Rubik’s Cube | a twist on character generation

Update: A pdf version can be downloaded for free on DriveThruRPG here

I saw a character generator using a Rubik’s Cube (here; original author unknown). I liked the general idea, and thought I’d come up with my own version of it:

Steps
:: Jumble the cube thoroughly

:: The centre square represents one of the six attributes, e.g.

• STR = red
• INT = blue
• WIS = yellow
• DEX = green
• CON = orange
• CHR = white

:: The ability score is 7 with the following modifiers:

Positive modifiers:

• +2 for each square which is the same as the centre colour (like squares)
• +1 for a 3 square L-shape which is the same as the centre colour
• +2 for a line which is the same as the centre colour
• +2 for a diagonal line which is the same as the centre colour
• +3 for a + or a × shape of the centre colour
• +3 for a 2×2 square which is the same as the centre colour

Negative modifiers:

• -2 for a 3 square L shape of a matching different colour
• -3 for a line of a matching different colour
• -4 for all four corners of a matching different colour
• -4 for all four centre non-corner edges of a matching different colour

Visual examples:

       

:: *Optionally*, the colour of one non-centre square may be changed by the player to improve one ability score (to give a bonus and/or cancel out a negative modifier); or as suggested on Reddit the player gets one free rotation

:: Score are rounded up to 3 or down to 18.

Some worked examples, without the optional swapping rule; the cubes were generated with https://ruwix.com/puzzle-scramble-generator/ with 66 iterations.

 

• STR; red                     8
• INT; blue                   12
• WIS; yellow               11
• DEX; green                17
• CON; orange              8
• CHR; white                16

 

 

• STR; red                    9
• INT; blue                   9
• WIS; yellow               9
• DEX; green               11
• CON; orange             9
• CHR; white                7

 

 

• STR; red                   11
• INT; blue                  12
• WIS; yellow              9
• DEX; green               9
• CON; orange            9
• CHR; white                7

 

 

• STR; red                     9
• INT; blue                    9
• WIS; yellow               3
• DEX; green                7
• CON; orange             12
• CHR; white                11

 

 

• STR; red                  14
• INT; blue                 15
• WIS; yellow             12
• DEX; green              12
• CON; orange           16
• CHR; white              16

 

Clearly, the base score of 7 can be made smaller or larger to scale the whole thing up or down a notch. The modifiers could be tweaked/removed or new one added.

– – –

More of my stuff on DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/9524/Goblin039s-Henchman

Tuesday Toot!! | The Tickler

Tuesday Toot – G+ is closing. When it was alive things happened. Things unexpected. Great things. Whilst my creative output is only modest, I thought I’d hold something up into the living light, something that came about purely because G+ existed … This is a toot to G+.

The Master’s Hoard is a compilation of quirk some magic items which I posted on my G+ page over a period of weeks. The compilation of magic items can be downloaded for free here: Link

:: The Tickler ::
Summary
A sword partly on the ethereal plane

Detail
This weapon looks like a longsword snapped to a third of its original length, and so resembles (and handles as) a short sword or hefty dagger. The Tickler is particularly suited for use by halflings.

On close inspection, the ‘missing’ part of the sword manifests as a ghostly image, phasing in and out of reality. Brushing the ghostly part of the blade against a person gives the sensation of being tickled with a feather. However, in combat the non material part gains a little substance and inflicts damage as described below.

Mechanic
When attacking, make two separate attack rolls:
(1) one roll for the ‘material’ part of the blade (treat as a +1 short sword or dagger); and
(2) another roll for the ghostly part of the blade, treating the target as armorless (e.g. AC 10), but dealing only 1 damage. This is because the insubstantial blade glides past any armor/hide. The damage is low as the ghostly part of the blade only is not fully in the material plane.

Combat Quirks
• Natural 20 on the ghostly roll – the (insubstantial part of the) blade briefly become fully substantial within the target (i.e. fully phasing into the material plane), and causing catastrophic damage; 2D8 damage (at the GM’s discretion double damage may also apply).
• Natural 1 on the ghostly roll – the weapon inverts its phasing polarity. The material blade (inclusive of handle) becomes ghostly, and the ghostly part of the blade becomes material, causing the blade to fly out of the wielder’s hand, in the direction of the swing. In D4 rounds the blade reverts to its prior state.

