Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Dungeon Crawl Classics Chaotic Cleric Solo Campaign Set Up

 You have been divinely chosen to be the first Warrior Prophet of an unknown god of chaos.

What god chose you?  Roll d666:

Form

  1. Serpentine
    1. Terrestrial snake but god-sized
    2. Wingless dragon
    3. Flying eel
    4. Half-human, half-snake
    5. Three-headed hydra
    6. Rainbow serpent
  2. Human
    1. Glistening human perfection
    2. Crone/withered old man
    3. Reflection of the viewer
    4. All of humanity in a single vessel
    5. An infant, an adult, and an elder speaking as one
    6. Fetus in the womb of the sleeping mother
  3. Human with...
    1. More limbs than you can count
    2. Their head on backwards
    3. No discernible features
    4. Hands of flame
    5. The head of an animal (your choice)
    6. Eyes and mouth sewn shut, wrists and ankles bound
  4. Monstrous
    1. Swarm of biting insects
    2. Four-armed ape-man
    3. Box jellyfish
    4. Man-bat
    5. Manticore
    6. Chimera
  5. Oddity
    1. Carved, wooden mask
    2. Marble statue, twice human size, it changes positions when you blink
    3. A marionette and the hands that pull the strings
    4. A single, large eyeball with optical nerve
    5. Polished metal sphere that reflects everything but you
    6. A burning wheel
  6. Ephemeral
    1. Fog/mist
    2. Shadow
    3. Blurred reflections in mirrors
    4. Constantly shifting
    5. Just a voice
    6. Unknowable

Domain

  1. Nightmares
  2. Chance
  3. Darkness
  4. Trickery
  5. Decay
  6. Secret Knowledge

What Lawful god are you abandoning for your new Chaotic god? Roll d6

Lawful gods

  1. Narini, goddess of justice and mercy
  2. Terasec, god of valor
  3. Mír, god of peace
  4. Tav Izuba, god of the sun
  5. Remsia, goddess of time
  6. Kadir, goddess of fate

What quest has your new deity set your efforts towards? Roll d6

  1. Retrieve an ancient holy relic being held by your former faith.
  2. Steal and destroy an ancient holy relic held sacred by your former faith.
  3. Clear an old ruined temple of monsters and convert it to a temple for your new god.
  4. Go on a pilgrimage through the wild lands to find a holy site.
  5. Go on a vision quest to rid yourself of your remaining spiritual connection to your former faith.
  6. Sacrifice 10 hit dice of non humanoid monsters to your new god before the next full moon.

Monday, May 29, 2023

Boxed Urtle - A Mörk Borg monster

Boxed Urtle

HP - | Morale - | Armor - | Attack - (see below)

Boxed Urtle's love to surprise unsuspecting adventures by hiding in barrels, crates, and especially chests and leaping out to attack when their container is opened. Boxed Urtle's posses the ability to transform their physical appearance based on psychic fear energy they have absorbed from their victims.

To determine the form and stats of a Boxed Urtle roll d666 on the table bellow. (To highlight the different forms a Boxed Urtle can take the table below is a d166. Future posts will contain the rest of the chart.)

