Nothing's RPG Zone

  Someone in the Goodman games discord server asked about changing DCC to not have monsters roll to attack but instead have player characters roll to defend. Here is how I would do it Convert player character armor class to descending, this means a +2 agility bonus translates to  an unarmored AC 8. Wearing full plate means that you subtract 8 from your AC instead of adding. When a character is attacked they make an armor roll against an attack's difficulty class. Their armor roll modifier is their armor class. Each attack has a difficulty class determined by what the traditional attack modifier is. This is calculated by subtracting the attack bonus from 20.  To succeed at an armor roll the player character must roll under the difficulty class, similar to luck. A natural 20 still means a critical hit and a natural 1 still means a fumble. This system keeps in place ascending monster armor class. If the lack of parity there annoys you you could also conve...

  I recently got done reading the first of the Imaro book by Charles R Saunders. Wonderful book, you should read it. I wrote up two of the spells I saw in the book for use in Dungeon Crawl Classics  If you want a PDF of this it can be found here.

  I recently did a solo hexcrawl of The Wilderlands of High fantasy using Dungeon Crawl Classics. I ran the game one in game day per real life day. I didn't use any special solo rules, I just used standard Basic Expert encounter procedures and a set of playing cards called into the weird. Let me tell you how things went down.   Day 1 Helane wakes in the middle of the woods. Her head pounds, she doesn't know where she is or what she was doing before hand. Unwilling to die in the woods she begins heading north, finding her way into a grasslands with a river heading east. She sets up camp, 4 rations left. Day 2 As the night went on she noticed light's and smoke from a town directly north of her. Not wishing to ford the river she follows it upstream into the hills. There she finds an adventuring party of 7 or so huddled around a wounded beastman. With uncertainty wracking her she makes contact. Realizing she is a wizard they ask her if she is come from the order of...

The first adventure for the upon the northern isthmus campaign setting has been released. I don't post about it much but it does exist a quite extensively in my brain. You can find it as a free blogpost on my itch.io with downloads of a pdf version being available for purchase. https://500poundsofnothing.itch.io/whatliesbelow

  Wide-eyed peasants tell tales of horrible chain encrusted creatures, their flesh bleeding as the metal digs deeper and deeper into them.. Chain devils, they chant. They are not entirely wrong. However the bound is not the denizen of hell, the bound in their victim. The chains themselves are what puppet these corpses. Their purpose is inscrutable but their means are simple, kill and puppet a moral victim, kill as many other mortals as they can and drag them back into the pits of hell. When not puppeting a corpse the chains of hell take on the form of a great serpent. Chains of Hell, Serpent Form (Type II Demon): Init +3; Atk Bladed Bite +10 Melee (1d12+5) or Tearing Tail +6 Melee (1d8+Bleed), Grapple +5 Melee (Bleed); Crit Dn / d6; AC 18 (Metal Nature); HD 5d14; MV 40’; Act 1d30 + 1d16; SP Demonc Traits, Demonic Combatants, Bleed, Variable Nature, Puppeting; SV Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +2; AL C. Demonic Traits: As a Type II Demon a chain of hell can speak, read mind...

  Opening the door they are greeted to a dark staircase leading down to a pool of water below.Yulia lights her lantern as the go into the inky and rotting depths, calling upon her gods to warn her of evil to come they inspect the room. Far above them are sleeping bats, below them a pool of water. The proceed quietly Heading deeper and deeper down the stairs is a door bearing bronze carvings of a tall gaunt figure, typical of the long dead Lilituan empire that built these tombs. Pushing the door open the group is greeted by a massive stone statue of yet another tall figure, carved in grey stone with two red gemstone eyes. Licorice feels the engraving on the base of the statue can just tell on a level she cannot fully explain, she reads aloud “Bow down your timorous worms, bow down before the emperor” Giancarlo heeds this warning, taking a look up and down the statue before attempting to bow, however as his head goes up his eyes lock with the gemstones and he feels himsel...

