Dead Man's Lantern

This week's monster uses infravision against those who have such ability...

DEAD MAN'S LANTERN

FREQUENCY: Uncommon

NO. APPEARING: 1
 
ARMOR CLASS: 3

MOVE: 12"

HIT DICE: 4

% IN LAIR: Nil

TREASURE TYPE: Nil

NO. OF ATTACKS: 6 (2 talons, 2-4 tendrils)

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-12

SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Animal

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: L (30' long)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil   

The Dead Man's Lantern spends the majority of its life in the roofs of caves and similar subterranean places but much prefers dungeon environments. It resembles a long thin centipede with numerous pairs of small claws which allow it to hold fast onto any wall, floor or ceiling. Small eyes are dotted along its spine with a larger cluster at the centre of its body, both ends of which end in a long tapering section tipped with a venomous talon. Its carapace is so textured as to appear to be stone or similar surface and is almost impossible to detect. The creature is also completely invisible to those creatures that possess infravision.    

However, when seeking prey it uses both normal sight and infravision to lure victims to a space within the striking range of its talons. It can detect creatures up to 200' away and when they pass through the outer edge of this limit it excretes long tendrils of a sticky substance ending in a luminescent bulb that extends a ragged sheet-like form. It then moves these from side to side and slowly advances towards its prey. To those creatures with normal sight, the bulbs resemble swinging lanterns, but to those possessing infravision, both the bulbs and the sheets resemble a party with lanterns moving in single file. 

The creature is careful not to engage large groups (i.e. with more than 5 members) and will attack once its intended victims are within striking distance of one of its talons, at which point it switches off the light and infravision effects cast by its tendrils. Each talon inflicts 2-12 points of damage and, if a poison saving throw fails, the victim dies immediately. It will also attack with its tendrils in an effort to stun opponents, who must save versus paralyzation.

These creatures prefer to consume dwarves, goblins and other smaller underground dwellers, but will readily attack parties made up of various races if their numbers are within the aforementioned limit. Victims of their venom will dissolve in 2-10 rounds and the remains will be consumed by a proboscis within each talon.

 

Jellies..! Part Six

MIND JELLY

FREQUENCY: Very rare
 
NO. APPEARING: 1
 
ARMOR CLASS: 2

MOVE: 8"

HIT DICE: 8 +4

% IN LAIR: Nil

TREASURE TYPE: Nil

NO. OF ATTACKS: See below

DAMAGE/ATTACK: See blow

SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below

SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below

MAGIC RESISTANCE: 85%

INTELLIGENCE: Very

ALIGNMENT: Neutral Evil

SIZE: S (3 feet wide)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
  

Wild rumour and folklore suggests that these creatures are the minds of long dead evil magicians, or are the result of some frightful experiment gone wrong. Mind Jellies visit the Prime Material Plane in order to feed, but their point of origin is unknown and such journeys are thankfully rare.

Although they are happy to devour the minds of any sentient creatures they hunt, they are particularly drawn to Magic Users and will seek them out when they encounter adventuring parties. The jelly will send forth 2-12 feelers up to 10 feet in length towards an individual it has decided to attack, and those touched by them must save vs paralyzation. A victim will then be drained of Intelligence at the rate of 1d3 points per round until that ability reaches zero or the Jelly is killed or driven away (by losing more than half of its hit points). If a Magic User is attacked, that individual will also be drained of one spell per round (highest level first).

Normally the Mind Jelly only makes a single attack in order to feed, but will defend itself with two other sets of tendrils if it meets stiff resistance. In this case, these tendrils will inflict 3-18 points of damage but while doing so it can only drain Intelligence at the rate of 1 point per round. Individual tendrils have only 5 hit points but the Jelly can grow 1-6 replacements every round. The creature can only be harmed by magical weapons of +2 or greater and is also quite able to resist other magical attacks. If it loses more than 75% of its hit points, it will become invisible and flee from the Prime Material Plane. However, it is able to etherially track and pursue a victim, sometimes attacking many years later when they have recovered from their wounds (they regenerate 2-20 hit points per year).

Mind Jellies are a misshapen sphere trailing a collection of tendrils, and it floats above the ground at a height of four feet. They are unable to pass under doors etc like other forms of jelly and are usually invisible (surprise on 1-3) unless ready to attack, at which point they radiate an eerie blue light. They speak the language of most creatures, and may be bargained with if convinced that a more suitable victim can be found elsewhere. Mind Jellies have long memories and are spiteful, and will return to the Prime Material Plane to seek revenge on those who have harmed them.

Jellies...! Part Five

 

Time to get back in the blogging saddle - again...

FEVER JELLY
  

FREQUENCY: Very rare
 
NO. APPEARING: 1-3
 
ARMOR CLASS: 4

MOVE: 8"

HIT DICE: 5

% IN LAIR: Nil

TREASURE TYPE: Nil

NO. OF ATTACKS: See below

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6

SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below

SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Non-

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: S (3 feet wide)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
 

Fever jellies are usually found in sewers and other noisome places, and are thought to be the source of various illnesses and diseases in towns and cities. Such is their preference for living in ordure and filth that there is a chance (1-2 on 1d6) that they will be found in company with 1-2 otyughs, or 2-20 giant rats.

These creatures are large spherical blobs of rotting and decaying matter, coalesced into a form made up of numerous sickening shades of brown, green and yellow. Various mushroom-shaped nodules grow randomly from the main body and are used for both locomotion and attack. Although usually content enough with consuming whatever matter falls into the sewers from above, they are keen to feast upon living prey. They will actively seek out adventuring parties once they become aware of their presence, especially if heat sources such as torches are being used.

