Street Toughs and Vertical Slums

Skerples said you can judge a system by its Fighters. With that said here's the version of the GLOG fighter I made for David Lewis Johnson's Gathox setting.

Class: Street Tough

A: A Limb for Your Life
B: Tats
C: Intimidate
D: Dirty Fighting, Cleave

You gain+1 HP for every Street Tough Template you possess.

A Limb for Your Life
Once per day you can reduce incoming damage by 1d12. If you choose to sacrifice an arm or a leg you can reduce the damage by 12 points instead of 1d12. If instead you sacrifice a small sensory organ, such as an eye or finger, you reduce the damage by 6 points.

Tats
Each time you obtain a total of 10, 20, 30, and 50 kills with a weapon type, you gain enough street cred to get a tattoo of that weapon along with a new ability for that weapon chosen from the list below:

1. +1 Damage
2. +1 Advantage (max 2)
3. Special Ability (negotiated with DM, one per weapon)

Dirty Fighting

Once per combat you can fight dirty. Make an Attack with +1 Advantage and your target is stunned for d4 rounds.

Intimidate

Once per day you can intimidate another humanoid. They roll a Charisma save. On a failure you force them to obey one request.

Cleave

Whenever you kill a creature, you can make another attack with the same weapon.

by Seo Hee

Drop Giants

There's only one population of giants on Elsai, and it's the cloud giants of the Geralt mountain range, far north of Wundergauss on the continent of Nebelkuste.

These cloud giants stand between 16 and 20 feet tall. Their skin is blue grey. Their hair is white, grey, or charcoal. Their eyes are foggy and dead with glowing white irises. They wear garbs of cloudsilk etched with geometric patterns.

The giants despise Wundergauss and its inhabitants. The reason for this hatred is because the giants are old enough to remember the eldritch horror that lies within the city and how screwed they'll be if it is unleashed.

Giants can also walk on clouds. This is known because their frequent raids on the city begin with squads of giants propelling from the clouds like members of SWAT. The fun ones, known as Berserkers, take the quick way down like drop bombs. Other giants harry ground forces with boulders from atop their cloud platforms.

Despite their hatred for Wundergauss and the other cities of wonder, there exist peaceful giants that wander Elsai. However these giants are always characterized by some form of disfiguration, be it a severed limb, missing eye, or severe scar tissue. These giants never divulge the secret of their maiming, nor are they want to discuss giant culture.

by Kenneth Solis

Giant
HD 10 Con 18 Str 18
Weapon 1d10 Boulder d20

Crush - Once per round the giant can squash, swat away, or otherwise obliterate a humanoid size creature. The creature gets a Dex Save to dodge out of the way. Exceptionally strong creatures (Strength 16+) can roll a Str Save instead. Creatures larger than a humanoid are immune.

Hardiness - Convential weaponry only deals a maximum of 1 damage against the giant. Siege weaponry, such as catapults and cannons, deals listed damage.

Cloudfoot - The giant can walk on clouds as if it was a hard surface and takes half damage from falling from great heights.

by Eric Griffin

Giant PCs
Players can opt to play a giant character. Giant PCs get the abilities above in addition to the following:

Giant Ability Scores - Giants apply their bonus twice to Strength Checks when doing "human things" but they leave destruction in their wake.

For example a giant opening a human sized stuck door would apply their bonus twice, leaving the door in splinters and pieces if they succeed.

When doing giant things, such as opening a giant stuck door, the giant only applies their bonus once.

Additionally, giants apply half of their bonus to Dexterity Checks when doing "human things", again leaving destruction in their wake if they succeed, but add their full bonus when doing giant things.

Disfigurations - Giants that don't want to kill humans are horribly disfigured. Therefore giant PCs begin play with d3+1 horrible disfigurations.

Farriers

You gain +1 HP and Move for every Farrier template you possess

Templates
A: Origin of Concept, Materialize: Object, Materialize: Sacred Relic
B: Divining Strike, Read Object
C: Resolute Soul
D: Materialize: Inner World, Inner Journey

Origin of Concept
Your inner world revolves around a single idea. This idea can be anything. It can be vague, or it can be specific. The only stipulation is that the idea must be something grounded in the real world. For example, you couldn't choose Darwinism because that idea is completely conceptual. It must be something tangible like a toy or gun.

