Monday, February 22, 2016

Feast on some Fleshy Art!

Over the weekend I received some disgusting new art from +Jordyn Boci for my 0-level adventure Sky Ov Crimson Flame. Both of these pieces represent creatures that may be encountered in the adventure.

First up is the Corrupted Flesh (and yes that's our little Love Hobbit from an earlier post. Seems he's gotten himself in quite the pickle*!) *No pun intended there...


Next up is my new favorite piece! Jordyn put a ton a detail in this one and the original is definitely finding a spot on the wall in the game room. This is the Fleshy Mass! 


Only three more pieces of art to acquire (not counting the map) and then it can be sent off to Goodman Games for approval. In the meantime I've started my next project, a 3rd level adventure that loosely ties into elements from the current one.

You can follow Jordyn on instagram @archaic_manifestation. She does all sort of awesome artistic things I could only dream of making! 



Monday, February 15, 2016

DCC-DUNE: The Noble Born Class

You can't have a Feudalistic Universe akin to Dune without having Great and Minor Houses filled with noble bloodlines fighting for resources and political gains. There also can't be nobles without house holds, which is why in this post I'll not only be discussing my ideas the Noble Born class but also for Creating a Great or Minor House.



Creating a House:


Since all the characters controlled by players are in or connected to the same House, creating the House should be just as simple as creating the characters. Each House has a series of stats like ability scores that would include:
  • Power - Equals House's military strength
  • Defense - The structural integrity of the House's stronghold to with stand bombardment as well as the ease or difficulty of secretly penetrating the structure.
  • Influence - Determines the House's political status within the Landsraad.
  • Wealth - The House's worth on a monetary scale.
If you house has one stat 15 or higher it is considered a Great House, which may come with it's on benefits and drawbacks; otherwise it is consider a Minor House.

Along with these stats I thought about also including random tables (because those are always fun!) concerning the Size and Type of homeworld the Noble House is from. A Historic House Events table that would change the stats rolled for the House, etc and a Resources table to determine if you house is industrial or agricultural based or something else!

That's basically it, the players fill in the rest of the blanks for the House's background, etc, as it comes into play.



Unlike most of the other classes I was thinking the Noble Born class shouldn't just be one character, but three. After all in Dune you had Leto and Paul Atreides and the Baron Harkonnen and his two nephews! So why not the player controlling the House Nobles roll up 2 or three characters. These characters wouldn't be played all the time, just during certain story points in the campaign.

For the Judge it would make character assassination's intriguing as the Father Noble Born character is killed and the Son or Daughter must take his place.

But what makes the Noble Born class different from the others? First are two new skills shield fighting and statecraft.

Shield fighting is of course the most sophisticated fighting style in the Known Universe and is mostly known only to the Noble Born class and Swordsman class.

Statecraft would come in to play when the Noble Born has to command an operation or persuade the Landsraad and/or Emperor in his favor.

Noble-born

Hit Points: A noble-born gains 1d6 hit points every level.

Alignment: Noble-born’s can be of any alignment. Their chosen alignment designates the alignment of their soldiers and which weapons and skills they have training in. The alignment of the noble-born determines the alignment of the house as a whole.

Weapon training: A noble-born’s alignment determines the type of weapons he has been trained in. Choose two from the weapons corresponding to your alignment.

Alignment
Weapon Trained
Lawful
chandler pistol dagger, flechette pistol, frazee rifle, grenades,  kindjal, longsword, rapier, spear, stunner, stun spheres
Neutral
chandler pistol club, dagger, flip dart, grenades, kindjal, needle gun, spear, staff, stunner, stun spheres,
Chaotic
blackjack, dagger, disk gun, grenades, frazee rifle, flip dart, hidden poison, kindjal, longsword, maula pistol, rapier, spear, shig-wire garrote, stunner, whip

Class skills: All Noble-borns are taught the art of shield fighting and statecraft.

