Saturday, April 13, 2024

D66 Warriors and their Quirks

Time for another D66 list - Warriors to encounter, whether on the road, the battlefield, or the tavern. I think it took me longer to pick names than come up with the archetypes. Names are somewhat relevant to the particular warrior's kit, and male/female options are provided, with a couple of exceptions ;) 

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D66 Warriors

11 Alexios/Philyra: Bronze panoply, xiphos, spear
12 Klaas/Gerhild: Mismatched plate, horse, lance
13 Ciniath/Modwen: Naked, painted blue, oval shield, broadsword
14 Skauvalf/Briendeg: Chainmail briefs/bikini, ancestor's sword
15 Reinier/Polonia: Fabulous hair, rapier, ruffled shirt, mirror
16 Titus/Volusenna: Lorica segmentata, gladius, horsehair plumed helmet
21 Melchior/Delia: Heavy crossbow, kettle helm, pavise, shieldbearer
22 Delwin/Rhian: Longbow, rondel dagger, bag of looted silverware
23 Yargai/Sokhatai: Shaggy pony, composite bow, fur hat
24 EN-247/EN-248: NBC-resistant powered armor, phased plasma rifle, 40-watt range
25 Ferdinand/Rosalinde: Zweihander, steel cuirass, hat with impressive plume
26 Vocorix/Sigesinda: Falx, lye-bleached hair, carnyx
31 Ciriacu/Artemisa: Murmillo armor, spatha, rudis
32 Thorbjorn/Ulfheid: Daneaxe, horned helmet, chainmail, braids
33 Vithimiris/Malasintha: Skull-faced helm, black spiky plate, serrated longsword
34 Galeran/Rousalie: Pot helm, tabard w/ holy symbol, mace
35 Caiden/Matilda: Kilt, claymore, buckler, bagpipes
36 Zelotes/Sofija: Straw hat, sling, bag of lead shot, tunic
41 Hrafnvartr/Skogrdrifa: Bearskin, round shield with toothmarks, axe, magic mushrooms
42 Iobates/Kastalia: Wicker shield, javelins, Phrygian cap
43 Ovechkin: Giant maul, equally large mustache
44 Balthasar/Nastaran: Scale mail, spear, Thracian helm
45 Tlexicmac/Xihuipin: Padded tlahuiztli suit, macuahuitl, jaguar headdress, death whistle
46 Krukk/Vura: Fire-hardened spear, skins, bear tooth necklace
51 Kagawa/Uesugi: Lamellar armor, goblin-face helmet, katana
52 Thoth-hotep/Hent-kherpu: Chariot, kopis, recurve bow, cool gold and lapis necklace
53 Mnqobi/Nozizwe: Oval shield, thrusting spear, leopard-skin cape
54 Alessio/Ginevra: Halberd, motley, lobsterback helm
55 Mahesh/Chandrika: Robes, iron-bound staff, book of koans
56 Cragark/Ordava: Club, alligator-skin breechclout, flint knife
61 Ambaxius/Vrogenia: Plaid trousers, wooden shield, two spears, gold torq
62 Reinhold/Ludwina: Pair of swords, boiled leather cuirass, domino mask, cape
63 Vojavona: Blowgun, penis gourd, frog venom
64 Otaktay/Chlumani: Leather breechclout, selfbow, spiked club, eagle feather
65 Hamakona/Makutu: Face tattoos, club, skirt
66 Guillaume/Seinfrie: Chainmail hauberk, nasal helm, kite shield, spear

Friday, April 12, 2024

Campaign Journal: Back To Neuforde, and Slight Detours

 The night's party:

  • Frederick
  • Rondel
  • Slick
  • Fulvus
  • Jax
And away we go! The party passed through a couple of towns, spending the night in Alaric, a town of about 250 people. The party laid up in the inn (The Brass Lord) with no issues, however, they found that one of their pack horses had been poisoned in the morning, requiring a replacement. Odd.

They continued south. While taking a break for lunch, hench Roderick wandered off to relieve himself and discovered a barrow by falling into it. Thankfully, Tim Shorts had put that barrow there. After rescuing and healing poor Roderick, the party squeezed into the cramped barrow to explore. Rondel determined that nothing alive was down there to harm them. They puzzled at the pair of clay crow statues in the corridors, one of which had a tapping/scratching noise. For the moment, they avoided them, and Fulvus squeezed by one to enter a tomb. He found himself whisked away to face this thing:


...who clearly wanted payment of some kind. Fulvus offered it some gold coin, which it rejected. About that time, Slick was invisibly whisked in, as well. In spite of his magic ring, the thing seemed to sense him, and was doubly disappointed that he didn't have the correct toll. So of course they fought. Thankfully, both of our 'heroes' were able to do the thing in, without any harm, finding themselves back in the original chamber. At least they found some jars with some odd coins, a bracelet, and a roll of parchment with fortification descriptions dating back to the prior wars in the area. 

