X - eXperiments. Evil Experiments.

Abominations, failed experiments, disgusting monsters - who needs more to be happy? Here is a new random table with some gross and unpleasant stuff:

Creatures and monstrosities (roll 1d8):

1. Grozhoth - evil wizard with tentacles instead of arms and legs, his face is upside-down. Robed in purple tatters, he travels in black palanquin carried by six albino, headless lizardmen.
2. Writhing Mass of Primal Chaos – hard to describe ever-changing mass of pulsing tissue, raw power and utter madness. Combination of gibbering mouther, black pudding and nuclear explosion. Toxic, necrotic, dangerous and unpredictable.
3. Skinless Mutant – huge, monstrous conglomerate of deformed bones, hardened tendons and bulging muscles. Capable of tearing warhose in two, it has a philosopher’s nature. However, usually it’s very hungry.
4. The Worm Priest – leech-like mutant with some magical abilities. His mouth is transformed into a sucker, body is covered with thick, rubbery, dark-green skin and lower part of the body have form of maggot-like tail.
5. Bird Men of the Forgotten Darkness – eyeless, pale-skinned, feathered mutants. Their arms are transformed into a Archeopteryx-style wings, heads have long, pointy beaks. They are somewhat intelligent, but unable to communicate otherwise than shrieking. They can “feel” the light sources in a similar manner to cockroaches.
6. Ungarr-Thaan, the Slug Prophet. Disgusting psychopath that loves to shout about forthcoming doom (his second love is to kidnap children and devour them alive). He have protruding, yellow eyes and his skin is brown, wrinkled and covered with thick layer of horribly stinking, sticky mucus.
7. Cthonic Malformation – deformed conglomerate of at least four creatures, melted into one horrible being. Filled with madness and pain, it dwells in a deepest caves, where it stalk and hunt its prey.
8. The Spider Bride – failed genetic experiment, which was intended to create a spider-human hybrid. Unfortunately, its effect is multi-limbed, disfigured abomination. Able to climb walls, spit poison and produce web to entangle its victims, it’s highly intelligent, agile and dangerous monster.

W - Wyrms of the Underworld

I planned to post detailed info about dragon rulers of the Underworld, but I'm really sick, so everything I can do is post their names with a brief description.

Grax Bloodfang - the Old Black Dragon - most cunning and evil of all dragons. He lives on the island located in the middle of the great underground lake;

Thrax Emberfire - the Red Beast - furious and insane monster, lord of the deepest parts of the Lava Caves;

Vrax / Morax - previously mentioned here, but I've changed my vision of the game since then, so I decided to dethrone him :D Lord of the Galroth Spire;

Tanax the Silver-winged - also known as the Great Traitor. Outcast hiding himself in the Megastructure; also it's possible that he is trapped there.

Forgive me the general shittyness of this post - as I mentioned before I don't feel good today.

V - Void Swords

These jet-black longswords are magical weapons, made in ancient times by mysterious and long gone caste of the Worshippers of the Eternal Darkness (maybe they worshiped Nyogtha). There are at least six Black Swords, but its current location remains unknown.

Each Void Sword is a +1 weapon, but if it’s used against any sapient opponent, treat it as +3 sword. It deals +2 damage against sentient beings and any victim of 1 HD or less must make an successful save vs death or is killed outright. However, use of this weapon affects its bearer – as time passes he (or she) becomes increasingly cold and inhuman, as if the chill of Eternal Darkness passed to the holder of the Void Sword. Every time a sentient being will be killed with this weapon, roll d6. On a score of 1 reduce wielder’s Charisma score by one point. This loss is permanent.

U - Universal Builder Enitites

These huge, sentient automatons were designed to expand, repair and modify the Megastructure. Unfortunately, something went wrong and the Builders went mad. They began to expand the whole level in an uncontrolled way or reshape already existing places, sometimes making them bizarre and / or utterly useless.

Typical Builder is a colossal, spider-like machine (although some of them have reshaped themselves into other forms), equipped with very advanced matter converters, allowing them to transmute one substance to another. In addition, the have a variety of claws, drills and blowtorches, usable during less-complex tasks.

Builders absorbed in their lunatic “plan”, rarely attack any living beings, but if they do so, they are capable of attacking 1d6 opponents per round. Their weapons cause 2d6 or more damage. Self-repair modules and nanotech swarms reduce any damage caused by non-magical weapons by one point, also they regenerate 10 HP per round. UBE are immune to poison, charm (other than cyber-brain hacking spells and similar effect, such as i.e. Control Robot), sleep, polymorph, electrical damage and death rays. However, fire and acid damage is not reduced by one point, but can be regenerated, as can every other attack.