  Heading back to the Wildling’s Head Inn the crew connected a plan. Licorice and Giancarlo use their combined skills to create a document bearing the official marks of Mr. Radoslav Neville in hopes of bringing it to Adolfo to let them gather more information. Forged documents in hand they make their way back to the Munce Shipyard. Calmly, Adolfo takes out some miniscule reading glasses from his breast pocket, and quickly reads the documents. He puts his glasses back into the pocket. “I know that this isn’t Mr. Neville’s signature.” Giancarlo panics “Of course not, he is a busy man he just had someone else sign in his place” “We don’t take kindly to liars here” Yulia mutters under her breath attempting to call upon her animist gods, hoping to unleash a potent paralysis, but in the city the spirits are weakened, and is unable to do much of anything. “Get your hands off me” Adolfo Snarls. Holly she’s her chance and decks him, hitting him right in the t...

  The Dreaming Lake Chimera To create a chimera roll to determine how many d10 HD it has. Roll 1d8, dice explode. A chimera hasas follows. An initiative bonus equal to HD-3 A 1d20 action die for every two heads, and a 1d14 for each tail it has. It begins with Atk Bite HD+3 Melee (2d4), Claw HD+2 Melee (1d6), Tail Attack HD+1 Melee (1d5) on tier 1 (2 heads, 1 Tail) but for every tier above that it gains +2 to all attack rolls and +1d to all damage dice. 40’ movement. It begins with Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +2 at tier 1, but for every tier above that it gains +3 Fort, +2 Ref, and +1 Will. Saves forced by the chimera are DC 7+HD. Result 1-4 2 Heads, 1 Tail 5-7 2 Heads, 2 Tails 8-10 3 Heads, 2 Tails 11-13 3 Heads, 3 Tails 14-16 4 Heads, 3 Tails 17-19 4 Heads, 4 Tails 20-22 5 Heads, 4 Tails 23-32 5 Heads, 5 Tails 33+ Ever shifting as if all results. 1d20 Heads Baboon: The chimera knows the languages of man. Bear: The chimera’s...

  My friends and I recently got done with a project we called the Eastlake Survey. I created a very bare bones hexcrawl and a small empty bestiary to accompany it. We were to fill out the bestiary and then using then fill out the hex crawl making sense of the world via the monsters that were written. If you would like to do the same thing (something that we all had a lot of fun doing mind you) then you can follow the instructions below. The Monsters Chimera Demon Doppelganger Dragon Dwarf Elemental Giant Ghost Goblin Golem Gnoll Invisible Stalker Lizardman Orc The Map   The Keys Only consult these after you have completed the bestiary. It's given in markdown, this can be opened in any simple text editor or in your markdown editor of choice (I use ghostwriter). The Eastlake Key

 Heading towards the docs the group gets lost. Wishing to find their way quickly Richard begins asking one of the people near them on the street if they know their way. They are only half there and they soon realize they have stumbled their way towards a hidden opium den in the city. Not wishing to get involved in opium at the moment they leave. Wandering some more they find a man wrapped in bandages begging for coin. After they give some they begin asking for directions to the dock and he provides them with ease. Richard tries to lighten the mood with some jokes but it doesn’t work. As they leave the beggar tells the group that he is Swithin Berlioz. Upon arriving at the Munce Shipyard the group heads to the main office building and begins talking to a man behind the counter named Adolfo. After a brief amount of talking, posing as one of the people who had their goods damaged by the loss of the Saint Demelza, it becomes clear that Adolfo is cagey about discussing Mr Nevill...

Mindflayer He sucked off a singular the minions from illumination animation. This is but one of the many paths a man may walk to leave mortality behind.