Fever jellies attack by rapidly rolling at their opponent and striking out with a single nodule. A successful attack not only inflicts 1-6 points of damage but also acts as Cause Disease, as cast by a 3rd level magic-user. Any victim failing a Saving Throw will then succumb to a terrible malady (as described in the Players' Handbook).

 

The rubbery and resilient nature of these jellies means that only edged weapons can affect them, and their covering of slime renders them immune to fire-based attacks. However, other heat-based attacks have their normal effect against these creatures, as do lightning bolts.

Jellies...! Part 4

And still more jelly! This one includes stats for Old School Essentials

ICE JELLY
  

FREQUENCY: Very rare
 
NO. APPEARING: 1
 
ARMOR CLASS: 8

MOVE: 6"

HIT DICE: 5

% IN LAIR: Nil

TREASURE TYPE: Nil

NO. OF ATTACKS: See below

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-12

SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below

SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Non-

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: M (4 feet wide)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
 

At first glance, ice jellies appear to be nothing more than an uneven patch of frozen water on a floor, wall or other surface. They prefer cold, damp places and thus might be found in dungeons and similar locations. Like some other jellies, they can squeeze through narrow spaces, under doors, etc.

When attacking, the jelly will rapidly grow a mass of solid icy spikes. Each turn, it can fire up to 3 of these to a distance of  80 feet, each inflicting 2-12 points of damage. It may also choose to make a magical attack, casting Cone of Cold as a 5th level magic-user every 3 turns.

Cold-based attacks will prove fruitless, and provide the jelly with an extra spike attack in the following turn. However, fire and heat-based attacks have twice their normal effect against these creatures, whilst lightning bolts have their normal effect. 

STATS FOR OSE

AC 8 [11], HD 5** (25hp), Att 3 × ice spike
(2d6) or magical attack THAC0 15 [+4], MV 40’ (10’), 
SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (3), ML 12, 
AL Neutral, XP 400, NA 1 (0), TT None

▶ Ice spikes: 80' range, 3 per round
▶ Magical attack: acts as if using a Wand of Cold, attacking every 3 rounds.
▶ Seep: Can squeeze through small holes and cracks.
▶ Immunity: Unharmed by cold-based attacks - provides an extra spike attack in the following round.

Jellies...! Part 3

Time for some more jelly! This one includes stats for Old School Essentials, to which I've become a recent convert:

FIRE JELLY

  

FREQUENCY: Very rare
 
NO. APPEARING: 1
 
ARMOR CLASS: 8

MOVE: 4"

HIT DICE: 4-6

% IN LAIR: Nil

TREASURE TYPE: Nil

NO. OF ATTACKS: See below

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-16

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Blinding, Engulf (see below)

SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Non-

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: M (4-6 feet wide)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
 

Although Fire Jellies can squeeze through narrow spaces and along ceilings, walls, and floors, on first glance they appear to be a mass of blackish grey stone dotted with numerous pits. They might even be mistaken for a large area of metal slag until they move. Fire Jellies are usually found in deep caves far underground, favouring areas where magma and other volcanic activity is present. Occasionally found in dungeons, they sometimes also seek out areas where metalworking and similar activity is present and thus are quite well known to dwarves and gnomes as a dangerous pest. They are attracted to sources of heat, and so parties using torches and similar open flames run the risk of being ambushed.

When attacking, the jelly rapidly becomes a large burning mass covered with black patches. In this form they are particularly dangerous to any beings that possess Infravision, as they risk being temporarily blinded (for 1-6 turns) unless a Saving Throw is made. The jelly will attempt to strike with two burning pseudopods, each inflicting 2-16 points of damage. It will also try to engulf any fallen opponent, inflicing 3-30 points of damage per turn from intense heat and burning.

 

Fire-based attacks will prove fruitless, and provide the jelly with an extra attack in the following turn. However, cold attacks have twice their normal effect against these creatures, whilst lightning bolts have their normal effect.

 

STATS FOR OSE

AC 8 [11], HD 5** (25hp), Att 2 × pseudopod
(2d8) or Engulf (3d10) THAC0 15 [+4], MV 30’ (10’), 
SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (3), ML 12, 
AL Neutral, XP 400, NA 1 (0), TT None

▶ Immunity: Unharmed by fire-based attacks - provides an extra pseudopod attack in the following round.
▶ Blinding: blinds any persons possessing infravision (save vs paralysis)
▶ Engulf: fallen prey engulfed and receive 3d10 damage per round
▶ Seep: Can squeeze through small holes and cracks.

Jellies...! Part 2

Working onwards from last week's post, I was wondering whether, if jellies are partially the result of magical experiments, what would happen if they had some magical abilities? With that in mind, here's another jelly design. It's statted for 1E AD&D and, as always, includes an illustrative doodle:

LIGHTNING JELLY

  
FREQUENCY: Rare
 
NO. APPEARING: 1
 
ARMOR CLASS: 8

MOVE: 3"

HIT DICE: 4-6

% IN LAIR: Nil

TREASURE TYPE: Nil

NO. OF ATTACKS: See below

DAMAGE/ATTACK: See below

SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below

SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Non-

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: M (6 feet wide, 2-3 feet high in spherical form)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
 

Lightning jellies are found in dungeons and other subterranean places, usually taking on the appearance of a pool of water or of moisture running along a surface. Like the ochre jelly, it can squeeze through narrow spaces and can move along ceilings, walls, and floors.

