Friday, August 24, 2018

DunjonCorp Traps

Jumping aboard a bandwagon I think but I had this in the pot cooking before the current fashion. This is my table smith table sections for traps and features. Ought to be pretty self-explanatory except for some of the code. Started ought as strictly Moldvay Basic style, then added some from Kabuki Kaiser's RoTU and the 1e DMG

The intent is to keep them on their toes and give them lots of stuff to play with. It's DCC oriented at the moment with some 3.5 influence also

Peace be upon you

TRAPS

  1. AL x 10' Deep Pit 1d6 damage
  2. AL x 10' Deep Pit with Spikes 1d8 damage
  3. Cesspit - DC 15 Reflex or fall in, DC 15 Fort or catch random disease
  4. AL x 20' Deep Pit 2d6 damage per 10'
  5. AL x 20' Deep Pit with Spikes 2d8 damage per 10'
  6. Slowing Gas - slow for 4 turns, DC {Dice~1d10+12} Fort save
  7. Blinding Gas - blind for 4 turns, DC {Dice~1d10+12} Fort save
  8. Poison Gas - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Fort save or {Calc~%Level%*5} damage
  9. Hail Of Needles - 10 attacks per PC as fighter of Level %Level% doing 1 damage
  10. Falling Stones - d6 damage per PC
  11. Fusilade Of Darts - 4 attacks per PC as fighter of Level %Level% causing 1d3 damage
  12. Burning Oil Shower - d6 damage plus 1 per round for Level %Level% rounds
  13. Mummy Rot Powder - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Fort save or cursed as per mummy
  14. Acid Rain - %Level%d4 damage plus damage to items
  15. Javelin - d10 damage plus %Level%d4
  16. Contact Poison - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Fort save or die
  17. Shocking Grasp - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Reflex save vs {Calc~%Level%+8}
  18. Cold Glyph - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Fort save or {Calc~%Level%*2}
  19. Negative Energy Glyph - Save or lose 1 energy level
  20. Phantasmal killer - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Will save or Die, passed = random insanity
  21. Lightning bolt - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Reflex save or {Dice~5d6} damage, passed = half
  22. Monomolecular scythe - attack everyone as Level %Level% Fighter for d20 damage, crits decapitate as Vorpal Sword
  23. Disintegration Beams - DC {Dice~2d10+5} Reflex Save or {Calc~%Level%*10} damage
  24. Radiation Field Projector - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Fort save or random major corruption
  25. Tachyon Bolt - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Reflex save or age d100 years
  26. Undeath Glyph - Awaken all undead, turn nearby recent dead into zombies
  27. Rust Glyph - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Will save or lose all non-magic metallic items
  28. Sonic Glyph - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Fort save or deafness for 4 turns
  29. Mud Glyph - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Reflex save or mired in room for 4 turns
  30. Arrrow trap - unluckiest PC gets Attack with d20+5 1d10 damage
  31. Arrow trap, poisoned unluckiest PC gets Attack with d20+5 1d10 damage and random poison DC 15
  32. Ball trap - all PCs in marching order DC 15 Reflex save
  33. Caltrops - DC 14 Reflex save or 1d6 damage
  34. Caltrops, poisoned - DC 14 Reflex save or 1d6 damage and poison or disease
  35. Ceiling block falls - 1d3 unluckiest get a DC 14 Reflex save or 2d12 damage
  36. Ceiling collapses - everybody DC 14 Reflex save or death - all stunned
  37. Ceiling lowers - find the mechanism with DC 17 Intelligence check in 4 rounds or all die!
  38. Chute - into an oubliette or down 1d3 levels on whole party
  39. Door, falling - one door has a pit trap behind - roll under Agility to avoid falling
  40. Door, one way - will not open from other side
  41. Door, resisting - needs a DC 17 Strength check to open
  42. Door, specific - only opens with specific command or item
  43. Door, spring - door flies open and DC 15 Reflex save or 1d12 damage
  44. Floor, collapsing - suddenly, the whole party makes DC 15 to avoid falling into the depths
  45. Floor, illusionary - make a DC 13 Will save to disbelieve
  46. Gas, blinding - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Fort save or -4 to all attacks
  47. Gas, corroding - all items have a 1-5 on Action dice usage to fall apart
  48. Gas, panic - everyone moves at +4 in the Initiative order for {Dice~1d4} turns but all actions are at -1d
  49. Gas, nausea - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Fort save or roll -2d for initiative and -1d for Actions for {Dice~1d4} turns
  50. Gas, obscuring - vision impaired while random monsters arrive, party loses surprise
  51. Gas, poison - DC {Dice~1d10+12} Fort save or take 1d6 Stamina damage
  52. Vacuum chamber - within {Dice~1d4+2} turns, the breathable air from this area and nearby {Dice~1d4} rooms is evacuated


