Thursday, March 5, 2015

Snow Day NPC - Hevath the Observer

Hevath the Observer


A Progenitor-era Wight, Hevath was long ago a man of Kran in the Icy Wastes - and a single-minded lieutenant of some renown for the icy King Helgaz Belkur.  He now stands watch in the dim recesses of a former telescope temple on the tomb-planet Nebulmor. 

In those dim days of blood and fire, the King tasked Hevath with a dire mission, to wend his way through the Crystal Peaks, infiltrate the Dwarf Home, and enter a little-used cavern.  He was to kill any who stood in his way, but not draw attention if possible.  There, Hevath was told, he ought to watch what he found, and wait there until given leave.  He could stay in contact with his Lord through a psionic amulet that required only a little life essence to maintain its magic.


Little did he know that Belkur had geased him to watch, but he went and found a boiling, roiling expanse of air through which he stepped, and then he was somewhere else.  And he watched what he found, there; namely, an image of a Ziggurat of Smoke and Flame, carried on the backs of a thousand cannibal-apes and a Keep of Soot and Ash.  He stood in wonderment and watched as glimpses of a young woman of smoke and a towering, sinister man left the battlements, and Hevath came to love and hate them both as kin.

And he watched, and he died a thousand thousand years ago.  His master was out of contact but this did not break his compulsion, and now his master has again contacted him and Hevath has told all he has learned in an eon of watching.  This is not much, truthfully, but the information is amusing and useful to Belkur who is more interested in the slave-apes than the smoke-and-ash father and his daughter (although it is recognized they must be sorcerers of some ability).

Hevath is an even-tempered and cool-headed thing, and will no longer slay those who approach outright unless they seem a threat.  He is more concerned with reaching and slaying the man and his daughter, or somehow destroying their smoky demesne.  Little does he know that the Ziggurat of Haon Reagan'Tor lies on a far-off Purple Planet - and he would not care if he knew.  He is only compelled to watch, and make his reports as his Master sees fit.

If the PCs demonstrate spell-casting ability of any kind in his presence, he will offer a trifling mission with no meaningful outcome, except the distinct possibility of their certain doom should they attempt it.  This solves two problems for him, to remove the PCs from his midst while he watches the ziggurat in the hopes of a glimpse of Haon and Ylill, and (should they return) then the party may be of use to Helgaz Belkur.  He may maneuver the PCs to find a way to break his geas, but he cannot attempt this openly or consciously owing to the strength of Helgaz Belkur's daemonomancy.

He can teach PC Wizards the Patron Bond spell, and will bond anyone of Level 2 or higher to Helgaz Belkur with a d24 on the roll, plus whatever Spellburn and Luck the PC may wish to add (only before the roll, though!)

Hevath the Observer: Init: +4; AC 17, MV 40, HD 6d10+6, HP 55, Atk melee +6 (Woundrime 1d10+4), Act 1d24; SP: Hit only by silver, blessed or magical weapons, Crushing Fear; SV Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +6; AL N.

The wraith knights of King Halgaz Bekur are semi-transparent men in the varied armor styles and helmets of northern warriors. The bluish skin of these creatures appears to be rotting. Their eyes burn with a cold blue light and they wield long, jagged black spears.  Hevath himself is darker hued than most, and his eyes are as hateful coals in a pile of dirty snow.  He wears the image of an antlered helm and ornate bone armor - both of which turned to dust and blew away an age ago.

However, Hevath's Frostblade is a material thing, and named Woundrime.  Any struck by it will need to make a DC 15 Will Save or suffer further 1d10 cold damage and the wound will never be free of ice until healed of 2 dice damage by magical means.  Hevath's mission was to find Haon's weaknesses and subvert his Kith-slaves to the service of The Wraith King, but in the meanwhile Helgaz Belkur was defeated; now that his master's power waxes again, it may be that his forces will march over Nebulmor before too long.

