Warlock Friday

This will be regular as the title suggest.

Hyborian Tales

Well, for some time, around 3-4 weeks I was thinking about running a game set in the Hyborian Age based on Howard-only materials, some Cthulhu Mythos and a bit of my input. So here's my side-project's blog: Hyborian Tales. 

Briefly on the Barbaric Frontier

Precis: fantasy, cthulhu-mythos-infested-late-medieval-germanesque Vinland with conanesque barbarians 

Conspectus: Fog covered taiga with very low population; Neuburg - the only town in the Barbaric Frontier;ravaging barbarians; alien and indifferent Nyarlathotep-worshipping nomad elves; secretive dwarves unaware followers of Shub-Niggurath; peasant rebellions; witches burning at the stakes; camps of brigands led by rebel grafs; cyclopean ruins from the time of demonic rule; plotting cabals of sorcerors; cannibalistic Skraelings; beastmen created by the foul sorceror of the Obsidian Citadel; racial discrimination of halflings; Dagon lives in the Lake of Mist; seablooded live in the costal villages; Neuvolk - converted to the faith of the One barbarians hated by the pagans and nordmarkians; human sacrafice; Magrave of the Nordmark is a incestuous madman; Halfling exiles fiercely defend their new homeland which has the privilage of "de non tolerandis humanitas", that forbids any human to settle in the Halfling Hills; Weird sects conducting otherworldy rituals in secret underground chambers; shape-shifting shamans of elves and barbarians; dark altars devouted to the Cosmic Horror; 

Taste, sound, image: ale, roasted pork, early Black Sabbath albums, the 13th Warrior, Hammer Horrors, Flesh and Blood, E.A. Poe's novels

Gunpowder weapons' rules

Blackpowder weapons’ rules

Blackpowder weapons are used as any other ranged weapon in OSR rpgs with the exception that when the „to hit” roll is failed there might something bad happener, the score to misfire is stated in the table below. When you roll the number in the stated range you must consult the misfire table.

Cannon

Cannon was the first blackpowder weapon to be invented in the League of Verezzian Republics some 80 years ago. They are the most wide-spread blackpowder weapons in the Known World.

Handgonne

After blackpowder was invented and cannon was constructed, an inventor from the southern Reich made the first handgonne some 60 years ago. While quite unreliability the sheer psychological effects of its use makes this weapon employed in most warfare in the Known Word. Made of crude wooden stock and steel or iron barrel with touch hole for external igniton.

Triple handgonne

Triple handgonne looks the same as the normal hangonne except, that it has three barrels instead of one. This makes its range and damage lower.

Name	Range (S/M/L)	Damage (S/M/L)	Rate of fire	Reload	Misfire
Handgonne	20'/60'/120'	1d10/1d8/1d6	1	1 round	1-3
Triple handgonne	15'/45'/90'	1d8/1d6/1d4	3	3 rounds	1-4
Cannon	50'/200'/600'	2d8/2d6/1d10	1	6 rounds	1-2

Score (roll 2d6)	effect
2	Gun explodes in hands – roll twice for damage for the user
3-8	Delayed shot, weapon fires in the next round
7-12	The powder fails to ignite

Hate of gunpowder weapons

As long as I remember in rpg community there was a prevelent hate for gunpowder weapons. I wonder why.
So many rpg fans want their games to be realistic in terms of historical accuracy, and that contradicts the typical exclusion of the gunpowder weapons in a typical faux-medieval fantasty milieu.

Clothing of the Nordmarkians

Concerning the Known World - random musings part I

Known World is a place were is the Barbaric Frontier. As I mentioned in the post "Brief history of the Known World" this was once a place of demonic rule. As this happened few thousand years ago only few scholars and sages are aware of details of this forgotten epoch. Others not aware of them are still reminded of the terrors of the past by the countless ruins laying all over the Known World. 

Whole Known World is a points of light world. Despite maps made by the most meticulous cartographers there are many blank spots on the map even in the most densly populated areas. This is because either common sense or in case of lack of it the Ordo Inqusitorum forbids getting anywhere near  ruins of great cities, temples and palace complexes from the time of demonic rule. Villages cirlce the main cities and towns of a region as close as possible and as far as possible from the ruins. 

However to the general rule, there's always an exception, the biggest metropolises of Verezzian League and some of the Reich are indeed built upon the demonic ruins. Things are different in the Despotare of Aegea, where settlements have a cultural continuity, still spoiled but not by the demons rather the unethical experiments of the great past of the aegeans themselves.

All this also applies to the Barbaric Frontier as Neuburg is also a place of sleep of a powerful entity of immense horror. Dragon Mountains are not only home to the eponymous dragons,but also for something more sinister and alien.

 Again sorry for my crappy english.

Weirding up the Barbaric Frontier

Human race is divided into two subraces: highmen and lowmen. First one are descendants of the starfaring civilization's genetically enhanced warriors. Second one are normal humans taken from the earth long time ago and enslaved by the servitor races. The main difference between those two branches is longer lifespan(approx. 150 years) and better resistance to common diseases(grants +2 on ST vs. disease and poison) and their height going up to 2 meters 30 centimeters. Highmen are typically aristocracy and nobility of the Known World while lowmen compromise peasants and burghers.

Dwarves are native race of some distant world with high gravity and elaborate cave system.

Elves are descendants of long extinct transdimensional civilization from the end of the universe, those who escaped the end of the universe live now as simple nomads in the northernmost forests in the Known World.