Feature

  1. 3,Half-flooded with waist-high water. Next {Dice~1d4+1} rooms are also flooded
  2. 3,Refuse & Putrid Smell
  3. 3,Pixel mosaics, animated
  4. 3,Voxel sculptures, lewd [Special]
  5. 3,Statue from an ancient civilization: [Special]
  6. 5,Broken scientific equipment
  7. Magic Circle: [Special]
  8. 3,Common Fungi blossom all around
  9. 3,Slime Patches - 1 in 10 is monstrous and dormant
  10. 3,{Dice~1d12} Shipping Containers containing {Dice~2d500} [NMS_Junk.Start]
  11. Cryostasis tombs - {Dice~1d4} slabs: {Bold~[Monster]}
  12. 3,{Dice~1d4} Mummified corpses: disturbing them causes [Special]
  13. 5,Slithering sound
  14. 2,Fire pit - 10 percent chance still lit down there
  15. 2,Broken and decaying furniture - space station style
  16. 2,{Dice~1d4} Thrones - disturbing summons {Bold~[Monster]}
  17. Altar - [Special]
  18. 5,Mechanical grinding sound
  19. 5,Mechanical thumping sound
  20. 5,Alarm screeching causes {Bold~[Monster]} to arrive in next turn
  21. 2,Weapon racks - {Dice~1d4} ancient mono-scimitars, void grenades, or blasters
  22. 2,Hyperbraziers and charcoal - inhaling fumes causes [Special]
  23. 2,Ancient battlefield with {Dice~2d20} skeletons and their wargear
  24. 5,Obscene hand-painted frescoes - viewing too long causes [Special]
  25. 2,Mouldering Tapestries, worth {Dice~2d500} gp but weigh 1000gp
  26. Large demon idol from an ancient civilization - worshipping causes [Special]
  27. 2,Gene resequencer - change to random race if interacted with
  28. 2,Clone Vat - interacting character sacrifices {Dice~1d12} HP and gets faithful/insane/flawed clone
  29. 2,Corpse renderer - breaks corpses down into 1d10 potions
  30. 2,Trash incinerator - receive 5 gold/AL in antique coins for worhtless items
  31. 2,Sauroid pen - either dusty bones or {Bold~{Dice~2d4} Large Dinosaurs} in stasis
  32. 2,Pillars of Scrutiny: if diverge from Alignment, then judged and causes [Trap]
  33. Altar to Business/Commerce/Mammon - leaving money causes [Special]
  34. Archway - stepping through transports to Astral/Ethereal/Dreamlands
  35. Illusionary Ceiling - view the sky outside
  36. Ancient Container - contains small hoard of [Treasure] plus [NMS_Junk.Start]
  37. Interactive Map Dome - some far away region or land
  38. Fire - blazing fire in center of room
  39. Fireplace - active/inactive
  40. Force Field - constrains [NMS_RoTUWM.Hard]
  41. Fountain - [Special]
  42. Illusion - [Special]
  43. Infernal Machine - [Special]
  44. Magically confined monster - [NMS_RoTUWM.Extreme]
  45. Pedestal - [Special]
  46. Pit - bottomless, or else the bottom goes to another realm
  47. Pool - mysterious waters cause [Special]
  48. Stairway to extra-/para-dimensional section of dungeon
  49. Tangleweb vines - DC 14 Reflex save or held fast (whole party)
  50. Well - make a wish or climb down to [Pocket]
  51. Divinity terminal gives access to previously unknown minor godthing
  52. Matter transmittal pad, moves within dungeon or far far away.
  53. Warpgate to alternate dimension or plane
  54. Soul Gem - every round a beam attacks random party member, DC {Dice~1d12+6} Will save negates, else soul sucked into Gem
  55. Planetarium projector - if disturbed then laser attacks at d24 on each party member for 1d10 damage
  56. Bottled City access
  57. Shimmering Warpgate to [Pocket]

