The Altar of Pthoatl-Gree

A dark vision of insanity over at the Black Gate.  Reminds me of William Gibson's Lovecraftian tale "Hinterlands".  Here's my own version of ready-to-use game material.

Appearance

Explorers in different ages, delving in vastly different subterranean locations, have made similar reports of a strange altar-like arrangement.  The main feature of the altar is an idol, in the form of a hideous crouching, grinning entity.  Before the idol, is a large, cylindrical compartment, which may be opened/closed via rotation.

Both the idol and box are carved from a single, enormous black stone block.  The block is covered in hieroglyphs depicting strange entities of countless forms placing offerings of money in the box.  The next panel is invariably the same creature extracting some item from the box.  The coins in the hieroglyphics contain flecks of pyrite and glitter with a bit of a gold-ish color.

The close observer may notice that the number of coins in each subsequent hieroglyph is steadily increasing: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8..

Some of the explorers report the altar being gone on subsequent visits, despite no obvious means of egress for the colossal stone arrangement.  (Any time the party  returns to room, there is a 10% chance it will no longer be there)

Mechanics

If gold coins are placed within the compartment and the compartment closed, then after 1d100 minutes, there will be an effect.  If any other item is placed within(or gold coins and some other item) then there is no effect.

If there was not a Fibonacci number of gold coins, use this table:

1. Explosion upon opening(Save or Die for creature opening it)
2. Liquid begins pouring out upon opening(1d100x1d100x1000 liters(1000 L per minute) of: 1-fresh water, 2-acid, 3-lava, 4-fruit juice, 5-blood, 6-seawater(with strange creatures in it), 7-sticky ichor, 8-poisonous liquid)
3. Altar disappears from this location
4. Violent Earthquake(each room/passage in dungeon has 10% chance of collapsing.  Collapse occurs in 1d10 rounds)

If there was a Fibonacci number of gold coins(1,1,2,3,5...10946), then when the compartment is opened, the coins will be gone and in their place will be an item.  Each Fibonacci number will only work once(except 1 which will work twice.  In general, higher Fib(X) values will yield more potent results:

Form: 

1. food item
2. drink item
3. creature
4. device
5. adventuring equipment(weapon/armor/etc)
6. text(tablet, scroll, book)

Commonality(roll 1d100+5X):

• 1-33 ordinary(common on this planet)
• 34-67 rare(rare on this planet)
• 68-100 extraterrestrial(similar to something on this planet, but slightly different)
• 101-150 alien(something strange, no resemblance to anything of this planet)
• 151-200 other-dimensional(something from another dimension)

Effect(roll 1d100+5X):

• 1-50 inert
• 51-100 beneficial
• >100- detrimental

 

An Example

OK, let's make a table of effects of different Fibonacci numbers of coins:

.	X	Fib(X)=Number of GP	Form	Commonality	Effect	Item
.	1	1	creature	ordinary	beneficial	A rather large, black housecat. Petting it causes character to be 'blessed' for 1d10 rounds
.	2	1	device	extraterrestrial	beneficial	Field glasses, apparently for a 3-eyed creature. Provides electro-optic magnification x2-x200
.	3	2	food	ordinary	inert	red apple
.	4	3	device	rare	beneficial	Silk Rope(400ft) Moves as snake to obey simple orders
.	5	5	device	rare	beneficial	Mithril pickaxe
.	6	8	food	extraterrestrial	beneficial	Loaf of bread with unusual tangy flavor. Unidentifiable grain. (permanent +1 CON)
.	7	13	food	rare	detrimental	Bowl of fine caviar. Anyone partaking in them will develop gills, webbed feet, transforming fully into a Mackrel-man in the course of a month
.	8	21	food	alien	beneficial	Cheetos from http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-261. Can charm people/monsters at-will for 1d12 hours
.	9	34	text	extraterrestrial	detrimental	Stone slab with strange symbols/writings on it. For each day spent studying it, (INT)% chance of going permanently insane, otherwise, (2xINT)% chance of learning a random spell(regardless of class)
.	10	55	device	alien	detrimental	Device of Rods, Wheels(Masks of Nyarlathotep)
.	11	89	adventuring equipment	extraterrestrial	detrimental	Shiny Ray Gun. Explodes as grenade upon pressing trigger in high-O2 atmosphere.
.	12	144	creature	alien	beneficial	Friendly, Super-Intelligent gas creature. Can creep through any crack. Takes 1 day to begin learning basic terrestrial words.
.	13	233	device	alien	detrimental	Dark-Vision glasses. Also shows another dimention. 10% chance of losing insanity point for each 10 minutes of use
.	14	377	device	extraterrestrial	detrimental	Collapsable space-ship. Pressing a button will cause it to launch, stopping on the first planet it hits. Cannot be aimed--virtually no chance of ever returning.
.	15	610	text	extraterrestrial	detrimental	Silver-inked religious scroll. Meditation on indeciferable text will result in contact with Chaos Patron http://monstersandmanuals.blogspot.co.il/2010/02/chaos-patrons-revisited.html
.	16	1597	device	alien	beneficial	Tactical Helmet- improved initiative, trap-finding, ranged weapon accuracy, etc
.	17	2584	creature	other-dimensional	detrimental	Vampire mist
.	18	4181	text	other-dimensional	detrimental	Liquid symbols, float in air, dissappear within 3 rounds. Highly acidic.
.	19	6765	device	other-dimensional	detrimental	Ball of anihilation- any matter it touches is sucked-in forever
.	20	10946	drink	other-dimensional	detrimental	Second <Unknown> item from http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-261