Hitting Ethereal Creatures
The ghostly part of the blade appears substantial on the ethereal plane, allowing attacks against ethereal creatures, at +2 to hit by a wielder on the Prime Material plane.

Back story | Phase Spiders
This unique sword took this unusual form upon stabbing a Phase Spider at the very moment it transitioned out of the material plane. The part that was inside the spider became unstable and now exists in this transient state, not quite in the material plane
The blade deals double damage against Phase Spiders. Upon killing a Phase Spider, there is a 50% chance the blade’s two parts synchronize their phase, forever turning the blade back into a normal longsword.

– – –

Me on DriveThruDriveThru; at the moment I’m mainly pimping my procedural adventure ‘Carapace‘ about a giant ant colony and my ‘1998 Dungeon‘.

1988 Dungeon

Throwing it back to 1988 …

1988 Dungeon
This is one of the first dungeons I ever made way back in 1988, when I was a teenager. So, it’s about as Old Skoool as it gets … not in an OSR sense, but in a “I’ve made a dungeon who wants to play” kind of way. If you’re looking for understandable/sensible dungeon ecology, themes, plot, and balanced encounters etc., then you’ve signed up for the wrong adventure!  It’s 1e AD&D, and I’d say for PCs at about 3/4 level.  A video review can be seen here:  Review

  It’s free PDF for download on DriveThruRPG: LINK

Background
In late 2016 I found a battered red binder in my loft. It contained a hand-drawn map and some nearly intelligible notes. To force myself to read through these notes systematically, I decided to serialize them on my G+ page, inclusive of my ‘looking back’ comments. In all truthfulness, I expected the dungeon to be a disaster, but it turned out quite a lot better than I thought it would.

A few people on G+ suggested I make a .pdf version … well this is it!

The idea that someone out there in internet land might breath new life into this 30+ year old adventure makes me smile.

Here’s the original map (which I renumbered  in the .PDF):

A Spreadsheet Adventure Module (SAM) version of this adventure can be fond here:
  download  |  Demo

– – –

More of my stuff on DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/9524/Goblin039s-Henchman

Tuesday Toot!! | VotE Cave Generator

Tuesday Toot – G+ is closing. When it was alive things happened. Things unexpected. Great things. Whilst my creative output is only modest, I thought I’d hold something up into the living light, something that came about purely because G+ existed … This is a toot to G+.

Over the last two or so years, I’ve discovered how versatile Microsoft Excel can be at making game content. Here is an Excel widget I made and posted on G+. The widget is a Cave Generator for Patrick’s Stuart’s Veins of the Earth:

 Download  To do

You can run this as a standalone Cave Generator, or it can be used to check you are using Patrick’s dice method ‘correctly’ before game night!

Related, and if of interest, here’s an Excel adaptation of Skerples. ‘Veins Crawl’ (for Vein’s of the Earth), which is presented as a single sheet in Excel:

    
 Download  Demo Video

:: Some other interesting RPG things Excel can do ::
Excel can be used to present module information in super compact fashion (How-to-Guide); used as a simple dungeon mapping program (Video Demo); and to make a surprisingly flexible Hex crawler (Video Demo). 

:: Google Sheets ::
Sadly, Google Sheets does not have the same level of functionality as Excel (I wish it did). 

– – –

Me on DriveThruDriveThru; at the moment I’m mainly pimping my procedural adventure ‘Carapace‘ about a giant ant colony.

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more”
Fight on dear Gexit
(drawing by James V West) 

Yfelcorn | a fell Unicorn

:: Yfelcorn :: 

Frequency:                 Very Rare
No. Appearing:          2-5
Armor Class:              2
Move:                          24’’
Hit Dice:                      4+4
% in Lair:                    5%
Treasure Type:          X
No. of Attacks:           3
Damage/Attack:        1-6/1-6/1-12
Special Attacks:        See below
Special Defenses:     See below
Magic Resistance:    See below
Intelligence:              Average
Alignment:                Neutral Evil
Size:                            L
Psionic Ability:          Nil
Level/XP Value:        500 + 6/hp

Also known as lacharmata, hippomal, rhinocorn, and Chevalier’s Bane. Yfelcorns are the malign sterile progeny of Unicorns (MM, pp 98) with Nightmares (MM, pp 74).