Materialize: Object
You can materialize one object from your inner world into reality. This object remains tangible for one round per Farrier template.

Materialize: Sacred Relic
You can materialize one sacred relic from your inner world. You possess one relic per Farrier template. Sacred relics are objects of extraordinary power that reside in your inner world. They remain tangible for one round per Farrier template. Once you utilize a relic's power, you must take a long rest to meditate and realign your thoughts in order to utilize its power once more.

Divining Strike
Your specific martial arts allows you to read your opponent psychically the longer you fight them. As part of an Attack, you can mark your opponent. As long as they are marked you gain an advantage against them, and if you roll a gambit, you can ask the DM one question about the opponent instead of taking the usual result. The DM is obligated to answer the question truthfully, however he is not obligated to be clear and precise.

Read Object
You can hold a real object that is associated with your Origin of Concept and concentrate for a round to learn certain information related to that object. You learn who the owner of the object is and of any events that occurred recently in which the object was present.

Resolute Soul
You gain +1 Save against Fear, Charm, and Sleep per Farrier Template

Materialize: Inner World
You can replace a 40ft area of reality with your inner world. The area is filled with 1d20+10 objects that you can control mentally. You can psychically attack with one of these objects for d6 damage by concentrating for a turn. Alternatively you could concentrate for a round to make a psychic barrage attack for d12 damage. You gain +1 HP, Save, and Move while you stand within the area.

Inner Journey
Once in your lifetime you may take an Inner Journey. You can transfer your complete consciousness to your inner world, along with the consciousnesses of anyone willing to share in your journey. On this journey you will face true peril. You will face fears you never knew you had. You will be tempted by vices that at once seemed petty. And before the end what it means to be you will be redefined. However, at the end of your journey you will discover your Id Mythos. An Id Mythos is a sacred relic all your own. It is constructed from you and made by you. It is an object that represents the mental you and the physical you. It is both your twin and yourself, and in your hands it is capable of terrible power.

By Ken Jyi Lim

Mechanical Notes
This class is very open-ended and requires a lot of cooperation on the part of the DM and the player. Therefore it is not recommended for new or inexperienced players.

Sacred Relics: Sacred Relics are supposed to be objects with powerful effects that are out of the ordinary. They should have an effect on the game bigger than a simple mechanical bonus. Likewise a Farrier's Id Mythos is a Sacred Relic taken to 11. Much consideration must be devoted to a Farrier's Id Mythos if he plans to obtain it.

Advantages and Gambits: These are oddities of the homebrewed attack system I'm using for my current campaign. In a traditional OSR game a gambit is the equivalent of a critical success. An advantage can be equated to a system's situational bonuses.

Coming Back, Moving Forward, and Maxims for Better Rpgs

Around New Years, I took the plunge to improve my life via negativa. I deleted all of my social media, including this blog. I did this for several reasons.

The first is that I felt I was pandering to the OSR community. Now that might not be the case and I blame no one but myself for this pandering syndrome. Regardless, I found myself asking Will the OSR like this? every time I edited my posts, and the experience was just frustrating and soul-sucking.

The second is that I felt out of place in the OSR. Now I'm just your average middle class straight white dude, and I feel that the OSR is compromised of many liberal-minded people. There's nothing wrong with that, but I've gotten the impression on more than one occasion that cis-scum such as myself was unwelcome. Now this is admittedly completely wrong and I am full of bullshit. This liberal cis-scum-hating SJW was a phantom of my own creation, and I used it to motivate my hasty exit from the OSR. I bare no hatred towards liberal-minded people, and I doubt they harbor any hate towards me.

The third is that my life was in dire needs of getting set straight. Now I wouldn't say I was using my OSR writtings for pure escapism, but it hadn't reached hobby status either. I had just moved out of a roommate situation, meaning I was on my own for the first time in years, and I definitely needed more time to focus on life stuff. However, I feel I've developed my skills enough to a point to where I can cultivate my OSR writings into a full blown hobby.

So those are the reasons why I cut my ties with the OSR in a fever-fueled haze, and in a similar fashion I'm diving back in.

Now this is the part of the post where I will outline the things you need to do in order to do rpgs better. I call them maxims because that's a cool word.

