Scary Holidays!

Here are three winter/holiday themed items to use in your very own Cinder Claws adventures - the black wreath, enchanted mistletoe, and ice piercers.

Happy Holidays to All!

Black Wreath: Init +3; Atk tongue +5 melee (entrap); AC 9; HD 3d6; MV 0’; Act 1d20; SP strength drain, “death” throes; SV Fort +5, Ref -5, Will +12; AL C.

The black wreath appears as any other decorated Yuletide wreath, save none can remember placing it, and those succeeding in a Luck check feel vaguely uneasy about it. Those red berries? They are actually all eyes. The black wreath is an extension of an interdimensional creature, an organ both for sensing what is nearby in our dimension, and for feeding on it.

The black wreath can extrude a sticky green “tongue” through the hollow center of the wreath (this tongue actually comes from the creature’s own dimension) to a distance of 15’. Any creature struck by the tongue is held fast. A creature can attempt a DC 10 Strength check to avoid being pulled 10’ closer to the wreath, or a DC 15 Strength check to break free, but each attempt uses an Action Die. A Mighty Deed with a value of 5+ can also force the creature to release its victim.

Any creature brought within 5’ of the wreath while attached to the tongue takes 1d3 temporary Strength damage per round. If brought within contact with the wreath, this damage increases to 1d5 temporary Strength damage per round. The victim becomes darker as this damage is taken, as though cast into deep shadow; normal color returns only as the damage is healed. A victim reduced to 0 Strength becomes a blackened cinder as its life force is sucked away. Should the victim somehow survive (due to a Recover the body check and a kind-hearted judge), half the Strength damage taken is permanent, and the character remains forever the color of burnt umber.

If the black wreath is reduced to 0 hp, it is not slain, but withdraws completely to its own dimension. Any entrapped victim gains a last DC 20 Strength check to escape, or is pulled into the other dimension with the wreath.

Enchanted Mistletoe: The fool who steps beneath this holiday sprig is instantly paralyzed, unless he succeeds on a Will save DC 20. Paralysis lasts until the character dies, the mistletoe is removed, the magic of the mistletoe breaks down (1d7 weeks), or the character is kissed. Well, a mouth makes contact with the character. Being bit will do.

While paralyzed, the character automatically fails Will saves. His AC is equal to his armor bonus only, discounting any shield.

Ice Piercer: Init -4; Atk pierce +4 melee (1d4); AC 12; HD 1d4; MV 5’ or climb 5’; Act 1d20; SP camouflage, immune to cold and mind-affecting, double damage from heat and fire; SV Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +0; AL N.

This strange creature is made of ice, appearing like nothing more than a large icicle. It holds to its perch with a flexible “foot” made of slushy snow. Hidden among natural icicles, it surprises the unwary with a 5 in 6 chance, dropping down in an attempt to pierce creatures. Should it fail, it must make its slow way back up to ceiling or eaves, where it can drop again. No one knows why ice piercers form. No one knows why they attack – they certainly do not eat their victims! They usually melt away in the spring, and perhaps will not even form again in the same place when the weather turns cold again. 

Some Thoughts About Patrons in Dungeon Crawl Classics

Patrons, Gods, and Demi-Patrons

Patrons are (usually) supernatural entities who are willing to aid a mortal being (especially a wizard or elf) in return for services rendered. The full write-up for a patron in the Dungeon Crawl Classics role-playing game officially consists of a table for invoke patron results, a table for spellburn, a table for patron taint, and three unique spells – one 1^st level, one 2^nd level, and one 3^rd level.

A god is a powerful supernatural being who grants powers to clerics, and can demand that the cleric perform (or refrain from performing) certain actions in order to retain this power. There is some overlap between gods and patrons. A god may be, but need not be, a patron. A patron may be, but need not be, a god.

Non-deity patrons may include arch-liches, ghosts, faeries, ultra-powerful wizards, alien beings, and so on. If you read Appendix N literature, you will see ancient AIs, angel-like beings, demons, wizards, and more acting very much as patrons do in DCC. To the average peasant, though, there is little difference between a patron and a god. Both can exert enormous influence for or against the common folk.

A demi-patron is a less powerful patron. This might be a creature that can offer spellburn, or who can be invoked, but who doesn’t offer spells. The idea was introduced in this author’s adventure, Silent Nightfall, but it is implicit in the structure of Appendix N fiction that such creatures must exist. Likewise, this author’s The Crimson Void offers a system for ranking deities and other supernatural powers that can be used to determine what happens when they come into conflict.