Yfelcorns are sly ambush predators using their appearance to deceive prey. Yfelcorns resemble unicorns, except they have:

• a small additional horn
• hot hooves which will eventually scorch the ground
• an odd garlic-mint smell that unsettles the stomach;
  Elves find this smell especially repugnant (-2 to hit and damage); but oddly, Halflings find the smell quite pleasing

Lower plane denizens prize Yfelcorns as mounts (though treacherous); impressing minions/peers, and deceiving goodly creatures alike.

Yfelcorns share the primary statistics and abilities of a unicorn (i.e. +2 to hit with horn; charging double damage; poison immunity; sense enemies within 24’’; surprise 1-5; teleport 36’’once per day; 11th level magic-user save; death spell immune).

Nightmare lineage
Horn does double damage to good creatures. Paladins are polluted by a horn wound, and need a wish/quest to restore their powers. Stallions have the Nightmare’s smoking hot cloud ability once per day (i.e. failing save gives a -2 to hit and damage); albeit garlic-mint reeking stench. Immune to fire magic. Triple damage from cold and holy based damage.

Zombiecorns
Yfelcorn horns are deadly to unicorns; which later rise as undead unicorns. Zombiecorns start as shambling heaps of horse flesh, progressing to have the abilities (and stats) of a ghast (MM, pp 43; although cannot turn humans into ghouls). Later, a Yfelcorn foal erupts from the zombiecorn destroying it. This is how they breed.

Yfelcorn parts
Horn – crumbles into chalky ash upon death, makes hard to detect poison coveted by assassins.
Hide – makes a fire-resistant covering; but retains unpleasant garlic-mint smell.
Hooves – can store heat, releasing it again slowly. Can absorb 6D6 HPs of heat damage from fireballs, but have the same % chance of being destroyed.

– – –

Me on DriveThruDriveThru; at the moment I’m mainly pimping my procedural adventure ‘Carapace‘ about a giant ant colony.

Tuesday Toot!! | Troll Jawbone Axe

Tuesday Toot – G+ is closing. When it was alive things happened. Things unexpected. Great things. Whilst my creative output is only modest, I thought I’d hold something up into the living light, something that came about purely because G+ existed … This is a toot to G+.

The Master’s Hoard is a compilation of quirk some magic items which I posted on my G+ page over a period of weeks. The compilation of magic items can be downloaded for free here: Link

:: Troll Jawbone Axe ::
Summary
Grisly weapon, dripping with corrosive bile

Detail
This grisly weapon is wielded and acts like an axe (e.g. D8 damage), but is in fact half the jawbone of a troll. The jaw has D8+4 teeth, forming a nasty serrated cutting edge.

Corrosion
A filthy smelling, bile-like fluid is exuded from the base of the teeth whenever the jawbone cuts living flesh. The corrosive bile deals 2 damage.

Combat Quirks
• Natural 20 – a tooth shatters spraying bile into the wound, causing an extra D8 damage.

• Natural 1 – a tooth dislodges from the jaw. This frees some living troll pulp (previously trapped under the tooth). The dislodged tooth regenerates into a fully grown troll in 2 to 24 hours, unless the tooth is destroyed in the appropriate manner: acid, fire etc.

Toothless Jawbone
When all teeth have been shattered or knocked out, then a weird stasis ends, allowing a troll to regenerate from the toothless jawbone in 2 to 24 hours, unless the jawbone is destroyed in the appropriate manner: acid, fire etc.

– – –

Me on DriveThruDriveThru; at the moment I’m mainly pimping my procedural adventure ‘Carapace‘ about a giant ant colony.

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more”
Fight on dear Gexit
(drawing by James V West) 

A Spin on Abnormally Large Spiders

Abnormally large spiders are always good foes to throw at PCs; so here are 5 new spiders re-skinned from page 90 of the Monster Manual (i.e. their stats are the same but their abilities and descriptions are different).

