The why of gangs

Criminal gangs are a hazard players are most likely to run across in city areas. They can be ambiguous - enemies or allies depending on how the first encounter shakes out.

Most gangs are money-making enterprises that see violence as a tool of the trade. Often, recruits join up to have protection from other gangs. It's common for gangs to claim a territory and keep order there by muscling out or co-opting other criminals.

This is a table to make gangs less generic by generating a background, operating methods and members. Roll as many times on any given table as you need to reach the preferred complexity.

Their members

1. Neighbourhood thugs
2. Disgruntled ex-soldiers
3. Guild dropouts - drunks, bullies and workshy
4. Long term jobless forced to choose between crime and begging
5. Branded criminals
6. Vigilantes

Their size

1. Less than ten
2. Ten to twenty
3. A few dozen
4. A hundred or so 
5. Many hundreds

Their methods

1. Smuggling
2. Gambling
3. Armed robbery
4. Protection
5. Bootlegging
6. Murder/arson for hire

Their 'reason'

1. Protect immigrant districts
2. Resist political oppression of the lower classes
3. Prevent exploitation of the poor by landowners
4. Stop locals being displaced by newcomers
5. Redistribute unfair taxation
6. Defend neighbourhoods against other gangs

Their real reason

1. Money
2. Power
3. Revenge
4. Fear and respect
5. Fun and excitement
6. Loyalty to each other and their leader

Their main advantage

1. Secret routes under the city or over the rooftops
2. A rich or connected sponsor
3. Reputation
4. Alliance with other gang(s)
5. Clandestine support from neighbourhood residents
6. They've bribed or intimidated the city guards

Their biggest headache

1. Money-making rackets under threat
2. Powerful enemies
3. Territorial dispute with other gang(s)
4. Loss of safe houses and secret routes
5. Law enforcement crackdown
6. Informant infiltrators

Wearable monsters

Yes, that sort of wearable monster.
Image from www.maxpixel.net

I was browsing Old School RPG Planet's bloglist late at night and found myself reading a post about wandering monsters. I was half-asleep and read that as wearable monsters until I was nearly done with the post and hadn't seen a single reference to wearing monsters and wasn't that a fundamentally dumb idea?

*cough* So anyway, here's a list of wearable monsters. Blame them on Abelard the Unreliable. I'm not sure why I gave them statblocks.

Wig beast

This creature wants to yank your hair out and sink tap roots into your scalp. The benefit is that you'll have a full head of thick and luxurious hair once it settles in place. They can be trained into elaborate styles, and change shades depending on your diet. The down side is that your own hair never grows back and the wig beast has an unpredictable lifespan. It may just expire and slide off your scarred scalp in public. They tend to target older women and fashionable young men.

AC 6 [13], HD 1-2 (2hp), Att 1 × hair pull (1d4-1), THAC0 19, MV 40’ (20’), SV D14 W15 P16 B17 S18 (NH), ML 7, AL Neutral, XP 5, NA 1d6 (3d8),  
TT -
 

Parasitic medals

They resemble gold or lapis medals with a vague decoration generic enough to just possibly belong to your army. Actually beetles that grip with their legs and bury a proboscis under the skin to draw blood. At the same time they inject a toxin that diminishes reasoning ability and increases belligerence and blood flow. Sufferers can be recognised by their ruddy complexion, disregard for strategy and over-use of phrases like "Peace was never an option" and "We have more men than they have bullets".

AC 4 [15], HD 1-2 (1hp), Att 1 × bite (1d4), THAC0 19, MV 80’ (40’), SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (F1), ML 10, AL Neutral, XP 5, NA 3d4 (4d10), TT -

Snake belt

These venomous serpents are attracted to the body heat of sleeping adventurers and eat leather. They slither close and devour an adventurer's existing belt, then slide through their trousers' belt loops to take its place. Their tails are armoured so they can grip them with their teeth and not cause themselves injury. By the time a belt snake is discovered, it's probably too late to remove it and the only option is to wait until they get hungry and slither off in search of more edible belts. Their bite causes fever and delirium.