It is only when attacking that the jelly takes on another form, gathering itself to become a spherical mass that has a slight blueish glow. It will then loose a charge of electricity, attacking as a 3rd level Magic User casting Lightning Bolt and inflicting 3-18 points of damage. It can usually only make one attack per turn, although striking the creature with lightning bolts only serves to give the jelly an extra attack in the following round. The jelly will absorb the organic part of any fallen prey.

Lightning jellies are immune to cold attacks but fire-based attacks have a normal effect.

Jellies...!

Time to get back in the ol' blog saddle and get back to designing some monsters.

I have a general propensity to think that many of the monsters in 1E AD&D are... well.. weird. I thought that when first introduced to the RPG and I still think it now. One of the stranger species in the Monster Manual is the Ochre Jelly. If I remember correctly, Gary Gygax said that jellies were the result of life springing up from drains, down which various exotic ingredients had been discarded after magical experiments.
 

Anyway, a few years ago I ran a homebrew 1E AD&D dungeon crawl and designed a new type of jelly (and subsequent posts will feature some others):

STAR JELLY

  
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
 
NO. APPEARING: 1-2
 
ARMOR CLASS: 8

MOVE: 6"

HIT DICE: 4-6

% IN LAIR: Nil

TREASURE TYPE: Nil

NO. OF ATTACKS: 2

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 4-8

SPECIAL ATTACKS: None

SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Non-

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: L (10 – 15 feet wide, 3-4 feet high)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
 

Star jellies resemble a huge starfish and exist in a wide variety of colours. This gelatinous mass is usually found in cold, dark, damp places such as caves but will venture into dungeons in search of food. Unlike the ochre jelly, star jellies lack the ability to flow through small spaces and cannot move along ceilings. However, they are a much faster opponent, propelling themselves along with a multitude of feelers beneath each limb.

These creatures are particularly attracted to metals of all kinds, seeking out mineral veins in caves but preferring the refined steels, irons, and precious metals common to adventuring parties. They will attempt to engulf any target and use powerful acids to consume metal and flesh alike (4-8 hit points per round of exposure).

Should any jelly lose 50% of it’s hit points, one or more of it’s afflicted limbs will dissolve into an acidic gas and the jelly will attempt to escape. Anyone within 10 feet of the creature must make a Saving Throw or receive 1-6 points of damage. Wounded jellies can regrow a single limb in 1-4 days. Similarly, upon death the jelly will dissolve into a larger cloud and anyone within 10 feet must make a Saving Throw or receive 1-8 points of damage. Any form of metal exposed to this gas will tarnish and become discolored.

Star jellies are immune to cold attacks but fire-based attacks have a normal effect. Striking the creature with lightning bolts causes it to split into seperate limbs, each with 2 hit dice but with all movement, attacks and defenses remaining the same as a complete jelly.

'Hic sunt dracones...', part 3

After a bit of a hiatus, and further to my previous posts about sea dragons (here and here), it's time for... another sea dragon. For this post, I've gone for a bit of a 'weird' design, and will include details of it's crew. As always, there are sketches to give you some idea of what things look like...

SEA HORROR (Greater Sea Dragon)

FREQUENCY: Rare

NO. APPEARING: 1 

ARMOR CLASS: 0

MOVE: 24" 

HIT DICE: 9-11

% IN LAIR: 0%

TREASURE TYPE:  See below

NO. OF ATTACKS: 2

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 6-36 beak, 4-40 bite

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Some magic use

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Very

ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil

SIZE: L (100' long) 

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil 

      Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

It's not known if the Sea Horror owes its existence to magic or some quirk of adaption to the sea. The spines and scales common to other dragons have become odd masses resembling the various details of a sea-going vessel. The dragon also has a symbiotic relationship with creatures that live on it, the Kereb (see below). Both creatures roam the sea, attacking any ships they find by ramming and boarding.

Propelled by its powerful tail, the Sea Horror attacks by moving at high speed and ramming its target. Its long prow-like nose can easily pierce the side of most ships and it will also use its massive teeth to chew away below the waterline. During this time, the Kereb will seek to board the stricken vessel. The Sea Horror will also employ the spell Chaos as part of its attack, casting as a 5th Level Illusionist.

The dragon is very keen on acquiring treasure in any form. This will be stashed 'on-board', being made up of a great variety of booty acquired by the Kereb.

Description: the greater part of the dragon will always be below the water. That seen above will resemble brownish tarred wood and will appear to be a ship from all but close range. Bony plates extend up from it's back to form the sides, and a long spine will have all the appearance of a mast. Behind the creature's head and upper sides is a flattish area where the Kereb live and keep their treasure. The Kereb will often festoon the body of the dragon with various objects in order to make it more resemble a ship - including sails, anchors, rigging, ropes, etc.

KEREB

FREQUENCY: Rare

NO. APPEARING: 8-64

ARMOR CLASS: 4

MOVE: 9"/6" (in water)

HIT DICE: 3

% IN LAIR: 100%

TREASURE TYPE:  F

NO. OF ATTACKS: 5

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-12, 3-18

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Paralysis

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Low to average

ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil

SIZE: M (6' tall) 

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil 

      Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

The Kereb are a race of aquatic creatures that are usually found in the company and as the 'crew' of a Sea Horror. They may also be encountered in subterranean places, as long as they are connected to the sea.

