Golden Shrieker...

This week's monster is once again inspired by imagery for the very amusing Weird Medieval Guys Twitter account. I've included the picture that created this idea at the end of this post.

GOLDEN SHRIEKER

FREQUENCY: Rare
 
NO. APPEARING: 2-6
 
ARMOR CLASS: 4/6

MOVE: 12"/18"

HIT DICE: 5

% IN LAIR: Nil

TREASURE TYPE: M (x2)

NO. OF ATTACKS: 6 (in complete form)

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6, 1-6, 1-6, 1-6, 1-8, 1-8

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Shriek

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Splitting, paralysation

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Semi-

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: L  (7' tall in complete form)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

Golden Shriekers are monsters consisting of two creatures living in a symbiotic relationship. They are most commonly encountered in underground places, but might also be found residing within ruins and similarly lonely places. It can utter a terrible shriek which acts as if it were a Fear spell cast by a 3rd level Magic-User, but may only use this form of attack once per day. It will also use the claws on its hands and feet (inflicting 1-6 points of damage) and teeth (inflicting 1-8 points of damage per mouth) against its chosen victim. Any individuals carrying gold items will become the main focus of their onslaught, with those possessing the most gold attracting the most attention. The flesh of any victims of the Shrieker will be consumed by its head, whilst any gold items will be greedily consumed by the mouth within the lower part of the creature's body.

Should the Shrieker lose 75% of its hit points, it may choose to split into two parts. The head will detach itself from the body and use its wings to continue fighting individually or attempt escape by flying away, and possesses 50% of the remaining hit points. However, in this form it will also use a 4 foot long whip-like 'tail' which will paralyse any opponents struck by it that fail to save vs paralysation. The other part of the body may chose to fight or flee, and possesses the other 50% of the remaining hit points. When whole, the Shrieker has an armor class of 4, but when separate each part has an armor class of 6. The treasure the creature possess will be found within the gullet of its lower half, although it will be reduced to misshapen lumps.

 

Description: These creatures have long scaly limbs and patterned bat-like wings extending from a large round head which is covered with thick black bristles. This and the body also possess their own set of large glassy eyes and a wide mouth full of sharp teeth. Both mouths and eyes are a vivid blood red. The body of the Shrieker is a dull gold colour but after feasting this takes on the appearance of being brightly polished.

 

Stone Spitter...!

This is another post inspired by one of the creatures from the Weird Medieval Guys twitter feed. I've included the original illustration at the end of this post.

STONE SPITTER

FREQUENCY: Rare
 
NO. APPEARING: 2-4
 
ARMOR CLASS: 5/7

MOVE: 9"/20"

HIT DICE: 3

% IN LAIR: 20%

TREASURE TYPE: B

NO. OF ATTACKS: 3

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6, 1-6, 1-8

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Stones

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Animal

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: M

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

Stone Spitters (sometimes also known as Archer or Sling Birds) are large wading avians who live at the edges of rivers, swamps and similar watery places. They will always be encountered as a mating pair, possibly with one or two young. Each pair will patrol a territory that covers several square miles around their lair, which will either be hidden with reeds or in a suitably large tree not far from the water's edge. If encountered in flight, they will be travelling in search of a new patch of territory.

 

They are normally quite shy creatures unless an incursion into their territory approaches their lair, in which case they will attack without hesitation. In melee they may chose to lash out with their powerfully taloned feet (inflicting 1-6 points of damage) or stab with their long pointed beaks (inflicting 1-8 points of damage). Alternatively, it may choose to fire stones at an opponent, launching them from its beak. When doing so, it inflates the bellows-like part of its breast while regurgitating stones from its gizzard to its crop. Air forced through the beak by the bellows is then used to launch these stones at high speed at one or more opponents, out to a range of 30 feet (60 feet if the creature is airborne). These stones inflict damage as if they were sling bullets, and the bird may focus up to five of these per round at one target (requiring only one attack roll) or spread them at multiple targets within a cone up to 20 feet wide (but making a separate attack roll for each). The Stone Spitter will have up to 60 stones within its body to use for this purpose. The stones may also be covered by noisome substances from within the creature's gizzard, and thus there is a 20% chance that any skin struck by one will become infected and inflict a further one hit point of damage per hour unless suitably treated (i.e. via first aid or Cure Light Wounds). The body of a Stone Spitter has an Armour Class of 7 but the tough scaly beak and head has an Armour Class of 5. Their young have 4 hit points and inflict 1-2, 1-2, and 1-4 points of damage respectively. They possess the ability to fire a single stone per round at opponents, inflicting 1-3 points of damage.