Now I lay down these maxims as a completely unpublished, unsuccessful author or game designer. So take these maxims with as big as a grain of salt your mines can provide.

1. D&D is your Hobby

Yes. This silly elfgame is your hobby. Not World of Warcraft. Not anime. On a list of your top 3 things that makes you happy, D&D is number 1, and you cross out the other two. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't have other hobbies. In fact you should. Admittedly there are people that take these elfgames too seriously. Having a hobby allows you to get away from these elfgames when you're in too deep, at least for a time, and once you're refreshed, you can dive back in with renewed vigor. But don't forget. This. Is. Your. Hobby.

2. When in doubt go to the most Prolific source

You don't need me to tell you this. There are dozens of blogs out there that have been around for years, run by great people that write alot. D&D with Pornstars, Jeff's Gameblog, and Goblinpunch are probably the top three that I rely on the most. But there's also Ten Foot Polemic, In The Land of Twilight Under The Moon, and Fists of Cinder and Stone. Read them. Use them. They are an inexhaustable source of inspiration, which leads me to maxim number 3.

3. Find Inspiration in the most unlikely places

Here reads the introduction to Talislanta 5th Edition:

I read all of Jack Vance's Dying Earth books, Lovecraft's The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath, Marco Polo's The Travels, and back issues of Heavy Metal magazine.... And I confess to partaking of one of Turkey's finest products nightly, which helped inspire most of the visual elements of Talislanta, and some remarkably lucid dreams I had of actually visiting Talislanta.

Now you don't have to read good literature or smoke good weed to write a good game or setting. Find inspiration everywhere: TV, anime, dreams, what you had for lunch this morning. Just always be thinking how you can apply what you experience to your game.

4. Steal don't plagarize
Nothing original exists under the Sun. It is impossible to not steal something at one point or another. All art is derivative anyway, so embrace your inner thief. However, this doesn't mean you can just take someone else's idea or mechanic and slap your name on it. That's plagiarizing. Stealing means taking something and making it your own. That means you have to put your own spin on it, your own stamp, your own signature. Breathe your breath into it. Steal something and make it yours!

5. Write for Yourself
Don't be like me. Don't fall into the trap of pandering to others for whatever reason you make up for yourself. Additionally, don't let others dictate your writing. If someone has issues with the way you do things, well that's their fucking problem, not yours. There's generally two ways you can check these kind of people. 1) completely ignore them. Hit that block button and move on. Nothing to see here. 2) get stuck in. Embrace your inner Zak S and talk to these people until they go away or you talk some sense into them. These are the two choices, but don't forget there's usually a third.

6. For every 1 masterpiece, you will produce 99 pieces of shit
That is assuredly a gross overestimation. But this maxim presents you with two options. 1) Wade through the shit to get to your masterpiece. Or 2) Don't bother at all. Give up. Go home. Who wants to smell like shit anyway.

Obviously, I chose the second option—and more than once in the past I admit. The bottom line is this. Just create something. 

You'll think it's shit. Someone else will think it's shit. That doesn't matter. If you're me, you'll look back at something from years ago and realize it's a masterpiece when you thought it was a heaping pile of doody. To this day the greatest thing I have ever written is some three-fourths page horror story in 3rd grade. 

I was eight. It has to be shit right? No. It's amazing. The structure, the build-up, and the pay-off is unremarkable. And the fact that it was penned by a third-grader makes it that much more charming. It is one of my few masterpieces.

7. Always ask "why?"
Why do you need this houserule? Why do you need this custom class? Why do you need this highly intricate lore?

It can be any reason really. You need this custom class because your player wants to play it. You need this lore because your setting wouldn't make sense otherwise. You need this houserule because there's surprisingly no rules for adjudicating the thing you need to adjudicate.

The reason you ask yourself why is to get to the core of your ideas and to prevent you from recreating the wheel. The world already has enough elf variants. It doesn't need another.

8. Don't rush
Shigeru Miyamoto said "A delayed game is eventually good. A rushed game is always bad." 

While you might not be trying to create the next Zelda, this advice applies to you.

That cool idea for a monster you've been sitting on? Don't try to rush it on to your blog in a day. Work on it. Leave it alone. Go do something else. And come back to it. Even when you think its ready, don't put it out there until you've left it alone for at least a day. Because once it's out there, it's out there. And fine-tuning an idea after it's already reached the eyes of others is an awkward fix.