They will attack using their long sharp claw, inflicting 1-12 hit points of damage, or with their club-like arm, inflicting 3-18 hit points of damage. They can also sting with three of their feelers during any attack, which will paralyze opponents (save versus paralyzation or it takes effect).

Individual creatures do not carry treasure, but will they collectively have a hoard of Type F objects and coins.

Description: the Kereb have hard shell-like bodies, usually with pale undersides covered with darker mottles in various shades of blue, green, purple and red. These colours vary in predominance from one individual creature to another.

'Hic sunt dracones', part 2...

Following on from my previous blog post, here's another sea-based dragon for 1E D&D and similar systems:

SEA SPEAR (Greater Sea Dragon)

FREQUENCY: Rare

NO. APPEARING: 1 

ARMOR CLASS: 1

MOVE: 24" 

HIT DICE: 9-11

% IN LAIR: 10%

TREASURE TYPE:  See below

NO. OF ATTACKS: 3

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-12 wings, 3-18 tail, 6-36 beak

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Magic use

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Very

ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil

SIZE: L (60' long) 

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil 

      Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

The Sea Spear is a rare but terrible threat to any vessel traversing the oceans. These dragons despise sentient creatures and always seek to clear them from the sea, a domain which they claim is theirs only.

The Sea Spear attacks by gliding at high speed just above the surface of the water, hoping to avoid the notice of any lookouts. It's long beak will act like a spear point and will be driven into the side of the vessel under attack. It will then pull itself free using its wings and by lashing its great tail. If the dragon instead suspects that treasure is aboard, it will fly at the sails and cut them to ribbons using the sharp edges of its wings. It will then wrap itself around the mainmast and attack using the spell Lightning Bolt, which it can cast as a 6th level magic-user, as well as striking out with its wings and beak. Once the crew has been disposed of, the dragon will devour any treasure it finds and regurgitate it later when it returns to its lair. Sea Spear lairs are caves cut into cliff faces, usually on some remote shoreline. Any treasure found here will vary greatly - some Sea Spears covet jewels, others gold and precious metals.

Although primarily an air-breathing creature, the Sea Spear can spend prolonged periods underwater, propelled by its sinous body and powerful tail.

Description: the upper part of its body is a mottling of dark and pale blues, which allow it to blend very effectively with the surface of the sea. Its beak and wings have streaks of ivory-like hues. When fully spread, the tail has patches of bright crimson and magenta.

Trawling for treasure on Ebay

I'm currently in the process of moving out of London (I've been here for 20 years and I think that's enough), hence the lack of blog activity. Anyway, despite the stresses and strains that moving house involves, I've recently been able to track down and acquire various RPG-related goodies on Ebay. This is something I do every once in a while when the idea pops into my head, as there's various things I used to own and would like to own again, or couldn't find at some earlier point in time.

So, here's the result of the latest trawl:

A few of these things were new to me, such as the Tunnels & Trolls books. These are UK reprints published by Corgi in 1986, one of which is a rulebook for the game itself and the other is Fighting Fantasy/Choose Your Own Adventure-type book. It was only recently that I found out that there was a range of miniatures for Star Frontiers, and it was great to actually find one of the box sets. Here are a few pics of what's inside:

The level of detail on these is rather good, and it's particularly nice to see a Sathar miniature. Of note is a detail on the back of the box:

For some reason, the Yazirian figures have been labelled as 'Yazarian' (along with a TM) which seems an odd little mistake and one wonders why TSR trademarked this typo.

As for the rest of the above haul, TMNT and CyberSpace were always fun games to referee, although I don't think that I got as much mileage out of them as RPGs as I wanted to. As for the Palladium Book of Contemporary Weapons, this seemed to be a little rare back in the late '80s when we played TMNT. Maybe that was just because of a lack of stockists at the time, but it was nice to finally acquire a copy. It's an interesting book as far as being a system for the Palladium RPGs (as it bases potential damage of any given weapon on the calibre and type of bullet fired) and I'd like to see how this would work in-game.

One very recent acquisition was this '80s-era Citadel Miniatures Dwarf fighter:

When I was first introduced to D&D (as detailed in an earlier blog post) I was slightly obsessed with acquiring miniatures, despite the fact that I lacked the necessary cash to fund that obsession. Nevertheless, the various dwarves made by Citadel stood out for me, and so the above example was the first one I bought. I then decided to create my first D&D character based on his gear, and thus was born Mystichi Argonshire. Seeing the miniature again was a real Proustian moment - it immediately transported me back to my 13-year old self, which was a rather strange but enjoyable experience.

Nice dice...

3D printing is rather cool, and seems to be improving all of the time. Some interesting dice designs can be seen here at Shapeways. Okay, some can be a bit pricey but there are a variety of cheaper options which are just as pleasing to the eye. Worth a look!

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...

Kickstarter for the 'Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary'

This project will be 'A book of more than 900 monsters for the Adventures Dark and Deep game, but usable with many Old School RPG systems'. The Kickstarter has 12 days to go - the more funds it raises, the more artwork will be created for it. You can also sponsor one or more pieces of artwork.

I'll be one of the artists who will be illustrating the book. Should be fun!

More info can be found here...

Planet of the Tapes...

Ever found yourself twiddling your thumbs idly and asking yourself 'I wonder what it'd be like to be a fly on the wall during a 1980s RPG play session?'. Following on from that, perhaps you'd ask 'I wonder what it'd be like to hear such a thing done badly by a bunch of 14 to 17 year old geeks...?' Well, question yourself no longer.

