Encounters in the Vosjin Wood: Entries 9 through 12

9: The Elves of the Woods. The Saganyir elves are ancient survivors of the Saric empire who migrated to the woods as they followed their venerable leader, Vask’Tinorin. A young elf when the Empire of Sar fell, Vask’Tinorin is believed to have witnessed the destruction of the Saric army and the blood knights, and experienced a profound religious conversion as a result. As he grew up, Vask’Tinorin gathered followers, who turned into a tribe of elves that renounced their old lives and migrated to the Vosjin Wood, both to remember the folly of their lost kin and to remain close to the tethers of the Outworld. Some believe that the legends of the Enkanneth goddess Abia being the true creator of elvenkind may have started with Vask’Tinorin’s conversion of faith to the Enkanneth pantheon.

There are three possible encounters with Saganyir as follows:

D6/Result

1-2 The Grove of the Saganyir-this grove is the central hub of trade and social gathering among the Saganyir tribes. There are perhaps a dozen tribal groups in the woods, maybe more that wander the dark paths to the Outworld and even Arborea beyond. In the grove are roughly 6D10 able warriors and twice that many women, children, elderly and other noncombatants. The grove includes a sacred shrine to the Enkanneth and Abia specifically, as well as a pool of healing waters within used for medicinal purposes. The grove, despite being a center of occupation, is so natural in design that it would take a DC 12 Perception check for most non-wood elves to notice it’s actually inhabited at first. The elves will disappear quickly in response to an unknown party, and return to fight if the adventurers appear threatening. They will engage in trade if they have reason to trust the heroes.

3-5 A hunting party-this is a war party of 3D6 saganyir who are rangers of levels 1D4 each, and 1D3 ranger leaders who are level 2D4+2 each. There is a 25% chance they are stalking lost wanderers (roll on encounter table 3 to see who) otherwise they are hunting game.

6 a party led by Vask’Tinorin-as 3-5 above but Vask’Tinorin is with them. Though he is over 1,000 years old Vask looks of middle years by human standards. He is a Druid (level 15)/Ranger (level 5) of great skill, and is lawful good.

10: The Putrid Cistern. This region of the wood is dense with brambles and thicket, gnarled trees that look too horribly like humanoid forms stretched in agony and torture, and the sounds of the woods are of ominous and disturbing things which should not be; it is all difficult terrain. The cistern itself bubbles and erupts with curious noises like the sound of bubbling and venting gasses below, as if the deep hole in the earth is a portal to the Abyssal realms.

Anyone studying the putrid cistern will have a chance of attracting the attention of one of the tentacle horrors that dwells in the watery depths below (Fifth Edition Foes (FEF) page 225). Just lingering around the pit gives them a 25% chance per minute of appearing to see who has wandered into their dominion.

The putrid cistern is a dangerous environment, and every ten minutes in the area there is a 20% chance of attracting the attention of one of the following:

D12/Result

1-4 a shambling mound (1D3 appear, acting curious, but there’s a 25% chance of 2D4 shambling mounds approaching, even more curious)

5-6 a tendriculous (see FEF pg. 224)

7-9 a horde of vegepygmies charge out (1D6 per character, or a horde of 10D10; FEF pg. 239)

10-11 Gaz Mudare appears from the Arboreal Unseelie Realm of the Bramblewood (See below) to see why the adventurers are interested in the cistern.

12 A feral green dragon appears, possibly emerging from the cistern (D6: 1-4 young, 5-6 adult)

Gaz Mudare is an elven eladrin of the unseelie court and a lone blood knight survivor of old. He is actually an eladrin vampire, and an ancient descendant of the eldest Saric family bloodlines from time immemorial. His interest in the Putrid Cistern is based on its importance to him: when the ancient battle took place, the cistern was the point he was located at. When the Enkanneth spell erupted, Gaz had only seconds to act and called upon ancient planar magic to save himself, ripping a hole from this plane into the Unseelie kingdom of the Bramble in Arborea. He escaped in this manner, the sole survivor of the entire blood knight army to get away.

Gaz is a very high level entity, and for practical purposes he is a lawful  evil level 20 eldritch knight eladrin with all of the vampire traits. His soul is bound to the Bramblewood in the Arboreal Realm and he cannot truly be slain unless that dark heart in the wood is also staked and burned. That said, it’s bound not too far away from the planar gate in the bottom of the cistern which opens into Arborea. Such a trek would be a daring adventure in its own right.

11: The Dragon Caldare. Eldest of the green dragons, Caldare is a venerable beast (ancient green dragon) and there is a 5% chance the adventurers have stumbled across his lair in the woods: a knotted mass of trees that have grown in on one another to form a dense thicket which is impassable, and forms a great cavernous hollow within which Caldare resides. This is Caldare’s lair….but all of the Vosjin Wood is considered his lair, so no matter where he is Caldare may take lair actions.

Caldare is evil and manipulative, and unless the adventurers give him an excuse to slay and devour them he will seek to use them to cause strife for his rivals in the woods. He is keen to see Sukagra destroyed, Aruman run out, or even the White Stag and The Black Rook slain if possible. He knows the latter two will simply reform over time, but he delights in causing any problems he can for those he must share the woods with.