Cars are people too

So the flailsnailers have looted themselves a truck so I figure it's about time I hash out car rules.

Ability Scores
Cars have ability scores just like characters and they are generated just like characters. The Ability Scores for cars are Hard, Rev, Drive, and Smarts

Hard as in how hard is the chassis. Cars with high Hard can take more hits and probably have steel plating or a similar padding.
Rev as in rev that engine. Cars with high Rev can travel farther and don't use up as much fuel. This is the main stat for determining how many hexes your car can travel before suffering mechanical failure.
Drive as in how she drives. Cars with high Drive can turn on a dime.
Smarts as in computer smarts. Not all cars are analog. Some are equipped with computer technology. This technology can vary from an advanced AI, like Knight Rider, or automatic parallel parking. Cars from the analog age don't have this ability score.

Damage
In order to even dent a car a source has to deal 10+ damage to it. Yes this means most conventional weaponry is useless against cars. You'd need something heavier, like a machine gun or rocket launcher to really do some damage.

When a car takes damage she makes a Hard save with a -1 penalty per 2 points of damage over 10.

For example if Mercedes the Mercedes took 16 damage from a Glory Rider's Hexsaw Buzzomatic Launcher, she would make her Hard save at -3.

If she makes the save, nothing happens; she's A-OK. But if she fails, her driver rolls 2d6 and references the Table of Vehicular Calamities (see below.)

Travel
A car can travel a number of hexes per day equal to her Rev score. So a car with a 16 Rev can travel 16 hexes in a 16 hour period. If her driver wishes to push her farther after this limit, she must make a Rev save. Failure means a permanent -1 to her Rev score due to the strain. As soon as the engine gets 4 hours of rest, she's good to go for another drive.

Fuel
All cars require fuel. A car's tank is represented by her Fuel Die, which starts at a d12. After traveling through a hex, the driver rolls the car's fuel die. If the result come up 1, the Fuel die decreases a level. If this happens when the Fuel Die is on a d4, the car is out of gas.

For Example if Mercedes' driver drove her 8 hexes that day, starting with a full tank, he would roll a d12 8 times after exiting each hex and if any of them come up 1, her fuel die goes down each time.

Most fuel is carried in Fuel Canisters, which take up two slots of inventory per canister. Characters can empty canisters to increase their car's fuel die by one level.

For example if Mercedes was on d6 and her driver filled her up with one fuel canister, her fuel die would now be a d8.

Storage
A car has 20 slots of inventory with which to store stuff...That's it....

Repairs/Upgrades
All cars need upkeep and maintenance. The cost of these is determined by a sliding, but consistent scale.

Upgrades/Repairs have 5 grades. They are Minor, Normal, Major, Severe, and Totaled. These grades are arbitrarily given by the DM (but in this DMs opinion this is not an issue and the DM will probably not use his gift of omnipresence to fuck you over.)

The cost of the repair or upgrade is equal to the grade's die (d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12 respectively) times 100gp.

So if Baby-Baby Jenkins wanted to get some cool new rims for his mustang, he would roll a d4(minor)*100gp. Turns out he rolls a 3 so those new rims are going to cost him 300gp. But fuck will he look cool!

---

The Table of Vehicular Calamities

2: BOOOM!! She goes up in a flaming ball of glory. Your car is completely destroyed instantly and her passengers take 4d6 damage from the explosion (save for half.)

3: Blowout! A wheel is shot. Your char is immobilized and requires repairs to get running again.

4: Fuel Leak! The tank is fucked. At the end of each round/turn/hex, roll your car's fuel die. Now it goes down on a 1—4.

5: Barrel Roll! Make a Drive save with penalty. If you fail your car flips over, causing 2d6 damage to everyone inside, and needs to be flipped right-side-up before she can move again.

6—8: -d6 points from a random ability score. If an ability score reaches zero, the car is disabled and needs repairs.

9: Road bump! Lose a random item located in your car's storage. Passengers take d4 damage from bumping their heads.

10: Surprise! A secret compartment you were unaware of up until this point opens and reveals...something...to be determined by the player. The only stipulation is that it isn't anything good.

11—12: Why nothing at all!