One of my first posts in the blogsphere described the people I played RPGs with when first introduced to it all back in the early '80s. Various gaming sessions were going on involving me or these guys, and every once in a while we'd tape the whole mess as it unfolded. Much of the time, our playing style and the banter that ensued left much to be desired. The sessions where we actually got something done and were less frivolous in our approach never seemed to end up on tape.

Awhile back I put some snippets on-line so that these guys (all now sort of grown up) could hear them. They're extracts from around 7 hours' worth of taped sessions featuring RPGs such as AD&D, Star Frontiers, Living Steel and Tales of the Floating Vagabond. Vagabond was always run as a drinking game - not that you can really tell, because we don't sound any more incoherent than usual.

Anyway, the clips can be heard on Soundcloud. Award yourself some brownie points for (a) not being offended by the expletives/stupid comments/offences against the art of role-playing, and (b) being able to understand anything we're saying due to our Somerset accents. Here's a brief outline of what each one features:

The Village of... er... - in which our heroes try to gain access to a village (which may or may not have a name/walls/ramparts/etc), quibble over descriptive details, and probably talk too much about half-orcs...

Cheese - in which our heroes completely fail to engage with the plot due to the distractions of food and an inebriated elf...

Rob Dies - in which our heroes dare to question the authority of the referee (yours truly) after Rob's character is killed. Mind you, Rob tended to lose a character during every session. And, of course, I'm right and they're wrong...

The Cantina Song - in which a classic Star Wars tune is ruined by people pretending to be characters from the film, and from Scooby Doo...

The Big Gun - in which our heroes really are probably past the point of being able to operate heavy machinery...

The sound quality is a bit patchy - but then again, so is our role-playing. 

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...

New issue of Frontier Explorer

Issue 4 of Frontier Explorer - a fanzine for the Star Frontiers RPG - has just been released.

A Timeline of Forteana - Part One

'What is Forteana?', you might be asking yourself. Well, it's a term used as a sort of catch-all phrase that deals with anomalous phenomena as discussed by Charles Fort. Fort was a collector of data about such phenomena which he gleaned from newpapers and scientific journals, eventually writing it all up  into several somewhat eccentric books. Being interested in such things myself from an early age, when I first bought the Call of Cthulhu RPG I was pleasantly surprised to see a Fortean Timeline included with the 'Sourcebook for the 1920s'. Over the years I've created dribs and drabs of my own timeline and am gradually stitching it all together.

What follows below is a timeline which covers 1900 to 1925, and 1926 to 1950 will be added in a future post. This may come in handy as adventure seeds for Call of Cthulhu (as scenarios don't always have to revolve around the Mythos), or may be of interest just as a general reference. Do I believe any of it? Hmm. Well, I can't say that I do. That said, what interests me a great deal is the sort of imagery that such reports conjour up, and I find the descriptions fascinating. Sources for the entries come from various books, such as 'Modern Mysteries of the World' by Janet and Colin Bord and 'A Geo-bibliography of Anomalies' by George Eberhart. I'll include a full bibliography in a future post.

1900 - Man was dazed when ball lightning exploded nearby (Telemark, Norway); Sherman Church was seen entering mill building, but was never seen again. There was an extensive search, but no clues were found to his whereabouts (Augusta Mills, Battle Creek, Michigan, USA).

1901 - Fall of substance smelling like glue (Sart, Belgium); showers of stones fell on village over several days (Harrisonville, Ohio, USA).

1902 - Sea monster seen by steamer crew: 30-35 feet long with four 5-foot high fins, head bigger than seal's (Ram Head, Australia); sea captain saw big black sea monster which dove and surfaced under his boat (City Island, New York, USA); ice-skaters were chased by an 8-foot tall hairy creature wielding a club (Chesterfield, Idaho, USA); 'ghost light' seen west of town (Hebron, Maryland, USA); crew of SS Fort Salisbury saw a strange submarine object 'between five and six hundred feet in length. It had two lights, one at each end. A mechanism of some kind, or fins maybe, was making a commotion in the water'. The craft 'appeared to be scaled', and it was sinking slowly (Gulf of Guinea, South Atlantic Sea); over a period of one week, five men inexplicably disappeared in separate incidences (Buffalo, USA); people in yacht saw humped sea monster, 60 feet long (Oslofjord, Norway).

1903 - Fishermen at bayside saw set of fins 20 feet and 50 feet apart, later saw head with huge green eyes (Conception Bay, Canada); small stones appeared and fell slowly in room (Sumatra); miners on night shift saw creature with 'horns and long hair, great big eyes and an inhuman look, although standing erect like a man' (Iola, Kansas, USA); fishermen saw snake-like sea monster, 120 feet long with head 20 feet above water. It had round eyes, was brown with white-brown throat, and covered with long hair that ‘looked like seaweed’ (Hermanus, Cape Province, South Africa).

1904 - Children saw ghost of a man believed killed in 17th century Battle of Sedgemoor (Honiton, Devon, UK); body of Curé of Ars found in state of undecay, 45 years after his death (Ars, France); child touched ball lightning with foot, resulting in explosion which killed nearby cattle but left child unhurt (Deux Sevres, France); steamship Mohican enshrouded in strange vapour, which glowed like phosporous and played havoc with ships compass. Decks were magnetised and ship glowed as if on fire. After half an hour, cloud lifted and moved out to sea (Philadelphia, USA); unnatural daytime darkness lasted for 15 minutes, causing widespread panic (Memphis, USA); large round lights seen, over 7 or 8 years (Lough Erne, N.Ireland).