  1. Humanoid
    1. Mostly Human | HP 6 | Morale 6 | Armor: none | Attack: fists d4
      1. Weeping blood | morale: +2
      2. All hairs are thin tentacles | HP: +2 | special: DR12 Agility to avoid being grappled, DR12 Strength to escape grapple
      3. Upside-down face | morale: +2
      4. Bloated joints | HP: +4 | armor: bloated joints -d2
      5. An ex-lover with fangs and claws | attack: fang, claws d8
      6. Roll Twice
    2. Woman giving birth to... | HP 4 | Morale - | Armor: none | Attack: -
      1. Roll on the Humanoid/Mostly Human table above: it's a baby version of that
      2. Nothing | special: after giving birth the woman attacks with the stats of a Scvm
      3. The next Misery | special: activate the next Misery
      4. 10,000 teeth | special: the 10,000 Teeth immediately begins to devour the woman, she encourages her child
      5. Your doppelgänger | special: an exact replica (stats and gear included) of whomever opened the container is birthed and attacks their counterpart
      6. A woman giving birth to... | special: roll another entry on the Boxed Urtle table to determine what this second woman is giving birth to
    3. A child-sized thing | HP 4 | Morale 6 | Armor: none | Attack: fists d4
      1. Giggles and razor blades | morale +2 | attack: razor d6
      2. Bulging, too big eyes and the voice of an angle | special: when the child-sized thing begins to sing all within hearing must make a DR14 Presence test or become enthralled; DR14 Presence test to brake enchantment
      3. Calls you mommy, needs to feed | special: the child-sized thing bonds to whomever opened the container, DR14 Presence test to avoid reciprocating the bond
      4. Carries an undead doll for comfort | the undead doll protects the child-sized thing
      5. A baby troll | like troll but HP and damage are halved (HP 16 | Fist d6)
      6. It's you in your youth, before all your poor decisions | special: the child-sized thing is the adolescent version of whomever opened the container longing for the guidance the adult version never received
    4. Large, disembodied floating human head | HP 5 | Morale 7 | Armor: none | Attack: headbutt d4 
      1. With more teeth than can fit | attack: bite d6
      2. That foretells your doom | special: the head speaks the downfall of whomever opened the container, DR14 Presence test to avoid existential crisis
      3. That knows three random unclean spells | morale: +2
      4. That screams | attack: sonic blast d8 + special: blast causes severe ear ringing, cannot hear for d6+3 minutes
      5. That looks deep into your eyes; are you the head now? | special: whomever opened the container must pass a DR14 Presence test or they cannot tell the difference between themself and the head; this lasts until the head is destroyed
      6. That quickly floats out of reach and watches you forever more | special: the head forever follows and watches whomever opened the container
    5. Charred goblin | HP 6 | Morale 7 | Ropy skin -d2 | Knife d4
      1. Oozing wounds | HP: -2 | morale: +3
      2. Stomach an open pit
      3. Flames for a head | HP +4 | special: DR12 Agility test or catch on fire
      4. Endless crying and screaming
      5. Cracking, popping bones
      6. Dead | special: the goblin is dead
    6. Human with extra parts | HP 6 | Morale 6 | Armor: none | Attack: fists d4
      1. Extra arms | special: attacks twice
      2. Extra legs | attack: kick d4
      3. Extra heads
      4. Extra mouths | attack: bite d6 | special: attacks twice
      5. Extra bones | armor: so many bones -d4
      6. Roll twice

 

Friday, May 26, 2023

Fungalmancer - A Mishka County faction for Mausritter

Many years ago, in a bid to save his family from a terrible plague, a mouse made a deal with the Fairy Queen - health and safety through a time of turmoil in exchange for the next mature crop to grow on the mouse's farm. For the next two years every root and berry the mouse planted spoiled in the dirt and rotted on the vine. In the mean time the mouse and his wife prepared to welcome their third child into the world. On the day of the birth the Fairy Queen arrived demanding her due, the next mature crop - the baby. When the mouse refused to give up the child the Fairy Queen cursed the mouse's family, turning them into mushrooms.

In an attempt to save his family, the mouse committed his entire being to mastering fungus magic in the hope that it would be able to restore their forms. The mouse even bartered his soul to Myxalias, the demon lord of fungus. Powerful as he has become he has been unable to break the curse of the Fairy Queen.

The fungalmancer has now bend all of his will and energy to exacting revenge on the Fairy Queen. The fungalmancer has his sanctum in a damp cave system found in the dark woods.

Game Information

Resources

  • Fungus magic
  • A hidden sanctum
  • An endless army of zombie ants
  • A vast mycelium network that allows for auditory spying all across Mishka County

Goals

  • To resurrect Myxalias, the demon lord of fungus
  • To exact revenge on the Fairy Queen

Unknown facts

  • The fungalmancer's true name

 What might he want from the PCs?

  • Infiltrate the Materialists and steal powerful artifacts and technologies for battling the Fairy Queen.
  • Infiltrate the fairy realm to gain knowledge for battling the Fairy Queen.