Invoke Patron, Spellburn, & Patron Taint

When devising these tables, you can use published examples of patrons to give you a rough power gauge for appropriate effects. Remember, though, that you need to consider your patron as a whole. If a patron’s “patron taint” effects are particularly nasty, you might wish to give the patron a little extra oomph in terms of his invoke patron table. If your patron offers only the worst sorts of spellburn, you may wish to counteract that with another benefit.

It was recently suggested to me that patron taint should be both permanent and bad for the PC obtaining it. I would like to take a moment to disagree with that.

First off, not all of the patron taints in the core rules are permanent. The Three Fates, in particular, has patron taints that can be “resolved”, allowing the wizard bound to the Fates to get on with her life. I would argue that, if an event is both flavourful and meaningful within the context of the patron, it can serve as a patron taint. Anyone familiar with my work in Angels, Daemons, & Beings Between, or in the pages of several Purple Duck modules, will see what I mean.

Secondly, I don’t agree that all patron taint should be bad. The player has no control over rolling a “1” on a spell check, and has very little control (apart from spending Luck) as to what patron taint is obtained once the die is cast. Again, depending upon the patron overall, a “good” patron taint can even out a less powerful invoke patron chart…or even other, nastier, patron taints.

I would contend that the best purpose of patron taint is to strengthen the thematic bond between wizard and patron, and that you should consider any taint that does this well, even if it is not permanent, and even if it is good for the wizard.

I would also suggest that the prospective judge consider the type of game he or she wishes to run. A hideous patron taint table can turn your PCs away from the Ghost-God of Cannibal Child-Eaters if you don’t want to repeatedly play through scenes where the point-of-view characters are engaged in heinous acts involving children, while still allowing for NPCs who do the same.

Similarly, if you specifically want the PCs to consider a patron, you can build in some bennies to make that patron more attractive. I did this with Doctor Chapman for the Faerie Tales From Unlit Shores series – Doctor Chapman has fewer than average taints, and one grants a bonus when dealing with fey. This is not an accident. The adventure series is, simply put, better the more Doctor Chapman is involved with the PCs…so I gave the players reason to seek involvement with Doctor Chapman.

Spells

If you take a look at the spells in Dungeon Crawl Classics, you will see that many of them, depending upon the spell check result, contain the effects of a whole group of D&D-type spells. This is a good thing for the game as a whole, but it makes coming up with three unique spells for every patron rather difficult.

I went a different route with Doctor Chapman, and also with The Black Goat. If you are determined to make other spells available, consider allowing a wizard to cast a cleric spell (I did this in The Crimson Void) or invest in some sources of new spells – Liber Arcanum, Tales of the Fallen Empire, and The Gongfarmer’s Almanac are good places to start. Another thing you might consider is converting materials from other systems.

Some patrons may have more than three spells – Paul Wolfe has a patron like this in Angels, Daemons, & Beings Between. As always, you should consider what seems right for your patron first, and then try to figure out how to define it within the rules.

Other Benefits and Drawbacks

Finally, you may wish to consider adding benefits and drawbacks to your patrons and demi-patrons which do not rely upon the roll of the dice. For an example of what I mean, see Ulibex, the Neutral fungous Lord of Mushrooms, Molds, Mildews, and Yeasts, in Silent Nightfall. There is no reason not to give the PC who bonds with a strange creature some immediate consequence, for good or for ill. In fact, there are a lot of good reasons to do so:

• It’s fun.
• It’s surprising.
• If good, it makes the players more apt to try their luck the next time some equally foolish venture presents itself.
• It brings the unique nature of a patron directly and immediately to the table.
• It gives the bonded PC some unique trait that is the direct result of play, rather than of buying feats during chargen.

For more fun, consider using a table of unique effects, so that if another PC jumps on the bandwagon, the patron might react in a different manner!

Patrons List and Patrons in Appendix N

I am considering maintaining a list of available patrons for DCC, and a list of patrons/patron-like beings in Appendix N fiction, but these would be separate posts if there is enough interest.

All the Funnels

Looking for a 0-level funnel adventure? Below is a list of all the funnels available for Dungeon Crawl Classics, Mutant Crawl Classics, Dark Trails, and related RPGs. 

If I have missed anything, please let me know! I will update regularly.

Last Updated 30 July 2019

That's a whopping 96 funnels to date!