With the exception of the Phase‑Snatching Spider, they have all been inspired by unusual spiders found here on Earth.

1. Assassin Spider is a giant version of the normally sized ‘assassin spider‘. The Assassin Spider is a voracious ground hunter. It has an unusually long neck, which extends upwards about 6 feet and has two massive six foot long mandibles.

On a successful hit, it grabs and lifts its prey 6 feet into the air, holding them at bay. In this predicament, the victim’s AC is reduced by 4 (or by one class criteria, e.g. plate to chain, etc.). Generally, the victim is also unable to hit with hand weapons. The %chance to break from is twice the character’s ‘Bend Bars/Lift Gates’ (BB/LG) score.

The next round, the great mandibles begin their deadly work, pinching together like a pneumatic press. Each time a successful to hit roll is made the victim’s effective AC is reduced by another 4 units (or by one further armour class type), and one extra damage die is added, e.g. 2D4 (1st hit), 4D4 (2nd hit), 6D4 (3rd hit), etc. The next hit after the victim is at 0 HPs, results in the victim being pinched in half (the Assassin Spider’s goal), the mandibles meeting like a pair of giant chitinous secateurs.

2. Casting Spider is a huge version of a normal ‘net-casting spider‘. This spider weaves a man‑sized ‘net’ between its elongated front limbs and will try to ‘net’ any appropriately sized prey. It can jump 18’’, but prefers to descend stealthily above its prey on a line of web.

It surprises its victims 1-5 on a D6, gaining +3 to ‘net’ the victim. A netted victim is enveloped head to toe and cannot readily move their arms or legs. Typically, it will wait until its prey is off guard or distracted (e.g. sleeping or perhaps when they are in combat with another foe). On a miss, it will skulk off to weave a new net.

The %chance to break from the net is twice the character’s ‘Bend Bars/Lift Gates’ (BB/LG) score. However, each failure lowers the chance by 5%, as such wriggling tightens the net.

The spider comes feeds when the wriggling has stopped, when the prey is fully incapacitated.

3. Gobbing Spider is a large version of a normal ‘spitting spider’ and is nearly transparent. It has an unusually large head and when in range it blasts its prey with a mass of webs that are coated in strong poisonous and digestive juices.

The web is not very robust and halves the mobility of creatures with 9 or less strength.

Until the web is cleaned off, the digestive juices burn like acid, doing 1HP of damage per round per coating. A slow acting poison takes effect after 5 rounds of contact – save vs poison or fall unconscious for d6 turns.

These spiders generate enough web for three attacks and regenerate this in 24 hrs. After spraying their victims, these spiders jump on and bite their prey, latching on and draining 1HP per round while they are attached.

4. Phase-Snatching Spider is a relative of the Phase‑Spider (MM, page 90). Usually, the only visible part of this spider is their foot long fangs. The rest of the spider is normally in the ethereal plane. The spider will position its fangs to snare a victim (e.g. spanning a dark tunnel or placed in a position to attract the curious.

When a victim is in range, the spider will try to grasp them. A successful hit (+4 if the victim is unsuspecting) results in the victim being dragged into the ethereal plane, where the spider is then fully visible. The spider cannot attack for 1 round while it ensures its body parts are back in full harmony with the ethereal plane.

Unlike the Phase-Spider, this spider is only mildly poisonous (failed save makes PC hard to understand; e.g. player must talk with tongue between teeth). The spider has two glands, a big one that produces a fluid that acts like oil of etherealness and a smaller one that produces a fluid that counters this. If desperate, it will spray this second fluid (+4 to hit the unsuspecting) that will return the ‘victim’ back to the prime material plane.

5. Web Bolas Spider is a huge semi-intelligent version of a normal ‘bolas spider’. This spider normally hurls up to 4 sticky blobs of web at its prey before attacking. The spider needs a turn to make new web projectiles.