 

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Mausritter Solo Campaign Set Up

To set up your Mausritter campaign first use your preferred method to create your mouse. Then determine your special starting item by rolling a d4 and d2 on the Starting Items table. Finally, learn about the four factions and your relationship to them by rolling on the Factions Link to PC tables unless told otherwise.

(The factions presented here are modified versions of factions from a Mausritter campaign setting I have been running. Some of the factions can be found elsewhere on this blog.)

Starting Items

  1. Raven feather - obtained when it fell from the sky.
    1. Day Raven feather - allows communication with spirits and ghost as well as a psychic connection to the day raven - feels like a feather, looks like glass.
    2. Night Raven feather - allows you to listen to the cosmic song that drifts through the ether, giving you hint and portents of events to come (begin each session by using an oracle of your choice to receive a cryptic vision of the future) as well as a psychic connection to the night raven - looks like the night sky, filled with stars and galaxies.
  2. Lock of the fairy queen’s hair - found in your paw upon waking, the fairy queen has marked you for conquest and marriage. Regardless of the means by which you attempt to rid yourself of the lock it returns to your palm every morning.
    1. The fairy queen visits you in your dreams, cryptically revealing secrets to you, this is her method of courting (begin each session describing last nights dream using an oracle of your choice to determine the revelations being given to you).
    2. Allows you to detect were reality thins and allows for traversal of the fairy pathways.
  3. Fungus of a Zombie Ant - infected by the fungus after a run in with a zombie ant.
    1. Allows you to mentally connect with and control any other zombie ants you come across but slowly makes you sicker and sicker without healing.
    2. Allows you to commune with local mycelium networks though the information you can get from them is received in vague images; over time your body becomes covered with fungus and mushrooms without healing.
  4. Soul Slip Amulet - allows you to astral project, Spiritualists have been unable to make it work.
    1. Given to you by a relative, a high ranking Seer among the Spiritualists, after a dream foretold of you being able to use it - you are now revered by the Spiritualists.
    2. You stole it, you couldn’t help it, the dreams were persistent, breaking their way into you waking mind - you are now hunted by the Spiritualists.

Factions

Faction 1

Ravens

A mated pair of ravens that have men cursed by the fairy queen so that one raven is in astral form during the day and the other is in astral form at night. This curse has prevented the ravens of preforming their duties as psychopomps (creatures whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife).

If your Starting Item is a Raven Feather do not roll on the Raven Link to PC table.

Wants

To break the curse and resume their duties.

Link to PC

  1. The Ravens have seen something reflected in your soul.
    1. The something is special, they believe you are the one to help break the curse.
    2. The something is dark, they fear you may bring an end to it all.
  2. The Ravens recognize your soul as one they had previously lead to the afterlife.
    1. This is surprising to them.
    2. They have been expecting you.
  3. You carry within you a second soul.
    1. You are the foretold of Soul Riders, one soul for each Raven.
    2. You are the foretold of Soul Reavers, one soul for each Raven.

Faction 2

Fairy Queendom

The realm of the fairy kingdom is buffered from the mortal plane by the spirit plane. There are points where reality in all three planes thin allowing travel between the realms. It is the fairy queen's hope that with the ravens unable to perform their duties that the spirit realm will overload with souls and fall apart.

 If your Starting Item is a lock of the Fairy Queen’s hair do not roll on the Fairy Kingdom Link to PC table.

Wants

To break down the spirit plane and invade the mortal plan in full force.

Link to PC

  1. You have been taunted by fairies your whole life, when you were young it annoying but harmless, items moved or missing and such, but as of late it has become scary and close to deadly - no one believes you when you say it’s fairies.
    1. An ancestor of yours made a deal with the fairies that the seventh born of the seventh generation would pay for their blood debt and your time is running short to save yourself.
    2. An older sibling unwittingly put a fairy curse upon because of the jealousy they felt after you were born.
  2. You once saved the life of a fairy who was lost in your realm.
    1. The fairy has been following you around ever since “helping” you in small ways. 
    2. The fairy professed their love for you but when rejected has been following you around causing small annoyances.
  3. You carry within you a second soul.
    1. If the fairy queen can consume one soul she will be able to walk in both worlds simultaneously.
    2. The extra soul you carry is that of the long lost fairy prince, heir to the fairy kingdom - the queen is not sure she is happy about the return.