Caldare’s wood-spun nest is filled with treasure of the ages, including lost tomes, ancient artifacts, countless gold coins and a statue of the enigmatic lady Rehana, the first of the ancient Vumaskan queens. The statue contains a vestige of Rehana’s animating force and can provide cryptic messages about the past and future to those who speak to it. The statue is propped up next to a crude altar to the god Hax Nagor, whom Caldare believes he is the avatar and servant of.

12: A Hidden Temple to Hox Nagor. The demiurge of serpents and ophidians, Hox Nagor’s temple resides deep in the woods and is a little-known secret to those who are serpentine in nature. The temple is sometimes guarded by the Serpent of the Woods (see entry 17), though as often as not it roams freely and ignores its duties as temple guardian. More frequently it is protected by ophidians such as the Yuan-ti and lizard men with dominant serpentine features who are dedicated to Hox Nagor.

The temple is difficult to spot if not specifically searching for, covered in thick vines and the overgrowth of the trees, it’s moss-covered walls that were once comprised of jadeite and alabaster marble are almost totally obscured (DC 15 Perception check to even notice). The entrance looms open like a dark cave, easily mistaken for another dark path in the thick woods.

Inside the main temple is a vast cathedral-like chamber in which the ominous statue of Hox Nagor resides, a looming figure of serpentine stone with serpents emerging from where its arms and legs are located, and a long trio of serpentine heads from its neck. The statue itself is a stone golem and will animate if any vandalism or theft takes place in the temple.

At any given time there will be guardians and visitors within the temple. The complex has a permanent presence of temple priests in the form of 4D6 pureblood yuan-ti, along with 2D4 yuan-ti malisons and 2D3 yuan-ti abominations. There are usually 4D8 lizard men serving as guards, servants and pilgrims as well. The temple usually keeps 2D6 giant lizards as guardians on the grounds, unless the Serpent of the Woods is present, in which case the lizards are hiding in their pens.

There is a 25% chance that one of the following may be visiting to honor the demiurge:

D12/Result

1-4 A gorgon named Perisphene with her retinue of 2D8 blind grimlocks seeks to gain oracular aid from the temple

5-8 Caldare, who reveres Hox Nagor and believes he is the demiurge’s avatar of doom

9-10 A contingent of Skelzis from the planes (1D6) with 4d4 weredactyl servants are honoring the demiurge with gifts in exchange for insight on how to destroy their enemies

11-12  a lich named Vasufar who was once a serpent man of pureblood origin has come to view the temple. He moves freely through the woods with a tymardiae guide whom he has bewitched.

Next: Encounters 13-16

Elemental Evil Player's Companion Ready for Download

Wizards has it here at dndclassics.com and it includes 25 pages of player content, free of charge. The deep gnomes, genasai and goliaths appear again, and in a bit of a twist the avian aarakocra are a playable race! Lots of spells too.

I'm hoping that this is also included in the forthcoming Princes of the Apocalypse book, but either way, hard to beat the price.

Lands of Pergerron: Encounters in the Vosjin Wood 5 through 8

5: The Glade of the Black Obelisk. Here in an open clearing in the woods is an immense black obelisk carved in Primordial runes. The obelisk is regarded by scholars of the occult as a navigational marker and the “heart” of the Vosjin Wood (a DC 15 History check can reveal this information). Adventurers who are trapped in the woods but who do not draw the attention of the Black Rook or White Stag will inevitably find the obelisk within 1D6 days of wandering, although always seemingly by happenstance.

The Black Obelisk Is ancient, and rested here long before the woods formed or the battle before it. The Obelisk is actually a sort of dimensional anchor, and it is the lynchpin that keeps the Outworld tethered to the mortal plan in this region; should the obelisk ever be destroyed, the tether will sever and the Vosjin Wood will be ripped back fully into the Outworld. Destroying the Obelisk is a task most difficult and foolish, however.

Students of the dark arts who have studied the primordial language or those with sufficient magic can attempt to decipher the ancient glyphs on the stone. The stories claim the stone provides a map of the Vosjin Wood, and following its marked paths will allow one to safely navigate the woods. This is partially true; etched upon the stone are runic marks that define the ley lines of magic which surround the region. There is a magical line of force that leads to each of the major locales in the woods, even if by accident; the nature of magic in the Vosjin calls for such an arrangement, even as it weaves its reality through untamed dimensions. Studying the obelisk for 1D3 days’ time with a D15 insight check will reveal one of these paths as desired, and possibly more if the researcher is uninterrupted in that time --not even sleep is allowed. Indeed, a scholar who studies the altar without sleep for a full 48 hours will gain advantage on his next insight check with the obelisk.

If one studies the obelisk for long enough (at least a week), then it may become evident (DC 22 insight check) that the ley lines seem to form a cage, and the obelisk is about where one might imagine a magical key or capstone would be located. After this revelation, the caster finds it difficult to even sleep, and is plagued by disturbing dreams and nightmares, and suffers from a random form of indefinite madness (DMG); should he ever perish he will return as a wraith trapped in the Vosjin Wood forever more. He begins to sense that a vast, ancient being rests beneath the earth, and that the obelisk is a key to its terrible cage. The being is older than the primordials….indeed the primordials may be mere whisps of its terrible dreams brought to life at the dawn of creation. Who imprisoned this being is unknown….