And let's say the players screw-up and put in an invalid number of gold coins...

2, 10, 82, 2- so as soon as the players open the box, a sulfurous liquid begins shooting out in a powerful stream.  It is acid and the one opening the box must save vs breath weapons or be splashed.  The room and dungeon will begin to fill-up with acid, up to 820,000 liters!

Chief Quartermaster Ltn. Yuri Leonov

Following last session where the party met Chief Quartermaster Ltn. Yuri Leonov, next session, the officer will make the party the following offer:

The party can give-in equipment for credit(in Rubles):

• Russian arms for 80% of value
• German/Polish arms for 40% of value

Likewise, they can buy equipment from him with the credit.  The chance of him having a particular item from the list on a given day are:

• Russian-made 90%
• German-made 50%
• Polish-made 10%
• Heavy-equipment on a case-per-case basis

Similarly, the party can redeem their credit for cash(Rubles) at a rate of 50% it's value.

Polish Resistance: Expanded Equipment List

I previously listed the starting equipment for Polish Resistance, but now here is the expanded equipment list, including many arms that can only be won through play:

.	Name	Type	Conceal	DMG/Ammo	Mag	ROF	Range	Cost
.	Club Mel L 1d6 Free	MEL	L	1d6				Free
.	Light Knife Mel P 1d6/2 10	MEL	P	1d6/2				10
.	Heavy Knife Mel P 1d6 25	MEL	P	1d6				25
.	Bayonet knife Mel P 1d6(+2 when attached) 30	MEL	P	1d6				30
.	Axe Mel J 2d6+3 35	MEL	J	2d6+3				35
.	Brass Knuckles Mel L 1d6+2 10	MEL	L	1d6+2				10
.	Sledgehammer Mel N 4d6 20	MEL	N	4d6				20
.	Szabla(cavalry sword)Mel N 2d6+2 50	MEL	N	2d6+2				50
.	Pitchfork	MEL	N	1d6				15
.	Crossbow	Ex	N	3d6	1	1	150m	120
.	Longbow	Ex	N	2d6+1	12	1	50m	150
.	Nagant M1895	P	P	1d6+2(7.62x38R)	7	1	50m	100
.	TT-30	P	P	1d6+2(7.62x25T)	8	2	50m	150
.	Vis Pistol	P	P	2d6+1(9mm)	8	2	50m	300
.	Walther P38	P	P	2d6+1(9x19mmP)	8	2	50m
.	KIS	SMG	J	2d6+1(9mmLuger)	32	20	150m	350
.	Błyskawica	SMG	J	2d6+1(9x19Para)	32	32	150m	400
.	Mors	SMG	L	2d6+1(9x19Para)	32	32	150m	500
.	MP 40	SMG	J	2d6+1(9x19mmP)	32	32	150m
.	PPD-40	SMG	L	1d6+2(7.62x25T)	25/71	43	150m
.	PPSh-41	SMG	L	1d6+2(7.62x25T)	35/71	48	150m
.	MG 34	HVY(machine gun)	N	6d6(7.62x57mmM)	50/75/250	45	400m
.	Degtyaryov(DG)	HVY(machine gun)	HVY(machine gun)	6d6(7.62x54mm)	47	30	400m
.	Ckm wz.30	HVY(machine gun)	HVY(machine gun)	d6+16(7.92x57mmM)	250	25	400m
.	DShk HMG	HVY(machine gun)	HVY(machine gun)	5d10(12.7x108mm)	50	32	450m
.	Winchester 1912	SHT	N	4d6(12Gg)	5	1	50m	450
.	Karabin wz.98a	Rif(b)	N	6d6+1(7.92x57mmM)	5	1	400m	450
.	Mosin/Nagant	Rif(b)	N	6d6(7.62x54mmR)	5	1	400m	500