Some builders are worshipped as gods by the Megastructure’s savage tribesmen.

No. appearing: 1

Armor Class: 2

Move in Inches: 18

Hit Dice: 18

% in Lair: Nil

Treasure: Nil

Megastructure - inspirations (by ExileHazard)

No text this time - only graphical inspirations about how the Megastructure's inhabitants may look like (not tribesmen but rather... the other ones). If you want some more, check out ExileHazard's deviantART profile. Unfortunately, I have no money to ask him for some commisions...

T - Trap

Bored with common pits, spears and stone blocks? Here you go!

Roll 1d12:

1-2) Gravity trap A: victim is crushed by a sudden gravity growth. 2d6 damage with great possibility of breaking some bones during the fall. Victim must roll equal of less than his Strength on d100 to set free (anybody that helps him may add his STR).

3-4) Gravity trap B: victim is literally launched 2d6 meters up. when he falls he receives 1d6 damage per each five meters (or its fraction). If victim hits the ceiling, well… he receives 2 points of damage per one meter “beyond” the height of the ceiling.

5) Red’s Cage: big, rusty and animated cage. It have two limbs able to grab victim and push inside itself. AC 2, HD 6, it don’t cause any damage, but there is a 25% chance that it have something already caught (typical wandering monster for this region, but only one of them), so anybody pushed inside it may be in trouble. Cage is capable to contain 5 human-sized victims.

6-7) Click!: one of the party members steps on something… clicky (it may be a loose floor tile, stone or something else). Nothing happens until he raise his leg. If he does… nothing happens, except one thing – as long the trap button is pushed (and party members are thinking how they may save their friend) time in the dungeon passes twice as fast (especially for purpose of wandering monsters, random events, poison etc.).

8-9) Gong: another seemingly non-lethal trap. Activation of it causes the ringing of bell or gong located somewhere in the wall or ceiling of the room. It’s obvious that any inhabitant of the dungeon will hear it and probably will go to find out what happened.

10-11) Food contaminator: victim of this trap may now forget about all his food and water reserve. Any non-magical liquid he has is now transformed into urine and any food transforms into a disgusting and horribly stinking goo.

12) Spell sucker: it have no effect on characters unable to cast spells, but any spellcaster (cleric, magic user and so on) must save vs. spells. If he passes, he loses one randomly determined spell. If he fails, he loses all his prepared spells. Nice, eh?

S - Spire Cities of Khaal

The Spire Cities of Khaal are large rock formations in the north of the desert called the “Sands of the Past”. These rock spires, each several dozen meters high, are riddled with corridors and rooms, almost none of which are accessible from the ground level. Currently, some of them are inhabited by humans, but chambers in the highest spires are very hard to reach from the ground, so they remain unoccupied (or even unexplored).

On some ancient bas-reliefs from the Spire Cities region can be found images of strange, moth-like creatures, flying in and out of the spires. Some believe that these creatures had created the whole complex, but as it has been impossible to find any trace of these beings, it’s not possible to confirm (or deny) this theory.

In some of the spires have been found vertical channels or tunnels leading deeper into the structures (or maybe even into the underworld), but they have never been explored.

Resources!

To be honest - I have no idea what to write for a letter R. Rats? Boring. Reshaping of the Underworld? Already done. Rivers? Who cares about rivers? Rome? Good idea! But wait... there is no fucking Rome down here!

So it's time for some sort of master index of all Underworld Kingdom resources. At the moment it's not very big list, but it will be expanded with time. Note: I will not include here any posts about "useless stuff" such as notes about geography, history etc. - unless you want it to be included.

2012-10-09 note: Charon Prime resources are not included.

A
Acid Fungi
Additional abilities
Advanced weaponry
Appearance of magical weapons
Appearance of Underworld forests
Armageddon Clock 
Armor Class and active defense
Ash'kari

B
Bandits
Bandits & Basilisks!
Behemoth freighters
Black Fungi 
Black Tower Gate

C
Captcha-inspired names
Character sheet
Classless Old School RPG
Combat abilities of gods
Cockroach King
Corpse Boar
Crow Sword 
Curse the Weak
Cursed dungeon rooms
Cursed potions 

D
Daggers of Traa'shkaa'vassl
Dead Ones (new class)
Death experience
Devastator torpedoes
Disturbing standards
Dragon additional abilities
Dragons of the Underworld
Drunkards
Dusts

E
Elasmotherium

F

Fate of NPC adventurers
Fractal gun

G
Gate of the Iron Skull
Ghatanothoa statue
Giant slugs
Gods of Ortix

H
Hellcrawler
Ho-ru

I
Immolator Missile
Incense
Inhabitants of the Underworld

J
Jade Shambler
Jewel of Pain

K
Keys

L
Lesser demons
Links between Ortix and other worlds
Lost Haven - rumors and legends 
Lovecraftian deitis in my game
Lovecraftian names