Trying to destroy the Obelisk is difficult. It’s immune to all forms of damage, and digging beneath it reveals that the obelisk is but the tip of a vast, deep rod of obsidian-like material that sinks a good mile into the earth….and there are runes in the primordial script all the way down. The deeper one digs, the more subject to nightmares and permanent madness the diggers become. In the highly unlikely event that someone reaches the bottom, they find a vast subterranean cavern in which the terrible elder god Id’Hyakaa dwells in trapped slumber, waiting for the time of its awakening to engulf the world in madness.

6: The Monstrous Tree. Sometimes appearing in a grove of other trees, and other times appearing in an open glade, these monstrous trees are sprinkled throughout the region and contain the entrapped bodies of the old warbeasts of the Saric Blood Knight army. Like the vampiric blood knights trapped in trees, feeding blood to these creatures is a bad idea; even a drop can awaken the beast within. Some of the monstrous trees slumber in torpor, but there is a  25% chance they have dominated 2D6 nearby awakened trees into serving their bidding, using the awakened trees to try and hurl bloodied victims to them to feed. Once even 1 HP has been spilt on the tree it will burst free of its prison within 1D3 rounds, revealing a terrible warbeast of the ancient empire. Roll a D6: 1-Manticore, 2-Chuul, 3-Peryton, 4-wyvern, 5-grick alpha, 6-tyrannosaurus rex); DMs should adjust the encounter if desired to reflect the exploring party composition/level.

7:  The Lost Settlement. About a century ago a courageous, though fool-hardy pioneer named Gaston Ebernard discovered the passage to the Vosjin Wood from the Hill of Giants and determined that he would carve out his fortune in its unexplored depths. Gaston had a singular mind of action and was uniquely unaffected by the miasma of madness and uncertainty that settles upon most who spend too much time in the haunted woods. He brought his extended family with him, and found a suitable location in the form of a high hill in an open glade near a winding, unnamed river. There he settled, and was never heard from again.

Today, those who stumble across the earthen mound (a DC 12 religion check will suggest that the mound is actually an ancient barrow of immense size, and not a natural hill) will find the remnants of this failed settlement. A two-story high house of stone rests atop the hill, its roof almost completely removed as if torn off. The base of the hill contains several more crumpled dwellings, partial stone walls still intact. A carving into the side of the hill was turned into a sort of barn or stable, and fragments of bone can be found everywhere.

By night the ghosts of the extended family roam the area, engaging in mundane tasks as if their life has never been interrupted. The have haunting, indistinct features as if they are unable to quite remember what they looked like in life, or are hollow projections of some greater presence. Interrupting the ghosts in their tasks will draw their ire, but the ghosts are otherwise disinterested in the living.

8: The Tymardiae. These reclusive men are the only denizens of the wood who seem able to come and go as the please; indeed they know of dozens of paths into and out of the woods other than the path from the Hill of Giants, but is is the gift of sight that lets the Tymardiae find these paths. These men claim to have descended directly from the Enkanneth goddess Suliversa, and as a result their unique pathfinding abilities allow them to traverse the paths of the Vosjin Wood and even to find  hidden passages into the Outworld. When encountered the Tymardiae are usually friendly, unless there is obvious evil among the party. They will be especially kind and friendly to aasimar and haflings, whom tymardiae adore for some reason.

The adventurers may encounter different groups of Tymardiae, either an encampment, a lone wanderer or a caravan. The GM can roll a D10 to determine more details as follows:

Encampment: 1-5 active and thriving temporary settlement; 6-8 an abandoned settlement, but stone huts and hearth make for safe resting for the PCs (reduce wandering encounters to 1 in 12); 9-10 a destroyed encampment, with evidence of monstrous attack.

Lone Wanderer: the lone wanderer may be one of the following: 1-4 a friendly guide who offers his services to help the PCs find their way; 5-7 a lone murderer and outcast who will pretend to aid the PCs while plotting to rob and slay them (may 50% be in league with ibixians), 8-9 a pilgrim on a quest to seek out the base of Mt. Sahambla; 10 a wandering ascetic who visits the forest on occasion but has knowledge of the secret paths into the Outworld.

Caravan: the tymardiae see the Vosjin Wood as a hub for travel between the mortal realm and the Outworld, and even know of other such hubs across the lands of Pergerron. The caravans use these secret paths to bring goods across vast distances in short periods. Caravans will always be open to trade, though weary of dangerous looking adventurers, and usually consist of 4D6 able-bodied men and twice that number of women and children, with one wagon drawn by horses or cattle for every five folk in the group. Tymardiae traffic in strange goods at times, and there is a 50% chance that they will have at least one vendor with some interesting magic items or potions.  On a D10 you can determine their ultimate destination: 1-3: Samaskar; 4 another remote city along the Anansis River; 5 a city in Mesutin to the south; 6 a town in the Outworld; 7 Galitath; 8 a local Saganyir village; 9 they travel to one of the seasonal encampments to set up shop and meet with other tymardiae, 10: north to the Aiga for trade with the northmne; 11: the city of Phantomax to the far west; 12 the City of Doors (yes, THAT city of doors) for exotic trade (if this is rolled there is a 100% chance the caravan has lots of magical goods for sale).

