Cubic Dungeon

So, here's an idea that came from me messing about with Dyson Logos' dungeon Geomorphs, and the nifty random dungeon generator made from them.

I give you, the cubic dungeon:


Of course, to any hapless adventurers transported inside it (whether by a goblin doorway, or an angered sorcerer, or something else entirely) it does not at first appear to be a cube. From inside, it's a normal dungeon, until you discover that walking in one direction long enough will bring you back to your starting point, as will taking three right (or left) turns in the right location.

The party mapper will be tearing his hair out.


Above is the 6 geomorphs I pasted together. I took the liberty of tweaking the left "arm" design slightly so as to avoid having dead ends. Also note that while there are several secret doors in the complex, there is only one truly secret room. Perhaps that holds the key to escaping?

Random Hallucination Table

As mentioned here, some goblins use hallucinogenic poison on their arrows. Any character struck by such an arrow must make a save (DC 15 Fortitude) or Suffer the effects. If the initial save is successful, the character must save again in 1 minute. Either way, the effects are rolled once on the table below, and last for 1d4 hours (or until somebody casts Neutralize Poison).

1d10

1. Mine Lederhosen have Shrunkenvagen! Character is convinced his clothing and armour are shrinking, and must try to remove them as soon as possible. Once removed, the character is convinced the clothing is trying to chase him, and will try to flee.
   
2. Whoa, like, My Hands... Character just stands there and stares at his hands.
3. You Killed My Father, Prepare to Die! Character will attack the closest creature until it is dead, at which poin he will fixate on somebody new.
4. What's a Humanoid like You doing in a Dungeon like This? Character makes romantic advances on the closest creature of a species and gender appropriate to his tastes. If no such beings are in sight, will wander off, looking for such.
   
5. Eureka! The character is convinced he has just had a ground-breaking idea that he must write down. Will seek out writing implements, or attempt to fashion his own. Just writes gibberish (probably). This applies even if the character can't actually write.
   
6. So Soft and Fuzzy... character will try to feel the other character's hair (or, if rebuffed, that of the closest monster...).
7. Can't Stop The Beat! Character will dance on the spot. Also possibly sing. Thinks everybody else is joining in.
8. The pretty butterflies! Character chases butterflies around at jogging speed in a random direction. Gets a Will save to avoid walking off cliffs.
   
9. Spiders! Spiders Behind my EYES! Character has a really bad trip, and spends the whole time curled in a fetal ball.
10. Invisible Dead Tortoise. The character trips over every time he stands up. Tries to crawl around and find his poor departed hard-shelled friend.

Characters under the effect of goblin poison cannot cast spells or use ranged attacks, but will attack back if attacked in melee.

Any character left alone for any length of time while tripping on goblin poison has a 1-in-6 chance of acquiring a pineapple. No mortal magic can reveal where this fruit has come from.

My D&D House Rules

Actually, I won't bore you with them, but suffice to say that in the process of typing up all the house rules I have stored in my head, I discovered the document is nearly as long as the rules they're modifying. Of course, I'm modifying MicroLite20, so that isn't terribly long. Thus, this brought me to the conclusion that it might be best for me to just make a Microlite20 rulebook of my own, with all the house rules included as standard.

A Thought on Goblin Warfare

Goblins, generally, can be found to be wielding one of four types of weapon

Firstly, there is the wickedly curved (or wavy) sword. This is the mainstay of goblin warfare, largely because they're vicious little buggers who love causing hurt to anything around them.

Second, there is the spear, or, more often, the Pointy Stick. Typically wielded by goblins who are vicious, but either have some modicum of self-preservation instinct, or are just too slow to get the any of the "good" spots up the front.

Third there is the bow. Beware the goblin bowman, because he lacks the kind of craziness requires for front-line fighting, and thus might be capable of some actual tactics and proper target selection. Particularly nasty are those bowmen who have the skill to coat their arrows in hallucinogenic poisons.

And lastly, but by now means least, no matter how silly it may seem, there are those goblins who go into battle armed not with a sword, or a spear, nor even a bow, but with whatever they can pick up and throw. This is a problem, because as these are often the craziest goblin, they will often select rather dangerous missiles, such as flasks of burning oil, or rabid rats.

Or, occasionally, rabid rats covered in burning oil.

