Adapting FOE to the tabletop.

 I, am a massive Etrian Odyssey fan. I would be lying if I didn’t say it was not a massive influence on how I run tabletop games.

And I’ve always wanted to adapt FOEs to the tabletop. 

Now, let’s explain what a FOE is. In Etrian Odyssey, a FOE(Formido Oppugnatura Exsequens or Field On Enemy depending on the translation), is essentially a on-field miniboss. In game, each has different rules for how it moves on the field. One patrols a specific territory, another charges if you get in front of it, etc.  You either learn how to avoid it in a very OSR fashion, or get attacked by a miniboss that will kick your ass.

Now for the system agnostic stuff to use in your games. Every FOE has 3xHD. Ie, when you roll the FOE’s HP, triple the result. Or after however you determine a monster’s HP, triple it.

Evey FOE also has a Chase Trigger. This is a event/action that when triggered, causes the FOE to start chasing the party. Every time there is a encounter in the dungeon when the FOE is chasing the party, roll a 1d8. On a 1 through 6, the FOE is closing in and will attack in 1d4 turns/minutes unless you move on.

To get a FOE to stop chasing you, you must either leave the floor of the dungeon/the area your in, hide where it cannot find you, kill it, or otherwise drive it off. Some FOE’s may have special ways to drive them off. If the party splits up, have the groups roll 1d20 Which group that gets the highest result is the one being chased(GM choses on a tie).

Chase Behavior sums up how a FOE acts when it’s chasing you, any special ways to make it stop, and what it’s opening move is when it catches you. For making and using FOEs, I recommend reading Skerple’s post on better boss fights, linked at the bottom of the post.

Both FOE stat blocks will have flavor text next to their attacks to help the GM describe them.

Example FOE 1:

Jungle Killer

HD: 2d8 x3

Chase Trigger: Moving too quickly past their perch.

Chase Behavior: Quickly follows the party. When it enters combat, enters behind the party and uses Numbing Sting on the nearest player character. Despite their size and power, they are ambush predators, so a loud enough sound or party may drive them off.

Movement: As a horse, but without making noise. Can climb on walls.

It can make one Attack from the following list per turn.

Claws: 1d8 Damage. “It’s scissor like claws snap towards their prey, ready to cleave them in half.”

Numbing Sting: 1d8 Damage +  Numbness. “The beast’s tail darts forwards, like a spear dripping with violet toxins.”

Pounce: Move up to it’s movement, target must save or be knocked over. Then the Jungle Killer makes a non-pounce attack. Cannot be used on adjacent enemies. Attacks made on knocked over targets automatically succeed. “The jungle killer hurls itself into the air, ready to come crashing down on it’s prey.”

Keen Hunter: Once per round, whenever a enemy fails a roll, the Jungle Killer can make a attack against them as a reaction.

Numbing Blood: If the Jungle Killer takes damage, all adjacent enemies must Save vs Poison or suffer from Numbness.

Numbness: Each turn the player can choose to be paralyzed or act normally. If they act normally, all rolls are made at a disadvantage(roll twice, take the worse result). If they act paralyzed, remove this status condition and skip their turn.

Description:

A massive green scorpion, the size of a large horse with a head shaped like a demonic skull. It’s large black tail whips through the air silently, a crimson stinger tracing death with every movement.

Example FOE 2:

The Golden Ghoul

HD: 3d6x3

Chase Trigger: Picking up the Golden Idol.

Chase Behavior: Relentlessly pursues the party as long as they have the Idol in their possession. When it catches up to the party, it inflicts The Golden Curse to whoever has the idol and then uses Hellish Scream.

Golden Touch: 1d6 Damage + The Golden Curse. “The massive corpse jerks at you, fingers of rotten gold reaching to you.” 

Hellish Scream: All who hear it must Save vs Magic or take 1d4 damage and be forced to flee. Anyone who suffers from The Golden Curse must instead Save vs Magic against the Curse. If the Golden Ghoul takes damage, it can perform this attack as a reaction. “A hellish scream rips through the air, driving needles into your brain.”

Phantom: The Golden Ghoul can pass through surfaces not made of Gold should it wish, and as a result takes no damage from all non-magic attacks, unless said attacks are made with gold weapons or catch it by surprise.