Friday, April 5, 2024

They Met At a Tavern: Deathbringer One-Shot

 It's been a while since I ran a Meetup one-shot at the brewery. After all, my original series of one-shots morphed into a campaign, and I ceased the pickup games. But, I've been itching to both run games for strangers, as well as play a few other games on my shelves. So I posted up for a Deathbringer one-shot, and picked a few possible brief adventures from the files.

I ended up with four players: Elijah, Roy, Mark, and Alex. Elijah, Roy, and Mark had gamed together before. None had played the system before, although Elijah was a follower of Professor Dungeonmaster. I distributed the rules and character sheets, and did a quick run-through of chargen and the five player options. There was some negotiation on what characters everyone wanted to play, and we ended up with:

  • Artemis, Scoundrel
  • Vandal, Grimscribe
  • Blog, Deathbringer
  • "Johnathan," Plague Doctor

I had a few options to run, and picked "Requiem for Atticus Stumps," by Tim Shorts. Tim's dark and grotty Komor Forest fits with the esthetic of Deathbringer, and "Requiem" has flexibility to explore multiple small locations depending on playable time.


The gist is that the adventurers are asked by a pair of elderly locals to collect a "death coin" from a local barrow to inter with their old friend to help his soul's journey onward. And since the party consisted of two out-of-work ratcatchers, a ne'er-do-well with gambling debts, and a former militia medic with a bad healing track record, of course they said yes. Especially with the offer of being able to share in the funeral buffet.

Oh fun. I'm dropping them into barrows without a Witchfinder. Let's see how this goes...

Friday, March 29, 2024

Five Visits to the Temperance Stone

Another "four scenario" project that became five scenarios... Dyson threw out this five-room dungeon some time ago, and it lived in my map repository until I needed a fun project. 

Source

Again, it was meant to be a "four scenario" exercise, but I had a few spare area descriptions that made it an even five (not the first time this has happened). The rooms are described in a brief, tabular format without much elaboration. This is meant to be a location to be stumbled upon, or as a couple of the scenarios imply, perhaps a location where the party can visit to be granted healing or other gifts. And, of course, a couple are just nasty. Enjoy:) 

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A note on the art. The standing stone drawings in the document are by Scottish archeologist and naturalist Frederick Coles. As part of his position at the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Coles received support to survey and measure standing stone locations throughout Scotland. Through his career in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, he created one of the first catalogues of standing stone circles in the country. 


The bio notes that Coles would take his children along on these trips after his wife's death and would utilize them as field assistants. I'd just like to highlight this photograph of Coles and four of his children on one of his survey trips:


Based on the posture and expression of the young lady in the forefront, it's comforting to know that teen boredom and disdain has endured throughout the ages. "Daaaaddd! We go measure your stupid rocks every summer! Can't we go somewhere fun for a change?"

Anyway, have an enjoyable Easter weekend, for those celebrating the holiday. Looks to be a pleasant weekend here - hope to move around outside in one manner or another.

Also will be running a Deathbringer one-shot through Meetup this week, so printing out copies of the rules and figuring out which hole to send the erstwhile adventurers down. The usual campaign game will fire up again after the holiday. I'm sure that it will be a peaceful, uneventful session... ;)

Saturday, March 23, 2024

RPG Blog Carnival: Feasts, Foods and Fancy Drinks, oh my!

Crap. It's been literal years since I've contributed to one of these. 

VDonnut Valley is hosting this month's soirée, themed Feasts, Foods and Fancy Drinks, oh my! Well, I can work with a prompt like that. Perhaps from a slightly different angle.

After all, part of being a good host is sometimes being flexible to your guests' dietary restrictions and perhaps preparing a special meal for an honored "foreign" guest...

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***

The tremoring acolyte stirred the vile concoction. His eyes darted to the poor sod he'd just replaced, still spasming on the floor. Clearly, sampling the offertory meal had not agreed with him.

“Add the next ingredient, worm!” commanded the hooded priest. Taking a shaking hand, the acolyte opened the stained crockery. His eyes watered even more as the acrid, metallic fumes emerged from the crockery as he poured the toxic mixture into the boiling pot.

“Taste the offering. Perhaps you are more worthy to serve His Glory than your predecessor!” A spear butt in his ribs encouraged the acolyte further.

The acolyte glanced at his fellow initiate, now still. With shaking hand and tears in his eyes, he took a spoon to taste the bubbling amalgamation.

Somewhere, in the shadows beyond the priest, a shape began to unfold from space. Slavering jaws emerged as the entity from beyond took in the first, deep, delicious scent of the offering meal...