12,000 to 0
A Gathering of the Marked
A Hellish Commute
A Horrible Day at the Dunwich Fair
The Arwich Grinder
Assault on the Sky-High Tower
Attack of the Frawgs
Beaten Copper
Betrayal at the Admiralty
Beyond the Silver Scream
Big Trouble in Little Punjar
Carnival of the Damned 
Cavern of the Cannibal Crone
Country Crawl Classics
Crypt of Morgrath
Cult of the Skin Demon
Curse of Cragbridge
Death by Nexus
Death Slaves of Eternity
The Desert Gardens
The Devil’s Cauldron
Duel at Midora Temple
The Dweller in Dreams
The Endless Chasm of Zaxxyn
Escape from Innsmouth
Escape from the Purple Planet
Escape from the Shrouded Fen
The Exodus of Wolfbane
Fae Hard
The Fate of the Ruthless Wizard
Fire in the Mountain
Frozen in Time
Goblins of the Faerie Wood
Gold Fever Comes to Owl Creek
Greenwood of the Fey Sovereign
The Handoff
Hive of the Overmind
Hole in the Sky
The Hounds of Halthrag Keep
The Hypercube of Myt
In the Wake of the Zorkul
It Came from Outer Space
Life Finds A Way
The Long Sleep
The Lost Patrol
Madazkan's Court
The Mall Maul
May Flowers
The Meat Grinder
Mother's Maze
The Museum at the End of Time 
Nebin Pendlebrook's Perilous Pantry
Night of the Mad Kobold
Not in Kansas Any More
The Old Mansion on Rubbleknot Hill
The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk
Operation Unfathomable Completely Unfathomable DCC version
Outlive, Outsmart, Outkill!
The Peasants' Fell Bargain
The Perplexing Disappearances in Brambury
Picnic Among the Pines on the Rocky Mountain Stage Line
The Pillar of Anuul
The Pillars of Peng
Playing the Game
The Portal Under the Stars
Prince Charming, Reanimator
Prison of the Mad Gods
Rat Salad
Recruitment Day for the Perilous League
Reliquary of the Ancient Ones
The Ruined Keep
The Ruins of Ramat
Sailors on the Starless Sea
Sanctum of the Snail
The Seventh Pit of Sezrekan
The Shambling Undead
Sisters of the Moon Furnace
Sky ov Crimson Flame
Slave-Drones of the Fantas-ti-plex
The Slave Pens of Maxus
Soul for the Ocean Dark
Sour Spring Hollow
Starkweather Mountain
Street Kids of Ur-Hadad
Swindled at the Laughing Harpy
Sword in the Jungle Deep
They Served Brandolyn Red
Thirteen Brides of Blood
Tomb of the Ghast Queen
The Tribe of Ogg and the Gift of Suss
The Virtual Funnel
The Void Corpse of Amann Uur
The Well of Souls
The Witch of Wydfield
World-Quest of the Winter Calendar
Wrath of a Dead God

NOTES

Previous versions of this list had notes on publisher, my level of involvement with the writing, etc. The intent now is to link these to the appropriate DCC Trove of Treasures entry to provide additional information.

Thank you to the DCC/MCC community for helping to keep these lists up to date, and especial thanks to Dieter Zimmerman and Michael Harrington for their help!

Now in Print

Three Nights in Portsmouth

Who Should Be the Big Bad in the New Star Wars Trilogy?

Clearly, it should be the scheming Amidala.

She was the "phantom menace" from the first film, a Sith lord so subtle that she could pretend to be two people, out of a very small group of people, without either Qui Gon Jinn or Obi Wan Kenobi catching on. A Sith Lord able to take control of her world at a very young age. A Sith Lord who possesses the genius necessary to take back that world from an army of droids, using only a few grappling guns and some Gungans.

Amidala, not Palpatine, decimated the Gungans by convincing them to get slaughtered for the Naboo. 

Amidala, not Palpatine, first recognized that Anakin was special and started grooming him for her purposes. 

Amidala, not Palpatine, had the most influence on the older Anakin...and literally seduced him from his Jedi vows. 

When Palpatine sends assassins to kill Amidala, he is attempting to dispose of a rival. 

When Luke and Leia are born, Amidala fakes her own death using her Sith wiles....which is why Leia remembers her on Aldaraan. Amidala seems to die again when Leia is young, but does not...

Amidala is why.

In The Phantom Menace, they kept saying that there was always a bigger fish, and to be careful not to assume. In a sense, then, the prequel trilogy is actually a contest between Amidala and Palpatine, which Palpatine wins. His win causes Amidala to fake her death, and go into hiding. Yet she still hangs around Leia because, as we know, there are always two - a master and an apprentice. Moreover, Obi Wan and Yoda eventually focus on Luke because they have figured out what Amidala is, prompting her second apparent death when Leia is still young, and causing Obi Wan to dismiss her as a potential hope.

Suddenly, a lot of apparent mistakes make sense.

