Saturday, 28 August 2021

B/X compatible monster: Figthing

The One Page Game Jam has ended, and the entries are available for browsing.

They're a fun bunch of games, but some are a challenge to read. There are handwritten documents, background images that don't contrast the text enough, and in some cases a complete indifference to spelling. One game had a section of 'figthing rules'. To my disappointment, it wasn't rules for things made of figs, it was the combat system. So here's a hostile thing made of figs, for which you might also need some figthing fighting rules.

Figthing

A 7' golem molded from bruised and overripe figs. It squelches as it moves, and carries a buzzing cloud of wasps with it. They crawl on and inside it and form a second threat for an adventuring party to handle. Figthings form (super-) naturally in abandoned fig groves under the influence of awakened wasp nests. They stand in the shadows of trees where they won't dry out, immobile until the wasps detect intruders. Then they attack. A figthing is typically active for two to three weeks before fermentation and rot force its wasps to move on and it loses its animating force.

AC 8[11], HD 4 (18 HP), ATT 1 x fist (1d6) + special (see below), THACO 17 [+2], MV 120' (40'), SV 10 11 12 13 14 (F4) ML 12, AL Neutral, XP 225, NA 1d4 (1d4), TT None

Specials:

Mundane damage immunity: Can only be harmed by magical attacks.

Splatter: Every second round as a free action the figthing can hurl a wad of sticky fruit pulp. If it hits, the target will be swarmed by wasps for automatic damage of 1HP per round and -2 to any action until they take a full round to scrape it off.

Asphyxiate: The figthing can pass up a normal attack to grab an opponent in an adjacent square. STR vs STR to resist. If it succeeds, it will attempt to shove the gripped creature into itself to smother in sticky pulp. Drowning rules apply.

Edible: Each person who joins the attempt can gather 1d4+2 rations of fruit pulp. It spoils in three days unless preserved. A resourceful adventurer would make jam.

Tuesday, 24 August 2021

One page game: 30 Minutes Or Less

Deliver pizza in a wild future New York populated by humans, aliens, robots, clones and Brian. Fresh and on time or the driver dies!

I've been on a one-page-game kick lately, and so have a lot of other people thanks to the Itch.io One Page Game Jam. It's a fun design challenge - squeeze all the necessary rules clearly onto one page and use any leftover space to hint at a setting.

 I aim for very specific scenarios, because it doesn't pay to generalise - a million other people have already invented D20 with three attributes and no classes, races, or feats. 

In this game you play a team of rough, tough pizza delivery specialists. When an order comes in, you load up and set out to cross as many bizarre environmental zones as might be in between you and the customer. You're on an inflexible time limit, because the pizza box will only dispense the antidote to the poison you've been injected with if you're at the delivery address in 30 minutes or less. Get it here.