 

Stone Spitters have no interest in treasure and thus any found at their lair will be whatever remains of previous unsuccessful invaders of their territory that have not been washed downstream.

Description: Adult Stone Spitters are 6 feet tall with long black-grey legs. Their plumage is orange-brown along their neck and underbelly, and their wings are blue with white-blue undersides. Their eyes are bright red and when expanded their breast is a vivid mauve. Their head and beak are dark blue-black. Their young are 2 to 3 feet tall and mottled grey-blue all over.

  

Medieval & Renaissance Cartographic Sea Monsters

The always wonderful BiblioOdyssey site has an interesting review of Chet Van Duzer's book 'Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps'. Those of you who have cartographical leanings in your RPGs may find this a source of inspiration.

Sheep-eating plants and Medieval comic strips...

'It's coming straight for us...!'

According to this BBC report, a sort-of carnivorous plant called Puya chilensis is about to bloom. This is a rare thing for UK-based examples. The above image doesn't really do the plant justice - there's a better photo here. The idea of carnivorous plants has always been of interest to me, especially how they'd factor into a D&D setting. The way that Puya chilensis gets a meal could possibly work in D&D, although perhaps with some more active way attacking. Or maybe it's just very good at snaring the beards of passing dwarfs who've had a few too many drinks...

Meanwhile, over at the Medieval News blog there's an interesting 12th century 'comic' on show. By having a larger figure overlaid onto the text and smaller images, the page above looks almost modern in it's design.

How to make armour...

Further to my most recent post about Medieval armour, there's an interesting blog called How To Make Armour. This provides some insights into how various types of objects from the period can be made, which could come in quite handy when trying to draw such things. I've always found that it's much easier to draw something if you know how it's constructed - that includes the human body, armour, cars, etc.

Similar information can also be found at Age of Armour, which also includes a some great photos of compeleted commissions.

Medievalists.net may also slake your thirst for further knowledge about the Medieval world.

Helmets from the Age of Armoured Combat

There are some great photos of weird and wonderful armoured helms to be found at this page over at io9. Some are of the rather showy ornamental type, but all could provide inspiration for anyone who wants their plate armour to stand out in a crowded dungeon...

Women in armour (and some in uniforms)...

There's a rather good Tumblr feed called In Male Dress. It features many photos from a wide variety of re-enactment and other sources. Some of these feature women wearing different styles of armour.

At some point or another I'll get around to doing a sequel to my earlier post bemoaning the silliness that is the so-called 'breastplate' one sees far too often in RPG artwork. In the meantime, a glance over the images from this Tumblr feed should hopefully show that such things aren't required. If anything, photos from reality are way cooler...

A Ransom System for AD&D...

Inspired by my previous post on the subject of ransoms, what follows hereafter is a basic system of ransom for use in 1e AD&D. I've decided to go for 1e AD&D from the outset, so that things keep fairly simple for now. This is also a first draft, so somewhere along the line it may get rewritten, adjusted, etc.

Ransoms

Players may find themselves in a situation where they have captured someone of value to another person, society, place etc, and that this can be used for financial gain in some way. This doesn't always mean that the players are involved in a form of absolute extortion - they may be well justified in seeking ransom for some past wrong-doing. The idea of ransoming a person for money (or some other equivalent form) may appear abhorrent to some players and character types. For example, would a Paladin really indulge in such measures? Well, possibly. A ransom could be seen as a way of paying pennance or a method by which a grievance is settled. Ransom could be a system through which another party is being forced to pay for the misdeeds of the captive. Of course, the players may end up in a situation where they themselves are the captives, and so this system could also be used to measure their apparent worth.

Step One: Market Forces, basic values

The basic price on the head of any given character class could vary from place to place, depending on the apparent worth of that person's class. For example, the players may be adventuring in a place where more value is given to those persons engaging in magical practices. A town that is a haven for thieves may place greater value on one of their own kind than, say, a magic-user. That said, we can perhaps start from some simple premise of a baseline value (in gold pieces) for each character class at 1st level:

Cleric 20
Druid 20
Fighter 30
Paladin 40
Ranger 30
Magic-User 30
Illusionist 20
Thief 10
Assassin 10
Monk 15
Henchman 10
Hireling 10

Of course, 1st level characters will probably not be of much worth to someone else. Other factors will affect their value. Henchmen and hirelings are included on this list because they also have some basic value to other players, NPCs etc and therefore the following steps may also apply to them.