Faction 3

Fungalmancer

Years ago the fairy queen placed a curse upon the fungalmancers family (the was before they were a fungalmancer) turning them all into mushrooms. This prompted the mouse to master the art of fungus magic in an attempt to reclaim their family. It did not work. The fungalmancer has their sanctum in a damp cave system found in the dark woods.

If your Starting Item is the fungus of a zombie ant do not roll on the Fungalmancer Link to PC table.

Wants

To enact revenge upon the fairy queen.

Link to PC

  1. You were mysteriously born from a mushroom.
    1. You were discovered by the fungalmancer who found a family to raise you. He has been watching you from afar your whole life. You know none of this. Yet.
    2. You were discovered and raised by a single mouse. You know you were found among some mushroom but little more.
  2. The over abundance of mushroom and fungal growth in the forest has caused alarm among the local populace. Strange sights and sounds at night has caused a near panic.
    1. You have been asked/hired to look into the matter.
    2. Two young mice with more courage than sense have gone missing after venturing into the woods. One of those mice is your cousin. Your aunt and uncle are very worried.
  3. Rumors have spread for years that a mouse powerful magic lives deep within the forest.
    1. You have vowed to find this mouse to become their apprentice.
    2. You are certain that the disappearance of your older sister can be laid at the feed of this mouse and you have vowed to bring her back.

Faction 4

Spiritualists

A pseudo religious group that believes living things are vessels for souls. Spiritualist ritual includes eating hallucinogenic mushrooms and/or fungus infected grains that help the user see into the spirit realm. This practice is looked down upon by both Materialists and Naturalists (see below for further information).

If your Starting Item is the Soul Slip amulet do not roll on the Spiritualist Link to PC table.

Wants

To discover proof of their beliefs.

Link to PC

  1. You were raised as a Spiritualist.
    1. Your lifelong commitment and faith has allowed you rise high in the ranks of the organization.
    2. In recent years you have been suffering a crisis of faith 
  2.  You were raised as a Materialist.
    1. You find this spiritualist stuff silly to the point of ridicule.
    2. You hold a high position in the local Materialist organization.
  3. You were raised as a Naturalist, in fact your father is a high ranking Seer.
    1. You secretly have a stash of human made objects.
    2. You have secretly participated in Spiritualist hallucinogen rituals.

Materialists venerate human made objects, believing that the possession, understanding, and use of those objects raise all mouse-kind to greatness. | Naturalists rebuke the use of human made objects, worshiping instead the spirits of wind, water, and stone.

Optional Approaches

There is no particular reason this campaign set up has to be played in the Mausritter universe, it can easily be moved to most any fantasy setting. You will want to change the nature of the Materialists and perhaps the Naturalists. You made also want to change the Ravens to a mated pair of Rocs.

Monday, May 22, 2023

Crocadodle - A Mörk Borg monster

Crocadodle

HP 20 | Morale 9 | Scaly hide -d4 | Bite d8 Tail d6

Long legged, galloping crocodile. Extremely difficult to tame and break but once done so a crocadodle can be saddled and ridden. If one manages to bond with a newly born crocadodle, which usually means stealing an egg from a protective mated pair and getting it to hatch, they will have a companion for life. A crocadodle reaches maturity after 10-12 years and has a lifespan of about 65 years.

Art by Todd Marshall/National Geographic

Friday, May 19, 2023

Spiritualists - A Mishka County faction for Mausritter

Spiritualists believe all living things are vessels for souls, souls that are separate entities from the bodies they inhabit. It is also believed that souls not currently attached to a body in the physical realm live in the spirit realm and that the spirit realm lies between the physical realm and the realm of the fairies.

Spiritualist ritual includes eating hallucinogenic mushrooms and/or fungus infected grains that help the user see into the spirit realm. This practice is looked down upon by both Materialists and Naturalists.