AC 6 [13], HD 2 (8hp), Att 1 × bite (1d6+poison), THAC0 19, MV 80’ (40’), SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (F1), ML 8, AL Neutral, XP 10, NA 1d4 (3d6), 
TT -

Fleece colony

A fleece moth is a tiny wispy insect with a long, trailing fleecy tail. They collectively settle on a suitable surface and intertwine their tails, creating a light but waterproof and warm covering. Migratory hunters on the high steppes soak their clothes in the juice of the mountain thistle to attract fleece moths. The down side is that the moths only form a colony in cold weather. If a warmer (by their standard) day comes, they may abandon their garment all at once and leave the wearer in just his shirt sleeves.

AC 4 [15], HD 1-2 (1hp), Att -, THAC0 -, MV 80’ (40’), SV D14 W15 P16 B17 S18 (NH), ML 4, AL Neutral, XP -, NA 10d100, TT -

 

Crocs

Not shoes, actually small reptiles. These swamp-dwelling mini-gators wrap themselves around the feet of careless adventurers, shred their existing footwear, and grab hold. They resist removal with nips and tail-thrashing. But on the other hand they're hard-wearing, waterproof and don't cause blisters. Some travellers think it's worth occasionally being dragged off-course to chase small game.

AC 8 [11], HD 1 (4hp), Att 1 × bite (1d6), tail-whip (1d4), THAC0 19, MV 80’ (40’), SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (F1), ML 8, AL Neutral, XP 5, NA 2, TT -

Dragon onesie

The onesie is a living organism and by putting it on you're technically stepping into its stomach. Don't worry too much about that, it's warm and dry inside. Unless you fail to keep its pockets full of gold. Then it could get a little uncomfortable. Onesies don't go adventuring to enjoy the company. A dragon onesie provides immunity to the breath weapon matching its colour.

AC 4 [15] (when worn, give the wearer chainmail-equivalent AC), HD 3 (13hp), Att 1 × bite (1d6), THAC0 19, MV 80’ (40’), SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (F2), ML 8, AL Neutral, XP 15, NA 1 (1d4), TT D

Trollskin armour

Trollskin armour has to be manufactured and the process begins with getting it off the troll. Who probably won't like it. The skin survives removal and trimming, tanning, sewing etc. When worn it gives leather-equivalent AC and also emanates a smell that frightens away animals and smaller monsters. It's self-repairing as long as it's kept well-fed.  The only way it can feed is to absorb nutrients through its skin, so the most efficient way of keeping your trollskin armour healthy is to soak it in the soup-pot after it's cooled down for a while. Wash it thoroughly or your next meal will taste like feet.

Fantasy Medieval X-Men

Image by Mohammed Hassan via Pixabay

I don't know if this idea has legs or not. It's an interesting metagame but I'm not sure it's fun. But I've had it in my head for far too long without progressing it one way or another, so maybe I can get it out by writing it down.

Wizard X has assembled a team of heroes, each with their own special quality. By way of example, Sir A is as strong as an ogre. Lady B has hypnotically fascinating eyes. Sir C can swim like a fish. They roam the countryside doing good deeds, but the local peasants are always grateful when they move on. There's something unsettling about them.

Each of the characters is cursed and doesn't know it. Sir A just knows that Lady B is under a dark fate and must never see her own reflection. It's his job to keep tabs on her and make sure she doesn't. Lady B knows that Sir C must never taste sea water and it's her role to see that he never does. Sir C knows that Sir A can never eat uncooked meat under any circumstances, and the task of stopping it falls to him.

But the real truth is that Sir A is as strong as an ogre because he is one. Wizard X permanently polymorphed him into human shape and geased him never to think about his past. If he ever eats raw meat, that part of the spell is undone. Lady B has some of the powers of a gorgon because she's a gorgon. Sir C is a Saghuin. Each of them has a taboo they can never break, or their real nature will be revealed to them. Wizard X never told them about the 'curse' or the taboo because he didn't want them to know even that much about their situation. In order to keep them from crossing the line, he gave each of them the job of managing one of their companions.

I think it would be on-theme for only the GM and a character's minder player to know what their taboo is. I can't imagine it being hard to figure out, the cat's going to be out of the bag on the meta level within the first session or two. From there it's going to be about playing their character like they aren't aware of it and don't know why another character is constantly trying to stop them doing something. Obviously for this to make it into a game, players will have to be comfortable with acting out in-game conflict between the two characters. Some people aren't, and that's fine. I'm not sure I could make this work at my table. I know some larpers who might go for it.

It could be a good gimmick for a streamed game, on reflection.

