Of Kingdoms Long Fallen

 THERE WERE FOUR KINGS AND THEIR NAMES WERE FOUR AND FOUR AND FO-

A TREE SAT CROWNED IN GENESIS, AND BENEATH THAT TREE -

-LL AS FALSE, FOR I AM A TELLER OF LIES.

CREATIO EX NIHILIO.

Piotr Krynski

Huh?

    The world is fading.

    Each Age that passes, the threads of History are worn thinner. The people, once fruitful, are reduced to a shadow of their former glories. Where once stood multichrome cities of glass and metal now rest ruins inhabited by beasts. And always, the mists. Haunting and cold, they fill the gaps in reality as the world reverts to its original state of uncreated Nowhere.

    Despite the sorrowful state of things, there remains a road to glory. Far to the north lies a mountain, at the top of which is a crown of starlight and mist. With it, one could rebuild the world. The journey will be hard, yes, but the rewards will be great.

Who are you?

    Potential classes:

• Apothecary: Healer and Maker of Medicine.
• Knight-Machinist: Learned in Warfare and the Arts Mechanical.
• Recollector: Deals with the Phantasms of Ages Past.
• Vagabond: A roguish traveler who keeps a Secret.
• Secret of Papers: Knows the beautiful Secret of Origami.
• Secret of Fires: Knows the terrible Secret of Pyromancy.
• Secret of Crowns: Knows the sacred Secret of Hierarchy.
• Secret of Tongues: Knows the complicated Secret of Philology.

Potential folk/additional classes:

• Capra: A short, goat-like person. Has the Power to Conjure Flames.
• Lune: A tall, Devil-like person. Has the Power to Mirror Themself.
• Ogre: A large, Human-like person. Has the Power to Harness Uncreation.

Hue Teo

Where the fuck am I?

    Some locations to see on your glorious odyssey, sure.

1. A rediscovered workshop-chapel of the Knights-Machinist. A group of fellow travelers plan to raid it for all its worth.
2. Darnish: A mining settlement known as the City of Stones, the streets of Darnish lay empty. The disastrous reign of a cruel king drove out the citizens and made corpses of the nobles. A nameless village continues to live outside of Darnish. Its residents take anything of value from the city before night and the terror of the past arrives.
3. A spring polluted by the bones of both animals and folk. The spring's water is sticky and black. What could have killed all these creatures?
4. Writsburg: A logging town found off the beaten path. Its people are insular, and fear for their lives. They view travelers with a strange hatred. A curse lays on Writsburg, and its source lies within the ruined castle at the edge of town.
5. A witch's tower located at the edge of the mists. It sits atop eight massive clockwork legs. A group of ogres greet you at the door. Don't go in.
6. The River: The river. There might be streams, or creeks, or brooks, but no other body of water dares stir the god that rules the river. Legends say that it serves as a bridge to other places.

Stop expositing random bullshit! Answer me!

    Fine, I'll stop expositing. In truth, this is a post (a Christmas present?) for Oblidisideryptch. Oh, and I stole the concept of Lunes from Locheil of The Nothic's Eye.

Reviewvember '22 - Sword and Stone

    I ran a one-shot of deus ex parabola's Arthurian system for my Reviewvember '22 contribution. This is more of a rambling review instead of a session report.

Karin Villette

 

    My session involved two knights on the path to glory. One named Deku Saiyan Uzumaki, the other named X0∞甲. Oh the joys players bring to the table.

    I immediately ran into a problem. What dire quest would these knights embark on? The document gives a few ideas and different combat challenges to try but no real work was put into the fluff department. Eventually choosing a giant-slaying adventure, the knights set off. A few highlights:

• A duel against a bandit-knight.
• Meeting the troubled Sir Lancelot in a tavern.
• X0∞甲 almost being drowned by a tempting selkie.
• The defeat of the knights at the hands of the giant Gawr.

