Category: RPGS

Creature seed: Ceteacopters.

When I told my wife about this, she at first thought that lift was accomplished by tying two whales together, and spinning them.  When I pointed out that this was a silly idea — I mean, really, the whales would just start vomiting — she looked at me.  And then she helplessly started to laugh.

Ceteacopters – Google Docs

Ceteacopters

 

History does not record the name of the medieval mage who first looked at a whale, and then at a double samara (otherwise known as a ‘helicopter seed’), and decided that the two should be combined, somehow.  Possibly because History was laughing too hard: first at the concept, and then the exceedingly comic attempts to execute it.  For some reason, Northern European mages and monarchs were obsessed at the idea of making a whale take off, hover in the air, and then touch down in a specific and precise location.  

Continue reading Creature seed: Ceteacopters.

Item Seed: The Apotropaic Ambulatory Groundcover Swamp Beet.

Apotropaic Ambulatory Groundcover Swamp Beet – Google Docs

Blame this.

 

Apotropaic Ambulatory Groundcover Swamp Beet

(Beta vulgaris subsp. palus daemonium occisio)

 

This particular cultivar should be distinguished from non-magical variants of cultivated beetroot. It shares a common ancestor (the sea beet, or Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima), but was specifically bred for reasons besides taste.  In fact, while Swamp Beets are edible they are not palatable; the leaves and root both share an unpleasantly meaty taste and texture.  The juice is also both unpleasant smelling, and tasting — and cooking does not improve the flavor or smell.

Continue reading Item Seed: The Apotropaic Ambulatory Groundcover Swamp Beet.

Rock Island River-Keep [The Day After Ragnarok].

Rock Island River-Keep – Google Docs

Rock Island River-Keep

[The Day After Ragnarok]

 

City: Rock Island, Illinois

Population: 12,000/100,000

Controls: Rock Island County, Rock Island

Government: Strongman

Problem: Serpent Cult

Heroic Opportunity: Trade Goods

City Aspect: Militaristic.

 

Prior to the Serpentfall, the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois made significant amounts of ordinance, howitzers, and small arms.  When news of the collapse hit, base commander Colonel Carl Waldmann immediately ordered the island itself sealed off. As chaos reigned up and down the Mississippi, the arsenal was hastily, then thoroughly fortified.  Three years later, the entire island is a formidable nut to crack.

Continue reading Rock Island River-Keep [The Day After Ragnarok].

Item Seed: Frankenstein Thread.

Frankenstein Thread – Google Docs

Frankenstein Thread

 

Frankenstein Thread is a magically-treated silk thread originally used to patch up Undead, constructs, patchwork golems, and other Abominations of Mad Science or Magic.  It’s very thin, but surprisingly easy to manipulate — and almost impossible to accidentally break.  And it can be used on anything: blood vessels, brains, sinews, limbs, entire torsos. If it can be sewn together, it will be, with no loss of function or bodily fluids.  It can even sew Undead flesh onto a living body without it immediately turning into what necromancers euphemistically call an Unfortunate Incident, although no reputable or ethical necromancer would actually do something like that anyway. At least, not anymore, in this new era where the prejudices and misunderstandings of previous generations no longer holds sway.

Continue reading Item Seed: Frankenstein Thread.

In the Mail: …Alas Vegas.

Well, put me in overshoes and call me a duck.

 *

I do not mean this as a criticism, although I wouldn’t blame James Wallis if he takes it as one: there was a part of me that was never actually expecting to see the Alas Vegas RPG adventure.  When it comes to Kickstarter fulfillments (to mangle Robert Anton Wilson), there are easy ones and hard ones and very hard ones and then there was that damned Alas Vegas Kickstarter.  Wallis had the absolute devil of a time getting this one to the publishers.  So much so that I lost any irritation that I might have had over the delay (I tend to be easygoing about that sort of thing anyway) and instead replaced it with a vast, terrible pity. Continue reading In the Mail: …Alas Vegas.

Leveler (VH) [GURPS 4e]

Leveler (VH) – Google Docs

Leveler (VH) Enchantment

Missiles imbued with this spell seek out individuals with the Destiny advantage or disadvantage. If someone with either passes within 2 hexes of the missile while it is in flight, the missile will curve to strike him.  This attack hits automatically, ignores all DR, and does maximum damage +3 (roll randomly for hit location).  If nobody with Destiny is present, the missile does normal damage for its type and the enchantment is broken.

Continue reading Leveler (VH) [GURPS 4e]

Dashiel, Seraph Angel of Hipsters.

Dashiel, Seraph Angel of Hipsters – Google Docs

Dashiel

Seraph Vassal of Stone

Angel of Hipsters

 

Corporeal Forces: 4 Strength: 8 Agility: 8

Ethereal Forces: 4 Intelligence: 8 Precision: 8

Celestial Forces: 4 Will: 8 Perception: 8

Word-Forces: 2

 

Vessel/6 (human male, Charisma +2)

Skills: Artistry/3 (bookbinding), Chemistry/3, Detect Lies/3, Dodge/4, Electronics/1, Emote/3, Fighting/6, Knowledge/6 (Trivia), Large Weapon/3, Move Silently/3, Musical Instrument/3 (guitar), Savoir-Faire/1, Seduction/3, Singing/3, Stealth/3, Tactics/1.

Songs: Motion (Corporeal/3, Ethereal/4), Numinous Corpus/3 (Claws), Shields (Corporeal/2, Ethereal/3, Celestial/4)

Role: “Cobi” (Bartender/4, Status/3)

Attunements: Seraph of Stone, Cherub of Stone, Ofanite of Stone, Vassal of Stone, Angel of Hipsters

Angel of Hipsters: Dashiel has access to David’s Expanded Rite “Bring more than 20 people together for the first time in a good cause” (In Nomine Superiors 1: War and Honor, page 10).  If the gathering becomes a weekly affair, he gets an extra Essence for attending it. Dashiel can get only one Essence per day this way.
Continue reading Dashiel, Seraph Angel of Hipsters.

Creature Seed: the Icelandic Reedhaunter.

Blame this.

Icelandic Reedhaunter – Google Docs

Icelandic Reedhaunter

 

The Icelandic Reedhaunter is not precisely Undead.  Instead, its favored habitats are swamps saturated with necromantic energy, which means that the bird’s feathers and epidermis are Undead.  The Reedhaunter itself is a thoroughly inoffensive small brown bird from the order Passeriformes that eats death-aspected seeds and zombie insects.  They have, as one might expect, no particular natural predators; but the species’ fertility is very low (as one might also expect).  

Continue reading Creature Seed: the Icelandic Reedhaunter.

In Nomine Revisited: Hurmin, Impudite of Death.

Hurmin, Impudite of Death – Google Docs

Hurmin
Impudite of Death

Corporeal Forces: 3 Strength: 6 Agility: 6
Ethereal Forces: 3 Intelligence: 6 Precision: 6
Celestial Forces: 3 Will: 6 Perception: 6
Vessel/2, +2 Charisma

Skills: Dodge/2, Emote/2, Fighting/4, Lying/2, Seduction/2

Songs: Charm (Celestial/1), Healing (Corporeal/1), Motion (Celestial/1), Numinous Corpus/1 (Fangs), Shields (Corporeal/1)

Attunements: Impudite of Death, Balseraph of Death, Vampiric Kiss

Hurmin has it made. Or so he thinks. Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Hurmin, Impudite of Death.