Graphic inspiration vol. XXIII

Priest class

Prime attributes: Wisdom 13+, Charisma 13+(+5% experience bonus)
Hit Dice: 1d6/level(gains 1 hp/level after 9th)
Armor/shield permitted: leather armor
Weapons permitted: sword, mace, staff, dagger

Priesthood is the main body of the Church of the One. They teach the wisdom of the one to the peoples of the Known World and warns them about sins of blasphemy and heresy.

Level	Experience	Base „to hit” bonus	Saving Throw	HD(d6)
1	0	+0	14	1
2	2000	+0	14	1+1
3	4000	+0	13	2
4	8000	+0	12	2+1
5	16000	+1	11	3
6	32000	+1	10	3+1
7	64000	+2	9	4
8	128000	+2	8	4+1
9	256000	+3	7	5
10	350000	+3	6	5+1

Sermons: Priest can sermonize once a day. To do so he has to spend whole round preaching and make a succesful saving throw with bonus to the roll equal to his level.

Sermon of courage: grants +2 on saving throw vs. fear for all companions for number of rounds equal to the level of the priest.

Sermon of God’s will: grants +2 on saving throw vs. mind-controling spells for all companions for number of rounds equal to the level of the priest.

Sermon of the divine righteousness: grants +2 on attack rolls against enemies of the faith for number of rounds equal to the level of the priest.

Sermon of the Fear of the One: causes -2 on attack rolls of enemies of the faith for number of rounds equal to the level of the priest.

Faith in Providence: once per day for 1d6 turns each round priest can re-roll single saving throw or attack roll.

Saving throws: Priest has +2 on saving throws vs. spells.

Swashbuckler class

Prime attributes: Dexterity 13+, Charisma 13+(+5% experience bonus)
Hit Dice: 1d10/level(gains 3 hp/level after 9th)
Armor/shield permitted: buckler, leather armor
Weapons permitted: sword, rapier, scimitar, dagger, throwing knife, sap, whip

Swashbuckler is a person, who by either his wit, charm or steel gets what he wants.

Level	Experience	Base „to hit” bonus	Saving Throw	HD(d10)
1	0	+0	15	1
2	2000	+0	14	2
3	4000	+1	13	3
4	8000	+2	12	4
5	16000	+2	11	5
6	32000	+3	10	6
7	64000	+4	9	7
8	128000	+5	8	8
9	256000	+6	7	9
10	35000	+7	6	9+3

Luck: ½ level times a day swashbuckler can re-roll single saving throw or attack roll.

Charm: Swashbuckler has a +2 bonus on reaction rolls while dealing with the opposite sex.

Two-weapon fighting master: Swashbuckler gains +2 bonus to attaca roll instead +1 while fighting with two weapons.

Buckler master: Swashbuckler while using buckler in combat gains +2 AC bonus instead +1.

Saving Throw: Swashbuckler gains +1 on dexterity-based saving throws. 

More on the elves of the Barbaric Frontier

I've changed the description of the elves of the Barbaric Frontier to check it click here.

Barbaric Frontier races illustration

Graphic Inspiration vol. XXII

Fiting Barrowmaze to the Barbaric Frontier Campaign

Well Barrowmaze is an exellent megadungeon as far as I can tell. However, I need to make some minor changes to make it fit in to the Barbaric Frontier campaign. Most of them are pretty cosmetic like changing names to some german sounding. Others are more invasive like replacing mongrelmen with beastmen, and subhumans.

Here's list that summarizes all my changes:

mongrelmen - beastmen, subhumans

Nergal - Hydra

Orcus - Uglu(Deep One)

Set - Muruu(Deep One)

the Acolytes of Orcus - the Acolytes od Uglu

the Necromancers of Set - the Mystic Cabal

Location of the Barrowmaze

One day of march northwards from Neuburg into the Blighted Moors.

Barrowmaze in the Barbaric Frontier

My girlfriend wants to play some rpgs so my first thought was to play my Barbaric Frontier Campaign. Since there is no megadungeon around Neuburg and I've got no time to make one I've decided to place somewhere around Greg Gillespie's Barrowmaze somewhere around. I'll run it without much changing. If everything goes ok I'll probably throw somewhere in heavily tweaked B2 module the Keep on the Borderlands. It's a shame I haven't run this one.

Of Dragons

Dragon

Hit Dice: 10

Armor Class: 16

Attacks: Bite  (2d4) or claws(1d8) or tail (1d10)

Saving Throw: 13

Special: breath weapon

Move: 9/24(when flying)

Challenge Level/XP: 12/2000

Dragons are lesser demons bound to the created body by the Demonic Rulers of the past.While they look like a normal living being they can't breed nor die of age. They we're created by their masters as as sort of guard for their most precious artifacts. So up to this day they gather and protect treasures of the Demonic Rulers. Before placing Dragon against Referee must roll three Times on the table below to determine the kind of a breathing weapon dragon Has, its armor and special ability(if any).

score	Breath Weapon (roll 1d10)	Armor (roll 1d4)	Special (roll 1d10)
1	Acid	Steel Scales(+2 AC)	Poison(as Wyvern)
2	Frost	Chitine scales(+0 AC)	Charm as per spell(ST as vs. 5th level M-U)
3	Fire	Diamond Scales(+3 AC)	-
4	Lightning	Obsidian Scales(+1 AC)	-
5	Water		Teleportation as per spell
6	Stone Shards		ESP as per spell
7	Wind		-
8	Ghost		-
9	Iron Shards		-
10	Fire		-

Barbaric Frontier Character Sheet

Here's my new character sheet for Barbaric Frontier:

Check my download's page to download a pdf version.