Awaiting visitors to the distant Tajamul port are a wide variety of purveyors. The following are the NPCs that would offer quests or direct assistance to adventurers, given that some gold changes hands.

BRIGADIER KOBS (Fighter 8 STR 14 INT 12 WIS 13 CON 14 DEX 10 CHR 12)

Background: Kobs is the oldest naval officer to survive the Yuan-Ti War on Ostia. He loved his pirate ship The Death Hound, but realizes how his old life of conflict made him vindictive and selfish. He is now content to sell the artifacts of war, and offer advice on besting monsters. Unbeknownst to Kobs, one of the armory salesmen, Cyprusis, is a Bronze Dragon in human form. This wyrm owed Kobs' father a debt, and now spends part of its long life watching over the man's living legacy. Like Madame Lin, the Brigadier won't have much to say to low-level parties, unless someone is very interested in his veteran accomplishments. Kobs will agree with other city heads that the repugnant organization hiding in the northern marsh must be eliminated.

Kobs has a suit of fitted Plate Mail, a set from which he rarerly dons more than the helmet and breastplate unless a battle is raging. The most useful item he wears is a Ring of Water Walking, which saved his life many times from spills off ship decks. Kobs walks around with a "cane" made from a broken oar, which he claims was the first weapon to slay an Ostian lizardman. His true proficiency is with the flail, and he owns a Flail +1/+3 versus Reptiles. In a leather pouch he carries Healing potions, some gold, and his key to the armory. This key along with one held by Cyprusis will unlock the secret cache of enchanted weapons. Stored there are: Kyn's Hunting Crossbow (a Crossbow of Distance that also grants Darkvision) and a Sahaugin Spatha of Spellstoring (a Shortsword +2 with Knock stored).

Regrettably, the choice of game my friends and I play on Thursdays hinges on attendance. When every seat is filled, we try to progress with either the STAR WARS RPG, or my new Modern Horror game. This past week, the assembly was 5/7, so the collection of board games was brought forth. Instead of the latest purchase, TOMB, we voted for continuing our DESCENT: Road to Legend game, which we had paused at a crucial moment. In this campaign style expansion, the Overlord (he who controls the opposing monsters & traps) actually has a NPC in play, who lays siege to cities on the world map. Once the OL's lieutenant razes a location, players cannot train in whatever skills were being offered there. Just losing a place to shop for equipment or visit a healing temple is bad enough!

In a previous posting, I wrote about architectural influences on dungeon creation. Today, I want to highlight some interesting aspects and ploys seen in movies and game products.

1) "The Inhospitable Level" - I first encountered this peril in a classic AD&D module entitled "The Final Enemy". The goal was to perform reconnaissance within a fortress of evil Sahuagin (evil, shark-worshiping, aquatic humanoids), exterminating any of them our war party encounters. Assisted by a constabulary from town, the task sounded manageable. However, during the assault, you discover that most of the dungeon is completely submerged in salt water! The advantage switches from the well-armed PCs to the gilled defenders. A party faced with the prospect of continuing into a lethal environment will have to mull parting with some of their companions or magic items, and trying a different tactic than "hack-n-loot".

2) "The Fodder turned Formidable Level" - Everyone knows that a few level 9's could clean out an entire swamp of weak goblinoids. Yet, what if the goblins were crafty engineers and struck back with artillery, exploding drones, and flame throwers? In a computer game from some years back, Dungeon Siege, a location was stocked with Goblins that were "upgraded" with dangerous technology. Seeing the little critters patrolling their lair in tanks and roughing up my adventurers with tesla-coil lightning guns was new to me at the time (goblin tech is now common in the post World of Warcraft fantasy genre). I'm sure other examples of this ploy abound; my example is just one that I remember very clearly. This approach is fun to use when you have a group of players that believe they can plan actions based off stereotypical monster lore.

3) "The One Way Out Level" - I will name two examples from film that fit this mold. First, imagine the LV-426 terra-forming colony from ALIENS as a dungeon. The PC's have disturbed some nasty xenomorphs, and have to retreat to a defended bunker...only to learn that the entire base is about to become a nuclear fireball. The players face death by a number of unpleasant ways, and can only escape using one path. Similarly, although in Tolkien's fantasy world, consider the fellowships flight from Moria, as seen in the recent LOTR movie. Again, the players are unwelcome guests, and must choose between going down fighting of finding an exit. Although I wouldn't begin a dungeon expedition this way, it is a scheme that can enliven game sessions that may have fallen into a "rinse & repeat" pattern.

In regard to keeping the players from hating your guts, here are some ideas that I can't recommend:

Here are the NPC profiles of the leading practitioners of arcanum on Tajamul. Both consider the Bailiff of Ostia, a malicious warlock, to be a great threat that only properly trained magic-users can understand. Thus, by offering their own teachings, they hope to undermine Iguro's lingering desire to have everyone on Tajamul at his mercy (Information about Bailiff Iguro can be found in issue 3 of FIGHT ON! magazine).

JAHRIT THE WITCH ( Wizard 7 STR 10 INT 16 WIS 14 CON 18 DEX 15 CHR 8)

Background: During the Yuan-Ti War on Ostia, Jahrit the Elf was a combat spellcaster teamed with a selfish wizard named Iguro. However, during an assault on the largest enemy ziggurat, she was captured after exhausting her spells. Iguro, instead of planning a rescue, reported her dead to advance himself in rank. While Jahrit became the victim of an evil Yuan-Ti shaman, Iguro tarried until his magics were powerful enough to achieve victory. The shaman cursed Jahrit with a goblinoid appearance before finally abandoning his prisoners. Luckily, she found the submerged escape route used by her captors. Without any proof of her former life, Jahrit realized that Iguro could easily convince others that she was either mad, or a traitor. She decided to secretly aid the founders of Tajamul City, since they were clearly disinterested in allowing a dangerous warlock to rule more than a single island. Fulmag Graystormer believes that Jahrit was an prisoner of the lizardman tribes during the war, punished for aiding the humans. He makes sure that his pupils learn what they can from her, although most recoil from her grotesque methodology. She will only reveal her history to persons she can trust completely, and are powerful enough to survive anywhere on the islands.

Although many years have passed since her captivity, Jahrit has not been able to lift her curse or reclaim all her known spells. Instead, like her dastardly cohort Iguro, she has opted to study bizarre formulae left by the Yuan-Ti shamans. Her two most successful projects have been the creation of a Staff of Centipede Venom (a +1 Staff tipped with an animated centipede capable of delivering lethal poison through the pairs of legs) and Moth Skewers of Spider Climbing (the innards of cocooned moths are consumed to grant spell effect). Jahrit has also mastered the unique alchemy for making Water-breathing Potions and Acid-Breath Potions. She will trade these finished brews for ingredients obtained from the jungle, near the Spider Canopies.

I'm proud to announce my membership in the RPG Blogger Network! I promise to uphold the rule of fair dice and slay all chaotic spammers in nearby hexes.

 
In a recent game night, I bumped the Star Wars campaign for a chance to try my idea for an occult/horror game. At first, I was just going to do a "zombie uprising" scene, with minis and a map. However, I decided that blending in a touch of Cthulhu Mythos might help to tie multiple sessions together. Most of this new data would be lifted from the intriguing DELTA GREEN setting by Pagan Publishing. This choice conveniently allows for a modern day setting.