Today I'm going to take the time to post some new material, that is hopefully inspirational or at least interesting. The monsters I'll be posting don't have stats yet, and are just vague ideas; but I really wanted to get them out there, and make a fresh blog post. Expect proper versions soon, hopefully after I get a chance to research them more, and reference some similar monsters.
First off is a modified cantrip one of my players came up with. I'm not entirely sure what rules or edition cantrips first showed up in, but I personally enjoy using them in my games, and spell caster players feel more useful. I don't begrudge my players the ability to create a small light at will. On to the spell:
Cederic's Deadly Dagger
If the character has the ability cast Mage Hand, or a similar spell (telepathic lifting and movement), the character may throw a dagger (or similar allowed weapon) up to 15ft, and hit automatically with a +1 damage.
You could of course modify this as you see fit. Of course the question is raised as to why anyone would want to do this? Well immediately obvious is that the dagger is one of only two weapons the Magic-User/Wizard class has available to them. Furthermore at lower levels, and even higher ones, the character can only cast Magic-Missile so many times. Consider also that there are a plethora of level one spells, that are often far more useful than Magic-Missile. Finally that towards later levels the Magic-User usually has plenty of money, and can thus buy a large amount of 5gp daggers easily enough.
With all of the above in mind, a character could buy a hand full daggers for 50gp, instead of 100gp (the original rules) per scroll of Magic-Missile, or however much a Rod of Magic-Missile might cost. This is an excellent option for low magic campaigns as well, because it simply looks like the character is throwing a dagger. Hopefully spells like this encourage creative cantrip use.
On to some monsters. I know I don't have any readers yet, but hopefully one day someone will see these and go: "I see what you did there...", and that's kind of my goal with this. Creative and imaginative monster design, from unlikely sources. Hopefully in the near future I'll actually get these statted out, and maybe place some art to them. Of course the eventual goal is to include these in a monster book, or make enough to have a supplement dedicated to them.
Rattlelhead
An undead skeleton type monster which embodies the phrase "see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil". It as an evil creature, that practices black magic, and has the following forms of attack: A blinding flash of colors that can stun or blind opponents; a terrifying scream that can deafen attackers; and finally a form of silence attack. All attacks are against appropriate saving throws. The Rattlhead would be an excellent leader for Skeleton and Zombies.
Head Hunter
An undead zombie type monster which functions similar to a bard. The Head will usually play music backwards, at loud volumes, in a very distorted and screeching manner. Generally the head would have similar abilities and spells to the bard; demoralization, charm, etc...
Static-Mouse, Giant
Similar to the Giant Rat, but slightly smaller, the Static-Mouse has the ability to perform an electric shock attack, similar to shocking grasp. It is neutral good, very friendly, and reacts well to kind individuals or groups. The Static-Mouse is very tenacious, and will usually fight till exhaustion, or near death.
Blue Oyster
A sentient underwater creature, with a very powerful psychic ability. They have the ability to influence those nearby, and can perform psychic attacks. If one is the immediate vicinity of a Blue Oyster they must make an appropriate saving throw or go insane. Blue Oysters are know to be communal, and can develop a hive mind. Some rumor these hive minds can even influence people miles away. Furthermore they have been known to cause nightmares on those nearby as well. There have been cases of cults who worship these creatures, and even act on their bidding.
A relatively short post, but hopefully some food for thought.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
Jeet Kune D&D
I heard the best description of my game yet. I was explaining to a good friend this weekend what I was trying to do. Now this friend has only played D&D twice with me, but loves the idea of it, and had a great time. It should be noted this friend never wanted to play D&D before, in fact was adamantly opposed to it, just because he thought it wasn't his thing. The point in all of this, is that Arcane Adventures was able to get someone who had no interest in D&D, to play and love the game. I digress; My friend said "Oh so it's Jeet Kune D&D", and I thought to myself "Holy crap, that's it!". For anyone who doesn't know Jeet Kune Do was Bruce Lee's martial arts system he developed by taking what he liked from various styles and combining them with a foundational philosophy.
I'm not saying I'm the Bruce Lee of gaming, or that my system is the best, but the concept is definitely the same. I'm trying to take the best parts (or at least the parts I like) from the various versions or "styles" of D&D. Just like fighting styles, one system might be best at one thing. For example Jujitsu is excellent for wresting, and Karate is great for kicking. A good fighter might want to take the kicks from Karate, and the wrestling from Jujitsu to be a well rounded fighter. Just like 3E has a decent combat system, and AD&D has a great set of classes, a DM might want to combine those rules, to make a well rounded game.