Caravans don’t travel lightly; the hearty nature of the tymardiae means most of them are guarded by seasoned tymardiae adventurers with some magic, usually 1D4+4 levels of experience, and sometimes they hire willing extraplanar bodyguards from the outworld. Outworld, of course, is the planar realms….and the vast dominion of the primordials is a plane unto itself, with direct connections to the Outlands and the other planes of the Great Wheel. The Primordial Realm is located deep in the Elemental Chaos.

D&D 5E Saturday Creature Factory: The Quilliotos Body Thieves

Hideous beings from the dawn of time, the body thieves steal the abilities and acumen of their victims...

Body Thief (Quilliotos)

CR 4 (1,100 XP)

NE medium humanoid

Initiative +4

DEFENSE

AC 14 (natural)

HP 54 (12D8)

Resistance: psychic

Charm Resistance: body thieves gain advantage on all saving throws vs. charm or enchantment effects

OFFENSE

Speed 30 feet

Multiattack the body thief may strike twice with its daggers or once with a dagger and once with a draining touch. Body thieves cannot drain more than one ability using draining touch per turn (yes turn, not round).

Melee Attack-daggers +8 attack (reach 5 ft.; one target): Hit: 2D4+4 damage slashing each

Melee Attack-draining touch +8 attack (reach 5 ft.; one target): Hit: 1D4+4 damage slashing plus the target must make a Charisma save (DC 16) or take an additional 4D6 psychic damage and lose one trait of the body thief’s choice (either a statistic, skill proficiency, class or racial ability). See the trait description below for how this works.

Statistics

STR 12 (+1), DEX 18 (+4), CON 11 (+0), INT 12 (+1), WIS 12 (+1) CHA 20 (+5)

Languages: common, primordial plus any languages of the current victim

Senses: Perception +4 (passive 14)

Skills: Stealth +7, Persuasion +8

TRAITS

Shapeshifter-the body thief can mimic any target it touches as an effect of its draining touch if it so desires. It may choose to do this as a free action in addition to the attack and ability theft effect of the draining touch. It can retain this form indefinitely or until it touches another victim and takes a new form. The body thief can only mimic creatures of medium size, however, and cannot modify its size like a doppelganger can.

Ability Theft-The body thief can “steal” the abilities of its victims, and each time it strikes a target it gains one ability of choice. The loss is “gained” by the body thief until it steals a new trait. The victim gains disadvantages on all rolls related to the lost trait or loses the ability of that trait if it is a class/racial ability. The body thief can also steal spell abilities this way, See additional info below for how this attack works. Here is how each ability it can steal works for victim and thief:

Ability trait: The body thief gains the bonus modifier (if any) of the targeted attribute (i.e. a fighter with 18 strength loses his strength modifier of +4 and the body thief now gains a +4 strength modifier). The new trait does not stack with the body thief’s own modifier, merely replaces it. The victim suffers disadvantage on the affected ability until the body thief gives up the stolen ability for another stolen trait.

Consitution: If the body thief steals constitution, it immediately gains temporary hit points equal to its total hit dice multiplied by the CON modifier stolen.

Skill, language or Tool Proficiency: the body thief gains proficiency of the target’s level or +3 (whichever is better) in the chosen ability and the target gains disadvantage on the affected proficiency until the body thief gives up the stolen ability for another stolen trait.

Resistance or Immunity: the body thief gains that immunity or resistance and the target loses it until the body thief steals a new trait.

Class or Race Ability: A single class ability can be stolen and used by the body thief, such as an extra attack, spellcasting ability, or any other trait that can benefit the body thief. The body thief gains the use of the ability at the level of effectiveness of the victim, and may benefit from it as if he were of the same class and race of the victim. If a class ability would not for any specific reason benefit the body thief in any way, then he “steals it” and the victim either gains disadvantage when using the ability or loses the ability to access that trait, but the body thief can’t then benefit from the ability.

Stealing Spells and Slots: when the body thief targets a spell, he steals one spell and one slot of choice to cast the spell, so long as it is held in memory by the victim. If the spell is “used” by the body thief before it is replaced then the victim cannot regain the slot or spell until a long rest. If the body thief replaces the spell with ability before using it then the spell caster regains the slot and spell immediately.

Recovering stolen abilities: the body thief relinquishes his stolen trait when he replaces I with another. Advanced body thieves (see below) can hold two or more traits at once. If a body thief steals a trait and then holds on to it, he loses it after a full day or a long rest has passed, and the victim recovers access to the ability after a long rest.

In the primordial dawn of the world the quilliotos arose, formless beings of clay forged by the primordials to serve as the first men of the world. It is unsure what went wrong after their creation, though the most likely explanation lies in the theory that the ancient qlippothic beings of chaos sabotaged the creation of the quilliotos in spite. As a result, the quilliotos were seen as inherently flawed, lacking souls and abilities of their own, and so unable to provide the nourishment of worship that the primordials demanded. They were cast aside and left to rot in the darkest corners of the earth, as the creator gods went on to forge new races of beings who could provide the sustenance of souls for the divine.

The quilliotos earned their title of body thieves when they emerged from their dark prisons in the earth, and found that they had the ability to steal the abilities of the new creations of the gods. The body thieves lacked morality and understood only the ability to take….they could mimic traits of their targets perfectly, but they lacked the ability to siphon personality…only skills, abilities and general acumen. In essence they could touch upon every trait of the humans and demihumans of the world except their souls.

