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GLOGSTAR: Ships from Beyond the Rim

Yes, this is an old idea. First we had Spaceships as GLoG classes! And then there were more spaceships

And missions for:

The Interstellar Regime

The Plucky Rebels

The Pirates of the Grim Warlord

Here are 2 more ships to add to your fleets. As always with the glog, multi-classing is encouraged!

Ironclad Support Ship (a non-magic cleric/support-type)

A: Flag Nexus: You may not be the flagship, or anything resembling a capital ship, but you are the nexus, relaying orders between ships and providing support. Allied starships get an extra save against Morale checks while in your presence.


A: Replenishment: You are designed to carry large stores of fuel, ammo, air, and rations. For each slot of supplies, when giving slots of supply to docked allies, you may roll usage dice 2x and take the better result. Additionally you may restock allies in combat, transferring a slot a turn in addition your normal actions.


B: Jury-rigged Supplies: You can build tech for half the cost/materials it would normally take, but it’ll break the first time it fails. With double funding you can make even single use equipment/upgrades multiple use (but subject to ammo rolls)


C: Repair Teams: You may dock alongside an allied ship and provide damage support, restoring 1d6 HP. You can do this up to your level in Auxillary Ship. You regain charges when you dock at a port. Additionally you may transfer an extra supply per turn when using one of your repair teams.
C: Debris Cloud: You can eject a slot of anything on board to obscure vision, blocking line of sight to anyone on either side of it.


D: Quantum Predictions: You've installed a predictive computer that can process battlefield outcomes in your favor. Once per Cycle (battle/day/week/whatever), you can choose any roll made by an ally and have it be rerolled. You pick which result is used.


Pirate Converted Freighter (something like a a barbarian)

A: Harpoons: You may make an attack with disadvantage. On a success, you harpoon the target, immobilizing them against your hull. You may both still attack, just not each other. At the end of each of their turns they may save to cut themselves loose.


A: Bulwark: You can protect allied ships from incoming fire. You can shield them if your armor is greater than theirs. You use the worse saves and armor for rolls, and take all damage directed at them yourself. If they miss you may immediately make an unarmed (light attack) against them


B: Ram: You can slam into things for 1d8 damage to both you and your target. If you were travelling at full thrust, you immoblize them as well, they must save to break free. You may continue to make attacks against them, though they can't attack you intil they break free.


C: Flower of Carnage: You may destroy a system (weapons, propulsion, jump drive, etc.) for twice its maximum effect (deal max damage, move twice as far, etc.)


D: Pass the Aux: This ship is legendary, they tell stories about it to hushed crowds of pilots. Professional spacers have your poster hanging in their locker. You may designate a theme song. When you play it in battle enemies will morale check every round as you blast it on every available comm band. This makes communication between anyone two ships on the battlefield, your allies included, impossible.

Twisted 5e

Having recently been inspired to make a version of 5e that I'd like to run for people (by this post from Caput Caprae in particular) I've put the following together. I've put very little thought into balance or playability, that'll come if I ever get this to the table. Very much an Alpha edition


1. Use the Standard Array and pick a race (you will receive the benefits of Variant Human regardless of selection)
2. You get a standard ASI
3. No classes, pick an archetype:
    - Fighter
        1. Pick a fighting style
        2. Your attacks crit on a 19 or 20
        3. At level 3: gain an extra attack
        4. At level 4: gain an ASI
        5. At Level 5: your proficiency goes up to +3
    - Thief
        1. You may use AGI instead of STR on rolls
        2. You can do an extra 1d6 damage when attacking from behind or otherwise surprising an enemy
        3. At level 3: can use your reaction to take half damage from attacks you can see
        4. At level 4: gain an ASI
        5. At Level 5: your proficiency goes up to +3
    - Magic-user
        1. You may cast spells, you know one cantrip (no damage cantrips) and 2 1st level spells, you can prepare as many spells as you have slots (spell level = number of slots it takes up)
        2. You gain the Ritual Caster feat
        3. At level 3: may select an arcane school and select a related spell
        4. At level 4: gain an ASI
        5. At Level 5: your proficiency goes up to +3
2. Your HD is 1d6 and your proficency is +2. Pick a stat to have proficiency in. This works instead of skills
3. Pick a feat
4. Max level is 5
5. This uses the Gritty Realism/Extended Rests rule
6. Use slot based encumbrance, slots based on Strength, common items typically take up 1 to 2 slots, Armor takes DC-10 slots
    a. when you would gain a level of exhaustion, take up an item slot with exhaustion
7. At 0 HP you are knocked unconscious, any more damage and you die, no saving throws
8. Any spell scroll can be transcribed into a spellbook for a MU/Magic Initiate to cast



Pidgin Adventures: Skysail (spy-fi/mothership)

Inspired/stolen from the 007 book Moonraker by Ian Fleming:


A new weapon test is being conducted in a week's time. It has been greenlit by the company's board, been under construction for the past 3 years, and is funded externally by the enigmatic but popular CEO Hanna Abraxas.