The amulet will put the wearer in direct mental contact with Helgaz Belkur, and cause madness and obsession, a shift in alignment to Chaotic, and the compulsion to watch and wait before acting in a concrete sense.  It feeds on the essence of the wearer, and will turn them to a kind of undead thing if they die while wearing it (even if they make a Turn Over the Body roll!).  Hevath's alignment is Neutral - but he has regained something of a sense of independence in his long years of observation and no longer feels affection for his former master, even though the geas holds as firmly as it always has.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Scratch built Terrain Ideas

Spring is in the air, and my mind turns to spray paint fumes and running and typing. The Long Fog of Winter is lifting and maybe it's time to take up arms and go forth.

Since I've gotten Pinterest on the old digital addiction machine/portable phone set, I have been swimming in ideas for kitbashed Inq28 and Necromunda. First and foremost, need to put some legs on the table so's I can play on it.  That ought to take this Friday evening if The Weather holds.  Then, a mess of movable Trench/Plateau/Dunes/Pyramids 2'x2' tiles. Ought to be easy and can accommodate Necromunda and Mordheim play in addition to standard 40K stuff.

Objective Markers for City of Death (using my scrounged toys from the neighborhood hooligans' children!). I have a Generator-type thing just itching to get finished.

Incorporate my Sandy Bases theme from my existing lazy-man's army, and add the Genestealer Cult in as a techno-Old Worlde machinery/Hive Spire thing


Just a couple of random thoughts.

By The Imperator's Stones, Pinterest is full of crazy stuff and really gets the old juices flowing.

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Solo Space Dungeon - Wormy Bottom Pt. 2

Follow up for the previous post about playing Solo in the Space Dungeon, which kept me up too late to finish it.

These are the various purveyors in the general vicinity of Wormy Bottom, on the dreary surface of the tomb-world of Nebulmor.  Remember, the locals are given to coming and going, so unlike other areas (and contrary to the usual way in Mad Monks of Kwantoom and Ruins of the Undercity from which I lifted this idea) every time you try to find these places and make purchases while you are here, you check for Events (1 on a d6 roll, usually) and then use this previously posted event list to determine what happens.  Provided your band of slag-mutants lives, you then do a Personality Check (with your leader's PER) at the listed DC to see if the purveyor is around.  Then, you nominate the thing you want and check to see with a Luck check (listed DC) to see if that item is there.  'Always' means no need to check - that item is always in stock.

Faragut's Foodstuffs (DC 8)

Cans of Hydroponic Veggies - Always -
Bilk (Bleached Krill dairy replacer) - Always - 5 creds
Mummy Jerky - DC 13 - 15 creds (makes consumer immune to Mummy Rot for the next delve only)
Ash Potage - DC 10 - 2 creds
RadiaKleen - DC 17 - 50 creds, tablet and sanitary wipes remove the effects of radiation poisoning but doesn't prevent anything

Bob's Bits 'n' Bobs (DC 14)

Mysterious Stone Amulets - DC 16 - 100 creds, gives a +1 bonus to the next Will save, then shatters
Runed Tablets - DC 16 - 2d4x100 creds, 50% have a random curse, 25% a map to treasure, 25% a randomly determined Wizard or Cleric Spell (learnable/castable by any class)
Obsolete Software Holodisk -  1d100 creds - check the Star Frontiers  Equipment list; 75% will fail when used, but 25% are better due to some strange alchemy.  1 in 100 is a long-lost AI of randomly determined Alignment
Obsolete biosofts - DC 13 - 250 creds, gives PCs with a biosoft jack (more sometime later) access to a level 1 spell at a d14 spell roll
Vacuum Tubes - Always - 20 creds
AI Modules (Invariably Insane, but hey) -DC 17 - d100 Creds (some interesting effect that the GM will arbitrate; you may want to think hard before connecting to an open terminal)

Khrojang's Weapon Wagon (DC 14)

Stunners - DC 9 - d4x25 creds
Slug Gun - DC 12 - d2x50 creds
Club - Always - 2 creds
Mace - Always - 5 creds
Sword - Always - 10 creds
Laspistol - DC 15 - 125 creds
Faulty Space Knight Laser Sword - DC 19 - d3x1000 creds, any Critical Hit has a d3 multiplier for damage, BUT a fumble will mean a catastrophic overload and discharge of the power jewel, leaving an irradiated hole (possibly a Phologiston Breach) where the character formerly stood, or the same damage to the PC instead of the target.  Only for the daring!

