Wizard School Name Generator

 In hearkening back to the Monastic origins of GLoG wizards, I have created a generator which will give to you a name for your wizardly institution. Some results won't make complete sense unless the parts in parenthesis are included.

Source

The intention of this generator is for it to be used to develop new GloG wizards around the name you end up with. To do so, I'd suggest coming up with one domain which is somehow tied to the name, and one domain which is loosely or not at all tied to the name to develop your school's traditions, weaknesses, and spells off of.

Also read This Post if you haven't already.

Rainforest Creatures - Ccoa, Suuri Snail, and Jokaihdin

 Ccoa

HD 5 Attack 1d10 lightning (1d6 burst) Defense 2 Move 15, fly 24 Morale 16 Save 15

Lightning The lightning selects a random target among creatures or certain objects within a 10 meter radius of the Ccoa, dealing burst damage to all creatures surrounding the target.

Hailstorm As it moves, the Ccoa drops hail behind it dealing 1d4 damage to creatures it hits.

Description Grey cats with fluffy tails and slightly oversized heads. When threatened, they turn into dark, grey stormclouds with yellow eyes piercing through.

Suuri Snail

HD 5 Attack Rasp 1d8 Defense 6 Move 4 Morale 5 Save 14

Rasp On a hit, deals 1d8 as normal, but on a miss, reduces the attacked creatures AC by 1.

Acidic Touch The suuri snail can choose to use it's turn to excrete a layer of acid on it's skin which deals 1d4 damage to anything touching the suuri snail's foot.

Stasis By sealing itself in it's shell, the suuri snail becomes inert and temporarily immune to damage until it leaves stasis. If it's shell is broken through during this time, the suuri snail's foot will be sucked out of the hole created.

Description A massive terrestrial snail with an oblong shell. It is predatory, eating either other gastropods or if necessary, plants. They follow a migratory pattern to look for food which is used by some as a transportation method.

Jokaihdin

HD 6 Attack Bite 1d10 (4 meter reach), Tail 1d6 (3 meter reach) Defense 4 Move 12, 8 swim Morale 15 save 11

Inflate The two flaps situated at the sides of the jokaihdin's neck can be inflated, allowing the jokaihdin to float if need be, but also as a defensive measure to both intimidate and move potential attackers away from it. While it's neck is inflated like this, it cannot use it's bite attack.

Description A sauropod dinosaur with flaps of skin hanging from it's neck and sides. It walks along the riverbed with it's neck held above the water.

Rainforest Creatures - Quetzalcoatl, Famocantratra, and Vukilpikon

 Took a bit of an unannounced hiatus, it was largely due to moving, job changes, and trying to get back into the swing of things. Basically, I've been too busy and this is what I chose to drop temporarily. Anyways, here's 3 more creatures from the encounter table.

Quetzalcoatl

HD 3 Attack Venomous Bite 1d6+1d4 every hour Defense 2 Move 15 flight, 10 slither Morale 7 Save 8

Quetzalcoatls use hit and run tactics. The feathered snakes fly in from above and attack a targeted creature before swooping away and waiting for it's prey to die. During this time they will follow from a safe distance in the canopy.

Healthy Venom If the venom can be extracted from either a wound or directly from the source, it can be distilled into a healing potion (1d4).

Famocantratra

HD 1 Attack Locking Bite 1d4+1 each round Defense 2 Move 15 Morale 17 Save 6

Famocantratras are small lizards which adhere to the sides of trees with their broad, leaf shaped tails. Once a creature moves nearby, they will leap over to attack them.

Locking Bite Once the famocantratra has attacked a creature, it will remain attached to that creature dealing 1 damage each round after the first. Once attached, the famocantratra cannot be removed except by cutting off the flesh it is attached to (dealing 1d6 damage) or through magical means.

Vukilpikon

HD 7 Attack Bite 2d8, Crush 1d8+pinned Defense 6 Move 18 swim, 10 walk Morale 5 Save 15

Vukilpikons are massive spiky turtles which lurk in shallow water, camouflaged to look like rocks with their snorkel-like noses providing them with oxygen. They sense vibrations in the water up to 50 meters.

Sucking Breath When the vukilpikon makes a bite attack while underwater, the opening of it's mouth creates a vacuum which drags any creatures within a 10 meter cone of it's mouth to be sucked into it's gaping maw. This should be telegraphed beforehand when players are at a safe distance if you don't want to cause a tpk.

Rainforest Creatures - Cuero, Wako, and Rhox

I decided on a format Im going to use for the following weeks while I figure out what to do next. Im goung to take 1 entry from each of the encounter tables found Here and do a writeup of them. Today I'm doing the cuero, wako, and the rhox.

Cuero

HD 2 Attack grapple 1 CON Defense 2 Move 16 swim, 4 land Morale 12 Save 7

Grapple Carnivorous. The first time anything gets close enough to touch the cuero, it will get a surprise action in which it can choose to grapple that person. It will then swim away under water dealing 1 constitution damage to the grappled person per round until they either die or the cuero is killed.

Description Appears as a mottled brown or spotted cowskin floating down the river. The underside of it is covered in suckers like those of an octopus.

Wako

HD 3 Attack bite 1d6 Defense 2 Move 14 Morale 8 Save 8

Description Carnivorous. Looks like a paca, but the size of a large dog, and with long fangs. Their call is a repeated Ao.

Wako live in communities of 2d20, 2d6 of which are juveniles that only deal 1 damage on a hit. Thry generally have 1d4 patrols above ground near their burrow, who will call to their comrades, which will arive in 1d6 rounds.

Rhox

HD 1 Attack bite 1d8* poison Defense 0 Move 15 flight Morale 5 Save 6

*Swarm Each hit point is treated as a single rhox, and damage is based on how many are attacking, and moves down to the nearest die size to how many hit points the rhox has left.

Description Carnivorous. A small purple spider the size of a grape. They hide in clusters on grapevines, swarming at and biting anything that tries to eat them.