.	Lee-Enfield	Rif(b)	N	6d6+1(.303Mk VII)	10	1	400m	550
.	Browning wz.1928	Rif	N	6d6+1(7.92x57mmM)	20	20	400m	600
.	Karabiner 98k	Rif(b)	N	6d6+1(8x57mm IS)	5	1	400m
.	Zf-41 1.5X telescopic site for Karabiner 98k: +3 med/long/extreme	Rif(accessory)
.	Gewehr 43	Rif	N	6d6+1(8x57mm IS)	10	2	400m
.	StG 44	Rif(b)	N	5d6+2(8x33mm K)	30	30	400m
.	WZ-35	Rif(Anti-tank)	N	4d10AP(7.92x107mm)	4	1	400m	1000
.	PTRD	Rif(Anti-tank)	N	6d10AP(14.5x114mm)	1	1	450m
.	PTRD-41	Rif(Anti-tank)	N	6d10AP(14.5x114mm)	5	1	450m
.	Flamethrower	HVY	N	2d10+1d10+1d6	10	1	50m
.	Stick Grenade(C)	HVY	P	5/7d6(15m)	1	1	10m x body
.	Grenade(F)	HVY	P	4d6(40m)	1	1	10m x body	30
.	Grenade(C)	HVY	P	5/7d6(15m)	1	1	10m x body	30
.	Dynamite	HVY	J	6d6/kg				30/kg
.
.	Ammo
.	7.62 Pistol(100) 15
.	9mm Pistol(50) 15
.	12 Gg(12) 15
.	7.92/7.62/.303 Rifle(100) 40
.	7.92x107mm(12) 20
.	Arrows(12) 24
.	Bolts(12) 30
.
.
.	Armor	Covers	SP
.	Aviation Flack Jacket Torso 10SP		10
.	Heavy Leather Jacket	Arms,Torso	4					50
.	Steel Helmet		14					80
.
.	Clothes
.	Pants 20
.	Top 15
.	Jacket 35
.	Shoes 25
.	Glasses 50
.	Jewelry 10-100
.
.	Other Cost
.	Donkey 70
.	Mule 100
.	Riding Horse 200
.	First Aid Kit 10
.	Medikit 50
.	Rations 150/week
.	Rope 2/ft
.	Gasmask 50
.	Magnetic Compass 10
.	Binoculars 70
.	Lantern 10
.	Kerosene 5(1hour)

Terrifying Ghost

Inspired by Skulls in the Stars by R.E.H.

This ghost is the ethereal spirit of a person who was killed.  At night it haunts the area where the killing occurred, be it a house, dark alley, or a lonely heath.  It hates all living things and feeds on their fear.  Similarly, courage weakens the ghost.

DnD Rules

 

HD: 5(0-10)*
Move: 240' (Flying)
THAC0: As fighter of same level*
Damage: 3x1d4 (talons+bite)
AC: 8 (only hurt by magic weapons)
Turned As: Undead with same # of HD

*The Ghost begins with 5 HD.

Any round a character attempts to stand-up to or attack the ghost, they must save vs. Magic with a bonus equal to the Character's Level - the Ghost's HD.  If the character succeeds, the Ghost loses 1HD.  If they fail, they are too scared and must flee that round and the Ghost gains 1HD.  Similarly, if the character chose to flee on their own, the ghost automatically gains 1HD.

The ghost can reach a maximum of 10HD in this way.

If courageous characters/magic weapons reduce it to 1HD worth of HP or less it will flee to the specific location of it's death/body.  If it is reduced to 0 HP it dissipates.  In either case, the ghost will reappear the next night.

The only way to destroy the ghost permanently is to appease it(let it avenge it's death, etc.) or if it is destroyed by a high-level cleric turning it, etc.

