheets I had already done, and seeing if I need to tweak the construction points table yet once again.
More than ever, comments and suggestions would be very welcomed. Now, I'm off to buy a lot of d6's :-)

NEWS AND UPDATED STATUS

2010-03-15T22:31:00.002+01:00

Well, the return to normality I talked about just two post ago has gone pear-shaped very soon, hasn't it? I don't want to go into much detail, but let's say that a personal issue I have suffered recently have had a much bigger impact than I expected. I just wasn't feeling like doing anything, hobby related or otherwise. But I'm feeling better again now, and although I know it will still take more time to fully recover all my energies and be truly myself once again, I'm back at the rpg hobby.

And what am I doing? First, as I said when I reviewed the Dragon Age RPG, I'm going to direct an introductory adventure this weekend with my friends. I want to test the game and get a first hand impression of how the rules work. If things go as well as I expect, I would then start reverse-engineering the system, to make it a generic ruleset, and assign points to different stats, and adapting it to horror and science fiction (the fantasy adaptation will already be done by the guys at Green Ronin, publishers of Dragon Age). I'm rather excited to have found this game, as I feel this could be the end to my quest for the "perfect" rpg system.

I think I already mentioned somewhen that once I have the three rpgs done, I'll create lite rules for boardgames based on them. From the Ajsalium RPG will come a hack and slash game in the vein of Heroquest or Warhammer Quest. From the Necronomicon RPG I want to create a boardgame of pulp mythos action, somewhat based on the Arkham Horror game by Fantasy Flight Games. And from the Galaxtar RPG will come the "Xeno Hunt", a game of cleansing hordes of xenos infesting a spaceship, or dying in the process (for which I'll adapt the blips rules from Space Hulk). This last game is the one I'm focusing on right now, and I'm at the stage of thinking the general guides of the game, such as types of players and enemies, etc. I have created this thread about it at the Forum of Doom, to gain suggestions and comments, so soon I'll write down the first sketch of the game; which will be posted here.

Another thing I am very excited about too is that I have contacted, via the Forum of Doom, with Landreth, an extremely talented Russian painter of minis. I have commissioned him to paint my collection of rpg minis, and the first batch of them have just been posted to him. I'm so looking forward to own professionally painted minis... Don't worry, because I'll post pics of them on this blog once they are painted. If you want to check Landreth's talent, just visit his gallery at the Cool Mini or Not site.

INFERNAL LORDS

2010-02-28T23:06:00.001+01:00

The Infernal Lords are the most powerful fiends amongst those who live in Inferno (which means "damnation", and is a demiplane coexistent with Ajsalium). Depending on each one, they can be located in any of the five inner Circles, leaving unoccupied only the first and outermost Circle. These Lords were not always infernals, not at all; but rather, most of them were champions of good. But to further the interests of Hell during the Long War, Azeth the Overshadow, leader of the invading hordes, ordered later to be known as the eight Lords of Temptation, his lieutenants* and fiends of confidence, to tempt until total corruption twelve champions of good especially powerful, thus to totally unbalance the scales in favor of evil (but in return this caused the unexpected breakthrough in the fight of the dragons). From some of them there's not the slightest idea of what or who they were in their former lives, and from the rest there are only suspicions, rumors or speculations at best. Those listed and described below were the chosen ones, creatures that are now so dark and evil as bright and caring in their time, who live tortured because they remember their fall but know that there's no possibility of redemption; and today they project that torture and self-hatred against the world, which they yearn to break in its entirety. The power of the Infernal Lords is absolute respect of their subordinates, and only the Lords of Temptation, their creators (whom they love and hate alike) have the authority to give them orders; in fact, today the main task of Infernal Lords is to rule in Hell representing their too busy masters.

ABADDON
The infernal title of Abaddon is "Exterminating Angel", a title that gives a good account of the grim, violent and cruel mood of this terrible Lord. This abyssal fiend has established his dwelling in the Sixth Circle of Hell, a place usually avoided even by the rest of Infernal Lords (except Azrael, practically the only one so dark and gloomy as Abaddon, as to relate to him). Wherever he travels, Abaddon sows the most complete ruin, the total destruction, the irreversible desolation; he' a true destroyer in every sense, and therefore one of the best examples of what Hell is. A common way that he uses to wreak havoc in the world are the plagues, that he periodically breaks out, trying to capitalize on moments when mortals are weaker (for example, after a war or during a drought) to maximize the damage caused. It's no surprise then that he's the "Master of Locusts", which, according to some theories, are formed from souls dead at the hands of Abaddon, so every sighting of a simple lobster is considered a sign of bad omen. On what might have been Abaddon before being tempted and damned there's no notice; but so low you can only fall from the top, so if so he should have been a powerful celestial...

AZRAEL
Azrael's name is rarely uttered by mortals, as he's the one that causes the deepest fear, and there is a superstition that states that just by saying his name his curse is invoked. To refer to him it's often used the title of "Angel of Darkness" or "Angel of Death", both very suitable to describe this Lord, who dwells in the Sixth Circle of Hell, with only Abaddon. As usual there's almost no information on him, though some visionaries say he was once a mere mortal, a human pure and innocent, but extremely lonely, who finally embraced the angel of destruction (Abaddon?) who offered him a new fate, his destiny. Today he's a being of pure evil, so pure that he's even free from the malice present in other Lords: Azrael meets his duties with a coolness that scares even many fiends. As an angel of death, and in his infinite zeal, before killing his victims he destroys their personality; with a patient and insidious work, which is taken as his duty and honor; first he eliminates the dreams and hopes, then destroys the mind driving it into the pit of despair (perhaps that's the origin of his title of "angel of darkness"); and only after all that does he take the life, that the victims arrived at that point surrender voluntarily, believing that death is preferable to the prosecution and non-life imposed by the relentless Azrael.

BELIAL
The origin of Belial, although with some gaps in his history, is fairly well located and identified: it seems that Belial was already living at the time the Vortex appeared and the Long War broke. Supposedly, according to some sources, he was a half-elf (the offspring of a human and an elf); but most sources claim that he was a king of Vidolgreen, so then he should be a full-blooded elf. Anyway, what everyone agrees is that his small kingdom near the eastern limits of Vidolgreen was an embarrassment to the elven race, as indulgence had reached a less than unseemly peek. It's logical, then, that this incorrigible epicure, very fond of the very young, fell into the temptations of Hell, thereby becoming the patron of sodomites. His character, over the millennia, has only further fall in his vices, and today he's the most rebellious, disobedient, vain, wicked and incorrigibly liar Lord; but also most beautiful. Maybe that's why he's called the "Prince of Fire", comparing his way of being with this element; and is also known that his mortal followers usually held orgies in his honor and attempted invocation in January, in midwinter, when the "fire" that Belial provides is most welcomed. Fond of visiting the world of mortals, his lair lies at the Second Circle of Inferno.

BELPHEGOR
Truth to be told, Belphegor is one of the less known Infernal Lords, and probably also one of the less powerful (but this doesn't mean much at this level). Unlike other Lords he has no infernal race under his command, nor any of mortals either; yet actually there are more Belphegor worshipers than what might be supposed. And the relatively large number of followers comes from the fact that this Lord sponsors inventions, discoveries and wit. Of course these are typical of dwarves and humans, but nobody really thinks that there may be a relationship between these two races and Belphegor (except some elves and orcs perhaps). Yet, its sphere of influence assures enough allies among humans (almost in the manner of a Lord of Temptation), who are always anxious to advance their technology; and for this unpleasant coprophagous rites are run, either on statues with an open mouth and an obscenely phallic tongue that comes alive during the ceremonies, or on other statues of female appearance, in a vaginal variant of the same theme (in these rites there may also be involved demons sent by Belphegor, and occasionally even him, though rarely). In Hell he dwells among the sulfur deserts of the Fourth Circle, which explains the nickname of "Belphegor of the Sulfur Wells".

DAGON
Dagon is one of the Infernal Lords that has thrived the most since his conversion to the dark cause, and although himself is not amongst the most powerful ones, he has huge armies under his command, of both infernals and mortals, so nobody in his right mind would directly oppose him. He's an infernal fish, a monstrous creature of enormous size and bloated appearance; his origin has been tried to track back to the members of some of the evil aquatic species from Ajsalium (koprus, kuo-toas and sahuagin), but he might as well have come from another plane of existence with intelligent aquatic life. At his arrival to the oceans of Ajsalium he killed, with the now lost "sword of Dagon", the decadent Wuquosa, ancient god creator of the above mentioned races (a three-headed deity, who discussed among themselves so much that he finally went mad), and usurped his place in the worship of his subjects, who appreciated having a new sane Lord, even if infinitely evil. Since then Dagon has moved to the Second Circle of Hell, the only one that in some places has access to the oceans (remember that in the First Circle live no Lords, because it doesn't entirely belong to Hell). From there he pursues his patronage over evil aquatic beings, using the aquatic imps as his servants and slaves, and other powerful oceanic fiends as ambassadors and carriers of his will.

EBLIS
This Infernal Lord is well-known throughout the continent of Rynath, but much less elsewhere in the world, except by those who have more dealings with the sunburned rynathians. The reason for this is that Eblis is the master of the flying imps (called "shedim" in the near forgotten tongue of ancient Rynath), strange infernal bird-like humanoids, except for the absence of wings. The sighting of these creatures is common in this continent, and many legends include them as the greatest danger that can be encountered in the already quite dangerous deserts; and Eblis, as his master, is considered the incarnation of evil and the enemy (but really he's only one of the many that exist). His appearance, of course, is that of a bird, with plumage so dark that no gloss on his feathers helps to distinguish the shape, which always seems just a black silhouette outlined against the background. He lives in the Fifth Circle of Hell, a very hot place partly due to its connection to the heart of the planet Ajsalium, and mainly a vacuum so that it gives him plenty of room to fly, because this Lord does not like to set foot on land never, not even to copulate with his many consorts, an act that is performed in flight; if the results of these matings are the shedim, another unknown race, or whether they produce no offspring, is something that no one knows or will ever know.

HABONDIA
This is one of the three Infernal Ladies, and the only one that's really beautiful, although her dark way. She's certainly a fascinating infernal, helping to make her even more dangerous, because she has no moral or scruples, of course. Thanks to her charms and manipulative mood she has achieved a high position in the parody of infernal hierarchy, something that no one disputes. Habondia is also the mistress of couril, small infernals that look like a macabre underworld version fairies, who usually live among mortals, pestering until they are driven beyond the borders of despair. Another use this clever Lady gives couril is that of spying, something for which they are well gifted; and the vast amount of information she collects serves for her political intrigues. Habondia loves these little malicious creatures and lovingly caress them; although she's able to smash with one hand a paladin or celestial while with the other she tickles her subjects. These usually call her the "Queen of Fairies", a title known by mortals that and makes them wary of all the fairies, although the sylvan creatures (elves included) know that most of these are beings of great kindness, and that couril are nothing but an aberration. In Hell Habondia dwells in the Third Circle, where, for some reason, is where the three Infernal Ladies are concentrated (perhaps because of its morphology similar to a negative version of the Ajsalium fields).

LEONARDO
This Infernal Lord looks like a normal human, although endowed with a grave and melancholic appearance, with a long and well kept gray beard, and eyes of intelligent expression that seem to pierce the heart of those who are looked; his taciturn face also seems absent, as if Leonardo always were immersed in his own thoughts, much deeper and important than anything that can happen around him. Despite his human form, scholars generally agree that he is no man from Ajsalium, but must come from some alien reality, perhaps an alternative material plane. Anyway, Leonardo enjoys a high place in the hierarchy, something which is mainly due to two reasons. The first, that being the most serious and intelligent of the Infernal Lords he's the most trusted by the Lords of Temptation, who often use him as a messenger and spokesman to the rest of Lords. Furthermore, regarding the mortals, Leonardo is one of the most often associated with these, as he has the role of chairing the black masses and cults of greater importance throughout the world; hence he's a key part in the interaction between humans and infernals at the highest level. In Inferno, his abode settles in an almost unreachable rocky perch from the Fourth Circle, submerged in a cloud of sulfur.

MANIA
Another of the Infernal Ladies, of Mania there's no doubt about her origin and previous life: she's a nymph who was tempted to exploit her vanity, self-indulgence and narcissism, until once corrupted she was damned and turned into a horrible monster. Previously fatally beautiful (because she went to the point of enjoy killing mortals appearing naked in front of them), she now has a cadaverous thin body, with a skin so thin and transparent that she almost seems to be flayed. To hide her terrible appearance she has grown her hair to cover herself with it, and is therefore sometimes called "Mother of the Manes"; but as a part of her curse her hair has gotten a life of its own, and it withdraws to reveal her true aspect whenever she meets someone. As you might imagine, seeing her naked remains fatal, but now because of her infinite ugliness. She can be found in the depths of a twisted and black forest of the Third Circle of Hell, where she's surrounded by a legion of undead, the only ones who cannot be affected by her ugliness (can't even perceive it), and over time this has made her a "Queen of the Dead", a title she sometimes uses. To satisfy her sexual needs she continually calls to her presence incubus and succubus, but needless to say that only the most heinous of these are willing to copulate with her, which fills her with disgust and more resentment and hatred.

NOCTICULA
The third Infernal Lady, which as noted above lives in the Third Circle of Hell, is not as horrible as Mania, but she's certainly closer to this than to Habondia. Nocticula is the infernal matron of witches, so it is suspected that in her time she must have been a powerful sorceress, though her race or natal plane is unknown, as she didn't even need to be a mortal from Ajsalium. Her appearance is similar to that of witches, that of a crooked and hunched crone, with long but thin and dirty hair, and skin as rough as wrinkled, full of pimples and warts. Although her vision doesn't cause real harm it's sufficiently disgusting so most of the world (and this includes the infernals) ignore her; something that she actually prefers, because she's very lonely and prefers to live surrounded by the nauseating ingredients used to make new potions, the recipe of which she will then offer to mortal witches. With these she usually communicates through dreams, which explains why witches often get up in the middle of the night and start to work at these ungodly hours. But the fumes that are generated by manufacturing their potions are poisonous, and eventually end up transmuting any witch in a being so deformed as Nocticula; of course, to counter that they also make potions that allow them to change shape, adopting that of beautiful maids.

SAMAEL
This is the Infernal Lord most beautiful and attractive, although his appearance is far from resembling that of humans or any other humanoid race (and therefore his origin is completely unknown). Samael is a giant red serpent, with twelve wings of beautiful white feathers with multicolored iridescence, and that in his flight leaves a dark trail behind. Despite his bizarre appearance seeing him is certainly a beautiful show, something that of course he knows well, since he's a great sexual tempter. Moreover, his non-affiliation to any known race favors that all can relate to him alike. Samael is an incubus, and a very good and famous one as well, eclipsed only by Bitru, the Lady of Temptation who gave him the infernal immortality. He's, of course, frequent partner and ally of wayward Belial; although he doesn't live in his Circle but in the Fifth, more fit and pleasing for flying infernals like him, and where winds continuously carry moans of pleasure from one end to the other. Naturally, all those infernals of connotations and overtly sexual behavior are his soldiers, dedicated to extending sin amongst mortals, being their favorite victims innocent and ignorant girls, who accept their suggestions in ignorance of what is sin.

UPHIR
Uphir is the twelfth and last of the twelve former champions of good thatwere tempted until they succumbed and became the Infernal Lords who govern and control much of Inferno and which have been the penetration wedge of this in Ajsalium. Uphir is a great expert in chemistry, and so it's the alchemists who know him best and the most likely to become his servitors; cabalistic symbols and rituals soon turn into darkness and the invocation of evil, however much his original intentions might be pure. Uphir was pure at one time too, and he was perhaps the Lord that better remembered his previous life, what caused him deep and unbearable pain; and to avoid it he put all his alchemical arts in making a potion that would allow him to forget the past; the result was the resin distilled from nepenthe, which has become popular among mortals. Today Uphir doesn't remember his previous life, or even which of the Lords of the Temptation is his infernal "father"; he only recalls the struggle for dominance of Ajsalium. He divides his time between the Second Circle of Hell, where his real home and laboratory is, and the Fourth, where apart from sulfur many other chemical and magical elements can also be found, that are useful for his experiments; and he's one of the few that go to visit Nocticula in the Third Circle, too.

DRAGON AGE RPG REVIEW

2010-02-21T15:37:00.004+01:00

Last week I discovered the existence of a new tabletop rpg based on the videogame Dragon Age: Origins. Actually I haven't played said videogame; my computer is too old to run it and anyway I don't play videogames anymore. Yet I remember watching the trailer and it was bloody fantastic. The background seemed dark and sinister, so similar to my own world of Ajsalium. Furthermore, the tabletop rpg publicly uses a new super simple game system. What more could I ask for?
So, thanks to the electronic formats I already owned it the next day. And I started to read as soon as I got it. Once done, I am now writing this review.

The product:
The game is actually "Dragon Age RPG set 1". It's the first of four sets; each one will cover 5 levels for the classes of PCs. This being the first set it covers levels from 1 to 5, logically. The set includes two lithe books: a Player's Guide (weighing 66 pages) and a Game Master's Guide (other 66 pages). The "real" set (i.e., not the electronic format) also includes a poster with the map of Ferelden (the nation in which the game predominantly takes place), and three six-sided dice.

System:
Extremely simple. Everything is resolved the same way: with an ability test, that is done rolling three six-sided dice, totalling them up, and adding the appropriate modifiers of the related ability plus any focuses (specializations) applicable. With that you must reach a certain target number. In an opposed test, the target number is the result of the other guy's test. Combat is too an ability test, with the target number being the opponent's defense rating. Spells are cast spending mana points and making an ability (magic) test.
One of the dice must be of a different colour, and that's called the "dragon die". It's important when some doubles are rolled; whenever that happens the player gets points to perform various stunts (special combat tactics or magical effects). The number of points gained is the result of the dragon die.
And that's most of it.

Pros:
Coherent system. Everything (including combat) is resolved the same way, by throwing 3d6. Also, the more is always the better, both in the dice roll results and in characteristics.
Tactical variations with stunts. The stunt points that players get when they get doubles (or triples) in the 3d6 roll both for combat and magic allow them to use different tactical maneuvers that add spice to the game.
Simplicity. If you have read this post so far, then you already know how to play Dragon Age RPG. And that's just perfect, both for total novices to the world of tabletop rpgs and for veterans tired of learning complex rules.

Cons:
Limited. This first set, as it complies only the first five levels, is quite limited (for example, there are only 13 spells). Also, there are just three classes to choose from. Subsequent sets may correct this, though.
Railroaded. As a consequence of the preceding feature, character creation seems to be very railroaded. There will be little differences in game terms, and thus it's the roleplaying part that demands extra emphasis. Not that I complain, given that my own Ajsalium RPG would have pre-generated classes to copy and paste.

So my verdict is: worth giving it a try. I want to run the introductory adventure that comes in the Game Master's Guide, and have a real feel of the game. I don't expect to fully adopt it, but I am seriously thinking of "distilling" it to convert it into my generic ruleset. After all, there are already some nice similarities. For example, we are talking of very simple systems. Also, if you look at the main abilities from Dragon Age, you'll see they are mostly the same than the ones from my own Arcade Ruleset. I'll decide on this later, and I'll keep you informed.

Finally, for your viewing pleasure, here is a trailer of the videogame:

AND THEN THERE WAS SILENCE

2010-02-16T10:36:00.002+01:00

You may be wondering what the hell is going on. I posted on the very New Year day, even changed the looks of the blog to a far more professional layout, but since then... nothing... nil...

The main reason for this prolonged silence is that I suffered a malware infestation on my PC. A computer that has not been working properly ever, as the HD has some hardware problem. And the graphics chip. And the motherboard. So I've had to finally buy a new one.
And this has been just one more problem on top of some other more serious real life issues, at job mainly, that have drained pretty much all my energy and enthusiasm. I just didn't feel like continuing with the blog.

But I don't have that malware now, and other things seem to be going more or less OK, so I'm coming back to the blog and regular updates. I'll try to be more regular and have a weekly update posted in the weekend. I may diversify themes a little bit, too, adding more posts about minis and some game reviews. So if you stay tuned this weekend things will go back to normal, as if it had been no hiatus.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2010-01-01T18:36:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to wish you all a happy new year. Let's see if this 2010 is better than the last one, in all fronts.

Also, as you can see, I have updated the design of the blog. Just a better looking version of the previous one (actually, this was more what I had envisioned last time, but I didn't have the tools to create it; now I do). I haven't been able to test it as throughly as last time, so if anyone has any issue with it, please leave a comment and I'll try to fix it.

Cheers.

ANOTHER NECRONOMICON ADVENTURE: FLESH

2009-12-29T23:43:00.002+01:00

This adventure for the Necronomicon setting will likely be the last one for now, as I consider that there's enough of them to keep my players and myself entertained for a long time (and I'm running out of ideas!). "Flesh" is mainly based on the films "Lord of Illusions", by Clive Barker, and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", by Tobe Hooper; and also inspired by the "Hellboy" film and the "Herbert West: Reanimator" and "From Beyond" short stories by H. P. Lovecraft. The aim is to make a new lovecraftian take on the serial killer horror cliche. The plot of the adventure will revolve about a severely insane serial killer, disciple of an investigator into unknown realities, who died/disappeared when using a device "to see reality as truly is", actually more of a merger of our reality and another, and their inhabitants. The disciple, now alone, and gone crazy by the "miracles" he witnessed, is attempting to resurrect his master bringing his soul back from beyond into a new body he's creating for him from the corpses of people he kidnaps and then kills. The PCs will find themselves without gas when travelling, and will have to get to the nearest town, an almost dead one, where the antagonist lives. As he kidnaps one of the PCs, the others will have to chase him to his lair. If they are quick enough they may save the life of their friend; otherwise he will be already killed, and his flesh used to finish the new body for the master, who would then be brought to life using the dimensional device. In this last case the master is now an alien entity of immense power, so the only way for the PCs would be to try to banish it from our reality manipulating the device. And in any case, in the lair the PCs will have to confront strange gelatinous worms that had been brought in previous experiments, as well as some other lesser disciples from the master, apart from the bulky and slightly "transformed" serial killer.

ARCHDEVILS

2009-12-20T18:39:00.001+01:00

The devils are the fiendish creatures living in Avernus (a word meaning abyss). This plane was once that in which angels lived (see the description of the hellish planes in this regard); it was a plane with a slightly lawful alignment, and mostly empty, because all angels were flyers and required nothing but floating islands on which to build their civilization. But when Thanatos was full of demons, they were driven to conquer another plane; and sadly for angels, theirs was the chosen plane. After a long campaign under the military leadership of Satan, the plane was conquered and became the home of demons, being imposed the new fiendish name of Avernus. Given the lawful nature of the plane, it was the demons with such trends who moved to live there, led by Lucipher. Over time, these demons started calling themselves "devils", the name by which they are known today; and some new purely diabolical races have appeared with no past and no relation with the demons from Thanatos. Of course, the evil tendency of all fiends caused wars and conflicts to arise between demons and devils, even in a shaky truce pacted between their leaders.

ABYSSUS
As most Archdevils, Abyssus has become the living embodiment of a negative emotion. In his case, it is despair; and this Archdevil has the bad luck of falling prey to his sphere of power himself. Therefore, although he looks fairly humanoid, framed by two gnawed black wings, the grimaces of pain and despair that he doesn't stop doing for ever and ever have deformed his face to an extent that would be cartoonish if not for the feeling that emanates from him. That despair from which he's a source makes him avoided by most Archdevils, who just by approaching him begin to suffer and mourn his hellish condition. And if this is true with the powerful Archdevils it's easy to comprehend how much he can affect the souls that fall under his rule: it's the most feared fate, and any deal can be made to get rid of an eternity under his influence.

ADRAMELECH
He's perhaps the most elegant Archdevil of all the inhabitants of Avernus, or of any of the hellish planes, and this is because Adramelech is the Master of Vanity. His obsession with physical appearance is such that his wardrobes occupy most of his vast palace, which means that he stores more clothes than what could be found in many whole human cities. He also likes to alter his own physique to match the clothes he wears, although he feels a predilection for dark shades of blue and metallic greens; as these colors are present in the feathers of the peacock he's often decorated with them, and in fact it has become his emblem. As an Archdevil he holds little power, but gets along well with most others, to whom he serves as an aesthetic consultant; and in his dealings with humans his extreme handsomeness and diplomatic and protocol delicacy gives him a great advantage.