Gygax 75 Challenge: Week 5

Part 5 of the challenge was sort of a buffet in which you choose three out of a multitude of options. Of those options I decided to:

1. Sketch out the surrounding geography
2. Develop encounter tables for each of the hex terrains
3. Develop a list of system tweaks

Sketch out the Surrounding Geography

It just so happens that I already had a map of the area drawn. In fact, when I was making the hex map. I grabbed a small frame of this map and zoomed in on it. In retrospect, I should've chosen a different option since I already had done this one, but I was just excited to have already had part of the week out of the way.

Develop encounter tables for each of the hex terrains

I don't have any stat blocks for these creatures yet, but I assure you they will all appear on this blog at some point in the near future, be they all in one post or spread out between a few.

Rainforest (2d8)

• 2. Songòmby
• 3. Rhox
• 4. Vukilpikon
• 5. Suuri Snail
• 6. Quetzalcoatl
• 7. Famocantratra
• 8. Tool
• 9. POI
• 10. Tool
• 11. Famocantratra Omen
• 12. Quetzalcoatl Omen
• 13. Suuri Snail
• 14. Vukilpikon Omen
• 15, Rhox Omen
• 16. Songòmby Omen

Sub-Montane (2d8)

• 2. Devouring Gourd
• 3. Ccoa
• 4. Wako
• 5. Väärehmä
• 6. Quetzalcoatl
• 7. Dragon
• 8. Tool
• 9. POI
• 10. Tool
• 11. Dragon Omen
• 12. Quetzalcoatl Omen
• 13 Väärehmä Omen
• 14. Wako Omen
• 15. Ccoa Omen
• 16. Devouring Gourd Omen

River (2d8)

• 2. Boiùna 
• 3. Jokaihdin
• 4. Piranha
• 5. Vukilpikon
• 6. Cuero
• 7. Alligator
• 8. Tool
• 9. POI
• 10. Tool
• 11. Alligator Omen
• 12. Cuero Omen
• 13. Vukilpikon Omen
• 14. Piranha Omen
• 15. Jokaihdin Omen
• 16. Boiùna Omen

List of System Tweaks

• An equipment and crafting system
• Stat blocks for most the above creatures
• Random Tool Encounters table

- - -

I guess that's the end of the Gygax 75 challenge. It was a nice structure, and it kept me more than busy these past 5 weeks. I definitely plan on doing more to polish this setting. Obviously I need to do all the hex entries, but I have a suspicion it's gonna be quite a bit harder without having a defined structure anymore.

Gygax 75 Challenge: Week 4

The week 4 portion of the challenge was to make a city and 5 NPCs within it. Additionally there was determining where the players could purchase equipment.

Equipment is a bit of a weird one for this particular setting though, because I plan on just developing a system where the players craft the tools they need, out of materials that can be found pretty much anywhere. So I basically took a copout and said you can basically ask anyone.

Above is a picture of qhat I have developed of the town map. Apologies for the awful quality but its not much to look at right now anyways, just a general outline of where things are.

The town sits next to a waterfall in a river. If you walk out to a large island in the river, there is a shrine dedicated to the local river spirit, which has recently gone missing. Meanwhile the Great Gourd has sleepers in the town looking for it.

NPCs

A story teller with a missing left eye. She is the oldest person in the town abd is trying to fight back against the Gourd, though the ties she has are far too small to do much of anything against it. She currwntly posesses the river spirit, who has been trapped as a magic item, for its own safety.

A farmer who has a spastic arm. He was the sole survivor of the origibal expedition to Kirratoupunki. He knows some of the secrets of the place, but if his memories are triggered, he'll fly into a murderous rage and begin to cut himself open. Anybody in the town will be able to tell you not to mention the place around him.

A small boy who has a birthmark on his pectoral. He is trying to save his sick mother, who has become ill with a disease nobody in the town knows the cure to. He suspects his father of not only being a sleeper agent, but also of trying to kill his mother.

An explorer who is missing her right hand. She ran put of supplies and found herself here. The people have kept her fed, but are largely untrusting, suspecting her to have been sent by the Gourd. She knows a secret about (a currently undecided) hex.

A man who has a scar on his left cheek. The father of the boy from earlier, he is in fact a sleeper. His goal is to locate and kill the river spirit. He poisoned his wife because she figured out, he's not sure if she told anyone, but he's made sure she wont be telling anyone else. She can be saved from the content in a (currently undecided) hex.

Thats basically it for this week. The NPCs gave me a lot of trouble because developing characters is probably my weakest point as a DM. I think I might've done alright though, even if I haven't named them yet.

Gygax 75 Challenge: Week 3

I chose to use Kirrataupunki as the dungeon because lava tubes are long, straight, and boring. So I came up with the following concept.

- - -

Kirrataupunki is a ruins of an age long gone, crumbling ruins surrounding walls too tall to see over.

Within its walls, dried out husks are all that remain of it's original inhabitants, all reaching away from the great city's center, where a defunct temple seems to draw all shapes toward itself.

- - -

I went over the word count on the entrance, but I really couldnt help myself.

My notes for this week's project. They're barely legible in this image though.

The first floor is a temple containing damned souls and ways to contact them.

The second level contains the temple's targeting system. Which doubles as a star chart. After all, it is intended to take out angels.

The bottom floor contains the rest of the pieces to the superweapon, as well as the reason this once great city fell. Their blood was used as a final sacrifice to get the weapon operational, which requires massive amounts of blood to power it.

The completed map. With all the room numbers.

Id put all the monsters here too but I didnt have enough time to actually write out stat blocks for them, so there's not really much more I think I can put in this post.

Gygax 75 Challenge: Week 2

Week 2 was rough. I spent the first three days drawing my own hex grid because Im an idiot, which certainly didn't help. But in the end I have a (somewhat intentionally) unfinished result I'm happy with.

Picture is upside down lol.

I decided to save the inking and trees until later eventually, as this challenge doesn't include keying up every single hex, making that something I'd rather save until later.

Regardless, I still have all the required parts penciled in, even if the map itself isnt quite finished yet.

Cities:

Virtääves äärellä - A large river village which subsists itself on trades from the villages upstream.