Changes for Cyberpunk

Same as above, except use 1d10+COOL checks to fight-off fear(10 to succeed).  The ghost begins with 12 HP.  Successful fear-checks cause it to lose 1HP, while failures cause it to Gain 1HP, for a maximum of 25.  When the ghost is reduced to 4 HP it flees, 0HP it dissipates.

Ghost gets 3 melee attacks for 1d6 each.  Attack roll is 1d10+5+(# of HP left).

Kaldanian Lycanthropy

King Verigan, after having killed his son the Crown Prince Verigan II in a fit of lycanthropic rage

 OK, yet another round of Art-Inspired game content.

History

Lycanthropy first reached Kaldania several centuries ago in an incident still remembered in the common folklore. It became known that Avalzaunt, the court magician, was teaching the Crown Prince, Prince Verigan II, the Arcane Arts. King Verigan, in a fit of rage, ordered the Magician's study destroyed and Avalzaunt banished.  The light of the burning philters and grimoires reflecting off his brass manacles, the Magician cursed the King's hasty anger by the Eleven Unspeakable Names of the Arch-Demon Phalighmar.

A few days later, while the King was upbraiding the Crown Prince for keeping his unauthorized magical education a secret, King Verigan slew his heir in a fit of anger. Though torn with grief over the rending of his only heir, the King went on to produce other heirs.

Many generations have passed since then, but the curse lives on in the blood of the Kaldanian monarchy, and many a servant's death at the hands of the royal family has been hushed-up.  Not only that, but due to the Kaldanian Royals' penchant for keeping mistresses and lovers, the lycanthropy has spread throughout the kingdom and even without, among the offspring of other royal families who married Kaldanian royals, and even through illicit liaisons with the maidservants of visiting nobles.

Manifestation

The child of a Kaldanian Lycanthrope has a 50% chance of being a Lycanthrope, while the child of two Lycanthropes has a 100% chance.

When Lycanthropes becomes angry, they are susceptible to becoming possessed by the spirit of a Wolf-Headed Demon.  While possessed, the Lycanthrope gains incredible strength and will attack the source of their anger(and any Human, animal, or inanimate objects within reach), often biting for their jugular.  Unlike other types of Lycanthropy, the Kaledonian Lycanthrope does not change shape while possessed.

DnD Rules

When the Kaldanian Lycanthrope becomes angry, he must save vs. Magic or become possessed for 1d10 rounds or until the source of his anger has been destroyed.

While possessed, the Lycanthrope gains the equivalent of Hill-Giant strength.  It will attempt to grab it's victim(s) and bite them(Thac0 12, 2d6 dmg).  The Lycanthrope never retreats while possessed and will keep fighting into negative HP until killed(-10 HP).

Witold and the Jolly Janissaries

OK, let's play this again.

Witold and the Jolly Janissaries are a notorious band of treasure hunters, dungeon looters, and monster slayers that a party may encounter while out adventuring.  Witold and his gang are a bunch of good-natured, carousing vagabonds, out for killing, loot and a good time.

They generally view other parties of adventurers as competition, but will not attack them outright unless the party directly threatens them or their loot.  It is much more likely that they will treat the party with a rough-friendliness, but they shouldn't be deceived-- the Janissaries love practical jokes!

For instance:

Reverend Francois Delacroix tells of how he and Sir Bertrand of Lockwood met a band of Janissaries while questing for the Chalice of Divine Virtue among the subterranean ruins in the Hills of Amorach. The Janissaries were hauling out several chests of coins and, when asked, replied that they had seen just such a chalice among the piles of treasure down the trapdoor at the end of yonder passageway. 

The good Reverend painfully relates how he had lowered his companion down about 30ft when suddenly there was a scream and a terrible crunching of bones and armor and the rope went slack.  He caught a glimpse of black tentacles engulfing the broken form of the Paladin before the light went out.  When he later caught-up to the Janissaries, they had a good laugh at his expense and offered him a stiff drink.

Similarly the Janissaries will often spend time resetting traps, or constructing their own, for the sake of a good laugh.

The Janissaries are often joined by their Holy Men, two brothers Josef and Pyoter.  They are the only educated members of the band. The band treats them with a surprising amount of reverence, for such a colorful bunch of ruffians.

