GLOGtober '23

    Oh g_ds, it’s that time again. The gretchlings are released.

    The rules for GLOGtober ‘23 are the same as last time, but I will repeat them here:

• 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 ‘22. Each “challenge” you roll a d6; this is your prompt. If you don’t like it, I dunno, just pick something I guess.
• 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.

Challenge 1 (PRIMEUMATON)

1. Failed Gods and their consequences.

2. The deep ocean, and the things that survive in its crushing pressure and frigid darkness.

3. Atlantis-type situation but in reverse. It goes up instead of down.

4. Magic items that are unintentionally also magic weapons.

5. Cool things to replace your eyes, teeth, and fingernails with.

6. Parables and proverbs with weird morals.

Challenge 2 (Locheil)

1. Three options for a class that has options (i.e., three Duelist styles, three Saintmaker saints, and so on).

2. A short history of a mad king and the things he did.

3. Random encounters on an ancient road.

4. Information about a small, local god.

5. A glance at a city that should never have been built.

6. Notes about a family of gods.

Challenge 3 (semiurge)

1. Modern horror shotgun scenario.

2. Something about formal violence - duels, gladiators, John Wick-style assassins, etc.

3. Animal-people, for an animal you've never seen made into animal-people before.

4. A list of or generator for cursed items that are more interesting than a -1 sword.

5. Adventure, location, character, item, class, or whatever else based on the name of your blog.

6. Come up with a grimoire with some unique spells, a story behind it, perhaps some trap or riddle to figuring it out, etc.

Challenge 4 (SunderedWorldDM)

1. Masks, mosques, or musks.

2. Potions and how to brew them.

3. An adventure with only one monster, one you made up.

4. An adventure keyed only in haiku.

5. Content for someone else's hack/class.

6. Essential, non-RPG reading for any GM.

Challenge 5 (xaosseed)

1. Treasure routes & vessels.

2. Unusual corpse preservation methods.

3. Not intentional traps, just very unsafe.

4. Cultural gathering places for nonhuman fantasy folk.

5. Minor planar conduits and planar backwaters.

6. Famed sites of disastrous battles of the Blood War.

Challenge 6 (metalsnail)

1. Paper minis.

2. Lairs.

3. Airships.

4. Gardening.

5. Puzzle boxes.

6. Fairy tales.

Challenge 7 (CatDragon)

1. Take an old post of yours that you don't like and renovate it.

2. Dwarves.

3. Anime-inspired content.

4. A cryptic lorepost.

5. A post about a weird train.

6. Vampires.

Four Strangers

     Four strangers to interact with in the city and/or hire as expendable bodies.

1. Aega

Roman Kupriianov

    A young blond woman with a lot of physical energy and verbal tics. Aega is anxious, inexperienced, and secretive about her past. She pursues a goal determined by the Aega’s Secret table.

    Stats. Using The Monster Overhaul, Aega has the stats of a Mercenary (pg. 24) and can perform two Feats of Strength (pg. 17) per day.

Aega's Secret (1d4)

1. She's a Fleshgod Inheritor. Her unnatural strength comes from her body adapting to the fleshgod skin she ate. Her goal is to seek out more godflesh and secure her Cosmic Cyst.
2. She's a runaway witch desperate to escape coven life. Her goal is to avoid the coven's agents and make enough money adventuring to be set for life.
3. She's a mutant who was banished from her rural-living, superstitious family. Her goal is to fix herself so that her family will love her.
4. She's a cultist who worships an entity of changing flesh and primal violence. She was sent out into the wide world to serve as a secret agent. Her goal is to recover one of the cult's sacred items from a guarded location.

2. Baron

FabianMonk

    An old man whose body is lean with well-earned scar and muscle. Baron is serious and quietly cruel. He has formed a habit of taking psychedelics after adventures. His goal is to become strong enough to get revenge against a person in power who killed his family.

    Stats. Baron is a 3 HD Rotless B with Feats of Agility and the Hammer Fists technique. He has leather armor, a sword, a greatsword, and ALL TOWERS FALL, a +1 magic longsword of meteoric iron decorated in bloody hieroglyphics. It is intelligent, tending towards violent nihilism.

Baron's Target (1d4)

1. Lord Sebastian Thorngale, an insane aristocrat who killed Baron's family in a fit of uncaring madness. He lives in a haunted woodland manor a few days travel away from the city.
2. Lord Tarrigan-on-Burl, an all but confirmed practitioner of dread necromancy. He uses his massive wealth and influence to cover up his crimes.
3. Dame Roalda, a knight with a dark reputation for slaughter and pillaging.
4. A mysterious Rotless swordswoman. She is trying to cultivate Baron into a worthy opponent, and started his journey by killing his family.

3. Wickedness Upon The Earth

The Nothic's Eye

    A tall, imposing woman who rarely speaks. Wickedness is violent, fond of baking, and very spiritual. She grew up as one of the only children in a remote monastery and isn't very good at picking up common social cues. Her goal is to find a sacred artifact (determined by the Sacred Artifact table) and take it to her monastery.