ALASTOR
This Archdevil stands out among the others due to his severity and always relentless spirit, what has earned him the nickname "The Executioner". But it's not as if he presided over summary executions and cruel justice (that is left to others), but over the justice that the very spirit applies to itself: remorse. Alastor is capable of causing deep remorse attacks worldwide, not only to those guilty of major crimes and sins, but also to anyone who feels that has committed some fault, however small that is. The appearance of this Archdevil does justice to his personality, and his eyes that watch from under a perpetually furrowed brow can distill a sentence able to rip through the souls of all who face him. He's the only bearded devil, and that is because the dwarves are his main victims, as their deep sense of honor makes them likely to have regrets.

ASMODEUS
One of the best known Archdevils in the material plane, and one that has the largest predicament; also in Avernus he's very high in the hierarchy, due to his power, his age, and the deeds which he staged. Asmodeus is the great corrupter, dedicated to extending the depravity and licentiousness among all civilizations in the cosmos. Of course, it's the lawfully aligned civilizations those in which his destructive power is more noted, because as the corruption spreads among the levels of their hierarchies they eventually become unstable and collapse like a castle made of cards. Perhaps only the devilish order is immune to the corruption caused by him, as this is grounded in their system naturally. However, his activities causes that Asmodeus does not keep good relations with Nergal and his associates; while on the other hand Adramelech is one of his closest friends and allies, and has a (limited) favour from Lucipher.

BAALBERIT
This Archdevil has little power, but has managed to make his way step by step in Avernus and between Ajsalium's mortals too. Baalberit could be classified as the "Prince of Wayward Lawyers", because his specialty is the legal and judicial rhetoric; and in a lawful society like that of devils, you can make a very profitable use of this ability (which is what this Archdevil is devoted to). Of course, his complete lack of scruples makes that he can constantly switch sides, so he has no real ally, but also no notable enemy. On the other hand, humans call him the "Archivist", because given his prodigious memory he can remember thousands of data on any topic; and some have gone to him to acquire knowledge of the history of the cosmos. Of course the reliability of the version explained by a devil is something that leaves much to be desired, since for Baalberit knowledge does not imply veracity.

BAALCEFON
This Archdevil is subject to Nergal, for whom he's his right hand and, in many ways, his most faithful executor. In diabolical society, Baalcefon occupies the lackluster but eventually influential rank of chief of sentries and guards. No civilization devotes more resources to these endeavors that a lawful evil one, so the network of agents depending from Baalcefon is extremely broad, and his contacts are so abundant that there is virtually no plot or plan of which he won't learn. This is the kind of services he's ready to offer to mortals (for a price, preferably in blood), along with another equally valuable: he's capable of ensuring the loyalty of slaves, and their complete submission to their masters. Finally, it is noteworthy that, like Baalberit, he's a relative to the Demon Prince Baal (hence their names), but no one but themselves know what this relationship exactly is and how it can affect loyalties.

BUCON
Bucon is one of the most sadly busy Archdevils in the material world since the beginning of time, and its supreme malice surely will guarantee that he never abandons his tasks. He is nothing less than the popularly known as "Demon of Jealousy", but actually he's a devil. For some reason, probably due to the intervention of a deity, this devil was doomed to never be loved, while he himself is driven by passion. This contradiction tortures him continuously, and is the reason that has forged his resentful character against all those who can enjoy mutual love. Thus he's dedicated to sow discord between lovers, imposing in their hearts the shadow of a doubt that grows in depth and darkness until it corrupts love and turns it into hate and madness. In addition, Bucon takes that moment to offer his services to eliminate any possible rival in exchange for the soul of the jealous lover, thus sealing his doom.

GAAB
For an Archdevil, the extremely passionate character of Gaab leads him to behave in a way that rather suggests a demon. But make no mistake: behind this facade of apparent fanaticism hides a mind as cold and ruthless as few. His empire on extreme passions makes him deeply hate any tepidity, and he's sometimes known as the "Scourge of Neutrality", because for him that is a real aberration, and has proposed to eradicate it from the cosmos. And if he hates all neutrality you can imagine his fury at true neutrals; his eternal campaign against monks is the greatest suffering that they must endure. Gaab enters their dreams and thoughts, awakening all seeds of radicalism to make them abandon their neutral and equidistant stance. Gaab's passion for his cause leads him to attack not only mortals but also any other creature, even gods, as he's not even afraid of these (being Ivellios the fetish of his hatred).

GOLEENBAN
Goleenban is one of the two she-Archdevils of Avernus, and she's quite beautiful and elegant, but her beauty cannot compensate for even a fraction of her terrible evil. She lives in an area of Avernus rather peculiar, since it is an absolutely vast uninhabited desert, and separated from the rest of floating islands in which her fellow Archdevils live; in fact its landscape is quite similar to that which can be found on most of Thanatos. The reason for the voluntary isolation of Goleenban is that this devil from the desert is the Spirit of Solitude. Every time someone gets lost and is left alone, especially if that happens in places of difficult access and exit more than unlikely, Goleenban comes swiftly and wraps the lost one in a tenuous cloak that makes him keenly aware of his loneliness. After a few days, the oppression caused is so strong that he begins to go mad, finally leading to his death as all sense of reality is lost too.

JEZBETH
This is one of the Archdevils with a most pleasant treatment, as his manners are very far away from the seriousness that most Archdevils have. Great striker, he looks like a handsome and charming young, and exudes a big confidence in himself and a certain arrogance. The reason for this behavior is that Jezbeth is the devil of imaginary wonders, fraud and deception. With him around, you can never be sure of what is real and what is not, since he likes to alter all of reality around him, and he does so almost unconsciously. So for centuries and millennia has been invoked by the mortals from the material plane as protector for liars and swindlers, to free them from the clutches of earthly law; making him one of the most popular Archdevils. As an anecdote about Jezbeth, it's noteworthy that his name has a feminine tone, and in fact some believe that this is a she-devil, whose first and longest deception is impersonating a male one.

LEVIATHAN
Second only to Lucipher himself, the name of Leviathan is known and feared throughout the whole cosmos. Their appearance is impressive, and has a strong military air. Not surprisingly, since he's the diabolical Lord High Admiral, and Lord of Avernus' seas (i.e., the vacuum flows in which the islands float), in which he's usually found aboard weird constructs driven by the energy of thousands of enslaved and tortured souls. His credentials do not end with war, though, but apart from his military worth he's a big liar, and therefore also triumphs in politics (the continuation of war by other means). He's also a great epicure, a powerful incubus who likes to "enjoy" famous women, which are passionately attached to him, and manipulated at will. The rituals to invoke his attention are often held in the dead of winter, and is best done in the middle of a snowy and icy wasteland.

LUCIPHER
There was a time when Satan reigned supreme over all the progeny of fiends, and when Lucipher and Belzebuth were his faithful lieutenants. After their rebellion, nowadays Lucipher can only be compared to Belzebuth, and he's therefore the most feared Archdevil. His power is immeasurable and incontestable, the reason why he's the leader of the Archdevils, with the title of "Prince of the Abyss." his name means "Morning Star", a truly romantic name, which is due to his unbelievable handsomeness. His face is flawless, and has an expression of melancholy that makes him yet more appealing; he wears a crown of fire (similar to Belzebuth's one), but that burns with softness and fluidity; and from his back sprout four wings of feathers perfect but as black as the deepest night and death. For some reason that nobody knows, his worship has spread in recent times across Alterria and its civilized feudal countries. His followers carry rites in his honor between spring and summer.

MEPHISTOPHELES
He is, by far, the most widely seen Archdevil in Ajsalium (and other alternative material planes), because in a sense he's like an intermediary between Avernus and mortals. He could not perform this function if he didn't know to appear helpful, kind, clever and polite, but also ruthless when the time comes to retrieve the agreed price and immune to any kind of affection. He's in charge of sealing all major agreements, what makes him enjoy a very high position, having the obligation to report only to Lucipher. But this does not make him happier, because he repented long ago of doing evil deeds, but because of his diabolical nature he's bound to act evil against his will; besides that he can't overcome his pride and inability to love. Getting far away from Avernus on a regular basis could make him vulnerable to attacks, but even the most powerful celestials dare not do it, because although he has never shown much power it's suspected that he has it at the level of the greatest Archdevils.

NERGAL
Nergal is a tenebrous Archdevil, chief of the secret police from Avernus; he is the embodiment of vindictive justice. In the diabolical hierarchy he depends directly from Lucipher, and has the control over the very wide police system of Avernus, needed to keep the fierce order and control that these lawful beings love so much; being Baalcefon his subordinate. Despite his relation with Lucipher, Nergal is not considered one of the most important Archdevils as his functions are considered minor as they are limited to the plane of Avernus and not to extend the evil cause across the cosmos. He believes he is owed more respect and admiration, because if not for his zeal society would have fallen into demonic chaos; this resentment makes him especially relentless in his work and strive for perfection at any cost. In the material plane sometimes the souls of the worst murderers sentenced to death are assigned to Nergal, but only in isolated cases of utter depravity.

RHABDOS
The other she-Archdevil, alongside Goleenban, is even more sinister than the latter. Her nickname is the "Strangler", given the pleasure she finds killing her enemies in this way; for that she has entwined in her complex dress multiple pieces of string or strips of many different fabrics, from silk to leather, gone through rough hemp. Rhabdos is the matron of murderers, torture and sex, preferably when all this is happening in unison; many psychopaths and rapists have ensured that a female inner voice drove them to commit their crimes; if true, it would be Rhabdos, although the clerics set up to judge these criminals are very aware that Rhabdos doesn't enter a heart that has not already opened to her voluntarily. Moreover, this she-Archdevil is the symbol of betrayal, leading to suspicion even amongst her fellows, except Baalberit, her lover and the closest thing to an ally with which she can count, this female always thirsty for blood and pleasure.

WINTER PAINTING CHALLENGE

2009-12-12T13:27:00.005+01:00

So, here I present a challenge I've just thrown to myself: painting all the monster minis from the DOOM boardgame and its expansion (that's 96 figures) during this winter.

This actually started as a speed painting project, in which I expected to paint all that in just two weeks, thanks to the fact that I was on holidays. But just prepping the damn minis took me the first week (many noticeable mold lines, and being made of soft plastic sanding must be done very carefully). So I've been forced to accept there's no way I can reach my original goal. And instead of just getting demoralized and giving up, this time I've done something intelligent and set a new goal, that should be reachable according to the facts I've gathered about painting times, etc.
The project, then, is to paint the 96 miniatures of DOOM monsters during December, January and February. They will be painted to a tabletop standard using a speed painting technique I'm experimenting with them right now. The six marine miniatures are not included in the challenge because I want to paint them to a higher standard, with more advanced techniques; but if I finish the winter challenge with some time left I may paint them too.

The technique I've just mentioned above is based on the fact that now I paint with the Master Series Paints from Reaper Miniatures (link in sidebar), that come in triads of three shades per colour: dark, medium and bright; and the new Citadel washes. The technique thus consists basically of five steps:
1) Basecoat with dark shade.
2) Paintbrush with medium shade, all over the mini except deep recesses.
3) Paintbrush with bright shade, concentrating in smaller defined areas.
4) Wash with thinned Citadel washes.
5) Finish painting details.
This is just a variation of the typical GW's tabletop procedure of basecoating, inking and drybrushing. The reason I save the washing for the final step is that I expected it to act slightly like a glaze does, and diminish the chalky effect drybrushing causes. And it has actually worked fine in the first lot of painted minis, so I'm a happy bunny. The exception to this will be metallic parts, in which I'll follow the more traditional order of steps, because there's no chalkiness problem with metallic paints.

I will keep you updated of the progress of this winter challenge posting pics of the painted minis everytime I finish a group of them. To begin with, here you have the 12 imps. It has taken me approximately six hours to finish them, so that's half hour per mini on average; not a bad time for me, that I'm a rather slow painter.

As you can see, I have not gone for the Doom 3 colour scheme. The boardgame is based in that version of the game, but I don't really like that all demons are basically grey; I "grew up" with the classics Doom and Doom 2, which had vividly coloured monsters. Now I understand that such bright colours wouldn't really suit a host of demons; but I'm aiming at a compromise in between, of varied yet similar colours, with little saturation and a gloomy feel.

Finally, if this challenge goes well, it can become a seasonal event. Next year I expect to have four holiday periods of three weeks, each one at the beginning of a season (March, June, September and December). I will use those periods to start projects similar to this one, still having a couple more months to finish them. And I have already decided what the spring challenge will be: painting all the minis from the Descent boardgame (60 monsters plus 20 characters). For the summer challenge I may paint the minis of medieval townsfolk from Reaper and villagers from Hasslefree (that's 22 figures, including children... plus two chickens!).

DEMON PRINCES

2009-12-09T00:34:00.001+01:00

Of the three Hellish Planes, the first one to exist was Thanatos (word meaning destruction), and this is the plane where demons live in. These are, in addition to evil, of a generally chaotic alignment, something that can be seen as they generally have a monstrous appearance. Usually, they are the strongest physically, and the most bloodthirsty and impulsive. Therefore, we cannot say that the Demon Princes are genuine rulers, because Thanatos is too chaotic for the existence of something like a minimally stable and controlled society. They are simply the most powerful and strongest amongst them, and the rest of demons obey them for sheer terror at the prospect of unbridled anger. And among them there is no other hierarchy than that of the more powerful over the weaker (although talking of weakness in any case is an euphemism). From a mythological or theological view, the Demon Princes are also embodiments of monstrosities of all kinds, and idols of savage and primitive mortals. The following list is not exhaustive, so inventive gamemasters are free to create new Demon Princes at their convenience; but hopefully you will find here everything needed to develop an adventure or campaign.

AHRIMANES
Ahrimanes is a Demon Prince particularly ugly and hideous: it has three feints of faces in his head, "feints" because they have only two atrophied vestigial eyes and holes filled with crooked teeth in the manner of mouth, from which perennially arises an incredibly breath foul; the head is surmounted by three curved horns. His repulsive appearance is enhanced by being always surrounded by an almost solid darkness, moving with him. According to some legends, this horrible demon was the first fiendish creature to put its feet on the material plane; habit that still keeps today, and it's from him that emanate many of the terrestrial monstrosities. Anyway, despite what might be thought, he's not a too powerful demon; although his importance lies, not only on his horrific appearance, but on the fact that he's one of the oldest inhabitants of Thanatos, one of the first born; and that's enough to earn him the admiration of other younger demons.

ANEBERG
This Demon Prince looks like a giant horse, equipped with exceptionally strong muscles and a fur as black as the darkest pits of hell, fur that is marked with many scars that give off a bloody and sticky ichor. His eyes shine like two red-hot irons, and it's hard not to die of terror in front of his eyes full of anger; and if that fails, his breath is fatal. He lives buried in the depths of Thanatos, and it's almost impossible to find on the surface; it is assumed that he also likes to move around the earth elemental plane. In Ajsalium he's especially feared by dwarven miners, and there are numerous accounts from survivors of catastrophic collapses in mines which claim that they were caused by Aneberg, and that the unhealthy gases in mines are but his breath.

ASTARTEA
This female demon is, in many respects, an exception to the rule that dominates the looks and habitual tendencies of the rest of her species. In fact, Astartea meets the schemes of the devils, and certainly would have moved to Avernus if not for staying with her husband Astaroth (see below). The case is that Astartea is very beautiful and elegant; she's got a pale complexion and rugged but beautiful features, she dresses with nice silks of the most elaborate softness, and adorned with threads of gold, silver, platinum, and other even more exotic metals. Her head is scalloped by the horns of a silver crescent moon, and in fact she's often taken as the "Lady of the Moon"; so she could be a renegade member of the race of angels who live there, or perhaps a descendant of the Rat who lived there for some time. His admirers often undertake, with each moon's last quarter, venereal rites full of sensuality.

ASTAROTH
Astartea's husband, Astaroth seems almost her opposite; it's hard to imagine a couple with most different and opposed appearances, and impossible to guess the motives of their union. For everything that Astartea has of beauty, Astaroth has of repulsiveness: perhaps only Ahriman is as ugly and nauseating. Astaroth is a grotesquely fat demon with nasty habits, dropping saliva off the corner of his lips and mucus from the nostrils. Also, the stench is for him a business card which precedes him whereever he goes. And despite all that he enjoys some popularity among mortals, because in Thanatos he's the Prince in charge of custody of the hoards and treasures, which they like to accumulate despite their futility at the hellish planes. Another of his attributes is being patron of insects, especially of the most annoying ones, and it is said that he leverages the height of summer to launch his army of hornets, mosquitoes and the like all over the world, to inflict small torments to mortals.

AZAZEL
One of the most famous Demon Princes, it's also common referring to him in books as "the messenger", because his role in the demonic host is being the prime standard bearer of the demonic armies. That makes him the right arm of Baal, and one of the greatest allies of Beelzebuth. Azazel's appearance has become a typical image to represent the fiendish creatures: it is a male goat that walks upright like a humanoid. His physical strength is very considerable, and his determination on the battlefield absolutely unwavering; the banner that he bears, in addition to its terrifying magical powers, is topped with a sharp blade with which he cuts the throat of anyone who puts in front. The rituals in his name include the sacrifice of goats to purge the sins that he would punish, whence comes the term "scapegoat."

BAAL
Baal is probably the second most powerful Demon Prince, only behind Beelzebuth himself. He is the commander in chief of the demonic army, which he rules with absolute and uncontested authority, in addition to great intelligence and wisdom. His physical strength is immeasurable, and is his extensive martial skills, which he's always willing to put to practice, against both voluntary and forced opponents. Curiously, despite all these traits normally regarded as masculine, Baal is hermaphroditic, although his general appearance looks more masculine than feminine. His self-begotten offspring are some terrible winds that, from time to time, travel and plague Thanatos itself, and that reach the material plane, where during the autumn make leaves fall from the trees and extend the kind of death of nature which later remains during the winter.

BAPHOMET
Another major Demon Prince, especially for the minotaurs, for whom he's their patron, and presumably their creator. That should not suggest that his appearance is that of a minotaur, but he's a two-headed demon with the face of a beautiful woman on one side and a bearded man on the other, and yes, large bull horns. He supposedly created the minotaurs when he cursed a vain hero of ancient times who wanted to be as strong as a bull; the irrepressible sexual appetite of the created monstrosity caused it to become a race. Baphomet lives in a colossal labyrinth, the most difficult of all that may exist, because, in addition to its immense size and complexity, it constantly changes its layout. Only Eurynome (a Lord of Temptation from Inferno) got in and out of it, which humbled Baphomet so much and filled him with such rage that he tore Eurynome's eyes as punishment (such events are common among all the fiends).

BEHEMOTH
This is one of the less powerful Demon Princes, but that does not prevent him from also being one of the most dangerous ones, even to their own kind. Behemoth is extremely clumsy and stupid, and many demons mock him right in his face; and although he's easily irritated, his clumsiness and slowness of movement does only take dodging to avoid him. His danger comes from being the Prince of Gluttony; his shape is that of a gargantuan ox (so big that it is incredible to believe even seeing with your own eyes). And this huge ox cannot stop eating for a moment, and can literally eat anything. So much so that they keep him chained and locked up almost all the time, because otherwise he would be able to eventually eat the whole plane of Thanatos. In fact, there is a terrible hole that stretches for hundreds of miles and is the result of Behemoth's constant devouring; and wise men don't forget the threat that hangs over mortals if he were released in the material plane.

BELZEBUTH
Belzebuth is the undisputed leader of the Demon Princes. He's the most powerful of them all, and his power is only comparable, now, with that of Lucipher, with whom he devised the plan to get rid of Satan when his ascension to godhood broke the "feudal" balance between master demons and devils. He looks downright impressive, and has nothing to envy anyone: his size is prodigious, his forehead is encircled by a crown of fire, which glows as much as his menacing eyes. Other characteristic features are his huge bat wings and the horns, and the ability to breathe flames like a dragon; his general appearance is also a fiendish archetype. His name means "Lord of the Flies", as he is always accompanied by these nasty bugs (which makes him easily recognizable to any careful observer), and in fact he may take the form of a giant fly at will.

HALFAS
This Demon Prince is one of the most hateful and frightening. Among other titles, he's the proud holder of "Destroyer of Cities", which gives a clear idea of his concept on the fate of the life and works of mortals. This Prince of Annihilation only finds joy in spreading ruin everywhere, and his hatred of all that remains standing is inextinguishable. Fortunately, his power is not comparable to that of the major leaders; granted that that is little consolation to those who suffer his wrath, since the devastation caused by him always takes years to rebuild and regenerate. This extends to Thanatos too, where every building eventually undergoes his harassment, sooner or later; and in this sense Halfas is a good example of an extreme case of chaotic evil alignment, unable to make any distinction. Although preferably he likes roaming planes and places inhabited by beings of law, to destroy their buildings, which are usually neat and impressive.

LILITH
As Astartea, Lilith is a happy exception to the common monstrous aspect of demons. This ancient Demon Princess is the Queen of the Succubi, the mother of them all, and the most notable for its irresistible charms. This "man-eater" (in the most sexual sense of the expression), within her evil still keeps tremendously attractive manners and attitude, so few are able to resist her advances. She feels a special fondness for human males, and it's said that when the first men appeared Lilith embodied in Ajsalium, copulating with them and generating the first half-demons, whose blood was then diluted in the entire human race (a theory supported mainly by elves and dwarves, but much less by human scholars). Anyway, Lilith's sexual appetite seems to be incapable of being ever satisfied, or at least there has been no consort of any race or species capable of leaving her completely satisfied; she is still searching.

MALTHUS
Malthus is one of the Demon Princes most feared by all mortals, because its main attribute is being the Prince of Diseases. This also directly confronts him with the goddess Fiolsvinn (who is, among other things, a goddess of protection of life and health); a type of confrontation that most fiends don't follow because defeat is likely. What doesn't mean that almost every of them won't support the unwholesome activities of this demon; except those with a greater martial spirit, for whom it is a shame that an opponent die all by himself instead of killing him with their own hands. But Malthus, like a big kid, enjoys creating new diseases and indiscriminately disseminating them everywhere, including the material plane, where he uses rats and other strange followers to desolate the lands.

MICTLAN
Mictlan is a Prince of Gluttony, like Behemoth, yet the differences are striking: while Behemoth is a clumsy and dumb ox whose eating habits are due to an insatiable hunger, Mictlan is governed by the true vice of gluttony, eating just for the sheer pleasure of eating, to the point of madness. This also extends to greed, to the excessive desire to accumulate and accumulate. The appearance of the demon does justice to his repulsive personality and sour character: his skin is dark and has a greasy luster, and from all body parts many tentacles sprout, with which he holds any edible object (if still alive, the better; and if they scream, much better). In his face stand his little and completely black eyes, small windows to his rotten soul, and, of course, a huge mouth in constant motion, always brooding with great pleasure and unpleasant pasty noises.

MOLOCH
Moloch is well known to mortals, as he's one of the Demon Princes that hold more predicament among them in ancient times, and whose rites were more gruesome. His name means (or so the sages understand) "Prince of the Land of Tears", which has been linked to the extreme pain caused by the sacrifices that this demon has always required: babies and innocent children, who were to be teared apart, alive, and whose blood was for the cultists to bath in. In exchange for these bloody sacrifices Moloch offered fertility, both to humans and for agriculture and livestock. The idols carved in his image and likeness, always cast in bronze to reflect the blood of this demon, that is molten bronze, always carry a royal crown, and the head of some kind of beef (bull, ox, cow, or even buffalo), perhaps because of his popularity among the first farmers and ranchers.

XAFAN
Among the Demon Princes, Xafan is the youngest of them all, and the only one who actually has a sense of humor, albeit in the manner of a demon. He is totally immune to fire, and besides there is nothing he likes better in all existence. He spend as much time, or more, diving through they plasma of the elemental plane of fire as in Thanatos itself, where he always ignites huge bonfires in which to rest. The immunity does not prevent his body to get blistered and sore, nor his skin to be a bright red. His passion for the unbridled fire once led him to try to burn an entire heavenly plane; and although he didn't achieve his purpose, the temerity of such an act won him the sympathy of many fiends, and the other Demon Princes allowed him to maintain fires all across Thanatos. He's also able to teleport between any flames too, and that has been tapped to make him a kind of messenger.