Tulemiset - A small tribe north of Virtääves äärellä, They work to appease the fiery spirit in the nearby volcanoe.

kurpitsamaa - Home of the Great Gourd and his followers. Situated at the peak of one of the nearby mountains.

Terrain Features

Tulivuori - A fiery volcanoe housing a powerful spirit inside of it. It is currently the only spirit standing in the way of the Great Gourd's control of the entire region. The Great Gourd is therefore seeking to ammend this by ending the spirit's life as it sleeps.

Tuivauh Pyläät - Some say they are the graves of spirits long passed on, others say they are the bodies of those spirits who were forgotten, still more believe it is impossible for spirits to die. Though none know the true nature of these pillars of rock, stretching to the heavens, all know of its signifigance.

Kirrotaupunki

The ruins of an ancient city to the south of Virtääves äärellä, it has only been viewed from afar. A group of explorers once tried to establish their own settlement there, but never returned. It was this occurrence that began to build a mystique around the place, and it has since become taboo to even mention the name of the place.

- - -

Im not certain yet whether Im going to use Kirrotaupunki as the dungeon or try and figure something out with lava tubes and the volcanoe. But that's for a later week.

Also, I'm going to be really tempted to do random encounter tables, but it's already the next week as Im writing this post so I really shouldn't work on week 2 anymore.

Gygax 75 Challenge - Week 1

A number of individuals have decided now is a good time to partake in the ritual many of us turn to in times of boredom, that being the development of a setting.

We are, however, doing it with the Gygax 75 challenge compiled by Ray Otus and Developed by Gary Gygax.

Week 1 asks you to create a series of no more than 7 pitches and sources to draw from when developing your setting.

Pitches

- “Post-apocalyptic” takes place after the fall of a great nation ruled by a true god-emperor. Cities are built on top of ruins of the once great cities that came before.

- There are no gods. Instead there are spirits of varying levels of power. They are just as likely to control you as you are them.

- Heavily Travel Focused Hex-Crawl. Rules light system. Inventories will be tracked.

- There are no currencies. Instead people trade and barter. Fantastical wonders recovered from the ancient civilization are worth their weight in gold (sometimes literally).

- Ancient secrets lie buried deep in the ruins. Far more who enter return mad or not at all than those who grow rich off their spoils.

- Trading posts instead of keeps to replace domain-level play.

Inspiration Sources

The Waterborn by J. Gregory Keyes

This is where the magic item and spirits system is pretty much wholesale taken from, though I guess it’s slightly unique. Basically, spirits act as guardians of their locations and magic items are just trapped spirits. It is possible for a spirit to subdue or eliminate all of the other nearby spirits thus becoming either a ruler or a deity.

Tsingy A National Park in Madagascar, not sure who made it.

I want lots of neat terrain features like this example. A bunch of rock pillars in the sky, In a similar location in Asia, each pillar had its own name and story of being either a person or a spirit. Definitely something else to include.

Some article about people growing giant pumpkins I read years ago.

Oddly enough, what spawned the entire idea of this setting. Giant pumpkins will be an essential part of life somewhere. Of course the Great Gourd will be involved.

The Mesoamericans.

Not any specific sources, but I plan on drawing heavily from that architecture style for dungeons and stuff.

- - -

If you haven't hopped aboard the bandwagon yet, there's never been a better time given the extra free time many of us have. So no excuses!

Corvid Friend (not to be confused with covid)

You get +1 HP for every Corvid Friend template you possess.

Starting skills (1d3): Lockpicking, Gangster, Scavenger

Starting equipment: A beak, claws, and an identifying feature.

Templates:

[A]: Crow, Best Friends

[B]: mimickry, Comforting Grip, +1 Defense

[C]: Fly-By-Attack, Wing Buffet

[D]: Murder, +1 defense.

Crow

You are a crow (or raven I guess). You can fly in any reasonably open spaces but will probably never be able to carry others. You can claw people to deal 1 nonlethal damage, and can use tools, so long as a crow could reasonably hold said tool. You have no inventory slots, but can carry up to one object of your size or smaller in either your claws or beak. Because of your size, you can occupy the same space as any other creature.

Best Friends

You choose another PC to be your best friend. Whenever you are in the same space, you both get a +2 to all d20 rolls made at the same time, against the same thing.

Mimickry

You can mimick many ambient sounds in nature. This could be another bird's call, the ringing of a bell, or an animals call, but not a human voice. Anyone can attempt a save to realize that the sound is slightly off, and they will know something is up.

Comforting Grip

You can perch on the shoulder or arm of your best friend to give them advantage on a save check.

Fly-By-Attack

If you are in flight, you may make an attack roll on an opponent who must save or be knocked prone. Save vs. dex to remain aloft.

Wing Buffet

Whenever you make a critical attack on an opponent, you may grab onto their face and buffet them with your wings blinding them. Each turn, they may save vs. dex to remove you.

Murder

If you spend a day in any settlement spreading rumours about an individual among the local crow population, those crows will be biased against that individual and go out of their way to annoy or hurt that individual.

At any time, you can make a call which will attract 3d6 crows to you. They will attack any individual they have a bias as long as you are too.

Dragons are Weaklings

Im going to do it. Im going to break every sacrament of gaming and just go through with it.

You probably thought this was a dragon, didnt you?

Well you're wrong. Dragons are just pathetic little pests that sit in trees and pee venom. But most importantly, they're absolute wimps.

Dragon

HD 1 Attack Bite 1d6 Defense  6 Move as Bird Morale 5 Save 5

Caustic Urine Works as a ranged attack roll except the dragon must be above whoever it is attacking. On a hit the target takes 1d6 acid damage per round until they wash it off.

Evasive Maneuvers Whenever you attack a dragon from melee and miss, it can choose to escape by flying away. It will probably still pester you from the air where it's a little more safe.

Combat Actions

In combat, a dragon will usually fan out its wings and screech a few times, and bite anyone who tries to get close to it. As soon as someone attacks it, it will take to the sky and start peeing on everybody until chased off with missile weapons.