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Naked Blue Box Lunch

I don't endorse drug use, violence, pornographic literature, or anti-authoritarian thought patterns. Report to MiniLove if you disagree.

When the angels in the white lab coats moved in on Wayne R., hunkered down and thinking in a dim corner of G+, he said something like HEY MAN WHAT IF YOU HAD THE HOLMES BLUE BOOK AND ONLY ONE OTHER PRE-78' DEAD TREE VIRUS TO COOK UP AN RPG WITH

And then they clamped down on his ass real hard and trucked him away into a detox pod because, like, maybe he's too hard for the DR. J ERIC Holmes like Zach H. You gotta be suspicious of anybody that is THAT academic about a topic. Pedantry is a kind of substance but it stretches out the framework of need.  That's not what we're talking about here, man. Now, some cats on there like the BECMI and some push the S&W or maybe some watered down d20 but there is nothing quite like that Blue Colored Old Time Junk to make you think real weird and loopy. I know for certain that a lot of those dudes are into Klartesh and Fundo, and I even tried some Kovacistani Klartesh once but all it did was make me sleepy and watch Jodorowski movies.  At least, I hope it was a movie. Coulda been a Hollywood-type party or maybe an Actual Holy Mountain. Doesn't matter at the moment. FOr fuck's sake, focus.

So I chimed in IT SEEMS GOOD TO ME TO USE THE OTHER BURROUGHS, NOT THE APE-FUCKER ONE BUT THE NEED-FILLED APOMORPHINE TYPE

something about collapsing down your scale of need - like when you're hooked on the RPG junk, you don't tend to think in terms of rounds or turns or domains, but like where is it that a flesh-unit can grab the next fix of white hot imagination with pseudorandom integrals and a healthy dose of chance? IS ANYBODY UP FOR A GAME, AS MY USUAL F2F ONE WAS CANCELLED AND IM HURTING REAL BAD MAN

I propose a simple 7% solution: you really only need about a page or two of Dr. Leisure Suit's Blue Book of Infinite Delight. Other players are entirely optional and for our porpoises perhaps superfluous.

You could do away with Clerics: for there is No God but the God of Need and she won't hear your feeble prayers. You can do away with Magic-Users as PCs, since like no PC is empowered that way but maybe like every Magic-User is a NPC delivery man, on the top of the pyramid of need. No magic-using PCs means no need for a rational spell system like FUCK VANCE man, and FUCK SPELL POINTS, and spell levels. dUNGEON levels are okay, I guess, as a close approximation of the NEED. Everybody is a Fighter or a Thief, but you could pick other things as Holmes suggests if your group is into that.

You can do away with elves, dwarves, hobbits, and goblins and dragons, except the kind that are junk-based. There can be Dragons of Soma, Morphine Trolls, Cocaine Hydrochloride Carrion Crawlers. All the usual stuff, but it's not the real sort. Just real enough to be on obstacle for a bit.  All NPCs use d20s for their random hit points.