    Stats. Wickedness is a 1 HD Wizened Paladin A with good physical stats and absolutely terrible WIS.

Sacred Artifact (1d4)

1. The Dream Nail. Lost in the currents of history.
2. The Crow Idol. A foot-tall idol of onyx stone with two citrine eyes. Blood appears to be dripping from its eyes. It’s shaped like a crow. Legend states that a spirit is trapped in the Crow Idol. Currently in the hands of Caligula, a nasty ogre.
3. EMPTY THRONE MILLENIUM. Currently in the hands of a heretical mage at the bottom of a very, very deep well.
4. GNAW ON STONES. Currently volunteering at a museum.

4. Moneybag Emoji

needlesslycryptic

    A handsome man of indeterminate age dressed in a fashionable black suit. His eyes glow faintly red, blazing crimson in times of high stress. Moneybag is charming, manipulative, and always willing to make a deal. His goal is simple: make a profit. Anything or anyone who stands in the way of that is an obstacle to be eliminated.

    Stats. Moneybag Emoji is a 2 HD "human" skilled in law, rhetoric, astrology, and music.

What is Moneybag Emoji? (1d4)

1. Moneybag is just a really bad person, obviously. He provides crooked counsel to help himself first, you fourth or fifth.
2. Moneybag is a devil, obviously. He is weakened, having been chased out of Hell for a minor contractual breach. Even though he is an expatriate, Moneybag still hungers for souls...
3. Moneybag is a wizard, obviously. Wizards are always doing weird shit, no explanation needed.
4. Moneybag is a puppet body being controlled by a magical cat, obviously. The felines of the Chamber need an agent in place to make local events go their way.

Lightning Deep in My Bones (Class: Deku)

I dunno, just wanted to feel productive. I also liked the idea of character-as-class, so here's one about Deku from My Hero Academia.

---

cherrybombs4567
Starts like this.

Character-as-Class: Izuku Midoriya

Inventory: Hero costume (as leather). Reinforced gloves (as daggers, but can't really manipulate anything). Burning, self-destructive desire to be a hero (+3 bonus on mental saves).

Skill: 1) Persuasion 2) Pain Tolerance 3) Power Analysis.

+1 to-hit every odd template, +10' of movement every even template.

A: One For All, There Is Another

B: Steel Gaze

C: Channeling

D: Full Power Smash

One For All

    A Quirk of unimaginable power flows through your veins, letting you vastly increase your bodily toughness and might. You have [templates + 1] OFA points. You can spend a point to critically succeed on a STR or CON check, or enter Full Cowl mode for the duration of a combat encounter. When in Full Cowl, you take half damage from all attacks and must attack someone each round. If the closest target is an ally, you may Save to end Full Cowl early.

    You can regain an OFA point by having a major celebration with friends or by staying up all night training/brooding on your many enemies.

There Is Another

    You have many enemies, but this one stands above the rest. A Nemesis, great in both power and potential, opposes you and your disgusting Heroism. You will meet, eventually. Fate demands it. The tracker for your meeting begins at 1-in-100.

    Add +1 each in-game day after the initial session, +1 every time you spend a OFA point, and +5 when you defeat a significant villain. Every session, roll 1d100. If under the current number, the Nemesis knows of your location and will be upon you in 1d10 in-game days.

    No matter when you meet them, your Nemesis is always the same level as you and specifically out to end you.

Steel Gaze

    You can project an aura of intimidating determination at will. While active, nameless mooks and dumb animals will avoid initiating conflict with you, and any Villain who cares to look at you will instantly know you are a Hero to be reckoned with.

Channeling

    You body has managed to acclimate itself fully to One For All, letting you use some of its power without entering Full Cowl. You unarmed attacks deal 1d6 damage instead of 1 damage.

Full Power Smash

    If a great deed of Heroism is needed, you will rise to the occasion. You may wreck one of your non-necessary limbs (one of your arms or one of your legs) to gain a +10 bonus to an attack. On a hit, the attack deals an additional 10 damage.

    Without healing magic or modern medical technology, your limbs are wrecked and unusable. If you have access to either of the above, healing takes about two weeks. With access to powerful healing magic or advanced medical technology, the healing still takes at least 2d6 hours.

HEXAMENDLE
Ends like this.

The First Hero

    Long ago, when the earth was young and vibrant and the sun was not dimmed by the imperfections of age, there was a man. He was a farmer, average in all matters except one: ambition.

    He was gripped with the ravenous desire for money, sex, fame, and power. Against the wishes of his family, he dropped his tools and picked up a sword.

    And so the first adventurer was born.

---

Dominik Mayer
Shining as bright as the morning stars

---

    The cultists of the Red God have a mantra:

What is power but burning fire

Destroying, illuminating, all-consuming

And if fire is power

What greater king than the sun?

    You know better.

---

    Eternal Uruk's walls are all but dust, and its king reduced to presiding over a phantom court. However, great power is still held in the king's timeless grasp. You could do well to serve him.