Body thieves appear as hideous, white and formless humanoid shapes with burning, intense eyes that are all too “human” in appearance. They nest in dark regions where they spin cocoons of sticky white silk to form the walls of their breeding grounds. They can form through a “budding process” once every few centuries, creating 2D6 copies of themselves which grow to adults in a matter of months, but can also steal the birthing abilities of a target race when mimicking a form. The offspring of such a union with another race is usually a deformed and hideous monster….but once in a while an advanced body thief is formed. Called quilladeen in the primordial tongue, these are exceptionally rare and evil beings:

Advanced Body Thief Template (Quilladeen)

Advanced body thieves are rare offspring born when a body thief takes a disguise and mates with a human or demihuman. The result is a half-breed of greater than normal ability. The advanced body thief gains the ability to steal more than one trait at once: typically 1D3+1 traits at a time. Advanced Body thieves are CR 5 (1,800 XP) and usually have one “open trait slot” available with the rest primed from prior stolen abilities. They retain stolen abilities even after a full day or a long rest, though a victim gets to make a DC 17 charisma save at the end of each long rest, and if he succeeds he recovers his ability to use the stolen trait normally….but the advanced body thief does not lose his access to that trait.

On the inevitable disappointment from Neill Blomkamp doing Alien 5

There's a great article on A.V. Club here about the problem with franchises like the Alien series and the sort of disappointment that fans inevitably set up for themselves. I'll lave no comments on it other than to say that I very much agree with Jesse Hassenger's perspective on the issue, as I have lived through the hype and expectations of all the films under discussion.....and also liked Prometheus very much, despite certain flaws and plot/storytelling problems.

Lands of Pergerron: Encounters in the Vosjin Wood 1 through 4

1: A warband of ibixian goatmen. The ibixians will appear in either a small or large group (50% chance of one or the other). The details are as follows:

D6/Result

1-3: Small Warband: There will be 2D4 ibixians and a 25% chance of 1 warchief and a 10% chance of a shaman. The ibixians will feign friendliness or neutrality until they have assessed whether the party is an easy mark, then position to attack when they feel they have won their trust.

4-6: Large Warband:There will be 4D6 ibixians, 1D2 warchiefs and a 50% chance of 1D2 shamans. Unless the party is obviously stronger than them in terms of numbers or visible ferocity (i.e. the party contains demons, or is mostly tieflings, which ibixians all think are demons anyway) then the warband will attempt to surround the party and cow them into surrender, placing them in chains. Failing that they will beat the party into submission and chain them as slaves, then demand the party lead them out of the wood in exchange for freedom (which they won’t likely honor). They will flee if an attack leads to a 40% or greater loss in the first two rounds of battle.

2: The Black Rook takes an interest in the party. If the party contains a greater percentage of neutral or evil characters (fewer “good” characters than evil) then the Rook will seek to capture their attention and lure them toward the lair of Aruman (see Encounter 20 below if they follow him). If the party contains more good than evil/neutral characters then the Rook will lure the party to the wide open grove of one of the following (roll a D6): 1-2 the Hydra’s Tree (see Entry 19 below), 3-4 a Haunted Grove with a 100% chance of 1D3 demonic treants (Entry 4) or 5-6 the Mark of the Spear (Entry 18).

3: Wastrels and Lost Travelers. The Vosjin Wood often tempts and lures hapless pilgrims, travelers, mystics and madmen  into its clutches; there are in fact many ways into the wood other than the known path from the Hill of Giants….but without the guidance of a tymardiae of the “interest” of the shadow in the woods there is usually no chance of stumbling across such paths, until it desires you to do so, that is…Roll on the subtable that follows for the nature of the lost travelers (1D12):

D12/Result

1-3: a warband of orcs (2D8) who are trying to cut through the woods; 50% chance they have a Tymardiae guide to lead them, 20% chance that guide skipped out due to abuse and left them in the woods

4-5: 1D6 or more wraiths manifest in the night and attack, screeching with fury and speaking an ancient dialect of old men; they are undead formed from the corpses of men touched by the madness of the Balck Obelisk.

6: An outworld incursion of 1D6 or more Cyclopes wanders upon the party; Roll a D6: 1-3 they are friendly and seek to trade; 4-5 they are looking for the Black Obelisk for a ritual they must conduct; 6: they are following the call of the Black Rook.

7: A group of 1D20 pilgrims comes across the party. They are a mix of different species, but all seek the glory of either (D6); 1-3 the Temple of Hox-Nagor, 4-5 the power of Mt. Sahambla, or 6 the Black Obelisk. There is a 20% chance 1D6 of the pilgrims are clerics of 1D6 levels experience.

8-9: a band of rogue bandits (3D6 brigands and 1D3 leaders) trapped in the woods and seeking escape. These may be bandits from the region of Samaskar, but there is a 20% chance they are actually from a distant land and don’t even speak the local language. They will react to the party according to perceived strength in numbers.

10: A group of 1D6 hill giants are marching through the woods hunting beasts. Adventurers are fine beasts.