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Characters (We hope)

So, say you've got a bunch of PCs in a long tunnel, running away from a boulder which is rolling after them (ala Indiana Jones). How would you mechanically represent that in, say, Microliet20?

That's the question I posed myself 10 minutes ago. Here's what I came up with.

(I'm using the notation squares here for all movement. I assume that a square is 5 feet, but feel free to do whatever you like)

There is a tunnel, which is 60 squares long. At one end is the boulder. 10 squares further along are the PCs. The boulder moves 12 squares every turn. Any PCs it moves over are, most likely, dead, or if not, wishing they were.

However, the PCs get to move first. Each turn, each PC gets a number of movement points. The base is 6, to which they add their Dexterity modifier. Also, every turn, they can roll 1, 2, or 3d6 for extra points. It costs 1 point to move 1 square.

That's the basics. Now, here's where it gets interesting:
If you get a double or triple on your move points roll, your character trips and falls at the end of your movement. On your next turn, you'll lose 2 move points from lost momentum anyway, in addition to having to spend 4 points just standing up.

However, other people can help you up, so long as they're adjacent to you. Helping somebody up costs you 4 movement points, minus your Strength modifier, to a minimum of 1 point.

Example:

Wyfy Cygnet is a rogue with Strength 7 and Dexterity 16. She gets a base movement point allotment of 9 every turn, and it costs her 6 points to help somebody up.

Meanwhile, Power Murderface is a bard with Strength 18, and Dexterity 8. He gets 5 movement points every turn, but it only takes 1 point for him to help somebody up.

Obviously, anybody who gets to the 60-square finish line before the boulder does wins (i.e. doesn't die messily).

Edit: actually you could use much the same process for doing Chased by Wolves, or Outrunning a Tidal-wave of Water, the basic Rolling Boulder is what got me onto the idea.

Links!

For lack of anything better to post, I present various awesome game-related things I've found around the internet recently.

• The Grand Open game License Wiki: a project to convert all the OGL content produced by various non-WotC folks over the years into a wiki for easy access. Personally, I just go trawling for nifty spells to introduce to my microlite20 games.
• A webpage that, at least personally, makes me all inspired to adventure! While I did manage to track down the original source of the picture, I'm stumped as to where the music is from. In the unlikely event somebody reading this knows, send me a comment!
• A Big and quite detailed map of the Warhammer 40,000 setting. Is it just me, or does it look like Craftworlds Lugannath and Yme-Loo are trying to run away from the Tyranids?
  
• Robert Fisher's Classic D&D injury house rule. I quite like this, and might well use it in my own Microlite20 campaign. His observations about old school dungeons are kinda neat as well.
  

Abstract-ish d20 Chase mechanic

While walking my dog and humming the Starship Troopers theme tune (my brain is like a broken and expectionally nerdy iPod) today, I started thinking about chase scene. I love them in movies, but I've yet to see very many RPGs handle them in a fun way. While many systems have quite reasonable mechanics for such things, mostly they just boil down to a series of opposed rolls, with little or no choices made on the part of the players. This sucks, because RPGs are really all about making choices. So, here goes a simple mechanic for d20 games (Microlite20 mostly, but it's adaptable) for chases and races.

Step 1: Setup
During the chase, distance between people (or horse, or starships, or whatever) will be determined by points of Lead. Pick some increment of distance that Lead will represent for this chase. For a thief running through the streets chased by guards, 10 feet is good, while an all-day overland chase on horseback might have a point of Lead represent several miles. Generally starting the two parties (pursed and pursers) about 5 points of Lead apart is good, but do whatever fits the situation.

Step 2: Determine Initiative.
Unlike in normal combat, chase initiative is rolled at the start of every round. Each individual or group in the chase rolls a d20 and add their Mind bonus. If the individual or group is being pursued they get +2. If a group is pursuing and outnumbers the pursued party, then they get +2. Highest roll goes first this round.

Step 3: Determine conditions.
Whoever won initiative for this round gets to describe the conditions that the chase will be going through this round. If they choose to play it safe, each participant in the chase must make a DC 10 check (usually Physical + Dex, but whatever suits the type of chase), with failure losing them a point of lead, and success winning a point of lead.

Alternatively, the initiative winner can choose different conditions, increase the DC, and add other effects to winning or losing (such as damage), as suits him.

