Another Unreview - Fat Goblin Games - Gnoll Artwork

As I mentioned before, I am working a OSR/AD&D character class for Gnolls. It's still a work in progress, I am slow has hell. I've never drawn a gnoll in my life, so it was time to get some artwork from someone else.

I made a DriveThruRPG purchase of Fat Goblin Games artwork. The publisher's name is rather longer than that: "Publisher's Choice Quality Stock Art Ⓒ Rick Hershey / Fat Goblin Games".

I hope I got the artist name correct, because this is fabulous artwork.

In my discovery process for using other people's work in my products, I read through the licensing agreement, something I haven't done in a very long time. The license is excellent, probably covering any thing you might want to do with the work. There are some restrictions, which are also well thought out and completely reasonable. You get exactly what appears in the preview and cover, at a much higher resolution and in .tiff file format. So, fear not when ordering. It's all good.

In looking at it the artwork, I realized something. It doesn't fit with my style at all. My work is rather low end, and to be honest, this artwork is way too good to be paired with my works. I won't be using as a style choice. I have no idea what I will do. However, I will be framing a copy of the Gnoll for my game area. It is a very nice piece, which will be very suitable for other, professional content producers. I'm a hobbyist, not a pro.

What I am really looking at is the subscription model. For less than $100, you can get a 100 images by Mr. Hershey. To be brutally honest, I have no need of such a stockpile of work, but I want it. I want it for no other reason that it looks great. Even if I only LOVED 1 in 10 image, that's a steal for a card sized mini-posters for the game room.

Even better than 100 images for less than 100 bucks, is his Patreon account. I totally missed this aspect of Fat Goblin Games and wouldn't have known about if Merciless Merchants over on MeWe hadn't pointed it out for me. Thank you, MeWe community!

I would request a minor update from Mr. Hershey. A second file with a signature. I know Fat Goblin Games is looking at a completely different model of business, but sometimes good artwork is simply to be appreciated and needs an artist's signature.

I'm not going to do my normal stat-block for this unreview, It's great stuff. I'll close with 5 of 5.

A Very Simple Combat

Last week, I went back to Gemstone IV by Simutronics. This is a MUD heavily drawing on Iron Crown Enterprises.

I want to show a simple combat or two. It doesn't end well. My character has encountered a kobold. The game features many weapons, armor types and shields. My character is equipped with a very basic shield and broadsword. In this scenario, my character is at the ready, as is the kobold. 

You swing a broadsword at a kobold!
  AS: +33 vs DS: +34 with AvD: +36 + d100 roll: +29 = +64
   A clean miss.
Roundtime: 8 sec.

Lets walk through this wall of text. AS is my Attack Strength, a computed value which is based on my skill with a one handed weapon, my strength bonus, my skill at combat maneuvers (which I have none), a bonus due to magical effects (also none) and my stance. Stance is an important topic as my character can choose how aggressive he is; at the moment he is hardly aggressive at all.

The kobold has a stat called DS, or defensive strength which my AS is compared to. AvD is Attack vs Defense and is a measure of how good my sword is against the kobold's armor. It is pretty good.

The final two numbers a random 1d100 roll subtracted from everything else. In this case, I got 29, which was modified to +64. 100 or better is required to hit, so I just wasted my time. If I stayed like this, I could roll a maximum of 1d100+35, which means I will hit eventually.

Actual time. My character is unable to act for 8 real time seconds, as shown by the Roundtime indicator.

A kobold swings a short sword at you!
  AS: +36 vs DS: +79 with AvD: +34 + d100 roll: +76 = +67
   A clean miss.

The monster goes through the exact same sequence I did. Note that he rolled a 76, which was modifed to +67. He has no chance of hitting me. He also is stuck in Roundtime, but I don't get to see that number.

You are now in an offensive stance.

Stance controls how aggressively my character attacks. By switching to an offensive stance, I gain AS.

You swing a broadsword at a kobold!
  AS: +66 vs DS: -5 with AvD: +36 + d100 roll: +51 = +158
   ... and hit for 46 points of damage!
   Stomach ripped open by mighty blow!
The kobold crumples to a heap on the ground and dies.
Roundtime: 8 sec.

Well, that was quick. By switch stances, I doubled my AS from 33 to 66. The kobold is dead, but I am stuck in round time as a goblin walks in. Goblins are second level monsters and tougher than kobolds.

A goblin swings a flail at you!
  AS: +46 vs DS: -5 with AvD: +43 + d100 roll: +92 = +186
   ... and hits for 82 points of damage!
   Awesome shot collapses one of your lungs!

Looking at the AS, the goblin is only 10 points better than the kobold. BUT my DS is -5 because I am stanced up. I am not in a defensive position. Note that the end roll is very high, which increases the damage. I edited out some other things, but left in the killing shot.
 
It seems you have died, my friend.  Although you cannot do anything, you are keenly aware of what is going on around you...
 
You mentally give a sigh of relief as you remember that the Goddess Lorminstra owes you a favor.
 
...departing in 10 mins...