  Chapter 2: The Hunt for Radoslav Neville Only a few survived the trip back, things from below waited for them. For a month they laid low in the Wildling’s Head Inn. Biding their time. They gathered their strength, Rorschach and Holy began to spar with each other slowly building up their martial prowess, Giancarlo began to study the space inbetween space, Liquorice began using her blindness to run confidence scams, and Yulia began to worship the old heathen ways.  Needing to know who it was that sabotaged their ship they begin to hatch a plan. They will head to the Piskaro Stock Company to see if they could find any information on the manifest of the Saint Demelza. Following the instructions of the trusted barkeep, Kastor, they made their way without incident to the stock company building. Standing outside the looming brick building were two foreigners smelling of brine and perfumey wildflowers. Liquorice, wanting to practice her thieving abilities, bumped...

  I recently put together some zines of various house rules related stuff for my DCC games. It's nice to have all of these various things in print. Below I will detail all of the house rules I run with and their providence if need be. House Rules Free Occupations: The occupations have no lineage associated with them, roll 1d10 with 1-7 being human and the rest being dwarf elf and hobbits. d60 Birth Augurs: expanded birth augurs from the tales from the smoking wyrm issue 8. Expanded Gear: Just lots more gear, taking stuff from astonishing swordsmen and sorcerers of hyperborea, and 5e. Encumbrance: it's basicaly jus the 5e encumbrance system but with mausritter style item slots. Weapon Qualities: Inspired by wolves upon the coast and beyond damage dice. Firearms Rules: Generally inspired by matchlock guns. Hounds: dogs can be used to scare humanoids the way clerics can turn unholy, inspired by Mark Conway. Running and Jogging: A creature can move thrice their movement by ...

- Lots of valleys in this one. I decided to do three this time because the first two were so slim. when the north wind blows through the valley Landsquid, Feral Will be described in the future Monsters.MD conversion. Magpie-faced Init: +3; Atk: As Weapon +2; Crit III/1d6; AC 11 (agility); HD 1d10; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP Shiny Lover; SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +3; AL L Shiny Lover: A Magpie-faced has a 80% chance of picking pockets successfully. It will either steal 1d30 golden coins or a trinket, judge’s choice. The creature on the hill Init: +0; Atk: Gore +8 melee (1d10+4); Crit M/d16; AC 14 (thick fur); HD 10d10; MV 40’; Act 1d24 + 1d20; SP Protective Wind, The Amber Dream; SV Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +6; AL L Protective Wind: Missile attacks made against the creature are made with a -2d penalty. A fumble against the creature means the projectile flies straight and true back towards the attacker, inflicting maximum damage on top of whatever else even occurs...

  Warriors need to have their innards protected. The best way to do that is to wear armor. Here are the common armors in the Birini region. Cotton Unprocessed cotton between fabric, creating a very soft armor that dampens impacts and is hard to pierce. BX 6[13], 50 GP, 100cn DCC +3, -1, –,d6,50 GP Lamellar, Porcelain Pieces of Thrion ceramic overlapping each other creating a hard yet flexible set of armor. BX 4[15], 50 GP, 440cn DCC +4, -3, -5’, d12, 50 GP Leather Hardened animal hide (typically cow but occasionally mammoth) a cheap and solid way to protect the innards. BX: 7[12], 20 GP, 200cn DCC +2, -1,–, d8, 20GP Plate Solid bronze, typically they are made somewhat decoratively, showing gleaming metal abs, cod pieces, other features the warrior wishes to accentuate.  BX 2[17], 500GP, 500cn DCC +7, -7, -10’,1d12, 500GP Scale Small bronze plates overlapping like the protective scales of a serpent...

In September 2022 I tried making a partial armor system for Old School essentials based on the system in The Orcs of Thar book but simplified. Looking back on that while I like the idea I am not sure if using red orcs of thar for the base was the best idea because it had some janky math that I had to massage into place and by the time I had something presentable I had become so used to janky that I didn't realize it was still kind of sub par. Here is my redux.   A pdf download can be found here.