M
Memory Crystals
Morbid Lantern 
Mutations (list)
Mutations (how many of them - old stuff)

N
Names (Alarri / alien style)
Names (dwarvish style)
Names (general fantasy style)
Names (generator and guidelines)
Names (beginning with X)
Necrotic Phlegm
Nicknames of the kings

O
Occupations: criminals | entertainers | sci-fi | | science/mystical
Opening the Door Leading to the Yellow City of the Empty Mountain
Orb of Torment
Ossuary random finds

P
Pale Giants
Plague carriers

Q
Quartz Fungi
Quests 
Quirks

R
Raven's Gate
Reasons to leave city right now
Red Vengeance
Replicant NPCs 

S
Sci-fi locations
Sci-fi traps 
Skills
Space bar patrons
Space brothel mishaps 
Spell list - MU lvl 1
Spiny Armadillo
Storm Autocannon
Supernatural Horror in Old School RPG

T
TANK DOG
Things in the lake
Things in the mirror
Tombs
Torches
Toxic blood
Traitor King
Traits of the hirelings
Traps
Tribes of the Megastructure 

U
Umber Tome
Universal Builder Entities
Underworld forests 
Useless items
Useless weapons
Useless tomes 

V
Venomous bites
Void Swords

W
Weapon restrictions
Weapon upgrades
Weird items 
Weird places
WFRP hacks
Why they abandoned it?
Words of Disgust
Words of the Oracle

X

Y
Yeti staff

Z
Zsakrn

Q - Quartz Fungi (new monster)

Two to three-feet tall crystalline mushrooms. They are immobile and unable to attack. However, if touched or otherwise harmed, they can emit strange, nauseating, humming sound. Every person that hears this “Wail of the Mushrooms” (name given to it by underworld goblins) must save vs magic or fall asleep for 1-6 hours.

Quartz fungi are unable to attack or defend itself, but when they HP are reduced to zero, they explode with cloud of shrapnel-like spores, causing 2d6 damage.

Ho-ru (and maybe some alchemists) are able to extract hallucinogenic substances from the thallus of the Quartz Fungi.

No. appearing: 2-12

Armor Class: 5

Move in Inches: -

Hit Dice: 2+2

% in Lair: Nil

Treasure: Nil

P - Pale Giants (new monster)

Sometimes called the Ghast Giants, they are degenerated descendants of the once proud race, who disappeared from the surface world a long time ago. Perhaps they were slaves of the Shapers, which took them into the underworld. Pale giants have skin that is almost white and often no body hair. They have completely black eyes, and are very thin (almost skeletal).. They never attack in bright or well-illuminated places, where their ambush could be easily detected.

No. appearing: 2-12
Armor Class: 5
Move in Inches: 12
Hit Dice: 6 – 10+1
% in Lair: 45%
Treasure: 2500 gp + Type E

You CAN do it!

A little photostory about yesterday CoC game session. First - some rubbish generated during the game:

And some mysterious can people caught by our photographer:

First: Szal, a man who was inspiration for the Cockroach King. Character: Henry Nowak, former archeologist who have seen too much. Participant of many shootouts, now working in tabloid newspaper called Sensation and Mystery:

Second: Piotr, current Terminal Space translator and proofreader for B&B. His head is not compatible with a can. Character: Mysterio the Magnificent, performer and prestidigitator, he claims that he came from Providence, but in fact he is a redneck descendant from Ohio's hellhole named Pigwash. Relatively fresh (and sane) PC.

Next is Gogles the Potato-faced. His forhead was created to bear this can. PC: Doctor Faller, once world-renowned doctor and medical consultant, now deranged drunk and vagabond. Currently the oldest PC that is still active (however, his schizophrenia can be really nasty complication :D).

And finally, myself! My pointy head was unable to carry the burden of a can, so I was forced to hold it. Character: many cultists, Mi-go, one gug, one star vampire, one dark young, three sorcerers and one yithian - the vicious GM!

Note: three other players (including two ladies) and the photographer were not stupid enough to put the can on their heads. Too bad for them as they weren't immortalized on this blog!

O is for the Old Ones

Despite the fact that Ortix has its own gods (and there are more of them than just thirteen main deities), many more powerful forces seek opportunities to gain mortal souls for itself.

Thirteen Gods usually remains in opposition to the most of the Great Old Ones – not because of caring for the well-being and safety of the mortals, but just because they are jealous and hostile to all who wanted to interfere with their powerbase.