The why of cults

Image by
OpenClipart-Vectors
on Pixabay

A table to generate cult characteristics. A lot of the adventures I've been looking at lately have been premised on ideas like a cult infiltrating a community, or setting up a secret headquarters under a building and performing unspeakable rites. There's little or no description beyond 'a cult', though. I don't have an ongoing campaign involving a cult, so I thought it would be nice to have a chart to generate one on the fly if I was to run an adventure like this as a one-shot.

This cult formed when someone charismatic:

1. discovered a long-hidden holy book handed down by their ancestors.
2. had a vision while meditating/feverish/starving/poisoned by bad mushrooms.
3. made a cynical deal with an extraplanar/infernal being.
4. experienced a mental snap.
5. was helped out of a bad situation by a supernatural entity and wanted to show their gratitude.
6. thought deeply about mainstream religious practices and came to a different conclusion.

They are trying to:

1. recruit influential worshippers
2. obtain magical texts
3. practice unspeakable rites
4. infiltrate positions of power
5. extort a specific group
6. blackmail powerful individuals

In order to:

1. gain political influence
2. build wealth
3. suppress dissent
4. drive out other religions
5. maintain secrecy
6. develop in mystical power

Which will result in:

1. the apocalypse.
2. a breakaway state.
3. wealth and privilege for members.
4. the return of a forgotten god.
5. revenge for an ancient grudge.
6. fulfilment of a prophecy.

They recruit by:

1. drugging prospective members and showing them visions
2. taking in the destitute
3. offering protection and clandestine support
4. encouraging prospects to commit vile crimes
5. threats and violence
6. exposing people to mind-warping magic

And maintain secrecy by:

1. targeting a betrayer's family
2. magically cursing betrayers
3. sending agents armed with a drug that causes madness
4. rewarding loyalty with money and authority
5. geasing recruits not to talk about cult business with outsiders
6. hypnotising acolytes to forget their activities during daily life

Which has caused:

1. a culture of suspicion and paranoia among acolytes.
2. a string of unexplained deaths in the community.
3. a rash of weird events and sightings.
4. rumours and whispering.
5. an unexpected shift in the social pecking order.
6. a wall of silence against outsiders to the community.

Cult members:

1. learn to speak an unusual language.
2. submit to ritual scarring or tattoos.
3. learn a few simple cantrips.
4. carry the same superstitious charms.
5. perform a simple routine task in an unusual way.
6. refuse to say the names of common gods.

The cult is:

1. reluctantly tolerated.
2. feared.
3. despised and ridiculed.
4. dismissed as a rumour.
5. respected.
6. ignored.

Goblin variants

Image from Wikimedia.org

I'm slowly and painfully thinking through a dungeon populated by goblins. In order to keep it interesting and justify what I hope are some genuinely underhanded tactics, I'd like to introduce a bit of variety into the inhabitants.

Ranked in order of toughness:

Goblin runt

The smallest and scrawniest of the goblins, they've had to be quick and smart to survive among their bigger kin.

AC 6, HD 1-2 (2hp), Att 1 × weapon (1d6 or by weapon), THAC0 19, MV 80’ (40’), SV D14 W15 P16 B17 S18 (NH), ML 7 (9 with king), AL Chaotic, XP 5, NA 2d4 (6d10), TT R (C)

Snot flick - a goblin with hayfever is never unarmed. Instead of attacking, a runt can flick a blob of mucus with pinpoint accuracy to a range of 10'. No damage, -2 to next attack roll.

Goblin bootlicker

These disgustingly obsequious toadies hang around with goblin pit bosses and champions, yelling warnings and throwing them extra ammo when called for.

AC 6, HD 1-2 (2hp), Att 1 × weapon (1d6 or by weapon), THAC0 19, MV 60’ (20’), SV D14 W15 P16 B17 S18 (NH), ML 7 (9 with king), AL Chaotic, XP 5, NA 2d4 (6d10), TT R (C)

Has a satchel containing (1d6):

1. dried rat meat. (1 ration)
2. goblin brew. Tastes like a bugbear's loincloth. Burns with a blue flame. Might sterilise a wound then infect it with something different.
3. part of a halfling.
4. 1d4 tallow candles.
5. 1d2 doses of berserker mead.
6. 2d6 teeth.

