Thursday, April 18, 2013

Dodecahedrons of Doom!

Hey look! I'm posting again.

Hoping to be less of a lazyman about this blog and my gaming. So here's something that's maybe possibly useful. I'll get around to rambling about Helgacon and other stuff soon. Got a nice write up of my games from Delta today, so go check it out.

I've been asked to run a game for my coworkers, and so to spice up their first foray into old school gaming I made some Critical charts. (Most of the folks are 3rd. or 4th. ed players, although one guy is an old hand at 2nd. ed. like me.) These are designed to run with Labyrinth Lord, which is my axe of choice in these sorts of situations.

So I give you, the dodecahedron of doom charts, so that the poor neglected 12 sider can take its sweet revenge. These may be pretty simple compared to other critical charts, but they oughta be worth a few laffs for my purposes.

CRITICAL COMBAT FAILURE TABLE: roll 1d12 on a natural 1 in combat

01: You are thrown off balance and fall prone, lose next attack getting up again. Temporary +2 to AC.


02: You swing wide and leave yourself open. +2 to AC for next round.


03: You lose your grip on your weapon and drop it at your feet. Draw a backup or spend your next turn retrieving it.


04: Your strike rebounds wildly from your foe's defense, doing 1d4 damage from your own weapon.


05: You sprain your wrist, -2 to hit until you can stop to bind it.(This action takes at least a turn to do right.)


06: Your grip loosens in the midst of a powerful swing, flinging the weapon for distance. 1d8 direction 1= forward. 2d10 Feet.   


07: You twist an ankle. Movement reduced by 30'(10') until you can bind it.


08: You swing wildly, dealing a glancing blow to a nearby ally for 1/2 your weapon's damage. If no allys in proximity, lose weapon.


09: Your weapon gets entangled with enemy weapon or shield, wrenching it out of your hands. Now they've got it.


10: Your weapon breaks, rendering it useless. Magic weapons will not break but their plus becomes a minus for duration of fight.


11: You trip up an ally with your clumsiness, knocking them prone. If no allies present, fall down and stun self for 1d4 rounds.


12: You manage to hold on to your weapon and not hurt any friendlies, but you look like such a dork that any retainers are reduced in morale by -2 until you manage to land a hit on the foe. If reduced to 0 they flee.


CRITICAL CHECK FAILURE TABLE: roll 1d12 on a natural 20 or 6 on attribute or other checks

01: Throw back out. -2 to all actions until a night's sleep on a level surface can be had.


02: Pull hamstring. Reduce movement by 30'(10') until you can rest for 1d4 hours


03: Sprained wrist. Lose Str & Dex bonus until it can be bound. If no bonus, suffer -1


04: Bang funny bone. Loud cry of pain causes wandering monster check.


05: Wardrobe Malfunction! Split pants, pop bodice, or snap loincloth string. How embarrassing!


06: Piece of fragile equipment (Lantern, potion flask, etc.) works free and hits the floor, breaking.


07: Bonk head on something. Take 1 pt damage and suffer -1 penalty on surprise checks and saves vs. spells until you can rest for hour.


08: Fall down. Roll again on this table, suffer consequences in addition to being prone. Some situations may make this more dangerous.


09: Random pouch, pack, or sack rips open, spilling contents on floor. Roll saves for fragile items.


10: Hit head really hard. K.O. for 1d10 turns, suffer -2 to surprise and saves vs. spells until full night's rest attained


11: Loaded weapon or charged magic item fires off! If none such carried, melee weapon slips from sheath and clatters on floor.


12: Groin smack! Unable to do anything but curl into ball and wheeze for 2d8 rounds. No picnic for lady types either, but effect only lasts for 1d4 rounds. Any monsters or retainers present can't help but point and laugh. 




CRITICAL HIT SUCCESS TABLE:
Players may opt to substitute roll on this table for extra dice damage on a crit. Can be dialed up or down depending on how ruthless a GM you feel like being. Roll 1d4 for mild, 1d6 for mean, 1d8 for not jokin' around, or 1d12 for deadly serious!

01: Disoriented! Foe loses next attack from having its bell rung.


02: Disarmed! Non weapon using foes suffer -2 to damage from erosion of attack method (broken teeth, shorn claw, etc.)


03: DisArmored! Damage to armor reduces AC by +1


04: Scared! Foe must make a morale check from puissant attack.