 

The Scouring Sands of Skourenthe, Session 2: A Truck Named Bitchin

The session began with Goblini, Brutal Pete, Pitwin, Chris, and The Deud dropping out of FLAILSNAIL space within The Slippery Spot. The party noticed some new faces lounging around and figured out they were Glory Riders. Goblini recruited a rider named Slapp for his mechanical skills for a generous payment of 10 gold.

The party hiked their way back to the decrepit tower of Kazak where they found the gap left by Magic Meryl's Floating Disc spell still intact. Without hesitation Goblini sent a squad of 4 goblins through the gap, but they triggered a tripwire and released a pitfall of shit, piss, splintered bronze armor, and quartered and decapitated corpses. 2 goblins perished and the survivors smelled something awful.

Pressing on, the party found themselves in the dining hall were Chris P's character spied on 3 of the ominous hogmen feasting on the half-charred, half-rotten carcass of the gorilla-bear. They were quickly dispatched after Goblini's goblins sprang to action with a volley of gunfire as the rest of the party engaged. The hogmen's possessions totaled 120sp and was hidden among their shit-glued strands of hair.

The party made their way to the ramp which lead to The Underground and discovered it had been re-greased. They burned it away and descended into the darkness were they found a gross pile of refuse, corpses, and bile. The party traded gear and banter as they decided wether to take the worked stone hallway to the east or the snaking tunnel to the west. But as they talked 5 of the corpses rose from the refuse and came at them! However, due to Brutal Pete's dwarfiness he was able to scare the necromantic energies out of them with a bang of his implements!

Shortly after the zombies fell a hulking humanoid figure approached from the east hallway. The party hid and discovered the humanoid was a human man with a huge gut that stood well over six feet tall! He wore nothing more than an executioner's hood and a black loincloth. "Hurr hurr hurr!" the figure said to himself as he walked back the way he came. The Deud introduced him as Slutman, a "fucking idiot" that kept an eye on Kazak's workshop. And no you don't want to know how he got that name! Chris P's character decided to befriend Slutman and he responded to his friendship with a "hurr hurr hurr!" and a childish gaze. Chis P asked Slutman to show them where the workshop was and he replied with a "hurr hurr hurr". Realizing speech was getting him nowhere fast, Chris P placed a tool he happened to have in Slutman's hand and asked him to put it back were it belonged. Slutman replied with a "hurr hurr hurr" retrieving a ring of keys from his loincloth and presumably lead the way.

The Slutman

The party's faith in Slutman was rewarded! He had lead them to a WE hallway stretching 90 feet with 5 solid iron doors with eyeslats on them—presumably Kazak's workshop. In the first cell the party found a bloody operating table with corpses and chunks of meat hanging from hooks and chains. In the second they discovered a black desk which held a strange chinstrap device that had a circular plate that looked as if something could be screwed into it. They also discovered a display case that held 7 jars of formaldehyde, each of which possessed a big good-looking cock. The party swiped it all before moving on to the next cell.

The third cell lead to a large room which contained a 1953 Ford F 100. The paint had long been blasted away and was covered in splotches of rust. But the suspension had been raised as far as it could go and the tires appeared suitable for desert travel. On each car door the word BITCHIN was written in droopy red spray paint. Alas the keys were nowhere to be found and, worse yet, the steering wheel was missing! Goblini ordered Slapp to get to work at fixing these issues but Slapp felt another payment of 10g was in order for dragging him all the way out here. Generous Goblini complied. Unfortunately Slapp was only able to get the car running and couldn't jigger up a steering wheel. Fortunately Brutal Pete has a knack for these kinds of things and was able to jigger up a steering wheel. But before hitting the UP button out of here, the party decided to find where Kazak kept all his shit.

Bitchin looks something like this

Chris P reminded Slutman of the tool he gave him and the buffoon ran off down the hallway, passed the fourth cell, and opened the fifth cell where the party found an ornate chest with finely made high quality BDSM gear—whips, chains, masks, the works! As the party collected the BDSM gear and searched the room some more, they head a plopping sound from behind them and noticed some ectoplasmic foot prints that weren't there before. They paid no heed and continued their search until a decrepit looking humanoid wearing worn chainmail with eyes of sparkling red accosted them! Upon engaging the party discovered 9 more of the creatures pouring out of the fourth cell, with a feminine one holding open the cell, pointing and laughing and screaming "DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!"