The hit location (D100):

• 1-10 – head (temporary blinding; -6 to hit; +6 to being hit)
• 11‑20 – primary arm (can’t use weapon arm; +2 to being hit)
• 21-30  – secondary arm (can’t use that arm; also +2 to being hit)
• 31-40 – right leg (+3 to being hit; movement is halved)
• 41-50 – left leg (+3 to being hit; movement is halved)
• 51-100 – chest (+1 to being hit; only 50% chance to draw a weapon; and only 25% chance to take an item out of a pack/pouch/pocket etc.)

While semi-intelligent, their natural instincts are to attack the prey hit by its bolas.

It also has a poisonous bite that induces hallucinations in most humanoids (a failed save vs poison results in -2 to hit in combat; and +2 to being hit). Goblinoid races, and by extension half-orcs, are not affected by the poison. Goblins have been known to have these semi-intelligent creatures as companion animals.

– – –

Me on DriveThruDriveThru; at the moment I’m mainly pimping my procedural adventure ‘Carapace‘ about a giant ant colony.

Tuesday Toot!! | Augur Dwarf

Tuesday Toot – G+ is closing. When it was alive things happened. Things unexpected. Great things. Whilst my creative output is only modest, I thought I’d hold something up into the living light, something that came about purely because G+ existed … This is a toot to G+.

:: Augur Dwarf ::

Summary
A venerated niche-class of dwarf. They have enhance underground skills especially (precious) metal detection.

Plot Hook
Raid into the Augurary

Appearance
Augurs shave their beards. This visually sets them apart from normal dwarven society.

Augur Apprentices are permitted to shave their top lips, whereas Augur Masters are completely clean shaven. There are serveral tiers between Apprentice and Master, each tier having a beard type which reflects their status.

Augurs tend to be less muscular than normal dwarves, as they do not handle metal and do little manual labour.

Society – clanless
Augurs are little known outside dwarven society. Indeed, they are somewhat of a secret, and when seen by outsiders, they are often mistaken for gnomes.

Augurs are revered in dwarven society, but are outside of the usual clan structures. Beard shaving emblematic of their separation.

In youth, when their special skills are first spotted, Augurs must forgo their clan and travel to secret locations (Augurary) to train as an Augur. As they progress in skill, they travel to ever more secret centres to continue their training.

Partly this is done to isolate Augurs from metals, which can interfere with their metal-sense. The other part being that Augurs guard their secrets well and their wealth better.

The initial testing involves asking a youth to locate a gold coin hidden under one of 5 cups, usually the test is repeated 5 times. If they can meet the task (a very rare occurrence), they can keep the coin. Within the next year a summons to the clan chief sees them on their way to the first of the Augur Schools.

Those that have a weak talent or fail to progress in skill, usually enter into the armed Augur Guard, or become servants. Augurs like lucky dwarves, and so those that fluked the test are usually trained as recruiters.

Augur Guardsman are rarely released from service, but being unable to return to their clans, often become adventures. They progress like fighters but with some basic metal detecting skills (bit like a Locate Object spell, but for concentrations of metals). However, to make use of this skill they must have armour and weapons that are free of metal, e.g. bone or stone axes and leather armour.

Finance
The Augurs earn a good living by getting commissions from detecting seams of precious metals. Masters Augurs can earn huge commission when discovering such seams. The more valuable the metal, the more the commission they get. Most often Augurs are called in by Dwavish clans to locate new metal seams, particularly when a mine has apparently run dry. Master Augurs are few, and in great demand by dwarven leaders. Lower ranking Augurs charge less commission but have less skill.

Augur accept non-metallic payment only, e.g. gems, pearls, art, silk, ivory or other precious materials. Metal-less magic items are highly prized.

Skills
Most Augurs have skills in detecting bulk ‘base’ metals, like iron, tin, copper (even as ores). The most esteemed, and highest advancing are Augurs that can detect the ‘noblest’ metals like gold, platinum, and mithral.

Master Augurs also have high sensitivity. For example, a Master Augur could detect a thread-sized seam of mithral buried 30 feet within stone. An adept could detect a thicker seem of gold much closer to the surface e.g. 6 feet.

