[Miniature Monday] Bone Guardian

 

Bone Guardians are a custom monster for my homebrew campaign world of Toldara.  The basic concept is a "boss monster" type of creature that can basically blend in with a normal group of skeletons and then the characters will discover this one is much tougher.  My original Delving Deeper stats for the Bone Guardian can be found in a previous post from October of 2021.  I have an updated version of the Bone Guardian but I'm waiting on artwork before I make a new post.

I wasn't happy with this miniature when I finished painting it.  I let it sit for a day or two while I looked online for a different miniature to use for the Bone Guardian.  I decided to go ahead and put a wash on it, and I could always use it for something else if I found a better fit.  The wash made it really pop because there is a real look of decay and age to the miniature now.  I'm still fairly new at painting miniatures and I still have plenty to learn but it's getting easier to figure things out.

[Miniature Monday] Yuan-Ti

I always dug the look of the Yuan-Ti and wanted to include them somewhere in my campaign world.  I did use them as depicted in any modules that they might have appeared in, but I wanted to do something else with them.  I never did come up with anything else for them, but I kept that that in the back of my brain all these years. 

When I decided to start working on my campaign world of Toldara I knew I had to include them.  The main design goal of Toldara was to include stuff inspired by things I enjoy as well as a greatest hits compilation of ideas from my older campaigns.  During a time of holiday shut down I was watching some older movies from my collection that I knew what I had to do with the Yuan-Ti.

I had the Cult of Grax representing one of the forces from one of my old campaigns.  I definitely planned to include them in Toldara.  While watching the 1982 Conan film and seeing Thulsa Doom, the cultists, and the snakes brought all this stuff together.  The Cult of Grax would be a snake cult, their symbol would be a globe with a snake coiled around it, they would have custom Clerics, and this hybrid snake & man figure would represent an especially devoted Graxian Cultist rewarded with dark powers by their dark lord. 

Tangle Tree [Delving Deeper Monster]

 First impression of the Tangle Tree monster for my Toldara campaign; presented in Delving Deeper stats.

Tangle Tree

Number Appearing	Number in Lair	AC	Move Rate	HD	Lair Nearby	Treasure Type	Alignment
1	1	9	n/a	3	n/a	n/a*	C

TANGLE TREES appear to be just another tree found in a woodland area but are actually something much more sinister. A parasite that has turned the tree into a carnivorous creature waiting for unsuspecting prey to stop and rest in the shade provided by its' branches.  The Tangle Tree will slowly inch vines down to wrap around any creature caught unaware. The vines may be avoided on a roll lower than the character's Wisdom score on a D20.  If caught, the vines will begin pulling their prey towards a gaping maw that opens up in the lower section of the trunk area.  This process will take 2+1D6 rounds.  A successful Open Doors check will allow the character to muscle their way free but they may also use weapons to cut away if their arms are free from entanglement.

Tangle Trees are typically solitary in nature but there are rumors of wooded areas that have been completely overran by these foul creatures.  The tree is immobile and it does not have a separate lair.  The creature has no treasure of their own but there is a 25% chance that scattered remnants of past victims may lay strewn about nearby; use whichever MEN entry in the Treasure Type section seems appropriate.  Wise travelers know to inspect any area before stopping for rest. In addition to looking for remains, fire pressed against a tangle tree will cause it to shriek and any chopping or cutting on the limbs will produce blood instead of sap.

Bone Guardian [Delving Deeper Monster]

First impression of a Bone Guardian for my Toldara campaign; presented in Delving Deeper stats.

 Bone Guardian

Number Appearing	Number  In Lair	AC	Move Rate	HD	Lair Nearby	Treasure Type	Alignment
1-3	n/a	7	7	2+1	n/a	n/a	N

BONE GUARDIANS are a stronger version of the skeletons brought forth by a magic-user or anti-cleric; unless stated otherwise in this description, the information in the skeleton entry also applies to Bone Guardians. Similar to skeletons, they can carry shields or wear armor, or both, which would improve their AC to 6 or 5, respectively. Bone Guardians are usually added to a group of normal skeletons as an extra layer of protection or deterrence.