    As hinted above, I supplemented this adventure with Loch's Scots Monsters post. The non-combat challenge of talking with the selkie was nice. I feel the rules are too focused on combat when there are other aspects of Arthuriana to explore: courting, castle politics, the rising corruption of Arthur's ideals.

    The actual system, opposing d6 rolls, is well executed. Diegetic modifiers help make the equipment you carry important. You could make a hack by replacing all the Arthurian references.

    Overall Verdict: Interesting Arthurian combat system that needs expansion.

GLoGtober '22: Under New Management

    GLoGtober is back, this time under new leadership… me! Sundered has handed me the reins to continue the eldritch tradition of GLoGtober, and continue it I shall. Here are the rules for this year’s iteration:

• The prompt list (this post) will be released in September, giving time for people to write their content to post in October.
• There are seven d6 tables, each containing potential prompts. These d6 tables were created by some of the top contributors to GLoGtober ‘21. Each “challenge” you roll a d6; this is your prompt. If you don’t like it, roll again until you get one you want.
• Even though the title references the GLoG, your contributions don’t necessarily have to be related to the GLoG. If you want to write a MÖRK BORG background or Troika! adventure based on one of the prompts, go for it. The point of GLoGtober is that you’re making RPG material.
• There are no prizes or badges. This is just an event meant to facilitate creative and interesting blogposts.

Challenge 1 (SunderedWorldDM)

1. Mundane animals, musical instruments, and tools that don't exist on Earth

2. Moving dungeons

3. Fashion and aesthetic trends

4. Superheroes

5. Slang, jargon, and symbology

6. Diegetic magic

Challenge 2 (Phlox)

1. Cycles of violence

2. Plot hooks drawn from PCs' families

3. Fun magic item creation rules

4. PC death

5. 1st-level domain play

6. Unique combat systems

Challenge 3 (TheFirstGokun)

1. Afrofantasy

2. Cooking

3. Bosses

4. Prehistory (no dinosaurs)

5. Base building

6. Things in jars

Challenge 4 (metalsnail)

1. Adventure

2. Feasts

3. Mundane NPCs

4. Wilderness

5. Monsters with wants

6. Crafting or alchemy

Challenge 5 (semiurge)

1. The opposite of Dark Souls

2. Post-apocalyptic - except the apocalypse wasn’t one of the usual suspects

3. Hex or location based on where you live

4. Mechanics or encounters for roads

5. Demiplanes

6. Random generator

Challenge 6 (Archon's Court)

1. Player-relevant social traditions

2. Small gods

3. Fast travel methods

4. Townbuilding

5. What’s in the City of Mounds?

6. A randomizer other than dice (tarot cards, dominos, etc.)

Challenge 7 (CatDragon)

1. Vampires

2. Modern fantasy

3. Ravens

4. High-level adventures

5. Anime-inspired content

6. Esoterica

Secret Jackalope 2022 - Heavenly Mutations

     For Secret Jackalope 2022, I got the following prompt:

Mutation table for exposure to heavenly radiations

    Hopefully this little post is enough to fuel your imagination.

-

The Sun shines a bit too brightly…

1d6 Heavenly Mutations

1. A glowing third eye grows in your forehead. Perk: When opened as an action, it casts light as a torch and may perceive spells and magical creatures within 100’. Drawback: When the eye is opened, creatures that can perceive magic can sense the eye if they are within 100’.
2. A blade of celestial steel grows out of one of your arms. Perk: You now have an unbreakable longsword-arm that deals extra damage to demons. Drawback: You lose one of your hands, which means you can carry less stuff.
3. Your blood becomes blessed. Perk: Any living creature that drinks your blood regains health equivalent to a healing potion. Drawback: Obviously, in order to access this blood, you must take damage.
4. Wings of light sprout from your back. Perk: The wings constantly cast light as a torch and let you fly 60’ per action. Drawback: Take 1 Exhaustion whenever you fly as an action.
5. Your head is transfigured into a lion’s head. Perk: Enemies have Disadvantage on Morale checks when facing you. Drawback: You have Disadvantage when rolling for an NPC’s Reaction.
6. Blood-etched scripture dances on your tongue. Perk: You can speak to all celestials and be regarded with some respect by them. Drawback: Blood flows from your mouth when you speak the language of the heavens; you take 1 damage for each sentence you speak in the celestial tongue.

