Ready Reference: What book did you find?

The tome is an inescapable object of fantasy worlds. This table is for some interesting tomes that PCs may find in their adventures. For a "normal" book, you may want to roll 1d6 or 1d8 instead of 1d12 to avoid the "weirder" entries.

What Book Did You Find?

1. A magic-user's spellbook. Roll 2d6 to determine the level of the magic-user and determine the spells available randomly.
2. A religious text. There is a 10% chance it is related to the religion of any given party member; otherwise, it is worth 1d10x5 GP to a member of the appopriate religion.
3. A manual of a particular regional fighting style. A fighter reading the book will add an additional 10% to experience earned only for fighting and defeating enemies for the next 1d6 game weeks.
4. A book on Living Things and their History. Roll 1d6 for subject:

   1. Botany	4. History
   2. Zoology	5. Biology
   3. Medicine	6. Sociology

5. A book on Supernatural and Metaphysical Things. Roll 1d6 for subject:

   1. Theology	4. Ethics
   2. Metaphysics	5. Legends
   3. Philosophy	6. Folklore

6. A book on the Physical Universe. Roll 1d6 for subject:

   1. Astronomy	4. Mineralogy
   2. Geography	5. Chemistry
   3. Geology	6. Physics

7. The book is an extensive diary of someone who has explored the area where the book is found. It should give detail on several features in the location. 25% chance that the final entry the diary was written in another hand.
8. A trapped book. Reading it will function as if the spell Feeblemind were cast by a 10th level magic-user.
9. The book is exactly 100 pages in length. There is writing on 90 of the pages. If a character writes a question on the left leaf of any of the blank page spreads, an accurate (although not necessarily complete) answer will appear on the right leaf the following morning. Only one answer will appear per day, and only one question may be written per page. Writing more than one question, or writing on the right leaf, will spoil the effect on that page.
10. The book contains revelations or illustrations of such visceral horror that a character reading it must save vs. spells or be driven mad.
11. A manual on summoning demons. Every ritual takes a minimum of 1 turn and 100 GP of material components. The base chance of success is 25%. Every additional turn or 100 GP of components adds 5% to the chance of success, to a maximum of 75%. Summoning a demon does not give protection, control, or the ability to dismiss it.
12. A book written in a tongue not spoken on this world. Roll again to determine the book's actual contents. A Read Languages spell is needed to read this. If you roll this result again, the subject is completely alien and seems meaningless to the reader.

For each entry (except for 12) above, roll 1d100 to determine the language of the book.

1-50:	Common
51-70:	Racial language (determine randomly as appropriate)
71-80:	Monster language (determine randomly as appropriate)
81-90:	Ancient language; 20% chance that a magic-user can read it.
91-00:	Ancient language; only thieves have a chance of deciphering without Read Languages

Note - the book types in 4, 5 and 6 are borrowed from Supplement II: Blackmoor

Ready Reference: What Kind of Flower Is That?

It's Valentine's Day, so here are some ideas for flowers encountered in your game.

What Kind of Flower Is That? (d12)

1. An ordinary but pretty flower. +2 to reaction rolls if presented to a sentient creature of the appropriate species and sexuality to be impressed.
2. An ordinary but foul-smelling flower. -2 to reaction rolls generally if touched.
3. An ordinary flower as in 1 above, but a PC is allergic. For the next 1d6 turns, the character is sneezing and all rolls are at -1. Stealth is impossible.
4. An ordinary flower as in 1 above, but a PC is deathly allergic. Save vs poison or the character enters anaphylactic shock (Cure Disease or similar to negate). Death results within 1d6 turns of onset.
5. The flower's petals can be used to create a mild poison (vomiting, penalties to action, etc.). Value is 1-10 GP per intact specimen.
6. The flower's petals can be used to create a severe poison (death, ability score loss, etc.). Value is 50-100 GP per intact specimen.
7. The flower creates a mild drug effect if dried and smoked. 5 GP per intact specimen.
8. The flower is a powerful opiate. 15 GP per intact specimen.
9. The flower's petals create a powerful hallucinogen. 25 GP per intact specimen.
10. The flower is an ingredient in a magic spell. A wizard may pay up to 100 GP per spell level for an intact specimen.
11. The flower is blessed or cursed (as per the spells), 50% chance of each.
12. Making a tincture of the flower's petals has the following effect (roll 1d8 to determine effect, result is 1d6 doses):
1. Raise/lower a random ability score by 1 point.
2. Causes the imbiber to fall madly in love with the first person they see (follow the rules for Charm Person).
3. Gives the imbiber visions as per Contact Higher Plane.
4. Causes the imbiber to fall asleep until Remove Curse or similar spell is cast.
5. Grants the effect of the spell ESP, Clairvoyance or Clairaudience (2 in 6 chance of each).
6. Grants the ability to cause flowers of the same type to grow spontaneously from any soil.
7. Permanently changes the color of the imbiber's eyes to match the flower.
8. The imbiber slowly changes into a plant-human hybrid. After 3 months, movement is reduced by 75%, hit points by 50%, and there is no longer a need to eat. Requires Cure Disease to stop this process and Remove Curse to reverse it.