A goblin kicks your dead body and spits.

Goblins are mean. In this exchange, the monster and the characters are on nearly equal footing, except for one minor point. Monsters have roundtime when they enter a room, giving a characters a chance to change stances or retreat before a swing comes.

Since I wanted to show a fatal combat from both sides, obviously I did neither thing. This is playing to lose or playing to make an example. It would have been easy to avoid this end, but I chose not to.

The beauty of this game system is the use of computers to speed the computation of stats vs. rolls. It is an elegant system. Over the next few weeks, I will be demonstrating some of the various aspects of the game.

You can join me in game at play.net. It is F2P.

The Magic Scroll I Was Looking For...

I seem to recall making a list of all of the spells in the AD&D Player's Handbook. It was a text file, I am sure. As I look around, I can't find what I did with it. It could have been decades ago, it could be on a floppy.

I'm sure if I searched long enough and hard enough, I would find it.

Google directed me to Pandaria.rpgworlds.info, which has a file sort of like what I want. That website is full of Old School goodness. Check out the top level, here. It looks to a multi-session game log. I can't wait to read it.

Ok, I digress. Back to the task at hand.

I want a list of spells, just the names, from PHB, as close to text only as possible. I needed to recreate the file.

So I got working. Here are the results:

Spreadsheet file for Google Drive.
A Spreadsheet file as HTML page.
A Doc file for Google Drive.
A Doc file as HTML page.

Now, I have better than what I wanted. Feel free to use and share this AD&D Spell List.

52 Weeks of Magic - Item 31 - The Strap of Stamina and Strength

The first character to find this magic item will probably use it wrong. It is a toggle on a leather loop or strap. The character will notice that the leather loop will grow or shrink on command. The largest and small sizes are 6 inches and 2 feet. It sort of looks like a lanyard. If worn like a lanyard, the wearer will be immediately healed at a rate of 1 hp or whatever their constitution bonus is. This can happen once per week.

Some may think that it is a key chain, a necklace, a lanyard or other common device. It is obvious not a weapon but does hold power. 

It IS activated by being placed around the neck, but all humans and demi-humans are using it wrong if they wear it.

When placed around a dog's neck, the Strap of Stamina and Strength confers the following abilities: 

• The dog will be granted maximum hit points for it's type. 
• They will also grow to the maximum size for it's species or bred. 
• The animal will gain human like intelligence, to a maximum of seven (3+1d4) 
• The dog will be able to speak common, although it will speak only when it thinks it is necessary. 
• The dog will become territorial and defend a specific person or area of it's choosing. This maybe rather nebulous to characters, such as all children, one woman, a house, a forest, a lake, etc. 

Additionally, the dog is able to regenerate 1 hit point per round to full health, once per week. This requires sleep. 

One of the side effects of The Strap of Stamina and Strength is the animal has free will and will not necessarily follow the person putting the device on the dog. For this reason, it cannot be placed on a familiar or animal companion. They will frustrate all efforts to be collared. 

Once an animal is collared with such a device, they will attack anyone who attempts to remove it. The Strap is all but indestructible once placed on the dog. The Strap will magically free a dog if a leash or lead is attached to the collar. The Strap will phase if it becomes stuck on a natural obstruction and remain with the dog. 

52 Weeks of Magic - Item 30 - Elven Firebeads

In my very first post for this series, Magic Lamps, I introduced the idea every day problems caused by magic. A magic lamp or a light spell doesn't throw heat. Back when we all lived in caves, we probably needed light more than heat. However, knowing you can make both is great.

This magic item is very common in the elven lands in the Peninsula of Plenty campaign. The first elves in the land were unwilling to cut down trees and as a consequence, used magic for lighting. This was not helpful when they were hit by particularly cool monsoons. The Peninsula doesn't often receive snow outside of the mountains, so when it started falling right after the cold monsoon season, the elves were in trouble. If they had wanted to collect wood, it was too late to identify the best wood and proper kindling. The first attempt at a colony on the Peninsula retreated across the sea because of the lack of fire.

Thus the need for Firebeads were born. Firebeads look very much like prayer beads. To make them function, the user pulls a bead off the end, cups it in their hands like an ember and blows on it. The bead will warm, then burn like kindling for two hours. The beads have an affinity for earth and ash. They will roll up to 3 feet towards earth and ash, even up hill. A typical set of firebeads will have 52 beads with one large bead or toggle at the end to serve as a handle.

Empire to the left, Elven lands to the right.

In the elven lands, every household and every traveler will have one of these sets. In the human lands, they are highly prized treasures as they have not found a way to reproduce the magic. Creating such an item requires both a magic user and a cleric working in tandem.

Firebeads are interesting in the fact that they are a magical consumer product. They can burn homes down and they can inflict a point of damage, but only in highly contrived scenarios. For the most part, they are totally safe.

While totally common in the elven lands, they are a novel and highly prized commodity in the Empire. Most Elven-Human treaties involve the trade of Firebeads for Verbena, a powerful healing herb. These products are used to seal deals because they cannot be used as a weapon.