A small band of Janissaries encountered in a dungeon consists of:

• 1d4 New Recruits
• 1d4 Janissaries
• 1d3 Veteran Janissaries
• 50% chance Specialist present
• 30% chance Janissary Chieftain present
• 10% chance that Witold present
• 30% chance that Josef present
• 30% chance that Pyoter present

DnD Stats

AC: 7 due to agility, thick clothing

• New Recruit(Level 0): spear, lantern/torches, dagger, matches
• Jannisary(Fighter 1): rifle, sabre, flask of oil
• Veteran Jannisary(Fighter 2): rifle, sabre, flask of oil
• Specialist(Thief 2): 10 ft pole, pistol, sabre, thieves tools, rope
• Jannisary Chieftain(Fighter 3): pistol, sabre
• Witold(Fighter 4): pistol, sabre
• Josef(Cleric 1): lantern, (map)
• Pyoter(Cleric 2): lantern, (map)

For games with no black-powder, give them light/heavy crossbows.  Give the chieftains chainmail.

Polish Resistance: Session 6

As opposed to the technical-problems in Session 5, in Session 6 everything just ran like clockwork.  In part, I think this was due to the players getting used to the game.  In part I think that my sandbox reached a certain level of maturity.  In any case, by the end of the session, the players achieved their goal of reaching the Russian-occupied city of Sandomierz, much faster than I had anticipated.  A lot happened in this session so I'll try and break it down rather than give a full summary.

Reduced Lineup

August 29, 1944, the session started off with the party returning to the village of Lipnik.  Their their NPC companions, Jurec and Ludmilla bid them farewell and their PC medical doctor, Leora, stayed on to tend the wounded, promising to rejoin them as fast as she could.  As such, the two brawny boys, Andrei and Shmengy, set-off alone with their horses and a donkey.

Random Events/Encounters

As I said, a lot happened this session.  I had a lot of fun with this, generating almost 30 random encounters and events over the 3 hour session, including:

• German Armor
• Russian Scouts
• Russian planes
• 4 zombies little girls
• Civilians
• Various destroyed civilian and military equipment

I also used the Luck mechanic a lot to answer player questions about various details.

Player-Driven Action

A big part of why I generated so many events/encounters was that the players seem to have figured out how to get what they want out of the setting.  They played very cautious most of the time, hiding, traveling off the main road, masquerading as German troops, and generally not getting sidetracked from their goal of reaching Sandomierz.

The one random event they spent the most time on was, while crossing some empty fields, they stumbled on the remnants of a tank battle.  They immediately decided this as a low-risk opportunity for looting and the second tank they checked was found to be in pretty good condition.  This was when they took one of the session's bigger risks--Andrei rode back to Lipnik with the horses to fetch Jurec, in the hope that he could get the tank back in working-order, while Shmengy continued to loot alone.  But the risk paid-off, and by evening the 3 were siphoning gas and would soon be ready to drive-off(though none of them knew how to drive a tank!)

At that point, I rolled up a German patrol, in the form of three halftracks with almost 20 troops!  The PCs decided not to risk losing their hard-earned tank and took advantage of the dark to surprise their enemies with grenades and automatic weapons. 

Spoils of War

The party's ambush went their way, and destroyed the small halftrack, captured one of the large ones, while the third got away.  They lost their horses in the fray, but by the end of the session had captured a lot of materials, including:

• Two working tanks(one Jurec drove back to Lipnik)
• A blood-splattered, but functional halftrack(8-seater)
• German Halftrack driver(prisoner)
• Numerous SMGs and ammo
• An automatic pistol
• Numerous grenades
• A German sniper rifle
• A few flack-jackets
• A tire-iron
• A German tank crew uniform
• A Polish citizen's ID card
• Bribe money(from a polish citizen, while disguised as a German tank crew)
• A Russian flag to wave at Russian anti-tank crews while riding around in their Panzer
• Probably other stuff that I forgot

Clues

I also got to use the clue generator twice.  It yielded:

• Program from a German Officer's Ball in Opatow, including name and rank of various German officers
• A small stone stature, shaped like a hand with a seven-pointed star on the palm

Objective Achieved

On August 31, 1944, the party finally drove in to Sandomierz with their Panzer, towing the half-track.  They were directed to the head Quartermaster, to whom they donated the vehicles.  In exchange for their contribution to the war-effort, he promised to recommend them to Field Marshal Vladimir Yurlovich, head of the Russian Army, and he also gave them the use of a confiscated civilian car.

I think that next session, the Quartermaster will offer to take their extra guns/grenades in exchange for credit, which they can use to buy food/ammo and other materials from him.