Here is a list of the most active Great Old Ones:

• Shub Niggurath – it have cultists among degenerated inhabitants of the Jungle Caves, also some tribes of the Red Moon worship her;
• Nyarlathotep – worshiped by cultists of many forbidden, apocalyptic cults;
• Atlach-Nacha – Spider-god is worshiped by some of the inhabitants of the Underworld Kingdom, both Neanderthal, goblin, ghoul and human;
• Hastur – it’s said that some of the cannibalistic mutant tribes roaming through the desert worships Hastur. Maybe they have some hidden sacrificial site somewhere amidst the wasteland;
• Chaungar Faugn – some well hidden followers;
• Eihort – some believe that members of the long lost Architects Guild, builders of the Maze of Torment, were worshippers of Eihort. Now it seems that he have no followers
• Yibb-Tsill – worshiped by deranged hermits, fallen priests and madmen dreaming about the Dark Side of the Grey Moon.

Krubera Cave!

Click on map to enlarge it. It is a great source of inspiration (here you can find something more about it), but also it scares the shit out of me...

Bandits & Battlecruisers?

Bandits & Basilisks + Terminal Space + setting placed in Solar System Anno 3000+? No Cthulhu Mythos (it's reserved for... nah, you must wait for it :D), but large amounts of cyberpunk-ish stuff? Bio-weapons, genetic alterations, cybernetic implants and so on... What do you think about it?

Image based on photo by Brenda Clarke.

N - Necropolis

This immense, partially ruined city of cyclopean proportions is hidden deep beyond maze of caverns called Land of the Dead. Probably Necropolis is one of few signs of the Shapers’ civilization and maybe once it was the center of their civilization. Found and destroyed by K’reen, now it’s occupied by Dead Ones, who made it their capital and main shelter and hence the city got its name.

Despite the massive damage that ruined the city, its core remained rather intact. Dead ones found there strange and extremely complicated difference engines, probably built by the Shapers. It took them hundreds of years to analyze the machines and run them, but the results of the experiment is unknown even to most of them – it’s said that the Council of Elders closed themselves in the chamber of the engine and their leader transferred his consciousness to the machine or otherwise connected his mind with it.

Necropolis is a silent and disturbing place. Partially destroyed, it’s filled with huge buildings of unusual proportions, many monoliths and monuments of unknown purpose, strange markings and signs of use of weapons of incomprehensible power. Even the Dead Ones of the city are silent and withdrawn, just as if the city has left its mark even on them. This and difficulty with reaching the city makes that only a few mortals ever visited it.

Another set of hi-tech spells

Need ideas for more sci-fi oriented spells? Here you go!

Soon I'll try to post some descriptions of spells from this list (and from previous one too).

• Read Binary
• Living Wires
• Living Machinery
• See Through Sensors
• Cybernetic Possession
• Password
• Summon Lift
• Control Vehicle
• Feeling Machine
• Sense the Machine
• Electric Maze
• Magnetic Sphere

M is for the Megastructure!

Some fresh meat for you! Unfortunately no stats nor random goodies, but some kind of preview (actually, a list of features) of one of the Underworld Kingdom "levels" - the Megastructure.

• Rejuvenation Chambers - places that can heal damaged body of man and machine. Some of them are damaged and may change their victims into the hideous abominations;
• Dimension Doors - teleporters. Rather ordinary things... as long as they work properly;
• Builders - huge machines designed to expand the Megastructure. They are sentient - and insane;
• Lifts - unfortunately, most of them are automated and go up and down at theirs own will;
• Savage tribes - primitive inhabitants of the Megastructure;
• Assemblers - guardian constructs able to generate robots, guardians and "living" weapons;
• Digital spellbooks - why not? :D
• Railways - connection between the Megastructure and dreadful Darkforge. Probably train stations are guarded by some security system and / or robots. And don't expect that you will be able to command the automated trains (see lifts);
• Cloning facilities - maybe every clone is mentally linked with each other?
• Feeding chambers - because clones must eat something;
• ...and - as always - many more.

Hi-tech spells

List of some spells I want to make. When I post description of a particular spell, I’ll put a link to it in this post. Probably I will start it with the letter "U", because I don't have any other good idea to post "about" this letter :D

• Animate the Machine
• Control Machinery
• Cyber-brain hack
• Decrypt
• Digital Backup
• Digital Enlightment
• Digital Kill
• Digital Transfer
• Energy Drain
• Energy Transfer
• Electric Shield
• Magnetic Touch
• Mend the Machine
• Supercharge
• Travel Through Electricity
• Unite with the Machine
• White Noise

Also, if you want some sci-fi spells right now, check out my Terminal Space supplement.