  • Shield fighting
  • Statecraft

Languages: Common, House’s secret battle language, plus one randomly determined language for every +1 Intelligence modifier.

Level
Attack
Crit Die/ Table
Action Dice
Ref
Fort
Will
1
+1
1d8/III
1d20
+1
+1
+1
2
+2
1d8/III
1d20
+1
+1
+1
3
+2
1d10/III
1d20
+2
+1
+2
4
+3
1d10/III
1d20
+2
+2
+2
5
+4
1d12/III
1d20+1d14
+3
+2
+3


Thursday, February 11, 2016

New Artwork Coming In!

Over the week I've received two new pieces of interior artwork for my 0-level funnel Sky ov Crimson Flame.

This first piece is from +Nicolò Maioli who did an absolutely amazing job at capturing this scene from the adventure where many a player death has occurred!   What's funny to me personally (and I didn't tell him to do this) is that the man on the far right of the picture looks just like my girlfriend's crazy cleric Hans from our Shudder Mountains campaign!




Next up is another piece from the talented +Jordyn Boci who drew the dreaded dagger of the Necromancer, Atma-khanjr! It is a powerful relic, forged not from steel, but from the very soul of the Necromancer. Its wavy bone blade emerges from a sleeve of flesh with veins that pulse and shudder to the touch!

This thing is sick and I love it!

Jordyn really captured the grotesque texture of this blade or as she put it "ball sack flesh."

And while the real artists work there magic I've been laying out the map. Spoliers?
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It's all coming together nicely and as far as I'm concerned it's still on schedule for a spring release!






Wednesday, February 3, 2016

DCC-DUNE: The Imperial Medic

Last week we looked at several new classes (The Felfenkin, The Guild Seer and The Human Computer) for my Feudal Universe (aka DCC-DUNE) campaign setting.  This week we'll start off with The Imperial Medic which could be looked at as a heavy variant on the Cleric class.


Imperial Medic

You are a highly valued assist for the House you serve under. Possibly the official physician to the noble line or perhaps a combat surgeon best practiced on the battlefield. Your advance knowledge of the human anatomy as well as your Imperial Mental Conditioning are what separate you from other doctors in the Known Universe as completely and utterly trustworthy.

Hit Points: An Imperial Medic gains 1d6 hit points at each level.

Weapon Training: An Imperial Medic is trained in the use of the blackjack, dagger, flip-dart, lasgun, maula pistol, needle-gun and stunner; however, because of their Imperial Conditioning can only use such weapons to defend themselves or member of the Noble family with whom they serve. Therefore an Imperial Medic always rolls a d16 for Initiative checks.

Alignment: Due to their Imperial Conditioning against taking a human life, Imperial Medics are always Lawful.

Starting Equipment: All Imperial Medics start the game with Level 1 Surgical Gear.

Surgery: Imperial Medics heal wounds using both their medical knowledge and any surgical gear they may have equipped. They may also take a Fume does in order to better concentrate. A Surgery check is made by rolling 1d20 + Intelligence modifier + medic level + surgical gear level (if applicable). A failure further injures the subject causing -1hp of damage and increases the range of condition faltering which may lead to neglect on the Imperial Medic's part (see below).

If the Imperial Medic fails to heal a patient his range of condition faltering increases by 1.

A successful Surgery check is similar to the Cleric's Lay on Hands (see p. 30 DCCRPG rulebook), however, Imperial Medics do not suffer penalties for healing character with different alignments.

Mental Conditioning: This is what separates the average from the elite. It is also what grants the Imperial Medic the right to perform surgery on the House nobles and their subjects. During Surgery checks, if the Imperial Medic rolls a natural 1 their conditioning has faltered and they must then roll on the Neglect Table to discover what has happen.

Each failed Surgery check increases the chance of condition faltering by 1. After his first Surgery check fails in a day, the Imperial Medic's range of condition faltering increases to a natural roll of 1 or 2, etc, etc.