1905 - Sea monster with large head seen, coil seen 30 feet away from head (Fernando de Noronha, Brazil); woman in white, without wings, seen flying over town by many witnesses. Some heard 'singing' (Voltana, Spain).

1906 - Lightning struck woman and left figures on her arm resembling pheasant, snake and Chinese characters (Unionport, New Jersey, USA); officer on merchant ship saw sea monster about 180 feet long, with large dorsal fins. It overtook ship at great speed (40 miles off coast of Pernambuco, Brazil); find of 'Norse axe' (Sawyer county, Wisconsin, USA).

1907 - Fishermen saw sea monster 200 feet long (Gulf of Porto, Corsica); fall of hailstones with portrait of Virgin Mary inside (Remiremont, France); burnt body of woman found, with no damage to her clothes or objects in room (Mannar, India); ball lightning entered house and moved around in circles, smashing holes in walls (Alpena, Michigan, USA); men saw torpedo-shaped object, 6 feet long, approx. 50 feet above buildings. Tongues of fire issued from it and it was surrounded by a halo (Burlington, Vermont, USA); live toad found in rock 200 feet down in silver mine was shaft was sunk. There was no fissure in rock (Butte, Montana, USA); explorer Colonel Fawcett shot 62-foot long snake, known locally as 'Sucuriju Gigante' (Rio Negro, Brazil).

1908 - Bright spherical object flew slowly at great height over city (Sofia, Bulgaria); people on board ship 'Livingston' saw sea monster at least 200 feet long, dark brown with 6-foot long head, and it made loud rattling sound as it moved away (Gulf of Mexico); prisoners claimed jail was haunted, with faces seen the dark. Jailers admitted strange noises had been heard (Ashville, N. Carolina, USA).

1909 - Body of Saint Bernadette Soubirous incorrupt 30 years after her death (Nevers, France); man saw grey, torpedo-shaped craft in sky with 3 occupants, one of whom shouted to him in an unkown tongue (Waipawa, New Zealand); poltergeist outbreak in railway telegraph tower (Dale, Florida, USA); winged, ram-headed monster 'Jersey Devil' seen (Trenton, New Jersey, USA); fishermen saw object fly over city and fall into sea (Dong Hoi, Vietnam); red-hot metal pellets fell from sky onto beach (Santa Cruz, California, USA); mystery objects seen in skies over state (Massachusetts, USA).

1910 - Ghost ship seen, in area where many giant squids have been sighted (Conception Bay, Newfoundland, Canada); large black bird-like object fell into sea and disappeared (off Normandy Coast, France); sea monster with 6-foot long neck and brown and hairy body seen (Kilkerrin bay, Eire); over 2 hours, stones shot upward from ground accompanied by loud detonation (Cantillana, Spain); white stone cylinder fell from sky (Westerville, Ohio, USA).

1911 - 3 witnesses saw black humped sea monster travelling at speed, which was joined by similar creature (Cotes-du-Nord, France); 2-foot long live alligator fell from sky (Evansville, Indiana, USA); unnatural daytime darkness lasted for half an hour and terrified city (Louisville, Kentucky, USA).

1912 - Sighting of 'Yowie' (a large hairy humanoid) drinking from creek (Bombala, New South Wales, Australia); ship's crew saw sea monster with long neck and humps (Matapan, Greece); loud detonation followed by fall of stones, with 14,000 being collected later (Louisville, Kentucky, USA); sighting of 'Palatine Light' during heavy gale, possible ghost ship (Block Island Sound, Rhode Island, USA); fall of frogs (Comanche, Texas, USA).

1913 - Children saw little green man, which dogs then killed (Farmersville, Tennessee, USA); fall of fish from tornado-like cloud (Quirundi, New South Wales, Australia); sighting of 4-legged sea monster on west coast shore by several witnesses (Tasmania); following electrical storm, boy's presence caused objects to fly around (Jordan, Canada); remains of Blessed Maria Assunta Palotta were found perfectly preserved 8 years after her death (Tong-Eul-Chou, China).

1914 - Colonel Fawcett and companions threatened by hairy 'savages' known locally as Maricoxis (Cordiheira Dos Perecis, Brazil); 8 witness saw strange craft on surface of sea and entities manipulating hose in water. They saw witnesses and all but one went inside, who stayed on as it took off (Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada); sighting of long-necked creature with black, looped body like gigantic snake, also seen crawling out of water (Lough Abisdealy, Eire); woman saw two men with silvery objects on their backs, who flew away. Also seen on following day by other witnesses (Leon, Spain); man saw cigar-shaped craft with lighted windows in a field near his house, which had several 'dwarves' nearby who went aboard when he approached (Hamburg, Germany).

1915 - During severe storm, 'balls of fire' issued from plugs on switchboard at telephone exchange (Freeland, Pennsylvania, USA).

1916 - Sea monster seen about 5 miles from island, at least 40 feet long with large head. It came close enough to be struck on head with oar (Melville Island, Northern Territories, Australia); man in boat saw ‘periscope’, 5-6 feet out of water, moving too fast for contemporary submarines (Thasos, Greece).

1917 - Large number of stones materialised in house, seen falling after sudden mid-air appearance (Helsinki, Finland); officers and men of 'HMS Hilary' saw sea monster with neck 15-30 feet long, with black glossy head and triangular dorsal fin (70 miles south-east of Iceland); 3 children saw angel, the Virgin Mary (13th May), on 13th October, many witnesses awaiting appearance of BVM saw disc moving across sky and sun 'dancing' (Fatima, Portugal); two days after leaving Falmouth, the ship 'Zebrina' was found deserted. Weather had been excellent, ship was in good condition, but crew had vanished (between Falmouth and St. Brieux).