L - Links between Ortix and another worlds

As typical pulpy / weird environment, world of Ortix is linked with some other worlds, including Earth from different epochs. Some of these links are places where cosmic lines are tangled and fabric of this reality twists with another. These connections are very hard to distinguish from ordinary, “normal” places. Other may be ancient magical portals (like stone circles) or remains of technology of the Elder Races, or even portals and teleporters “brought” by off-worlders.

Some of the links:

• Ancient Babylon;
• Cthlol;
• Central Asia from times of Genghis-Khan;
• Plateau of Leng;
• Area of current France from Neolith;
• Gilead, approximately 500 years after The Fall;
• Iceland circa 950.

Also, potentially infinite number of worlds can be reached through the Black Ziggurat.

K - King(s) of the Underworld

Although the name of the Underworld Kingdom seems to require the presence of the king, actually its meaning is slightly different. The point is that the underworld is a realm that is completely different from surface world. More mysterious, dangerous and unfathomable, it’s also more static – some things in the underworld have not changed for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Despite that rather obvious misinterpretation of the kingdom’s name, there are several powerful rulers, each ruling a different part of the Underworld:

• Jaarkon the Elder, King of Ghohk – lord of men, old and mad. It’s said that some kind of worms is slowly devouring his brains. However, he lives for almost 200 years and outlived his eight sons.
• Vrax / Morax, the Dragon King – two-headed master of the Galroth Spire. Lord of all dragons of the Underworld. Clever and dangerous, he despises mankind.
• The Seeker, lord of the Dead – master of the Necropolis. Is said that he transferred his mind into some powerful yet incomprehensible artifact of the Elder Races.
• The Great Father – ancient and dreadful, shrouded in mystery “Father Of All Evil”. Master of abominations, mutants and monsters, he plots to bring doom to all mankind. Some say that he is long dead, slain by his finest creation.

Art by Sourine

Now it's time to advertise work of one of my artist :D Artwork presented below probably will be used in Underworld Kingdom PDF (in Megastructure section) and I'm very happy with it. In addition, here is a link to author's deviantART gallery.

 

By the way - he's accepting commissions now - you may contact him at safeguard at o2 dot pl.

J - Jade Shamblers (new monster)

Some fungi of the Underworld Kingdom are extremely dangerous not only as a poisonous meal. Jade Shamblers are approximately 2 meters high phosphorescent mushrooms with several tentacle-like organs growing at its base. They are able to move, although they do it clumsily. Tentacles have a cnidocysts that could paralyze a victim for 10-60 minutes. Jade Shamblers are also able to release a cloud of toxic spores (save vs. poison or 1-6 damage).

No. appearing: 1-3
Armor Class: 5
Move in Inches: 6
Hit Dice: 6
% in Lair: -
Treasure: none

I - Inhabitants of the Underworld

Here is a list of all (or almost all) sentient races that lives (or lived) in the Underworld Kingdom and other underground complexes linked with it. This list will be successfully filled with links to the posts containing information about particular creatures / races.

• Cave Orcs
• Dead Ones
• Elder Things (in the past, current number unknown)
• Ghouls
• Goblins
• Ho-ru
• Ho-thal
• Humans
• K’reen (Elder Race which had disappeared without a trace)
• Kobolds
• Mi Go (sporadically)
• Neanderthals
• Ogres
• Pale Giants
• Shapers (Elder Race which had disappeared without a trace)
• Toadmen
• Trolls 
• Yithians (they lived in the Yellow City of the Empty Mountain, but their current location and numbers is unknown)

Underworld Kingdom on Twitter

I totally forgot about it - you may now follow this blog on Twitter (any new post will be also automatically posted there).

LINK

Reshaping the Underworld

So, probably I will make another remodeling of the campaign (here you can find more info about it) and this time changes will be even bigger than during previous reboot. However, I'll not resign from the idea of the surface world, most likely I will separate both ideas - another maps, background and rules for the Ortix world, another for twisted and bizarre (truly weird?) Underworld Kingdom. Are they connected to each other? It will depend only on GM's decision :-)

Here is a list of things that potentially will appear in the "new" Underworld Kingdom:

• Jungle Caves (I don't see any reason to drop this idea);
• Red Moon Caverns as some connection between one of the moons and kingdom of Underworld? Why not? :D
• Megastructure - artificial level, inhabited by savage tribes and deranged living machinery. Heavily inspired by works of Tsutomu Nihei, it bears some resemblance to Gigacrawler;
• Black Sea and the City of Serpents (not necessarily inhabited by Ho-ru);
• Green Light Caves (haunted and dangerous place of madness and illusion);
• Land of the Dead (inhabited by the Dead Ones);
• Lava Caves;
• Mutation chambers (or maybe - mutilation chambers? :D);
• Palace of the Black Emperor (bizarre and slightly surreal sub-dimension - more info soon!);
• Icy Caves;
• Darkforge (another industrial level);
• Frog River;
• Great Fungal Forest;
• Watcher's Pit;
• Crystal Caves;
• Death Pits.
• Blackcrag Fortress ("mountain inside a mountain" - I'll try to explain it in the future);
• Tesseract Chambers;
• Ancient graveyards...
• ...and probably many more.