Activities Table

(roll this when you hit Dragon on your encounter table)

1. Attacking a flock of sheep. 1d6 peasants will come to chase it off with rocks in 5 minutes.

2. Sitting in a tree screeching loudly and peeing on any passersby, will flee at the first sign of danger.

3. 2 dragons are mating as they clumsily flap through the sky. However obnoxious you think it should be, multiply that by 3.

4. It's chasing a small child around terrorizing them. Just make up a reason for the child to be there.

5. A group of knights are pursuing it through the woods, they are trying to find their nest.

6. Hundreds of dragons are nesting in a massive tree, you should probably leave because they won't be as scared hunting together.

Warlock Patron: The Great Gourd

Warlock Class

Starting Skills Farmer, Religion (Great Gourd), Astronomy.

Starting Equipment Pumpkin seeds, Ornately carved gourd with strap (as backpack), Sickle.

Boon You bear the mark of the gourd, an intricately carved symbol on your forehead. You can leverage it in negotiations or use it to receive help in any temples dedicated to the Great Gourd. Monsters which are naturally aligned with the Great Gourd will ignore you.

Favors

1 You can communicate with the Great Gourd by whispering into any gourd and holding it to your ear. He will only answer a question if he is in turn given information which will further his agenda, this is his spy network. You can find a gourd anywhere a gourd could reasonably grow with 10 minutes of searching.

2 You can smell spirits. The smell of a spirit is unique to each spirit. A fiery spirit may smell like brimstone, or it might smell like that hoodie you just wore to the bonfire.

3 You may eat a gourd seed in order to "lay" a gourd the following day. This deals 1d4 damage to you.

Goal The Great Gourd seeks to eradicate the entirety of the heavens and make himself the only god of the world. It is still far away from achieving this. The Great Gourd has managed to take control of a small mountainous region, and has subjugated or killed all of the spirits in that area.

Obligations (1d8)

1 Subjugate [debt] spirits under the Great Gourd.

2 Make [debt] new followers of the Great Gourd.

3 Plant [debt] gourd seeds in different unique locations. (on top of a mountain, in a dungeon, etc.)

4 Kill [debt] clerics of the main religion.

5 Restore [debt] withering or dying gourd plants.

6 Create a Devouring Gourd.

7 Subjugate a local spirit and their followers under the Great Gourd.

8 Kill an angel or demon.

Patrons Gift
You become a vaguely human-shaped hollow gourd with two holes approximately where the eyes are. You no longer need water to survive. Anyone who looks into your "eye-holes" sees a pair of dancing skeletons and gain a random curse.

Spells

1 Net of Vines | R: 80 ft. | T: point | D: [dice] minutes
You create a net made of vines descending from target point. If three or more [dice] are invested, you can instead choose two points.

2 Blighted Gourd | R: touch | T: object | D: [dice] hours
You cause a head-sized gourd to be filled with venomous creatures which survive for the duration. If the gourd is opened, [sum] venomous creatures spill out. They will either be very hungry, or if the duration has ended, very dead.

3 Hollow Barrier | R: 20 ft. | T: creature | D: [sum] rounds
Traps the target creature is an ornately carved gourd for the duration.

4 Gourd's Wrath | R: touch | T: self | D: [dice] rounds
You create a small gourd that is slowly expanding. It can be thrown as a ranged weapon, dealing [sum] damage to all targets in a 10 ft. area. Each creature that was hit takes an additional [dice] damage for each round until the duration ends unless they succeed on a constitution roll.

5 Gourd's Guidance | R: 100 ft. | T: - | D: [dice] hours
You summon a dull orange light (as candle) that guides you towards the nearest safe resting space. It will choose the quickest route to get there, not necessarily the safest.

6 VineLash | R: 40 ft. | T: creature/object | D: instant
 A length of vine whips out from your arm and deals [best] damage to any target. Alternatively, you can grapple a target and bring it [dice]x10ft. closer to you.

7 Gourd's Gift | R: 10 ft. | T: Creature | D: instant
You unleash a jet of water which pushes target humanoid creature [sum]x10ft away.

8 Gourd's Prosperity | R: 20 ft. | T: point | D: [sum] minutes
You make a giant gourd at a point you designate. The size of the gourd depends on the number of [dice] invested. 1 = 5x5ft, 2 = 10x10ft, 3 = a small building, 4 = you can't see the top.

9 In the Gourd's Image | R: touch | T: self | D: [sum] minutes
You turn yourself into an unassuming gourd for the duration.

10 Slippery Squash | R: 50 ft. | T: point/creature | D: [dice]x2rounds
You splotch around innards of a gourd either on a creature or on [sum] 10x10ft. surfaces. Creatures moving across the area must Save vs Dexterity or drop held objects, or, if moving, drop prone.

11 Gourd's Divinity | R: 5 ft. | T: object | D: instant

Ask [sum] yes/no questions about an object, you have one casting per object. You must spill the guts of a gourd in order to use this spell.

12 Gourd's Mercy | R: touch | T: person | D: instant

Cures one affliction - blindness, deafness, sickness, disease, poison, etc. If the affliction was caused by a spell, at least the same number of [dice] must be invested to cure it. Otherwise, the number of [dice] required should be based on the severity of the affliction. You must pour the healing waters of a gourd on the target in order to use this effect.

Bard Generator

So I sort of mentioned in my Hexcounter Table post that tool encounters include travelling bards, which is pretty much just this idea but for a travel-based game. Anyways, I figured if I'm going to have bards be a possibility, I may as well make a table of random bards, Perhaps this will all be turned into a document with all kinds of sub-tables but for now here's more content.

Instrument(d20)
1. Viol
2. Hurdy Gurdy
3. Banjo
4. Recorder
5. Crumhorn
6. Flute
7. Lute
8. Pipe and Tabor
9. Nakers
10. Bagpipes
11. Fiddle
12. Lyre
13. Sackbut
14. Zampogna
15. Adufe
16. Harp
17. Shawm
18. Psaltery
19. Rebec
20. Cittern

Outfit(d8)

1. Overly gaudy with a floppy hat

2. Farmers clothes. But is it only a disguise?

3. Clothing made of patches. Each one has a story

4. Extremely anachronistic. Knows of things forgotten by time

5. An untied straitjacket. The mutterings are best left unheard

6. Soaked and smells of the sea. Hums mermaid songs

7. Walks on a pair of stilts. Specializes in tall tales

8. Dressed as a mime. Tells all rumors in charades

I Made a Dungeon!