I'm not saying I'm the Bruce Lee of gaming, or that my system is the best, but the concept is definitely the same. I'm trying to take the best parts (or at least the parts I like) from the various versions or "styles" of D&D. Just like fighting styles, one system might be best at one thing. For example Jujitsu is excellent for wresting, and Karate is great for kicking. A good fighter might want to take the kicks from Karate, and the wrestling from Jujitsu to be a well rounded fighter. Just like 3E has a decent combat system, and AD&D has a great set of classes, a DM might want to combine those rules, to make a well rounded game.
Monday, February 11, 2013
The Everything of D&D, or Why I Seem Obsessed
A lot of people think I'm obsessed with D&D, or roleplaying/tabletop games in general. Well allow me to explain why.
I have so many hobbies (sword fighting, survivalism, herb-lore, magic, history, fantasy, etc.) and I don't really have time for all of them on a frequent basis. Maybe I could do something for a week, then something else for the next week (I used to do this), but it's difficult to keep track of and enjoy all of those separate, and generally unlinked interests. At one point I even scheduled my day like school, devoting a half hour to hour of study for each subject, rotating daily.
Of course one of the biggest problems with most my interests is application. Aside from maybe martial arts and herblore (and even then...), most of my hobbies are dead in modern society, or of little use in other than scholarly study. I don't have a local combat club, real magic tends to just be chanting, and I love reading history, but that's the extent of its use.
When I started playing role playing games I found an outlet for most, if not all of my hobbies. My group started with BRP (Basic Role Playing). As game master I immediately delve into making my own fantasy worlds and settings, using the knowledge from all of my hobbies to make cool rules, or interesting challenges. As referee for old school D&D I can use my knowledge of how things worked in the middle ages to provide a believable atmosphere for play, and answer questions about most of the situations that come up.
So now a days when I'm looking up plants and see something is poisonous, or used for mental stimulation, I go "oh wow that'd be a great ingredient for D&D". When I'm studying long sword techniques I might learn something and think "this would be a great technique for D&D, it could this or that...". A lot of times it looks like I'm just thinking about role playing games 24/7, but in all reality, I finally found a unifying forum for all of my vocations and studies.
In other words D&D is great not only because it includes so much of everything, it can include anything. For those of us with obscure or "dead" interests, which seems to be the average player, it give us somewhere to make those interests useful, and we don't feel like we wasted our time looking up the difference between a voulge and a bardiche.
I guess what I'm getting at is role playing games gave me purpose in life. That seems a bit drastic, but my whole life I've been told I'm wasting my time doing this or that, because "it's no longer useful in life". It was a place where I felt useful, and maybe even appreciated.
Does anyone else have hobbies that tie into RPGs, or that you use frequently in your games?
I have so many hobbies (sword fighting, survivalism, herb-lore, magic, history, fantasy, etc.) and I don't really have time for all of them on a frequent basis. Maybe I could do something for a week, then something else for the next week (I used to do this), but it's difficult to keep track of and enjoy all of those separate, and generally unlinked interests. At one point I even scheduled my day like school, devoting a half hour to hour of study for each subject, rotating daily.
Of course one of the biggest problems with most my interests is application. Aside from maybe martial arts and herblore (and even then...), most of my hobbies are dead in modern society, or of little use in other than scholarly study. I don't have a local combat club, real magic tends to just be chanting, and I love reading history, but that's the extent of its use.
When I started playing role playing games I found an outlet for most, if not all of my hobbies. My group started with BRP (Basic Role Playing). As game master I immediately delve into making my own fantasy worlds and settings, using the knowledge from all of my hobbies to make cool rules, or interesting challenges. As referee for old school D&D I can use my knowledge of how things worked in the middle ages to provide a believable atmosphere for play, and answer questions about most of the situations that come up.
So now a days when I'm looking up plants and see something is poisonous, or used for mental stimulation, I go "oh wow that'd be a great ingredient for D&D". When I'm studying long sword techniques I might learn something and think "this would be a great technique for D&D, it could this or that...". A lot of times it looks like I'm just thinking about role playing games 24/7, but in all reality, I finally found a unifying forum for all of my vocations and studies.
In other words D&D is great not only because it includes so much of everything, it can include anything. For those of us with obscure or "dead" interests, which seems to be the average player, it give us somewhere to make those interests useful, and we don't feel like we wasted our time looking up the difference between a voulge and a bardiche.
I guess what I'm getting at is role playing games gave me purpose in life. That seems a bit drastic, but my whole life I've been told I'm wasting my time doing this or that, because "it's no longer useful in life". It was a place where I felt useful, and maybe even appreciated.
Does anyone else have hobbies that tie into RPGs, or that you use frequently in your games?
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