I know that these are only names, but they can give you some ideas on how it will look like. In addition I'll try to expand this list in the future and add links to the articles about specific items.

Another idea that came to my mind is that these locations will not connected in the "only right" way - more likely I will include general guidelines about connections between different layers (and some additional rules about moving between larger parts of the Underworld) and every DM will be able to connect different parts of the Underworld Kingdom in his own way.

H - Ho-ru, the Black Lizardmen

Ho-ru are a race of sentient humanoids who never appears on the surface. It’s suspected that their civilization is older than human and they may have been created by the Elder Races as their assistants and / or slaves long before humans.

Typical Ho-ru are about five feet tall, but the length of their bodies (including tails) may be more than ten feet. Their slender bodies are covered with black or dark-green scales. Despite the protection provided by scaly skin, Black Lizardmen often use shields in battle. Their favorite weapons are long, curved swords, sometimes made of rare and unusual metals and alloys.

In the past Ho-ru were masters of transmutation and even though now they are partially degenerated and their knowledge forgotten, they are still able to produce many substances, such as toxic metal from which they produce their weapons or potions that may induce regenerating trance or murderous amok. Moreover, some of the old scriptures about Black Lizardmen are saying that their experiments also included research on living beings, which may result in creation of the Ho-thal.

Ho-ru dwells  and conduct their experiments in huge fortress-laboratories, hidden in the deepest and most distant caverns of the Underworld. There they lead their captured victims. 

Statistics of typical Ho-ru warrior

No. appearing: 1-20
Armor Class: 5 (or 4 with shield)
Move in Inches: 6
Hit Dice: as Fighting Men +1
% in Lair: 75%
Treasure: Type E

Underworld Kingdom blog wins the Fantastic Fantasy Award!

Deirdra of the A Storybook World blog awarded me with one of her awesome awards. I don't know what to say... It's a real honor for me - to stand beside such great blogs as B/X Blackrazor or Old Guy RPG...

Wow! I'm good!

Thanks again!

G - Grey Moon

One of two moons of Ortix, with its synchronous rotation it seemingly resembles Earth’s Moon. Its visible side is grey and almost lifeless (moon’s atmosphere is breathable), except strange, stone like crabs. It don’t have any signs of human activity.

The Dark Side of the Grey Moon is a sinister and dangerous place – covered with magical, eternal darkness, it’s home for many unspeakable horrors – jet-black centipedes, black puddings, dreadful Shadow Wyrms and wraiths and ghosts of those who dare to venture beyond the light. Even vegetation (if they are plants – after all there is no light on the Dark Side) is black, rubbery and very unpleasant in look – even it’s possible that they are predators, hunting its prey with tentacle-like twigs and branches, just like Hug-trees from the Red Moon.

In the “center” of the Dark Side stands immense Bone Portal, which is said to be a link between moon and Forbidden Land of the Dreamlands. Nightgaunts (and possibly other monstrous creatures) often pass through the portal to visit the Dark Side and hunt.

Other rumors says that on the obscure side of the moon can be found ruined city of moonbeasts, but no one was able to return from the Dark Side to confirm it.

F - Frog River

One of the longest rivers of the Underworld Kingdom, in fact is a part of much bigger underground river. Emerging from sunken grottos on the west of Great Cave of Ghohk, with spiral meanders running through almost entire cavern, and ending in a great waterfall on east. The area south of the river is particularly dangerous - most of it is misty, dark swamp, inhabited by untold monstrosities, such as mysterious toadmen and dreadful Pale Octopuses. Swamp holds many secrets – it’s said that it contains many secrets – one of them is described below.

Most notable location in the vicinity of the river is Stone City – ancient ruins of enormous metropolis, destroyed in ancient times by unknown cataclysm (or maybe war) and now engulfed by a swamp. Little is known about either its history and treasures that may still be hidden in it, but one thing is certain – Stone City was not build by humans. Maybe it was built by the Shapers – one of the Old Races, which disappeared millennia ago?

The REAL Underworld Kingdom!

OK, maybe it's time for another reboot.