    If a character has the proper means and intent, they can make a pact with The First Hero. The character disappears into the ethereal planes for a season, swapping their highest template for template A in a new gold-based caster class. Personally, I would alter the already-made Plutocrat class.

---

Alexandre Chaudret
A servant of the king of kings

---

    His personal name is Gilgamesh and he appears as a specter of handsome golden light. He is arrogant, seductive, and confident. As a Binder's spirit, he functions as a Great Beauty and a Millionaire. He has the unique ability to conjure a +1 sword into existence as a major favor. At template C, this changes to a +2 sword.

---

A. Shipwright
You are brighter than the sun

---

Inspirations for this post:

• Gilgamesh from the Fate franchise, who happens to be one of my favorite characters in fiction.
• The deadly sin of pride.
• Dragons are murderhobos by TheFirstGokun.
• My players, who are constantly thirsty for blood and grasping for gold.

Best GLoG Posts of 2022

    And another year has passed in the glogosphere. I took the time to read basically all of the GLoG server's 2022 posts, and here are my favorites.

    Each image is from its respected blogpost.

---

BEST ADVENTURE: The Merchant Campaign by Hilander
  

    Did I cheat by recommending a campaign structure instead of a full adventure? No. You should know better than to question my opinions. And anyway, this is more original than most adventures! Instead of playing the mercenaries working for the unscrupulous merchant, you are the unscrupulous merchant. Go waste your cash on elephants! Order a clandestine hit on a rival merchant! Gossip! With some simple rules that leave a lot of room for the imagination, the Merchant Campaign wins due to its unique premise.

BEST MECHANIC: Pain by shifty

    Hit points are traditional in OSR systems and most mechanics that try to replace them are not to my taste. Not so with Pain, by shifty. The system is explained in-depth in the post, but it basically boils down to this: all creatures have a pain threshold from 1 to 5. If you are hit by a significant attack, roll a d6. If the roll exceeds your threshold, you die. You may use items, blessings, abilities, etc. as Wards, which you may wager instead of your life. A neat idea with neat mechanics.

BEST SYSTEM: A WEARY WORK TO DO by SunderedWorldDM

    Weird fantasy all the way with this one. The rules are very good at building a tone and make you want to know more about the world. Played in a small, three-session (?) campaign with the system, so it's tested, if you like that sort of thing. Also there are flyting rules that I suck at. Shoutout to FifthDragon, who has saved me many times with his battle-poetry skills. Not much to say here. I just like it, I guess. Check it out.

BEST SETTING: An Encounter Table for a Weird Napoleonic War Zone by deus ex parabola

    This post is an interesting piece of historical fantasy written by deus ex parabola. Napoleon's undying armies march on the kingdoms of Europe, who turn to fairy deals and strange magics to resist the Forever-Emperor. There are three 2d6 tables of decent encounters that, with a little reworking, can be slotted into any generic fantasy setting. This post raises several unanswered questions. Who won the Great War? What the hell is a monkey elemental? How has the war in Europe effected the Americas? Go read it and puzzle out the answers for yourself.

BEST CASTER CLASS: The Heartless by Locheil

    I like Howl's Moving Castle, and here's a post based on that movie. It's a beast too: a class, four delta templates, and a few campaign notes at the end. Oh, wait, and 72 spells. That's a lot. My favorite features of this class have to be Transformation and Fog. It's neat that I can transform into a dragon at level 1. Gives a taste of power before I overuse it, become a NPC monster, and am shot to death by several cannons.

    About the campaign notes, I would love to see a hypercompetent spirit butler class. And a Heartless Campaign? Loch, bro. I will conquer Outshire. This post wins due to its interesting ability and the sheer amount of spells it provides.

BEST CLASS WITH UNIQUE MECHANICS: The Binder by Phlox

    Ah, the Binder. Controlling spirits and shades is a classic concept in fantasy gaming. This is Phlox's swing at the class. Make sure to read the fine print! Binder's have another Ability Score (Decency) that degrades over time due to contact with demons and various shades. I like the idea of venturing around and adding famous spirits to my collection. This class wins because of its presentation and concept.

BEST NON-CASTER CLASS: The Behemoth by Locheil

    Loch created a new setting this year, Qal Ashen, a Mesopotamian world infected by a curse that transforms living things into mindless monsters. The only safe place is Qal Ashen, the city of the death god. Many Qal Ashen classes were released, but the Behemoth is the best of the bunch. The ability "The Self Remade" continues its evolution, reaching an even greater state than before. It lets you customize your character with various monstrous features by losing inventory slots. The Behemoth wins due to the versatility of its abilities.

BEST FLAVORFUL CLASS: The Hedge Knight by Locheil

    What can I say, Loch has put out consistently good content. The Hedge Knight is a class for FIRMAMENT, a setting described by its creator as an "early-modern setting inspired by Arthuriana, the English Civil War, and the ancient concepts of alchemy, the cosmos, and the divine right of kings." The class is very Arthurian in tone, with great quests and squires and such. The class contains some spells reworked as great deeds performed by five legendary knights. This class wins because I like knights and for general quality.

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.