The science and engineering team is made up of citizens 'liberated' from soviet hab-stations.

External threats to the security of the Weapon Project have been dealt with before they become an issue. However the Company's agent on the inside has just been killed by one of the engineering team. All details of the murder suicide have been classified to the highest level.
    

The weapon: Designed to fit a high yield nuclear warhead. Launched through warpspace it is capable of bypassing all known armor, shields, and point defense before emerging at its dedicated homing beacon. Must be launched in the correct direction to detect the thin band of the homing beacon.
    

The Research Station: A week out from the Company's HQ at Skysail Station. Built around a central firing tube, much like an old school missile silo.
    Decks:
    1. residences
    2. atrium and blast curtain and life support
    3. security + docks + security barracks
    4. offices and engineer barracks
    5. engineering floor + firing tube access
    6. material storage
    7. mainframe access + heat vents
    

Skysail Station: Population: ~8,278,000. Home of the Spearhead Club, a highly exclusive private gambling establishment for those who can flash enough cash to be granted an entrace interview. Site of the Company's HQ. Home for most of the Company's employees on the research station.
    

Referee Notes: In secret a homing device has been setup within the Company's HQ station, which will result in the deaths of everyone onboard. This homing device has been stolen from the real target, an insignificant ex-mining asteroid called Raft.

Hanna has hidden a stealth capable ship just below the firing tube of the research station. Her escape plan for the launch, along with her team.

Characters:

Hanna Abraxas (Roksana Zakhaev)
        Commanding voice. Imposing presence. Laughs like a hyena. Built like a bear. Quite the temper. A well-loved CEO of a Resource Extraction, Refinery, and Trading house: Abraxas Industries. Has received countless social acolades. Hit by a shell during the war. Amnesia, can't remember life before the impact. Bad scars. Proud to serve her country. Frequents a private gambling establishment on HQ. She's been on a hot streak.

        Led a commando squad under the soviets. Was wounded while under cover, mistaken for a Corporate soldier. Built a business with the injury money, later recruited 'defectors' to her cause. Hates the Company, wants to burn it to the ground. Has replaced the sensor instruments with a live warhead. Will short the market on the Company's stocks the day before the launch and make a massive profit. Is an increasingly paranoid narcissist with a savior complex and persecution complex. She cheats when she gambles.

Katya Morozov (codenamed "Blizzard")
        Abraxas' right hand lady. Acts like a sniveling wimp. Manages the Residence. Sneaks around the residence and goes through people's bags when they're away. A former commando and head of 'information extraction' and execution on Abraxas' team during the war. Iron willed. She likes hurting people. A lot.

Doctor Egor Balandin
        Very heavy accent. Speaks exclusively in technical terms. Eyes filled with blame and condescension. Worries about details constantly. He is the brains behind the Project, responsible for the technical designs and leading the science team. 

Alexander Vivian
        Abraxas' secretary and assistant. Quite an attractive young man. Supposedly undercover for the secret police. Keeps this hidden. Has been feeding info back to the Company. Supposedly trustworthy. May have been directly involved in the murder of Mason and the suicide of Gorky. Engagement ring on his finger. Gifted at numbers, handles most calculations in his head.

Stanislav Gorky
        Former scientist. Murdered Mason before committing suicide. Supposedly was spurned by Alexander Vivian 

"Bill" Mason
        Formerly the man on the inside. Killed by Gorky for stealing away his love. There is no evidence to support this. Well-liked by his peers. Bit of a boozer but only in his time off. Love of birdwatching.

Dicember 2021 #1 - #3

Sharing the first 3 days of Dicember '21 before work and life got busy. These are more setting focused rambles. Bits are redacted for your sanity (or customization if you like). Hope you enjoy and Happy holidays!