Spiritualist hierarchy is extremely loose. There are Seers, ranking officials in the organization, and Seekers, any mouse that has committed to following the values of the organization. Some will refer to the head of the Spiritualists, currently Seer Bartholomew, as High Seer but this is not an official title.

Spiritualism is the least followed of Mishka Counties philosophical beliefs with approximately 10% of the mouse population as adherents.

Game Information

Resources

  • Not much

Goals

  • Capture a faery/ghost/astral projection or other super dimensional entity
  • Collect evidence to prove their beliefs

Unknown facts

  • It’s all true.

What might they want from the PCs?

  • Help with collecting evidence or capturing faeries/ghosts/astral projections.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

A method for beginning solo campaigns

I am bad at starting solo games so I have been working on prescriptive method to kick off a campaign. The basics of the system is that I create four factions with goals and agendas that are at odds with each other then for each factions create a random table of four possible ways that faction might have a direct impact or connection to my PC, which I roll on randomly. For each possible connection there are even more possibilities to roll for.

Monday, May 15, 2023

Hammerhead Frog - A Mörk Borg monster

Hammerhead Frog

HP 12 | Morale 12 | Thick hide and metal head -d4 |Smash d8

A frog the size of a wild boar with the head of a metal claw-hammer.

Ambush: Hammerhead frogs are ambush predators, hiding in the shallows of swamps, lakes, and rivers and leaping upwards of 20 feet to smash its head on unsuspecting prey.

Frenzy: When a hammerhead frog feel threatened it whips into a state of frenzy, hopping around erratically and smashing its head indiscriminately.

Friday, May 12, 2023

Naturalists - A Mishka County faction for Mausritter

Naturalists rebuke the use of human made objects, worshiping instead the spirits of wind, water, and stone. Naturalists are vocal about their belief. A member of the Naturalists can be found proselytizing nearly anywhere there are other mice. They also attach great importance to cycles such as lunar, seasonal, astrological, and even life and death.

Six generations ago the mouse now only known as The Prophet Yellow Moon was guided by the spirits of wind, water, and stone to reject human made objects and to seek oneness with the natural world. Since then the Naturalist have been lead by six successive cycles of The Prophet. These cycles are not seen as reincarnations of The Prophet but rather an unbroken continuation of the will of Yellow Moon. As such the current leader of the Naturalists is known as The Prophet Yellow Moon, Cycle VI.

Known only to The Prophet and their most trusted inner circle is the true prophecy relayed by the spirits, which is thus: the purification of the natural world from the infection that is Humans will be heralded by the spirits of wind, water, and stone finding corporeal forms. The Prophet Yellow Moon, Cycle VI and their council believe they have discovered two of the three incarnate forms, though these forms have yet to achieve ascendancy.

The spirit of wind is the High Priest of Wind and Shadow, leader of the Storm Crows. The spirit of water is Plav-Zaba, a rare blue bullfrog. The existence of Plav-Zaba is known to very few outside of the Bullfrog Kingdom.

Game Information


Resources

  • Unwavering Faith
  • The Prophecy


Goals

  • Convert many followers
  • Aid in the ascension of  Plav-Zaba, the blue bullfrog
  • Aid the High Priest of Wind and Shadow (leader of the Storm Crows) in their ascension
  • Find the nature spirit of stone


Secrets

  • The Prophecy of Purification.
  • The knowledge of Plav-Zaba.


What they may want from the PCs

  • The recovery of ancient mouse relics to aid the spirits to ascendancy
  • Gather information that will lead to the discovery of the spirit of stone
  • To convert to Naturalism

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Spine Wurm - A Mörk Borg monster

Spine Wurm

HP 2 | Morale 6 | Made of bone -d2 | Bite d3

A human skull and spine that slithers around as a snake.

Quiver: Spine wurms are generally found in groups (quivers) of 10 to 15 wurms.

Dungeon Crawl Classics Chaotic Cleric Solo Campaign Set Up

 You have been divinely chosen to be the first Warrior Prophet of an unknown god of chaos. What god chose you?  Roll d666: Form Serpentine T...