Astragalus astracantha

Astragalus astracantha, commonly known as star-thorn, is low, stoloniferous shrub of the legume family Fabaceae. Its runners stretch for kilometers beneath the surface of the sand, concealing thorns as long as a Human forearm. It is pollinated by migration of the large, shaggy boötha, and there is also evidence to suggest it has a symbiotic relationship with the massive swarms of carnivorous sandfleas that plague its habitat.

Utilization of A. astracantha was key to the development of the Meek civilization, as the plant provides a number of useful materials and substances. Its thorns are hard and strong enough to be used for tool and weapon construction, and the plant exudes a sap which hardens into gum astracanth, which has a myriad of culinary, material, medical, and spiritual uses.

It has also awakened the latent psionic tendencies of humans and revolutionized space travel.

Before the psionic properties of A. astracantha were discovered, interstellar drives were crude affairs that relied on primitive ‘bending’ the space-time continuum. Star-thorn allows a cosmogator to pierce the very fabric of reality.

Unfortunately, it only grows in one place in the entire universe: Arið, the desertified planet better known as Sere. It was once covered in deep oceans, but large-scale desertification turned the world into a desolate wasteland. Yet as inhospitable as the planet is, it is also the center of a vast interstellar conflict where a multitude of alien species vie for control of the planet’s primary commodity.

St Bebe's Palsy

I enjoy injecting material based on rock songs/albums into the RPGs I run. My 13^th Age campaign was largely based on Queen II.

So here's the band Heart looking like a group of D&D adventurers from Little Queen.

They're probably going to be my players rivals, as the current ones are likely dead.

Ann's clearly the Magic-User.

Nancy is likely a Bard or Thief.

Howard Leese is an Elf and/or Illusionist.

Michael DeRosier is the fighter back there tending to the horses while the rest of the band memorizes spells. In this live footage he has some sort of Dracula trophy hanging off his neck, so I'm not counting out Paladin.

Steve Fossen and Roger Fisher are likely multiclassed:

Steve's jacket on the cover makes me think he's a Cavalier, but the strange harness he's wearing in this clip seems like thieving gear of some sort...

Roger is a clearly Ranger in cover photo, but in most concert footage he seems to be wearing some sort of halter-kimono, suggesting he multiclassed into Monk at some point.

(This clip is a bit rough but still awesome.)

Here's a Heart-inspired malady to afflict your Magic-Users with:

St Bebe's Palsy aka 'Magic Hands'

One miracle performed by St Bebe was ridding the town of Whitehart of a warlock who used his witchcraft to enthrall the young maidens of the village. The story goes that as he attempted to coerce a maiden at the Winter Feast, the young Bebe intervened, exhorting him to 'Make no foolish fight!' His hands then became spasmodic, unable to form the gestures needed to complete the enchantment. Enraged, the vile sorcerer lunged at Bebe whereupon his hands tore themselves from his wrists and skittered away. The warlock exsanguinated and the community was safe from his predation.

Every time a user of occult magicks gains a level, there is a percentage chance equal to their new level that they aquire St Bebe's Palsy. Once the palsy has been contracted, whenever the sufferer casts a spell, they must save vs paralyzation or have the spell fail. If the spell is offensive and targets another intelligent creature, the caster must save vs death or have their hands rip off and crawl away, each becoming their own separate creature. They are still considered parts of the original Magic-User for the purposes of magics that require a portion of the body.

No. Enc.: 1d2 (1d2)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 60' (20')
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: 1 (claw)
Damage: 1d4
Save: Hands save as a MU the same level as the original host.
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: None
XP: Based on MU's HD, divided by 2

For each hand, roll 2d8 for every level of the magic-user.

Each result allows casting the spell once per day, repeat results increase castings per day.

2 Feeblemind

3 Arcane Eye

4 Charm Monster

5 Confusion

6 Arcane Lock

7 ESP

8 Hold Portal

9 Charm Person

10 Sleep

11 Knock

12 Hold Person

13 Polymorph Other

14 Polymorph Self

15 Remove Curse ®

16 Hold Monster

Just a Flesh Wound

Black Hacking done right

In a Black Hack supplement that I'm working on, I've decided to use a hybrid Race/Class system. Every player chooses two 'Types' for each character with some being Races and some Classes. Human is the default as usual, so they end up with two classes and non-Humans get one.

Originally I was thinking along traditional HP lines, and having the highest HD of the two classes be the one the character used, in much the same manner gestalt characters in 3e take the best option. However, I want to Usage Die all the things, so let's do that with HP:

A character's health is represented by two Usage Dice (one from each Type), one of which is chosen to be the 'Flesh Wounds' die, the other becomes the 'Mortal Wounds die'. Whenever an attack penetrates the character's armor, make a Usage Die roll. On a 1 or 2 step the Usage Die down one die type as usual. If a player attempting to dodge rolls a critical failure, the Usage Die is automatically stepped down one.

If the Flesh Wounds die is a d4 and would be stepped down, that die is no longer used and the character is considered 'Bloodied'. Bloodied characters have disadvantage on all attribute checks. When the Mortal Wounds die is reduced below a d4, the character is OoA.