1918 - Poltergeist outbreak, with physical attacks (Cherbourg, France); 3 children had total of 65 visions of the Virgin Mary (Muzillac, France); hunter saw mammoths in forests (Siberian Taiga); fall of grey powder (Farmersville, Texas, USA).

1919 - Boy carrying oil back to stranded car saw 20 small humanoids walking along road (nr. Barrow, Wisconsin, USA); poltergeist outbreak, with messages from the dead (Suri, India); 40-foot long snake seen by hikers (Broad Top Mountain, Pennsylvania, USA); large fireball struck building, showering balls of fire around which floated away (Salina, Kansas, USA); two dissimilar stones, fused together, fell from sky (Cumberland Falls, Kentucky, USA); long black object flew over Madison Square, with many witnesses (New York City, USA).

1920 - Two planes searching for missing schooner saw lights. One plane flew into large cloud and vanished. Schooner never found (Bass Strait, Victoria, Australia); fisherman saw shiny blue translucent egg-shaped object land nearby. After 15 minutes, it flew slowly away (nr. Mount Pleasant, Iowa, USA); china-like fragments fell from sky (Portland, Oregon, USA); ball lightning bounced among houses, demolishing one (South Australia); ball lightning seen, with comet-like tail and saw-tooth streaks of light. Rolled up incline, struck wall and exploded, leaving acrid smell (Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa).

1921 - Poltergeist outbreak centred around dying woman (Hopfgarten, Germany); thousands of small fish fell during thunderstorm (Gibraltar); giant lizard 'Tatzelwurm' seen (nr. Rauris, Austria); ‘Yeti’ footprints found at 20,000 feet by climber (Lhakpa-La, Tibet); Stratigraphic anomaly - two Cretacious limestone formations which transgress time diagonally (Austin, and also at Fort Stockton, Texas, USA).

1922 - 2nd officer of the 'Bali' saw sea monster with 15-foot long neck, grey-green in colour (Gulf of Mannar, Sri Lanka); during heavy snowstorm, exotic insects looking like spiders, caterpillars and huge ants fell and soon died (The Alps, Switzerland); gold prospector saw monster in lake which had long, large neck (Argentina); sighting of phantom wolf (LaCrosse, Wisconsin, USA).

1923 - During violent thunderstorm, ball of fire descended and set haystack ablaze. Later several tons of glassy slag found in ashes (Quetta, Pakistan); 2 witness in boat saw large dark seahorse-like creature, with head 30 feet above water. It spouted water, made long whistling sound, and struck surface of water with it’s tail (Nouméa, New Caledonia).

1924 - Disembodied voice heard in cemetery - it seemed to move through the air and follow people. Moans, pleas for help and demoniacal laughter heard (Butler, New Jersey, USA); Albert Ostman claims to have been kidnapped by 'Bigfoot'-type creature (British Colombia, Canada); policeman and other witnesses saw creature that 'had a head like a deer, that ran like a rabbit, and had fiery eyes' (West Orange, New Jersey, USA); crew of British reconnaissance aircraft vanish in desert, their tracks stopping abruptly 40 yards from aircraft. No other tracks found despite search (Libya, North Africa).

1925 - Farmer killed unidentified animal which was killing his chickens: it had crouched posture, four webbed toes on hind feet, yellow eyes, unusual pronged molar teeth (Greenwich, New Jersey, USA); sea monster with 8-foot long neck and body with 5 loops, dirty yellow in colour, seen from steamer (Port Stephens, New South Wales, Australia); 2 men saw object like a pair of saucers face-to-face standing on legs in paddock. It had oval windows and shimmered (nr. Moora, Victoria, Australia); captain of fishing trawler saw sea monster like gigantic eel, longer than his 136-foot boat (off Boston, Massachusetts, USA); 50-foot long corpse of unidentified sea creature washed ashore (Santa Cruz, California, USA); during storm, men sheltering in barn saw ball of fire enter. One man was knocked unconscious for 8 hours, the other thrown 15 feet (Gatineau Point, Ontario, Canada); limestone ball containing marine shells and fossils fell from sky (Bleckenstad, Sweden); following accident and 2 deaths aboard 'SS Watertown', pair of phantom faces seen following ship for several days. Photos taken (between US Pacific Coast and Panama Canal); Colonel Fawcett disappears during expedition (Amazon jungles, Brazil); poltergeist outbreak centered on Eleanor Zügun, with physical attacks that continued for 2 years (Romania), climber saw ‘Yeti’ and found footprints 6-7 inches long, at height of 15,000 feet (Zemu Glacier, Nepal); sighting of man-like creature, covered with brown fur and with ‘monkey-like’ face (nr. Alton, Missouri, USA).

In Praise of... Twilight: 2000

Twilight: 2000 is an RPG born out of the Cold War. I was born in 1969, and the Cold War started to come into focus for me in the late 70s and early 80s – and I didn’t like it at all. The one thing that really terrified me was the threat of nuclear war. I grew up near a major air base (RNAS Yeovilton) and a principal aviation factory (Westland Helicopters), so I knew that I would be vaporised should the Cold War turn hot. Because of this, life did sometimes feel like there was a lid on it – sure, I carried on with things (going to school, playing RPGs, listening to heavy metal, watching a lot of bad straight-to-video movies, etc), but there was always this nagging sense that somewhere in the background things could get nasty very quickly. Various themes from the time fed into that sense – the Falklands War, the Soviet Army fighting in Afghanistan, the Lebanese War and various other conflicts covered by the news on TV. TV also did much to add to my fears by showing programmes such as Threads...