As a general rule of thumb, the flowers with special properties should have a 25% chance of being transported without significant damage. Tinctures should be unique per flower, not per type.

Features, Articles and the Blog

So I figured I'd go through and clarify what I'm going to be doing for the forseeable future on this blog, so hopefully it won't just seem a random jumble.

First: When I play D&D or a reasonable substitute, usually on Saturdays, I'll continue to post an Actual Play the next morning. I'll be setting up a game in the not distant future.

Second: I want to regularize the features. Cryptid Wednesday will be on Wednesdays, for obvious reasons. Ready Reference will be appearing on Mondays and Fridays. That will give the blog reliable, regular content. I'm going to try and keep a thing or two in the pipeline so I'm not crunching to get an article out.

Third: Dungeon Crawl. Remember Dungeon Crawl? Yeah. I'm going to do what I can - probably either late this month or next month - to get the fourth issue out. The problem is, I have other things I want to do in terms of gaming writing and I can't do those and do Dungeon Crawl. So the fourth issue is going to be the last for a while. I won't rule out another at some point, but it just doesn't fit my schedule for now.

Fourth: More writing. It's been really amazing to see the impact my OD&D setting articles had. Out of several hundred posts on this blog, those have been consistently the most successful and widespread. I can't force that kind of thing, and I just haven't had the itch to do a sustained series on any particular topic over the last few months. Hopefully I'll have something fairly soon, though.

Fifth: Guest spots. Specifically, I'm open to having people do guest entries on either Ready Reference or Cryptid Wednesday. If you have a monster or table and want to share it, let me know (my gmail account is wrossi81) and I'll put it up with credit to you.

That's what I see as the future for this blog. Hopefully I'll be able to stick to it, and you'll find it interesting. And please check out the Cryptid Wednesday tag. These monsters don't get as many hits as just about anything else I post, and they deserve to be out there killing PCs.

Cryptid Wednesday: The Gevaudan Beast

Cryptid Wednesday is back with a horror from France.

Gevaudan Beast

Hit Dice: 6+2
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Attacks: 1 bite (1d8), 2 claws (1d6)
Saving Throw: 11
Special: Knock prone with tail
Move: 18
Alignment: Chaotic
Challenge Level/XP: 6/400

The ferocious beast of Gevaudan is a large creature, resembling a wolf in features but the size of a cow. Its fur is blood red with streaks of black, and its hide is mottled and mangy when seen. This is a vicious predator, showing a particular taste for humans as well as large livestock. Its odor is so noxious as to be unbearable. NPCs must make a saving throw or morale check (referee's option) to continue fighting it in melee.

In combat the Gevaudan beast will often strike directly for the throat of an opponent with its razor-sharp teeth. It can also use its heavy tail to render an opponent prone. A successful hit removes the next turn's action.

It is not clear if the Gevaudan beast is unique, but it is hoped to be. The horror will generally prowl near isolated farming villages.

Crowdfunding Excitement & Oddities

My crowdfunding "score" when it comes to roleplaying games is pretty low, but it's looking like it's more likely to become better in the next month or two, as a bunch of things have been inching toward printing and distribution. Of course I keep digging holes faster than creators can fill them. Here's some notes on the crowdfunding campaigns that are currently out there.

The one I'm really jazzed about is LotFP Free RPG Day 2014. This started off focused on Jim Raggi's 2014 Free RPG Day adventure but has turned into a stealth campaign for a module called "World of the Lost" by Rafael Chandler. It's a sandbox that is at least 48 pages but, if it sells 250 copies, will be substantially bigger and better. There's only 40 hours to sell another 100+ copies - but the reward is really great if we get it. The module promises to be a "lost world" style sandbox from the freakish imagination that brought us the Teratic Tome.

I'm a bit undecided on the Kickstarter for Scarlet Heroes by Kevin Crawford. I rather like what I have of Crawford's products - An Echo, Resounding, Red Tide and Spears of the Dawn - and I think that Scarlet Heroes will probably be good. It's just that the format of the Kickstarter is a turnoff for me, because it just gets you an "at cost" print on demand version. I would rather only pay once for the book, and as much as I think I'll like it that means I'm inclined to wait for it to be released officially, as I did with Crawford's other products.