05: Humiliated! Clothing sliced open, or decorative feature like horn, crest, or tail lopped off. -2 to Morale score. AC unaffected


06: Tripped Up! Foe is knocked prone, loses next attack getting up, suffers temporary +2 to AC


07: Right in the Face! Foe is blinded (-4 to hit, 1/2 Movement)


08: Right in the Goolies! Foe doubles over and wheezes for 2d4 rounds. Female foes for 1d4. Oozes, mindless undead, and constructs unaffected. Enrages self aware undead, who remember having a groin and now burn with jealousy toward the living. 


09: Literally Disarmed! Foe's weapon hand or one of their claws lopped off. Roll Morale check.


10: Crippled! Blow to foe's leg reduces their movement by it's percentage of total limbs. (50% for bipeds, 25% for quadrupeds)


11: Run Through! Foe is impaled. Save vs. Death or die instantly.


12: Beheaded! Instant death! Allies must make Morale check.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Happy Holidays, Everybody!

Have a Merry Christmas, and a Lucharrific New Year! Onward to 2013!


Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Okay... Here's a little bit of content.


Yeah, I'm hideously overdue to talk about my fun times at Helgacon V. Frankly, as awesome as it was it was so long ago I can't hope to do a play by play.

So here's some eye candy from one of the events I ran, a sugary little concoction in the "gonzo" vein that stirred in influences from disparate corners of pop culture with the strongest flavors coming from Saturday Morning Cartoons, that I called "The Kingdom of Murgatroyd"



These are the pre-generated characters, of whom the players could choose either the spear or distaff versions to play. 
 
Left to Right, we have Gygasaurus the Primusaur, Mostly the Shapeshifter, Twinkle Hooves the Unicorn Pony, Bluered the Dweomon Master, Starfox the Pegasus Pony, Buckberry the Earth Pony, and El Tigre Muchacho, a mighty Handsman


And representing the lovely ladies of adventuring, we have Galgasaurus the Priumusaur, Sorta the Shapeshifter, a Unicorn Pony known as The Fabulous Pixie, Pearl Diamond the Dweomon Master, Vixen the Pegasus Pony, Brandywine the Earth Pony, and La Pantera Muchacha, a fearless Handswoman.

Long and forgotten story short, the doughty team of heroes busted into the secret lair of the nefarious evil world domination bent organization S.K.U.L.L., beat up a lot of goons, and rescued some hapless travellers from the sinister cabal's sweaty clutches.


A good time was had by all.

Memes In Lieu of Content


So here's my gaming bookshelf, a la Grognardia's shelf meme.

Savage Worlds, D&D from Holmes to 3rd Ed, then assorted Old Skool Gems on top.

Curiosities, Relics, Games I Don't Play Anymore, and support materials on the 2nd. shelf

Modules, Miscellaney, and old notebooks full of game notes from back in the day, then Box Sets.

The grey tube you see down at the bottom right corner is my trusty battle mat


So many game books, so little actual gaming. Must remedy sometime...

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Still scuppered, but here be a tune t' tap yer peg legs to!

Well, posting still be sparse, but t' tide ye over on International Talk Like A Pirate Day, here be a little ditty for ye bilge guzzlin' swabs.

Yarrrrrrr

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Augh! I've been neglecting this blog for so long!

And it'll probably continue until I can get some actual gaming going on.

'Til then, lets have a moment of science with the Aquabats


Yeah!

Friday, July 6, 2012

The Hero Project

Hey sandbox, long time no see.

Well, I've kinda been distracted by other stuff, which is modern shorthand for slacking off, mostly, but I've also been relocating from New England to my old stomping grounds in PA.

So anyway, the reason I'm delurking is to tout the VERY cool kickstarter project that my awesome bro and his partner have just sparked up.

It kinda relates to gaming, I reckon, 'cos it's called the Hero Project, and it involves super sweet action figures of world mythological heroes.

Check it out, there's a lot of cool swag in the offing if you lay down some moola. One of the items is a cool art book full of illos of their first hero, Rama from Indian mythology. I contributed one of the illos, so if you pledge at that level I'll be extra stoked.

Hero Project

Thanks!


Oh, and P.S. don't go away, I'll get around to putting some stuff up here once I get other stuff straightened out.