To this day, watching it still makes me uncomfortable. The US attempt at such scariness, The Day After, was (to my mind, then and now) somehow watered down and almost more like sci-fi. British TV was once very good at creating gritty, stark programmes and I don’t think anyone really topped their output.

I remember reading an issue of White Dwarf at school in 1984 and seeing an advert for Twilight: 2000, deciding then and there to buy it whenever I got the chance. I liked the idea of a game where you had to try and survive after World War III. As with my recent Ebay trawling for Car Wars, I’ve just gotten my hands on a pretty decent copy of Twilight: 2000...

I've included the FFE compendium (top right) as I'm a completist. Note the original game dice.

If you’re not familiar with the game’s back story, there’s an overview here. What follows is an overview of the 1^st Edition rules that I’ve played the most – I’ll state here and now that this version does a better job than later reworks. Over the years I’ve read various articles slating it as both a game and a system. Some think that nowadays the game seems ‘unrealistic’ (and this is coming from people who probably don’t use the same critiques for D&D etc), because the world it creates no longer seems plausible. Others think that the system is clunky. I don’t share the view of either point. Firstly, I don’t think people are really judging the game for its ‘What if...?’ value. Like all RPGs, the game works from a certain premise. Sure, real world events overtook the premise of Twilight: 2000, but that doesn’t make it defunct. You could still play it for the story it’s trying to tell. Nowadays, it’s simply a fantasy that has links to certain realities.

As for the game system, one of its strengths is the way it tries to model some quite complex concepts (combat, illness, survival, radiation), and I don’t think that any other RPG has topped the way things were done in Twilight: 2000. Skills are easy enough – your character (some form of military personnel) starts with some, and you can buy others on a point for point basis. As these work around percentile values, there’s nothing difficult about it. These percentages affect the outcome of an action or event, and are modified on the basis of whether they are Easy, Average or Difficult to carry out. This covers anything from riding a horse, to making things, to firing weapons. At the same time, even high level skill values don’t make you some sort of god. Your rolls are always modified by the difficulty of the task at hand, so success isn’t necessarily a given. As the game is strongly based around its combat system, some may feel that it’s a bit complicated. On the surface, this is true – especially so of modelling the effects of rounds striking vehicles. However, some basic familiarity with it soon pays off. If anything, things can happen fast and can be resolved quickly, especially as the game seems more geared towards firefights. You just have to take various factors into account – range, whether you can fire before the other guy, etc. At the same time, combat very much has the potential to be lethal and players who understand this have to think and plan what they want to do, certain in the knowledge that resorting to combat has some stark consequences. Death is somewhat likely, and surviving with wounds isn’t a given. The environment is just as likely to finish you off as a bullet if you get things wrong.

To my mind, this forces players to be a bit more cerebral about combat. The same can’t be said for many RPGs. As I was the referee for our Twilight: 2000 sessions, it was always interesting to see my gang of players trying to figure out consequences before the fact. This was especially so because when playing other RPGs they tended to have a much more cavalier, gung-ho approach of the ‘shoot first...’ variety. On top of all of this, the world setting in the game pitched the players against odds which were never in their favour. They were, after all, trying to survive in a (probably) foreign country that had come off the worst for nuclear exchanges and many years of bloody fighting. As soldiers, no-one was telling them what they should do – the last radio message from their HQ was ‘Good luck. You’re on your own, now’. The game, sensibly, provides no moral compass for what they should do. Because of such factors, it was a challenge to play and referee as an RPG.

We played Twilight: 2000 a great deal. As it was a GDW game, it was strongly supported by reference material and scenarios and these did much to add flavour to the experience. My guys managed to survive quite well over the years. Most of them were from the US infantry (i.e. Rasche, a giant Yiddish-speaking Spec 4, and Markowitz the medic), although we had one or two Warsaw Pact deserters - all being led, in a way, by a British combat engineer. Nomadic for most of the time, they teamed up for a while with a NATO-friendly Polish commander who was trying to rebuild his area of control. They finally managed to rejoin a more organised NATO force, only to then be moved to the Middle East in an effort to secure Iranian oil fields...

I decided to get the FFE compendium of the 1^st Edition stuff because it seems to have some interesting extras (i.e. details of the games sales figures, various scenarios) and it’s handy for me to have everything bundled together. At the same time, it’s great to have the actual 1984 issue of the game back in my hands again. It’s actual approach to the subject (and I think this was lost in later editions) is sobre and measured. This is particularly true of the interior artwork, as there’s no attempt at going for clichéd approaches to the subject matter. One other factor of note is that it features women on the box cover who aren’t in silly poses and are depicted as sensibly as the male figures.

Could it still be played today as an RPG? Well, you may have to explain the Cold War to players born after 1990 – or research it yourself if the same time-frame applies to you. Even if you narrow your approach to the way things were in the 1980s, taking some time to research the period would pay off. To be honest, if you’re more familiar with the idea of ‘The War on Terror’, the idea of the Cold War isn’t all that different – it could be said that the latter is just not as nebulous and as open to interpretation as the former. It would also be possible to abandon the idea of playing in the post-apocalyptic world of the original game and instead use the rules to play in some other setting. There are conflicts, old and new, in which the game system would still work.

One thing to always bear in mind, however, is that is first and foremost a game about survival...