HELLISH PLANES

2009-12-06T02:00:00.002+01:00

THANATOS

Thanatos is the first of the Hellish Planes to exist, and still is the "biggest" and most populated one (the quotation marks is because this plane, like most, is infinite, so "large" or "small" is really just a comparison of the measure perceived from within by its inhabitants). This plane was originally created by Bhrater, one of three Übergods, the embodiment of light and consciousness, to serve as the prison for Three Rats, the Übergoddesses incarnation of destruction, corruption, evil and death. This impregnable prison should absorb the cosmic and divine essence of the evil creatures, but something went wrong; one of them managed to preserve her conscience, which in fact allowed her to become one with the plane. It is from then on that this plane was renamed Thanatos, fiendish word meaning "destruction", in reference to her divine soul. Of course, the other two rats were quickly removed from there and banished to elsewhere (the material plane, and some unknown location), to prevent the three eventually merging into a single quasi-omnipotent being. Unfortunately for Thanatos, as a deity, her new form did not last long: her state of existence was more than her soul could control, and began breaking out of control. From the very substance of the plane emerged new forms with their own life, evil metastasis trying to open a path in a wild eruption of life. Finally, Satan was the first to open the gap and tear the tissue of Thanatos, and thus of his mother, standing portentous amidst the immensity of the plane. After him, the whole plane convulsed in a long labor of centuries in which horrific creatures arose incessantly; even today there are still these occasional "births", with demons breaking through from the earth, an abhorrent antithesis of a burial.

The present appearance of Thanatos is that of a huge desert, actually endless. Where you look to, you only see miles and more miles of arid expanse. With the plane lacking any curvature, the horizon potentially extend to infinity, which merely enlarges the feeling of being lost in the desert in the middle of nowhere. Of course, nothing is further from the truth; one thing is that it's basically a desert, and quite another thing wold be to be empty. For starters, the morphology is not as uniform as it seems at first glance: in so much space, there are many geographical and terrain noteworthy features, although almost none of them disobey the norm of aridity and sterility that plagues this disagreeable plane.

Most of the plane is a rocky desert, whose floor is covered with gravel and dust; but there are also great sand deserts, or made of other materials such as sulfur. And, of course, the widely known "desert of bones" which is just that: a desert where the soil is composed of bones crushed up until they are nothing but a white powder, the bones of those who have perished at the hands of demons since the beginning of time, either violently or for making deals with them. In this desert of death some bones stand out, because despite being broken and chipped, are as big as trees; it is terrifying to think to what creatures they might have belonged, and terrifying to realize that, however great they were, they succumbed to the demonic hordes.

In addition to deserts, especially common in the valleys, you can also find huge chains of mountains, whose peaks rise beyond where the eye can reach, with the tops piercing the deep darkness which is the highest area of the mock atmosphere of Thanatos. Surely the dwarves would give anything to get to work in such mountains (and surely the demons would gladly take something from them, their lives). Some of the mountains are solid and dense as the most robust rock impregnated with ore; but others are pierced by endless caves and caverns. Thanatos has existed for more eons that mortals are able to imagine, and to calculate the number of demons the measure of "millions" falls short; but still not all the caves have been fully explored. Some are well known and frequented, because they act as a step to cross the mountains through the underground, a must for non-flying demons that would need months to surround or climb them; but many small branches and deviations are spread everywhere, reaching areas incredibly remote from the original entry. So easy is to get lost that demons try to avoid these less common routes for fear of wandering for eternity; the demonic folklore tells rumors and legends about demons that were lost forever, and let's not forget that these creatures are immortals, so in theory they are still looking for a way out...

Apart from mountains, volcanoes are a fairly common stamp of Thanatos. It's really hard to know where the magma comes from, as Thanatos has not a geological structure as that of a planet; it's as if the volcano were but a form of manifesting the anger and violence of the plane itself. These volcanoes remain in continuous eruptions, of unprecedented violence, and the roars are heard even before feeling the earth's tremors. The clouds of smoke are so great that some manage to get together with those from other distant volcanoes, plunging large areas of the plane in the perpetual darkness of an atmosphere saturated of hot ash, the heat of which is unquenchable. The rivers of lava run freely bulldozing everything, and the formations that arise once they cool are, at least, impressive and appalling in their magnitude.

But even though in the whole plane the heat is almost unbearable (apart from the fact that it has the very annoying peculiarity that it "beats", feeling puffs of heat to the rhythm of heart beat, to the rhythm of the simulacrum of life of Thanatos itself), there is also some solace in the scattered rivers and streams that run through the most unlikely places. These rivers may arise from any point, and flow without ever emptying into any sea or lake; they just submerge back underground to disappear and not continue. The route is not based on any logic neither, and they may even go up mountains; the only thing they all have in common is being extremely treacherous, because the bed is usually composed of sharp and pointy rocks, and rapids and eddies can appear in a seemingly random way, although the probability increases whenever something or someone is immersed in them. But the daring can enjoy a refreshing swim in their waters, or drink this fresh and crystal clear liquid; provided they don't find that the "water" burns as acid or turns out to be a deadly poison, something there's no way to know until testing is done.

And it is also possible for these rivers to get mixed with others formed from the rain of Thanatos, a rain that, as expected, is not exactly normal: gallons of blood are spilled on the surface, dying it red. Most deserts of Thanatos have a reddish tinge, which is due precisely to the remnants from the rained blood; remains that also emanate a significant stench of death unbearable for those not used to it. Demons, meanwhile, enjoy a lot these rains, and for them to bath in blood, or drink from the puddles that originate, induces them a state of frenzy and savagery greater than the usual in them. That's why the sound of rain is quickly joined by howls of rage and fury, and the sound of fighting, as soon as violence is unleashed.

To end this description of Thanatos, let's remember that this plane is inhabited, in addition to millions of demons, by their leaders, the Demon Princes. These monstrosities, led by the haughty and cruel Belzebuth, have a power that ridicules the mightiest of mortals from Ajsalium, and almost all the inhabitants of other planes; it is believed that only the gods exceeded them in power... and not all of them. These Princes of destruction have established their homes in various parts of Thanatos, always choosing those that best suit their tastes or characteristics. Whole armies, of slaves and servants fearful of the wrath of their masters, surround these buildings, that are also designed to withstand any attack, since amongdemons war is almost a routine, whether against the inhabitants of other planes, or between themselves.

AVERNUS

Avernus is the Hellish Plane inhabited by devils, the second in existence. Properly speaking, the plane already existed long before the devils got to it, but then it had another name, Celestia, and other inhabitants: the angels. As it is, however difficult it may seem, Avernus was once a Heavenly Plane. But the "birth rate" inherent to the plane of Thanatos itself, coupled with the demonic promiscuity that gave rise to new generations of demons, soon created a foreseeable overpopulation. Of course, an infinite plane should be capable of hosting countless creatures, but these always have tendency to concentrate, and there's a reluctance to dispersion. So the demons decided it was time to expand their horizons, conquering some new plane on which to settle; this would later be continued with future conquests.

It was the plane inhabited by the angels the chosen one. No god lived in it, so it was quite unprotected in that regard; and although the angels have always been known as determined warriors, their small numbers did not seem enough to rival the invasion of demons. Of course angels were willing to make a formidable stand, and fought in a desperate resistance, sweeping away thousands and thousands of demons in continual battles and massacres. But numerical superiority was still overwhelming, and what is more, the demonic leader, Satan himself, was likely the best commander of the cosmos; the military campaign he planned was executed to perfection until the last angels were expelled from their natal plane and forced to roam the cosmos. This plane had a slightly lawful alignment, so that it were the demons withthe same alignment those who moved to it, plus some neutrals. The evil that brought with them eventually came to affect the plane; Thanatos, in turn, now holding only the demons of chaotic trend, "absorbed" this alignment. Regarding the demons that had migrated, over time, they started to being called devils, still bearing the name today.

The plane was renamed Avernus, who in the fiendish language means "abyss", due to it being mostly empty. Indeed, Avernus is basically a huge hollow dotted here and there with floating islands. These islands have a very variable size, and there are those which are only small rocks unable to accommodate more than a few buildings, up to giant rocks of irregular contour on whose surface have been growing continuously evolving cities, the largest of the which are the size of a kingdom from Ajsalium. Of course, not all of these islands are inhabited; most of those that are have an average size, enough to hold one or two normal cities; the biggest ones are reserved for the Archdevils, who establish their bases in them.

There's not just one single force of gravity in the plane, but each island has its own gravitational pull, which is more or less uniform regardless of the size of these; but there are exceptions to this rule, too, and some small islands have a gravity so strong that keeps everything in its surface flattened against it, while the gravity of huge conglomerates is so mild that with a good jump can one break away from it. But what all the islands have in common is that gravity only affects whom is standing in them; this means that, if someone were just a few meters from the surface, he would not be attracted to it even in a million years. In the rest of the plane, i.e. in the vacuum, there is no gravity at all, so flying through is free; but the lack of a consistent atmosphere hinders the normal flight of flapping wings, which finds little resistance enabling it to secure a big push forward. Of course the atmosphere is not so tenuous as to prevent breathing to creatures that need it (now, who in his right mind, other than a devil, might want to be there?).

As mentioned, among isle and isle there are huge expanses of emptiness, to which the devils often refer as "seas". It is not an inappropriate name, because despite the vacuum, this is more apparent than real, as there are ebbs and flows in it, and clear streams. These currents are very useful, as they allow communication with other islands, because the distance between them is often so great that without the help of the currents it could take years to reach even the closest one; and even though the devils are immortal, their patience is limited. As you might guess, the usual method of locomotion is flight, so the devils with this capability have a great advantage over their earthbound counterparts, which usually must settle for millennia without leaving a single island.

Of course, these also have their transportation. Besides the teleportation portals that exist between major population centers of Avernus, the vacuum seas are constantly traveled by a huge fleet of diabolical ships. These bizarre looking crafts are capable of maneuvering in three dimensions, something essential to navigate the plane, and are fueled with the souls of those who fell at the hands of devils; getting "fuel" thus becomes a perfect excuse for the continuous attacks of the inhabitants of Avernus to other planes, although, of course, it's nothing more than an excuse to justify ironically a taste for bloodshed and suffering. However, travel on board these ships is not without risks, as the vacuum, to be such, has a significant number of small rocks, barely the size of a shed, that float randomly or move on rapid processions. The impact of one of these rocks against a ship can destroy it, and any devil that can't fly will end floating forever... or until another rock directly hits it.

But there is also a curious element that seems out of place in Avernus: in one of the limits of the plane (although there is no way of knowing what limits Avernus in that area), lies a vast area of barren rock, thick and concave, far away from the nearest island for a whole eternity. Its size is so large that its concavity could hold an entire planet; not to mention the rather small islands of Avernus. Furthermore, from this remote desert the whole Avernus can be seen, in a strange vision that allows seeing everything, even what is behind other things; obviously, a vision so strange is incomprehensible to a mind that is not highly advanced, and may be uncomfortable or even painful. It's in this wilderness where Goleenban lives, the she-Archdevil of Solitude, and you cannot deny that there is no place more lonely than this in the whole plane. Only on the rare occasions when it's necessary to gather millions of devils in a single place do they move to these domains through portals that Goleenban opens.

Anyway, this is not the only danger of the vacuum, because although it often behaves like an ocean, other times it does as the sky. And when that happens, the storms that break are majestic. The clouds form from nothing, sometimes engulfing and trapping inside ships or islands complete with its citadels, and soaking all up. Literally, every biological being is at risk of drowning to death; and all, mortal or immortal, must endure an incredible strain on their bodies, numbing them. The deafening thunder rumble through the ether to immeasurable distances, and at any point of Avernus the sounds of thunder that clashed millennia ago can always be heard, still traveling. The lightning bolts light up the plane with a blinding light and a destructive power that could only be equaled by the wrath of the gods.

But the devils are already accustomed to these displays of vicious temperament of their plane, and are not afraid. They remain undaunted in their strongholds and cities full of proud and lofty towers, from whose watch points you can see the immensity of Avernus. Below activity is almost feverish, and the bustle of devils that go and come, attending the chores of Evil and their own, can be irritating to the ear. This noise is also joined by the constant shouts and cries of all those prisoners, hundreds of them everywhere, who constantly suffer torture at the hands of the very cruel and very efficient devils in the dark and damp dungeons that always spread, inexorably, like a spider web beneath the streets. And in the middle of the largest cities, in the top of their palaces, live the Archdevils, ruling with an iron hand and cruel law all their slightly loyal subjects; these semi-divine beings like to peek from their huge balconies, to watch their home and rejoice in the cries of their hosts.

INFERNO

Inferno, probably the word that wakes up more terror among most of the inhabitants of Ajsalium, among all those good people who only aim to pass through life with as little suffering as possible. Inferno is one of the three Hellish Planes, the smallest and most recent of them, but that directly affects the world of Ajsalium, which makes it the best known; to the extent that it is based on its name that all infernal creatures have been named. Inferno is a word from the common language of fiends (demons, devils and infernals), that means "doom" or "damnation": both for Ajsalium, that has to stand the continued aggression of its inhabitants, as for the souls of those who allow themselves to be corrupted, who after their death are sent to this plane, where almost certainly will be nothing but unfortunate creatures abused, enslaved and tortured by the most powerful infernals. Over the years, and due to the evolution of the common language, "Inferno" in many places has been substituted with the more generic "hell," a word present in all dialects of the world, used to refer to the worst imaginable things and with which to frighten children.

The origin of Inferno took place during the Long War, although it is difficult to establish the exact time, and there are several theories. Some feel that this plane was generated spontaneously by the Vortex itself, and it would be simultaneous with this; some delay it until shortly after, believing that it grew gradually; at the opposite end of the scale are those who think it was created by the Lords of Temptation and Inferno as a safe haven after their defeat in the Long War, or that it was Azeth who created it, before heading to his fate fighting Shratak Eternalflame, anticipating the eventual outcome of this duel. The fact is that no infernal, powerful or not, has ever revealed this knowledge to his heretical followers, either by ignorance, indifference, or perhaps because it may give a clue to their defeat. Anyway, Inferno is a half-plane partially coextensive with the material plane of Ajsalium, which means that some areas of Ajsalium, usually those within the deepest Underworld, gradually and subtly transforms into Inferno, almost without it being noticed.

Many priests, including those of the evil deities, like to tell horrendous descriptions of Inferno in their homilies, so to discourage all his parishioners to have dealings with infernals and abandon the true faith in the gods. And although many believe that these descriptions are nothing but an almost theatrical ploy to ensure the fidelity of the believers, and thus maintain their status and power, actually they are based on real facts that have been collected over the centuries from various sources, in an investigation that has been, at best, hard and painful like no other. Here we present the description of this damned plane.

Inferno consists of six "circles", although actually they are spheres (naturally). A magician expert in planar wisdom and fond of exactness (almost all of them are), would say that neither are they spheres, but are deformed and have an ovoid shape, since the Vortex (please recall that this is a great planar anomaly) exerts on these "circles" a remarkable attraction similar to the gravitational one. This attraction also causes that the circles are not concentric, but that the greater the "depth" the greater the attraction and proximity to the vortex, where really all these layers overlap tangentially. Of course, once in Inferno that does not really matter, because each circle or layer, technical name for the planar subdivision, is large enough so that its limits and form cannot be perceived. Just knowledge of the "off-center" which is the Vortex could be of interest, as a shortcut to reach any part of Inferno; although the wild energies released there prevent any living being from approaching without perishing, literally consumed by magical flames. We will now review the six layers from the outermost and most "friendly" to the innermost one.

First Circle: The first Circle of Hell has the peculiarity of not belonging entirely to this plane: it is both in Ajsalium as in Inferno. This circle actually is composed of all areas from Ajsalium that are partially coextensive with Inferno, producing a gradual transition from one to the other plane in this bastard layer. Getting to the First Circle is relatively simple: just enter the Underworld and choose the roads leading into the inner planet; sooner or later all creatures that an adventurous party may find would be infernals of one kind or another. If you do not want to travel the dangerous roads of the Underworld you can also opt for something as simple as digging; but the depths where the change occurs won't be reached with a small human excavation, but with a prodigious work of dwarf mining. In fact, this was the origin of hellish dwarves: they dug so deep in search for the prime ore used to forge black steel that they unknowingly reached the First Circle; its corrupting influence didn't take long to claim its toll on the bodies and minds of those unfortunate dwarves. These wretched dwarfs are one of the breeds most easily found at this Circle, and also a growing number of drow, both normal (as normal as a drow can be), and some hellish monsters created by Tylith, as the nathlice aberrations. Besides these, you can find many breeds of infernals, usually the less powerful ones (poor consolation). There is no Infernal Lord inhabiting this Circle, for it not being truly infernal; but that won't remove the possibility of encountering large patrols or even entire armies preparing a future invasion of the surface.

Second Circle: This Second Circle is really wholly part of Inferno, and any careful observer can find evidence to show that: for example, no mortal creature lives there except, perhaps, slaves that anyway will not live long. There is another very clear geologic evidence: while the First Circle is basically a labyrinthine set of caves in the rock mass of the planetary crust, reaching the Second Circle seems as if one is arriving to a new planetary surface, with mountains, valleys, plains, and a "sky" very dark but whose upper limit can't be seen. The change from the First to the Second Circle is rather abrupt and sudden, and it's usually like leaving a narrow passageway to get to a huge cave, so huge that it's the entire hellish layer. Otherwise, apart from the eternally overcast or nocturnal sky, it looks quite normal and even seems habitable. There are rivers, lakes or seas, which through the First Circle communicate with Ajsalium oceans. This is very well known to Dagon, one of the three Infernal Lords who have their abode established in this plane. Of course, it's the infernals who make this layer uninhabitable; they buff by the thousands or millions everywhere, and it is almost impossible to keep hidden from their eyes, for which the darkness of the Circle is no problem. In addition to Dagon, Belial and Uphir live in this Circle. Finding the home of Belial is no problem: it's just a matter of following the trail of infernals practicing lurid sex plays, and allegedly, miles away from his palace moans of pleasure and cries of pain can already be heard. Yet, the armies that protect each Lord, numerous as those from the greatest nations of Ajsalium, will give good account of intruders long before.

Third Circle: Neither does this Third Circle look too strange for an inhabitant of Ajsalium; despite being much less varied than the terrain of the Second Circle, this is similar to many areas Ajsalium: this is a huge forest in perpetual night. The way to reach this Circle is precisely to enter one of the forests of the Second, forest whose trees only have black leaves, and that the more we enter into the forest, that is, as we enter the Third Circle, become even more macabre and sinister. There is a superstition that says that this Circle was forged from the nightmares of Ajsalium residents, especially those of children; it may be true, because it brings together elements of the most gloomy fairy tales. The trunks of the trees are twisted, and its rough branches move to a non-existent wind, lashing anyone standing there; ghosts of dead animals appear and disappear continuously at the periphery of sight, and the rivers and streams are of stinking feces from which monstrous creatures drink. The wandering undead are numerous, as they form the bulk of the followers of Mania, "Queen of the Dead", one of the Infernal Ladies who dwell in this Circle; the others being Habondia, "Queen of the Fairies", surrounded by small twisted infernal fairies, as evil as seemingly harmless and helpful, and Nocticula, "Patroness of Witches", protected by thousands of cats in which reincarnate the souls of many of his most trusted and advanced disciples. These are not the only inhabitants, as herds of fultaurians, yrbesnaks and other beasts like to hunt in this infernal forest.

Fourth Circle: The Fourth Circle of Inferno no longer has any resemblance to any part of Ajsalium, except the most arid deserts of Rynath or Supterra. Basically it is a seemingly endless stretch of parched land, infertile and barren. Indeed, this Circle is quite similar to Thanatos, the native hellish plane of the demons, although this similarity is merely coincidental. It is reached by getting lost in some places of the Third Circle, where the twisted vegetation is scarce and the weather turns warm so obviously; after much wandering, the ground underfoot becomes a vast sea of sand and dust. Like any material desert, this is an extremely inhospitable place, with a high temperature, and an annoying soft light that seems to come from nowhere in particular, and that takes strange tones and shades of colour when it to passes through the mists and fogs that virtually fill the entire atmosphere of the layer. These mists are not wet, but actually it's made of the vapors that emanate from the many highly toxic chemicals that make up the dusty desert floor, as well as those that arise from some geyser-like wells. Throughout this Circle, there is nothing remotely similar to a plant and not a single drop of edible water, the only liquids are those of some scattered magma rivers; only the infernals can survive in such a place. Among these, we found two more Infernal Lords: Belphegor and Leonardo. The former enjoys the climate and morphology of the layer, and has built his palace amid a sea of sulfur; the latter has chosen this Circle because it's the one that offers him the greatest solitude and quietness, as befits his serene mood.

Fifth Circle: The way to reach this Circle is the most complicated of the top five layers, as it must be done by flying from the deserts of the Fourth. If sufficient height is reached, there will come a point when the sight of the desert and even its mists is lost, and in which one is in a apparently empty space, buffeted by winds of all kinds. This reminds a little to Avernus, but neither should this be given any more importance than mere chance. What is important, really, is that it is better that the ability to fly does not depend exclusively on purely physical means, such as simple wings, as the strong winds are the most typical characteristic of the layer, filling it in its entirety in brutal and chaotic ways: unbearably hot gusts of air currents collide with freezing drafts, forming tornadoes and whirlwinds of irresistible force. Around this Circle exist just a few zones of land areas, and even these come flying through the air occasionally to again stop "settling", apparently in the middle of nowhere, a few days later. This morphology makes the Fifth Circle the ideal place for all flying infernals, although the force of the winds keep away the weakest ones: Lords Eblis and Samael clearly do not belong to this group, so here they have their true home . They let themselves to get driven by gales across hundreds of miles, living without ever stepping on land, and accompanied by many followers who can't fight against the winds, nor would they try anyway, as they are cheerful to accompany their masters.

Sixth Circle: The sixth and final Circle of Hell is a terrible place, to say the least; terrible even for most infernal creatures, including some of the great Lords. This Circle is a huge void, an infinite well of darkness and evil beyond all physical or rational law; it's size may be as large as the infinite, and yet its walls constantly compress all who are contained therein; a single second becomes an eternity, and eons pass in less than a minute. Needless to say that no mortal creature, even the most powerful of dragons, could stand a stay in a place like this, where the flashes of magical energy that penetrate through the Vortex consume all matter with licks of unbearable pain; the Sixth Circle not only is the nearest to the Vortex, but supposedly identifies with it: it would then be the eye of the hurricane. Crossing the Vortex is beyond the reach of anyone less than a deity, and entering this Circle seems impossible for anyone not supposed to be in this heart of darkness, since there is no clear path or access to it from the rest of Inferno, nor teleportation portals. Those who must be there (the Infernal Lords called to Council) simply appear in the Sixth Circle as if having been absorbed by it; something that perhaps is more than a simple metaphor. That two Infernal Lords have chosen this Circle to spend their millennia of life allows us to form an idea of what degree of corruption they've achieved; the evil of Abaddon and Azrael is so pure that it is, in its way, perfect; the terror that they wake is, therefore, understandable. In addition to them, also the eight Lords of Temptation, supreme masters of Inferno, call this Circle their home; there they periodically meet in the so-called Infernal Council, located somewhere in the Circle that's, as expected, impossible to find for anyone who is not a member.

AJSALIUM BESTIARY

2009-11-30T23:40:00.003+01:00

Here you have the longest post yet. It's basically what the title says: a first draft of the bestiary for Ajsalium. A list of creatures and a very brief description for each. Note that this list doesn't include neither animals nor vermin; that will go in a future post, because right now I'm pretty much fed up of this (it has taken me several days to write). See if you still find some fantasy cliche missing.

