Araneae Macabre - aka Skull-spider

“Gah!” Feris cried out, as the sleeve of his jacket began to burn and smoke.  He quickly dropped his pack and pulled the now ruined jacket off.  His arm bore an angry purplish burn mark.

The party paused in the dark corridor, carefully scanning all around, looking for the source of the attack.  From a dark hole near the roof of the corridor a small skull grinned down at them, a bit of green ooze dangling from its chin. 

Allianora held up her holy symbol and ordered the abomination back.  The bone visage merely grinned back at her, the ooze falling from its chin and dribbling down the wall. 

Nimble hung back, letting Rathgar’s bulk shield him, but a soft tapping noise caused him to look over his shoulder.  Three more skulls on spider’s legs were behind him, two on the wall, and one on the floor.  A gob of green ooze shot out from the one on the floor towards Nimble’s face.  He ducked, and the ooze went past him harmlessly.  In return he tossed a dagger at the creature, lodging it firmly in the eye socket.  The creature went wild, legs flailing, spinning, crashing into the wall before it fell to its side, legs still twitching, oozing green ichor onto the floor.  

 

Araneae Macabre - aka Skull-spider

Armor Class: 4

Hit Dice: 4 (S)

Move: 180’ (60’)

Attacks: 1 acid spit (15’ range)

Damage: 1d8

No. Appearing: 0 (1d8)

Save As: F3

Morale: 11

Treasure Type: none

Intelligence: 0

Alignment: Neutral

XP Value: 75

Monster Type: Lowlife (Uncommon).

This soft bodied spider inhabits the skulls of animals, most often humanoids though other creatures have been noted, much as a hermit crab inhabits shells.  Unlike many other spiders, the skull-spider has no ability to weave or navigate a web, but instead uses its acid spit to dissolve its prey and create its nest.  They are immune to acid attacks themselves, though the skulls they inhabit are not.  Should they be successfully hit with an acid attack, their armor class drops to 7.  

---

This beast is a Halloween decoration I picked up last year on clearance. 

Get Lost

Last year, around this time I had an idea, an activity for my (non-existent) gaming group.  I had it again this year just this past weekend, and I thought that I would share it with you today. 

You are going to take your gaming group on a fieldtrip to your local corn maze.  This time of year you can find them all around, and the cost to get in ranges from as little as $4 to no more than $10 per person.  Most of the time when you go to a corn maze, they give you a map.  You and your players are not allowed to have maps, nor are they allowed to look at the posted maps.  They are allowed to have a piece of paper and a pencil.  You can also allow them to bring a single bottle of water, and if you’re feeling really generous, a compass.  That’s it!  Now go on into the maze, and start mapping!  Even if your group all decides to work together, everyone is to make their own map as they go.  

When everyone manages to make it out of the maze, compare your maps to each other, and to the posted maps of the maze.  Whoever has the most accurate map gets a prize!  What prize?  I don’t know, it’s your group, you pick!  

 

An accurate map is useful in a corn maze, however due to their limited size and porous walls it isn’t exactly vital.  In the depths of the underdark, hundreds of feet below rock and dirt, with vile monsters and dangerous traps between you and your next glimpse of sky, where darkness and death lurk just beyond your torchlight, an accurate map can mean the difference between life and death.   

Eyewalker

Rathgar noticed it out of the corner of his eye, a small white orb, clinging to the back of the curtain.  Had the window not been open, and the wind blowing, he never would have seen it.  Rathgar locked eyes with Nimble across the table, and then briefly looked again at the window just as the wind blew.  Nimble spotted it, and put down the mystic card.   

“Looks like I win this gambit!” Nimble smiles, pulling the gold toward him.  As his hands moved across the table, he palmed the knife next to the block of cheese.  Nimble twisted slightly as if to put the gold in his pouch, and flicked the knife toward the orb.  It crunched, and small shards of white glass tinkled to the floor.  For a brief moment a whiff of brimstone floated across the table, and then was gone. 

“So I guess we’ll replay that hand then?” Rathgar asked.

“Why would we do that?” Nimble responded.

An eyewalker is a magical construct of cartoonish appearance, a white orb upon 8 legs that only barely resemble spider’s legs.  They move with a jerky fluidity, appear to have no joints, and can climb any normal surface and any web.  The eyewalker has the following relevant stats:

Armor Class: 8

Hit Dice: 1hp (S)

Move: 120 (40)

When attuned to a magic-user these eyewalkers will transmit all it sees and hears – constantly.  This causes the magic-user to be distracted, suffering a -2 penalty to all initiative rolls and saving throws vs charm effects.  To attune or de-attune from the eyewalker, the magic-user must be holding it in his hand.  Should the orb be destroyed while the wizard is attuned to it he will continue to suffer the penalties for an additional 24 hours. 

They are powered by an entrapped imp, whose imprisonment can only be ended by the shattering of the orb.  An imp so released will do all it can to harass it’s former master before returning to the nether-regions it was spawned from.