11: A caravan out of Samaskar or another city is trapped in the woods. The caravan leader is a dour soul with some occult understanding who realizes what has happened, but he is doing his best to put a god spin on it, hoping he will find a local guide to assist in their escape. He does not realize that one among his hired crew is actually a warlock or witch who has drawn the ire (or interest) of either Sukagra or Aruman for an ancient spell tome that they carry, and that is the reason the forest grabbed them on their journey. The caravan has been trapped for 2D6 days (doubles add and roll over on this) and if they term of entrapment is more than 10 days then the crew is starting to look haggard, worn and mutinous. He will beg the adventurers for aid in escape.

12: Aruman is wandering and looking for herbs and material for his alchemy when he stumbles across the party and puts on his “best face” to talk to them; will invite them back to his villa if they are friendly, or will call up 2D6 wraiths of the woods to aid him in battle if they attack.

4: A Haunted Grove. The party comes upon a thick grove of trees that are twisted and misshapen to resemble tortured humanoids, as if the bodies of men are locked up in the woods. This is a common sight throughout the forest, but something about the grove feels particularly concentrated and evil. Any attempt to find a way around the haunted grove is rolled at disadvantage against D20; a DC 15 insight check suggests that the grove feels like it is willfully manipulating the woods and path to force entry into the grove.

Haunted trees within the Vosjin Wood are described above, but this grove is especially vile, containing the trapped forms of demons that served in the blood knight army of Sar. The trees have become animated, and eagerly seek to slay any who enter the woods. 85% of these are awakened trees and a grove typically contains 4D8 of them, but 15% that 1D3 will be corrupted treants, roaming the woods and lurking in haunted groves waiting for victims. These possessed awakend trees and treants function like the regular monsters, but there is a 50% chance with each physical attack that they deal damage with that they will heal as many hit points of damage as they dealt with the attack.

It is possible to awaken the demon spirits within the trees; a tree which has slain a victim has a 5% chance of being able to possess the body of the slain victim, inbuing the body with its own demonic spirit. The victim will appear to return to life, but the demon’s mind will be the animating force. The body will slowly and disturbingly transmogrify into a random demon type within 1D6 months.

Next: Entries 4 to 8

Lands of Pergerron: Encounters in the Vosjin Wood - Adventuring and Traveling in the Wood

These encounters take up some space, so I'll split them over several blogs throughout the week....

Adventure and Travel in the Vosjin Wood

Wandering through the Vosjin Wood is an unnerving experience. Adventurers tell of a mysterious trail which fades away not long after they pass a region, and the forest closing up behind them; party members have sometimes found the trail leading them in circles, or carrying on for what feels like dozens of miles with no change in the nature of the woods around them, only to stumble across an unfathomably huge mountain that was previously nowhere in sight. Indeed, once spotted (DC 10 perception check for those who try to scout the horizon) it cannot be unseen; the mountain looms like a great monument of stone waiting to fall upon the entire forest, as it is so large and steep….yet no matter how hard adventurers try to get closer to it the mountain always seems to remain the same distance away. Only the White Stag, Sukagra, or a friendly Tymardiae can show the true path to the chasm at the base of the mountain.

Any efforts to sense direction while in the forest seem thwarted by the woods, and the thick foliage makes getting a consistent bead on the sun or moon nigh impossible at times. As such, all efforts related to sensing direction, following a trail, or orienteering are done at disadvantage while in the woods….and if the attention of either the White Stage, the Black Rook, or one of the other denizens of the wood such as Aruman or Sukagra are upon the adventurers, then regardless of their desires the forest will take them where the denizen desires.

The Haunted Trees and the Blood Knights

The Haunted Trees of Vosjin Wood are all pervasive, and it is impossible to go fifty feet without seeing one. These trees do indeed contain the captive forms of an ancient army of Saric blood knights, elves who gave up their mortal coils to become vampires in the name of the Saric Emperor, and were trapped within the trees as a result of the Enkanneth curse. Of these trees, perhaps one in ten contains a spirit with a vestige of power left inside. Smearing fresh blood on such trees has a disturbing effect: the blood will seep into the cracks and crevices of the bark as if it is being absorbed by the tree. If someone feeds enough blood to the tree, it will begin to grow and bloom….it grows stronger. If the tree is cut or craved into, and then fed, there is a very slight (10%) chance that the blood knight within is able to gain some strength from the sustenance, allowing it to try and break free of its wooden prison.

These elvish vampires were among the deadliest of the old forces of Sar, and even a thousand years later they have enough protean strength and speed to break free if fed the full blood of a victim. Such vampires usually return to the world in a maddened, ravenous state and slaughter all they can find until they have quenched a thousand year thirst, then begin to recover their wits and seek a means of escape from the wood. If the vampire does not find a means of tricking its way out of the wood within 1D6 days then he will be struck down by the forest and immobilized in a tree once more.

Location Encounters:

Adventurers may run across many strange beings and locations while moving through the woods. Encounters happen on a 1 in 8 chance per hour while in the wood. Certain encounters lead to sub-tables, as indicated below. Roll a D20 when an encounter occurs and consult below. There are usually two or three encounters that are fated to happen; the DM should determine which force is most interested in the parties by alignment, and plan for those encounters to happen for certain after a specified amount of time (usually 4D12 hours). As a guidelines, certain entities of the woods favor certain types of characters as follows:

Sukagra (Entry 17): any party which seeks escape, is trapped, or stands in opposition to Aruman. Any party which has already found Mt. Sahambla and its temple cavern.