Still Digging DELVING DEEPER

I ordered a copy of Delving Deeper a while back.  I have been reading through different sections of the rulebook and the wheels are turning.  I have checked out many of the retro-clones, neo-clones, and games just barely inspired by one form of D&D or another and I think Delving Deeper may be my favorite of the bunch. It really feels like it is touching on all the bases for me.  This is a little weird because I never owned or played by the OD&D rules.  I started playing with a Holmes Basic set and the AD&D hardbacks.

I will admit that I was a little concerned about the rules using only the Fighter, Magic User, and Cleric classes with Thief being included as an optional class.  I understand the appeal now.  The simplicity has actually made it easier for me to add races to the game.  I have started converting my Toldara information over to the Delving Deeper system and it has been really smooth.  I have one player race ready and in a usable condition and I am working on the other race.  I will post that information soon.  I hope to actually put up a free pdf of all my additions at some point in the future.

Here is a preview of the Slarn character race; it is just the bare bones right now but I will be adding some artwork and the corresponding monster entry to go along with it.

SLARNS are often mistaken for the much more savage Lizardmen but are actually an entirely separate species of reptilian humanoids of roughly human size.  In contrast to the Lizardmen, the jaws of Slarns only protrude about 4 inches from their face and their tail is more of a short nub of approximately six inches.  Slarn typically populate the warmer climates such as jungles and tropical areas but they have been slowly expanding their reach in recent years.  It is not uncommon for Slarn to face a negative initial reaction in urban areas due to their similarity to Lizardmen.

Slarns may advance up to 6th level as a Fighter.  They usually prefer swords or spears as weapons and rely on their natural tough skin for protection since armor for them is very expensive due to the level of customization.  The scaly skin of the Slarn provides them the equivalent AC of Leather armor (7) and improves by 1 at every level after.  Slarns save vs. Breath Weapon as a Fighter 4 levels higher than their current level.  Slarns have a natural ability to blend in to background surfaces similar to the Thief ability to hide in shadows by changing the color of their scales. This is done undetected on a roll of 5-6 on a six-sided die at levels 1 and 2, a roll of 4-6 at levels 3 and 4, and a roll of 3-6 at levels 5 and 6.  Attacking negates any advantage of surprise from that point in the encounter. 

A Little Reorganization & Some Thoughts

I have been pretty satisfied with the posting so far in this new year.  I aim to keep the momentum going and add much more content in the upcoming weeks and months.  Here are a few highlights of the reorganization I have done around here and some thoughts about what I need to do from here on out.

It is almost time to revise the About Me tab again.  The final paragraph could use a little bit of updating but I will probably hold off for a few weeks to see if more changes take place.

The Collected Posts tab at the top of the page is gone.  It had grown bloated and messy so I split up the contents.  There is now a separate tab for Adventures in Fantasy and Perilous Journeys instead; of course, the contents of those tabs correspond to their respective labels.  The other information that was previously contained in the tab is still available on the blog but I just took this opportunity to clean up some of the clutter.  

The Adventures in Fantasy tab will see some expansion with posts covering the AiF Restatement project.

The read through of Perilous Journeys is complete but that is not all I have planned for the game.  Expect posts covering new resources such as magic items, new flaws, new edges, and other resources.    

I have added links to two posts focused on religion under the Toldara tab. The other posts covering religion will be added upon completion.  My goal is to offer something more than "there's a religion that people can join" by giving some actual details.  I fully expect a lot more information to be added to this tab over the next year.  There should be plenty of details on a Swords & Wizardry adaptation to come.  

The Projects & Downloads tab has several things listed that I need to get completed.  In no particular order, the SteamCraft character creation reference and the MicroToldara rules are the two I am aiming to complete first.

That is a pretty good summary of what has taken place so far and what is coming up.  The only other additions I can see that I need to mention are that I am going to start posting Steampunk Saturdays at some point and the Robotech Posts are probably going to start with the extras DVDs. 

It is time to wrap this up and get back to reading posts by all of you...

    

[Toldara] The Revivalists

This post is an expansion of the information originally posted in The Fractured Faith of Humanity.