Example: Claude the Clandestine has stolen a horse from a lord's stables and is fleeing through the woods on it. The lord's men are chasing him. Claude, having won initiative, decides he'll ride through the thickest part of the wood, braving the low-hanging tree branches. He tells the GM that for this round, the DC for the chase will be 17, and failure will deal 2d6 damage, in addition to losing anybody who fails 2 points of Lead from riding into a tree-branch and being knocked off their horse.

Step 3.5: Roll the Dice
Once the initiative winner has worked out the conditions, everybody rolls their check (the GM may choose to roll individually or as a group for grouped creatures), and applies the effects. Additionally, for any such check where the speed of the participants would aid them (i.e. pretty much every check), the faster party gets +2 on their check, or +5 if they're twice as fast, or +10 if they're three times as fast or more. Any party can voluntarily fail their check if they so wish.

Example of being tricky with these rules: Claude has stolen a magical trinket from a dragon's horde and is now being chased by a huge and rather unhappy giant lizard. Claude, having won initiative once again, decides to repeat his old trick and rides into some trees. However, this time, Claude says that the DC will be 10, with failure causing the loss of a point of Lead (like normal), and success causing the gain of a point of lead, and 6d6 damage unless you also make a save to avoid smacking into a tree.

Claude then voluntarily fails his check, and loses a point of lead. The dragon, hoping to catch up to the thief and roast him, decides to roll to succeed (getting a +5 bonus on the roll because dragons are twice as fast as horses). Easily rolling high enough, the dragon slams into the treeline, and now has to make a save to avoid braining itself with a conifer...

Step 4: Are We There Yet?
After Lead points have been lost and gained, work out what happens. If the pursuer has caught up to the pursued, they can they attack or catch their prey, as appropriate. If the pursued have got 10 points of lead ahead of their attacker, they've managed to get away. If neither such circumstance has occurred, go back to step 2 and repeat for the next round.

Optional Variants for Races:
For races, usually everybody starts at the same point, and thus nobody has a Lead point advantage. Additionally, give every participant two extra points of lead every turn, in addition to however many they won or lost form their skill checks, and whoever gets to the finish line (say, 20 points of Lead) first is the winner.

Also, as neither party can really direct the course of the racetrack, use a straight d20 roll for initiative. For added fun, have any players who are just spectating roll as well, and determine the conditions of that round is they win.

Under Xylarthen's Tower

A few weeks ago, at a camp, I managed to run Jeff's awesome Under Xylanthen's Tower.

It was very awesome. Did I say awesome already?

Aaaannyway... The PDF of this nifty old-school dungeon crawl is here, while various things about it can be found here. We played using my own slightly tweaked version of Microlite20, with all the party being level 1. Of course, an M20 character at level 1 is rather more tough and competant than an old edition character, but the dungeon is meant for levels 1-6, so I figured it'd work out okay. The party almost entirely consisted of Rogues and Mages, and the general line-up changed a bit over the course of a few playing session, but particular mention goes to John (Pseudo-Arabian Assassin), Other John (Half Orc Cleric), Angus (Weasel-Attracting Human Rogue), and Margaret (Elf Mage).

For the first time, i actually forced the party to do the mapping themselves, and felt unreasonably gratified when they actually started making guesses about the layout of rooms they hadn't got to yet based on the map they had. It was even better when these guesses were wrong due to inconsistencies in their mapping.

The party explored most of the northern part of level 1, starting with setting fire to the room full of rubbish while trying to detach two weasels that had attached themselves to Angus's posterior. Margaret carefully incribed her Arcane Mark (her free-to-cast spell) everywhere they went, in case there was any surprise teleporting. They battled the Ogre Wight, and stole its necklace. Angus took responsibility for selling it once they returned to town, and I gave him the opportunity to misrepresent its value to his companions, a larcenous chance he took with great glee (although he did start feeling guilty later, and kept shouting people supplies he got "cheap" due to his "contacts").

The group found the hidden ladder to level 4, and they threw a stone with a Light spell down it. When one of the white apes (christened on the spot as "Barry") stuck its head in the chute to investigate, Angus carefully drew his shortsword, rolled a 20, and killed the rather surprised creature with one hit... from a shortsword dropped 2 stories. After hearing the enraged growling of the other white apes, the party decided that they should probably find the long way to level 4, and continued on.