Luck: An Imperial Medic's Luck modifier applies to all rolls on the Neglect table.

Action Dice: An Imperial Medic can use his action dice for attack rolls or surgery checks.

Neglect Table: Roll 1d10 to determine the effects of neglect.

Roll
Effect
1
The Imperial Medic must atone for his failure by reviewing his medical filmbooks for 1 hour. Until this is done the Imperial Medic will suffer -1 to all Surgery checks.
2
Doubts set into the Imperial Medic’s mind and he suffers -2 to all checks until he reviews his medical filmbooks for 1 full day.
3
Grief takes hold of the Imperial Medic causing him to suffer -3 to all checks until he reviews his medical filmbooks for 1 full day.
4
The Imperial Medic is struck with a bout of depression. All future checks are rolled -1d on the dice chain until he studies his medical filmbooks for 1 full week straight.
5
The Imperial Medic is made miserable. The Imperial medic will not perform anymore surgery checks for the rest of the day. Furthermore, all future checks are rolled -1d on the dice chain until he reviews his medical filmbooks for 1 full week straight.
6
Anguish over his failure causes the Imperial Medic to harm himself suffering hp damage equal to the HD of the character he was trying to heal. Furthermore, he will not perform anymore surgery checks for the rest of the day. All future checks are rolled -1d on the dice chain until he reviews his medical filmbooks for 1 full week straight.
7
The Imperial Medic’s mind is breaking as his conditioning falters. He will not perform any further surgery checks for the rest of the day. Furthermore, until re-conditioning all future checks are made with a d14.
8
The Imperial Medic is slipping further into the abyss. He must succeed a DC 10 Will save or his alignment has shifted one step (i.e. Lawful to Neutral). Additionally, he will not perform any further surgery checks for the rest of the day and until re-conditioning all future checks are made with a d14. All HD gained from successful surgery checks are half (rounding down).
9
The Imperial Medic is in a downward spiral. He must succeed a DC 15 Will save or his alignment has shifted two steps (i.e. Lawful to Chaotic). Additionally, he will not perform any further surgery checks for the rest of the day and until re-conditioning all future checks are made with a d14. If the surgery checks are successful, the patient must succeed a DC 10 Fort save or lose x amount of HD instead of gaining it.
10
The Imperial Medics mind is shattered, his conditioning has faltered to the point that he is catatonic. The character must be taken in for re-conditioning. Until the character receives re-conditioning he can take no actions (not even to move). In addition, every day that passes until the re-conditioning the character loses 1 hp. The character must succeed a DC 15 Will save in order to survive the re-conditioning or his mind has completely snapped and he turns into a vegetable.

Level
Attack
Crit Die/ Table
Action Dice
Ref
Fort
Will
1
+0
1d6/I
1d20
+1
+0
+2
2
+0
1d6/I
1d20
+1
+1
+3
3
+1
1d8/I
1d20
+2
+1
+4
4
+1
1d8/I
1d20
+2
+1
+4
5
+2
1d10/I
1d20+1d14
+3
+2
+5

Level
Title
1
Practitioner
2
Medic
3
Doctor
4
Physician
5
Specialist


Next up we'll have a look at the Noble Born character class!

Monday, February 1, 2016

New 0-level Funnel Art!

Last week I mentioned there'd be more artwork coming in.

These first two were drawn by +Jordyn Boci
Sigil of the Necromancer

 
A halfling in love!
This next piece was illustrator by +Nicolò Maioli

The Witch summoning the Crimson Star!

I'm really pleased with these pieces and I have both of them working on more artwork.

Sky ov Crimson Flame is scheduled for a spring release on PDF and Print on Demand.

In the meantime, you can snag yourself a limited 11"x17" print of the the adventure cover art by +Stefan Poag on my Etsy Shop.

DCC DAY 2022

Hello everyone! DCC DAY is fast approaching and surprisingly enough there are no FLGS in my city that are hosting... But I shan't let th...