Aboleth: Big fish like monster that lives in subterranean lakes of the underworld; has many magical powers with which to slay or enslave.
Abyssal Rat: A very big and ugly rat (six legs, humanoid face), a mutation caused by the exposure to the infernal energies; its low intelligence allows it to master lesser common rats.
Arcane Tree: Tree only in name, according to legend this is a splinter of the ubergod Kronait, a being of divine wisdom that sits in the center of large forest and gives birth to the most beautiful sylvan creatures.
Avernal Boar: Monstrous boar that has been tainted by the infernal corruption and now roams the countryside with its venomous breath.
Banshee: Undead creature, what remains of a wronged female that now "lives" a ghostly existence and is armed with a powerful shattering cry.
Basilisk: Magical reptilian beast with six legs whose best weapon is its gaze, capable of magically turning someone to stone.
Beholder: Coming from the Other Side, this aberration resembles a huge floating sphere with a big central eye and ten smaller eyes atop pendables, each one with dangerous spell like powers.
Celav: An angel, a being of human shape with four white wings, always armed with a divine sword; it lost his home to the demons and devils and has promised to avenge this loss.
Centaur: Sylvan creature, a mix of a horse and a human. Even though not evil, it's fiercely territorial, has an irritable mood and likes drinking too much.
Chimera: Legendary monster of unknown origin, it has the body of a lion, two big eagle wings, and three heads: lion, goat and dragon. A very dangerous being, and impossible to tame.
Chupacabra: This is a small and ugly monster that feeds on goats and other herd animals. Even though it rarely attacks humans, killing their way of living is bad enough.
Cloaker: Weird intelligent creature, shaped like a cloak (hence its name). It dwells in dungeons and other dark subterranean places, dedicated both to killing and its own twisted messianic philosophy.
Cockatrice: A funny looking monster, resembles a big chicken with four legs. But it possesses a gaze that turns victims into stone, and is thus an important peril.
Couatl: An intelligent serpent with many hues and feathered wings, fights the good fight against evil monsters.
Cyclops: A giant humanoid characterized by its single eye in the middle of its face. It's as mean as it's big (and that's much).
Demon, Armageddon Beast: A gargantuan beast of mass destruction, with a dragon like body and seven heads with demonic faces and ten horns, that will be used as the ultimate siege engine in the final battle, the Armageddon.
Demon, Imp: Little demon (between one and two feet tall) with bat wings and tail, almost friendly with humans, amongst which it likes to cause mischief.
Demon, Impregnator: Human sized demon constantly possessed by a sexual frenzy that drives it to try to impregnate mortal females with his tentacles that end in small maws (typically resulting in death).
Demon, Marilith: Powerful general of the armies of Thanatos, it resembles a six armed woman with a big serpent body instead of legs. Its fierceness in battle is only surpassed by its cunning use of military tactics.
Demon, Warrior Demon: Basic foot soldier of Thanatos, a medium sized humanoid with a reptilian look, except for its equine horned head. Not as savage as you would expect from a demon, which makes it a better soldier.
Devil, Bone Devil: The foot soldier of Avernus, it looks like a skeleton with rather thick bones and some tendoms still there. Its the relentless backbone of the devilish armies, an skillful combatant.
Devil, Kyton: Human sized, blue skinned devil, always dressed in black leather and covered with hooks and chains, that it uses for sadistic "games". Surprisingly popular amongst humans, and drows.
Devil, Mandrakes: Very small (one foot tall) and weak devil, yet popular because it's commonly granted as a gift to devil adoring witches, to whom they teach unholy secrets.
Devil, Pit Devil: One of the most powerful devils just below the Archdevils, it's an imposing huge humanoid with reptilian skin and bat wings, that seems to glow with an internal fire, that commands the armies as well as pretty much every devil.
Devil, Succubus: This devil has goat legs, feminine torso and head, small horns and bat wings, but can shapechange to a pure beautiful woman at will. It's an expert seducer tasked with infiltrating the mortal world and corrupting mortals.
Displacer Beast: Magical beast similar to a panther but with two long tentacles sprouting from its back, and the power to instantly change the space it occupies, making it very hard to hit.
Doppelganger: A shapechanger featureless grey skinned humanoid with the power to imitate any person to the last detail, and the bad habit of killing him to steal his life.
Dragon, Aquatic: Neutral and solitaire dragon with fish-like scales of metallic shine and many hues (green and blues predominant) that lives its entire life underwater in oceans or deep seas, and can spit water at high pressure.
Dragon, Black: Evil and mean dragon with black scales and a pale belly that lives in swamps and spits venom.
Dragon, Blue: Evil and arrogant dragon with blue scales and sandy brown wing membranes and belly, that lives in desert areas (mainly in Masiwn), and has an electrical breath.
Dragon, Brown: Neutral, patient and intelligent dragon with small and very smooth brown scales, whose race was created by other dragons to act as intermediaries; breathes a stunning vapour.
Dragon, Fiendish: The most powerful creature ever to roam Ajsalium, it's a dragon that has been corrupted by the infernal taint, and now instead of exterminating infernals enslaves them and establishes itself as their god; the same goes for mortals. It breathes pure hellfire.
Dragon, Gold: Benevolent and very wise dragon, with scales that shine like polished gold, and the ability to breathe fire.
Dragon, Green: Evil and territorial dragon of green scales and pale yellowish belly, that lurks deep in the woods and breather a poisonous vapour.
Dragon, Purple: Neutral but amiable dragon, coloured purple (like pseudodragons) and the ability to turn invisible; it can spit magical force as if it were magic missiles.
Dragon, Red: Evil, vain and cruel dragon with thick red scales, brown belly and dark and purplish wing membranes, that lives in mountaintops and volcanoes and breathes fire.
Dragon, Silver: Benevolent and serious dragon covered in shining silvery scales, who also breathes fire.
Dragon, Spine: Neutral, but rather brutal, dragon of brown gray scales and covered with many spiny protrusions, lacks magical powers but its strongest than any other dragon.
Dragon, White: Evil, aggressive and not too intelligent dragon completely white and with bluish wing membranes that lives in arctic climates and has a chilling cold breath.
Drake: From the draconian family, a drake resembles a horse sized dragon with grey scales and small wings. It has only animal intelligence, and can be trained to serve as a mount.
Drow: An evil elf that that forewent the light of day millennia ago and now live in the underworld, in a matriarchal society obedient to their crazed goddess Tylith.
Elemental, Air: Basically, a gust of wind imbued with a fragment of the evil elemental spirit of air. It's invoked by powerful magicians to to their bidding.
Elemental, Earth: Basically, a piece of earth and rock imbued with a fragment of the evil elemental spirit of earth. It's invoked by powerful magicians to to their bidding.
Elemental, Fire: Basically, a flame imbued with a fragment of the evil elemental spirit of fire. It's invoked by powerful magicians to to their bidding.
Elemental, Water: Basically, a quantity of water imbued with a fragment of the evil elemental spirit of water. It's invoked by powerful magicians to to their bidding.
Ettin: A type of ogre characterized for having two heads. That doesn't make it more intelligent, but at least can always have a second opinion.
Faerie: A gentle and tiny creature resembling a scaled down sylph, that lives in the woods and have magical powers.
Fallen Angel: A former angel that, for multiple reasons, has fallen into a spiral of hatred and violence, losing its previous goodness and becoming a terrifying fiend like monster.
Feyr: An aberration, a mass of tentacles, eyes and mouths, that is born when the leaked essence from the Other Side coalesce around the nightmares of hundreds of people in urban areas.
Fundamental, Air: Lesser variation of an air elemental, usually takes the shape of a bird and lacks any intelligence and malevolence.
Fundamental, Earth: Lesser variation of an earth elemental, usually takes the shape of a small quadruped (i.e. dog, cat) and lacks any intelligence and malevolence.
Fundamental, Fire: Lesser variation of a fire elemental, usually takes the shape of a snake and lacks any intelligence and malevolence.
Fundamental, Water: Lesser variation of a water elemental, usually takes the shape of a fish and lacks any intelligence and malevolence.
Gargoyle: The statue of a fiend like monster that's typically incorporated in large buildings, that due to some cause becomes animated and begins spreading terror.
Gelatinous Cube: As the name implies, a large cube of a transparent gelatinous substance very corrosive, that lives in dungeons and likes trapping and dissolving adventurers.
Genie: Magical being with the ability of granting wishes to whoever freeds it from the objects in which powerful magicians imprison it. But be careful what you wish for.
Ghost: The undead shadow of someone who died before completing some important task, can't get eternal rest until the task is completed; its state may drive it to madness and violence behaviour.
Ghoul: Disgusting humanoid, of ancient human heritage, that lives underground near cemeteries and feeds on corpses.
Giant: As the name implies, a gigantic humanoid (somewhere near ten feet tall) of proportional strength and resistance; not truly evil, but rather territorial, and despises humans, because he thinks they have turned their backs on them.
Giant, Fire: A variant giant magically connected to fire, slightly shorter (eight-nine feet tall); lives inside volcanoes, but when it goes out is for raiding or killing parties.
Giant, Fomorian: Degenerate giant with a disgraced figure and ugly mutations, of short intelligence but plentiful bestiality.
Giant, Frost: Another variation of giants, this one magically tied to cold and frozen environments, and somewhat taller (eleven-twelve feet tall); lives mainly by hunting, and attacks humans on sight.
Giant, Mountaintops: The tallest of the giants (twelve-thirteen feet tall), and one that learns to use some magic; this is the giant race more similar to their titan progenitors, and typically live isolated in the highest mountaintops.
Gnoll: Looks like a human-hyena hybrid, and unfortunately its behaviour seems to come from the hyena part.
Gnome: Little gentle humanoid that live in the woods in a nice Nature respecting society. They are shy and prone to the use of illusions, but can be very amiable too.
Goblin: Little (child sized) ungentle humanoid, descendant from a god that abandoned the orcish pantheon much time ago; despite its small size, it's dark humoured, mean and cruel; in numbers, can get dangerous.
Golem, Clay: A humanoid constructed using clay as the only material, that's animated magically, and will obey its master blindly.
Golem, Flesh: A humanoid constructed with pieces of dead bodies stitched together and animated magically, that will obey its master... unless it goes wild.
Golem, Iron: Similar to a clay golem, but made of pure iron, it's usually constructed for warring purposes; and it's a very effective warrior.
Golem, Stone: Similar to a clay golem, but made of stone; when not moving it resembles a statue, and in fact is usually posed as such guarding some place until it activates to attack intruders.
Grell: It comes from the Outside, and resembles a floating brain with a beak and dangling tentacles. It lives underground, either solitary in dungeons or in small communities in cavern complexes.
Griffon: A monster of legend, it combines a big feline body (leopard or lion) with an eagle's head, wings and front paws. Of predatory nature, yet can be tamed to be used as mount by powerful individuals (common for high ranking warring aristocrats).
Hag: Something more sinister than a witch, its relation to the occult forces has transformed this woman into a nightmarish being that dwells in the darkest parts of the world conducting weird rituals that commonly demand the use of sentient sacrifices.
Harpy: An evil woman-bird hybrid, than originated from a curse long time ago, and now lives in flocks that assault travellers and have a scavenging nature.
Hellhound: As the name implies, it's a hound that originated in the fiendish planes and now can be found in many locales of Ajsalium; it has fire-like fur and can breath fire.
Helmed Horror: A suit of heavy armour animated by eldritch forces that is bent on completing some mission that may have begun centuries ago.
Hydra: It has a huge serpentine body from which erupt numerous snake like heads that can attack all at once, and if severed two grow in its place, making this monster dangerous and difficult to slay.
Hippocampus: Water-bound horse that lives underwater and it's used as a mount by some aquatic races, or even some adventurers.
Hippogriff: A monster similar to a griffon, but slightly smaller and having the body of a horse (instead of a feline); it's less powerful, but also less aggressive.
Hobgoblin: A better evolution of the goblin created by their god (imbuing goblins with human and orcish blood); of human size, strength and intelligence, but the same cruel and mean psychology.
Infernal, Daobelinus: Servitor. A child sized infernal, tasked with most menial labour in Inferno, who also sells its services to mortals, for a prize. Perfectly able to defend itself despite its size.
Infernal, Disghurah: Member of the ruling class, it's a legislator of Inferno. Looks like a tall man dressed in robes except for its odd cone shaped head and diabolic features. Extremely intelligent and versed magic-user.
Infernal, Doom Fiend: The foot soldier of the armies of Inferno. Roughly of human size and shape. It can attack with its claws at close range, or haul small fireballs from a distance.
Infernal, Doom Fiend, Aquatic: This is a variation of the standard doom fiend. By chance or design, it's adapted to aquatic life, with webbed hands and feet and a shark-like fin.
Infernal, Doom Fiend, Flyer: This is a variation of the standard doom fiend. By chance or design, it can fly and inhabit the skies; it has bird-like legs and a beak.
Infernal, Doom Fiend, Lieutenant: A bigger version of the standard doom fiend, almost one head taller, less emaciated and with bony spikes. Similar at close combat, yet its fireballs are stronger.
Infernal, Drahukpion: General of the armies of Inferno. Huge monster with hooven legs, four arms, bat-like wings and enormous horns. Its face is always clouded by darkness. The most powerful infernal, not even rulers dare confront one.
Infernal, Fultaurian: A member of the cavalry from Inferno. Similar to more mundane centaurs, but with a gaunt and hellish twist, and armed with tridents. A unit of them charging is devastating.
Infernal, Heretic: Medium rank infernal that lives as an emissary amongst humans, and spreads heretic ideas amongst them (thus its name), and is charged with assisting black masses.
Infernal, Lost Soul: The petty remains of the people condemned to Inferno in the afterlife. A floating shrieking skull in flames that hurls itself at any living being trying to bite him.
Infernal, Maggot: The mount of choice for doom fiends, a maggot is a quadruped infernal with bony armour and one or two heads. The two headed variant is kept as hunting beasts by the naithels and other powerful infernals.
Infernal, Multimorph Servitor: As the name implies, a servitor. Its polymorphing powers make it a very useful minion able to carry many tasks. They also make it excellent at infiltrating human society, and it's often granted as a gift for high ranking infernal worshippers.
Infernal, Naithel: Captain of the armies of Inferno. Perhaps a former evolution of the doom fiend lieutenant. Eight feet tall and heavily muscular, it can hurl powerful hellfireballs from a distance and finish opponents at close combat with strong smashes.
Infernal, Pain Elemental: Member of the ruling class, it's a magistrate of Inferno. Shaped like a huge floating head with two lance-like arms, it digests the condemned for centuries until only their lost souls remain.
Infernal, Styxian: Member of the ruling class, top enforcer of the law. A weird mix of female humanoid, worm and spider. It combines good fighting capabilities with many strange powers and fierce determination.
Infernal, Varrangoin: An infernal similar to a big bat, psychotic and of dubious intelligence, that's commonly used as shock troops; and every now and then, one can be tamed to serve as mount.
Infernal, Xriadesbes: A being of pure coalesced darkness enclosed in a chitin armour of insect like appearance. It's an assassin that can travel through shadows, disappearing before there's a chance to react.
Infernal, Yrbesnak: A scout for the armies of Inferno. Similar to a doom fiend, but with shorter legs and longer arms, so it can run on all fours; it also has a long neck and a canine head. It can trace the scent of a soul from a world apart.
Kaorti: Formerly a human (or elf) sage that lurked in the Outside to learn its secrets, and was horribly transmuted and disfigured by the entropic chaos; now lives encrusted in a chitin exoskeleton and completely mad trying to bring forth Entropy and the apocalypse.
Kobold: Little (child sized) and lean reptilian humanoid; lives in primitive tribes that adore dragons as gods, and doesn't pose much of a threat unless in big numbers.
Kraken: A monster that plagues sea legends, it's basically a gargantuan squid with high intelligence and malevolence who likes shinking ships.
Leodraco: This race resulted from the union of a legendary lion with a gold dragoness. It seems a big lion with some draconian scales in the paws and an unicorn like horn in the head; its pureness and valour makes it a valued mount for paladins.
Liche: Undead magician, the ultimate necromancer in that has been able to cheat death and continue an immortal un-life. Always evil, and always accompanied by a small horde of undead creatures.
Lizardfolk: Reptilian humanoid (human sized), that lives in swamps and other similar areas and is happy if left alone; can get very aggressive if the tribes' territory is violated, though.
Locathah: Aquatic humanoid, with strong fish like features (grey skin, enormous eyes, palmed hands and feet). Not as technologically advanced as humans, for example, but it has a civilized society, and lives in large underwater cities far from the rest of the world.
Lycanthrope, Wereboar: A human (always male) with the curse to change shape into a boar (or hybrid) with full moon, that is always a disgusting cruel person.
Lycanthrope, Werefox: A human (usually female) with the curse to change shape into a fox (or hybrid) with full moon, that can have any moral tendencies but always with a chaotic twist.
Lycanthrope, Wererat: A human (usually male) with the curse to change shape into a human-rat hybrid with full moon, typically coward and mostly found in urban areas.
Lycanthrope, Werewolf: A human with the curse to change shape into a wolf (or hybrid) with full moon; regardless the psychology of the human form, when transformed it's always a mindless savage killing machine.
Magical Mount: A magical horse devised by dragons during the Long War, this steed can polymorph instantly to better adapt to the environment, even transforming into a pegasus or a hippocampus.
Manticore: A legendary evil monster, it has a big leonine body, human face, bat wings, and a tail that ends in spikes that can be shot at opponents.
Medusa: A medusa looks like a woman except for the terrifying feature that her hair is actually a mass of snakes. It can petrify with a mere gaze. Although not on infernal origin, medusas now live amongst the slithi.
Merfolk: A benevolent sea-dweling creature, with the upper body of a human and lower body of a fish. Every now and then, though, a rogue mermaid may try to seduce a mariner, which always results in disaster.
Mimic: A nightmare for every adventurer, a monster that polymorphs and takes the guise of a piece of loot (usually a chest), and attacks when is least expected.
Mindflayer: Member of a brain-sucking race with great magical powers that originated in a distant plane, lost a war, took refuge in the Outside, and now have come to the underworld of Ajsalium to recreate their society and enslave everyone.
Minotaur: The result of an ancient curse, its a violent monstrosity with the body of a very big and strong human and the head of a bull. They like inhabiting mazes and/or dungeons.
Morghul: Former humans, their worship of fiend lords of death was prized by turning them into a race similar to ghouls, who live in the underworld in company of maggots, slime and darkness.
Mummy: Undead creature mostly found in the empire of Rynath, the animated mummified corpse of a powerful individual buried centuries ago.
Necromancer: An evil magician obsessed with death, uses magical means to reanimate the dead to serve him, and ultimately seeks to cheat death and transform into a liche.
Nehthalggu: An explorer from the Outside, look like a spidery huge brain, and has a horrible way to gain knowledge of a new area: it tears apart the brains from sentient beings and engulfs them, thus absorbing their knowledge.
Nightmare: The evil equivalent of a pegasus, born from the pits of the Lower Planes, it's a flying horse of greasy black skin, flame like mane and tail and a vicious temperament.
Nymph: A sylvan creature that looks like an absolute perfect woman of extreme beauty, so much so that it's blinding staring at her.
Nymph, Driad: A variant of the nymph that lives in woods and has a supernatural connection to trees, amongst which she can teleport at will.
Nymph, Nereid: A variant of the nymph that lives in water bodies, such as lakes, rivers or seas, and can breath and live underwater.
Nymph, Sylph: A variant of the nymph that lives in thin air and expends her whole life floating and flying, possessor of a pair of gorgeous butterfly wings.
Ogre: Distant relative to giants, it's a primitive, ugly, eight-nine feet tall humanoid of aggressive behaviour and questionable culinary tendencies.
Ogre, Demonogre: A mutation of ogres with the infernal taint, its race was created during the Long War to command ogre mercenaries alongside the side of Inferno; now some of them still can be found leading ogre tribes.
Ogre, Oni: A relative to the common ogre, this is a far more intelligent and civilized ogre, with magical training; albeit equally evil, that's mostly found in the kingdoms of Yoone and Yupang, in southern Gorlend.
Owlbear: A creature that resulted from the hybridisation of a bear and an owl, that lives in natural settings and woods and represents a fierce and strong predator.
Pegasus: A creature of legend, a winged horse capable of flying, much sought after as a mount. Its flying capacity is actually magical, so it can fly even when barded and carrying a knight in heavy armour.
Phoenix: Legendary creature resembling an exotic birds with flame coloured feathers, of pure heart, and able to resurrect from the ashes of its corpses, thus rending it immortal.
Piscean: Fish-like humanoid with draconian traits, that's supposed to descend from aquatic dragons, and live deep in oceans fighting any evil water-dwelling creatures, but also exerting tolls from human ships.
Piscean, Ancient: An old piscean, bigger and with darker scales; it's wiser and a true magic user, and leads the pisceans in a council of elders.
Plaguer: Twisted humanoid that carries numerous infectious diseases and spreads them either with its fumes or its claws.
Pseudodragon: A very small dragon (the size of a cat) with purple scales, it seeks expert magicians to live with and become his/her familiar.
Purple Worm: A gargantuan worm covered in purplish scales, that moves underground and suddenly erupts from the ground to swallow full teams of unwary travellers (or adventurers).
Quori: A warrior arrived from the Outside, it has a slight crustacean look and an apparently an innate hatred for all living beings, specially sentient ones, in the minds of which it can enter.
Rakshasa: Looks like a human-tiger hybrid and is vain, egoist and behaves like a decadent aristocrat; it has a supernatural origin and possesses both magical immunities and magical powers.
Redcap: A small twisted fey that has originated in human urban areas that needs to soak its cap in blood periodically in order to stay alive.
Roc: Colossal bird of prey that can easily carry an elephant in its paws; much feared by sailors and travellers, despite the fact it only hunts when hungry.
Rust Monster: A monster with the ability to quickly corrode metal, that it literally eats; the bane for adventurers carrying valuable magical metallic equipment.
Sahuagin: Humanoid but with shark like features and bluish green skin, it's a member of an completely evil sea-dwelling race that maintains a cruel underwater nation.
Salamander, Frost: Reptilian monster adapted to life in extremely cold environments, only found in Nhorbar or mountain regions of the Nordic Kingdoms and Nor-Gorlend; it's skin is so cold that touching it is harmful.
Salamander, Sands: Reptilian monster that has evolved to stand great temperatures, and thus lives in deserts, eating mostly anything it wants, as few creatures can make a stand against a salamander whose mere proximity causes heat damage.
Salamander, Swamp: A reptilian monster, the salamander type that has changed less from the ancient ones; lives in swamps, where little creatures (except for black dragons) can surpass its predatory might.
Satyr: Sylvan creature, not truly a fey but friend of them, with the lower part of a goat and the upper body of a human, that constantly plays music and dances.
Satyr, Hipposatyr: A variant of the satyr, that has two horse legs (instead of the goat ones); they are mostly female, and their dancing is contagious.
Satyxis: Former humans worshippers of Hecate and other fiend ladies, they were granted a new form, and are now a tribe of only women, beautiful and horned, dedicated to piracy across the Inner Sea.
Serpent, Land Serpent: Relative to true dragons, this serpent lives on solid ground and can grow to colossal proportions; for that it must eat unbelievable amounts of food, and due to its malice it prefers it to be sentient.
Serpent, Sea Serpent: A draconian serpent that lives in seas, oceans, and even big enough lakes. It can grow to a gargantuan size, and it's bad mooded and prone to sink any ship that passes nearby.
Serpent, Wind Serpent: This serpent of draconian heritage (that on rare occasions has a pair of wings) passes most of its life flying in the wind; it's a solitary being, but if someone manages to capture it with any harm it can grant him/her a wish as a prize.
Shoggti: Coming from the Outside, looks somewhat like an octopus but made of thick intestines; and that's what they actually are, as this monster is little more than an animal bent on feeding continuously.
Skeleton: An undead, the skeleton of someone buried long ago, now reanimated by a necromancer to do its biding and/or serve as a resilient warrior.
Slithi: Former humans and a now extinct race of serpentfolk, they took fiendish worshipping and were blessed with interbreeding, creating these serpent-man hybrids; common in southern Gorlend and Masiwn.
Slug, Giant: Just a slug, but of gargantuan proportions, which makes it dangerous due to the enormous bulk that could shatter a small house.
Sphinx: Legendary monster most often found in desert areas, has the body of a lion, eagle wings and the head of a woman. It has a superior intellect but also a great dose of malevolence, and attacks travellers unless they can solve a complicated puzzle or mystery.
Sprite: A small fey that typically live in woods in the company of faeries; they can turn invisible, have magical powers and love practical jokes.
Stirge: An overgrown insect that's little more of a nuisance when encountered alone as it feeds on blood like a mosquito; unfortunately, it's usually encountered in very big numbers.
Tarrasque: Only one exists, and according to myth this colossal monster is an unstopable weapon of destruction placed in a slumber somewhere hidden in the world by the gods; the day it awakens, kingdoms will fall.
Tchekrick, Bug: Insectoid humanoid, with two legs and two arms, created by true tchekricks from mishappen larvae to serve mainly as slaves.
Tchekrick, Female: Insectoid humanoid, with four legs and two arms, possessor of magical powers and telepathy, leader of the hive like cities in which this race lives.
Tchekrick, Male: Insectoid humanoid, with four legs and two arms, bigger than a female but under their rule, it's a strong guardian of the hive.
Tharn: His race were former humans that worshipped fiend lords of savagery, they've been granted a stronger and more brutal body and the ability to shapechange to an even bigger and more powerful form, and live in isolated locales across the world.
Titan: The original titans were made by the ubergods to build the whole creation; some chose to stay in Ajsalium after finishing it, yet deprived of most of their power. Even so, a titan is an immortal giant of great power; although it never deals with other races.
Treant: A sentient tree with a humanoid shape that can move and walk, although it doesn't usually do so; it lives deep in the woods, sharing its wisdom with other sylvan races.
Trite: A spider twisted by the powers of Inferno, that has the unsettling shape of an inverted humanoid head on eight legs; when attacking in swarms can pose a serious menace.
Troglodyte: A reptilian humanoid, related to lizardfolk but more gaunt and clearly more primitive, that lives in caverns and is rather aggressive.
Troll: An infamous type of monster, an ogre sized humanoid with greenish skin and thick patches of scarified tissue, that likes eating sentient beings and has tremendous regenerative powers.
Troll, Two-headed: Variant of the common troll, perhaps related to ettins, that has two heads and is more intelligent (the equivalent of a common human), and slightly less savage.
Unicorn: Mythical creature that always lives in uncolonized areas of Nature, and only accepts the company of pure maidens; looks like a white or silver horse with a big horn protruding from its head.
Unlife Ooze: A jet black floating ooze that's actually connected to a planar void, thus sucking into it the life of every being it touches.
Uvuudaum: An abomination from the Outside that looks like a centaur composed of giant wooden fingers (!) dressed with a loose robe adorned with weird symbols; it's a sage that has come to learn of the material plane and its possibilities.
Vampire: Undead humanoid (nearly always former human), with shapechanging and mesmerizing powers, who needs to drink the blood of the living and it's very difficult to kill permanently.
Vampire, Nosferatu: An special kind of vampire, with a disgusting appearance close to that of ghouls, not as powerful as common vampires yet physically stronger.
Vegetal Being: As the name implies it's a giant humanoid of completely vegetal origin (some people think it's an evolution of the treant); it fiercely defends the sanctity of ancient forest, and it's not afraid of killing.
Vyssok: Humanoid draconian, created by brown dragons long time ago to serve as guardians of the sacred dragon burial grounds. Tall, strong, proud and loyal.
Will-o-wisp: Mischievous hazard typical of swamps and similar terrains; it's an assemble of supernatural lights that misguide travellers and directs them toward quicksands and other perils.
Wraith: An incorporeal undead, that is created from the union of darkness and hatred, and relentlessly fights all life.
Wretch: Former humans that worshipped fiend lords, they were the victims of a fiendish joke when they received new twisted bodies supposedly as a gift for their worship but also as a punishment because some fiend deemed them as not worthy enough.
Wyvern: From the draconian family, it's a monster similar to a medium dragon without arms. It lacks true intelligence, but it's strong and bears a poisonous spike in its tail.
Yeti: Strange and violent humanoid of unknown origin, looks like an ogre sized ape with long white fur, and always lives in cold climates and mountains.
Zaratan: A colossal sized turtle, so big that his shell floating above sea level can be mistaken for a small island.
Zombie: A reanimated, somewhat rotten, cadaver. Rather slow and brainless, but it's difficult to kill what's already dead.