They discovered the Hobgoblin urinal, and decoded the orge password. I personally foud it hilarious when they knocked on the door to the ogre's room, saw it wrenched open, timidly offered the password, and then weren't quite sure what to do when the ogre let them in. Eventually they decided that attacking an ogre while he was drinking a cup of tea was not on, and headed down to level 2.

They then tried to ambush the hobgoblin guards who demanded a toll, stuffed up spectacularly, and had to flee the level under a hail of crossbow bolts.

The one further expedition after that just discovered the petrified genie on level 1. I suspect next session, whenever that is, will probably focus on trying to find the genie's missing hand.

Oh, The (Dungeon Related) Places You'll Go

(with apologies to Dr. Seuss)

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have spells in your book.
Or a sword in your sheath.
Or a minstrel’s fine lute.
Or the tools of a thief.
You’re off with your party, and you know where there’s treasure.
To buy beer, feasts and wenches, whichever’s your pleasure.

You’ll look up and down tunnels. Look ‘em over with care.
About some you will say, “I’m too smart to go there”
With your old book of spells, and your sword in it’s sheath,
You’ll seek out the tunnels where you won’t come to grief.

And you may not find any
You’ll want to explore
In which case, of course,
Go outside to seek more.

The Roof of Creation

...above the roof of creation there is a a world of pipes and vanes, groaning with the breeze; wrought iron and rusted brass, filling the sky from brim to brim. it is a quiet, calm place, not quite real and yet more solid than a dream, ethereal and yet material. the sky is painted grey and umber, like dust upon a dry riverbed.

...it does not rain here, nor does the wind blow, for no seasons pass in a world without a compass. and yet there is life, of a sort; pigeons of all colours flock in the sky, and nest in the cold embrace of rusting weathervanes. they relieve themselves upon the forgotten statuary of dead gods and lost heroes.

...there are even men here, if they are truly men. they call themselves gargoyles, but they are not hewn of stone nor possessed of monstrous forms. tall and thin, with a pale grey skin, they gather in secret hunts beneath the open sky, searching for the lost pages of their holy books that are scattered across the rooftops. they believe themselves to be the animate forms of the statuary that adorns the world, mortal foes to the pigeons who live in the sky above. no women walk amongst their number; and they do not speak of the means of their birth to outsiders.

...some of their holy men can fold paper into origami spirits that have a spark of life. they speak in whispered metaphors and iambic phrases, snatched from the mouth of their god. it is blasphemy and black sorcery to them to form new phrases without the glyphs of the holy apocrypha to guide them.

...above the roof drifts an eternity of red balloons, vivid in the quiet eternal twilight of the world. each carries a small object aloft, from forks to baskets to origami cranes. occasionally, a pigeon will nest upon one.

...sometimes the rusted weathervanes will twist and turn despite the lack of the slightest breeze. the gargoyles consider this to be the most fateful of omens, and follow their direction with intent concentration.

New Ship Componnents (Rogue Trader)

New Supplemental Components

Component	Appropriate Hulls	Power	Space	SP
Torpedo and Hangar Bays
Fighter Bay	All Ships	2	2	1
Heavy Lifter Bay	Transports	1	2	2
Additional Facilities
Promenade	All Ships	1	3	2
Apothecarium	All Ships	1	1	2
Flux Generator	All Ships	+5	4	1
Void Cathedral	All Ships	1	3	2
Hexagrammatic Cells	All Ships	2	1	2
Astropathic Relay	All Ships	2	1	2
Techno-Shrine to the Omnissiah	All Ships	2	1	1
Cryo-Vaults	All Ships	1	2	1
Vivarium	All Ships	1	1	1
Aqua-Reservoir	All Ships	0	4	1
Scholarium*	All Ships	1	1	3
Augments and Enhancements
Pneumatic Arterial*	Transports, Raiders, Frigates	2	3	3
	Light Cruisers, Cruisers	3	4	2
Dorsal Castellum*	Transports, Cruisers	0	+2	1

Torpedoes and Hangar Bays

Fighter Bay

Swarms of fighters maintain a constant void patrol around this vessel. The cavernous fighter bay contains a full squadron of fighters, either of Imperial Naval stock or a more exotic vintage, and the support facilities necessary to keep them in action. Brave void-pilots may roam the ship’s halls, set above the common ratings by their lethal career.

Void Patrol: Increase the ship’s turret rating by 1 during combat.