Jog Brogzin and I did a little bit of a fun collaboration project soon after I did this post Here. In keeping with the snail theme, we decided to make a travelling snail temple.

The map was the original collaborative project, and is individually licensed under Creative Commons, so feel free to use it for whatever you want.

I also used the map to make my own dungeon, you can check it out below.

Wrath of the Hydra Link

Hexcounter Tables

Previous Rules Found Here:

Exploration Rules

Each hex has a d12 encounter table (maybe this is too much?), the first six things are the interesting and cool hard to find stuff, so a town isn’t going to be on this list, but the secret shrine to the blasphemous blood god in the surrounding woodlands would be. When you choose to explore rather than just wander through the hex, remove the last six entries from this encounter table. This means that you are guaranteed to encounter at least one interesting thing.

- - -

There are a few problems with this. Mainly being that I was right when posting that. Thats way too many entries per hex, even trying to key a small hex map would take ages.

So I came up with a solution. That being Unification.

An Explanation

Alright, so to start with, take your world map, and divide it into a set of regions. You can do this based on climate or theme. The jungle will be separated from the desert, and the fairy tale land with knights and dragons will be separated from the place with samurai and giant skeletons that eat people.

Taken from Here.

After that you write an encounter table with the following entries:

(1d12)

1-4. Regional Encounter Omen

5-8. Regional Encounter

9. Tool Encounter

10. POI Omen

11-12. POI

Omens

Regional Encounters

For the most part these are just like any other encounter table you'd see, a list of things that you'd be likely to see in the area, and have the potential to turn deadly.

You're going to want to either make it 

vague, or put a small list of subtables. The idea is that you can generate plot hooks or a mini story element off of what's going on in the region, making repeated rolls more interesting.

Tool Encounters

Sort of like regional encounters, but these ones are only ever useful. Something like abandoned adventuring equipment in the ditch. Or perhaps a wandering minstrel you can get information from, while getting your own name out there.

POIs
The points of interest, these aren't fixed entries on the table. Basically whatever the interesting part of the hex is is on here. And if you get an omen of it, you'll have a much better idea of what's going on, giving them more information for later.


If the players arent using their explore action while in the hex, you roll a d10 instead of a d12 for any encounter rolls made during that watch.

There are certain things that should never be put on the encounter table though. Settlements, lakes, rivers and other auch things are not as easily missed as an abandoned mineshaft covered in vegetation which now houses a haunted pile of unrefined gold, or the secret underground murder chamber of the seemingly nice village idiot.

- - -

Thoughts, comments, questions? Better ideas? Put them in the comments part of this post to help me and others steal from them.

Revised Armor System: Introducing Chaos!

I've been thinking a lot about armor lately, and by extension my armor system. It's too complicated, Nobody wants to remember three seemingly random numbers which attempt to mimick real world armor. Its clunky, and ugly. Which is the opposite of what armor is. Armor is pretty and elegant. So a pretty and elegant system is better at mimicking armor, right?

The Old System

The New System:

Okay, the first step, it to make your players describe their attacks. From there you can determine what weapon they're using as well as how they use it. Any weapon can use any type of attack as long as the player can justify it adequately.
After damage is rolled, the defender rolls resistance, which is based on the armor type as listed below.

Textile:
Blunt-d6 , Cut-d4 , Stab- d6

Chain:
Blunt-d6 , Cut-d8 , Stab-d6

Plate:
Blunt-d8 , Cut-d10 , Stab-d8

You do not gain any resistance to melee weapons while you are prone, because at that point any dude can just walk over and stab you.

The average damage tends to rest somewhere between 1-3 pretty consistently based on my current weapons system. And that feels pretty alright to me. Obviously these aren't based on the attacks monsters would necessarily be making, which are much more likely to deal higher amounts of damage, but armor will do a good job of protecting you against other humans.

Why Chaos?

There are a few advantages rolling has over static numbers in this case.

For starters, it gives us a wider range. Previously, I had proposed that Plate reduced all damage by 8, meaning the attacker, at maximum damage with the highest damaging weapon type, deals 2 damage. Which straight up does not work. With this new system, the damage is reduced by a die roll, which means the damage you deal usibg the highest damage weapon type can be anywhere from 9 to 0, which occurs less than half the time unless the die rolls are equal, in which case it's exactly half the time.

The other benefit is that it doesn't force you into doing anything. Previously you were shoehorned into using polearm weapons against anyone wearing plate. Which doesnt make sense. While a polearm would be ideal against an armored opponent, its not like it's invulnerable to everything else.  On the otherhand, its not gonna be as easy on you to take your tiny dagger against a fully armored opponent.

I dunno, maybe my armor system in general is a bad idea. Here's another picture.

All the art in this post was done by Eol, a talented artist who draws people in armor. If you like what you saw, consider checking out his Twitter or Youtube Channel.

Combat Rules - Cementing My GLOG Hack Maybe?

Before I've even started drafting this these rules are already in the google docs of my GLOG hack. But why not write about some of why I made them?

I've basically taken the idea of Pathfinder 2e's Action Economy and dumbed it down a lot. For example, you get 2 actions rather than 3, most things only take 1 action, it's nowhere near as wordy considering it doesn't quite even fill half a page.

Context

Combat

Combat is divided into actions. You have 2 actions during each round during which you can perform any of the following activities:

• Make an attack roll
• Cast a spell
• Move 30 meters
• Pull an item out of a quick inventory slot
• Use a consumable
• Combat Maneuvers

Activities that use 2 actions:

• Pull an item out of a general inventory slot
• Tying a knot, climbing a wall, setting up the weird trap, etc.

Anyways, Im going to get into a little more of what each action entails.