ANOTHER NECRONOMICON ADVENTURE: SILENT HILL

2009-11-26T23:22:00.000+01:00

Basically what the title says. Some days ago I remembered this magnificent Playstation game (one of the best games ever, in my opinion). And thought it could become a good Necronomicon adventure, as it shares many things with lovecraftian horror: weird town, oppressive atmosphere, strange occultist cult, loneliness of protagonist... For the adventure I'll follow the plot of the game rather literally, as I think it would be difficult to come with something better. That includes having just one single PC (the father of the lost girl), which should provide an interesting gameplay. Or at most, I may include a second PC (the female police officer), that will only play intermittently, keeping the main player wondering whether she's truly a PC and an ally, or a NPC and possible rival. The only thing that still worries me about this adventure is finding a good balance between the bloody and infernal horror from the Silent Hill videogame and the more alien and cosmic horror of Lovecraft. But of course maybe the cult is mixing some yog-sothothery knowledge with typical pseudo-christian imagery...

RPG THEORY - UTILITY OF MINIS

2009-11-23T23:39:00.002+01:00

Last post included many pics... so this one will be another only-text boring post. You know, for balancing things out...

I already said in a previous post that the Arcade Ruleset is to be used in conjunction with miniatures on the tabletop. And that is caused mainly by two reasons.

The first one is that Arcade is derived from rules for a boardgame (Heroquest as the grandfather, Netherhells as the father). And those boardgames are to be used with minis; the use of visual aids is inherent to the game system, and that's been inherited by my Arcade ruleset. Which I consider a good thing, as that allows for the creation of fast-to-play boardgames derived from the generic ruleset; such as a dungeoning and looting one, surviving a zombie horde, or plunging a spaceship from a xeno infestation. Three examples that I hope to develop once the three rpg's, Ajsalium, Necronomicon and Galaxtar, are (more or less) finished.

And the second is the more theoretical one: miniatures can help in maintaining focus during a roleplaying session. In my opinion having a visual image of a character is the first step needed to understanding him/her and immerse in the game. With a miniature you have that visual image and in full three dimensions. The more depth you add to the image, the better the identification with the character can be. And it may even help in keeping in-game, as it's rather typical (at least for my own gaming group) to lose "concentration" on the game and let the minds and conversation fly. When that hapens, having a little representation of your character on the table can help regaining the gaming momentum easier and quicker.

And on this psychological front we too have the more profund impact of the miniatures hobby as a whole. With which I mean mainly the painting of the mini. Believe it or not, that act enhances the connection between the player and the character, because during the hours that the painting sessions last, it's unavoidable that the player will begin thinking about his character, and imagine a psychology and a story for him/her. After all, sometimes just deciding on the colour with which to paint the clothes already implies some affiliation or world view for the character.
The backdrop of all this is that's important for the mini to properly represent the character. To get the most out of a mini in a roleplaying game we must consider it more than just a gaming aid, more than a token. I spend long hours browsing the web in search for the perfect miniatures for the characters I have in mind. Sometimes I am lucky and find them; but there are other times when the process gets reverted, with the mini being the source of inspiration for inventing characters. And most commonly there's a compromise in between, when I find a mini that's close to my previous concept, but not quite exact, and I twist this former idea to better fit the mini. Or converting a mini, although to be honest my modelling skills are rather limited and little more than swapping pieces.

So here was my justification for using miniatures in roleplaying games.
Ah! And they are cool, too. ;-)

LOOKS & DESIGNS IN GALAXTAR

2009-11-08T23:49:00.016+01:00

From the previous posts regarding the history of the setting and the adventure seeds, you may have begun to imagine how things are in Galaxtar. Now we are going to visualize it with the help of some minis that I have bought purposely to roleplaying in this scenario.
One of the keys elements is that mankind is the youngest race to conquer space. Despite the huge advancements from present day, humans are in their napkins regarding high technology when compared to other far more established races. I put so much importance in this because it helps getting a hard scifi feeling. Science fiction is usually divided amongst space opera and hard scifi. Clearly, with humans inhabiting different planets, and ships that make hyperspace jumps, Galaxtar has quite a lot of space opera. But, honestly, for roleplaying I prefer the hard scifi approach, as it provides more interesting plots. So I’m trying to walk the thin line in between the two main science fiction streams (as do the Alien or Riddick movies, for example).
And a way to visualize that naïveté is choosing some crude designs. When a new manufacturing field appears, the first designs are usually rather crude, as efficiency is the main (and perhaps only) concern; the use of straight lines and lack of aesthetic values is a typical characteristic. Only after there’s a good grasp of the technical problems involved will aesthetics be incorporated in the design process.

Applying these principles to Galaxtar we come with the first mini, Debra, a science fiction light trooper by Hasslefree Miniatures (link in the sidebar). If you look at her armour, you’ll see it’s made with the straight lines I have talked about, and gives a sense of practicality and utility above all else. Next are the heavy troopers, to represent which I found these excellent CSO Peace Keepers made by Aberrant Games for the Rezolution skirmish wargame. Everything I’ve said above is evident in these little sculpts. Even the mecha (a VASA Pacifier from Urban Mammoth’s Metropolis game), that I just had to buy when I saw it, follows the same guidelines of being made mainly with straight lines and having a somewhat crude looks.

And from the small to the big, I am keeping that ethos for spaceships, too, specially military ones. After quite a lot of web browsing I decided to settle with the Full Thrust range of spaceships manufactured by Ground Zero Games to represent the human ships from the Galaxtar setting. What follows is a pair of examples of big military ships, a strike carrier first, and the second is the capital ship, the super-dreadnought.

On the other hand, there are other older races, such as the asgards. For them the designs I envision are different, more refined; and as an example we have this miniature of a Tipako battleship manufactured by Ninja Magic, that I’d use to represent a typical asgardian battleship. There’s a big difference amongst the styles of the ships that helps emphasize the differences amongst the races that build them.

But there’s more than military guys in Galaxtar (even though they’ll likely have a predominant place as PCs in many adventures). For civilian fashion I’m not going too far fetched; nothing of people dressing in space suits. Doing a bit of theorization, I don't think things will change much from how they are now to the invented future of Galaxtar. The time elapsed is just four centuries, and that's not really much if we compare it to the whole of human history. Science and technology can advance at a fast pace, but social forms always tend to go slower. So the general aspect of most people would be rather similar to present fashion.
The following minis are the ones that will be used to represent the cops of the future, and you’ll see that they are closer to real life cops, even in the colour schemes based on blue and black, than the troopers showed above. The first mini is from Heresy Miniatures (link in sidebar), Sgt. Dove from their science fiction range, with a typical police scheme: black footwear, black pants with red line, and blue jacket. Mostly it’s just the gun and the ear device that looks futuristic. What follows are two minis from Reaper Miniatures, from their Chronoscope range, a Security guard officer and Veronica Blaze, agent of G.U.A.R.D. The first represents a police in a tactical armoured suit; I’m likely to remove the helmeted head and replace it with one of the heads from the Heresy cops, to show they are actually the same characters but with different outfit. The female cop is wearing a different kind of tactical suit, one for stealth operations, with a system that inhibits electronic detection (somewhat like the Ghost in the Shell device commonly used by the protagonist, Major Motoko Kusanagi). With their more realistic look these characters are better suited for adventures that focus on the hard scifi approach.

Some of the other characters that will feature in my adventures are mercenaries. The minis will come for diverse sources, as I like a somewhat rag-tag feel for them; yet, using a similar colour scheme will help giving a coherency to the group (they are organized contractors, after all). Said scheme consists mainly of a blue-grey urban camo pattern for the trousers, and black t-shirts and boots. The next minis are Grant from Hasslefree and the Major from Heresy, in which you can see the mercenary outfit I’ve just described. In this case, too, science fiction elements are kept to a minimum, and they are little more than the guns and the kneepads (yes, kneepads are futuristic… or at least I can’t help getting that impression).

Of course, my previous ramblings are not 100% canonical and the ultimate unmovable truth. After all, humans are newbies in space just when compared with the other races from the galaxy; but have actually been there for approximately four centuries. So there’s the possibility that things are starting to evolve, and new, better, and more advanced designs starting to appear. If central Earth authorities are planning a major military take on the galaxy, that surely means the armamentistic business is on the rise. Thus, a possible new light trooper could be the one portrayed by the Union special forces sniper made by Iron Wind Metals as part of the VOR wargame. As you see, he’s more armoured than Debra above, with shoulders, elbows and forearms protected by new armour with more rounded and overlapping shapes, placed over a rubber like inner armour that seems to replace the standard fatigues. The evolution for heavy troopers is the one pictured by an old I-Kore VOID Viridian assault marine sergeant, with an armour that covers almost all the body with a thick armour that still seems to be fairly comfortable to wear and allow for easy movement.
So these minis may end in my Galaxtar drawer, just in case…

ORC LANDS

2009-11-06T01:43:00.002+01:00

Last month I was either too busy or too tired, and hence I only updated the blog three times. Let's hope that in November I can get some more quality free time and go back to updating weekly.
For today you have a third (and last) post about the lands inhabited by demi-human races, in this case by orcs.

· ISLES OF THE BROKEN SPINE: These islands are located at the south end of the Inner Sea, east of Masiwn and west of Sur-Gorlend. None of them is overly large, but neither are they small (like the ones from Rintolle). They are located in a line, and there was a time when they served as "step stones" to travel from Sur-Gorlend to Masiwn. But since orc tribes colonized the isles, that kind of travel has been interrumped. This archipelago is the closest thing to a kingdom that orcs have ever had, and they are fiercely territorial about it, not allowing anyone else to enter their domains. They don't even like ships traveling near their shores, and random acts of pirate mayhem discourage such routes, forcing ships to sail deeper in the Inner Sea. Internally, orcs have no single government uniting them. Despite that and their warring temperament, they somehow manage to avoid falling in continuous civil wars; orcs work hard to always remember they must save their energies to crush their true enemies: elves, dwarves and humans. The biggest political formation is the tribe, with quite a good bunch of them populating every isle. Also, all orcs feel a weird pride for their own isle, even though their only true affiliation is to the tribe. The island nationalism is usually exposed when orcs group together for "games", such as wrestling, running, weight lifting... Said isles, being big enough, provide almost everything orcs need to live; orcs practice agriculture and farming (they are not that savage), apart from hunting. There's ore too, but orcs never build proper mines like the ones of dwarves (or men), so they deal with little quantities of metal for their very crude blacksmithing; and use quite a lot of wood, that they promptly chop from the woods, that they don't overwork. All in all, orcs live in a much more civilized manner that what most people expect.
The name needs no explanation, as it's in common language. If anything, it shows the lack of subtlety of orcish thinking.

· NHORBAR: This is the big island that lies north of Nor-Gorlend, a place of eternal snow and gelid winds. This is the only other place in Ajsalium where orcs live freely and predominantly. Yet, unlike in the Isles of the Broken Spine where orcs live alone and "pure", Nhorbar is shared with humans. And, truth to be told, after millennia of living together, all humans have some orc blood, and viceversa; effectively, everyone in Nhorbar can be considered a half-orc. The ones that call themselves orcs, are slightly smaller than their southern relatives, and their skin coloration lends more toward grey tones than olive ones. The extreme climate makes agriculture impossible, and farming a very time demanding and difficult task, so hunting is the main activity. All this has prevented nhorbarian orcs from evolving culturally, and live rather primitively (like their "human" neighbours); thus, they compensate their lack of racial purity with a more strict adherence to the orcish traditional way of living. And that means machism, use of violence as the primary way to solve problems, and constant fights against human tribes.
The word Nhorbar is wrongly assumed to be a contraction of north + barbarian. The north part is true, but not the other. "Bar" was an ancient term for coldness, and thus Nhorbar means "the cold from the north". Later, the term "barbarian" was coined from the root "bar", referring to the people that lived in that cold place.

DWARVEN LANDS

2009-10-25T21:27:00.002+01:00

This post is similar to the previous one, but regarding the lands of dwarves. Apart from the ones living in these two places, there are approximately fifty thousand more elsewhere, most of them explorers traveling the world to find a new home for their (dying) race.

· ETERNOCK: Eternock is the name of the huge mountain country that occupies most of the Nor-Gorlend subcontinent. And it's also the name of the ancient dwarven empire that covered all of its excavated underground, continuing down to Sur-Gorlend. The Vortex caused the cave in of all the southern part of the empire; and only the solid rock of Eternock stood still. It's hard to know how many dwarves live there nowadays, but a decent estimation is about two million souls. Dwarves live mainly underground (in fact, the surface supposedly belongs to the human nation of Othar), with small farming facilities in rocky areas. Those "farmers" also serve as merchants and intermediaries with humans. Bellow the ground, vast cities lie in excavated caves that are an immortal testimony of the grandiosity of dwarven mining and architecture. Each city hosts a number of clans, which are large family groups. One clan will be charged with ruling the city (a task that can be retained for many generations), yet it will be aided by selected counselors from every other clan. That same political structure, augmented, rules the whole Eternock, with one clan taking the lead in ruling matters, but usually just for a few generations (from only one to three). Humans call the chief of the ruling clan "king of dwarves", but to be honest that's not a good definition. Dwarves living in Eternock remain the most true to ancient traditions and way of living, despite the fact that mines are dangerously depleted of ore. They put great effort in maintaining the imposing halls of their cities, and still create wonderful pieces of blacksmithing, and goldsmithing jewels that sometimes reach the human world where only the most rich aristocrats can buy them.
Unsurprisingly, Eternock stands for "eternal rock".

· DRAKPAC: In the times before the Vortex Drakpac was a peninsula of Sur-Gorlend, the most southern place dwarves had colonized. But the earthquakes provoked by the Vortex profoundly affected the peninsula, up to the point that it came loose of the continent, and even started to drift away to the East. Fortunately, the dwarves that populated it lived on the surface hills, instead of underground, so not many of them died. The following years were much worse, as the isolated community had to struggle for survival in a relatively small island with no external help whatsoever. Due to dwarven tenacity they overcame those obstacles, and somehow reinvented their own society. In fact, they managed to break a legendary dwarven fear: fear of waters. From nothing but their own intelligence, drakpacians created slow but very resilient ships with which to navigate and reach the continent once more, searching for the rest of the dwarven race. They found a very changed world, in the final stages of the Long War, in which they too entered. In the present, Drakpac supports a community of three or four hundred thousand dwarves, living according to the old traditions, but keen on engineering innovation and exploration of the world still in search of possible lost dwarven colonies.
Drakpac seems not to have a translation into common language, although the word has been linked to the dwarven semantic family of "audacity".

ELVEN LANDS

2009-10-12T16:04:00.003+02:00

Basically, all elves live in any of their three territories. There are just ten thousand elves living outside, either adventurers, high diplomats or the occasional merchant. All the rest, you'll find them here:

· VIDOLGREEN: A vast forest located at the western side of Conterria. In the distant past, before the Vortex, Vidolgreen was the only elven country; but then it was much bigger, more than twice its current size. Now a mere shadow of its former glory, it's still the largest forest in the continent; but it gets slowly smaller due to men salvaging the woods closest to their lands, something that fills elves with affliction. There's a shadow in the woods, though, a dark place in the southeast, where the forest was tainted with Hell's corruption, an expanse that is rumoured to be filled with the lost souls of elves that died fighting the infernal hordes. Apart from that, everything is a celebration of greenness and life. Elves (somewhere between half million and one million) live in the inner part of the forest, in places that none from other race has ever seen; enormous arboreal cities can hold thousands of them. Buildings are done in titanic trees as old as the world, and everything is so integrated in the natural landscape that for the untrained eye they would be all but invisible. In these cities elves live under the wise advices of a king and a queen, chosen from the elder for their intelligence and knowledge. All kings and queens are in periodical contact thanks to magical ways, and every decade or so a meeting is held in which all of them visit every city. Vidolgreen is the elven country that keeps most faithfully to the old ways of the race, and they are very happy just to live in perfect union with flora and fauna. Even so, every now and then a rogue elf would want to know more of the outer world, and the very rare elven adventurers will likely come from Vidolgreen.
The name stands approximately for "always flourishing".

· RINTOLLE: The archipelago located between Conterria and Alterria, west of Vidolgreen. It appeared when the Vortex shook the world so hard that terrorizing earthquakes made Conterria split up in two parts, and a good part of Vidolgreen quickly sank under the waters; the islands are what managed to stand above sea level. The population is low, as most of them are direct descendants of the survivors (migration is negligible): something in the vicinity of one hundred thousand inhabitants. The morphology is pretty different from Vidolgreen, as there can't be so dense woods in relatively small islands; because of that, here elven cities are constructed near the shores, with tall stone buildings of rounded shapes. In a way, they resemble the trees that had always been their homes. There they spend their long lives cultivating the arts, that they've honed to a masterful level never seen before, compiling all history in epic odes and wondrous tunes, a swansong worth of gods that will make the legacy of elves live forever. Apart from that, they've also built a small but imposing fleet of ships, that add the luxury expected from elven manufactures to a top performance. But they are just for maintaining the relations between the three elven countries.
Rintolle means "islands of remembrance", and it's a homage to the thousands of elves that died drowned when the earth cracked open.

· YANATHANIL: A small country located in the east of Alterria, southwest of Rintolle. It is the smallest of the elven lands, little more than the area surrounding a gulf and a small peninsula that houses a wood that survived from the pre-Vortex days of Vidolgreen. Population is higher than you would expect for such a small territory, but even so accounts for just under a hundred thousand souls. For the last centuries, almost since the end of the Long War, Yanathanil has been marked by a tense cold war held against the neighbouring human kingdom of Kamenstein, who yearns for the very tactical Yanathanil gulf for his own fleet of warships. This situation has affected greatly to the social and political forms of this land, up to the point that the typical elven pseudo-monarchy has been replaced by a military oligarchy based on the predominant siege mentality. They have little time for Nature or Art, always honing their military skills getting ready for what they think is the inevitable war. This state of mind, and clear xenophobia, has separated them from the rest of their race; but every elf from Yanathanil will readily give his life for their Vidolgreen and Rintolle brothers (a readiness for sacrifice that is reciprocal, too).
The word Yanathanil is usually translated as "steel-strong will", and for that reason the elves from this land are sometimes referred to as "steel elves".

RACES OF AJSALIUM

2009-10-05T11:33:00.002+02:00

With the post from last month about the classes to be found in Ajsalium you could see which were going to be the playable races. Now I give you a little more info on them.

· HUMANS: Humans are the massively dominant race in the world of Ajsalium.
The humans of Ajsalium are like the ones in real life, which means they come in all sizes and colours. The average height is nearly six feet, but five or seven feet tall men are not unheard of. There's also a big variety in complexions, from the very thin and fragile to the disgustingly obese. Women are usually shorter and weight much less than men. Hair and skin colour vary depending of the geographical zones, from the blond haired, blue eyed and pale skinned inhabitants of the cold Nordic Kingdoms to the black haired, brown eyed and tan skinned people from the warm deserts of Masiwn.
And as varied as they are physically, thus happens with personalities. No moral positions is banned to them; humans are capable of the best but also of the worst. Shining righteous knights lead the Protector Order of the Dragon against the armies of fiends, but meanwhile sinister warlocks spread infernal-adoring cabals. Yet, on the whole, humans are a neutral race trying to live their daily lives with as less fuss as possible. Their life span of sixty-eighty years, much shorter than that of elves and dwarves, gives them a great vitality and thirst for adventures.
Humans appeared on Ajsalium much later than elves and dwarves, and approximately at the same time as orcs. Visibly more akin to the former two than the later one, an implicit alliance was formed, and elves and dwarves somehow "adopted" men and taught them everything they knew. That allowed mankind to advance incredibly fast, imposing over the orcs. In fact, they too imposed themselves over elves and dwarves and became the dominant race. The relatively short life span allowed for quicker evolution and greater variety. Only the infernal menace of the Long War was able to put humans on the brink; but after victory their grip was reinforced, and has allowed for pride to turn into supremacionism. Guessing what may happen in the future is always a dangerous bet, but surely mankind will have the leading role... for the good or the bad.