At this time, The Deud revealed a spear from his robes ad pointed it at Pitwin, saying "Now I've got you!" before Pitwin knocked him out with a sleep spell. Meanwhile Goblini pulled out a strange artifact and, channeling all of its power, dispelled the necromantic spell that gave the vile monstrosities life.

Feeling the call of FLAILSNAIL space approaching, the party grabbed their truck and warped out back to Vyzor.

The Scouring Sands of Skourethe, Session 1

The session began with Magic Meryl, Pitwin, and Goblini being safely deposited from FLAILSNAIL space in the sandblasted town of Slag. (Sapphean seemed to have taken a wrong turn somewhere at trans-temporal avenue.) Slag seemed abandoned until Meryl called out "Hello!" and several malnourished wretches curiously crawled out of their boarded-up hovels.

Goblini and company quickly befriended the wretches by cooking a stew and purifying their spoiled food. They learned from Kurkl, seemingly the only decently healthy human in town and owner of The Slippery Spot tavern, that Slag has been accosted by Hogmen allied with the evil sorcerers Kazak and Mel residing in the two towers to the east. Goblini learned that the hogmen raid the town in a bitchin' truck and decided to free the wretches of their oppressors. The wretches celebrated their new saviors by throwing a party with billybean beer and a whole lot of drugs.

The next day the PCs set out east and found themselves at the entrance to a decrepit looking tower covered in graffiti. An iron door speckled with sharp spikes, from which a multitude of guts and bits hung from, welcomed them. Magic Meryl used her non-Tenser's Floating Disc to dislodge the door from below, squishing it like an accordion and Goblini sent in his goblins.

Unfortunately the Goblins triggered a false ceiling trap and Spooky, His Excellence, and AGURHAGA were crushed to death. That's when the Gorilla-Bear burst through the north door—and yes a Gorilla-Bear is exactly what it sounds like.

Yup...That's a Gorilla-Bear

That's when Sapphean found his way out of FLAILSNAIL space and delivered the final blow with his poisonous fangs. Finally reunited the PCs pressed on.

The next room proved to be a dining hall with a long wooden table and several once regal tapestries that were now graffiti'd with tits, dicks, and black speech. Sat at the table, deep in his cups was the hairy ogre named Mung that was sick of all the killing Kazak made him do. The PCs quickly befriended Mung and learned from him that the hogmen kept their truck in "The Underground." Upon asking where that was Mung pointed to a door which hid an alcove.

Inside the alcove was a defaced and grafitti'd bust sat on a podium above a shag carpet. Mung said the entrance to the underground was below that. Goblini put his goblins to work and they unfortunately triggered a puke gas trap, which caused all the goblins to convulse and spew their dinner all over the place. Sapphean, sensing opportunity, quickly jumped in and sucked up a good whiff of the puke gas to absorb it's magical properties. The only problem was now everyone was puking and convulsing all over the place; the PCs decided to take a break.

Despite all this commotion, the supposed hogmen did not accost them during the PCs' hour break Funny that. Meanwhile Goblini had discovered a silver ring embossed with a black skull that turned out to be a Ring of Undead Control hidden inside the bust. 

Upon returning to the entrance, the PCs discovered that the shag carpet had mysteriously disappeared. Mung gladly ripped off the locked trapdoor to the underground, revealing a greasy ramp that disappeared into darkness. Goblini lit the grease on fire and sent down a goblin scout. The scout found a lot of trash, corpses, and skeletons, and was more than happy to get the heck out of there.

Deciding to leave The Underground alone for now, the PCs pressed on and discovered a room that looked like someone's personal quarters, equipped with a large bed, a writing desk, and a chest. Meryl opened the chest to discover a nearly-naked green-mustached gnome sleeping inside. He was rather upset. The PCs bullied the gnome into forking over his loot and he gladly obliged. Samuel the Goblin retrieved the gnome's coin hidden under the false bottom of the chest but not before his hands were sliced off by a whirling blade trap and died of the subsequent blood loss. The gnome, who would later introduce himself as "The Deud", laughed and twirled his mustache.

Before FLAILSNAIL space kicked in the PCs threw The Deud into his chest and kidnapped him to parts unknown.