Fair warning - this post is related to my campaign world Toldara but contains absolutely no game stats whatsoever.  I have always had all of these ideas in my head for expanding the information on the world and one way to do that is to detail some of the religious movements.  In real life, I am absolutely fascinated by religions and comparative religion in particular.  I thought I would combine my interest in real world comparative religions and my role-playing hobby in a series of posts.  This is a first pass but I also wanted to keep the information short to give a general idea of the particular faith in question.  I am sure that there will be additions - symbols, relics, etc. - to this material as time goes by and players interact with these groups.  Just to be clear, this is information for use in a fantasy role-playing game and any similarities between this information and real world groups or beliefs is entirely coincidental and unintentional.  I am just putting down information that seems to fit together for game purposes.

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The Revivalist Church

The Revivalists are a grass roots movement among the faith of humanity seeking a return to an early, more primitive form of their church.  This movement sprung up due to opposition to all the pageantry that has overtaken other forms of the church.  The main focus of their adherents is showing reverence and respect for THE ONE in contrast to formulaic rituals and gaudy ceremony of other faiths.  Their meetings are often held the houses of members if it is a small group or in an open spot outside large enough for the group.

General Membership

Membership is open to all that respect and revere THE ONE to the exclusion of all other gods and spiritual entities.  This faith does not have multiple tiers of membership such as priests, acolytes, etc. with varying levels of responsibility.  There is only one body of general membership among their believers.  It is difficult to get an estimated membership count because although this faith is large it has no central governing body.

Priests and Officials

The Revivalist Church has no priesthood level of membership.  In effect, all members of the faith are considered priests and priestesses of THE ONE.  All are free to speak to the members at any meetings or services.  That does not mean there is no structure to the organization.  A coordinator is elected every year for each local group.  This coordinator ensures that the other members are aware of all meetings and is responsible for passing along other information and coordinating efforts with other groups in other locations.

Other Information

The membership looks to their holy scriptures and the writings by renowned past members of their faith to guide them.  They believe that the other branches of the faith have corrupted the teachings of THE ONE by concentrating on ceremony, grandeur, money, or other areas other than reverence.  They do not encourage animosity to the members of these other branches but try to emphasize that it is not too late to correct their path.

The Revivalists adhere to a book of scripture called THE WORD OF ONE.  It is their belief that this book was recited to early members of the church by THE ONE.  Although there are several translations available, they only acknowledge the original version as authentic and strictly use it for reading and study. 

The Revivalists believe that they are rewarded for a life spent in faithful service and reverence to THE ONE by transitioning to a spiritual paradise plane upon death.  All who enter will have restored perfect bodies, live in harmony, and want for nothing.

Currently, there is much debate among the membership about the status of non-humans.  Many believe that THE ONE will reward all sincere followers of any race into paradise.  Others believe that non-humans will be admitted to paradise upon the basis of how well they satisfied the requirements of their own respective religion.  A small faction of the faith believes that just as non-humans are separate from humans in life then they will also be separate from humans in paradise.  Without a central governing body there is no official answer on this topic and Revivalists are left to study their scriptures for the answer. .  

[Toldara] The Fractured Faith of Humanity

Reading over the D&D Basic Rules has got my creative juices flowing.  I had a few ideas about religion in my campaign world of Toldara but I never got past a few notes here and there.  I tapped into that creativity and was able to jot down more than just a few simple notes.  This is just an initial attempt at detailing the most practiced human faith of Toldara but this is a good starting point for expanding at some point later in time.

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The faiths and religious movements of Toldara are just as varied as our modern world.  Even among members of different faiths there are often shared themes, doctrines, and other similarities.  The religion with the highest number of adherents when doctrinal differences are ignored is the Fractured Faith of humanity.  Even when each denomination is considered separately the number of followers is still rather large.

The Fractured Faith

The Fractured Faith began as one movement, The Faith, among the various areas of humanity in the First Age.  Towards the end of that age and on into the Second Age, The Faith began splintering due to regional differences and then various doctrinal differences began surfacing.  Eventually, these disagreements led to new factions to splinter off from the original church.  