Turret Suppression: During combat, the ship may launch fighters against an enemy ship to suppress turrets as an Extended Action. This requires a Difficult (-10) Piloting Test, and will suppress 1 point of enemy turrets, plus 1 point of enemy turrets for every degree of success.

Heavy Lifter Bay

Any warp-vessel will be festooned with a wide variety of smaller craft for ferrying cargo, crew, and passengers between ships, stations, and planets. A ship mounting a heavy lifter bay has vast swarms of these vessels, giving it the heavy spacelift capacity necessary to run a major mining operation, transport an imperial guard regiment, or survey a planet. In battle, these craft can be turned to use as impromptu assault craft, transporting hundreds of armed troops onto an enemy vessel.

Improvised Assault Craft: When conducting Hit and Run attacks or boarding an enemy vessel, the heavy lifter bay provides a +10 bonus to Command Tests.

Heavy Spacelift Capacity: When working towards an Exploration, Military, Trade, or Criminal objective, the players earn an extra 50 Achievement Points towards completing that objective.

Additional Facilities

Promenade

While ships may act as space-going cities, few vessels dedicate much in the way of space to this function, instead leaving the crew to undertake black-market trade and criminal activities. A promenade supplants this underground activity by serving as an official ship-board marketplace and recreational area, giving the crew. Crew members can gather here to trade, supplement their ship-board rations, and enjoy their off-duty hours.

Rest and Recreation: Increase Crew Morale permanently by 3.

Free Market: This component provides 50 Achievement Points on any Criminal or Trade endeavor.

Apothecarium

All vessels have some level of medical facilities, but a ship with a full Apothecarium is equipped with major surgical facilities, resucatrix chambers, and clinics to tend to the crew. Experienced tech-priests and medicians work to heal the sick, install augmetics, and treat the wounded in battle.

Triage: Reduce all losses to Crew Population by 1.

Chiurgeon Chamber: This component provides a +10 bonus to all shipboard Medicae tests.

Flux Generator

Smaller than a full plasma drive, a flux generator can provide additional power by drawing on the inertial flux of the ship’s gravity field.

Flux Generation: Provides an additional +5 power.

Unstable: When damaged or affected by a critical hit, this flux generator causes an additional 1d5 points of Hull Integrity damage.

Void Cathedral

Many ships have shrines to the Emperor aboard. Some, however, transform their entire vessels into glorious acknowledgements of the Emperor’s will by building massive Void Cathedrals into their very core. A Void Cathedral sits at the heart of a vessel, a mighty structure that incorporates ancient reliquaries, monastic chambers, and a massive sermon-hall that can accommodate a significant portion of the ship’s crew.

Reliquary of the Saints: When working towards a Creed objective, the players earn an additional 150 Achievement Points towards completing that objective.

Ecclesiarchal Blessing: Characters from the vessel gain a +10% bonus to all Interaction Tests made with members of the Ecclesiarchy.

Demonstrable Faith: Increase Crew Morale permanently by 5, and reduce all losses of Crew Morale by 1 to a minimum of 1.

Vox-Sermon: Characters gain a +10% bonus to all Interaction or Willpower Tests made to influence the crew, including the Hold Fast! and Put Your Backs Into It! Extended Actions.

Suffer Not The Alien: Any interaction with xenos causes 1 point of Crew Morale loss per day, and characters from the vessel suffer a -10% penalty to Interaction Tests made with xenos.

Hexagrammatic Cells

To suppress the flux and hew of the terrible warp is no easy feat. Hexagrammatic suppression cells are most often found aboard Inquisitiorial vessels, and are used to transport renegade psykers and suppress daemons. A block of hexagrammatic cells can suppress even the most powerful of psychic impulses, and can prevent the possessed or warp-twisted from wreaking havoc.

Rumours of Warpcraft: Reduce Crew Moral permanently by 3.

Warp Containment: Roll on the Warp Travel Encounters table only once for every ten full days of travel within the warp (minimum once per trip). Reduce all Crew Morale damage from psychic or warp attacks by 1.

Dark Harvest: When working towards an objective involving the transport, containment, suppression or protection of psykers, the players earn an extra 100 Achievement Points.

Astropathic Relay

An astropathic relay is a minor reflection of the great Astronomicon, a might beacon that boosts the native gifts of trained astropaths. Under the command of an Astropath-Transcendant, messages can be relayed across the galaxy, from the Halo Stars to Holy Terra.