The Golden Curse: All who suffer from the curse must, every time they do something stressful(Ie every turn in combat and every time they roll out of combat) and at the start of every day, must Save vs Magic or have a part of their body(their choice) turn into immobile gold. Starts off as small bits, like fingers and eyes. If this would kill the target, they completely turn into gold. Any direct contact with the Ghoul inflicts the curse.

Description: A moving corpse, the size of a small elephant. White fabric that vaguely resemble a priest’s robes hang off it’s rotten flesh, which seems to be made of golden and rotten sludge. A thick and stiff mask of gold is bolted to it’s face, two burning red eyes glaring past the eye holes.

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Link to Skerples’ Boss Fight Design post: https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2018/06/osr-boss-fight-design.html?m=1 

I recommend reading this, as FOEs are basically bosses that hunt down the party.

Also this post has no pictures as I couldn’t find any I liked for this.

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Grand Spellcasting: Animist Wizard

Adapted from here: https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/06/osr-animist-wizards.html

Continuation of: https://tomeofdreams.blogspot.com/2020/08/grand-spellcasting-high-powered-spells.html?m=1

So, last post I introduced the sub system and created the Grand Spells for Skerple’s Orthodox Wizard. So, I’ll now do the same for their Animist Wizards.

1. Grand Powerful Presence - Splendor of Oblivion 

R: 0 T: self D: [dice] days

The caster gains a aura of existential power and dread. While this spell is active, they are immune to mind affecting magic. Everytime a creature gazes upon the caster or hears them, the caster can make that creature become afflicted with existential dread, as it becomes terribly aware of it’s own mortality and inevitable death. Afflicted creatures automatically fail all saves vs anything that effects their mind, as the existential dread undermines their sense of self and reality for as long as they’re afflicted.

Cost: Doom of the Animist Wizard

Author’s Note: With this, you can turn a army into cowards with minds of putty, tear down a religion by shattering the faith of it’s highest leaders, and turn kings into fools who will beg for their lives in the face of your wrath. It’s effectively a Power Word Kill equivalent for social stuff, and you can do all kinds of things with it.

2. Grand Telekinetic Shove - Fall as Stars From the Sky

R: Sight‘ T: See the description D: 0 

When you cast this spell, wave your hand infront of you. Any creature or object your hand covers 1/4th of it or more when you wave your hand, is a target if you wish it. Then, imagine a being or location within [sum] miles of you. That is the second target. Each target is banished from your sight, hurled through the sky as if they where a crimson star, landing within a mile radius of the second target. When they land, they take [dice]d6 damage, with a additional dice added for every mile traveled. If they hit someone, said someone also takes the damage.

Cost: Doom of the Animist Wizard

Author’s Note: This basically lets you use a enemy army as artillery, which is aways cool. And the mental image of waving your hand, banishing a army so they fall as crimson stars across your enemy’s domain is just beautiful.

3. Grand Shrivel - All that Lives, Withers and Dies

R. Sight' T: As many creatures as you can see D: Permanent

Every target Saves with a penalty equal to [dice]. If they succeed, their Max HP is reduced by [sum + half the target’s max HP], to a minimum of 1, and all six of their stats are halved as they violently aged, appearing as if they where in the twilight of their life. If they fail the save, their stats and Max HP all become 1, as they are aged to the brink of death. If you invest 3 or more Dice, for the next [dice] minutes, every creature within [dice x 5]’ of a afflicted creature must save or suffer the spells effect, including this effect, starting when they first enter the target’s presence, then every minute afterwords if they do not leave.

Cost: Doom of the Animist Wizard

Author’s Note: This basically renders whatever it hits a walking corpse. A single poke and they die. A army hit with this? Probably getting crushed to death under their own armor. The contagiousness let’s you cause all sorts of havoc depending on where you drop it.

4. Grand Control Water - Bend the Seas to Me

R: Sight’ T: All water you can see D: concentration 

Control the target as if it where a limb. At one [die]: you can capsize a boat, make a river flow backwards, flash freeze or boil a whole lake. Each [dice] you invest increases the scale of the target. 2 [dice]: A body of water the size of a large lake or smaller, even the water you can’t see. 3 [dice]: A body of water the size of lake superior, 4 [dice]: A entire ocean.

Cost: Doom of the Animist Wizard. The cost applies when concentration is broken.

Author’s Note: Remember how I said Grand Knock can part the seas? This can do that and more. On the coast, this is effectively a city killer if used well.