Many of the religious paths share several similarities – holy books, holy sites, practices, holidays, etc. – but are separated by some prominent differences such as prophets, holy day, translations, and even more areas.  Nearly all of the various factions in the Fractured Faith are in complete agreement about the following subjects:

• A belief in one god responsible for the act of primary creation.
• The adherents often refer to this god as "The One" or "The Creator".
• They believe the name and nature of The One is incomprehensible.
• The One uses minor gods to interact with the mortals.
•  Approximately one-third of the minor gods were led in a rebellion by Grax to overthrow The One.

Some of the more prominent divisions in the Fractured Faith include:

The Church of All Paths: This faction believes that no single fragment of the old faith has all of the answers so they look to the teachings and beliefs of all the various factions of the Fractured Faith to guide their spirituality.

The Scripturists: This faction believes that only the words of the Holy Scriptures should be their guide in determining matters of the faith.  Simply put, only scripture can guide or lead to understanding of other passages; the words of men may be able to enhance but can never supersede the words of The One.

The Purists: This faction believes that only The One is worthy of worship or adoration and do not recognize the minor gods as anything other than something comparable to angels.

The Revivalists: This faction is an attempt to revive the early form of the religion in the modern era. 

The Revelationists: This faction believes that a prophet who receives revelation from The One guides their sect.  These teachings and revelations are gathered together and added to their Holy Scriptures as time passes. A new prophet is selected when the current prophet dies.  There has been several disagreements on who the selection of the new prophet at times.

Church of Grax: This is the movement that has sided with the rebellious minor gods and they work in direct opposition to the Fractured Faith.

Every human city has a temple or meeting place for one of these factions.  It is very common for the larger cities to have several of these sects represented in their community.  Some of the factions are peaceful towards each other while others are very nearly hostile when it comes to interacting with the others.  Obviously, the Church of Grax is in direct opposition to all of the other groups.

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01/10/2015 - Changed "The Combined Path" to "The Church of All Paths" and "The Orthodox Branch" to "The Revivalists".

[Toldara Tuesday] Quick Outline of the Halberd Fantasy Roleplaying (USR) Adaptation

I planned on getting to this sooner but the action at work really picked up so I was a tad bit too busy to dedicate the time to blogging; it just came down to simple priorities and the blog had to wait.  I am starting off the Toldara conversions with a look at the Halberd Fantasy Roleplaying game of the USR line of products.  I am planning on a document that can be used in tandem with the Halberd rules for play in my campaign world of Toldara.  Of course, there will be some tweaks and customization here and there because I just can not seem to leave any rules system alone.  The following is just a quick outline of subjects to cover and is - as always - subject to change.

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Cover: An illustration showing a combat scene involving a party of adventurers and a squad of orcs.

Credits: Exactly what is says – author, artist, etc.

Forward: Some thoughts on Halberd, USR, and Toldara.

Toldara at a Glance: A general overview of the campaign setting with several of the more well-known locations mentioned.

Character Creation: This section will guide the player through the process of creating a character for play in the world of Toldara.  Any restrictions or additions to the standard list of archetypes and races available in the Halberd rules will be detailed in this section.

Money: Information about the coins of Toldara.

Organizations: Information about groups that take an active role in the world of Toldara.  The PCs may encounter them, join them, or become rivals with them.

Map: a map of the world of Toldara.

Rumors & Legends: Common rumors and legends that will work as adventure seeds.

Adversaries: Several monsters and foes for encounters.

Treasures: Magical Equipment and Artifacts to be discovered. 

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In the next post, I will start crunching some numbers and give some specific details...

[Toldara Tuesday] Further Thoughts on Game Systems

I am using one more post to gather my thoughts on the various game systems I am using to play-test Toldara material. In the next post I will start presenting statistics, write ups, and information for the races in these various systems. I am not sure if I will dedicate each post to looking at a single race in all of the game systems - may split that into two posts if it is large enough - or devote each post to just a single game system with all of the Toldara races.  