Goblin bomber

Easily recognised by the cooking pots they wear as helmets and the slow-matches they tuck under the brim, even goblin bullies leave these guys alone. Bombers are runts who've taken an interest in chemistry. Madder than a soup-fork and half as useful, they make bombs by packing black powder into pottery, wooden tubs, skulls, anything they can find.

AC 5, HD 1-2 (2hp), Att 1 × weapon (1d6 or by weapon), THAC0 19, MV 60’ (20’), SV D14 W15 P16 B17 S18 (NH), ML 7 (9 with king), AL Chaotic, XP 5, NA 2d4 (6d10), TT R (C)

Fire in the hole - a bomber carries 1d4 black powder grenades. Every second round they can throw one with a 15' range. On detonation, 1d6 damage to the square it lands in and 1d4 to adjacent squares. on 1-in-6 the bomb explodes while the goblin is still holding it.

Goblin shaman

Shamans typically know a few low-level spells and prepare the beserker mead that drives a few goblin warriors into a killing rage.

AC 7, HD 1-1 (3hp), Att 1 × weapon (1d6 or by weapon), THAC0 19, MV 40’ (15’), SV D14 W15 P16 B17 S18 (NH), ML 7 (9 with king), AL Chaotic, XP 5, NA 2d4 (6d10), TT R (C)

Spells known (one of): Remove Fear, Cure Light Wounds, Darkness.

1d3 pots of berserker mead: +2 Att and damage, +2 AC. Save vs poison to stop fighting.

Goblin regular

A bog-standard goblin as described in the monster manual.

AC 6, HD 1-1 (3hp), Att 1 × weapon (1d6 or by weapon), THAC0 19, MV 60’ (20’), SV D14 W15 P16 B17 S18 (NH), ML 7 (9 with king), AL Chaotic, XP 5, NA 2d4 (6d10), TT R (C)

Goblin bully

Bigger than an ordinary goblin, and meaner too. Everything they have, they've taken from someone smaller.

AC 6, HD 1 (4hp), Att 1 × weapon (1d6 or by weapon), THAC0 19, MV 60’ (20’), SV D14 W15 P16 B17 S18 (NH), ML 7 (9 with king), AL Chaotic, XP 5, NA 2d4 (6d10), TT R (C)

Gimme dat - if disarmed or jealous, a bully can take a weapon from a goblin in an adjacent square as a free action.

Goblin berserker

Frothing at the mouth, biting their own ears and attacking with no regard for an enemy's relative strength.

AC 8, HD 1 (4hp), Att 1 × weapon (+2, 1d6+2 or by weapon+2), THAC0 19, MV 60’ (20’), SV D14 W15 P16 B17 S18 (NH), ML 7 (9 with king), AL Chaotic, XP 5, NA 2d4 (6d10), TT R (C)

Goblin pit boss

Pit bosses have years of experience at not dying to adventurers. With a pit boss bellowing orders and enforcing them with kicks and punches, goblins will function like (semi-) disciplined fighters.

AC 5, HD 1+1 (5hp), Att 1 × weapon (1d6 or by weapon), THAC0 19, MV 60’ (20’), SV D14 W15 P16 B17 S18 (NH), ML 7 (9 with king), AL Chaotic, XP 10, NA 2d4 (6d10), TT R (C)

Tactics - if a pit boss has bombers, bullies will form up in front of them as a protective line while they throw bombs. If the pit boss has runts, they'll flank adventurers while the bigger goblins keep them tied up in melee. Pit bosses count as kings for morale checks.

Goblin champion

Champions have been round the block a few times, and collected a couple of souvenirs on the way. Each champion will have a minor magic item (1d6):

1. Wand of Cold, 1d6 charges.
2. +1 sword.
3. Ring of Control Animals.
4. Potion of ESP.
5. Potion of Heroism.
6. Wand of Fear.

AC 4, HD 1+2 (6hp), Att 1 × weapon (1d6 or by weapon), THAC0 19, MV 60’ (20’), SV D14 W15 P16 B17 S18 (NH), ML 7 (9 with king), AL Chaotic, XP 10, NA 2d4 (6d10), TT R (C)

Tactics - as pit boss.

Champions count as kings for morale checks.

Goblin hound

Inbred, abused and semi-feral mongrels who've had to fight for every scrap of food. On 1-in-6, they attempt to eat the closest runt instead of attacking the adventurers.

