Monster: Dungeon Cat

Dungeon Cat

Not giant. Not magical. Just a cat. In a dungeon.

AC: As Plate (agile, small target)

HD: 1/2
Att: 2 x Claw 1d3-1, 1 x Bite 1d3-2

SV: Death: 3 Wands: 15 Paralysis: 1 Breath: 17 Spells: 18

THAC0 (AB): 18 (+1)

MV: 40' / 20' climb (anything but sheer surface) / 5' Jump (vertical or horizontal)

ML: 3

Al: (Chaotic) Neutral

XP: -13
NA: 1 (2d4)

TT: U, but no individual items larger than their head

Special: 

• Dungeon Cats have learned how to survive in their dungeon. They will slink into hidden nooks, hiss in alarm at approaching encounters, and if it likes the party, lead them through safe routes, secret doors, and traps they don't trigger.
• 60' Darkvision
• Always roll for reaction on each encounter, regardless of past meeting. 
• They lair a small den beyond a hidden opening no larger than their head, that is itself in a secret area of the dungeon.

Commentary

Dungeons need more cats. I'm sure this has been done a thousand times, but I almost never see them in modules. There are Familiars of course, but Dungeon Cats have no masters.

Dungeon Cats are already on every encounter table. They appear when you roll a result that shouldn't be possible, or just doesn't make sense.

I encourage you to comment below, rather than elsewhere.

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Monster: A Naturalist Mimic - The Carcass Crab

The Carcass Crab

HD: choose or roll
     1: Squirrel, ermine, etc. Dmg: 1x1d2, 2x1d2
     2: Fox, wildcat, etc. Dmg: 1x1d4, 2x1d2
     3: Wolf, badger, etc. Dmg: 1x1d6, 2x1d2
     4: Goat, boar, etc. Dmg: 1x1d8, 2x1d4
     5: Deer, horse, etc. Dmg: 1x1d10, 2x1d4
     6: Bear, etc. Dmg: 1x1d12, 2x1d4
     7+: More formidable monsters Dmg: 1x1d12, 2x1d6
AC: As Plate (thick chitin)
Attacks:
     1xBite (damage as above) & if 5HD+ decapitate on crit if Gripped
     2xClaw (damage as above), and Grip
MV: 30' sideways scuttle (can only attack with 1 claw unless it moves 20' or less)
NA: 1
Treasure: HDx10x1d10 gp "pearl"

The Carcass Crab has elbowed its way into a very particular evolutionary niche. Most often found in areas of lush wildlife, each resembles a dead animal (usually a mammal), lying on its side, head missing, chest rent open, ribs protruding. The chest is in fact its wide maw; the ribs sharp teeth, jaw hinges capable of opening up to 120 degrees. The legs jutting out from either side are cleverly camouflaged clawed arms, used to grip victims if they narrowly escape the initial snap of the maw. It's real, multiple crustacean legs remain tucked under it, out of sight.

Completing the effect is the very real blood and viscera of its most recent kill, flies buzzing. The blood attracts further prospective victims: largely scavengers, but often curious predators. Even if it's too big to swallow whole, the crab will attempt to bite off its head (likely curious and sniffing near the mouth already), and consume the rest at its own pace. More agile escapees likely soon give up on piercing its hard shell.

Larger specimens may attract intelligent prey due to regurgitated weapons and armor, or its eyes, between rib-teeth, resembling shiny black orbs; perhaps the jeweled pommels of daggers, abandoned after the kill? A special gland, colloquially known as the Treasure Sack, accumulates smaller indigestible objects and material. As the crab grows, precious metals form pearl-like agglomerations, typically worth HDx10x1d10 gp.

The crab will molt multiple times during it's life as it grows fat on easy prey. Each phase resembles a slightly larger animal, maintaining verisimilitude. Its thick chitinous shell is detailed with fine ridges, mocking glossy fur, if a bit matted. Most phases appear headless, likely due to it being much easier to mimic asymmetrically than a full head.

Characters have a base 1-in-6 chance to notice something is wrong from outside of bite range.


Conceptual Status: Warning - Untested but Play-Ready

Alias 0591 on Flickr

Commentary
Mythic Underworld creatures are all well and good, but rarely can I resist considering how something resembling them could be plausibly evolved. The absurd degree of mimicry that real-world insects achieve almost makes me accept traditional mimics as-is, but having been exposed to enough biology (see the wonderful Endless Forms Most Beautiful for some truly mindblowing revelations about how life works that I, at least, didn't hear about in school), I fail my save to suspend disbelief.

I encourage you to comment below, rather than elsewhere.

Long live the Blogosphere!

Quintessential BX

Quintessential BX is a trimming and tweaking of Gavin Norman's B/X Essentials, itself a revision of Tom Moldvay and David Cook's Basic/Expert edition of the Original Fantasy Adventure Game. It includes a few refinements, additions, and options from myself, Gavin, and Lamentations of the Flame Princess, such as ascending AC, a reasonable Encumbrance system, and various new options in combat. QBX is intended to serve as a solid base upon which to layer other, modular rules; it does not include classes, monster stats, or spells. These can be referenced from original or new sources, or created yourself. Season to taste.