Simplicity

JamesBousema

    For Vayra's one-room dungeon challenge. Greatly inspired by Minimalism.

-

   So, you pissed off a wizard.

    The room you're in is rapidly filling with water thanks to a dragon-shaped waterspout. Three goblins are swimming over to you, hungry and clutching rusty knives. Panicking, you take out your chainsaw, praying that your god of peace will forgive you. In the other corner, you see your sorcerer beating the shit out of another goblin with the thief's dead body.

The Players

• The Cleric. Adherent of a god of peace. Currently wielding a chainsaw named THERE IS ONLY ENDLESS WAR AND BLOODSHED. Maybe not a pacifist anymore?
  
• The Thief. Woops, they're already dead.
• The Sorcerer. Naked. Trying to club a goblin to death with the thief's arm. The only spell they have left is Fireball.
• The Berserker. Currently on a high-up floating platform trying to figure out how to stop the rising water using a complicated runic computer. They have to hurry too, because that damn beholder is coming. Too bad they can't read.
• The Fighter. At the top of the room. Somehow wielding a greatsword in each hand. Fighting a blind beholder and trying not to die.

The Beholder

    Blind. Old. Really pissed.

The Wizard

    Observing through a floating orb. Cackling.

What a Wonderful Day

    This idea was taken and modified from a slushpost by Cosmic Orrery.

 

Damien Mammoliti

The Story

    He appears to you as man. His face is like a ruinous ink stain and his conspicuously elegant suit exudes gloom and shadow. His words, unfailingly polite, are always accompanied by a faint ringing in your head. After bread is broken and pleasantries are exchanged, he informs you of his quest to reunite with his siblings Saturday and Wednesday. He thinks Saturday lives near your camp, maybe in a perilous tower of some kind.

    Why can't he go? There is an enchantment preventing him from rescuing his sister, placed by a wicked wizard who desires to marry Saturday. He promises to let the adventurers keep anything they find in the tower, as long as they bring him his sibling.

    If you deny his plea for help, he will give his farewell, bow to you, and leave. The gentleman will disappear in a puff of lavender and brimstone.

    If you accept his quest, he keeps his promise; all of the wizard's treasures are yours. Except, maybe, the wizard wasn't evil? Why does Saturday try to run when she sees the man? What is happening, were you lied to? Should you fight him?

The Stats

• Health as a giant. The weakest kind of giant, if your system has multiple giants.
• He is unarmored except for a fancy suit.
• Only suitably magical weapons may harm him.
• The gentleman's trump card is the Shadowtime. It is activated as an action by opening the door in the man's chest. He may transport anybody he can see into the Shadowtime: a place without death. Without hope. Without light. The door can only remain open for three rounds, as it heavily taxes the man's energy. He can get his vitality back by basking in the darkness for a few hours.
• Despite his claims, he isn't particularly smart, fast, or strong. Also, he's a megalomaniac.

The Truth

    The man's name is Tuesday, and he is an escaped spell. The witch who created him also made six other spells. Most of them are dead now. Saturday remains alive, living in a warded tower of her own making. She has taken a wizard lover, but he isn't enough to fix her broken heart. With his miraculous regenerative ability, Wednesday is the only spell to have escaped the Shadowtime. He poses as a mendicant priest, wandering from world to world.

    Tuesday's goal is to absorb the last two spells and become a god.

-

    This is an experiment in a system-agnostic bestiary. Let me know if its terrible and needs changing, or if it's good the way it is.

Alignment, Part II - I NOW SEE THE WORLD WITH ONE HUNDRED EYES

Agape the Artisan

"I am one with the Force; the Force is with me."