---

This item, in case you were curious, sits with its partner on my dining room table.  It's a salt shaker!

Broken Men

The wind howled as the party made its way up the hill.  Night had fallen, but their destination, a stone manor house, was just at the top of the hill.  They could see it through the bare trees, a warm light glowing though some of the windows. 

Feris saw it first, a spot of darkness that seemed to contain more than the other shadows.  “Guys….” He said quietly.

Everyone paused and looked where he pointed.  The light of their lamp was turned upon the spot, and two eyes flashed briefly before the figure bounded out of the light. 

“Was that a man?” Allianora asked.

“Not anymore.” Rathgar’s brow furrowed.  “We should get to the manor before it comes back with friends.”

 

Broken Men

Armor Class: 6

Hit Dice: 2+2* (M)

Move: 90' (30')

Attacks: 1 weapon

Damage: by weapon +1

No. Appearing: 3d4+4 (1-2 or 3d12+12)

Save As: F3

Morale: 10

Treasure Type:

Intelligence: 7

Alignment: Chaotic

XP Value: 35

Monster Type: Humanoid

Broken men were once human, but were warped into something twisted.  This can come about because of exposure to a powerful undead spirit, a manifestation of chaos, intentional experimentation of those who seek to know too much, or a wide variety of other horrifying events.  Due to their twisted nature they receive a +2 to their saving throws against sleep, charm, and hold spells, and any attempt to read their minds will cause the loss of 2d6 points of wisdom, recoverable at a rate of 1 point per week of total rest.   

They are sly killers, and will track their prey, unless an easier kill crosses their path.  They are also highly territorial, and often keep their area littered with grisly totems

Issues (post 1 of 2)

I finally finished catching up on all of your blog posts from the last week.  You all write a lot, you know that?  Don’t get me wrong, I love that there is such a wealth of creativity in our community, but try going away for a week, and see how it all builds up.  There are many things that I read that I want to comment on, but we’ll see how many of them I get to. 

So, Issues.  The biggest issue I’m dealing with right now is time, and my lack of it that I can devote to my blog, and to gaming in general.  My 4e game is stalled, as all 3 group members are in college (including me), and we haven’t been able to find some time that works for all of our schedules.  I started a solo PbP game, but the player who started it got busy and it fizzled out.

(Anyone else interested in a PbP old school Megadungeon game?)

So how am I addressing this issue?  Well, there isn’t too much I can do about the various things I have to do.  I’m not going to quit my job, school, or the various other responsibilities that I’ve taken on.  Sorry, but gaming is actually low on the totem pole.  But with the time I do have, I’ve been playing some Neverwinter Nights, working on a bunch of Halloween props (which help fuel the inspirational fires), taking some vacation time (to recharge the batteries), reading some classics, and posting here. 

It’s been a bit since I pulled out my Megadungeon, but I’ve got some more ideas that I want to add to it, and there’s a bunch of finishing work I need to do on the second level.  I keep needing to remind myself that it doesn’t all have to “make sense” that it is kind of a “funhouse dungeon”, and should become more “funhouse” as it gets deeper.  I have many years of 2nd and 3rd edition baggage that I’m still sometimes burdened with. 

So what is it that keeps me from going out and finding a steady group?  I could, there are certainly gamers in the area.  The issue is that I want to game with peers.  People who are in a similar life stage to mine; gamers who realize that I can’t game until 2am, that don’t want to spend the whole time drinking, that aren’t going to go home for summer break.

You know, adults. 

Are there adult gamers in the area?  Probably.  How to find them?  That I’m not sure, not without spending some time (ha!) and energy trying to find them. I have neither in abundance right now.

Anyway, I’m serious about a PbP game.  Any takers? 

Next post will have some actual game content, I promise!

Not a ghost!

I'm not dead, or even undead, but I am (and have been) on vacation.  I have had both limited access to the internet, and even more limited time, which is why I haven't posted lately.  Don't worry, I've been recharging my inspirational batteries, and I'll be coming back from vacation rearing to go! 

I can't wait to see what you all have been up to while I've been away.  See you soon!

Happy (late) Anniversary to me!!

Apparently I've been blogging here for a year (plus) now!  Go me! 

I received not a single suggestion for the Monthly Audience Participation, in spite of my 49 followers and 80-odd subscribers through google reader.  I guess it'll be a random topic this month!  I'm planning on doing Halloween focus posts this month, so prepare for spooky, creepy, and even silly posts that all relate to the ultimate day of October. 

Ok, so rolling on Rusty's charts... on a d6 I rolled a... 6!  Chart #3.

Rolling a d10 I got a 2!  Roll once on sub-charts 2 and 4. 

Sub-chart 2, rolled a d12 and got a 4.  "Two"

Sub-chart 4, rolled a 52 "Issues"

So expect a post about Two Issues!

Happy October everyone!