AC 7, HD 2+2 (11hp), Att 1 × bite (1d6), THAC0 17, MV 180’ (60’), SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (F1), ML 6 (8 in larger packs), AL Neutral, XP 25, NA 2d6 (3d6), TT None

Boom - sometimes bombers like to strap canisters full of powder and nails with a short fuse to hounds.

Hacking Feast of Legends

A few thoughts on Wendys Burgers' Feast of Legends and what it would take to hack it for long term play.

I figure by now almost everyone will be aware that Wendys has released an RPG. Reddit has been buzzing with it. Some people seem fairly gobsmacked. But restaurants have a long history of giving out toys as a marketing gimmick, maybe they're just catching onto the idea that adults like toys too.

It's strongly themed, with monster names like pangs, grumbles and freezer burns. The BBEG is a clown, which suits me because I believe clowns are powerful and worthy of respect.

The game

Mechanically, this is familiar ground. Task resolution is d20 + mods vs target number. Criticals on 20 and 1. FoL drops Con and Wis from the traditional six stats (folding them into Str and Int) and adds Arcana as a measure of magical talent to make five. Stat bonuses are generated by rolling 4d4 and consulting a chart.  There are no spells, but all characters gain access to spell-like abilities or party buffs as they level. (The game calls them skills, but half of them are always-on passive effects.) Dex appears to be entirely about agility and aim, initiative is by rolling d20 with no mods or other bonuses and all characters get the same movement.

At chargen you pick an Order (which is effectively a choice between Bard, Fighter and Magic-user/Diplomat) and a class, which is a development path within that broad category. There are a bundle of classes. That's good, because picking your class provides most of your opportunity for differentiating characters. All members of a class gain exactly the same stat bonuses and abilities when levelling. 4d4 has a steeper bell curve than 3d6, so characters are going to start out closer in stats than under D20. A Baconator warrior is a Baconator warrior is a Baconator warrior.

There's no skill system or advancement mechanic. The rules are tightly focused on skirmish combat. You gain a level when the bundled adventure says you do. Levels come with HP increases and new spell abilities/buffs, by class. This wouldn't be a bad introductory RPG, there's nothing extra to the core game here. Advancement is capped at level 5.

The hack

I think that playing it RAW would benefit someone new to the hobby, but experienced players would be frustrated by the lack of character choice. To introduce some, I'd get rid of the individual classes, but keep the class levelling packages. Let players pick an order, and then choose a level-appropriate class package out of all the available selections when they advance. I like it with a small number of core classes. This might throw class balance out the window, but I'm okay with that.

I'd introduce a skill system with maybe ten to twelve broad skills. With the kind of stat bonuses 4d4 produces, a system like Sine Nomine's Stars Without Number uses might be a good fit. 2d6 + stat bonus + skill vs target of 8, adjusted up or down to account for difficulty. I should explain this - when I heard about a fast food RPG, I thought it would be thematically perfect for playing Dunkey and Matt Halton's The Gustatory. That setting's less about fighting your problems and more about problem solving and interacting with traditional enemies in a different environment. A skill system would add another dimension to to the game. No crits for skills, just pass or fail.

I haven't run a combat yet to see how it plays out, but the characters start at 4 HD and gain 8 + 2d4 hp per level. The first monster the players encounter has 5 HD. The median weapon damage for the equipment list is d8, so if combat doesn't run long it's only because the characters' team buffing abilities make a big impact. I'd like to stretch out advancement across 5 extra levels and try adding D20 monsters with their HD stepped up to d12 to see how they fill out the in-between levels.

Drop the arbitrary levelling and bring in advancement by XP. Calculate levelling requirements and monster XP using the B/X hit dice and powers table. (Figure out a multiplier that makes numbers from one system workable in the other.) Have all the classes advance at the same rate.

And lastly, drop the buffs and debuffs based on what the players are eating. Too meta.

One page game: Wizard Squad

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

A free one-page game about tactically-trained wizards empowered by the state to investigate incidents of corrupted ancient magic reactivating. Semi-random character creation, 1d20 + mods vs target number. Grab it here.

Wizard Squad is set in a kingdom which is built on the ruins of an advanced civilisation that drove itself into apocalypse through excessive magic-use. Every now and then the seals and wards on some forgotten device breaks down (as often as not through tampering by someone who thinks there's something to be gained by reviving ancient sorcery) and then it's balrogs or worse.