A character will likely have two different sizes of die, and it is up to the player to choose which will be Flesh/Mortal. It is probably best to make the larger die the Mortal Wounds die, though some players may wish to make a character that can take more Superficial Wounds before becoming Bloodied.

A short rest increments one HD up one step (a lost HD increments to a d4), a long rest increments two steps (these can be split between either Flesh/Mortal dice as desired).

'Backstab' needs adjusting now, but right now it will likely be an automatic crit against whichever HD the Assassin wishes to target.

The Osteogramophones of Doktor Zosimus

The osteogramophonic device allows the operator to record the very essence of a subject onto a sheet of film via picture and sound. Sadly, unless the subject is re-imprinted posthaste, it is a destructive process that leaves the subject in a catatonic state from which there is no return.*

Once the record has been obtained, it may be imprinted on another subject of the operator's choice at a later date.  It is advised that the imprinting portion of the process is undertaken with due diligence and care:

First, one must insure the discs are not damaged, lest the information be corrupted in some manner. Depending upon the extent of the damage, the recipient may be rendered insane, horribly maimed, or killed outright.

Secondly, one must consider the choice of creature upon which the record will be imprinted, as some are less resilient than others to the mental and physical stresses incurred. The best match for imprinting will always be the original subject, and as such the second best choices are creatures of similar form and temperament. Since the recipient's skeletal structure will shift as necessary to accommodate the newly imprinted form, beginning with a similar morphology will only serve to reduce the immense trauma.

If one desires to imprint a record upon a different human, it is advised that the recipient is prepared by having their essence removed via the osteogramophonic process in order to reduce the risk of psychotic break.

*There are rumors that the good Doktor produced an improved version before his disappearance, but these have yet to be confirmed.

The OSRegon Trail: Save vs Dysentery

I have a somewhat macabre tradition of re-watching the Ric Burns documentary American Experience: The Donner Party to celebrate the first snowfall of the year. It's an excellent example of the genre, and I could go on and on about it, but I won't. I can say with little doubt that it has influenced the way I have been running the food scarcity in the 'miserycrawl' module Deep Carbon Observatory. During this year's viewing I couldn't help but think of the Oregon Trail as a prototypical example not only of the miserycrawl, but of the 0-level 'funnel' adventures used by Dungeon Crawl Classics, and the resource-management and lethality of early-edition D&D.

Now, suitably inspired, I'm working on The OSRegon Trail, a D&D setting hack that intends to capture the pioneer experience during the westward expansion across North America.

Savages of the Abyss: 2076

2076...

Nearly a century after the hive-block food riots,

and the robo-holocaust incited by rogue supercomputer Blue Max,

Earth's oceans are almost dry...

Humanity ekes out an existence on the oceans' abyssal plains,

beset on all sides by an endless array of horrors:

Giant, floating Death-Heads,

Kill-Bots,

flesh-eating Sub-Humans,

and the Super-Apes...

Are the mysterious Clones here to help us,

 or are they servants of M.A.M.A, the crazed doomsday satellite?

Is the seed-ship Arkadia merely a fairy tale that brings hope,

or will it return to restore the planet to her former glory?

Bunnies & Boroughs

Working on a D&D setting hack that's equal parts Wind in the Willows and The Warriors:

Bunnies & Boroughs Gang Generator

d20	Style	Animal	Weapon	Turf	Side Racket
1	Roller Disco	Badgers	Nunchaku	Warehouse	Fake Rolexes
2	Biker	Hedgehogs	Baseball Bats	Bodega	Unlicensed nightclub
3	Zoot Suit	Rabbits	Brass Knuckles	Playground	Grand theft auto
4	Glam Rock	Squirrels	Bicycle Chains	Movie Theater	Bookies
5	Cossack	Mice	Zip-guns	Community Center	Three-card Monte
6	Skinhead	Gophers	Switchblades	Basketball Court	Grow operation
7	Indian	Dogs	Lead Pipes	Park	Loan sharking
8	Mod	Cats	Kung-fu	Taxi Company	Food stamp fraud
9	Egyptian	Goats	Balisongs	Boardwalk	Prostitution
10	Cyber	Bears	Hockeysticks	Museum	Stealing TVs
11	Luchadore	Pigs	Umbrellas	Baseball Field	Graffiti
12	Pirate	Weasels	Garrison Belts	High School	Doo-Wop group
13	Edwardian	Cows	Linoleum Knives	Subway Station	Heroin
14	Sultanate	Sheep	Rolls of Quarters	Ferry Terminal	Craps game
15	Mandarin	Foxes	Machetes	Abandoned Lot	Hubcaps & car stereos
16	Vampire	Rats	Pool Cues	Parking Garage	Robbing delivery trucks
17	Punk	Wolves	Peaky Blinders	Trainyard	House party impresarios
18	Hip-Hop	Skunks	Straightrazors	Swimming Pool	Diversified: Re-roll twice
19	Viking	Beavers	Dynamite	Candy Store	Small-time: Re-roll, racket is boroughwide
20	Ninja	Moles	Dance!	Gang Clubhouse	Big-time: Re-roll, racket is citywide