Astropathic Relay: The astropathic relay provides the benefits listed on page 163, and comes with a full choir of junior Astropaths.

Techno-Shrine to the Omnissiah

This vessel contains a shrine to the Omnissiah, glorifying the Adeptus Machinus and the Cult of Mars, attracting additional tech-priests. It also includes a small techno-scriptarium, which provides a wealth of knowledge on archeotech and the sacred rites of the Adeptus Machinus.

Blessing of the Machine Cult: Any Tech-Use, Common Lore (Adeptus Mechanicus), Forbidden Lore (Adeptus Mechanicus) or Forbidden Lore (Archeotech) Tests made aboard this vessel gain a +10% bonus.

Cryo-Vaults

This vessel contains extensive cryo-vaults, which can store additional crew or passengers beyond the standard capacity of the ship. Row upon row of frozen bodies line the crypts, giving the ship the impression of a flying tomb. The crew often spins tales about what occurs in the cryo-vaults, and are innately distrustful of anyone who is woken from them.

Frozen Passengers: When working towards a Trade, Creed, or Military objective, the players may gain an extra 50 Achievement Points towards completing that objective.

Sleeper Crew: Increase Crew Population permanently by 3.

Void Tomb: Reduce Crew Morale permanently by 2.

Vivarium

The transport of rare and exotic alien plants and beasts is a difficult trade, but the profits can be immense if the right xeno-specimen makes its way into the right hands. A vivarium is a series of large vaults with separate life sustainers, capable of simulating almost any planetary vaults and isolating their exotic cargo from the crew. Some Rogue Traders use their vivariums as a sort of living trophy room, containing specimens from hundreds of worlds in their past.

Exotic Beasts: When working towards a Trade or Exploration objective, the players may gain an extra 50 Achievement Points towards completing that objective.

Xeno-Lore: Through the study of xeno-organisms within the vivarium, any Forbidden Lore (Xenos) tests made aboard this ship gain a +10% bonus.

Aqua-Reservoir

All ships have large aqua-reservoirs, but a ship that selects this component devotes a sizeable amount of space to a major water reservoir. As a result, large quantities of coolant can be delivered anywhere on the ship.

Water Supplies: Increase the time a ship may remain at void without suffering Crew Population or Morale loss by +50%.

Fire Suppression: The reservoir can be used to fight fires more effectively, providing a +20% bonus to Command Tests made to put out fires and reduces Crew Population and Morale loss from fires by 2.

Lance Coolant: Increase the damage of all shipboard lances by 1, as the ship’s lance batteries may be more effectively cooled and fired more rapidly.

Unbalanced: A large aqua-reservoir reduces the ship’s Maneuverability by 5%.

Scholarium

Many crewmembers are the children of generations of void-travellers, families that spend their entire lives aboard ships. A captain who installs a scholarium aboard their vessel is acknowledging this fact. It provides nurseries that care for the ship’s children, and trains new generations of crew members in the skills and abilities necessary for the operation of a void-faring vessel.

Nurseries: Increase Crew Population permanently by 2, and increase by 1 every year.

Officer Training: Increase crew skill by +5%.

Augments and Enhancements

Pneumatic Arterial

A series of pneumatic transit tubes run throughout the ship, quickly conveying cargo, materials, and crewmembers around the ship. During combat, armsmen and repair teams can rapidly be deployed around the vessel, directly to where they are needed.

Armsmen Deploment: The ship gains a +10 to Command Tests when defending against boarding actions and Hit and Run attacks.

Repair Teams: Repair teams can quickly be deployed throughout the ship, granting it a +10 bonus to Emergency Repair tests.

Evacuation: Reduce Crew Population losses due to fires, depressurization, and other component-based damage by 1, to a minimum of 1.

This component may not be installed on vessels with a Tenebro-Maze.

Dorsal Castellum

A castellum is a massive tower that extrudes from the ship’s dorsal region, expanding the space available for shipboard components.

Expanded Space: This component increases the amount of space available aboard ship by 2.

Integrity: Adding massive external substructures reduces the ships ability to take hits, reducing hull integrity by 3 points.