 I’ve watched quite a few westerns* recently and also been watching a friend of mine play a samurai video game so quick draws are on the mind. Here are some rules for quick draws both modern and archaic for a bunch of different games. The core of the system is simple: two people stand looking each other dead in the eyes, weapons sheathed. An opposed check is made, the result of the check is dealt as damage.  Below are some rules for the specific mechanical manifestation of that in a few games I like. CAPERS The two parties make opposed Agility/Guns Reaction Checks. If the higher does not beat the lower by the Level of the dueler, then both suffer damage equal to the result of the check. If the high beats the lower by the Level of the lower, the higher comes off scot free. Dungeon Crawl Classics As above, use a standard attack roll, and use HD instead of Level. *If you get the chance, do watch the good the bad the weird (2008), amazing western that b...

In 5e HD is determined by size. Tiny is 1d4, small 1d6, medium 1d8, large 1d10, huge 1d12, and gargantuan is 1d20. I think that works wells. For those unaware of what those categories include here is a plain english explanation. Tiny = Garden gnome Small = 5 year old Medium = Adult Large = Horse Huge = Elephant Gargantuan = Orca This is all.

Oludammi, the Back-End of the Ass Animal Aspirant, Crocodile Will be described in the future Monsters.MD conversion. Barbarians Will be described in the future Monsters.MD conversion. Death-Cleric Rukh-Vile Init: +2; Atk: Staff +2 Melee (1d4); Crit III/1d10; AC 10; HD 3d8; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP Magic, Grisly Demise: SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +2; AL L Magic: Rukh-Vile can cast the spells Ray of Enfeeblement, Curse, and Spider Web with a result always being 16. There is a 4% chance that it fails with any single cast but may drain the life of any allied barbarian to make sure the spell succeeds. Grisly Demise: Upon death the ground beneath Rukh-Vile opens up, and a serpent of terrible black flames drags him to an underworld unseen.  All ignitable things within 5’ catch fire. The fire deals 1d6 damage each round and naturally extinguishes on a roll of a 1. Keep in mind these are dry grasslands. Ghoul Init: +2; Atk: Claw +3 Melee (1d3+Paralys...

Immediately Nicolas tried coming at the beast with the pitchfork, hoping to keep some distance between him and the creature by keeping it stuck there, Igore comes in with the hammer and bashes it. With unnatural speed it yanks the pitchfork still stabbed into her bringing Nicholas closer. With its neck distending far beyond what one would assume it lunges forward and in a whirl of razor sharp bloody teeth bites the the arm of Nicholas clean off. He goes limp as blood spurts and he falls to the floor. Showing more supernatural speed the feathered woman lunges at Igore, using the terrible minervic claws his corpse is all that remains. Rorschach peaks his head out of the stairs and see the bloody scene, not wishing to waste any time he uses his only shot and it is true and clear straight into the head of the beast. It flies off from the rest of the body, it’s remnants slumped against the feast that was once Igore. Wist Bravado Rorschach declares the beast slain and ushers everyone...

  Here lies the beginning of my conversion of The Bronze Lands setting book to DCC. If you want any actual context as to what this is click here , it's free. This will be an irregularly posted part of my blog as I do the conversion two areas at a time until I eventually get to the unfinished Luke Gearing Monster document. Beyond the Mountains Ancient Serpent, The Init: -14 upon waking, +3 once fully warmed; Atk: Tail Sweep +16 Melee (4d30 + See special), Swallow +14 (See Special) ; Crit M/d30; AC 26 (natural armor); HD 20d20; MV 150’; Act 2d20 + 1d30 + 1d20; SP Impenetrable Scales; SV Fort +30, Ref +15, Will +4; AL N Tail Sweep: Due to the large size of the serpent it can target any number of creatures it wishes within 150’ of it. Swallow: The target must make a Ref save against the Serpent’s attack roll. A successful save allows the target to stay stuck in the Serpent’s mouth. Every round thereafter the victim must make an opposed Strength check (the Serpent is...