· ELVES: Also known as "the fair people". Elves are one of the ancient races, with dwarves; and as them, they are headed towards extinction.
Unlike humans, the physical appearance of elves is rather uniform, with no big variations in height or weight, not even amongst male and females. Average height is roughly six feet; but being far more slender than humans they look taller. Weight is somewhat lower, but not too much as they don't carry superfluous fat. Skin colour is fair but not pale, and has a slight golden hue; hair and eye colour present a great variety, much more than humans, with purples and metallic hues a common sight.
Elven mentality revolves around a calm view of life and close connection to Nature. They are peaceful and benevolent; but also ready to take the arms to defend their way of life, as it was proved during the Long War. Their current decline is translated nowadays in a melancholic resignation of the status quo, and a great interest in all the simple pleasures of life, as well as arts and spirituality. Their very long life spans, of up to two centuries, allow them to reach unparalleled levels of expertise in their areas of favour.
Elves have always seen themselves just as a part of Nature, no more precious than any other, and aim to live as smoothly as possible. Because of that, their laws are just an extrapolation of the natural laws; something that makes them look chaotic in the eyes of humans or dwarves. Since they taught the finesses of civilization to the early humans, and due to their distrust for dwarves and hatred for orcs, they've not had a strong communication with the rest of the world, except during the Long War. And the great toll that conflict put on them has made elves somewhat isolationist for the last millennium. Nowadays they live happily cultivating their culture and waiting for the end.

· DWARVES: Also known as "the stout people". Like elves, dwarves are an ancient race, but their days may too be coming to an end.
Being called dwarves make it evident that they are of short stature: they usually range from four to six feet (with females being somewhat shorter than males). Yet for their height they have a very bulky complexion, with a wide skeleton that's covered with dense muscles, and typically also good layers of fat. Their skin has a rosy tone; and the hair has as many tones as those of men. A very distinctive feature of dwarves are their beards, which the vast majority of dwarves wear with great care and enormous pride. But contrary to an extended myth, female dwarves have no beards (although keeping incipient sideburns was stylished some centuries ago).
They are so fiercely determined and focused they are stubborn. They can bear grudges for their entire lives (that may be nearly two centuries long), and even pass them onto the following generation. But that same memory can remember a friendship and an alliance; a man that befriends a dwarf can expect him to be friend of his son and grandson, too. They are always reliable.
Dwarven mentality has created a well established legal system, able to cover every aspect and solve every quibble; it's the oldest dwarves the ones charged with imparting justice. They are not prone to socialize with the rest of the world, but living mostly underground they need to maintain a commerce with humans for things such as food (that they love), and that merchantile relation has kept the two races mainly as friends. In the long past they were mentors to humans, teaching them all things technical. And despite the fact that human industry has exceeded that of dwarves in many aspects, the solidity and durability of dwarven construction are unrivalled so far. The quality of their black- and gold-smithing are legendary, too.

· ORCS: Counting orcs as a civilized race is not done without controversy; most men, elves and dwarves count them amongst the monstrous races.
At the very least, the looks of an orc are rather monstrous. They are of a similar height to humans, approx six feet, but notoriously broader, in a somewhat disproportionated way. Orc hair is invariably black and very coarse, and covers most of their bodies in a patchy pattern. Their skin is a muted green, so much so that it may be almost grey (for the orcs living in Nhorbar; the ones from the south are more clearly greenish). It has been noted that the stronger the orc the thicker his skin, which is also darker. Their eyes are so dark it's almost impossible to distinguish the iris from the pupil; when there's some variation, the iris tends to very a dark brown or red.
Such a brutal appearance is coupled with a similar psychology. Orcs have a short life span, and they rarely exceed the fifty-sixty years barrier; a fact partly caused by their warring lives. They value strength over anything else, and they are quicker with a sword than with the mind (but for a few notable exceptions). Orcs are easy to anger and prone to burst of ire, but not really rancorous because they don't care about the past or the future, thinking just in the present. Orc life is hard, but they just can't understand it any other way, and are proud of themselves.
A little know fact is that orcs are actually an ancient race, that appeared at the same time as elves and dwarves, but were repelled by them and forced nearly into extinction. It was much later that orcs managed to resurge, but that time they had to fight against the humans helped by elves and dwarves. That has made them bitter, and revenge is a long term goal for the entire race. For the time being, they want no contact with anyone else; that's why they isolated themselves during the Long War. That made them be considered supporters of infernals, and is the origin of the present ban on them. Something the don't really care about, as they're too busy fighting and getting stronger.

MORE CHARACTERS

2009-09-29T23:31:00.007+02:00

Today I present you two more characters for the Necronomicon setting. To be more precise, these are the other two PCs for the adventure "Have you seen the Yellow Sign?", along with the Det. Frank Callahan I showed in a previous post. Note that today's characters, Kitty and Martin, are normal (level 2) characters, whereas Frank was a heroic (level 3) one. You may spot a small change in the layout of the character sheet to make the image look better (as if it were a clipped photograph).

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Finally, if you go back to the ruleset post about skills you'll see I have posted a comment there, as I have decided to change the skill die.

GALAXTAR ADVENTURE IDEAS

2009-09-24T23:55:00.004+02:00

As I did previously for the Necronomicon setting, now I compile some of the ideas I've had for adventures run in the futuristic setting of Galaxtar. See if you like them.

· COUNTERSTRIKE
This adventure will feature a somewhat complex plot. An old corrupt military officer with connections to the black market is tired of that life, and devises a plan to become "respectable" once again: he'll secretly arrange a valuable alien artifact to be stolen from the military and then he'll publicly recover it and have the robbers executed. The pawns of that plan will be the PCs, a group of mercenaries, contacted to steal some goods from a civil cargo ship (actually an undercover military transport). Once done, they'll travel to a luxury resort to sell the key item to a top level smugglers; but right then an special ops team, lead by the evil guy, will arrest them and send them to a military court to face a swift judgement and sentence to death. But fortunately for them, just before their death sentence is going to be executed, another military officer "saves" them. This officer is legal, and has always suspected of the other one's black market operations. He'll save the PCs' lives with some fake executions in exchange for them uncovering the evil guy's machinations. A new mission that won't be easy, as he's been cleaning all evidences of his former activities; cleaning means killing, of course. They'll have to do quite a lot of research in the underworld to gather enough data to be able to lure the corrupt officer in a trap, having him arrested and their freedom gained.

· DOOMSDAY
Not truly a sequel to the above adventure, but connected to it. The adventurers, a group of smugglers, make an hyperspace jump, but they suffer a strong deviation and appear amidst an asteroid field. Once they break free from it the ship's navigational computers will give them their situation, revealing that the asteroids are what remains of a moon collapsing on its planet. They'll also receive a S.O.S. signal from a nearby smaller moon, the orbit of which has been affected and is on collision course to the same planet. If they track the signal they'll arrive to secret military investigation facilities, where they were experimenting with a doomsday weapon; the experiment that has gone awkward. They were using the artifact from the previous adventure, an experimental teleportation device from the Ancients, joined with a ship's black hole generator. After the rescue, the PCs are already involved with this project, and will face no chance but to accept helping the military in retrieving the notes of the ancient scientist that created the teleportation prototype, so that the weapon can be upgraded before a new test is made. That means travelling to an ancient planet, avoiding being detected, and once on the completely uninhabited surface search for the laboratory. But all of the ancients' planet is guarded by powerful and strange technologies. If the PCs are successful on their mission, they may think twice about contributing to the creation of a doomsday weapon.

· DEADLIEST OF THE SPECIES
This adventure will actively feature two alien species: Goualds and Dalektoids. Some rogue scientists from these races have joined in a common effort to force an artificial evolution of their two species, joining them with humans in what they expect to be the ultimate supreme race (these experiments are in no way endorsed by their authorities, who would consider them heretical and contrary to their racist believes). In order to carry their experiments they have contacted a neogi trader who's willing to provide them with human specimens. But these disappearances have not gone unnoticed by the authorities, and a group of police inspectors (yeah, those are the PCs) are commissioned with investigating them. First specimens come from the downtrodden, so that will misguide the PCs into some gang war and payback. But as the gouald-dalektoid experimentation advances they'll need better specimens to use the best human D.N.A., a fact that should allow the players to become aware that something else, and likely bigger, is going on. Either way eventually they'll come across the neogi trader, from whom information may be elicited for money and impunity. It will be up to the PCs whether they want to personally raid the secret installations of the rogue scientists, or filter the info to their races so they punish them.

· EMPTY HULL
A very simple adventure, which actually is little more than a dungeon crawl in space. The ship in which the PCs (a bunch of people little more than criminals dedicated to salvaging abandoned ships) travel will locate a stress signal from a sligg ship. Suddenly, the PCs' ship switches to automatic mode and approaches the sligg vessel, which is controlling it (a thing of superior technology dominating lesser one). Once the salvage crew abroads the derelict, which is pretty big by the way, they'll soon learn that there are no living beings there. The corpses of several sliggs can be seen scaterred here and there, and studying that and their injuries makes it clear there was some fighting to death for control of the ships. All the while, electronic equipment used by the PCs will begin to have random errors and reseting themselves. Occasional flickers of light in the ship's screens should add to the creepy atmosphere; and point to the presence of artificial intelligence, occupied with studying the adventurers. As it was to be expected, the robots that killed the sligg crew will finally awake and attack; fortunately, just a handful of them are still operative. Once the PCs defeat them (if they do...) they'd better leave the sligg derelict soon, before the damage caused by the blasts makes the ship explode. And once their ship, they could worse than double-check their computers' systems to avoid an artificial intelligent virus to invade it and ultimately unleashing doom upon human civilization.

· TO THE OTHER SIDE AND BACK AGAIN
A military ship from the Serapis system disappears when making an hyperspace jump; neither overly common, nor unheard of. Time later, it reappears in the Myrzam system, and a three members military team, commanded by a lieutenant, is sent to investigate what may have happened. A soldier, a private, from the ship's system is invited, too. Somewhat strangely, two elite troopers from Earth join the mission, with one of them, a sergeant, taking control of the mission and surpassing the Myrzam lieutenant. I plan this just to encourage role-playing and add a bit of tension to the game. The adventure as of itself will begin with the PCs boarding the reappeared ship and investigating it. There are no humans there, but they'll find that some of the utility robots (which lack real A.I.) behave as if they had it... and very malevolent intentions. Also two weird, zombie like, creatures will appear and attack the PCs; even if they are easy to get killed, they "die" with a laugh only to reappear later. All of this is happening because of the pernicious mutative effects of the other side: the ship is now a sentient being. Before they realize they have to destroy the full ship they'll find that the former crew has gone to a nearby moon with a small human colony to evangelize them on the new "other side faith". Or slaughter them. Which is very similar, truth to be told. PCs will endure now a more thought mission to protect the innocent while battling some crazed but well trained former mates.

· FAREWELL, COLONIES
In this adventure the PCs will be a group of four policemen (and a special operations policewoman). I hope to be able to create a very complex plot of economical and political conspiracies all across the human populated systems, but so far I only have some vague ideas regarding said plot; these I present here. Everything will start innocently enough at some customs, when a possible case of corporate smuggling is discovered. A team of police detectives specialized in economical mischiefs is entrusted with the investigation. It will soon turn out to be an industrial spying case, though. Moreover, the involved corporations all have strong political connections. And so, the smuggling was to cover industrial spying, which was to cover political spying. The latter revolves around the rumour of a coup de etat of Earth against the colonies. Tracking the rumour they'll find a goauld, and it would be natural to assume he's the responsible to spread a rumour that would cause frictions in the human civilization, thus weakening it. Yet even he is just a pawn, and the real conspirators are much higher in the power chain. In the end the PCs should be able to prove everything has just been orchestrated to promote independentism amongst the colonies from within them, accusing Earth of pretending to use the colonials as cannon fodder in a massive attack of conquest, and dismantle this machination; although it's unlikely its perpetrators will ever go to jail.

· HAIL TO EARTH
This is a follow-up to the former adventure, but with a different group of PCs (it would be good, though, if the players are the same, for better effect). It turns out that there really was some secret Earth conspiracy to overcome the democratic governments of the colonies and create a militaristic oligarchy to prepare for war. Some radicals of Earth, tired of hearing that humans are the "last", "young" and "weak" race, are embarked in the production of a massive war starfleet, with which they plan to launch a conquest of all the galaxy, exterminating the hostile races and subduing the rest. To be able to man the ships and fight the war it's compulsory that the populations of the seven colonies enlist in the army, and a "no" won't be accepted. Among the high spheres of power, the viability of this plan is doubted, but having a bigger fleet is never a bad thing, and Earth has always consider itself the metropolis and frowned upon colonial independentism. But someone critically fumbled somewhere, letting some secret info slip, and now the mess must be cleaned. The PCs will be the responsible for this, finding the original information leaker and terminating him/her to prevent further errors. Fortunately for them, some well placed misinformation prevented an investigation carried by some colonial policemen to discover the truth; yet, their knowledge makes them dangerous, so they need to be terminated, too (a confrontation that should be fun if the players are the same of the previous game, as I suggested above).

· COLLATERAL DAMAGE
This had to happen. Xenos are too efficient killing machines. Weapon development is a too lucrative business. Scientists are too absorpted with their researches to care about security issues. Add all them together and you'll have this adventure, in which a research carried in an orbital station made to turn the xenos into living weapons has gone awkward with the bugs breaking their confinement and killing everyone. The self-destruction worked fine, but not before some survivors managed to escaped... impregnated. Now a containment crew of special operations agents, the PCs, is sent to take care of the mess. They'll have to track the landing place of the tainted escape pod and follow the signs of the new xeno infestation up to a rural area, where it has spread surprisingly quick. In top of that, a hürn will enter the game, too, because the xenos for the experiment were originally taken from them, and they are not pleased. His mission is to get rid of the xenos and punish the humans. If the PCs play well their cards they may get some help from the hürn regarding the infestation (despite knowing that truce will end soon); but it's more likely they'll have to confront him. Anyway, once the infestation is seemingly controlled, the climax will come with a new menace, as the military intermediary of the experiments has gone crazy and has started to worship the xeno queen, helping her to flee from Earth aboard a military ship. It's up to the PCs to chase them and finish this incident for good.

SAMPLE CHARACTER SHEETS

2009-09-18T23:28:00.008+02:00

This has taken me longer than expected, and has been much harder. Yet, here I can present you with three sample characters, one for each of my settings. With these sheets the sketchy ruleset I have in my mind is finally coming to fruition. I'm posting them in the hope that seeing a real example will help you better understand some of the points I've not been able to explain correctly. And I'd expect to ignite your imagination, too.

Click for bigger images

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LAYOUT CHANGES

2009-09-11T16:32:00.004+02:00

As you can see, this time I have updated the design of the blog. Nothing too fancy again, as I want to keep it dead simple to navigate and use. Just two main variations:
First, I have stretched it, because I think no one still uses a 800x600 resolution. I'm pretty certain that 1024x768 is the new minimum nowadays.
Second, I have inverted colours and use a black background with white text. As my posts are usually long pieces of text (sorry!), I've decided to follow the recommendations to make reading from a screen safer for your sight.
I've tested everything on different resolutions, etc, and seems to work just fine. But if you're experiencing any problem, please post a comment here and I'll try to solve it as soon as possible and to the best of my knowledge.

Also, I have included more links in the appropriate section. Those are sites I frequently visit and companies I buy products from. You may want to check them.

Lastly, I've made some minor editing in some old posts here and there, and added a comment in this one: Arcade Ruleset VI. If you've got nothing better to do, you could have a look at those older posts.

CLASSES OF AJSALIUM

2009-09-06T23:02:00.002+02:00

Unless otherwise stated, these classes are for human characters. There are four main categories for classes: warriors, which includes barbarians, fighters and rangers; magic-users, comprising of druids and wizards; holy men, which are clerics and paladins; and finally rogues, which includes bards and thieves. For non-human, we have the following standard classes: elf ranger, dwarf fighter and orc barbarian.

· BARBARIAN: A primal warrior, an unleashed powerhouse, a barbarian is a powerful foe. Most barbarians come from uncultured, almost primitive, cultures, such as Nhorbar; but there are also those that come from advanced kingdoms but proudly retain the old ways of war. Barbarians disdain armour and self-preservation: for them, the best defence is a good attack, and they happily charge into their enemies, crushing them before they have the chance to react. There's even a certain brutal beauty of seeing a barbarian hack his enemies to pieces; or so the brave warriors from the north say. Their abandon may make for short lives, but that won't matter a barbarian, because all he hopes for it's to die in a blaze of glory. Fighting alongside one can be dangerous, but fighting against him is deadly.

· FIGHTER: In Ajsalium there's never lack of fights. But you must do much more than enter a fight to deserve the title of "fighter". A fighter is also more than just a soldier. A true fighter is someone who soughts to reach always higher levels of martial prowess, and test them in battle against formidable foes. A fighter can't just imagine life without violence and conflict, and is ready to accept them as a way of life, forever sacrificing a peaceful existence. No wonder this psychology has prevailed in Ajsalium given its dark past and uncertain future; in fact, maybe it's because of this toughening of the soul that mortals were able to rival their fiendish enemies. Although fighters tend to be loners at their heart, they are willing to cooperate with others as they understand the tactical advantages of it, so they commonly join parties of adventurers. With them they can keep on fighting, honing their skills until they become legendary heroes; or they may die in a damp corridor, their corpses to serve as a warning of the dangers ahead.

· RANGER: Rangers are the scouts and spies from ajsalian armies, trained to survive alone in the wilds or to leave without a trace in the cities. Loners by nature, rangers soon take to the woods and become hunters or trappers; if they hone their skills enough they may attract the attention of the military, whom can put their abilities to other uses. Yet the individualistic nature of rangers usually makes them abandon their careers and either establish themselves as hermits or join a group of adventurers and quest all around the world. A ranger is always a valuable mate not just for his understanding of the wilds, a place that becomes the second home of most adventurers, and not just for his hunting skills, but also for his tracking ability and good fighting prowess. It's interesting noticing that rangers can still employ much of their knowledges in urban areas, and some even consider themselves urban rangers, in the constantly evolving world of Ajsalium.

· DRUID: Druids are the keepers of the Old Faith: way back in time, humans paid devotion not to the gods, but to Nature itself and every aspect of it. It was believed that there was power everywhere, and it was true, because everything was impregnated by magic. Druids are magic-users, but very different from wizards, because the former have a religious respect for magic, considering it a divine bond that merges the world and its inhabitants together. And despite the fact that religion has changed a lot since the naive old days, and today only god worship is approved, druids keep their simple and naturalistic spirituality. They seek to maintain the natural balance, a pro-active neutrality that often makes them despise the so called "progress"; something that has relegated them to the frontiers of the world. But in no man's land, theirs is the voice of Nature.

· WIZARD: Dragons brought magic to Ajsalium. It's a force that impregnates everything and unites the world. It may be invisible, but still it's there. And wizards learn the ways to manipulate it, and thus, manipulate the world. Wizards are amongst the most ambitious people in the world, as they seek what's considered the ultimate power, the power of the spell, that which equate mortals with immortals. Of course, that is not an easy task to accomplish, and learning the winding ways of magic takes long years of hard study. Only the very disciplined, centered and even stubborn, can hope to achieve a good mastery of magic. That's not the type of people that get along well with others, as they're usually introverts and rather egoistic. The disrespect with which they treat magic puts them at odds with druids; and their lack of faith in the gods does the same with clerics. But nobody will be such a fool as to anger a wizard without good reason, because everybody knows magic is the most formidable weapon.

· CLERIC: Clerics are the ultimate believers; the life of a cleric is devoted to being a perfect mirror of his god. They go far beyond the standard obligations of a devout person, self-imposing a strict code of conduct based on the ethos of a god. For this they can expect the gift of being personally heard by a god, and being rewarded with power, including the holy power over life and death. It is this what grants them important political power, and the basis from which Churches were built. In them, clerics are the focal points, whereas priests, zealous people that conduct masses but lack the true powers of a cleric, are their backbones and the ones who truly constitute the hierarchy. Only old clerics will settle long enough for them to hold some place in a Church, with younger ones travelling in an unending mission of evangelization in the name of their gods, showing their power through their deeds and smashing their enemies.

· PALADIN: A paladin is a shining beacon of light amidst the darkness of the world. They are considered living saints by many, and dangerous fools by others; and both may be right. A paladin feels he must become a perfect embodiment of some virtue, such as valour, love, light, honour... and defend it with the sword, a strong arm and a stronger heart. It's the abstract approach to the divine what differentiates them mostly from clerics, as their faith is of a different kind. And it's what explains why they don't belong to any Church; although all of the latter try to befriend the paladins and give them shelter and support, if only for the popular estimation they (usually) have. Yet no paladin will stay anywhere for long, for they can't never overcome the impulse to search for new lands to cleanse, and fight the darkness till death claims them. Unfortunately, in Ajsalium there's never a shortage of deeds and quests for them to perform.

· BARD: Seeing them in their colourful clothes and cheerful playing you wouldn't imagine them crawling in the darkest corridors of forgotten dungeons, would you? But you'd be wrong. A bard is, first and foremost, the ultimate hedonist, but a consequent one: he's ready to put his life at risk in a quest for strong emotions. It is from the raw flush of adrenalin that his odes come. When a bard sings about desperate struggles against horrid monsters, he knows what he's talking about. And a good bard, who's a master of his arts, is able to transmit those emotions to their spectators, up to a point where he can give hope to the desperate and valour to the coward; truly there's magic in their music. Bards also join adventuring parties to travel around the world, meet new cultures and learn from their traditions, later to re-tell them elsewhere. Thanks to them the world is a richer place.

· THIEF: Swift hands and disdain for the law define a thief. Beyond that, everything is possible: from idealistic revolutionaries that steal from the rich and give to the poor, to ugly faced thugs that break the fingers of the enemies of "the guild". As long as you can make a living and it doesn't seem like proper work it's fine. And what better promise than an ancient tomb full of gold for anyone who finds it? And when you have problems with the law wherever you go, keeping on moving is a good idea. Thus it's common for thieves joining other adventurers, beneficial both to them and their mates. Because even though you'll always have to keep an eye on your possesions, a thief's numerous and varied abilities can be helpful: unlocking doors, disarming traps, entering supposedly impenetrable fortresses, getting funds when things are tight... A thief is a jack-of-all-trades , and proud of it.

· ELF RANGER: Given that elves have accepted the inevitability of their demise it's rare to see one outside the limits of their domains (Vidolgreen, Rintölle and Yanathanil); the very few that leave them are likely to be rangers. An elf ranger is charged with patrolling their woods and make sure no enemies penetrate them. Elf rangers are legendary archers; in fact, legends go as far as suggesting that elite rangers practice a weird magical archery unknown to other races. This active duty make them less passive than the rest of their kind, and some may go as far as deciding the best way to protect the inner peace of elven sanctuaries is to patrol the frontiers and beyond them. Yet, it's very rare for an elf to leave his land, and when they do so is just because given their long lifespans travelling for a couple of decades seems like a mere moment. They learn as much as they can about the current situation of the world and later go back to spread the word amongst their elders.

· DWARF FIGHTER: Dwarves have a fame for being stubborn and unshakable; and when it comes to war, they know how to make them into two martial virtues. Dwarven fighters are soldiers, heirs of a millennia long military tradition that has imbued its tactics in them almost innately. Perfectioned by long years of continuous training dwarves can built phalanxes as impenetrable as a stone wall. But lately they've been charged with another duty, for the mines that are the core of the dwarven race are getting depleted. Young and intrepid fighters are now discreetly searching across the world for new ores and a place for their people to settle, far from the ancient mountains of Eternock and Drakpac. They are slightly more common to see than an elf (or an orc), but yet most humans will die without ever seeing one. The minering knowledge every dwarf has makes them capable prospectors, and their fighting abilities ensure their survival.

· ORC BARBARIAN: Most humans, and elves, and dwarves, think that orc and barbarian are synonymous. Orcs themselves couldn't agree more. Orc society is primitive, compared to that of the other major races, as it's based on savagery; and that is translated into the behaviour of orcs, who are feral warriors. But unlike human barbarians, there's little in the field of honour and courage for orcs, being replaced for sheer brutality and animalistic aggressiveness. For all of this, and more reasons, orcs will never be accepted amidst mankind, so you can only expect to see one near the orc territories of the Isles of Broken Spine and Nhorbar (or very cosmopolitan and tolerant cities such as Lonjhumar). If he's not up for hire as mercenary he may join a party of adventurers of dubious morals.

Lastly, I admit that in my original sketches, there were more classes. Those ones have been eliminated so far just because I know myself well enough to know that unless I keep the development of the game small and easy I'll never finish it. But should I release the completed rules someday, next expansion would include those classes, which are the following: for humans, martial artist, sorcerer, witch hunter and duellist; for elves, wizard and wardancer; for dwarves, cleric and inventor; and finally three "overpowered" classes, for races whose natural talents make them perfect for specific roles: half-dragon paladin, half-infernal wizard, and half-ogre barbarian.