[Rogue Trader] Xanator Gant

Xanator Gant

Former Ordinate-General of the Adeptus Terra

Current Departmental Prelate and Sole Member of the Census and Tithing Departmento of the Koronus Expanse

The scion of a long and proud dynasty of Departmental Prefects, Xanator Gant was born to be a Administrator. Attending the elite scholariums of the Administratum in his youth, he excelled in every regard - from the history of accounting to the practice of ritual auditing. His early career in the Adeptus Terra was as full of achievements as any Gant that had come before - as an adjunct to the Munitorum, he challenged corruption in the ranks that had seen entire regiments worth of weaponry sold off to the highest bidder, as a Sanitation Ordinate he helped redesign the sewage systems of the hive world of Fecunditis, and in the dusty stacks of the Librarium Administratum, he oversaw a threefold reduction in the amount of late fines not paid. Xanator was marked for success, and so the rivals of the Gant dynasty, the ancient Vorsian administration clan, marked him for death.

The vendetta between the two great Administratum dynasties had continued for centuries. At times, it had erupted into open battle, staining the tape that held the Adeptus Terra together red with blood. This time, the Vorsians took more subtle action. Favors were called in and strings were pulled to have young Xanator re-assigned as Departmental Prelate of the Census and Tithing Departmento in the Koronus Expanse - a region that hadn't answered to Imperial rule in seven millenia. Accompanied only by a faithful servo-skull, Xanator was placed aboard an Administratum frigate bound for the waystation of Port Maw.

It turned out that he wouldn't even reach the Expanse before being struck down by those outside Imperial rule. In the Calixis Sector, the frigate Penstroke of the Emperor came under attack by pirates - paid off handsomely by the Vorsians. As they boarded and looted the heart of the Penstroke, Xanator drew on his experience as a Sanitation Ordinate to hide himself deep within the sewage units of the ship. When the pirates abandoned the ship to drift in the Oort cloud of a nearby system, he was ready to escape aboard the ship's one remaining cargo pod. The journey to the nearest habitable world would take thirteen months, during which Xanator survived mostly on lettuce he'd found growing in the Penstroke's waste units, and developed an entirely new form of inventory management for paperclips.

The nearby world of Anderlund was no civilized imperial world, ready to welcome a decorated Adminstratum ordinate with open arms. Anderlund had been lost to Imperial rule for six millenia, thanks to a cartographic error by a Navis Nobilite scribe, and was firmly stuck in a medieval morass of warfare and poverty. Xanator landed on the planet's primary continent, in the middle of a major war that had engulfed seven nations and millions of people. After nearly being eaten by a tigon, enslaved by mercenaries, and having his head cut off for heresy, he was able to integrate himself into the court of a nearby King as a "court magician", with the aid of his servo skull and court pistol. Within two years, he had introduced double-entry accounting, created the planet's first stock exchange, and built a trading and banking system that tied together three continents and two major island groups.

When the Indomitable Fury pulled into orbit a few years later, they were expecting to make a killing by trading trinkets to the natives for vast and valuable resources. What they did not expect to encounter was a planet in the throes of a desperate Industrial Renaissance, funded by the most effective financial system in the sector and managed by none other than Xanator Gant, Deparmental Prelate. In a few futile trades, they found themselves out-negotiated by bankers and industrialists who had been wielding wooden spears and wearing loincloths a decade ago. Seemingly conned out of their cargo by primitives, they prepared to lay waste to the world from orbit until Xanator himself stepped in. In a masterful negotiation, Xanator was able to save the Anderlunders from unsanctioned Exterminatus in return for his services as Seneschal to the Rogue Trader, Holt Macharius. Horrified at Macharius' woeful financial management, he set himself the challenge of returning the Macharius dynasty to profitability and to the service of the Imperium.

I Am Not A Gamer

Roleplaying Games, Cultural Artifacts, and Self-Identity

I am not a gamer.

This may seem a strange claim to make for someone who spends a large portion of his free time on various game-based pursuits, writes a blog devoted to roleplaying games, and owns a huge collection of dice, so let me explain.

Roleplaying has built up a massive associated subculture over the years, built around shared humor, shared histories, and shared mythologies. In the public consciousness, roleplaying and gamer culture are virtually indistinguishable - the stereotypical image of a gamer is of a full-blown participant in this gamer culture, albeit an oddly twisted and negative one. It is a distinct grouping that somewhat celebrates its separation from the mainstream of society and revels in building its own traditions and social structures, has its own meeting places, and its own heroes. Knights of the Dinner Table, gamer t-shirts, The Gamers, Baby's First Dice, Penny Arcade - these are all clearly artifacts of a subculture in full and mature bloom. For many, roleplaying games are more than a fun way to spend the afternoon - they're a lifestyle.