Taken from Here

Attack
Melee and Ranged opposed checks basically. Also of note, I don't really do penalties for range increments on ranged attacks. It's messy and I usually do theater of the mind stuff anyways. As long as it's feasible you can make an attack, do it.

Spellcasting
Doing your wavey-hand chanty stuff. Yes you can cast two spells in a round. What's the big deal? You're just that much more likely to die a horrible wizard death.

Movement
What's up with the 30 meters thing?
Meters are neater than 5ft. and besides that, I don't use squares anyways, I measure the distance with a string if I even bother to measure at all. This is really only here for if I decide to ever use battlemaps, as I usually do theater of the mind stuff.

Quick Inventory Slots
The first three inventory slots. Their numbers are in bold text to make it even easier to see. Basically this is the stuff that's in a quick to grab area, like your sword sitting in the scabbard at your side or the potion strapped to your belt.

Use a Consumable
Okay, you just pulled that potion off your belt. Now chug it. That's your second action.

Combat Maneuvers
Tripping, disarming, throwing your pommel, etc. The kinds of stuff that's not an attack but also kind of an attack. You could spend your turn wresting someone to the ground then stabbing them with your dagger, for example.

General Inventory Slots
I mean, only six seconds to dig around in your bag is generous to be honest.

Basically anything that takes time
That's more or less what the last part is. Mostly up to GM discretion. You might think stuff like climbing should be part of move, sure do that, why not.

_   _   _

It seems like it would be easier to understand to me at least. Traditionally you have your move action and your standard action. Each one has different activities that can be done during that time, and the players have to be told they can do other things, at least in my experience.

With this method, it's just: Alright, what two things do you want to do this turn.

While as written, you can do the same thing twice in a turn, keep in mind that that's all you get to do that turn. Though if you wanted you could just rule you can't do the same action twice. I personally like the idea you can just do something twice though. It adds a little bit less rigidity to the system.

I both do and don't like the two actions activities. On the one hand, it makes sense they'd take longer. On the other hand, perhaps it encourages players not to do that kind of thing? digging through your bag, and setting a tripwire takes two full turns, meaning you're maybe less likely to do that kind of thing. It's not like its bad to do that, but a player may consider that a less optimal choice in the moment when its maybe a better choice.

That's a communication thing though. You can let your players know that kind of thing. Sort of like the sheet of player tips that I can't seem to find.

Anyways, if you have any thoughts, please shoot it into the comments. It's not that Im not open to discussing things elsewhere, but I feel it's useful for questions and ideas to be shared along with what promted them.

the 'Not Deer'

        A nameless traveler directed his cart down a path, a steady clip clop keeping him company along with the occasional whinny from his horses or snore from his sleeping companions.
     The foggy night brought a lull to the journey and, in trying to fight off sleep, the traveler noticed a mild curiosity. In the middle of the road, far off in the distance, stood a deer, utterly still, outlined by the moon and the creeping fog. He wrote it off, figuring it would scare off eventually, and continued to listen to the steady rhythm of the horse's hooves.
     The traveler glanced at the deer again, it had not moved but somehow looked different. He brushed it aside. His mind must have been playing tricks on him, so he chose to ignore it.
     Eventually, curiosity got the better of him and he looked again. It remained still, then it seemed to morph before his eyes as he noticed new details he hadn't seen before. Both fascinated and horrified, he was torn between the desire to see more, or the urge to flee in terror.
     As the traveler got closer to the deer, its flesh began to replace what was once silhouette. Its true appearance revealed to him, he realized that this thing was not a deer, and had never been one, but by then it was too late.
     It turned towards him and smiled.

Stolen from Here.

     Most consider the 'Not Deer' to be a mere legend, but as any old kook who has spent significant time in the mountains will tell you, it's very much real, than again, who would trust the word of a crazy man?
     Though its exact form varies, all 'not deer's have the approximate appearance of a deer, by looking long or hard enough however, one begins to notice things that make it look not quite like a deer.
     They only pick a fight if their prey is alone, if multiple people are present it will run away as soon as one of them notices something off about it.

The 'Not Deer'

HD 2 Attack 12 Defense 13 Move 15 Morale 4 Save 12
Special Frightening Presence, Morbid Curiosity

Frightening Presence - when first seen, PCs must save vs. fleeing. NPCs and hirelings must make a morale check at a -4 penalty.

Morbid Curiosity - If you end up holding your ground, you notice something funny about the deer in the road. If you decide to look closer, you notice a second feature and the creature attacks.

What Makes it Look Funny?
(2d10) on a repeated result make it more pronounced.
1. Its limbs are too long.
2. Its joints are backwards.
3. It doesn't cast a shadow.
4. It casts multiple shadows.
5. It has short tentacles dangling from its mouth.
6. It has human feet.
7. Its body is covered in cancerous lumps.
8. Instead of fur its skin is covered in thousands of tiny teeth.
9. There are sharp edges where there shouldn't be. Like a poorly made 3d model.
10. It moves in spasmatic, deliberate twitches.

On Maamilla's Hierarchy of Spirits

Angels/Demons

Angels and Demons are the same thing; the only real difference between them is their philosophies, but because they disagree, they fight constantly.
There are exactly 490 angels and 666 demons at any given time, the death of one marks the birth of another. Each one looks unique, with its own name and appearance.
Angels and Demons are also the most alien looking spirits, the least familiar and the most distant. They are the guardians of celestial bodies, and are considered the main "gods" of the majority of Maamilla. This doesn't mean they never do things to influence world events.

Patrons/Local Spirits

Patrons often encompass broader concepts, but with more limited spheres of influence, which they must earn from their followers.
They can be anything from warlock patrons to local gods to spirits guarding local streams.
Competition among patrons is often fierce, and they rarely ever team up. Spirits with larger ranges of influence are able to subjugate local spirits as well.