Step Two - Level multiplier

A level multiplier is then applied to the base number above.

Example: a 5th level Paladin is worth 200gp (5x40gp).

Step Three - Status multiplier

Status denotes the apparent value an individual has in terms of social standing, if relevant. This will of course vary from place to place, depending on how the person is viewed by others. If we take the idea of some form of community role or nobility as an example, we could apply these multipliers:

Local mayor x2

Minor nobility x3

Direct descendant of local king x5

Local king x10

Example: a 5th level Paladin who is the son of a local king is worth 1000gp (5x200gp).

The Dungeon Master would have to exercise some reasoning here with regard to henchmen and hirelings - for example, an expert blacksmith in a city that has other blacksmiths may not have a much status as one who is the only blacksmith for miles around. Out in the wilds, a whole area may rely on his or her skills. Thus, the city expert is akin to a x2 ('local mayor'), whereas the rare and valuable blacksmith is x5 or possibly even x10.

Step Four - Fame multiplier

Fame is another form of social standing that may also supercede that individual's social status. What drives that in terms of overall value is how well the fame is known over a distance. A village hero of great worth to his local people could be unheard of in a town 50 miles away. The following multipliers could apply:

x2 (the person is known to the local population)

x3 (the person is known to the local area)

x5 (the person known to a kingdom)

x20 (the person known to whole land)

A local area, land, or kingdom may be relatively small - what matters is how many other people know the the person's fame and how important it is to them a whole. Even the ruler of one kingdom may be of little value to another, depending on their perceived worth. A leader of an army of thieves might be famous across a whole land within which lie several kingdoms.

Example: a 10th level Thief king who is known throughout a whole land is worth 20000gp - 10gp x 10th lvl =100gp, x10 (local king) = 1000gp, x20 (known to a whole land).

Non-Human Followers

It's possible that certain high level players have non-human followers, and that those followers may also have some level of status and/or fame. If so, take the non-human's hit dice, multiply it by the gp value below, and then apply Steps Three and Four if required:

Centaur 200
Hippogriff 200
Pegasus 300
Brownie 100
Pixie 100
Pseudo-dragon 350
Satyr 300
Sprite 200
Copper Dragon 500
Storm Giant 1000
Treant 300
Werebear 100
Weretiger 100

This reflects that apparent worth due to their various abilities, magic, and other powers - not to mention the fact that they may also potentially be harder to take as captives.

Like I said, this is a first stab at some form of system. It is somewhat more fluid than the Medieval system which inspired it, as the world of D&D is not so entrenched in terms of heirarchies, social mores and social values. This system should be fluid enough to deal with most circumstances, but please feel free to try it and provide some feedback and critiques!

Medieval warfare had a well-organised 'ransom market'

The capture of the French king John II at Poitiers in 1356 (Source: Wikipedia)

 

This interesting article appeared today on the BBC website. It seems that there was a system involved which governed what happened to prisoners of war in the Medieval period, and that it could be a lucrative source of income for those doing the capturing. Also of note is the fact that a captive could be taken back to their home in order for the ransom to be paid.

Treasure is always an good incentive for play in fantasy RPGs, and the idea behind this system shows that it could be possibly adapted as a set of rules. Aspiring adventurers could always develop it as an interesting sideline to their adventures and campaigns.

Demonagerie - the strange world of Medieval art

Fantasy RPGs can tend to draw on the Medieval period for influences, but at the same time miss out slightly on the sheer oddity of that period's worldview. Even Ars Magica seems to have skimmed past this, which is a shame. Instead, for the most part, we tend to get presented with the Conan-style fantasy angle which to my mind has never been a particularly good influence. Why? Well, I've never been completely sure that it's not been conflated with the horror that is the Renaissance Festival...

Is this because of a somewhat peculiar take on the Medieval period, combined with a vibe that owes more to Hollywood films than it does to an understanding of European history and culture? Hmm. Possibly.

However, should one want to tap into the actual period one would discover that it is full of odd imagery that wouldn't look too out of place in, say, a D&D setting. For example:

This picture comes from an excellent site called Demonagerie, over at Tumblr. There's lots of demons, dragons, monsters, knights and a variety of other images and symbolism that may help to inform or flesh out your fantasy campaign. Huzzah!