5. Grand Sleep: See the previous post on Grand Spellcasting, just change the cost.

6. Charm Person - Forever Shall The Masses Listen to Me

R: Sight T: Up to [sum * dice] living things you can see D: Permanent

The target instantly and completely trusts you as a authority figure, and as such will obey you. The first (10 - [dice]) times you break their trust, they get a save to be freed from the spell’s effects.

Cost: Doom of the Animist Wizard.

Author’s Note:  I was told this had a very fairy tale feeling to it what with the 6+ times a victim has to escape. I’m considering that a success then.

7. Grand Dream Eater - Feast Upon The Psyche Of The Wise

R: Special T: All sleeping creatures in range. D: 0 

At 1 [dice], this effects a small city. 2 [dice], a large city. 3 [dice], a small kingdom. At 4[l  [dice], a large kingdom.

All sleeping creatures in range take damage equal to [sum] plus the modifiers of their INT, WIS, and CHA as you feast upon their mind, like maggots on a corpse. For every ten creatures killed by this, you gain 1 Max HP and live another year, and you gain the knowledge of all you slay with this spell, for you devoured their very minds. If you don’t know Grand Sleep when you learn this spell, you have a level-in-10 chance to learn it. The ghosts of those slain by this remember absolutely nothing about anything.

Cost: Doom of the Animist Wizard. 

Author’s Note: This is a immortality spell let’s be honest. Also, it’s really effective on rival wizards and churches full of annoying clerics, as they tend to have higher mental stats.

8. Grand Scorching Ray - Let Loose The Fires of Hell!

R: [sum x 100’] T: See description D: 0 

The caster fires a massive beam of flame at the targets. The flames are a dark green and dance like oil. It deals no damage, instead everything hit must Save with a penalty equal to [dice + 2] or be sent straight to the fires of hell. It matters not what is in the beam’s path. Sinner or saint, king or peasant, the fires of hell hunger for the flesh of all.

Cost: Doom of the Animist Wizard.

Author’s Note: Yes this is a Disney reference, because that scene is awesome.

9. Grand Scry - None Shall Escape My Sight

R: Anywhere on the planet' T: One location/event you can name D: concentration + [dice] minutes

When you cast this spell, name a location or event. By doing so, you conjure a terrible demonic eye that watches the location with all the malice of your blackened heart. You become aware of everything going on there, down to people’s thoughts. In addition you can cast any spell you know as if you where there. You can also manifest a illusionary avatar there, and communicate to anyone and everyone there, either verbally or telepathically. When the spell ends, the demonic eye vanishes by melting into sticky black blood that rains over the target.

 

Cost: Doom of the Animist Wizard. The cost applies when concentration is broken.

Author’s Note: And this references the Eye of Sauron! And yes. You can cast Grand Spells through this. 

10. Grand Alter Self - Ascend Beyond Your Earthly Shell

R: 0 T: self D: Permanent 

When you cast this spell, swallow the flesh of another creature. You permanently become a member of that creatures’ species, with a HD equal to your level + [dice - 1], with all the powers and instincts that entails, however you can also choose if you look like the ‘donor’ or not upon casting. Be cautious, many a wizard turned dragon or demon has completely lost themselves to the instincts of their new forms.

Cost: Doom of the Animist Wizard.

Author’s Note: If I ever play a Wizard who can cast this, I am using it to become a dragon. I never liked how DnD and such shy away from giving you the powers of stuff you shape-shift into, because that’s..  literally half the reason to do so in my opinion.

11. Grand Doom - The Cold Grasp Of Fate

R: Sight' T: One thing you know the true name of.  D: 30 - [Sum] Months(1 MD), Weeks(2 MD), Days(3 MD), Minutes(4 MD).

As you cast this spell, speak the true name of your target, and Doom them with all of your heart. For the spell’s duration they cannot die no matter what happens to them. Then, when the spell wares off.. they die completely and utterly. Every cell in their body turns off at once, a slow and painful moment that leads to silence. Their soul is shattered and flayed until nothing is left. All memory and record of them is purged from the world, and everything they have made, from children to nations, shall soon die alone, forgotten, and unloved. There will be no trace of them left in the world, for you have erased them.

Cost: Doom of the Animist Wizard. 

 

Author’s Note: This isn’t limited to creatures. If this is used on a kingdom.. well brief moment of prosperity before the kingdom is wiped from the face of the earth and the memory of everything.