- Chirrut Îmwe, Rogue One

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

- Litany Against Fear, Dune

"Training is nothing, will is everything"

- Ra's al Ghul, Batman Begins

-

    In life, you always looked for power. Exerting control over yourself, knowledge, and the world always brought you great happiness. Whether you were a good or bad person, it matters not, for you are no longer Ordinary.
    One day, as you meditated underneath a tree, or slept peacefully in your bed, or finished your life’s work, you experienced a revelation. In the grand scheme of things, you were meaningless. You were but a sputtering light in the infinite shadows of great Things. As you gazed at the great emptiness of the unreal world, a creature of Omnireality reached out for you.
    Its name was an endless whispered hymn and a gust of chillingly silent mountain air. You were to be its agent in the Cosmic Conquest of the other Powers. You were gifted with the Mastery of your own body and the freedom to do whatever you thought was best.
    You would encounter other People like you, it said. As the Thing left, it bade you to teach them the truth of their fate.

-

Nexumorphic

Class: MONK

Starting Equipment: Nothing. Weapons are for the undisciplined.
Starting Skill [d6]: Philosophy [Nihilism], Philosophy [Hedonism], Flexibility, Acrobatics, Athletics, Meditation.

A: Mastery, Immaculate Balance, The Body Alone
B: Glimpse of Heaven, Cleansing Ritual, +1 Attack per round
C: Annhiliation of the Small Things,
D: Annihilation of the Great Things

Mastery
    You have achieved complete control over your body and its functions. A MONK uses Mastery Points (MP) to achieve feats of great agility and athleticism. Following an hour of quiet meditation, you may fill up your Inventory Slots which as much MP as you wish. You take 1 damage if something would occupy a slot already taken up by Mastery.
    You may use Mastery to: leap 20' horizontally, leap 10' vertically, reduce damage from a projectile or thrown weapon by 1d6, or increase the damage die size of an unarmed attack. You may only spend as much MP in a round as you have MONK templates.

Immaculate Balance
    As long as you end your movement on solid ground, you may move across things that normally can't support your weight: tree branches, clotheslines, spear tips, the surface of the water, etc.

The Body Alone
    Most MONKS disregard armor and clothes, for they are the tools of unexperienced cowards. You gain AC from not wearing armor. For each tier of armor you aren't wearing, gain +1 AC. (Example: Since you aren't wearing plate armor, chain armor, leather armor, or clothes, gain +4 AC.)

Glimpse of Heaven
    Expend a MP to enhance one of your physical senses for [level] x 2 minutes. The senses that are enhanced now border on the supernatural. You could taste magic, smell lies, see incoming attacks, etc.

Cleansing Ritual
    Through an three hour ritual, a MONK may remove a condition from themselves or someone else.

A. Shipwright

Annihilation of the Small Things
    You are anti-magic. Once per Rest, you may remove a spell, curse, or enchantment from existence.

Annihilation of the Great Things
    The physical universe is a lie, a playground for insects and men. Nothing matters but control of oneself, of the soul. Once a Rest, you may either remove an item or person from existence. If removing an item, no save. If removing a person, they enter a STR Contest with you to stay in this universe. If they win, they can never be erased with this ability. If they lose, they stop existing.

Philosopher GLOG

    This is a GLOG hack inspired by some things, fresh and untested. Enjoy.

Let lead and gold be the essence
Let my mind be the foundation
Let arise a bastion against the world

Let the seven metals crown my brow
Let the seven cults uphold my honor
Let the seven planets align my thoughts

I hereby declare
Your spirit will serve under me
My soul shall be your sword
Submit to my resounding call
Answer!

An oath shall be sworn here!
I shall attain the aspect of Heaven and of Hell
Come forth from your restraints
Heroic spirit!

And something answered.

The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford - Campaign Pitch

Chance Dudinack

The Pitch (in six sentences)

1. Something tragic has occurred in the idyllic forest town of Brandonsford.

2. A few weeks ago, a group of hunters were attacked by a dreadful dragon, black of scale and temperament.

3. The townsfolk are terrified by rumors of the dragon.

4. Merchants and craftspeople are refusing to journey to Brandonsford, leading to a decrease in wealth and industry for the town.