Vault 0

My brother's business venture: Vault 0.

Costuming and accessories for gamers and fans.

Toronto Crawl Classics

I have started a new blog as a home for my open Dungeon Crawl Classics game that will be starting next January. This will contain rules, characters, maps....anything that players in the game should be aware of. You can find it here.

If you are in the Toronto area and feel like playing, there will be neither cost nor commitment required. Those who show up are the party that night. Either they get to a rest stop by the end of the night's gaming, or they get to roll on some tables I will be devising to determine what happens between the curtain of one gaming session and when their characters are seen next. Basically, unless otherwise arranged, one adventurous outing = one session.



What will this game entail?

• A sandbox setting (the ruins of Toronto, which effectively contains villages, dungeons, a megadungeon or two, and wilderness areas).

• Several funnel adventures to allow PCs to be readied for the game.

• A large, known, complex for the ease of play. If you have nothing better to do, you can always attempt to raid the Dark Paths. Simply exploring Ruined Toronto is hazardous...but rewarding.

• Points of familiarity for those familiar with the Greater Toronto Area.

• Hiring Board...You can take a job, go exploring, or set your own agenda.

Who can play?

Anyone who wants to. 

Players may have multiple active PCs. On any given game night (outside the funnel), each player may choose one of his or her active PCs, if that PC is available (i.e., the PC is not off on another quest, recuperating, a prisoner, etc).

Disruptive players can be banned, but let's hope that never happens. In character Player vs. Player action is fine; out of character PVP is not. 

What do you need?

Dice.

Stuff to write on.

Any DCC material you might have will come in handy, but it isn't really needed. No published materials will be used without serious modifications, so you can own every DCC adventure available if you like. It makes no difference to me.

Toronto Crawl Classics is obviously influenced by the wonderful work of the DCC community....in particular, Crawling Under a Broken Moon and Crawljammer. Buy all the issues if you want. Read them. They may help you. They may not. At least they will be entertaining.

When will this start?

I am shooting for January 2016, although the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.

What can I do to help?

I am trying to find a public venue, preferably not too far from the Annex, to run public games in. Any help here would be great!

Walkabout Thing

Walkabout Thing: Init +3; Atk bite +2 melee (1d5 plus enervation); AC 12; HD 2d8+2; MV 30’ or climb 20’ or swim 30’; Act 1d20; SP enervation (1d3 Strength damage, Fort DC 15 or 1 point is permanent), regeneration by enervation, stealthy; SV Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +3; AL C.

“That thing, I swear, it looked like a koala,” said John. “But no koala’s ever been that big, nor had eyes that looked so evil. The whole thing was drenched, like it had been down in the creek. And its jaws – they weren’t the jaws of nothing I’d ever seen before. More like a dingo or that marsupial wolf they had in Tasmania once.”

John shook, and I passed him my pint. I wasn’t sure I believed him till then. Strange things happen in the Outback, sure. Uncanny, more than like. I’d heard stories of ‘roos that chased men and ate flesh, come up from the Dreamtime. I’d heard of drop bears, then koala-like critters that waited in trees till some bloke walked under, thinking it was just one of them slow-moving eucalyptus feeders up there. Nothing to worry about, right? But they say the drop bear, he eats meat.

I’ve never seen any of them things. Australia’s got enough critters that can kill you without making up more. But when John cupped the beer with his hands, looked down at it, I felt a shiver down my spine. Because I knew – I knew – that this thing was real. More real to John than the untouched beer in front of him.

“We need to kill that thing,” he said. “Simon’s dead.”

The Walkabout Thing looks like a massive koala with dog-like jaws and a sinister attitude. When it bites, the victim takes 1d3 Strength damage and must succeed in a DC 15 Fort save or 1 point is permanent. It regenerates lost hit points equal to 1 per point of temporary Strength damage, and 5 per point of permanent Strength damage.

Despite being nearly as large as a man, the Walkabout Thing is a cunning predator, gaining a +5 bonus to any stealth check.

Happy Halloween!

DCC 4th Printing Kickstarter

.....is live.

Since its debut in 2012, Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game (DCC RPG) has sold through three printings and spawned a movement. This Kickstarter funds the fourth printing, with stretch goals that add a plethora of awesome new features to the physical product. Additional stretch goals fund reprints of some DCC RPG adventure modules that have sold through their first printings.

The physical product is a 480-page hardcover book. The cover and endsheets are color; the interior is B/W. The book is filled to the brim with art, in the classic TSR old-school style. The default binding is Smythe-sewn (“textbook” binding, very durable), although stretch goals may change that (see Kickstarter page).