12. Grand Curse - Damnation Comes to All.

R: Sight T: Up to [dice] creatures or group of creatures D: permanent

Your target becomes cursed. Name [dice] horrible fates for them when you cast this spell, and it shall occur. To lift the curse, they must get sincere and genuine forgiveness for every wrong they have ever done, from the victims. If any of the targets die without lifting the curse, they go straight to hell. Dice used to cast this spell are automatically exhausted. You cannot dispel your own curses.

Cost: Doom of the Animist Wizard.

Author’s Note: Again. You can hit a kingdom with this. Or kingdoms even. I can totally imagine a player doing something crazy like turning a kingdom into vampires.. then making it so it’s always day in the kingdom. Really this lets you just bust out Old Testament curses on people if you feel like it.

-On Grand Animist Wizards-

The response to these by civilized society is always the same. A crusade to kill them. To kill them and whoever or whatever let them get so powerful in the first place. Why? Simple.

The Doom of a Animist Wizard turns them into a monster. A thing of hunger and want, yet still capable of wielding magic. When a Grand Animist succumbs to their Final Doom.. They become more then that.

They become a Demon. A thing of pollution and creeping entropy, who’s very presence ruins the world, which can wield terrible magic. All that was good in them, all that was them, has melted away, consumed by endless greed and power. A hollow hole in the world that can only be filled with death.

Perhaps they take the form of a beast made of purple smoke that stains the sky. A living river of corruption, dotted with hateful eyes.  Living darkness that consumes all light. Whatever it is, their flesh becomes curses and if left unchecked the world will suffer and decay. For it is a living calamity with no traces of who they once where. And as such, it‘s birth cannot be allowed to occur..

[This is the kind of Demon I mean, a living disaster that brings forth ruin.

Image belongs to Nintendo]

Grand Spellcasting - High Powered Spells for the GLOG

 This post is a addition to the normal GLOG spellcasting system. (Best post on that is found here: https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2017/07/osr-condensed-spellcasting-rules.html?m=1)

I adore the idea of Dooms, as a tangible risk to Magic that dooms all wizards, which contributes to the OSR’s weird fantasy themes. however they rarely come up in play. However on the OSR discord, we where discussing how Mishaps and Dooms weren’t common enough. The idea of willingly suffering a Mishap or Doom to supercharge a spell you cast came up, which led me to this.

At the fourth class template, a GLOG wizard or other MD using class can gain the following feature with the GM’s Permission: 

Grand Spellcasting: You can cast the Grand version of spells you already know. Each spell has a Grand Version, a super-powered spell that does at least one of the following: 

• Does what the original spell did but far better. (Ie Grand Fireball flat out incinerates anything in the AoE instead of dealing [sum] damage).
• Breaks the rules of the original spell. (Ie Grand Raise Dead can return a dead creature to *true* life.)
• Makes the effects of the spell permanent. (Ie a creature sent to sleep by Grand Sleep is not waking up at all, not without outside help.)

If you do not have Grand Spellcasting, then you may be able to find Grand Spells through play, as rewards for high level dungeons or such. 

Casting a Grand Spell has a cost though. No matter what, when you cast a Grand Spell, you will suffer the Doom of the original spell’s School, though for spells with the concentration duration, the Doom will apply when concentration ends. This counts towards your three doom limit/progression, but only for spells of that school. In combat, casting one is incredibly obvious, as even the lowest of vermin can sense the power channeled to cast a Grand Spell. Casting a Grand Spell takes a entire round by default, and the spell only goes off on the start of caster’s next turn, if the caster is still alive. 

(This kind of fire power. Source: Wrath of God by Kev Walker, for the MTG card of the same name, which is the intellectual property of Hasbro and Wizard of the Cost.)

I will now give the Grand Spells of Skerple’s Orthodox Wizard(https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2018/01/osr-orthodox-wizards.html?m=1 ) as examples of this concept.

Grand Spell Template

Grand [Base Spell] - [Unique name of the Grand Spell]

R: [range], T: [target], D: [Duration]

[Effect]

Cost: [which school’s Doom it inflicts on you]

1. Grand Lock - Eternal Ward

R: Sight, T: [Up to Sum + Level] Objects you can see, D: Permanent.

Each of the targets becomes magically locked, and can only be opened with your permission or if [Dice] conditions of your choice per object are met. You can close these objects with a thought. These objects do not have to be doors or such, anything that can be argued to be opened and closed(such a sword that is sheathed in it’s scabbard), can be effected. 