5. The ruler of the town, Lord Eric, desperate to resume trade, has put a bounty of 1000 silver on the dragon's head.

6. You are travelers, outcasts, and wanna-be heroes attracted to Brandonsford by the bounty and the rumor of a fantastical hoard of gold that the dragon guards.

The System

    The main system is the GROG by Vayra, with a few changes. The first change is combat. All attacks automatically hit and deal damage. Armor reduces damage equal to the amount of Inventory Slots it takes up, but will be worn down by repeated blows.

    The second change is XP. You gain Experience by doing things within the game world and engaging with the narrative. 10 XP is required for level 2, 30 XP is required for level 3, and 60 XP is required for level 4. Here are some rough XP values, subject to GM modification:

• You gain 1 XP for each important or interesting roleplaying encounter you complete.
• You gain [x] XP for killing a monster, where [x] equals the monster's HD.
• You gain 1 XP for spending a moderate amount of recovered treasure.
• You gain 2 XP for each unique magic item you recover.
• You gain 2 XP for each unique location or area you discover and interact with.
• You gain 1 XP by roleplaying your character's flaws and ideals.

    The final change is retainers. You can start with a number of retainers equal to your CHA score. Talk to me about what you want them to be and we can figure things out. These retainers can be used as back-up PCs in case your original character dies. Retainers gain 1/2 the XP for all of the values above.

jason scheier

The Characters

    You have four classes to choose from:

• The Zouave, a veteran of many campaigns.
• The Thief, a stealthy rogue. (Note: I am planning on not including any archetypes, but if you can convince me otherwise...)
• The Ranger, a woodsman and hunter.
• The Wizard, occult and mysterious.

    More classes may be unlocked through play.

Who Can Know the Heart of a Dragon (Class: Dragonblood)

source unknown

    You remember them as a normal parent. They might have been a little off (their smile was kind of scary) and they might have smelled weird (something old), but they were a pretty good role model. Then, there was a nasty fight between your caretakers, or a strange man with feline eyes showed up at your door, or a peculiar song drifted through on the wind. No matter what happened, one of your parents disappeared.

    That day, you found out you were a dragonblood. The caretaker who disappeared was a dragon walking in the shape of a mortal. You are their legacy. With a glint in your eye, you grew up, reached maturity.

    The world trembled.

A: Blood of the Dragon, Fury, +1 HP
B: Powerful Exhalation, +1 HP
C: Instant Fury, +1 HP
D: Restoration, +1 HP

Blood of the Dragon
    Your eyes are oddly vibrant, your fingernails preternaturally sharp, your smile draconine. Within your heart beats the primordial blood of a dragon. Your kind is regarded with fear, awe, wonder, and hatred in equal measure.
    Choose a dragon species from below. This informs some of your abilities.

Fury
    When your fury is roused, you are truly dangerous. You may expend 2 HP as an action to access one of the below benefits for [template] rounds. This can be done [template] times every Rest.

• +1 To Hit. Your eyes alight, you can see the weaknesses of your foe.
• +2 AC. Your skin hardens into scales.
• +20’ Movement. You move with supernatural swiftness.
• +1d4 damage. Your muscles flood with burning power.

Powerful Exhalation
    You may expend 2 HP to breathe the element determined by your dragon species. This is described in the dragon species descriptions. This breath bypasses Armor Class and does [template] damage.

Instant Fury
    You may now spend 2 HP without it consuming an action. In addition, if you are to die because of HP lost to Fury, you explode in a blast of your dragon species energy, dealing damage equal to the HP lost to everything within 15’.

Restoration
    Legends persist of the healing properties of dragon’s blood. Sometimes, legends are right. You heal 2 HP per round. Lost limbs, including the head, can be restored over 1d4 weeks as long as your heart, the seat of your soul, is intact.

Dragon Species

    Black Dragons inhabit the cold north. Black Dragonbloods can breathe freezing ice in a [template] x 10' line.