Quintessential BX PDF

Suitable for printing as a zine-style booklet

Italian Translation by Zeruhur

Google Doc to copy for your own customization (keeping OGL in mind)

The primary differences from BX are ascending AC, consolidation of some fiddly bits like ability score adjustments into standardized modifiers, and trimming of some things I see as extraneous like prime requisite XP adjustments, extensive rules for water and air travel, and encumbrance by tracking the weight of every item (two new Encumbrance options are added).

Special thanks to Gavin for both taking on the endeavor of creating B/X Essentials, and for conferring with me on attribution. It should also be noted that Gavin is further refining, compiling, and re-branding B/X Essentials to Old School Essentials, and the new editions will include Ascending AC.

As a side note, this (along with the original version of Principia Apocrypha) also serves as an example of how one can wring decent-looking, printable zine-booklets out of Google Docs. I might eventually write up a guide and templates for what I've learned.

I encourage you to comment below, rather than elsewhere.

Long live the Blogosphere!

House Rule: Dungeon Logistics & Supply Bundles

Encumbrance, Dungeon Exploration Logistics, and Combat

When exploring a dungeon, unless you have enough porter hirelings to carry them, you are assumed to put most of your most encumbering items (including Supply Bundles) into a pile while you explore carefully, returning to move them forward after scouting ahead. Encumbering items carried during exploration may reduce your movement rate and possibly impact your ability to react to surprises such as traps.

In combat, each encumbering item you carry (other than Armor, Shields, and a Weapon being used) imposes a cumulative -1 penalty to AC, and Attack and Damage rolls. You may use the first round that you are not Surprised to carefully drop all carried encumbering items, but may not move or attack while doing so.

For easy reference on your character sheet, mark items that you only carry during overland travel and leave outside of dungeons with a "T", items that you leave in the supply pile with a "P", and items you always have on you even during combat with a "C".

Supply Bundles

A Supply Bundle can contain 9 to 30 “faces” in any combination of Supply Usage Dice. Track the composition of your Supply Bundle with one of these cards. These bundles usually take the form of an over-shoulder sack or bag distinct from your Pack (which carries more specific items and is not encumbering unless "full"). Each bundle counts as an Encumbering Item. 8 or fewer total faces can simply fit into a Pack among other items. A D4 can fit on a belt in a pouch or small bundle.

Supplies & Usage Dice

Common supplies are tracked with Usage Dice. These are dice from D4 to D20 which correspond to the approximate amount of that supply you have. The Usage Die for a type of Supply is rolled when a normal amount of it is used. On a result of 1 or 2, the Usage Die steps down one size, or, when on a D4, you are out of that supply.

Supply Types

Fuel: Roll when any portable light source gutters out to replace it (approximately once an hour).

Rations: Roll before a long rest and/or after a phase of travel (~8 hours), and during short rests (only once for the whole party).

Ammunition: Roll after firing a missile weapon.

Medicants: Roll when First Aid or other medical treatment is performed.

Miscellany: Roll for materials for simple repairs, or other incidentals such as an iron spike, a short length of cord, a small pot of grease, or other items as the GM deems reasonable. If there is disagreement, perhaps allow an Intelligence or Wisdom check to have a specific item on hand.

Man with Bag (aka Market Wallet or Martebo Sack) - Duparc Françoise

Conceptual Status: Seems To Works In My Game

Commentary

By default, most games assume all of the party's possessions are carried on their person at all times, with the occasional exception of pack animals during overland travel. For campaigns that emphasize resource management, separating the party from the bulk of their supplies adds a bit of verismilitude, and a gameplay dynamic I haven't really seen before in RPGs.

In addition to the advantages of Usage Dice (which I won't detail here since you're probably already familiar, but can be summed up as highlighting the tension of running out of materials earlier than expected while simultaneously reducing the tedious accounting required), I think tracking a pile of supplies separate from the party while exploring has these benefits & effects:

• It naturally creates difficult choices, and the risk of getting separated from your supplies. 
• Do you cling tightly to your supplies, but compromise your ability to avoid traps and fight?
• When descending on a rope, do you keep the Bundle on you, perhaps imposing a penalty to climbing checks, or do you leave it at the top and risk getting separated from it?
• If you need to flee, do pick up your pack on the way to save precious supplies, or stay unladen to hasten your retreat?
• It helps clear up the dissonance between having enough supplies for a dungeon expedition, but not being awkwardly encumbered by a heavy backpack when combat begins.
• It helps justify the traditionally slow pace of dungeon exploration, since it adds the necessity of returning to the pile and move it forward.
• Leaving the pile behind makes it vulnerable to inhabitants of the dungeon, giving you an additional way to threaten them and cause resource attrition. They might learn to carry a bit of Fuel on their person at all times.
• It creates additional incentive to pay non-combatant porters to follow you, another reason to engage in the dynamic of hirelings.