Then there's Greg Gillespie's Barrowmaze Complete. I like Barrowmaze but I have both books, and I'm not terrifically inclined to shell out $80 for a bit more content. Again I'm inclined to pass and just pick up poster maps since the ones in the printed books are absolutely awful.

Is anything else going on? Any other thoughts folks have on these three campaigns?

Ready Reference: What's Behind That Loose Stone?

A good table should really have some interesting possibilities that are both good and bad. It's with that in mind that I present today's Ready Reference table, "What's Behind That Loose Stone?", with some good and some bad things that fit behind a loose stone found in a dungeon wall. You'll also notice that there are some creatures here; I'm using a simple pattern of defining AC by armor type and giving HD. This should make it easy to convert to your system of choice. Enjoy!

What's Behind That Loose Stone? (1d12)

1. Treasure! Roll 1d12: 1-8, coins; 9-10, gems; 11, jewelry; 12, magic item. Determine as you normally would determine random room contents for the current dungeon level.
2. 1d8 spiders (AC unarmored, HD 1 hp). 25% chance that they will be poisonous.
3. 1d4 rats (AC unarmored, HD 1-2 hp). Successful attack gives 5% chance of disease.
4. A map showing this area of the dungeon. 50% chance of inaccuracies.
5. A book. This may be the diary of a long-ago dungeoneer, the rantings of the mad wizard who created the dungeon, or a religious text.
6. A skeleton. 2 in 6 chance that it is animated.
7. A passageway to elsewhere in the dungeon. The opening will have to be widened before characters can travel through it.
8. The stone conceals a hole in the floor. This may be filled with any liquid, animal, monster or anything else that the referee chooses as appropriate to dungeon level.
9. A small statue, carving or relief of a type appropriate to the dungeon's builder(s). 2 in 6 chance that it will have magical powers.
10. Ooze, slime or mold. Choose from your favorite source of monsters or generate a glop from Geoffrey McKinney's Dungeon of the Unknown.
11. A crystalline intelligence (AC chainmail, HD 2 per cubic foot). It can be contacted by spells such as ESP or other forms of mental communication. If threatened it can create an electric shock for 2d8/cubic foot (save for half).
12. The stone is one of several concealing a portal to another plane, world or dimension. It takes 1-6 turns to clear enough of the wall to go through the portal.

Ready Reference: What's Blocking the Corridor?

Just to be clear, every "Ready Reference" table provided in this series is going to be in the format of answers to a question. It's not the format of the Judges Guild Ready Ref Sheets, but it's a simple and fun way to make charts that have an immediate use when the referee needs to come up with some relevant details quickly. And it's more fun to come up with this style of answers rather than one-word prompts.

The other thing I should be clear about is that the tables are deliberately written to be moderately system agnostic. When necessary I'll refer you to the rules of the specific game you're playing - rather than trying to describe an already existing sub-system. Not that I won't detail new sub-systems when it's appropriate.

Whats Blocking the Corridor? (1d12)

1. Giant spiderwebs. Follow the rules for a Web spell as appropriate.
2. A partial cave-in has filled the path with stone or dirt, determined by the referee. 10' sections of dirt take 1 hour to clear a pathway with shovels or 3 hours without shovels; sections of rock take 3 hours.
3. The corridor is filled with refuse from elsewhere in the dungeon to the point where it is impassable. The referee should roll 1d6 to determine number of turns required to work through it. Each turn there is a 25% chance of encountering vermin (referee's choice).
4. Rocks and boulders fill the hallway. It takes 3 hours to clear a 10' section.
5. A magical wall blocks the way (referee's choice of any wall spell).
6. The pathway is blocked by an iron portcullis, rusted shut. Refer to the rules for bending bars and/or lifting gates; a spell such as Knock will also open this.
7. The entire corridor is filled with a gelatin-like substance. There is a 25% chance that it is acidic and causes 1d2 hp damage per round when characters walk through it.
8. A wooden barricade has been erected. Each 10' section of hallway takes 3 turns to hack through if the party has axes; otherwise it takes a full hour.
9. There is a curtain lining the entire width of the hallway. Naturally there are opponents appropriate to the dungeon level waiting in ambush on the other side.
10. A mountain of skulls, meticulously stacked into a pyramid.
11. The remains of some corridor-width monster such as a purple worm fill the hallway. It takes 1 hour to clear each 10' section, and the stench is awful.
12. A red dragon (age category = dungeon level). Roll for initiative.