1 - Bone bullets

Pale white, pistol grade ammunition. Mass-produced from the knuckle bones of those accused and hanged for sedition towards the Republic. Each is an identical .45 caliber round, showing the typical marks of bullet manufacture and stamped with the symbol of the High Witches. Contain no traces of gunpowder, but fire by means of [redacted]. Several caches have been discovered on [redacted], [redacted], and [redacted]; though the exact means and location of their manufacture remain unknown. A full magazine is colloquially defined as being equivalent to the standard 28 knuckle-bones present in the human body.


Produced for their psychological effects on the battle field. Each bullet acts as a normal bullet in firing and impact to a target. Each bullet that hits a target and comes into contact with blood triggers its primary effect. On total exsanguination or death the target's remaining viscera erupts as a crimson spray of bullet shaped teeth, metacarpals, and metatarsals. The bones themselves are left behind, twisted into cruel weaponry. These are most often melee weapons such as swords or maces, but firearms or explosives are known to have formed when fired at expert sharpshooters or explosive teams. 

A full clip of twenty-eight is beyond priceless, but individual bullets or a finger's worth have been known to go for auction at [redacted] on occasion. The weapons however are highly sought after collector's items, with Ferdinand Van Vocce in possession of the largest known collection, containing a single rotary machine gun assembled over the course of the first decade of the Great War. 


2 - Diamond Dust

A meteorological event first witnessed by Francisca 'Ice Queen' Tagenet in [redacted]. Complex diamond prisms form through an unknown process and drift across the hypo-arctic surface of [redacted]. These prisms are highly valued in jewelry and the light refraction process needed for [redacted], [redacted], and [redacted] (as a high quality substitute). The De Vine Company retains a year-round presence defending and harvesting the Dust. They are known to be hostile to outside influence to a startlingly brutal and cruel degree. 

Of even higher value are the Diamond Spikes, larger forms from one to five feet suitable for heavy industrial applications. These form during the two week period surrounding the winter solstice, though they are only guaranteed every [redacted] years when the geothermal cycle of the region is at its coolest (caused by [redacted]'s efforts to control [redacted]). During Spike storms, an estimated [redacted] people have died by impaling, a far lower amount than typical of the lung infestation caused by inhaling dust (resulting in a condition known as Crystal Zombism).

3 - The Ravenous Fetus

Deep deep under the crust of [redacted] lies the last surviving experiment of the Order of Helical Ministrations, the ancient cult responsible for the Black Gene Plague. Surviving notes from the project indicate it was intended as a way to resurrect god and unify all of humanity in a single inter-connected mind. Needless to say, the experiment failed, and the 'Prophecized 13' never arrived. Required to kickstart the Birth of the Mind of God, these chosen few have yet to arrive, though repeated kidnappings by genetic cults through the ages have yet to trigger the awakening. 

Instead the humongous fetus awaits, dormant, slowly leeching life from humanity through a feeble but ever-present mental link. Although seemingly human biologically, apart from the scale, the subject appears to operate on a scale of time far different from that of humanity. The subject has not yet progressed past the first trimester, despite having been 'conceived' some [redacted] years ago. 

Efforts to weaponize the subject's mental link have met with failure, as any actions made by psionically inclined subjects affect large parts of humanity, an effect that has been classified as [redacted] Effect thanks to efforts of the Facility's PR Team. No efforts have been made as of yet to accelerate the natal timeline and so long as it remains under Facility control we expect this to continue.

Mothership-esque Pack Tables

Junk in the Pack (1d6 to 4d6)
1. Hot-wired Access Card, last use
2. Vac-suit, punctured
3. Bottle of Vodka, half-filled
4. Mob Hardy "Sugary Relaxed" floppy tape
5. Floppy disk
6. Duct tape, sticky, silver
7. Tape recorder
8. Smoke bomb
9. Fistful of assorted guitar picks
10. Brass knuckles
11. One pound of rock salt
12. Blood diamond, stolen and chipped
13. Poker chip, souvenir
14. USB to BCI Cable
15. Bio-metrics scanner
16. Camcorder, analog
17. Frozen liver
18. Box of Double Solitaire Cards
19. Bungee cord
20. PDA printer attachment
21. Rubik's cube, faded
22. Board of Finance members' business cards
23. One full pack of Maximum Drag cigarettes
24. "Three Wheelers, #3" by White, floppy tape

