#old dragon rpg

[tokoriart]

Do you want to know your future? 🔮👁️ ~~~ ✶ Commission for ItsSeras ✶

[vintagerpg]

An Account of the Lengthy Existence and Numerous Experiences of Ambrose Backhouse, Vampire, with Special Attention to Those Years in Which He Walked Upon This Earth Tho Dead (2022) is a lovely graphic novel by Tim Denee and published by Tim Hutchings. It is essentially a log of a playthrough of Thousand Year Old Vampire. Denee posted the initial installments on Twitter as he went, which is where I initially saw them. Around that time, I was spectating a number of TYOV playthrough logs on social media and this was by far the most engaging, because pictures. I guess Hutchings thought so too!

Ambrose it turned to undeath by the Rek, an ancient vampire bound to the sea floor by heavy chains (love this, its so wonderfully evocative). The pair foster a deadly enmity for each other over the centuries, in and out of which weave the people of Ambrose’s daily life, their schemes and his miseries. As a narrative, it jutters, which is the nature of the game, but I find this to be compelling (just as I do in the game) because real life rarely has threads and conclusions that satisfy the framework of good narrative. This feels weirdly real, and derives a power from that feeling. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I really enjoy how the book resolves, like most lives, with much unfinished.

Denee’s approach to the art for this is perfect, very flat, highly graphical, almost as though pasted together with cut-out colored paper. It has a sense of assemblage that echoes the narrative. He is very good at pushing the style toward warmth or humor and then immediately pulling back to something horrible. The whole this is quite effective. And the book is handsome (if very oddly shaped). Treat yourself!

[unbaed]

[thydungeongal]

Introducing the party

So, to pass the time I'm going to be playing some Old-School Essentials solo with the help of Hexroll.

I have done it a couple of times and am already aware of some of the workings of Hexroll, but I eventually realized that since 1st-level characters are so squishy true solo play is very swingy in Old-School Essentials. So I outsourced some dice rolls from the community and got a huge number of characters. For now I've made six. And here they are!

Jimothy @public-trans-it Str 13 Int 11, Wis 10, Dex 10, Con 9, Cha 11 Fighter 1 8 hp Neutral Leather, war hammer, hand axe, rope (50'), grappling hook, crowbar, backpack, tinder box, 1 torch, waterskin, 5 rations, 8 gp

Montgormery @treasonagainstatyrantking Str 9 Int 9 Wis 7 Dex 4 Con 10 Cha 16 Fighter 1 2 hp Neutral Plate mail and shield, war hammer, silver dagger, rope (50'), sack (small), backpack, tinder box, 5 torches, waterskin, 6 rations, 11 gp

Theophany @theresalwayspeng-blog Str 4 Int 9 Wis 17 Dex 10 Con 11 Cha 13 Cleric 1 5 hp Lawful Leather, staff, mace, wolfsbane (1 bunch), holy water, holy symbol, backpack, tinder box, 1 torch, waterskin, 5 rations, 9 gp

Chuckles @arcanehobo Str 8 Int 7 Wis 12 Dex 13 Con 15 Cha 12 Thief 1 3 hp Neutral Leather, sling + 20 stones, war hammer, lantern + 3 flasks of oil, sack (small), thieves' tools, backpack, tinder box, 4 torches, waterskin, 3 rations, 9 gp

Theodore @casualeviliris Str 9 Int 9 Wis 18 Dex 9 Con 7 Cha 15 Cleric 1 4 hp Chaotic Plate mail, mace, sling + 20 stones, stakes (3) + mallet, lantern + 3 flasks of oil, backpack, tinder box, 6 torches, waterskin, 2 rations, 8 gp

Stevelyn @professorscrublord Str 13 Int 9 Wis 7 Dex 10 Con 7 Cha 12 Fighter 1 1 hp Lawful Chainmail, pole arm, silver dagger, hammer (small) + 12 iron spikes, stakes (3) + mallet, backpack, tinder box, 2 torches, waterskin, 5 rations, 8 gp

I modified some stats according to the rules of OSE (a character's prime requisites may be increased by taking away points from other stats at a rate of 2 to 1, but the only stats that can be lowered are Str Int Wis and they can never be taken below 9) and for the equipment I used the quick equipment method from one of the Carcass Crawler zines. I then switched around some equipment between the characters to make it more thematically appropriate (Montgormery feels by his stats to be a nobleman's failson gone adventuring, so it made sense to give him the plate and shield and silver dagger I'd originally rolled for Jimothy, so I switched their weapons and armor rolls around.)

I also rolled alignment randomly by rolling a d6: 1-2 Lawful, 3-5 Neutral, 6 Chaotic

As these idiots meet their untimely deaths I will be replacing them with more characters rolled in that thread. But for now, let's see what happens!