THEORY OF ADVENTURE DESIGN

2009-08-31T01:22:00.001+02:00

I've said time and again that the Arcade Ruleset is intended to provide fast and fun gameplay. There's an emphasis in being GM friendly - as his is always the worst part - providing a set of rules that are very easy to learn and general enough to convey most situations.
Yet, this is a game, and is governed by a set of rules. Those rules will dictate what can be done, and what don't. And that limit should be taken into account when designing an adventure; as this is not a precise simulator of real life, there are many things that you can imagine that won't be playable with these rules. So, before making an adventure, try to concentrate on the rules for a while, because they are the "language" in which the adventure must be written.

Basically, in any roleplaying game there are two types of encounters: combat encounters, and non-combat ones. With my ruleset the latest can be subdivided into skill test encounters, and powers encounters. A combat encounter is what it sounds: a fight on any kind, that will risk the lives or wellbeing of its participants. A skill test encounter means that a character has found some kind of obstacle, and to be able to do what he wants must proof himself valid. A powers encounters (in lieu of a better denomination) is similar to a skill test one, but with a biggest emphasis on the protagonism of a character: his will be the spotlight, showing that it is thanks to his special uniqueness that obstacles can be overcome and the plot advanced.
And for an adventure to be fun it should be as varied as possible. Which means that all three kind of encounters should be used in any adventure. Don't have the PCs always fighting for their lives, but threat them every now and then. Similarly, show them there are many difficulties to face in the world, but that many of them can be overcome. And this is very important: make sure every player have fun by giving their PCs their fifteen minutes of fame. One of the good points of being a GM is that when you write an adventure you already know the PCs; having that in mind, always write at least one encounter per PC in which he may shine; if possible, make them two. It's nice for a player to feel his character has made an essential contribution to the adventure.

But how should an adventure be structured? In my opinion the best way to do so is using a cinematographic approach, which means thinking the adventure in terms of scenes. Write the adventure as if it were the script of a movie; that means structuring it with the typical introduction-plot-conclusion scheme, too. The introduction serves two goals: getting the PCs know each other (unless we're talking about an ongoing campaign) and involve them in the adventure. Don't be afraid of breaking the old cliche of starting with all the PCs together and take for granted they already know each other; introducing them in successive scenes will give much more realism to the story.
But, of course, a rpg is not the same as a movie, because you must take into account a key element: those perky players, and their weird decisions. That said, the introduction and the conclusion scenes can be pretty much rail-roaded without it affecting the game's playability; it's what the players will expect, after all.
The plot will be a whole different matter. It is there where there's never any single way to do things; even if you think the "right" decisions for the PCs are very obvious, they are not. More, there's no such a thing as "right decisions", because during the development of the plot the game no longer belongs to the GM, but to the PCs. After all, they are the protagonists. What I'm trying to say is that, even if it's good to present ways to advance in a very obvious way, you can't seriously expect that the PCs will follow a linear plot (unless you force them, a bad habit that takes most of the fun from a game).
And all that means you'll have to write extra scenes, quite a good bunch of them. And they can be of any of these three kinds: alternate paths, dead end paths, or floating scenes.
Alternate paths, as the name suggests, are different ways to reach the same place. They can make things more dangerous or more safe; quicker (less scenes than the "original" plot) or slower (more scenes). With alternate paths is important to tie their benefits or perils with good or bad playing on the PCs part; good alternatives should be the result of players using well their characters, and vice versa. And there's always the same old alternative: left or right corridor? You, the GM, know they are the same, but it will give the players the sense that their decisions can influence how the game goes. Infact, it would be good if you considered the "original plot line" just as another alternate path, and take on writing the adventures including many alternatives since the beginning.
Dead end paths are either side quests or false clues (these can be misinformation or misunderstandings too). They are a series of scenes that won't later connect with the main plot, so what's the point with them? Actually, they are pretty useful, and serve different purposes. The first purpose is slowing things when they're going too fast; the Arcade ruleset is intended to provide a fast gameplay, but sometimes the PCs are too good and the adventure is menaced to be ended within an hour; trying to make them follow a side quest will ensure a little more time. A second purpose is adding difficulty to the adventure; evil guys should not be stupid, and they sure will try to mislead would-be do-gooders. Or adding ethical questions; for example: the main plot may require the PCs to act quickly, but won't they spend a little time to save an innocent? Yet a very important use for dead end paths usually overlooked is giving realism to the adventure. Sure, the PCs are the protagonists, but that doesn't mean the world revolves around them; foiling them into leading what finally has nothing to do with them or the main plot will give them, and the adventure, a nice reality bath.
Finally we have the floating scenes. They are a more evolved equivalent of what in D&D tradition were the random encounters. They are very similar to dean end paths in that they don't really belong to the core of the plot, and the uses they can be given. The main difference is that floating scenes have no predefined starting point, and can be thrown at the players almost at any moment. In order for that to work properly they must be short and very generic. In fact, they can be so generic that you may recycle them from one adventure to another, and always keep a bunch of floating scenes made for a setting. For example: in Ajsalium, heroes may be attacked by a hungry griffon whenever they are in the wilds; in Necronomicon, the players can suffer a theft attempt whenever they are just going anywhere; or in Galaxtar, hyperspace jumps can always go wrong and put the adventurers in the middle of an asteroid field.

Has all this rung a bell to you? Likely it has, because it's has been done before: "choose your adventure books". Very popular for teenagers, they are a full genre based on the concepts I've just exposed. So if you want a good example just grab one of these books from your collection (or ask your friends for one, if you don't own any, what would be rare for a roleplayer, that is what I assume every one following this blog will be).

NECRONOMICON ADVENTURE IDEAS

2009-08-23T21:58:00.003+02:00

This is a kind of Commonplace Post for the ideas I've had so far for Necronomicon adventures. They are listed in no particular order, and you'll soon see that most of them are just a bare skeleton or a simple bunch of ideas. If things go as expected, someday these plots will be expanded; until then, here you have what my insane mind has come across after one too many Lovecraft stories and horror films.

· HAVE YOU SEEN THE YELLOW SIGN?
This adventure will begin with the disappearance of a young woman, in the city of San Francisco. Her sister Kitty (first PC) will go to the police to seek help. There, the case will be given to veteran detective Frank (second PC). Together they'll begin the investigation by searching for the former boyfriend of the girl, a scum named Baker (third PC). Only thing he'll know is that she has met some new friends some months ago, and spent more and more time with them, until they split up about a month ago. Said "new friends" are actually a sect, leaded by a decadent "artist" that has fallen under the influence of the Yellow Sign, and has rescued some of Erich Zann's unearthly compositions, by means of which he has created strange melodies that have drug-like effects, to which his acolytes are totally addicted. The bad part is that the music has the effect of heightening sensory input, leading to more intense pleasure, but ultimately to extreme and excruciating pain too; and worse, it's drawing the attention of some entity from far beyond. It's up to the PCs to find about the sect and locate them before it's too late, so they can rescue the missing girl before she dies or goes irremediably mad.

· BELOW THE SANDS
Unlike most of my projected Necronomicon adventures, this one will be on the pulpy side of the mythos. Basically, it's a dungeon crawl across the sand-buried Irem, City of Pillars, that has just appeared from below the sands in the Sinai peninsula. There's gonna be five PCs: two Jewish brothers working for a secret section of Israel's Mossad service, the Cabala: they want to uncover and rescue the secrets of the practitioners of dark arts from Erim. Next we have an English female archaeologist and adventuress, who just wants to explore this mythical locale. Finally there's an American tomb raider and plunderer and his Arab guide, both caring only to get some valuable treasures. I hope to get these three parties to confront each other, to add to the tension of the adventure. Regarding Ir em, they'll soon learn that old Ir em actually was built over an even older city, not of human origin. The deeper they go, the more they'll learn about this, but the closer they'll be to releasing forgotten monsters best left alone.

· PHANTASM
This adventure is based on the movies of the same title (four of them so far). A strange and very sinister mortician has come to a small town; in itself, there's nothing wrong about that. A close relative to one of the PCs will die, and when he visits the cemetery will spot, by chance, the mortician performing something weird with the corpses. After recruiting some help, the PCs can watch over the mortician, but they'll finally be discovered and attacked; they'd better run away. The mortician is, in fact, a creature from some other plane of existence, that came to being when a lone scientist from the beginnings of the XX century devised a machine that allowed him to perceive different realities separated from ours by their different vibrations; too successful, he actually opened a door, and a golden sentient sphere seven inches across crossed it, grossly replacing his brain. He's become an immortal being, that has been amassing an army made with animated corpses, and floating steel spheres. If the PCs survive to learn all this, they may conceive of a plan to imprison him for good in an alternate reality, or even destroy the golden sphere that is his core.

· ALTERNATE SCIENCE
The idea for this adventure was born when the new Large Hadron Collider was created some months ago in Europe; and the stupid controversy regarding the possibility of creating a black hole that would swallow Earth. The device is intended to provide better knowledge of the first stages of the universe, just after the Big Bang. And then I thought: Azathoth is the pure nuclear chaos; what if He actually were everything our universe is not, the sum of every alternate universe created by every bifurcation in the path of existence, all of them coexisting simultaneously? And what if some mad scientist, a secret follower of the mythos, planned to alter the experiments to recreate not the Big Bang, but the opposite, i.e. Azathoth? That would result in the destruction of our universe. Maybe he's been inspired by Nyarlathotep, who likes cheating, and will "only" create a black hole that would destroy our solar system. Either way, his early experiments would create disturbances strong enough for weird phenomena to happen in the region where the hadron collider lies. That's what would draw the attention of the PCs, a series of little unconected "adventures". If they're clever enough they'll find only thing they have in common is being close to the collider, which will lead them to the final confrontation to stop the final fatal experiment.

· THE OLD WAYS ARE BETTER
There's a village in the Basque Country, the Valley of Carranza, that's the closest to Dunwich that you may come across; the most rural town of a very rural region. In many ways, civilization has not reached them. There's an interesting geological formation there, and absolutely enormous cave. It's logical to think that a village that still lives from cattle would give big importance to fertility; and there's a fertility goddess in the mythos, Shub-Niggurath. Whom, for some reason, it's worshipped by the mi-go, the fungi from Yuggoth, who come to our planet for mining. So that cave is not natural, is a mine that the mi-go exploited centuries ago. Those fungi met the people from Carranza and taught them the worship of Shub-Niggurath. And that cult has survived to the present days, in that secluded place. But when some infants disappear (to be used as a sacrifice in a ritual that's repeated whenever the stars are right to retain the favour of the black mother) the police decides to investigate. The PCs will be these policemen, of course, who will have to fight against the wall of silence and the cultists.

· MYSTERIES OF THE WORM
I had the desire to write an adventure about ghouls. I also had some ideas regarding the alien secrets of the book De Vermis Mysteriis. And I had the desire to create an adventure about vampires, reimagined the Lovecraft way. Now all three sources are joined in a single adventure, based on the following background: Nepfren-Ka, the black pharaoh, summoned something, some "worm", from the stars, that merged with him and transformed him into the devourer of souls. After he was dethroned and executed, from his corpse exuded some things that needed human blood to survive. Provided to them by human servants, these immortal vampires hided in the dark corners of Europe. Yet the corruption that emanated from them created the first ghouls, no longer human and not exactly alive, infested by worms from the crypts; that spread like a plague all across the world. Regarding the adventure itself, it will begin when some books are stolen from the library of the Miskatonic University. The PCs will be two professors and three students. Chasing the suspected robber, a guy named D'erlette, they will come to Europe; and there's a plot twist here, for when they confront him they'll realize he's not a bad guy, but someone who is searching for a way to exterminate the ghouls, reversing the original summoning spell, becoming one of the PCs. In a second plot twist, one of the professors will be revealed as a bad guy, of ghoul heritage, that will try to stop them and release a horde of ghouls.

· THE HOUSE
Haunted houses are a well established horror cliche, and they too have been given the mythos twist in stories such as The Rats in the Walls or The Dreams of the Witch House. The background is about a house that was built upon unholy ground, one of those places where the fabric of reality is somewhat thinner; and it was built using arcane non-euclidean geometry, to allow for extra-planar connections. The builder died now more than two centuries ago, and his last descendant has just inherited the house. Trying to inhabit it, he's seen a number of strange phenomena and had wild nightmares, so he gets the aid of the rest of the PCs to investigate what's wrong. And that's that from the arcane gateway a strange ooze is leaking, that's impregnating the house and giving it its own conscience, and also infiltrating people's minds. PCs better discover this and abandon the house and set for its demolition) before they go mad.

· TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM
I have always loved everything oniric, so I have fond feelings for Lovecraft's Dreamland, and feel like directing an adventure set there. But it won't be a light-hearted one, as it will revolve around an evil leader of a sect, a very powerful dreamer that's conquering the Dreamlands and getting increasingly more power; a power that he hopes to be able to retain in the waking world, something that may be viable if he keeps syphoning his followers' souls. PCs will be other dreamers, who must travel the Dreamlands undoing the evil guy's biddings, and finally confronting him (perhaps in Carcosa?). I may create some special rules for this adventure, to govern how mere willpower is able to affect the Dreamlands, or even allowing the expense of Sanity Points to gain powers, at the risk of losing sanity and becoming a permanent inhabitant of the Dreamlands.

· OPERATION FISHERMAN
Cthulhu's best know worshippers, the deep ones, deserve to appear in a Necronomicon adventure. I've thought about giving the players some fun with a pulpy scenario, happily killing deep ones. This adventure is inspired by the finale of The Shadow over Innsmouth: government agents raid said town and destroy Devil's Reef. I'll translate that to the present times, and so the PCs will be federal agents and/or soldiers putting an end to the nefarious history of Innsmouth. Of course, things won't be too easy because it's a whole town we're talking about, and the sheer number of hideous hybrids may overcome the army forces; should they be able to push the PCs to the shore, the aid of true deep ones may make survival a little though. And the desperate rash attempt made by the Marsh family to summon Mother Hydra to possess their matriarch can unleash hell on earth rather literally.

ARCADE RULESET (VI): ASSIGNING STATS

2009-08-15T21:30:00.003+02:00

As promised, in this last entry to introduce you to the Arcade ruleset (and help me to define the frame of it), I'll explain how scores are assigned to the different stats.

First of all, any creature (hero, npc, monster) would be assigned a level; and levels are assigned certain "construction" points. The higher the level, more points. This is the level/points chart I've sketched so far (note it's not a linear progression):
Level 1: 10 points
Level 2: 15 points
Level 3: 21 points
Level 4: 28 points
Level 5: 36 points
Level 6: 45 points
Level 7: 55 points
Level 8: 66 points
Level 9: 78 points
Level 10: 91 points

With these points you can buy stats, at the following costs. Most combat stats cost two construction points, because they are a matter of life and death: HP, MAR, MDR, RAR and RDR. The other combat stats as well as skills stats are cheaper, needing only one point: MOV, INI, FOR, AGI, PER, DEX, INT, KNO and SOC.
In Ajsalium, class powers will cost from 1 to 3 points, depending on how useful they are. Magical Resistance's cost is two points; Mana Points are cheaper, just one point.
In Necronomicon, investigative specializations will cost two points (as it's an investigative game, I deem reasonable to make them somewhat expensive, as they'll be the most used stats). Sanity Points will cost one point.
In Galaxtar, skill specialities will cost one point.

It's important to know that there's a "level 0 template". Said template has a minimum of attributes that make something exists, and so you don't need to spend points in acquiring, for example, the first HP, or the first three MOV points. Also, monsters may range from level 1/4 to 15, with the following points assignation:
Level 1/4: 3 points
Level 1/2: 6 points
Level 11: 105 points
Level 12: 120 points
Level 13: 136 points
Level 14: 153 points
Level 15: 171 points

Lastly, some differences between the different settings in which these rules are to be used:
Ajsalium is created with an old-style flavour. That means two things: it will feature legendary heroes, ranging from levels 1 to 10. Also, they are divided in different classes, and I plan to provide exact stats for every class at every level. In other words, PCs will be pre-generated, and you'll only have to copy the stats in a blank character sheet.
Necronomicon is very different in style. The PCs are not heroes, but ordinary people facing the inexplicable. That will be translated, rules-wise, in only having levels 2 and 3 (level 1 would make them too helpless, even for my taste!). Also, there are not classes. So, players will be given the adequate points (15 or 21), and they can use them to create their character as they see fit. Some restriction rules may be added to avoid unbalanced PCs.
Galaxtar will work out in a similar way to Necronomicon. But as it's more action oriented, there will be three levels to choose from: 2, 4 and 6 (15, 28 and 45 points, respectively). That should allow for the cinematographic action so fashionable nowadays. In theory, and as of today, there won't be classes, but freedom to create PCs as wanted. Yet, so far I can only think of adventures created for policemen, soldiers, mercenaries or criminals; so I may at the very least create the pre-generated versions of those professions.

RACES OF GALAXTAR

2009-08-09T17:51:00.002+02:00

Here are the races that are to be found in the Galaxtar setting. The first seven races are the ones that have signed the Pact of Major Races talked about in the previous post; the latter three are not members of said Pact, yet they're an important element in the galaxy. Without further ado, and in no particular order, here they are:

HUMANS: I'll take for granted you know what a human is. You should.

GOUALD: Parasites, shaped like a small serpent; when they reach maturity they're four-five inches long, and can still grow up to one foot before they're too old for implantation and start gruesome cancerigenous mutations that lead them to death. They have genetic memory, which allows them to quickly apprehend the knowledge from other races. When they infest a body, they grow inside gradually replacing every organ, starting with the nervous system. They've been parasiting humans for centuries, but now have to choose minor races. They are extremely aggressive, cruel and vain, and are at odds with most civilizations; despite being weakened, their kingdom still spans dozens of systems.

ASGARD: Little grey men, about five feet tall, lithe body, long limbs, big head with two enormous black eyes. All of them are extremely intelligent, and of a benevolent and civilized nature. That's made theirs a very advanced technologically and benevolent race (yet, they own a fearsome fleet of state-of-the-art warships). They are asexual, and reproduce via an artificial cloning process, but unfortunately the successive copies are maiming their DNA quality and their race is in a decline that not even their scientific knowledge seem able to overcome. In the XXI century allied themselves with humans, and keep good relations with them up to date.

SLIGG: Reptilian humanoids, very similar in frame to fit humans, but covered with little greenish-brownish scales; they are very tough and posses extreme healing capabilities, that medically improved can grant them up to regeneration. They are a bellicose race, and so proud of themselves that they're xenophobic and isolationists. But after milennia they became lazy, and developed the dangerous technology of Artificial Intelligence in order to build robots that fighted for them and served them. They finally gave the robots the responsibility of designing new models, and it didn't take long for a rise of the robots against their sligg masters, whom they seek to replace.

PLANT-MEN: This is the only sentient race in the galaxy that has evolved from the vegetal world. Yet they are (very) vaguely humanoid, although there's a great deal of randomness regarding their aspect and number of limbs/branches; also their skin, similar in compostion and texture to rubber is covered by very thin grass that is used for photosynthesis. Having very long lifespans have made them calm and patient, if somewhat apathetic. Their neutrality has granted them many times the role of lawyers and arbiters in galactic conflicts, which has made them evolve from a passive position to a more active one, seeking to maintain neutral balance in the galaxy.

DALEKTOIDS: Disgusting bugs cross of a crab and an octopus, the mishappen result of trying to force evolution during a nuclear civil war countless centuries ago. They are so physically weak that they must live perpetually connected to machines, to protect them. But being good engineers, basic support allows them to survive in a great variety of environments, and move levitating. Furthermore they can join minds and think like a hive; the backdrop of this being that they've grown so used to doing so their individual intelligence has dropped. Fascists at the extreme, they keep one of the biggest galactic empire sustained through mere cruelty, and their obsession with conquest is barely refrained by the Pact.

ANCIENTS: As far as it's known, the ancients were the first sentient race to appear in the galaxy. They have huge bald heads (three or four feet wide), with pointy ears and two little antenna coming out of the forehead; the rest of the body is very small and nearly atrophied. They have telekinesis, which they use both for propelling themselves and manipulating objects. Anyway, everything about them should be said using the past tense, because they have disappeared a long time ago. It's speculated that they finally found the absolute knowledge they were seaking, and that allowed them to transcend to a higher plane of existence, whatever that means.

NEOGI: The merchants, smugglers and slavers of the galaxy. Their look is that of a huge spider with a humanoid face atop a serpentine neck; and their behaviour is as disgusting as their looks. They don't claim any system as their own; in fact, they no longer have a known natal world. Travelling in enormous ships they engage in any kind of commerce with all races of the galaxy; and although even the vilest ones despise them, everybody ends up dealing with them.

HÜRN: The ultimate predators. Rather similar to big and strong humans, except for their ugly faces with four mandibles; they see infrared radiation instead of common light. They only inhabit their natal planet, and are limited in numbers, but it's been impossible to conquest them. They live for the thrill of the hunt, and they specially enjoy hunting sentient races; a single hürn can easily stalk and kill dozens, collecting their skulls as trophies.

XENOS: The most dangerous species out there. Humanoid, covered with a black chitinous exoskeleton, with wicked claws, a dangerous tail and a elongated eyeless head that holds a deadly secondary mouth; and best not forget their acidic blood. They infestate living beings (which kills them) for incubation; and spread like a wild fire. Many worlds have fallen under them; and the only good news is that they behave like vermin, apparently lacking true intelligence.

BRIEF HISTORY OF GALAXTAR

2009-08-03T15:50:00.003+02:00

First, let me explain that I claim no originality whatsoever in this setting. It is but a mere collage of different things that I like; you'll soon find plenty of references to Stargate, Galactica, Aliens, Riddick... I have not cared about changing the names of those "copied" things, although I will twist them every now and then, so they fit better together and contribute to a grim atmosphere.
Now let's get started with history:

At the beginning of the XXI century, a routinous archaeological excavation in Egypt discovered an ancient device of very advanced technology that was named "stargate". This stargate allowed for the teleportation from Earth to different planets containing working stargates. It was soon realized that most, if not all, inhabitable planets in the galaxy had these devices. At the same time, mankind learnt that Earth had belonged to the Gouald Kingdom, providing both hosts and slaves for the parasitic goualds.

These, infuriated by seeing Earth bound humans had become so advanced and that they were promoting rebellion amongst the goualds' human slaves, tried to stop their exploring the galaxy. Yet, despite their superiority, the guerilla-like nature of the conflict allowed the humans to resist against their new enemies, and even have some significant victories. All the while, alien technology falling in human hands allowed for a scientific boost. Moreover, humans also met the Asgards, another alien race that had historically opposed the goualds.

Finally, in the last years of XXI century, humans won due respect and were accepted in the galaxy-wide Pact of Major Races. Among other things, it meant that they were not the possesion of the Gouald Kingdom, and so they had to offer freedom to all their slaves, and search for a different species to parasite from then on. Yet half of the slaves chose to continue with their lives; and it was not such a bad idea, because all freed humans had to migrate to an already overpopulated Earth, whose population doubled within a decade.

The next century is commonly referred to as the "lost" one. Extreme starvation plagues very soon led to conflicts, struggles, and war. Even though mankind avoided falling in a World War Three, more than fifty different wars erupted (which had the dubious benefit of keeping population controlled). The little resources that were not spent on the military were destined to the space race, now more a space sprint searching for habitable planets.

Of course, being acknowledged as a Major Race didn't include the posession of any useful system. Mankind had to settle for seven systems that had planets that were inhabitable but could be, in theory, terraformed. This process was started as soon as possible, medium of XXII century. The living conditions of the pioneers were horrible, but actually not much worse than what Earth was like those days; and official propaganda worked hard to give a halo of heroism to the pioneers.

By the early XXIII century terraforming had been completed, and massive migrations began. Yet mankind had to suffer one more misfortune. Goualds were still hostile towards humans, and they appealed to an obscure passage in the Pact to claim the stargates of human planets as their own. After a long legal battle humans only kept the Earth stargate, losing the ones from the seven colonies. Starship technology allowed only for slower than light speeds, and that was clearly insufficient for the needs of mankind. And building stargates was still far from human science. An alternative teleportation method was created, one that every other race in the galaxy had banned millennia ago because of its risk: the creation of controlled mini black holes, with which the space continuum is pierced. Of course, those maneuvers can't be made anywhere near a celestial object, because there's always a minimun gravity leak. And every now and then, ships get lost in the void of "the other side" when the black hole generator malfunctions. And what's worse, some of them later return.