MTG Yarok, the Desecrated

taken from here

Spells/Minor Spirits

Spells are the small bois of the spirit world. They are quick to follow orders because they are used to it, this is why they are so easy to use or lure into your brain.
There are more spells than current numeric systems are able to count to, and they are constantly breeding and mutating.
Spells are never quite exactly the same, but they belong to families in which they are more or less the same, just with minor details, such as personality quirks or variations in manifestation when cast.

the little guy.
Artist

Any spirit can become a magic item, the higher class ones are just much more narcissistic or incessant about the situation, which they have every right to be.

More Images

Artist

Artist

Toto's Traveling Tavern! Also Gastropomancers

slightly blurry photo of a drawing.

A massive snail trudges across the horizon, a platform with rope ladders hanging from a platform on it's side. On the top of it's shell, a spiraling dome sits with a long staircase leading to the platform below. This is Toto's Traveling Tavern, and he's come to sell you drinks and perhaps a ride.

This is my entry for a tavern mapping contest in one of the discord servers I'm a part of, but I really wanted to write a background for it, so here's my attempt.

Kotilo

The massive snail on which Toto's tavern is built, fondly named Kotilo, travels about the northernmost parts of Maamilla. The Kihagai Tropics acts as a terminal for the it, as it likes to feed from the massive leaves found on the trees growing there. Kotilo isn't the only snail of its kind, they are found aplenty in the Kihagai Tropics, Toto was just the only one mad enough to attempt the feat of building a moving tavern, not to mention the task of taming such a creature. Kotilo has been alive for almost 11 years now, however, and Toto knows they don't have much time left, he is looking for someone to find a replacement for Kotilo, so he can grant it a pleasant retirement. He would do it himself, but he's not willing to leave his buddy alone.

Toto

Toto is a Gastropomancer, which is the reason he was able to make an agreement with and direct the movements of Kotilo.
Toto - HD 3 Gastropomancer
Attack 12 Defense 9 Move 11 Morale 13 Save 9 Stats 10, 9, 15, 10, 13, 13
Spells Speak with Gastropods, Snail Pace, Escargot Pearl.

From Here

Gastropomancer

Perks:

You have a snail shell that is stylistically strapped onto your back. It takes up one inventory slot, but can hold up to five.

Drawback:

Instead of Magic Dice, you have Mollusk Dice, which are d4s instead of d6s, and are removed from the dice pool on a 3-4 rather than a 4-6.

Cantrips:

1. Given 12 hrs. you can eat ~300 lbs. of plants or rotting materials. Only usable once per day.

2. You can float up to the top of an area of water as long as you aren't overencumbered.

3. Snails and slugs are naturally attracted to you and will come out from hiding if called to.

Spells:

You automatically get 'Speak with Gastropods' at first level, roll your other spell normally.

1. Speak with Gastropods | R: - | T: self | D: [dice] minutes

You can talk to gastropods and they can talk back. Gastropods are lethargic and slow, and tend to only know things pertaining to their immediate surroundings, such as which head of lettuce tastes best.

2. Spontaneous Generation | R: touch | T: object | D: -
You hand another creature a nonmagical object, They must willingly take it from you. The maximum size of the object depends on how many dice are invested: 1 [Dice]: pebble-sized, 2 [Dice]: grape sized, 3 [Dice]: Bucket sized, 4 [Dice]: person sized. Up to [Sum] rounds later, you can choose to have the object permanently turn into snails or slugs, perhaps 1 large one. They are slimy and gross.

3. Corrosive Slug | R: touch | T: - | D: [dice] minutes

creates an acidic slug that deals [Dice] damage each turn unless it is removed and the slime is washed off, can also corrode most organic surfaces it is placed on.

4. Snail's Pace | R: 10' | T: creature/object | D: [sum] rounds

Target must save or be reduced to Move as Snail for the spell's duration.

5. Sticky Skin | R: - | T: self | D: [dice] minutes

Your skin excretes a sticky mucus which can be used to climb walls or grab objects, your skin must be in direct contact with the object to stick to it.

6. Wall of Cabbage | R: 60' | T: point | D: [dice] rounds
creates a wall of thickly packed leaves 10 ft. across per [dice], 10ft. high and 5ft. thick. Anything inside of the wall is trapped for the duration.

7. Slug Form | R: - | T: self | D: [sum] minutes

Your biology becomes as that of a slugs for the duration, you can stretch out your body to squeeze through gaps as narrow as a keyhole during this time, and are immune to bludgeoning damage.

8. Blight Life | R: touch | T: [sum] ft.² organic matter| D: [dice] hours
You suppress growth in an object, causing it to rapidly decay for the duration, at the end of the duration, it rapidly springs back to life.

9. Escargot Pearl | R: - | T: self | D: instant

you lay [Dice] rations worth of white caviar.

10. Slime Line | R: touch | T: point | D: [sum] hours
You create [Dice]x50ft. of a length of slime that can support your weight as you do rigorous activity.

Emblem Spells:

11. Love Dart | R: 100' | T: Creature | D: [Dice] minutes

Fires a Calcareous dart out of the caster's arm, dealing [Sum] damage, and causing an effect as Charm Person for the duration

12. Stasis | R: - | T: Self | D: [Dice] days
You form a calcium shell over your body in a rapid process, you remain sealed in this shell for the duration. During this time, you are sealed off from the outside, and do not require food. The shell cannot be broken by standard weapons.

So someone else had this idea before.
Artist

Mishaps:

1. MD only return to your pool on a 1 for 24 hours.

2. Take 1d6 damage.

3. Random mutation for 1d6 rounds, then save, permanent if you fail.

4. Deafness for 1d6 rounds.

5. Blindness for 1d6 rounds.

6. Roll a d6 for each item in your inventory, on a 1-3, it immediately erodes/rusts/rots.

Dooms:

1. You turn into a slug for 1 day, you can see poorly and can smell, but can't hear.

2. You turn into a slug for 3 days, you can see poorly and can smell, but can't hear.

3. You turn into a level 1 Pile of Snails (see below).

From Here

Class: Pile of Snails

For each Pile of Snails template you possess, you get +1 Defense and -1 Move.

Starting Gear Parasites, Shell, a lot of Teeth.

