Plastic Crack

I have a friend, Yann, who is a wargamer, and his game of choice is Warmachine/Hordes. Now, I’ve been impressed by Privateer Press’ sculpts for a long time, and I dabbled in Warmachine with a small Cygnar force way back when it first came out. At the time I opted to stick with 40k, but now I've given up on GW entirely, and in that perceived void he’s trying to suck me in.

How?

By handing me half of this box...

and then inviting me over to his house on my day off to work on minis.

With that, I now have a small assembled force for the Circle of Orboros, and conveniently enough there is a journeyman’s league starting up at Dropzone Games. You should probably expect updates about the games and the painting.

New Monster: Mud Skeletons

And it came to pass that in their hubris
that the land itself became soft below their feet.
The walls of the great collegium tumbled
and the might labs broke open, exposing their wickedness
and spilling it out upon the squints.
They sank into the slurry, but the earth rejected them.
Beware the bones of the seekers of false knowledge,
for their taint us unredeemed and unforgiven. 

Book of Roomba, TQVI, 131-34 - 131-41

Mud Skeletons
No. Enc.: 2d12
Alignment: Chaotic
Move: 90 (30’)
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 5
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d8+Special
Save: L5
Morale: 2
Hoard Class: XVII

These beings are found only in the worst areas of contaminated wet lands - bogs, swamps, mudflats, etc. They are slow, but can toss tainted mud up to 40' away. Those hit by the mud skeleton's attack must make a stun attack saving throw or become encased in mud. Those encased will need to spend 1d3 rounds scraping the mud away from their breathing orifices or take a -2 to all rolls, and 1d2 damage every round.

While the hoard of the mud skeletons is impressive, it is very difficult to find, as it it always hidden in deep pits of mud.

Image Source: Bryan Baugh @ Deviant Art

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Happy Monday, and welcome to today's entry in the Savage Afterworld’s Mutated Monday blogfest.

Don't forget that on October 29, the final Monday of October it's The Monstrous Monday Blogfest!

Sunday Inspirational Image: Scarecrow

The Scarecrow by helgephoenix

Masque of Clavicus Vile

The voice’s melodious quality was not dimmed by the silver mask that hid the foreigner’s face, and Alicia found herself listening intently to the stranger’s words. “Beauty like yours should, no, must not be allowed to fade.”

“All beauty fades m’lord.” she replied, wishing it weren’t true.

“If you come with me, I can make your beauty immortal”

“Would you have me painted?” She shifted into a more stiff position, her face glowing in the afternoon sun. “Or would you hire sculptors to make my likeness?” Her laugh rang like bells in the garden.

“No, I would make you immortal.”

Masque of Clavicus Vile

This silver mask was created to allow corporeal undead to walk amongst the living. It hides their appearance and smell, and even allows creatures who are harmed by sunlight to move safely during the day. It also dampens their supernatural abilities. Gaze and bite attacks are obviously blocked, and paralytic touches and energy drain attacks do not function while the mask is worn. The mask also confers an effective charisma of 14 on anyone who wears it.

Source: Daniel O'Keefe based on an item from Skyrim.

Bits and Bobs VI

It’s been awhile since I shared some of the cool things out there, and the longer I wait, the longer the list grows!

Erik of Tenkar's Tavern came up with a way to make failure (rolling a 1) a learning experience for PCs - Attacking the Darkness. Then he had some more thoughts.

Robert Morris of Back to the Keep gives a fantastic overview of paint options for painting minis and terrain. Everything from GW to cheap craft paints and beyond.

Stuart’s Strange Magic revised his Bene Gesserit Cleric Sub-Class for the 3rd time, and as before, it’s worth taking a look at!

Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque by Jack offers up table with 50 items appropriate for gothic room dressing.

Kicking down doors is a natural activity for adventurers, and The Riders of Lohan by koboldstyle has some wonderfully evocative Axe-boots.

And to wrap things up here are a couple of links on dungeon building.
Tim of Gothridge Manor has a simple d12 dungeon stocking chart, and an example of how it worked out.

On the same note, Delta did a broad examination of the different random dungeon stocking methods across classic D&D, from ODD to ADD to Holmes and Moldvay basic.

And saving what I feel is the best for last: Keith Davies put together a nice article on doing a node based megadungeon. While it isn’t the first time the topics been discussed, it’s very well written, and he's even expanded it into a whole series.

XP for Magic Items

The way I’ve always played it, characters in my games never got XP for getting a magic item. In my Rules Cyclopedia games, players can sell it for gold, if they can find a buyer, and gain the XP from that, but only if they sell it right away.

In my 3e days XP came from defeating monsters and completing quests. Gold was just used to buy stuff. My 4e game is pretty much exactly the same way.

But Nick the Pike has played in a several different 1e games, and in those games he has acquired magical items, and XP for retaining them! This has been backed up by the AD&D Players Handbook which states:
“Magic items gained and retained have only a low experience point value, for they benefit the character through their use.” AD&D PHB pg. 106

This is further reinforced explicitly in the random determination of treasure section of the DMG, pg 121.
The suggested experience point values are for characters who keep the items.

Immediately following this are the magic item lists that contain the XP value of items kept, and the GP value of items sold.

The first time a character of mine was handed XP for getting a magic item my mind was blown. I’m pretty sure I questioned the DM about it, and his response was “This is AD&D.” It was this that caused me to hunt down a copy of the 1st edition DMG. I’d read a copy of it many years ago, and hadn’t really thought I was missing anything not having it in my collection. Well, it seems I was wrong!

I do find it curious that XP for magic items seems to appear in AD&D, and then disappears. I certainly don’t remember it from 2nd edition. So I’m curious how many of you give XP for magic items. Poll is off to the right!

New Monster: Silver Tongued Devil

The leaves on the trees are beginning to show their color. Mornings are dark, crisp, and cool. The faint sweet smell of rot and death begin to tinge the air, and people begin to light candles and fires to ward off the things they know aren’t real, and still fear...

In honor of this spooky time of year I am joining Tim from The Other Side Blog in the Monstrous Monday Blogfest, posting a monster on the last Monday of the month.

However, as I tend to share a new monster just about every Monday anyway, I’m also going to join in with Tim from the Savage Afterworld’s Mutated Monday blogfest, and share a nasty mutant creature on the other Mondays in October...

Including today!

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A devil will come amongst you, but you shall not know him.
Its will shall overcome your own.
With a silver tongue you will speak its words.
Discord and chaos will you sow,
And it shall feast up all.

Book of Roomba, TXIX, 056-23 - 060-23

Silver Tongued Devil
No. Enc.: 1
Alignment: Chaotic
Move: 90 (30’)
Armor Class: 3
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d4+Special
Save: L5
Morale: 7
Hoard Class: V + IX

Standing a mere yard tall, the Silver Tongued Devil (STD) is a stooped bloated thing that moves with deliberation. While it’s hide is tougher than it looks, it will avoid combat under most circumstances. In general it prefers to ambush lone individuals. Its touch causes paralysis (1d6 turns, save to negate) and once its victim is immobilized, it will insert a tentacle into the victim’s mouth. The victim will bite off the tip of the tentacle, which will then attach to the victim’s tongue and begin to eat it. The victim is now charmed (no save). Over the next week the victim will avoid letting anyone see the parasite as it consumes the victim’s tongue. At the end of the week, the victim will begin to spread lies, gossip, and taboo truths to cause as much discord as possible until someone is killed in anger.

The STD will then consume the organs of the murder victim and the parasite will die, causing the victim to make a saving throw or die. Either way, they will be mute. The STD will then move on to another community.