Cost: Doom of the Orthodox Wizard.

2. Grand Knock - Sunder All Barriers

R: Sight, T: [Up to Sum + Level] objects, D: 0.

The targets are destructively forced open, no matter what. Only Eternal Ward can prevent this. Heavy doors are thrown open, lesser doors are turned  to dust. Locks shatter, bindings disintegrate. Any creatures targeted must save or have their bodies violently opened, gutting them like a fish.

Cost: Doom of the Orthodox Wizard.

3. Grand Grease - Sea of Incandescent Oil 

R: Sight' T: surface D: [dice]x2 weeks. 

Can be cast directly on a creature or [sum * dice]100’ x 100’ surfaces. Creatures moving across the area must Save vs Dexterity or drop held objects, or, if moving, drop prone.  In addition if the Oil is exposed to fire, it all instantly bursts into clingy green fire that deals [dice + level] damage per round, and can only be extinguished by completely dunking the flames in water.

Cost: Doom of the Orthodox Wizard.

4. Grand Force Field - Aegis of Forgotten Heavens

R: Sight' T: One creature or one location with a radius of [sum] Miles or less. D: Permanent.

Creates a shimmering force field that looks like transparent black lighting arching from a five pointed star, 10‘ larger then the target and centered around the target. It has 5 HP, however all attacks that deal less rhen [Dice + Sum] damage do no damage to it, and all attacks that deal [Dice + Sum] or more damage only deal 1 damage to it.

Cost: Doom of the Orthodox Wizard.

5. Grand Levitate - Embrace of The Devil’s Might

R: Sight, T: [Sum + Level] creatures or objects D: concentration 

You will the targets and all of their components to move in any direction, even inwards on themself you cannot move them more than [Sum]* 10' per turn. Maximum weight is [dice]x500 tons per target. Lasts as long as you concentrate, but each round after [dice] rounds you suffer a mishap. Any damage directly done by this spell deals [sum] damage.

Cost: Doom of the Orthodox Wizard. 

6. Grand Magic Missile - Arrows of The Scorned God

R: See effect, T: [Up to sum] beings you know the name of, D: 0.

As you cast this spell, name each target of this spell, with a orb of light forming with each target named. (In combat, you can name a target per round.) When you name the last target, the orbs transform into arrows of light that hunt down their target, moving at light speed. If the target is within one Light Year of you, they will be hit, and on a hit they must Save or Die. Creatures of [Dice + 2] HD or less automatically die. On a success they take [Sum * 2] damage.

Cost: Doom of the Orthodox Wizard. 

7. Grand Feather Fall - The Gift of Heaven’s Freedom

R: Sight T: [Up to Sum + Level] creatures or objects of [Sum] x 100 tons or less each D: [Dice] days. 

The targets gain the ability to telekinetically fly at a rate of their movement * [Dice], and do not fall unless they will it. Objects effected merely cannot fall without being pushed by a creature and become as light as a feather instead.

Cost: Doom of the Orthodox Wizard. 

8. Grand Sleep - Slumber Until The Stars Die

R: Sight T: See effect D: Permanent.

Targets must Save falls into a magical slumber, does not age while under the spell’s effect and can't be awoken by anything but your verbal command or a condition of your choice being met. Non-alert, unaware targets are not allowed a Save. Can affect [sum * Dice] HD’s worth creatures. If [sum] is at least 4 times a effected creature's HD, it gets no save.

Cost: Doom of the Orthodox Wizard. 

9. Grand Light - The Sun Shall Descend

R: Sight T: a point you can see D: [dice]x2 weeks

A small sun appears at the point you designate. It has a radius of [dice] * 10’, and sheds light as the sun for [dice + sum] miles. Anything that is inside of the sun is disintegrated unless it is immune to fire. Creatures within [dice + sum]’ of the mini sun take [sum] damage per minute, and creatures farther away yet still within the range of it’s light take [dice] damage per hour spent in the light due to the heatwave it causes. The sunlight’s color is chosen when you cast it, but making it octarine is.. ill advised.

Cost: Doom of the Orthodox Wizard. 