Starting Skill (1d3) Land Snail, Freshwater Snail, Sea Snail

[A]: Gastropod, Hivemind

[B]: Slime Trail

[C]: Mucus, Stasis

[D]: Regeneration

Snails

Though you were once part of a human, you are now a mere snail. While you do have a mental concept outside of your immediate surroundings, you can not understand complex thoughts like mathematics. You are unable to hear, but can see poorly and smell normally.

Hive-mind

The snails you are made up of share a telepathic connection, and can communicate with each-other no matter where they are at any given time. Every point of damage causes a snail to die in a tragic way. Single Target Save or Die effects instead deal 1 damage to them. Other single target effects affect all of them. Whenever you would take lethal damage, instead of rolling death and dismemberment, instead a number of snails equal to the damage taken die.

Slime Trail

By going ahead and moving across a surface, you create a trail of slime that can act as either a lubricant (grease spell), or as a slime which other creatures or objects can stick to as a glue.

Mucus

Your mucus has minor healing properties, by crawling about on an injured creature, you can remove 1 fatal wound.

Stasis

By entering your shell and sealing off the opening, you can enter a state of stasis, during this time you do not have to eat. You can still be killed if your shell is broken.

Regeneration

When you are brought below 0 HP, roll 1d4. The result is how many snails die, the rest regenerate over a period of 12 hours.

From Here

[OSR] 20 Magic Items

20 Magic Items (OSR Edition)

Most of the items done in the first two of these were not very OSR, the idea is more to have a tool than to have a weapon or static bonus, so I’ll try to keep these descriptions vague to make them more osr. I know I said I was gonna write them based on spells, but Ive kind of moved towards just personalities. Looking through obscure spell lists is still a good way to come up with them though.

Looks a little more expensive than tin...

1. A sword with a steel tentacle instead of a blade, it can be used as a bludgeoning weapon. The tentacle end of the weapon can become malleable, and while it can be told what to do, it does have a mind of its own.

2. A cheap, tin ring that everyone really wants to wear, the greater the ego of the ring, the more powerful this effect is. The effect on it is fairly powerful at the moment, as two tribes are currently in a war over it.

3. A dagger that thirsts for blood, though it will behave while sheathed or otherwise covered, as soon as it feels the freedom of a naked blade, it will lunge toward the nearest warm-blooded creature (Str. to resist or sheathe), if you do not resist, you can follow along with it and soar through the air in a spectacular arc toward the victim chosen.

4. A small silver key you can stab into your body (take one damage) to open a small pocket of space large enough to hold one item. The key believes it is the key to the heart, and will try to convince you to stab it into your heart, this is a bad idea.

5. A pair of shoes that walk really fast, but only where they want to go. They are cowardly and will get you out of the dungeon as fast as possible. A good method of taking them off involves intentionally tripping yourself, then reaching over to remove the boots.

6. A pen that draws stuff for you! It is also has a 10% chance to know a random piece of information it can write down for you, this includes drawing maps or monster anatomies. They really like to seem knowledgeable, and may give you a piece of bad information if they don’t know an answer.

7. A hooded lantern that creates cones of darkness, it likes to tell visceral and depressing stories, it also tells really good, original horror stories that make the average person save vs. vomiting uncontrollably.

8. A hammer that’s really good at carpentry, structures or barriers made with it are built 25% faster and are twice as effective at what they do, as it dispenses knowledgeable advice, he does this in an overbearing manner.

9. An extinct elephant species’ tusk, with blood still on the end. The spirit inside acts as a translator between you and the dead. He's basically E-oar

10. A small wooden statue of a hawk with outspread wings that allows you to see through its eyes. It can only do this when it is mounted atop a helmet.

10. A door that never opens to the same place twice, it's very indecisive, and is not sure whether or not it wants to be used. It is the door that does this, not the frame.

11. A box that contains a random tool, the tool inside the box changes every day. If it is not replaced in the box, it will be unable to generate a new one the following day. It can be replaced meaning you can put any other random tool you happen to have in the box if the item taken out goes missing.

12. Two pieces of slate, they contain two halves of a spell. When one piece is written on, it appears on the other. If the two parts are ever matched together, they fuse and can be used to ask a random higher power 1 question.

13. A key that can be used to locate small lost objects. He has a 50% chance of getting lost on the way. They track the items in a bad Croc Dundy impersonation.

14.  A glass eye that the user can see out of as long as they are in contact with it. It can move about on its own but never in sinc with your other eye. It attempts to interpret everything as art.

15. A bag that can hold five items in one inve tory slot, but it's very picky about what it'll carry. It will only allow items with a value of 20g or higher, if anything does not meet that requirement, it will petulantly spill out all of its contents at the next inopportune moment.

16. A violin that plays itself. It can be held in a way that makes it look as if you're playing it, which it will allow, but doesn't appreciate very much. It is very good at playing and a little snobbish about it. You will probably stumple upon it by hearing its haunting melodies faintly in another room.

17. A bust of a man with an open mouth. Feeding him rations causes him to dispense delicious food. He laments on how he doesnt truly get to taste the food, and will whine incessantly at the sight of you eating it.

18. One of those childrens toys where you put the shapes in the holes, except it doesn't come with the shapes. It can turn small rocks into geometric shapes designed to fit in the holes. At least one hole is non-euclidean. Has the personality of a bored child.

19. An executioner's sword with a handle shaped like a headless man, and twisting fonts of blood emerging from it forming a cross guard. It can be used like a normal sword, but will target the head of any 'headed' enemy, Save vs. Str to resist. Whenever a 'headed' enemy is prone, attacks made with it automatically decapitate. It sings as he is used in battle, in your head, or to priests or devout followers of X religion, this manifests as an actual singing voice, to others, this manifests as a constant resonating of the blade, causing enemies to Save vs. Con or fall prone, clutching their ears. He is devout to X religion and will not let himself be swung at other members of his faith.

20. A compass that always points toward a specific location, this location cannot be changed. It can be anything from a major plot point or location, to a small decrepit, yet homely inn. It values adventurous tales and will thus will good-naturedly point you the way using the most challenging path reasonable. It talks with the voice of a GPS.