Back to the Dungeon! RPG

For anyone that does not know, Back to the Dungeon! RPG is a neo-clone game that is based on familiar terms and concepts but introduces alterations and additions to the game system instead of trying to faithfully emulate a certain rules set from the past of the hobby.  This version is the most complete and up to date next to the MicroLite 20 version.  The main parts that are missing include the basic world information along with a race and class or two; some copying and pasting will fix most of the other information that needs updating.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG

My original concept of Toldara actually lines up quite well with the feel and tone of the typical DCC RPG experience.  Toldara was always pictured as fantasy with a little bit of gonzo mixed in.  I have tinkered around with this rules set a little bit but I have very little practical experience using it.  I am highly intrigued by the possibilities and will at least give it an honest shot.  I may have to consult some people with much more experience with the system to assist me in completing the information.
  

Halberd Fantasy Role Playing

This is another rules-lite entry on the list.  I do not have a lot of experience with systems such as this but I am highly interested in applying the fast and loose nature of the game to Toldara.  The older I get, the more I am interested in playing than arguing about the rules so Halberd looks pretty great to me.  The write ups used in this game are easy and simple to use so it should progress pretty quickly in initial development.

MicroLite 20

This will probably be the first handbook released for the Toldara campaign for no other reason than it is the most complete.

I am really considering doing a dual-stat version with another OGL-based system. Maybe a triple-stat presentation could even work if it was done properly.  I will have to double check but I think all of them have no restrictions against using their game statistics with other game statistics statistics in the same product.  It should be relatively easy to present each new race or class with all three sets of statistics on just one page.  I will be investigating this further...    

Perilous Journeys

This version of the campaign material write up will be somewhat more challenging than the others.  Unlike the OGL-based systems, Perilous Journeys is a skill-based percentile system without classes/levels and the list of player character races is quite a bit different from the traditional fantasy offerings; I would also have to look at the races that are not available in Toldara and decide what to do about them.  It will be more work but it will be worth it to see how things convert over.

Swords & Wizardry: Complete
I started the list with an OGL-based game and I am ending the list with an OGL-based game.  Even though I have the B/X rules I really dig the Swords & Wizardry: Complete rules because it feels like a match for the complexity level of the mixed together D&D/AD&D rules we used in our youth in my old gaming group. Using these rules would also allow easier implementation of a dual-stat or triple-stat handbook.

Look for some game statistics and write ups in the next installment.  I am also going to experiment around with the dual or triple-stat format and see how it looks.  More later... 

[Toldara Tuesday] Some Preliminary Plans Revealed

This post has a list of observations I have made in regards to rebooting my campaign world of Toldara. The information here will serve as an outline and will give an indication of what to expect in future posts concerning Toldara.

Game System(s)
Shortly after the release of the 3E core books I started making notes for my campaign world; it was not long before I decided to share the design duties with my cousin and we added more information as time passed. We made the transition to 3.5E and eventually went to Pathfinder. Alex has done most of the tweaking in both of those systems.  I enjoy Pathfinder but I have gotten way behind on the releases and I also want to experiment with using some other systems to represent the world of Toldara.  I am leaving the future Pathfinder development of Toldara in the very capable hands of Alex.  The systems I am currently experimenting with include the following:

Back to the Dungeon! RPG : A neo-clone system that I have contributed material to the design.  It only seems fitting that I should write a supplement.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG: For no other reason than the funky aspect of the game design.

Halberd Fantasy Role Playing (USR) - I like the fast and loose nature of the rules and I am just curious how it will handle stuff originally done in another crunchier system.

MicroLite 20: This greatly condensed version of the open gaming fantasy rules is of great interest to me. The "MicroToldara" rules are basically complete.  All I really need to do is add the Five F background system, a few classes, and then the basic world details.  This may very well be the first handbook completed.

Perilous Journeys: A skill-based fantasy game that is not a class & level system but is the spiritual successor to Lejendary Adventures.

Swords & Wizardry-Complete: I dig it because the complexity level feels about right on a match for the mash up of AD&D/D&D we used to play back in the day.  Hell, I might just do it all in B/X format...

I realize that there are six systems mentioned above for play-testing purposes.  What I aim to do is something similar to the character funnel from DCC RPG except through the process of tinkering with the different game systems I will be able to determine which rules set best suits my game play tastes.