    Red Dragons inhabit the dry east. Red Dragonbloods can breathe burning flame in a [template] x 10' cone.

    Green Dragons inhabit the verdant south. Green Dragonbloods can breath hypersonic wind in a [template] x 10' line.

    Gold Dragons inhabit the idyllic west. Gold Dragonbloods can breath scalding acid in a [template] x 10' cone.

Design Notes
    This class was inspired by the thought "What if HP was a currency that you traded in for benefits?" Some other influences were Exalted's Terrestrials and deus' Monk. Happy gaming.

Best GLoG Posts of 2021

    Inspired by the Salties and the 2021 GLOGIES, I reviewed and read most of the GLoG posts of 2021 and tried to pick out my favorites. These are my personal opinions, which means they are absolutely right. All images are from the mentioned blogposts.

---

BEST ADVENTURE: Brewing Bears in my Stomach by Phlox

    This is the OSR adventure/scenario that I had the most fun running in 2021. I played it on Halloween, so I switched out the bears with werewolves, but kept the basic essence of the scenario. My players had a blast! They climbed to the top of the fort and rescued Bela, killed one of Pheloc's beastly guards, and promptly fled town when Pheloc was splashed with lots of potions and turned into mega-ultra-super-werewolf.

    I also incorporated Phlox's Pumpkin Knight, who was arrogant and dangerous. The players skirted out of his way, avoiding a long speech about the terrors of the town.

BEST MECHANIC: GLOGtober Day 4: Domain-Level Locks and Keys by TheFirstGokun

        This article is an interesting way of incorporating metroidvanias, which I like, into a RPG game. The system is very easy to implement, with a simple Lock → Key → Reward structure. The examples given are very cool and suggest a world I would play in or run. Thus I award it the 'Best Mechanic' status of 2021.

BEST SETTING: FIRMAMENT by Locheil

    

    This one was a close one. It was either going to be Black Star of the Cannibal Kings or FIRMAMENT, but Locheil's evocative setting ultimately won due to the unique ideas he presented for nations and classes. A tyrant Sun King? Cool. Demigod knights? Totally. Astrologer-as-class? Definitely on board. I am excited to see what comes next in the FIRMAMENT series.

BEST SYSTEM: Wizards with Guns by FifthDragon

    Wild West + Wizards! The combination seems obvious. FifthDragon manages to not only make a flavorful world that is fun to explore, but also an elegant word-based freeform spell system. I feel like Wizards with Guns catches some of the essence of fantasy and can't wait to shoot people and die in the Untamed Lands.

BEST SIMPLE CLASS(ES): Very Leetle Mountain Classes by Vayra

    I agree with Vayra when she says that sometimes Mountain classes are too big. That is why I really appreciate her leetle Mountain classes, which strip down the archetypes to their core essence and powers. In fact, they inspired me to start making my own simple classes, which I might share sometime soon.

BEST NON-CASTER CLASS: Champion by Locheil

    The best Greek mythology RPG setting is Eikonokosmos, created by Locheil. The first post in the series is the Champion, the fighter-type for the world. It has a cool FATE mechanic, a few excellent archetypes, and a Violence Dice system (which I stole). The class was based on the question: What if masked cleric but fighter? I think this is an exemplary answer.

BEST CASTER CLASS: True Witch by Vayra

    Vayra's Mountain setting has always intrigued me. This is the best caster class, although close seconds are deus ex parabola's Alienist and Locheil's Magos. With a list of twenty spells, four doom lists, four subclasses, and a list of 20 witch-friends, this is packed with content to use and steal, although I personally think the below entry is Vayra's best.

BEST FLAVORFUL CLASS: Sacred Alchemist by Vayra

    Well, I love alchemy, in both its fantastical and real-life aspects. So, when someone came out with an alchemist class focused on the seven six sacred metals, I was excited to read it. The class is packed full of flavor and spells. I like the different alchemy mechanic because of its simplicity, but especially appreciate the varied alchemist orders.