Aruman (Entry 20): any evil party that may be willing to work for him.

The White Stag (Entry 16): Any party which is predominantly good and also potentially friendly to the primordial Sahambla.

The Black Obelisk (Entry 5): All wanderers in the woods find this after 1D6 days.

Caldare (Entry 11): Caldare will take an interest in any party he believes can aid him…or any that threaten him directly.

D20/Result

1: Small Ibixian Warband

2: The Black Rook

3: Large Ibixian Warband

4: A Haunted Grove

5: Glade of the Black Obelisk

6: The Monstrous Tree

7: the Lost Settlement

8: The Tymardiae (Roll D6: 1-2 an encampment; 3-4 a lone traveler; 5-6 a caravan)

9: Elves of the Woods (Roll D6: 1-2 The Grove of the Saganyir; 3-5 A hunting party,     6 a party led by Vask’Tinorin)

10: The Putrid Cistern

11: The Dragon Caldare

12: A Hidden Temple to Hox Nagor

13: The Chasm at the Base of Mt. Sahambla

14: The Yawning Chasm of the Outworld

15: The Spectral Fields

16: The White Stag

17: Special Monstrous Encounter (D6: 1 Serpent of the Woods; 2 The Rogue Blood     Knight; 3 Sukagra; 4: Hydra; 5: The Shambling Mound; 6: Slaad Nest)

18: Mark of the Spear

19: The Hydra’s Tree

20: Aruman’s Villa

Resting While in the Vosjin Wood

During any short or long rest encounters happen on a 1 in 6 chance per hour. If the party is resting, use this table to determine what happens upon them instead:

D20/Result

1-5: An Ibixian Warband  (Entry 1)

6: The Black Rook (Entry 2)

7-8: A brilliant flash of purplish cascading energy in the distance caused by the Black Obelisk; this surge of energy allows the PCs to find the Obelisk if they look for it within the hour.

9-15: Wastrels and lost travelers (Entry 3)

16: The Serpent of the Woods begins preying on the party (Entry 17)

17: A wandering tymardiae guide or caravan comes upon the party (Entry 8; Roll D6: 1-3 a caravan, 4-6 a solitary guide).

18: Caldare flies by night, possibly looking for the party out of interest or spite (Entry 11).

19-20: An encounter with a beast of the wood (Entry 17)

Part II: Encounters 1-4

Pre-order Book of Lost Spells for 5E

Book of Lost Spells, the D&D 5E conversion from Frog God Games, is now up for pre-order. The site also indicates an April 2015 ship date.

That's going to be a lot of D&D 5E in April: Princes of the Apocalypse on April 7th from WotC, followed by Frog God's unofficial but Extremely Cool Fifth Edition Foes, Book of Lost Spells, and Quests of Doom I and II.

That oughtta take the pressure off WotC to produce new books for a couple months, right?

Fantasy Hero Complete is here!

Just had to brag.....it's  meaty looking book, but not too much so (especially for Hero System!) Lot's of good stuff in here. It's still got a bit of the toolkit "build it yourself" feel to it but for fans of Hero that's a good thing, and the presentation as given for fantasy campaigning should make it very easy for new visitors to the Hero System realm to pick up and run with it.

MSRP is $30 in print, and it should be available to the general public here.

If it grabs me enough, you just may see some Fantasy Hero Complete content posted roundabouts 'dis here blog soon.

Not to gloat or anything....but while I admit I've only actually backed four Kickstarters with cash, three of them have come through so far...and this one is far and away the best investment.*







*The irony that a 75% success rate is something to brag about with Kickstarters is not lost on me.

Reviewing The Order: 1886 - Why it's one of the best games almost no one will like (updated)

I've been playing The Order: 1886 for a while now (I am roughly 5-6 hours in, around Chapter X, so I have about eight more chapters to go, I think; EDIT: finished at roughly 9 1/2 hours. Probably 1/2 an hour of that alone was reading the various newspapers in the game). Before I go any further let me clear up some general misconceptions of the game:

1. Despite the marketing for this game it is not "Gears of War with werewolves." In fact werewolves are only a partial element of the broader story. The GoW comparison...at least for the combat segments, is spot on however (but see below).

2. It is definitely steampunk. Such exquisitely crafted steampunk that it has single-handedly changed my interest in the genre from one of mild loathing to genuine interest in pursuing more info on.

3. It's storyline is actually really well done.* If someone tells you otherwise, take note that their opinions on things like story cannot be trusted. If they say "the story is great but it's all cutscenes and the game has very limited player agency," know that you can trust that person's sense of judgement.

Anyway, if you've read any media on the game you can tell that most people seem to hate the game for various reasons, top three being it's got too many cutscenes, it's too short (assume 8-10 hours for a normal average player**), or it's got too much story and not enough gameplay (one person I read equated it to a Telltale game and I wouldn't say they're too far off in that respect).