10. Grand Wizard Vision - Crown of the Akashic Watcher

R: Self T: Self D: Permanent

You permanently become aware of all magic within [dice] * 20’ of you, and what said magic does, as well as become immune to illusions and magical darkness. You can read/learn the history of everything within the radius, and as a action, force one thing that fits within the radius to Save or have [dice] facts about it’s past changed by you, but this cannot prevent it from having entered the radius in the first place. Large enough changes to the past will summon 1d4 (exploding) Paradox Angels(https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2017/05/osr-creature-paradox-angels.html?m=1) who will then try to kill you and everything nearby. In addition you mutate in some obvious and grand way that calls to mind a crown, such as gaining a halo or a nest of demonic horns growing from your head.

Cost: Doom of the Orthodox Wizard. 

11. Grand Prismatic Ray - Rainbow of Infinite Destruction 

R: See Target’ T: A 100’(length) by 15’(width) beam originating from the caster, D: Concentration 

Fire a raging rainbow colored laser of destruction. Roll a 1d8 up to [Dice] + 1 times, rerolling duplicates, to determine the make up and effects of the beam.

-1. Red: Everything flammable in the beam bursts into flame and takes [sum] damage per round until the flames are put out.

-2. Orange: Everything in the beam that weighs [sum] tons or less takes [sum * 2] bludgeoning damage and is sent flying out of the beam, length wise.

-3. Yellow: Everything within the beam takes takes [sum * 2] lightning damage, and becomes magnetically attracted to everything magnetic for [dice] hours.

-4. Green: All metal in the beam is corroded into rust, and all living things in the beam lose [dice] HD. If this reduces them to 0 or less HD, they are corroded into nothing.

-5. Blue: Everything in the beam must save or die by being frozen solid. +4 to the save if Red is selected.

-6: Indigo: Everything in the beam with [dice] or less HD in the beam dies. Anything that is slain by the beam  or any corpse touched by the beam, will rise as a zombie loyal to the user in [dice] minutes. 

-7: Violet: Everything in the beam takes [sum * dice] damage and is blinded, and anything besides the caster that looks at the beam must Save or take half the damage and be blinded for [dice] weeks. 

-8: Octarine: Reality within the beam is torn asunder. Anything caught in the beam is instantly afflicted with the effect of a random damaging spell, casted with 4 MD, with the roll of each treated as 6. For the next [dice] weeks, the effects of a random spell happen to: Everything touched by the beam and everything that looked at the beam besides the caster.

As a action, the caster can move the beam up to 10 degrees in any direction, but for each round the beam is active beyond the first they lose 1 max HP. The effects of the beam go off during the turns of the caster.

Cost: Doom of the Orthodox Wizard.

12. Grand Fireball - Let Loose The Fires of Hell

R: Sight' T: One point you can see. D: 0 

Everything within a radius up to [dice] * 50’ long, centered around the targeted point, including the caster, is instantly incinerated by a massive sphere of hellfire that takes up the radius. The resulting shockwave flattens everything within [sum * level] miles of the target, dealing [sum + level] * [dice + level] bludgeoning damage to everything it touches, including the caster.

Cost: Doom of the Orthodox Wizard.

Notes: Casting this without a way to survive the shockwave will kill you. If you are caught in the fireball itself, you will die no ifs or buts about it.

Handling Grand Spells

While at first glance these spells look overpowered as hell remember the following. The mildest doom, ie that of the Orthodox Wizard, robs you of your ability to use magic permanently when it reaches the third doom. And that casting one of these will draw attention from *every* major player due to the sheer power of these spells. In other words. Balance them by being harsh as hell with the Dooms and having serious in game consequences for knowledge of casting these getting out. Such as entire factions making strong arming or killing the caster a immediate goal.

The Lake that Hates

It is a lake, set in a thick and heavy forest. A forest filled with rotten ruins. Dotted with towns, many half empty. Yet the soil is fertile and the woods rich with wood. The waters are a mirror like grey, the lake deep and pure. The lakebed is home to countless caves, a few half above the water.  Many rivers feed from it, by means of the underwater caves. The waters hate you.

The waters are home to a demonic spirit, a shapeless being tied to the water. It hates. Again and again when it’s forest has been approached upon, it will call all those who have drank of it. It will call the fools to it’s waters. They will walk in and drown, of their own free will. The bottom of the lake and it’s caves are covered in corpses. Sometimes it makes these corpses crawl out of the waters and drag more people into them, kicking and screaming as the waxy and bloated faces of their mothers and brothers and daughters are all filled with hatred, cold and raw.

These corpses, are the Drowned. They are the spirit’s hands and eyes, as it’s power is limited beyond the scope of the waters. Their souls have been devoured, the void filled with the hatred of the Lake. When struck, their flesh bleeds not blood, but water.