Practical items in the pack
1. Blue tarp, creased
2. PetroChem Battery, half-charged
3. Pipe wrench, red
4. Nail gun w/ 1d6 starship-grade nail
5. Welding Mask, hotrod paintjob
6. Oxygen Condenser
7. Hand-cranked distress beacon
8. Assorted drill bits and battery
9. ROM Cartridge overwrite burner
10. Air filter
11. Assorted vitamins
12. High calorie protein paste

Gygax 75 Week 5

Its here, if a little late. I can't help but feel as though the setting has gotten away from me lately, moving more in to gonzo territory and less in the 'caveman' space I had originally envisioned it as. There can be weird elements, but with week 5 I want to drive home the main focuses of the setting the pre-neolithic elements.

Some setting tenets:

People don't farm outside of the city-states. They herd animals and/or engage in horticulture if they aren't nomadic hunter gatherers.

People don't form permanent settlements, seasonal settlements are common, but many choose a life of wandering from site to site.

Despite the focus of the Gygax 75, this is a setting focused on wilderness. Ruins are overgrown and empty, most adventure sites are in the dens of dangerous beasts.

The wilds are the enemy, but also the lifeblood and parents of all.

And finally, people are joined by blood and friendship into 'tribes' or culture groups. They may not get along with one another despite this. 


Big Fucking Monsters (Witcher/Monster Hunter style). Kill for a 'level' for one player. Deliberately unnamed
- Giant black dog monster. Any who see him will be pursued during the full moon. A single blood-shot eye. Long red tongue. Makes no sound. Hunched back like a kodiak. 12 Hits
  - Tips:
    - Must be killed with a silver blade dipped in tallow of a hanged man
    - Would rather attack lone, sleeping, or child targets.
- Multi-mawed creature in the well. 10 Hits. Can take control of people to force them into its well. Human-like arms and small tentacles.
  - Tips:
    - Don't look into wells
    - Blue bottles lure it away from its well
    - Hates sunlight
- Blood-red furred giant sloth. A single eye set into its head, its maw stretches from chin to nave. Screams as it hunts, pausing only to sleep at night or feast on those it devours. Nauseating stench
  - Tips:
    - Eats anything that *looks* edible
    - Will not wake while the moon is up
    - Has a cave it will return to for feasting and sleeping
- A small bear that grips the trees. Can never be  seen before it strikes. Ravenous blood sucking fangs and shock red eyes.
- A giant hunched emaciated figure with the head of a flayed deer. fast as shit. claws like straight razors. freakishly resilient. incredibly pale, wrapped in bloody furs. blood drips from its gums. gains additional hits on kills/devouring victims. runs when at 3 or less hits. ravenous for its next meal. can mimic voices and shapeshift to any form it desires
  - Tips:
    - Can only be killed by fire melting its ice heart or is shattered by a silver weapon
    - Very vulnerable to fire
    - Forms it shapeshifts to will still have its pale skin and bleeding gums
    - Can be detected by its stench or the chill that surrounds it
- A festering husk of a former dryad. Her grove lies rotting and dying. She will scoop out your life to restore herself. Goes dormant when killed. Drains life when touched or when she touches you. Screeches and wails in the light of day.
  - Tips
    - Every tree must be burnt to the root to truly destroy her
    - Drains anything she touches of life, finding something close to death poisoned?
- A boar made of shadows and needles. Darkness made manifest. Every attack causes fear. 4 is enough for a heart attack, though most are already gored to shreds. Can fade into patches of darkness
  - Tips
    - A lamp made with a chunk of the moon or sun prevents its escape
    - Mirrors really confuse it
    - Directed light cuts it better than a sling through flesh

 

Weapon and Armor Materials:

- Weapons
    - Bone (cheap, breaks easily)
    - Flint (the baseline, reliable)
    - Groundstone (takes ages to slowly carve these out. lasts a lifetime. expensive. usually only found among the elderly or farming communities, those with time)
    - Obsidian (sharp! expensive and controlled by the city-states)
    - Crystal (fragile, imbued with magical powers)
- Armor
    - Bone (tied together with leather, cheap)
    - Ceramic/Pottery (heavy, fine patterns inlaid)
    - 'Dino' Bone (durable bones from great and dangerous beasts)
    - Chitin (tough and light, insect types won't like you for it)

Wood and bamboo are good options for tools and equipment, and necessary for survival, but much rarer in the drier parts of the ring.