Finally established and with difficulties overcome, humans had truly become a spacefaring race. Scientific knowledge was free to develop again, and great attention was put in genetics. The old medical motto of "prevention better than curing" was put to an extreme with the genetic manipulation of human ADN to make our races stronger and far more resilient. This investigation was not a bed of roses, and many disastrous failures and much ethical and political debate took place before it was finally incorporated into everyday life. Also, colonies may had been terraformed, yet they all had specific particularities; in order to compensate them, more genetic engineer "tuned" the colonies' inhabitants to their habitats, around the turn of the XXIII century into the XXIV.

Comparatively, this last century has seemed the more placid one in a lot of time. Which doesn't mean nothing has happened.

Externally, the race of the Ancients, founders of the Pact of Major Races and developers of most of the technology spread throughout the galaxy, have been declared officially extinct, after millennia since their sudden and misteryous disappearance. Sliggs, a proud and militaristic race of humanoid reptilians, whose empire is bigger than any other one, are entangled in an internal war against their own cybernetic creations; and it is believed they are losing it.

Meanwhile, internally, human tendency towards independentism is causing tension in the political relations of Earth and Colonies. The fact that the latest are significantly close to each other, whereas the former stands very far apart is joined by the totalitarian ways of directing politics from the capital. In the other hand, this XXIV century has seen a rise in economical corporation power unmatched since the fierce neo-liberal years of the XX century. Enterprises buying political influence has only lead to more destabilization and corruption spreading like a wild fire, now that the XXV is already here.

BUMP!

2009-07-31T23:08:00.005+02:00

Long time no update, uh?

These past two months I either had no time to update (when did I get such a busy social life?), or I wasn't in the mood to do so. With all the last posts being about rules it all became rather boring, I'm afraid. But now that the holidays are approaching I hope to get more free time; and changing themes of posts more often should make this blog more enjoyable.

And... this is not going to be an empty post! After rambling about the topic of printed books against PDFs on the blog of latest follower A Thousand Hats (see that discussion on his blog here, and on the FoD here), I decided to upload here a preview of what a possible Ajsalium rulebook may look like (just wanted to show you because I'm rather proud of it; hope you too like it). And in case you wonder where I got the illustration from, she's the concept art for the Reaper miniature Finari.

Click for a bigger image

That's all for now. See you soon (hopefully)!

ARCADE RULESET (V): MISCELLANEOUS SPECIALITIES

2009-05-28T19:38:00.002+02:00

The third section of a character/reference sheet is the one that will vary more from one setting to another, as stated above. It's the "module" that allows for fine customization. So I'd better present the three different version of this section separately.

Ajsalium. In the fantasy setting of Ajsalium PCs will have some special powers that clearly make them stand out from the common man. Some examples have been provided before (a cleric's "prayers", a paladin's "lay on hands", and a fighter's "tactical maneuvers"); more examples would be the ability of a druid to polymorph into an animal shape, a thief's ability to pick pockets unnoticed or the night-unstopable rage of a barbarian. All these powers will be listed in the appropriate section of the Ajsalium compendium dedicated to the character classes, and the way they are used explained there, so there's no point in going into more detail here. The way I plan to run Ajsalium this is the part that will likely be used the least, with combat and skills taking the prominent part of the game.
Absolutely, this is a ripoff from the Dungeons & Dragons game, and when talking about this I'm specifically thinking on the third edition of said game (which is the best one, in my humble opinion).

Necronomicon. For this investigative horror setting, this section of the character sheet will likely be the most used. Here there will appear some real-life areas of expertise, such as economics, history, mechanics, intimidation, computers, flirting, chemistry, biology... A list from which to select will be provided; every expertise will have an associated skill from which it "originates" (SOC and KNO will be the most common ones). The number of expertises related to any given skill stat cannot be higher than the score of that skill; for example, someone with a KNO of 2 will only be able to select up to two expertises related to Knowledge. In game, they are used just by stating they are used, as if they were always successfull. The GM will reveal any clues, but only if he had arranged there was some clues to be found using that expertise. Also, characters may "invest" in extra points for their expertises; stating they want to employ one of those the GM should give extra information when revealing the clue, information that may clarify the importance of the clue, or even another clue that would make the characters come closer to their goal, or embark them on a side quest.
Again, this is not original, but copied from the "Gumshoe" system used by Pelgrane Press (as mentioned in an earlier post). I liked their reasoning than an investigative game should be about interpreting the clues and not about finding them.

Galaxtar. To be honest, I haven't given this part much thought, but so far I've settled for what would be an "advanced skills" rule. As with the expertises of Necronomicon a list of possible areas of (science-fictioned) expertises will be provided, and as above, those will be related to any of the seven basic skills. Again, maximum number of expertises associated with a skill will be limited to the score of said skill. The way to use these expertises will be similar to the way of using skills, with the only difference of adding three scores: the skill die roll plus the expertise's stat plus the associated skill's stat. This will result in significantly higher results, thus allowing the accomplishment of much more difficult actions. Thus will be reflected the heroic achievements of science fiction heroes against life threatening dangers.
Not to break a norm, this is too a ripoff, more or less, from the "Codex" system used by Margaret Weiss Productions.

ARCADE RULESET (IV): SKILLS

2009-05-12T17:23:00.003+02:00

Combat is a simple thing to play. Skills are even easier. Every now and then skill tests will be used to determine whether a creature succeeds in a certain task, apart from combat. These tests are carried by rolling the special skill die:

If a success symbol is rolled, the test has been superbly passed; if a failure symbols appears, the character has failed miserably, and the GM may even rule bad consequences as he seems fit. Otherwise, when a number is rolled, it will be added to the stat number of the appropriate skill. If it's equal to or higher than the difficulty number previously established by the GM the test is passed; when lower, it just fails. If you look at the die layout, numbers range from 1 to 4. Skills will be rated from 0 (worst) to 6 (best). And difficulty numbers will range from 1 (easiest) to 10 (most difficult).
The automatic success and automatic failure symbols are there to make the game even easier and faster (behind the scenes, I can tell you they are the legacy of Games Workshop's games "a natural 1 always fails and a natural 6 always success" rule). Yet the GM must remember than whenever the skill die is rolled there's always a chance of success and a chance of failure (16,67% each). But sometimes you don't want them to fail; for example, you ain't telling them to roll an agility test to see whether they stagger whenever they walk; in these cases don't make them roll dice. On the other hand, you want to prevent abuses; if an illiterate character (KNO 1) wants to make a knowledge test (difficulty 9) just hoping he rolls a success, tell him he can't even make the test. That would be just abusing the rules, and is thus forbidden; impossible things are out.
The just explained skill tests are the "simple skill test". There's also the "opposed skill test", when you don't roll against a fixed difficulty number given by the GM, but against the skill test of another creature. This is done with both creatures rolling the skill die and adding the result to the appropriate skill. Higher wins. Should one success or one failure appear, it obviously means success or failure. Should two successes appear, the GM will determine whether that means two simultaneous successes or a draft. An example of the former would be two wrestlers trying to grapple each other, both can success simultaneously, grappling the opponent yet being graped themselves too. An example of the latter would be someone chasing another, in which case they maintain the same distance. When two failures appear, both creatures have failed, and miserably; with the former examples, the wrestlers would have suffered painful luxations, and the chased and chaser would have stumbled and ended with their faces stamped on the floor.

Now let's have a closer look at what the skills are useful for.
Fortitude (FOR). This is a combination of strength and constitution. To ram down a closed door, lift a portcullis, swim across a strong river, or ward off the effects of venom this is the skill to use.
Agility (AGI). Good reflexes, body coordination and flexibility is what agility means. You will use this skill to chase someone or pass through a very narrow passage, for example.
Perception (PER). This skill stands for sensory awareness: the ability to see, hear or otherwise detect the presence of creatures or features of some worth to the adventure.
Dexterity (DEX). Not to be confused with agility, dexterity is eye-hand coordination and nimbleness. This is the skill used to make a "magical" trick, play a musical instrument, or create a counterfeit document, just to give some examples.
Intelligence (INT). The ability of rational reasoning, used to solve a problem. Deciphering a codified message and discerning the secret motivations of a person are a couple of things done with this skill.
Sociability (SOC). Social skills are what are needed to delve successfully in society, be it a classy palace or a downtrodden gutter. With a high score you'll be able to easily befriend unknown people, get information from them, or convince a seller to offer you a special low price. This skill will be key in the Necronomicon setting.
Knowledge (KNO). This skill is a bit special, in that it means the general knowledge a person may have; but also, for every point it has, it grants a specific area in which that person is an expert. It's the GM who will determine whether a piece of info may be known by passing a KNO test ("hey, I just remember hearing that..."), or whether some expertise will be enough to discern some piece of info ("let me tell you that this essay is just a plagiarism of the book...").

ARCADE RULESET (III): COMBAT

2009-05-09T12:22:00.003+02:00

So, you already know the stats that will be used in combat. Now you want to know how all that works. It's awfully simple, specially if you've played any tabletop games like Heroquest or the more recent Descent or Doom boardgames from Fantasy Flight Games. When we enter in combat mode, we somehow zoom in on the action that's taking place. Time is divided in rounds, and during every round every creature (PCs, NPCs, enemies) takes its turn. During a turn a creature can make two actions, either different or the same.

Moving is one action. A character may move a number of squares (if using a battlemap, otherwise a square equals an inch, which equals five feet in real life) up to its MOV stat. Humans (standard race for all three settings) have a MOV of 5. Jumping over a chasm requires spending two movement squares per square the chasm has.

Attacking is one action. You will use special combat dice with the following distribution:

If a character is adjacent to another he may make a Melee Attack; if not adjacent, but with a line of vision, it would have to be a Ranged Attack. The attacker rolls as many combat dice as the MAR or RAR stats, and counts the blood drops (which means successful attacks). The defender rolls as many combat dice as its MDR or RDR, and counts the number of crossed out blood drops (which means successful parries). Substracting successful parries from successful attacks gives the number of Hit Points the attacked creature suffers and that will have to be detracted from its HP pool.
When MAR or RAR is higher than one, you may divide the attacks against viable targets as you see fit.
The exclamation mark stands for a special symbol that may have different meanings. For example, in the Ajsalium setting, a magical weapon would hit with a symbol as well as with blood drops. Magical armour would save with a symbol as well as with a crossed out blood drop. In the Galaxtar setting a symbol may have a bad implication, signalling that a weapon has jammed.

Not all damage must be wound damage; there's stun damage too. Stun damage will be inflicted when fighting unarmed, or just by declaring the attacker wants to cause only stun damage. Unlike wound damage, stun one is added up; should the current stun damage ever be higher than the current Hit Points the creature falls unconscious.

And there are more possible actions. Opening a locked door or chest with a key is one action; as casting a spell in Ajsalium. Yet, difficult things such as picking up a locked door or casting a powerful spell take up to two actions, which means the character can't do anything else that round. On the other hand, some simple and quick tasks, such as opening an unlocked door, are move-equivalent, meaning that they just take the equivalent of moving one (or two) squares.

In Ajsalium there's magic. And magic is worked with the combat rules, too.
Casting magic is done by spending Mana Points: all spells will list the cost in MP to cast it, and also if it can be enhanced (increase the damage done, spread the reach, make it last longer...) by spending additional MPs. Magic users (wizards and druids for PCs, and some monsters) have a Mana Points score, representing their capacity to weave a spell and/or enhance it. They employ their MP as they see fit, but once the pool is depleted they won't be able to cast more spells until they replenish it. This can be done with rest (a good night rest replenishes all MP), or drinking mana potions.
Everybody will have a Magic Resistance, ranging from 0 (most common) to 6 (extremely rare). When affected by an unwanted spell, a creature rolls as many combat dice as its MR; if it rolls any symbol, it wards off the effects of the spell.

In Necronomicon, Hit Points are joined by Sanity Points. I still need to work a little on how to manage them, but here's what I've thought so far. Whenever confronted by some part of the Cthulhu mythos, a character must make a Sanity test (have yet to decide how to make them, but they will likely be like a leadership check in "Warhammer Fantasy Battles"). If he succeeds, the better for him. If he fails, he loses one SP; this alone makes him "shocked" (one point penalty in any roll) until he gets some time to rest and assume what's happened, and also makes him closer to madness, when SP get to zero (a mad character should be removed from play). The difficulty of the Sanity test, and the quantity of SP lost, will vary according to what part of the mythos is revealed; clearly seeing the great Cthulhu itself is far worse than spotting a deep one!

ARCADE RULESET (II): THE CHARACTER SHEET

2009-05-04T22:29:00.002+02:00

I believe that a game system is always better summarized in the character sheets it uses, and I'm not the only one who thinks so, as many rpg books begin with a brief description of them. Thus, I'm going to present the Arcade Ruleset first with an overview of what will be found in a character sheet (or a reference sheet for npcs or monsters).
Apart from the equipment and description sections, rules-wise a character sheet will have three main sections: combat, skills, and specialities.

The combat section will list some stats that will come into play in combat encounters. I'm talking such things as Hit Points (HP), Movement (MOV), Initiative (INI), Melee Attack Rating (MAR), Melee Defense Rating (MDR), Ranged Attack Rating (RAR) and Ranged Defense Rating (RDR). In the Ajsalium setting, two more stats will be added to govern magic: Mana Points (MP) and Magic resistance (MR). In the Necronomicon adventures HP will be joined by Sanity Points (SP), to discern the psychologycal impact of the mythos in the heroes. I think the names given to the mentioned stats are rather self-explanatory, but don't worry because I'll explain their use later.

The skills section will list some stats that rate how skillfull the character is in diverse areas. These have been selected to be very generic, so they can cover every possible situation, or be close to that goal. So far the list of skills is this: Fortitude (FOR), Agility (AGI), Perception (PER), Dexterity (DEX), Intelligence (INT), Sociability (SOC) and Knowledge (KNO). In case those names make you think of D&D, let me explain that it has been purely coincidental; I followed my own road, and just when I picked the names for the skills I realized this was so close to the famous D&D characteristics. Great minds think alike (or so I like telling to myself). Knowledge is a bit special in that it represents general knowledge, but for every point it has admits one concrete area of expertise (more on this later).

The specialities section is the one that will vary most from one setting to another, and the one that still needs most work. In the Ajsalium setting, this will include some special powers typical of fantasy rpgs, such as the cleric's prayers, the paladin's immunity to fear, a wizard's special link with his/her familiar, or tactical maneovers for fighters. In the Necronomicon setting, being a mainly investigative setting, this section will be filled with the areas of master expertise that will automatically provide the hints needed for the plot to advance; some examples would be forensics, intimidation, history, academical research or arts & crafts. In the Galaxtar setting, this section will list some specialized skills that further develop the generic ones, allowing the characters to perform some tasks in a way similar to the usage of skills, but with greater chance of success. Again, if you want more info on this just keep reading subsequent articles.

ARCADE RULESET (I): OVERVIEW

2009-04-30T23:52:00.002+02:00

So what's this Arcade ruleset? It's not a tabletop game, neither a wargame; it's a generic game system intended to be used in roleplaying games. I'm not going to bother to explain the differences of these three types of games, as I take for granted that anyone visiting a blog called Role 'n' Roll already knows that. Yet, even though Arcade is a rpg, it wouldn't be difficult to be used for some fast tabletop dungeoning, akin to Heroquest. After all, its combat system is indirectly derived from said game, and it would be dead easy just to focus on that part and not use the other roleplaying parts. Similarly it could be used for skirmish level wargames, but I'm not sure how well things would go.

And what do you need to play it? Nothing too fancy, just what you would expect from any rpg out there. Some paper for character sheets, pens and erasers. Some six-sided dice, too: some standard, and some special combat and skill dice (examples in forecoming articles). And minis. After years of roleplaying I've found minis are a great aid in rpgs. In the Arcade case, the rules have been created with the use of minis in mind. Yet, if you don't want to buy and store a load of minis, paper tokens are equally as useful, and infinitely cheaper, and you can print them "on demand". Anyway I recommend the use of minis at least for the Player Characters, because I honestly think they help players focus on their characters. And they are cool. Finally, an erasable battlemap and some tokens would be very useful; Em4miniatures sells both of them in their web store (combat mats and eldritch gems). And not, I don't get paid for saying this. :P

As you will soon see, Arcade has been developed with simplicity in mind. I like saying it's a fool-proof game system; with the biggest fool being myself. From the very beginning I've had this goal in mind: the Arcade rules should be explained and understood in 10-15 minutes, and mastered after one single game session. In fact, that's why I've chosen the name "Arcade", taken from videogames, and opposed to "simulator". You won't be able to recreate the subtle nuances of hundreds of different combat styles, or tune a monster to have the weirdest genealogy ever. Everything is kept to a minimun: for example, in the Ajsalium setting, there are just three types of armour: light, medium or heavy. Or in the Necronomicon setting, small firearms are reduced to revolver or gun. But with these rules you won't have to keep track of dozens of modifiers, and you'll have ready-made characters sheets; if you're the Game Master, preparing an adventure should take little more than writing down the complete plot and scenes, deciding some difficulties and copying some stats. The key idea is that time should be spent designing an interesting plot and playing it, not dwelling with rules.

That said, next we'll have a look at the character sheet, so that we begin to properly delve in the ruleset.

ORIGINS OF THE ARCADE RULESET

2009-04-19T22:16:00.004+02:00

First of all, and before I begin describing the basis of this ruleset, due credits where credits are due.

The game system I'm working on is actually an expansion of the sketch rules created by Andy Foster (Heresy Miniatures) for his "Netherhells" game (link for that embryo). These are based on Heroquest, and as that game they are intended for a boardgame. Yet I saw a lot of potential for true rpgs, just by adding some rules for skills, and different levels for heroes.

Then I came across Pelgrane Press' "Trail of Cthulhu" game, which was like a gust of fresh air in the modern investigative games, and just one step beyond the purely narrative games. That gave me a lot of food for thought regarding what simple rule systems could achieve.

I also put my hands on Margaret Weiss Productions' "Serenity" and "Battlestar Galactica", two rpgs that shared the same rules system, called "codex", which added yet another elegant simple rule system, this time for a science fiction setting, and not too dissimilar to what was already on my mind.

So I was left there, somewhat dazed and confused with so many inputs, wondering how could I turn all that into a single coherent system. Then I lost steam and got derailed by other things for some months. Finally I decided to take this project back on track, and it appears that my subconscious mind had been working on it all this time, as I promptly realized that it was pretty easy to merge the three systems I've mentioned.

What will follow is an hybrid, maybe abominable but hopefully fun.

INTRODUCTION TO GALAXTAR

2009-04-10T01:05:00.002+02:00

It's the XXV century and human civilization has spread all over eight solar systems; but it's in turmoil. There are constant political and economical tensions, as the eight systems' resources are predated, far from enough to support a race as consuming as ours.

And you just can't go and claim more systems. Mankind is just the youngest race to have been accepted in the Pact of Major Races. Older ones already own any worthy system; it was hard enough to find those eight, and severely terraform planets for almost a century till they were habitable. The observance of said Pact is feeble, and any attempt to colonize an alien system, even if abandoned, could be used as an excuse for war.

And with Earth's totalitarian ways of directing the politics of the seven colonies independentism is growing strong. A tendency fueled by alien races that bear grudges on us, and conspirate to throw us into a devastating civil war.

Yet, despite all the problems, or maybe propitiated by them, there are plenty of opportunities for adventure. Those brave and audacious enough, will make a difference, either for the good of mankind or for their own wealth.

INTRODUCTION TO NECRONOMICON

2009-04-06T01:26:00.001+02:00

Here. Now. Rationality and science have finally triumphed over superstition and myth. The amazing advancements of science during the whole XX century has broaden our knowledge of the universe and its laws. And what we still don't know, we know that we'll know, as reason provides us with everything needed. All will be apprehended by these means.

If only it were true...

But it's not. There's more to reality that what can be measured. We may turn our backs ob the stuff of myths, but they won't turn theirs on us. In fact, somewhere, somewhen, some things look upon us and grin wildly. They have existed forever, they are older than time itself, and will outlive it. What transcend of them to our reality is what gave birth to horrid myths, the nightmares that fools wrote down in dark tomes of superstitious lore. And what was once, will be again, for they are not dead those who can eternal lie.

The more confident we are in our reason, the weaker we become to resist them. Only by accepting that the things that cannot be are, there's a small possibility to fight them back to wherever and whenever they belong, and free our world from their corrupting influence.

INTRODUCTION TO AJSALIUM

2009-04-06T01:15:00.000+02:00

Ajsalium is a world with a hell of a problem. Literally.

Millennia ago, a divine clash created a vortex through which an immense horde of fiends entered Ajsalium, ready to conquer it. Elves, dwarves and men allied against them, but were unable to push back the infernal tide. Dragons joined the mortals centuries later, and only thanks to them could the balance of war be reversed, and victory be claimed. But the price was high, as ever since the end of the Long War elves, dwarves and dragons are headed towards extinction.

Only men thrived, and are now the proud and undisputed masters of the world. But maybe they are too proud, and maybed there's some dispute after all. Fiends had been defeated, but not vanquished, as they retreated to the inner bowels of the world, to hell. From there they have been tempting mortals to their cause, giving them power and eventually new immortal fiendish lives. What could not be conquered by strength is now being mined through stealth and corruption.

Everyday, with each corrupted man, the time for a new war is getting closer. It's up to lonely heroes to discover the machinations of darkness and battle their minions, for the fate of the world is at stake.

WELCOME ABOARD!

2009-03-31T18:05:00.005+02:00

And so it begins. Let me tell a couple of things about me. First, I like things such as fantasy, horror and science fiction. Second, I've been a roleplayer for quite a few years now. Then it seems only logical that I like playing fantasy, horror and sci-fi rpgs.
And having way too much imagination for my own good I've been developing my own home made settings for the mentioned genres; with the intention of using them in future adventures. Unfortunately, I didn't want to learn three different rules systems for the three kinds of settings. Also, when checking generic systems, I have found none that I truly like, as I always consider them excessively complicated to adapt them to the desired setting.
What I really wanted was to find a single rule system that could be used in rather different types of games, and I wanted it to be very simple to use, both for the DM and for the players. Slowly I began thinking what such a system should include, and thus were born the first embryo of what now is my home made rule system (work in progress yet).

But what does all that have to do with this blog?
Good point. I'm not as organized as I should be, and that means that I've spent lots of hours imagining stories and histories, and devising plots and adventures, only to be forgotten some time later as I didn't bother to write down any of them.
This blog should help me to avoid that. First of all, is my geeky diary, in which I'll post all my ideas so that I keep them in one same place, thus helping it all to really grow. But it's a special diary in that is public, for all you to read and comment. I greatly appreciate the contributions of other people, as they infuse new life and perspectives that make the settings richer or may help you overcome a dead end.
With a little luck, this blog will keep you entertained, and you will help me develop my rules and settings.

So what's the plan, then?
Well, except for some miscellaneous entries (like this one), most other posts will belong to one of these four categories, and will be adequately labelled:
1) Ajsalium: My fantasy setting (and the origin of my nickname, by the way). In a few words, it's a world that managed to defeat an infernal attempt of conquest, but at the price of the progressive extinction of dragons, elves and dwarves, and maybe only to have humans give the world to the surviving and scheming fiends.
2) Necronomicon: My horror setting. Except that it's not quite mine, because it is based on the works of H. P. Lovecraft, just played in these first years of the XXI century.
3) Galaxtar: My science fiction setting. Dated in the XXV century, mankind is now one of the mayor civilized races of the galaxy. But it's also the youngest one, owning just eight solar systems, and immersed in interstine political turmoil and menaced from outside.
4) Ruleset: My games, my rules, so far codenamed "Arcade". A very simple system, that could be learned in but a few minutes and mastered after one game session; yet versatile enough to accommodate quite different settings and styles of play. Entries regarding the specific aspects that adapt the basic rules to one of the mentioned setting will have both the "ruleset" label and the one corresponding to the setting.
In order to keep everything organized and facilitate navigation, further labels will be added, too.

And... that's all. Stay tuned, I hope you'll have fun visiting this blog and don't be shy and comment as much as you feel like.See you.