Also, if everyone has a good idea for a tag I could use for this, let me know. EDIT: Have decided to go for "thysologirl"

[spinnychaircirclecasting]

On today's episode of I Work In A Comic Shop:

So on Sundays, I run D&D games for kids (ages ranging about 6-16). It's fun, we goof around a lot and I let them get away with most things in-game as long as they can semi-reasonably justify how it'd happen.

And something I do often, when the kids start looking for every single detail about NPC #4534 because they've decided he's Very Very Important™️, is to just stick in a reference to some random movie. (For example: "This townsperson's name is Billiam S. Preston Esquire, and his buddy Teddy Bear Logan is missing! If he doesn't return soon, then Wyld Stallyns will lose their concert gig at the local tavern!") If the kids get it, it's a fun easter egg, and if they don't, then at least I didn't have to come up with a fantasy name on the spot.

My latest adventure involved a battle with a gang of skeletons, after which their scattered bones start wriggling towards the source of the dark magic that animated them in the first place.

And I'm struck with what I consider to be a bit of brilliance.

So, we're playing, and we reach the end of the battle. I explain that the bones are all moving eastwards, and then I add:

"You're reminded of the legend of old, of the great adventurer Hiro and his mighty companion Baymax, who tracked a pack of magical nanobots to their evil master using a single hostage bot."

Now the table erupts in laughter, and I'm feeling pretty good. But then we realize that the youngest of our party (an 8-year-old) looks confused at what's so funny. He doesn't get the reference.

I'm naturally surprised - this is a well-known Disney movie, I figure pretty much all the kids know it. But apparently he hasn't seen it. And so I quickly google the release date of Big Hero Six.

It is 2014. Nine years ago. In other words, the movie is older than this kid. And I am immediately hit by the passage of time like a truck.

[2minutetabletop]

The Wild West Sheriff’s Office Battle Map

Connor's new map expands upon our Wild West town with a sheriff's office, jail, and gallows. What sort of encounter does this map inspire? 🤠

→ Download it here!

[slutpoppers]

(147) Dratini

(148) Dragonair

(149) Dragonite

Previous: Kanto Leg. Birds

Next: Mewtwo

[salesart]

"um, did someone drop a knife?"

My Rook for DAV!! Thedas is doomed

[shuruzy]

Touring Veritas Tower. Look he's been alive for over 2000 years, he's had a LOT of time to read.

(this au finally has a tag so I can organize it… even though any details of this au are scattered at best and the tag is just 'elf dragon' shortened🧎)

[beardedruckus]

Charm Monster, 4th level Magic-User spell.

This is a piece from 2018 that I still like a lot. I illustrated this for Old School Essentials back when it was called B/X essentials. I newish to digital and definitely overworked the marks haha, but I'm still happy with how it turned out overall.

The illustration accompanied the entry for the Charm Monster spell. Gavin later cropped it to just b the dragon head in the main OSE books. I liked the whole piece! But I was happy to be included haha.

[oddseekers]

Quest for the Heartstone

[vintagerpg]

Welcome to the first meeting of our new Manly Wade Wellman appreciation society. After the golden age of the pulps, there are two authors who, for my money, tower head and shoulders above everyone else spilling ink — Fritz Leiber and Wellman. I don’t think either get enough credit and Wellman perhaps doubly so, especially the Silver John stories, which have, infuriatingly, been out of print most of my lifetime. Nonsense. Madness. The short stories at least have been recently reprinted by Valancourt Books (though with a terrible cover — sorry, John’s not a beardo), so this week I want to raise the profile of the novels. There were five, written for Doubleday and published expressly for the Science Fiction Book Club (I believe). There were paperbacks of some (Most? All?I’m not sure) in the mid-‘80s, but they’ve not been reprinted until the 2023 Complete John the Balladeer from Haffner, a pricey two-volume set.

This is the first, The Old Gods Waken (1979), which sees John get involved in a squabble between neighbors that winds up masking a sinister agenda involving druids, messing with ancient powers and, if John’s too late to the rescue, human sacrifice. The Raven Mockers, evil spirits from Cherokee folklore, play a memorable part.

The details, fun though they may be, are secondary to the feel of the thing. John is just so damn likable and pleasant, even with folks who don’t deserve the consideration, like the pair of druid brothers. There isn’t ever a real sense that John can fail, its his very nature to pick out a song on his silver-stringed guitar and find a solution, or a friend who can help out (in this case, a Cherokee medicine man/social scientist). John’s inner goodness just sees him through and that makes these stories both delightful and odd. You get a real sense of Appalachia, of the rhythm of the speech. These aren’t really horror stories, or fantasy (though John is 100% the template for the D&D Bard) but more warm-hearted adventure stories. I can’t even complain about the druids being such comical, one-note villains.

Michael Flanagan did the cover. Spooky!

[romantic-ageru-yo]

It's a real shame that I've never enjoyed fighting games because Fighterz & Sparking Zero both look gorgeous but I have no interest in ever playing either of them

[enanoakd]

The Wordlbuilder