Levko Damage Mitigation Gear (DC 16)

Patched Flak Vest AC 13 - DC 10 - 100 creds
Dented Combat Helmet AC +1 - DC 11 - 50 creds
Various Robot-Dermal Layers AC +2 - DC 17 - 200 creds
Phaser Field (immune to laser hits for 1d3 hits) - DC 18 - 250 creds

Various Forms of Companionship

Pillow Bot - Always - 10 creds
Valtrex Courtesan - DC 14 - 2d100 creds (they will come along and cause a ruckus for this price as a dangerous Plague Infested hireling for 1 delve)
Mongrelman/-woman Porter - Always (1d10 available) - 1d30 creds each
Mongrelman/-woman Thug - Always (1d4 available) - 1d30+5 creds each
Cybermastiff - DC 17 - 1000 creds
Organic Dog - DC 11 - 5d10 creds
Cliff Rooster - DC 14 - 10 creds
Grunkie - DC14 - 5 credits (note: as in ASE, Grunkies grow to become unruly and aggressive)
Irator Mercenary - DC 15 - Morale is generally low (whatever is appropriate for the character's PER - 2) - will accompany the party for a full share.  Armed with a Rusty Bardiche (as Battle Axe) and a Laser Pistol
Linkboy/Torchbearer/Lightbot - Always - 5 creds but Morale will fail at first funny and aggravating opportunity






Friday, February 27, 2015

Fig Loathing

 I have these 3rd edition plastic Catachans. Two 10-man squads.  Sitting in baggies, wrathful.  Giant penis-knives raised in anger.

I hate them.  I mean, I hate them. They were on the discount rack at Bobe's Hobbies in Pensacola maybe in 2007, untouched and still with the shrink wrap for like 22 bucks.  Not bad for 20 figs!  the upshot, though, is that they are ugly!  They are chunky and look like Stallone and Arnold given some combat steroids and they are just ungainly. The poses are kind of cool and pretty dynamic, but overall I have put off priming these figs for like 8 years because I just don't like them.  I have some great metal Catachans sergeants that I love to pieces - they will probably become the Command Squad, somehow.

They represent legs and resources to make some fun nonsensical conversions, and so they will probably get turned into veterans and the HW teams I made will be saved for use on the board with my Cadians.

Mostly, they will become Genetealer Cult Brood Brothers and Inquisition crew for Inq28; the arms are just that weird that I think they would look at home with some 'Nid heads glued on and at bad angles.

we'll see.  Until I started checking out Pinterest for Inq28 stuff my thoughts on kit-bashing were pretty conservative but since I found and started my first real experiments with green-stuff, seems like the possibilities are endless!

I'll get the camera in gear to show te process of breaking them down, again.

Monday, February 23, 2015

The Shadow of the Hivefleet Doth Approach

2 things (possibly more)

A) I will never ever make a 'Nid army, just because.  I dig the models and even like the fluff, but I'm hip deep in debt and can't drop money on a whole new thing. That said, I love Genestealers to pieces.  Always have, since about '91 or '92 and then Space Hulk on the PC ruined me forever. In my fevered dreams I hear the sound of a Terminator readying for overwatch, and the click-clack of impossibly dense chitinous claws resounding down the corridor until CHUFF CHUFF CHUFF JAM and then static.

2) I do have the time and interest to dick around with terrain and mixing the Armies I have with the GS and termagants from the Macragge set. It's impossibly chilly, now, and I cannot prime nor paint any figures.  My other models are all based with sand, since I'm a cheapskate, so I'd like to keep everybody fairly similar in that regard.  But I think I will mix some sand and tile and junk from the drawers to base the 'stealers I'm putting together, now.  You know, bolts and wire and pipes and such. The Space Hulk GS are almost painfully elaborate and the poses are sort of ONLY ON A HULK (naturally!) but I think I can sort something out.

3) a powerful urge to convert a patriarch - the Space Hulk broodlord is cool, but something else is needed, I think.

4) The terrain/fortifications and special rules of the 6th edition list I'm using scream for a Cities of Death thing

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