  Dramatis Personae Anica The Polnenza Caravan Guard Fuora The Piskaro Sailor Giancarlo Debitore The Clerk Holly The Farmer Igore Chromsfelt The Siberskian Armorer Lenora The Creedhall Student Len The Farmer Licorice Roc The Blind Creedhall Student Nicholas Cantor The Farmer Oleksandr The Hemlock Lumberjack Richard Johnson The Farmer Rorschach O’Gannery The Big Game Hunter Sagittarius The Siberskian Serf Through-perseverance-the-gods-shall-be-restored The Church of Saintly Blood Flagellant aka Percival Yulia The Herder Boarding the ferry from Veil to Piskaro an assorted group boards the Saint Demelza, a steam powered ferry. It is a standard affair, the passengers board the top of the ship as cargo gets loaded below the deck. Fuora the Sailor makes sure that all the tickets are accounted for and familiarizes the passengers with the layout of the ship. The passengers are told of the two lifeboats, when the food for their day-long journey will be served, and where the rooms ar...

  The ambition of empire is eternity. The fact of the matter is that the earth will swallow you. Cities will be buried either under their own rubble or the sands of time but they will be swallowed. Once mighty titans shall rot to their bones. The age of iron ended. Bomb after bomb driving the stake deeper into its heart. Entire cities were left to rot. When you let iron rot you get rust. Rust: That which man abandoned. Leech, lock up, conceal, weaken, age. Anything iron can do, but it must consume something. Not many people would know of rust as a nature. It is only just beginning to bubble up from the dead cities. Only a few circles of rust mages exist, and only they know how to create a rust focus.  Their guiding philosophy is simple; the old world never died, the new world is just its death rattles. They view humanity as beyond saving, the only thing we can hope to do is use what is left to end it quicker.

I will be starting up a Krevborna game in dcc some time soon. If anyone wants to do the same I have made a custom occupation table as well as an appended appendix L.     The occupations should be self explanatory. However the languages probably need some explanation as a few were invented by me for the sake of the game. Kosk: A close relative of krevbornish, spoken within the kosk principalities. Mirshiman: the language spoken in the place the krevbornites called the Mirshimi Islands (what I have renamed the okami islands in my own game[1]) Old Church Bornish: an ecclesiastic language primarily used by the church of saintly blood, fantasy old church slavonic. Old Mudraal: An entirely dead language that was recently retranslated for the first time. Polnenzan: the language spoken by the polnenza people. Ramask: an even older ecclesiastic language, fantasy latin. Rhomlundese: the language spoken in Rhomlund. Siberskian: a nearly extinct but close...

  Last September my long time friend Ciara mentioned the idea of running a stone age fantasy game, and in a discord server I am in, someone started a thread about paleolithic hex crawling so I decided to revisit this idea. Classes such as the fighter need no real adaptations, all that is needed is a change of equipment list and you have someone who is capable of fighting. A magic users would be only slightly more difficult, eschewing the spellbook for various artifacts of power but again very reasonable. After that there is the thief, most skills are broadly applicable such as a backstabing or a climbing sheer surface even in the stone age, however picking locks and reading languages are not skills someone needs at that time.  There is also the cleric and despite interfacing with divinity being a very important part of the game the cleric as presented is more focused on presenting a very medieval christian understanding of what interfacing with the divine means. A majo...

  Banjo Pickin’ Girl (DC 14; 2 minutes): This old song’s power only works its magic if the musician is a woman. Upon a successful performance the musician or a woman of her choosing has an aura of protection about them. Any man who tries to attack them for the next hour suffers a -1d penalty to any attempt to harm her. Long Journey Home (DC 12; 4 minutes): Upon a successful performance the musician knows exactly what direction their home lies. The musician gains a +2 bonus to Personality check if it is made before a storm rolls in. Take This Hammer (DC 14; 2 Minutes): The musician and 2+Personality mod listeners gain a +10’ speed bonus if they are escaping imprisonment, but they suffer 1 stamina damage upon escape.  The Fox (DC 12; 2 Minutes): Either the musician or a listener gains the +1d bonus to their next pick pocket check. This increases to a +2d bonus if the would be thief went hungry. Where Did You Sleep Last Night (DC 13; 4 minutes): The next time the ...