There's nothing wrong with having a gamer subculture, and I'd hate to see anyone brutally stereotype it and dismiss it. Like any subculture, it's a diverse collection of individuals who range along a wide spectrum. It includes soldiers and doctors as well as computer programmers and comic book writers, and it's produced a massive weight of cultural material that is enjoyed by millions around the world. Gamer culture sits behind more "mainstream" cultural artifacts than most people would realize.

I question, however, the close association between gaming as a lifestyle and gaming as an activity. It seems to me that the weight of gamer culture makes roleplaying seem more intimidating, more off-kilter, and less accessible to the general public. For people who'll happily sit down for an afternoon to play Halo, chess, or Monopoly, the idea of playing a simple roleplaying game is unthinkably nerdy. Those other activities are no less complicated than roleplaying - and importantly, they all have their own subcultures associated with them. The key is, they aren't inherently seen as being associated with that subculture, and thus people can play them without feeling like they have to buy into a whole new cultural matrix. If roleplaying were more separated from its subcultural context, I believe it would be a vastly more popular activity. And why not? It's fun, creative, and exciting, and can be played in the course of a few hours. I'm truly convinced that the idea of sitting down and building a story together with friends is an immensely attractive concept to many people who wouldn't buy in to the traditional gamer mythos.

I don't consider myself to be a gamer because I don't particularly feel a close association with the artifacts and traditions of gamer culture. While I can certainly appreciate gamer comedy like Order of the Stick or Penny Arcade, it's not what I seek out and not what I enjoy most - the comedy I appreciate most tends to be more along the lines of The Office or How I Met Your Mother, which probably says a lot about my own self-identity. For me, roleplaying is not a way of life, it's just a way of having fun.

Croaking Demons of Chaos!

I bought, and truly love, Jeff Rient's Miscellaneum of Cinder, and I've always liked his idea of the Frog Gods of Chaos (and think it would make a great name for a band). Now, when I saw an off-hand reference to Croaking Demons in the Miscellaneum, I immediately thought: "Awesome, frog god minions. They need stats! But how to make them sufficiently chaotic..."

So, I made a way to make Croaking demons with just a handful of dice.

(actually, while finding the links for this article, I discovered that Croaking Demons are actually part of a hierarchy, and probably shouldn't have quite so variable or impressive stats, but I'll come back to that another day. When I do, the creatures detailed here will be considered to be the more powerful Slime Frogs or something)

Grab 2d2, 2d4, 2d6, 2d8, and 2d10. Also, get your mutation chart of choice (from any vaguely compatible product. I suggest the chart from the Miscellaneum, or from the old Polyhedron Omega World article, if you have access to those), and two of whatever kind of dice that chart needs.

• The higher d10 result is the demon's number of hit dice.
• The lower d10 result is how much less damage the demon takes from energy attacks and nonmagical weapons (except Cold, which croaking demons take normal damage from, and Acid, which they're immune to)
• The higher d8 is the bonus to the demon's AC (also add half its hit dice if you're using a 3.x or later version of D&D)
• The lower d8 is the bonus to demon's hit points (applied once for old-school games, applied per hit dice for 3.x and later games)
• The higher d6 is the demon's strength bonus to damage rolls (if your game uses that sort of thing)
• The lower d6 is added to the demon's hit dice to get its attack bonus (if your game uses that sort of thing)
• The higher d4, multiplied by 2, is the maximum result of the dice rolled for the demon's secondary attacks (see below). Example: rolled a 3 x2 = 6. The demon uses 1d6 for secondary attack damage.
• Both d4's together, multiplied by 2, is the maximum result of the dice rolled for the demon's primary attacks (see below). Example: rolled a 3 and a 2 x2 = 10. The demon uses 1d10 for primary attack damage.
• The 2d2, added together, are how many attacks the demon gets (usually claws, bites, or tongue-whips). If it has one or two attacks, both are primary. If it has three or four attacks, one is primary, the others are secondary. (and get -5 to attack for 3.x and later games).
  
• Now roll twice on that mutation chart you found for yourself, and apply both the mutations to the freshly minted croaking demon, and you're done!