They crawl from the water and enter the town, adorned in soaking rags. They seed the wells with the waters of the lake, silently abducting the unlucky in the dead of night. Anyone, especially children who enter those haunted waters risk never returning, as clammy hands wrap around limbs, and in a instant, pull. Dragged down into the water in a heartbeat, those waterlogged claws pry open the mouth, rotten feet and knees slamming into the lungs, forcing out air and letting in water. Struggle in vain, waste your breath, close your eyes, and soon death will come. 

Deaths by drowning and abduction, reports of corpses crawling out of the water at the dead of night, all leading to a town walking into the water, never to be seen again. 

And when that fails. When it encounters resistance or a threat that it’s Drowned cannot defeat, it’s shadow concentrates as Drowned gather, forming a soaking amalgamation of driftwood, rot, and marrow. They scream in the voices of your friends and family, begging you to join them, or scorning you with all their hatred.

They lumber after you, rotten limbs like clubs smashing the unwary into the ground, before dragging them into the reach of a dozen hungry maws. From the maws and the wounds comes water, twitching, lashing, hating streams and burst and whips of water.

The shadow of the Lake that Hates grows with every day. It’s touch corrupts water into a worthy vessel, spreading through lakes and water ways like a ancient virus. 

It cannot be allowed to reach the ocean snd the seven seas, no matter what.

—————

The Drowned

HD/HP: 1d8

AC/Defense: As Leather

Movement: As Human, twice as fast as human.

Attacks: Grasp(1d6 + Grab), and any weapon they have grabbed.

Special Abilities: 

Takes half damage from fire.

What one perceives/knows, they all perceive/know.

+1d6 Damage to all melee attacks per Drowned that is next to them.

——————

1d6 Plot Hooks of the Lake that Hates

1: The blacksmith’s daughter has gone missing. She was complaining about hearing wet thumps, below the floorboards of her room.

2: The crew of a ship that set sail down the river have all turned up dead, on the shores of the town. They all drowned, and yet are.. smiling. The town priest will pay handsomely if you figure out why.

3: Someone the party cares about has gone missing, and where last seen waking towards the lake.

4: One of the party members is having horrible nightmares of being drowned by the water logged corpses of the other party members. The farther away from a body of water they get, the worse the nightmares.

5: A wizard has gone mad after using the water for divinations. They  bounce between drinking nothing and allowing no one they see to drink, to attempting to drown as many people as possible. The mayor wants the party to deal with them.

6: The party awakes to find their campsite surrounded by wet footprints, the air smelling of wet rot. Something has been taken, and the footprints lead to the nearest water source.

BE SILENT

So. I made a thing after getting caught up in a fun discussion on the OSR Discord. This was the result. Still working on Agalia by the way, just taking my time for it. Basically this is a survival horror game that started out conceptually as a Zombie Apocalypse GLOG Hack. This is a very rought draft.

BE SILENT

Source: https://www.deviantart.com/irenhorrors/art/Wendigo-718589046

Features:
Stats-as-Inventory
No rolling for saves! Instead respond with what’s in your inventory!
Rules for stealth!
Compatible with(and uses) GLOG classes!
Stress, Madness, Trauma!

Oblidisideryptch is also working on their own version, and I expect it will be up on their blog soon.

Intro: Agalia, The Empire of Sin

—On the history of the world.—

“The Church of Endless Heavens preaches the world was made in six days by the grace of Mother, each of which lasted an aeon.”

“On the first day, Mother came from the heavens, and pulled the earth from the depths of the endless sea. The sun is the spot from which Mother descended.”

“On the second, Mother’s breath flowed over the world, creating the sky and wind.”

“On the third, Mother’s blood was cast on the land, giving birth to the plants and animals, and for a day they lived as lowly beasts.”

“On the fourth, Mother gave the sky, the winds, the earth and the life that lived upon the Earth, souls, hence creating The First People, the Spirits. Then, Mother created the laws that bind the Spirits, and hence, the laws of the physical world.”

“On the fifth, Mother crafted The Second People, us, Man, from blood, ashes, and clay. We too were granted souls, and with them a gift. While we lacked the power of the Spirits, we were not bound by their laws. In fact. We can shape and change a Spirit, with effort and knowledge and faith.”