This house rule assumes an encumbrance system similar to Lamentations of the Flame Princess, where only "significant items" count towards encumbrance. I think the concept may still be suitable for a system which takes an even more "lightweight" approach to encumbrance, by making the supply bundles explicitly encumbering in a way that other items and containers are not. In fact this may be even more impactful than in an LotFP style encumbrance system...

In My Campaign

In Tolmenwode Tales, my ongoing campaign of ~25 sessions so far, the first third of which were dungeon delving, there have been a few situations where the separation between the party and their supplies came into play. They usually involved tension around whether the party could retrieve their supplies if they needed to retreat from a charged situation. And there was at least one instance of a PC wanting to produce an item that would be in their Supplies during combat, which they could not access since it was in the pile a room back. We haven't done a huge amount of dungeon delving, but I look forward to more of these interesting situations in the future.

As GM, it was somewhat easy to forget this regime during play, but it wasn't that big a deal to suddenly remember it was a factor in the current situation; it's something the players should be accounting for anyhow. Describing returning to the pile to move it forward can be elided after the first few times. I think the dynamic it adds is worth the occasional hiccup.

Supply Bundles using Usage Dice pairs well with a Hazard Die type system, where every one or two Turns, it may indicate light sources gutter out, or the party needs to rest and consume a ration. I use a version of this in Tolmenwode Tales.

Related Resources

There are a bunch of recent posts and hacks for inventory management recently. Here's a partial compilation:

Usage Dice were popularized by their inclusion in The Black Hack. David Black also has some good reflections on what makes them good and when not to use them.

Brendan at Necropraxis covers some good inventory management/bookkeeping alternatives in his State of the Art post.

Anne Hunter at DIY & Dragons made a few great posts on resource management in her consistently great analytical style.

I encourage you to comment below, rather than elsewhere.

Long live the Blogosphere!

Alignment as the effect of a spell

Align Soul

Cleric/Divine, Level 20
Duration: Permanent until overwritten by this spell or overridden by the target's volition (see below)
Range: Infinite within plane

Enchant an individual with an aura of, and variably strong inclinations to follow behaviors circumscribed by, an Alignment of Law, Chaos, or Neutrality, and (optionally) fluency in a language known only by others of the same Alignment.

The individual may at times act against those circumscriptions, but in extreme circumstances may be compelled after an introspective struggle (roll under WIS/CHA or save vs magic, etc).

After a series of such struggles, their Alignment may change toward that associated with the individual's actions.

Conceptual Status: Warning - Notional Idea

Commentary

Alignment is a perennially debated topic, but I was struck by the notion of looking at it from a different perspective. If magic exists, perhaps Alignment could be tied to the effect of a spell, like a cosmic-level "Charm Person". This explains both its ability to be "detected" and other mechanical interactions, while leaning into, instead of dodging the fact that it feels "artificial".

Why can't I hold all these wizard towers

Ardmore Round Tower

Summon Wizard Tower
Magic User, Level 1
Duration: Until sunrise
Range: 500’ on ground under open sky

A wizard tower that has been placed under the “Bind Wizard Tower To Summoning” enchantment (which one exactly depending on the vagaries of cosmological fate) erupts from the ground 500’ away from the caster. At the next dawn, sunlight causes the tower and anything summoned with it to dissolve, returning whence it came. If someone who enters the tower writes up a session report describing their explorations, tribulations, and likely death and shares it with the OSR community and/or creator of the tower, they receive XP equal to 500 multiplied by the (lowest) character level intended for the tower.

Bind Wizard Tower To Summoning
Magic User, Level 5
Duration: Permanent
Range: Touch

The creator of a wizard tower writes it up as an adventure module and shares it with the OSR community. The tower then becomes summonable by the Summon Wizard Tower spell. Details of session reports from explorers of the tower via the Summon Wizard Tower spell may alter or add treasure or magic items to the tower in the creator’s world, and subsequent summonings.

Some pre-bound Wizard Towers ripe for the Summoning:

• Michael Prescott's The Sky-Blind Spire
• Telecanter's Alabaster Tower
• Andrew Harshman's Tower of the Time Wizard
• Jeff Call's Prisoners of the Gelatinous Dome
• John's Beneath the Windowless Tower
• Luka Rejec's Deep in the Purple Worm
• Skerples Roving Wheel, if you squint
• And of course, Tower of the Stargazer
• Also, Brendan S. reskinned the cabin from Death Frost Doom as a tower, but that would be a hell of a thing to summon up
• For some reason, when I started the post I thought this list would be even longer. There are a bunch of other wizard lab/sanctum/funhouse adventures that aren't technically towers, so do with that what you will.  Feel free to link to more in the comments.