I found my current campaign as typical and boring, so currently I'm thinking about another significant change. In fact, very strange idea have crossed my mind... What if the world of surface is only a myth? If the whole setting will be placed in the Underworld? With NO FUCKING SURFACE? No sun? :D

Bunch of very fresh ideas:

• Several layers of the Underworld;
• Standard rule - "the deeper, the more dangerous"? Forget about it - nothing is certain!
• Huge amounts of underworld wilderness;
• Artificially created "levels", with the remains of ancient technology;
• Different regions ruled by different factions / races / gods?
• Underground rivers and lakes (with drowned cities);
• Cyclopean cities ruled by Gugs;
• Different tech levels of the layers of Underworld.

Another great artwork by Sourine - artificial levels could look like that

Still I'm not ultimately convinced by this verson of the Underworld Kingdom - primarily because it will force me to drop an idea of moons and Floating Island - unless you have some ideas that can solve this problem. Maybe I'll post info about both Ortix and new Underworld Kingdom, but this solution also will cause new problems - I don't know which version of the campaign I should run :D

E - Elasmotherium (new monster)

Giant, wooly rhinoceros, slightly bigger than an elephant. Its most notable feature is huge, 2-meter long horn. Although it became extinct on Earth 50 000 years ago, they still can be encountered in mysterious Jungle Caves in the Underworld Kingdom.

No. appearing: 1
Armor Class: 4
Move in Inches: 15
Hit Dice: 6-11
% in Lair: Nil
Treasure: Nil

D - Death Experience

Your character died and was resurrected? Great, but I’m afraid that on Ortix it’s not that simple as “you are dead – cast Raise Dead – you are alive”. Don’t forget that local gods are CRUEL AND EVIL – and they crave for human soul.

You have returned from the land of the dead (probably from the Greenish Pits of the Primal Essences or Endless Plain of Abandonment, or maybe some other, rather unpleasant place), roll d20:

1. It seems that your brain is partly dead… Reduce all your statistics by one.
2. You have returned, by your body is wracked by unearthly powers. Reduce your STR, CON and DEX by one.
3. Something gone terribly wrong – suffer one minor curse (its effect lasts for one week).
4. You have witnessed the unspoken horrors of the netherworld. Reduce your Wisdom by 1d6.
5. Damned spirits will haunt you until you die. Reduce your Wisdom by one.
6. They are everywhere and they want you back! Reduce your Charisma by one.
7. Shocked by resurrection, you suffer a heart attack! Save vs. death or you are… dead.
8. After experiencing the cold grip of death, your body trembles terribly. Reduce your Dexterity by one.
9. You were cursed by one of the Butchered Gods: randomly pick one of your stats and decrease it by one
10. Nothing happens.
11. Unearthly power flows through your body. Increase your Strength by one, by reduce your Charisma by one.
12. Wisdom of netherworld speaks through you. Increase your Charisma by one, but reduce your Strength by 1.
13. Nothing happens..
14. Murdered hermit told you about place where he hid his treasure (and now GM must come up with something!)
15. You saw the Lines of Destiny. Gain 1d20x100 XP.
16. You were blessed by one of the Butchered Gods: randomly pick one of your stats and increase it by one.
17. You are now bold at the thought of death. +1 do all saves vs. death (but not vs. poison!).
18. Long dead philosophers have shared their knowledge with you. Increase your Wisdom by one.
19. Ghost of half-mad wizard told you some ancient secrets. Increase your Arcane Lore by 2d6%.
20. You read the Tables of Eternal Wisdom. Gain 10 000 XP.

Art by Zak

To be honest - I don't think that Zak Sabbath need any more advertisement of his work, he is already rather known person in OSR blogosphere. However, I like his artwork so much (especially things made for Gigacrawler - is this project still alive?) that I will advertise it anyway :D

Click to enlarge.

 

I would like him to do some illustrations for Underworld Kingdom, but I don't believe it will happen.

Levitating fungus with ESP! Check this out!

(image by Hereticwerks - used only to advertise their work)

Check out this awesome monster created by Hereticwerks for their Zalchis campaign! Crudiv - floating, lethal fungus is so far my favourite entry for the AtoZ blogging challenge :-)

C - Curse the Weak (new spell) - 50th post!

Level 4 (arcane)

This spell can be cast only on monster or character that have lower level or less HD than caster of the curse. Victim must roll a successful save versus magic or its HD is reduced by half (rounded up), and its AC is increased by two (in negative way, so i.e. AC 2 will be now AC 4, to maximum 9).

Note: this spell has no cumulative effect!

Level 5: HD loss is now rounded down, to minimum 1 HD.
Level 7: Victim of the spell cannot make saving throw to resist the effect.

Alternate names:

Mark of the Void
Ghaig’s Blessing (some high-rank priests of Ghaig may ask their god for this spell)
Seji’s Word of Venegance

EDIT: Yay, 50th post! It was fast!