“On the sixth, Mother cautioned the People from breaking her laws, and then ascended back to the heavens. It was a glorious farewell, with a promise of an eventual return.”

“On the seventh, the Beast, the Ur-Satan, crawled forth from the depths of the sea. A terrible demon, that desired nothing less than to devour everything.”

“For seven years it rampaged, corrupting and devouring everything in its path. It’s hunger gnawed at the laws of the world, threatening to undo Mother’s work. In its wake came a horde of demons, made in it’s own image.”

“At the end of those years, six heroes, chosen by Mother, three of each People, banded together to defeat the Beast. With holy wisdom, they wove the laws of the world into a prison for the Beast. However the prison is not perfect.”

“Should the rites sustaining it fail, or some maddened fool cast the gates open, then the Beast will be free. And so the cycle of history forms.”

“The faith in the rites and their meaning fades, till the gates weaken. Demons slowly but surely flood into the land. Then, the Beast elects a Satan, who rallies the Demons and declares a crusade against the world. The Church gathers heroes, and throws them on the rampaging horde as kingdoms fall and lives end. Until the Satan is slain, the rites are re-established, and the Beast is firmly trapped within its prison.”

“Again and again this has happened. Again and again it will, until either the Beast or the world meets its end.”

“The next turn of the cycle is soon. The Empire of Agalia has grown fat and decadent, choking on laws that are bought and sold with gold and blood. The rites have been neglected, the prison weakened. Demons crawl forth from the West, where the sea turns to sand, and from within, as Sin sprouts like vile weeds. A Satan has risen, but their identity is unknown. The Church is calling for heroes and fools, for the faithful and the heretic, to go west. Go west, and find riches and glory in the slaying of demons. May some brave souls ensure that the Satan falls, and the Beast remains within its prison.” -From the personal diary of Sage Traila, Ex-Priestess of the Church.

—What is a Demon?—

“There are three kinds of Demons, though the lines between them often blur and twist. What they all have in common, is that they are formed of or shaped by the Beast’s hunger. Silver burns them like acid, and the foolish often harness their souls as a source of power.”

“The first is the Spawn of the Beast, sent to devour and kill to feed their sire. They are the most simple form of Demon, driven by mindless hunger.”

“The second are the Living Blights. When enough hatred, malice, suffering, or greed gathers, it may give birth to a demon embodying those, clawing forth from, corpse or earth. In the wake of the other two types, the Blights will sprout like vile weeds.”

“The third and most dangerous are the Abominations. They are born when a Person, be they Man or Spirit, are utterly consumed by Sin or Curse. Sin, in this case, refers to an all consuming obsession. Something that eats and eats and eats at one’s self until it is all that remains, twisting one’s flesh and one’s form as it empties out the soul. The touch of a Demon, too, can set one on the path to Demondom. Many of the most terrifying Demons have been fallen kings and demonslayers.”

“And a Satan.. A Satan refers to a Demon, no matter the type, who has become a Herald of the Beast. If left unchecked, they will release the Beast from it’s prison.” - Demon Slayer Vladdin’s notes for his apprentice, dated seven months before he became a Demon and laid waste to his home kingdom.
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Author’s Note:
I‘m basing Agalia off of the Roman Empire in the age of it’s decline. If the Roman Empire had flintlock guns, magic, and had to deal with both nature spirits and Demons.

Of Blood and Glory!

It’s probably too early in my blog’s age to have made my own GLOG Hack. Do I care? Nope~ So say hello to:

Of Blood and Glory!

Inspirations are!

Arnold K at Goblinpunch

Vayra over at the Mad Queen’s Court

Basically everyone else over on the OSR Discord!

Note! There’s not a lot of setting stuff in this. That’s on purpose! Taking a que from Vayra, I’m planning on making setting ‘books’, each with their own classes and setting. Though I mean setting in the idea of ‘stuff to give the GM to put a setting together’. I plan on posting a introductory post  to one later this week as well!

As for what that setting’s theme is going to be..? Well. I’m a big fan of the souls game, and the very first one, Demon Souls, is overshadowed by the games that followed it. So, I’m going to make a setting inspired by it, with a little dash of some other stuff I like. My Corruption Rules are going to play a pretty important role in the setting as well.

Got the picture from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/596304806900863739/?nic_v1=1b3%2FhSd42upyHywddpRhwYU2PjaDiBa49PyaQUzRQNQy5co4hOU9KeN0ahlpfttSZQ