Restrictions
To make use of their talent, especially when looking for sparse and deeply buried metals, the Augur must be free of all metal distractions. Such metals interfere with their metal-senses, giving a ‘false signal’. It’s like trying to listen out for a faint sound while a lute is playing in your ear.

Augurs therefore wear clothes and carry gear free of any metal, e.g. with bone/wooden buttons/buckles etc.

The Augur Guardsman, for the reasons given above, also wear only leather armour and carry stone, wood, bone, antler or ivory weapons. To the uninitiated, they might look like primitives.

Sometimes, an Augur will need to venture into a mine alone (without distractions) to find a precious metal seam. In the wild places this can be dangerous. Augurs therefore also train in some of the thief skills (Hide in Shadows, Move Silently, Hear Noise, Climb Walls), and progress as a thief sub-class (the above skills at two levels higher than their actual level).

Companion Beasts
Augurs also keep two unusual beasts, and pay high prices for both.

Sometimes, if potential rewards are high, Augurs ‘scour’ the rocks of a mine with Denzelians (Fiend Folio; page 25). Denzelians eat away at the outer surface of the rocks, free metals dropping to the floor. Next the mine is swept (precious metals of course bring collected and removed). Next hungry Rust Monsters (Monster Manual I; Page 83) are sent into the mine to scavenge and feed off any leftover metal traces. Augur(s) can then scan the ‘scoured’ mine for new metal seams with less surface interference.

Rarely, Augurs act for non-dwarves, usually monarch commissions. The non-dwarves who witness their activities are deliberately left with the impression that the Denzelians are the true metal sleuths, and the beardless dwarves merely their (poor) minders/handlers. Outsiders are often too scared of Rust Monsters to ask too many questions about their use. Rust Monsters also make useful Augur ‘guard-dogs’ (always alert for metal bearing intruders).

Testing Chamber
Augurs have a special testing chamber called The Cube. There are in fact several Cubes. These comprise a platform in a cube shaped room. On the platform a cube of dense stone blocks are built up. Within the cube, blocks with seams of precious metals are inserted. Blocks joining up to form a seam of metal in the cube. The testee can walk under, over, and around the cube of stone and indeed climb its sides.  After such a scan, the testee must sketch out how the metal seam is distributed in the blocks. Finer metal seams and more dense rocks can be used to increase the challenge, to examine more advanced testees. Decoy metal seams e.g. copper seams can be added to the cube in an attempt to confuse the true metal signal being looked for. Testees only get a few chances to prove themselves.

An Augur Master must be able to detect a single thread of a noble metal (gold, or higher value metal) within a 60 foot test cube.

A novice may be tested where the metal-seam is 6 inches thick in a 10 foot test cube.

– – –

Me on DriveThruDriveThru; at the moment I’m mainly pimping my procedural adventure ‘Carapace‘ about a giant ant colony.

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more”
Fight on dear Gexit
(drawing by James V West)

Hex Power Flower – All at Sea!

This is not a map!

MadKingChristopher on G+ came up with this nice Ocean Mapper Hex Power Flower (HPF), which is a nice idea. It seems the ‘MadKing’ earned his crown once more, and got there before me as I was working on something like this!!! The island in the middle of the flower is a nice touch.
:O)

If the roll takes you to L1 (the top most hex), then proceed to the center, or (S)pecial location of Goblins Henchman’s Hex mapper. 

I’ve taken the liberty of reproducing (one of the versions of) my Hex Terrain mapper engines below:

Background:
If you’ve got no idea what this post is about, the below links give some context:

Here’s a link to the original posting about using the 19 Hex Power Flower as a Hex Crawl Engine:
HPF – What the Hex’s Next?

 

This is a link to more kinds of 19 Hex Power Flowers (with some being quite silly/fun):
Hex Power Flower (HPF)

 

This is a link to the ‘theory’ (or at least rational) behind this idea:
2D6 + 19-Hex Power Flower

 

 

Edit: As some have asked, I made a template Hex Flower. Please let me know if it is useful (and/or needs changes)

– – –

Me on DriveThruDriveThru; at the moment I’m mainly pimping my procedural adventure ‘Carapace‘ about a giant ant colony.