Red's ideas

Yesterday I got a message from my friend, who is currently in Spain. Actually he is a guy who made first Terminal Space translation. He is now in his first cruise, which it will last for almost half a year. Here are his ideas for my Underworld Kingdom game:

• Last Haven – dead port city, attracting sailors with illusions and magic;
• Stronghold of Shame - i't s gate shut down just before end of its construction, now it's (probably) empty and forgotten place;
• A - Mother In The Depths - goddess who doesn't want to be a goddess;
• Useless artifacts;
• Empty God – (nonexistent) god of nonexistent things;
• Ungrol’s Menu – great tome of fish dishes, actually being a diary of the Empty God;
• Phan Falat – daemonic whore;
• Cursed slaves of Mida galley;
• Odun Trud – mage of nothingness;
• Gran’guali – magic of cereals;
• The immortal lumberjacks from T’tog.

I don’t know what do you think about it, but in my opinion… it fucking rocks! You can be sure that soon I’ll develop these ideas.

Musical inspirations (again!)

Some non-metal music (but usually metal-related in some way) which inspired me very much. If you want more - you can find it here.

PS. Don't be afraid - I'll post something more creative today :-)

4th place!

Underworld Kingdom took fourth place in this March edition of Cyclopeatron's fastest growing blogs. It's a really cool feeling, also I didn't expect that I can reach fifty followers in such short time.

It seems that someone must consider my stuff as good or useful :-) I feel obliged to thank you all.

B - Bandits

Roll 1d12:

1. 5d6 black-skinned, red-haired K’han Nomads on steeds (light horses), with leather armor and bronze-plated shields. They are armed with spears or sabers, 25% of them is carrying short bows.
2. 4d8 half-starved penal legion deserters, armed with random weapons. Each of them have only 20% to have any armor (roll 1d6: 1-4: leather, 5: leather and shield, 6: chain mail).
3. 4d6 members of the Bastard Clan – half-orcs armed with (obviously) bastard swords, armored with chain mails. One of them is carrying standard with carefully made obscene picture (worth 2d4x100 gp), three have crossbows.
4. Old, silver-bearded and hunchbacked giant. He carries big rusty anchor as a weapon. He demands one of the party member to eat (or one fat-looking horse or mule), or things will get ugly.
5. 3d6 Ravenous Maidens – women armed with bows, and swords, armored with chain mails and shields. They will strike from ambush and try to kill all female members of the party. They want to rape all male victims, kill them and cannibalize the corpses.
6. 3d10 ordinary bandits. Mixed weapons, mixed armor. Use your imagination :-) They are more ready to threat and extortion than fight and kill.
7. 5d6 mounted (medium horses) army deserters. Equipped with chain mails, swords and shields. Their leader is level 2 Fighting Man.
8. 3d10 slavers. 1d10+1 of them are mounted (medium horses). Light armors, heavy clubs and lariats. They also have big cart with cage, drawn by pair of mules. Cage contains 1d8-1 badly beaten captives.
9. 4d6 fanatics of Ddakr. Cloaked with dark robes, armed with curvy daggers or serrated short swords. Their leader is a level 1 Magic-User. He carries Wand of Charm Monster (7 charges left) and is accompanied by magically bound monster (1-2: cockatrice, 3-4: manticore, 5: 5-headed hydra, 6: chimera).
10. 2d4 really pissed-off bounty hunters. If provoked - they are more than ready to fight. Armored with chain mails, armed with swords or axes, poisoned throwing knives (save vs poison or be paralyzed for 1-6 rounds) and nets. They all are level 2 Fighting Men.
11. 5d10 lepers with cannibalistic tendencies. Armed with primitive clubs, rusty knives and lots of rocks. Any person splashed with their blood (or guts, or brain, or… whatever) have 25% percent to catch a disease (however, he / she can still pass saving throw vs poison).
12. 3d8 bandits, disguised as pilgrims. They are equipped with concealed leather armors and hidden weapons, such as garrotes, daggers and hatchets. They will offer to join a party for a while, wait for the night and commit silent, easy murder.

A - Acid Fungi (new monster)

Approximately one-foot high red-brown fungoids, covered with thick mucus. They always occur in larger clusters (probably because one organism develops about dozen mushrooms). They are unable to move, but can “spit” the stream of viscous, corrosive slime on unaware victim if it passes to close (1-3 HP loss each turn until mucus is not removed in some way, also acid has similar effect to the Grey Ooze’s special ability).

No. appearing: 1-10
Armor Class: 9
Move in Inches: -
Hit Dice: 2+1
% in Lair: Nil
Treasure: Nil