Races

The world of Toldara has always added four races to the core races in the rules - Anshus (a humanoid feline-like race), Karnin (a humanoid canine-like race), Oranian (a bird-like winged race), and the Slarn (a lizard-like race) - in addition to any changes to the core races.  I have been thinking about the races lately with an eyes towards trimming the list a bit.

I know that Alex added Goblins to the list of available player races in his Pathfinder campaign.  I have done the same in the MicroToldara version.  I am not sure the Goblin will be an option in any other game systems.

I am starting to wonder if any of the traditionally core races should be limited or excluded from the campaign. If one of them were excluded then one of the new races could take the place of the excluded race.  I am also considering moving the Oranians to NPC status due to their wings and flying ability.  

Map

After getting some feedback and looking around at other maps on blogs or other sites I have decided to start over on the map.  I think the best way to accomplish that is by starting small and then expanding outward. The player characters will begin as novices so they really will not be travelling far for adventure.  The simple truth is that I do not need the entire world mapped out from the start.  A new map with the elements I want to keep will be completed shortly.  As the world information grows through playing in the world then the map will increase in size.

Starting Location

Of course, the map will start out with the town and the surrounding area.  I am going to keep it a limited area with just a short distance in each direction mapped out.  Basically, a size that will be big enough for the novice adventurers to explore with hints at a larger, more dangerous world outside of those boundaries. Things I want to use include the following:

town: big enough that it offers a useful selection of equipment and adventure opportunities but some of the "better" stuff is available in larger cities.  I am not shooting for ultra-realism but I want it to represent a decent size place with a large enough population where not everybody is acquainted with everybody and there are still surprises here and there.

caravans: the caravans will need guards due to raiders and this will provide some adventure opportunity in itself.
  
mine: the nearby mine will need laborers and will also be the nearest dungeon for the characters after some trouble starts up inside.

mountains: there will be some mountains nearby with caves scattered among them and if the characters go far enough into the mountains who knows what sorts of adventure awaits?

Other

Some of the topics I am working on include a history of the realm and surrounding areas, a list of deities, some organizations, attempting to make coins unique instead of generic gold/silver/etc., and making notes as I think up other stuff.

More later....   

[Toldara Tuesday] A Fresh Start

This is the first post for the Toldara Tuesday feature I am adding to this blog.  I think you will find the concept easy to follow.  Any post with the "Toldara Tuesday" label will be connected to my home campaign world of Toldara in some way or another.  It could be presenting one of the new character races or monsters in a different rules system, a map related to a specific region, details on some part of the culture, or anything from a host of other options.  I had originally intended the first Toldara Tuesday post to feature some sort of rules information but I decided to start at the beginning.  I am simply going to state my ideas and goals moving forward with this post and then delve into the actual game design or modification beginning with the next post.  

I have been tinkering with the details of my campaign world, Toldara, for several years now.  Things have come and gone with each new update.  I am currently between groups - and I have been for some time - but I think now is the perfect time to do a reboot on the world.  The first thing I am going to do is let Alex handle the Pathfinder version.  He has much more experience with that system than I do.  I still think Pathfinder is great but he has a much better handle on the system.  I am going to focus my efforts toward assembling several less rules heavy versions of the player material.  I believe that three versions of the information will be the best way to go.  I will most likely use U.S.R. for a really quick set up.  I am currently working on a conversion to the Perilous Journeys skill based percentile system and a Back to the Dungeon version.  With just a little effort the MicroLite version could be complete.  Do not be surprised if a Dungeon Crawl Classics or a Swords & Wizardry: Complete version pops up also.  I will discover the two or three systems I prefer to represent Toldara by Tinkering with them.

I have gotten some feedback on my map and will be making some changes.  I will also be using some of the resources pointed out on ars phantasia in various posts.  My plan is simple with all of this.  I am going to keep what I like from the previous version and update everything else to better fit my concept of the campaign world.  It will still be based on my old campaigns with new stuff thrown in also.  All I have to do is find a group to help test out the stuff.  More later....