Every play session, you plan to have a couple of encounters. 5.  5 give or take. A smart move would be 1 or 2 for every PLAYER, at least 5. They don't happen in a temporally causal fashion, though. There's one key WILLIAM LEE and all the other PCs - maybe it's Old Bart the Fighting Man this time and a couple of versions of Benway or maybe a Machine Elf named Clyde 27 come down from the 5th geometry as an observer. SO like, there is never a moment's rest and you're always looking to score, but it's a problem.  You could be a trusty, angelic faced Linkboy, or maybe a shrewish ex-wife, or a man that fell to earth just yesterday. Doesn't matter

Your general physical health is not to be trusted, since you've worn out your health with constant experimentation and chemical and physiological upgrades. put the dice in a cup, close your eyes, grab one, and that's your Hit Die type. Or if you're really up for a screw-job time, you could maybe just roll a number of dice that correspond to your level. That's your HP so keep it close to your chest. Experts - real hardbit experts - use 1 HP per level and make it a point to sacrifice all the other people in the party.  YES I AM IN THE REAR OF THE PARTY WITH THE THOMPSON SUB MACHINE GUN AND A SCROLL OF FINGER OF DEATH. LET US APPROACH THE LAIR OF THE DRAGON ROBOT DISGUISED AS A HIPPIE TEA CULT JAZZ BAND

slap a type-writer font on there and people will buy it.
You're trying to score - it could be treasure, healing potions, whatever. There's always drama - somebody is keeping you from making it to Level 26 and back, you dig? Control most definitely does not want you to ascend with the amulet. A healing potion will most definitely take you above and beyond the maximum limit at least for this scene.

Mugwumps are a special case. Black Centipedes are a special case. Maybe later.

Each PLAYER plays out WILLIAM LEE the thief or fighting man (choose this time) of the appropriate level in turn. LEE gets one random mutation to deal with this game.  All the other PCs are chosen from a pool. Nobody plays the same PC twice but everybody gets to play LEE at least once. All the other PCs (NOTLEE) have two mutations and a secret agenda in addition to the NEED to SCORE. A mutation is a skill, spell, feat, item. Use whatever method suits your clique.

It Goes: Post-Score Reflection - Beat - Beat - Boss - Turn - Beat - Score

a Beat could be an encounter with a junkmonster, negotiations with an NPC, running from the FUZZ/CONTROL/BENWAY/THEM DARN MUGWUMPS whatever. A boss is a slighlty harder encounter with a vicious brute who is directly opposed to you scoring. Anybody whose random HP goes to 0 or who fails a save is put in the TURNED pile. whatever their secret agenda was, it's always going to be KEEP YOU FROM SCORING going forward. Post score reflection is mutual world-building, stealing cars, basking in the warm/cold glow/bite of the last adventure. Reincarnating dead friends, that sort of thing.

If LEE misses a Save or goes down to 0 HP for any reason, then LEE gets another mutation to cope with, and the encounter goes on to the next one unresolved, or maybe you could call it resolved if you want. The only way for LEE to remove a mutation is to score, or offset temporarily by trying a substance. If you try a substance, reroll a stat immediately. The first time, roll a d20 for your new stat. The second time, roll 2d10. The third time, roll 3d6. The fourth time, roll 4d4. The fifth time, roll 5d3. So it goes. You'll reach a hideous, bone-dry, withered average eventually no matter how good you feel at the moment. Everybody is/are/was/will be free to try substances because free-will and agency are to be respected except on days ending with Y

Never give anybody as much as they need, and never settle for enough since you don't know when you may be on the run. Always clean your gear and try to take a bath when you are able. It makes scoring slightly less difficult if the straights think you are clean.

Play never occurs in the same place twice.  Always move forward. The scene is very likely not temporally connected or causally connected to the last one. Every time a PC is played, except LEE, give them another HD, though. Experience matters, even if you were better off before.

I would expect if you fold-in or cut-n-paste a couple of modules from a few different systems, it might approximate an interesting experience that would feel jarring and unhappily asemotic at first but then it would be picaresque in a way that many OLD SKOOL fans seem to appreciate but rarely empowered to come close to. Nobody likes LEE or Cugel, but everybody wants to play him a while, eh?

I heard that when I left X the Mystic on the corner in Tijuana, she ended up dead 2 weeks later. Strange that we keep bumping into her in the Residential section of the INterzone, her eyes black and reptillian as microwaved coffee. All the other rules are as written in the BB but you could set it on fire and get a new hobby but once that RPG hits it's more like a rocket propelled grenade and less like improv comedy, heh? I can see you shake let me flow over and around you and keep your cortex warm for a bit.

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