However, a few people absolutely love it, especially for the staggering attention to detail the game puts into its world and story and how it weds the two together. I'm closer to this category, but I really do think The Order: 1886 deserves some of its criticism as a game, and here's why:

The Order: 1886 doesn't really know how to actually be a game most of the time, because its developers were too busy crafting an amazing story that they wanted to go a very specific direction. Paper and pencil RPGers know what this is called: it's railroading. In computer games railroads, or rather "on-rails" means you are always going in one direction toward one goal; there's no deviation from the path. In fact a majority of AAA games these days (and many budget titles) are actually on-rails, but they've learned to disguise this fact very well. The Order is no different in this regard. A better term for this is "player agency," which is how much choice the player has in what's going on. Player agency is a big deal in this era of open-world sandbox titles like Assassin's Creed, Saint's Row, Infamous, GTA V and Watchdogs. Going from any of those to a game where your choices can be as limiting as "hit square to not be knifed....okay you didn't hit square fast enough, try again until you do" is damned frustrating.

The Order only has three elements to its structure:

1. Story scenes, which occasionally start to blend with player-controlled events through QTEs (quick time events). I hate QTEs and this is one of the reasons I am annoyed with the game even though I'd rank its story A+++ and it's gunplay a solid A-. There's nothing wrong with the cutscenes in and of themselves...it's like watching an amazing movie with great actors in the best steampunk film ever. It only fails when held up in terms of volume to the other two game play styles below. Because there is a LOT of story in this game.

2. Exploration scenes, where you move methodically through the environment, occasionally finding interesting objects which you can pick up and study in slavish details with very realistic movements. This part is very immersive if you go along with it, and I am frankly amazed at the time and effort spent in rendering some of the items you can find. It shows that they were trying to go for an immersive story which was backed by its environment....and it does work, except for the part about how while moving through these environments you only ever end up going in the same direction, and a lot of players...especially players who bought this game thinking it's a steampunk Gears of War.....will be pissed at the fact that they are forced to walk through this stuff. The tempo of these sequences only works if you're a player who wants to meticulously explore these environments as you go from point A to point B. It doesn't work so well if you don't want to do that....but the game forces you to walk through it all anyway.

Gears of War had this element in its gameplay, too. It was when Marcus Phoenix was walking along talking in his radio. GoW used these moments to preface each action sequence with a 30 second monologue between characters to explain why you were going to be shooting stuff in half a minute, and had to move from A to B. The Order essentially does it for the same reason, but over several minutes sometimes. If you're busy going "wow, I want to read this newspaper and listen to that phongraphic recording" then it works for you. If you could care less.....then you're gonna be pissed.

3. The third and final gameplay element is the run and gun segments, which are tried-and-true cover-based third person shooting, a style of play that has been honed to an art. I can't say much more than that it is very smooth, although so far as of Chapter X there are moments where I wish they'd stop hurling crazed mercenaries for the East India Company at me for a minute like they were suicidal locusts from GoW. Also, I keep feeling like some of the targeting is a bit off when aiming at a guy behind cover with a bit of his body exposed. There are shots that don't work even when they look like they should. Other than that....this part is fine.

So I don't really know who The Order: 1886 was targeting. Fans of story-rich RPGs, Telltale Games and Visual Novels will love element 1 (the story bits). Fans of immersive environments and exploration for it own sake will enjoy item #2 although in truth I don't think they give us enough of this to make it feel like more than a glorified depiction of how well they can render objects and photographs in the game engine (it's very good). And for #3, the part that they marketed to, it's fun but not enough on its own merits...the first two pieces of exploration and story need to appeal.

So they made a game for me, basically....but I don't think I'm that huge of an audience, and judging by the reaction (minding that I'd only pay attention to people who admit to having actually played it....it's shocking how many people out there are trashing the game based on hearsay or from watching a Twitch recording) I'd have to say that if The Order: 1886 has a future, it's going to end up unfortunately looking a lot more like what the general audience wants.

I inevitably look forward to The Order: 1887 now with 200% more multiplayer and an open world London that you parkour through looking for exotic collectibles in exchange for achievements. If I'm lucky they will include a special loyalist edition that lets you cut out the crap and get to the story. That, or they could just make a movie. I'd be down with that.

EDIT: Final Comment on finishing the game: there's a sequence towards the end, when sneaking through lavish English gardens murdering stray East India Company men, that I found myself wondering two things: first, why is my character so bloodthirsty that his only takedown involves a knife in the spleen? Second, why is it I am forced to use a QTE for take-downs and failure means being shot? If I had been given more player agency in this game, I would not have been choosing to murder the guards (even an NPC questions why you do it), because these guys are honestly just hired mooks. That got me thinking that maybe there was something in the narrative I had missed....and in a way there was, as later reveals suggest that the evil at the heart of EIC runs deep. Still, it seemed....excessive....in the context given.

(There's also a moment....SPOILER!!! Big. Huge. Spoiler....where you meet the vile vampire behind all the stuff going on. You only engage with him in a cutscene and a QTE.....but that's okay, because honestly I realized that there was no way they could have done justice to a fight with the vampire in the GoW-based cover shooter system they were using here.)

All those stealth QTEs with a pass/fail consequence were even more annoying than the way Assassin's Creed does it, if you can imagine that! And ultimately its the devil in the details like this which will make or break a game. The Order: 1886 has the best graphics of any game I currently own, and one of the best stories. But they didn't spend enough time making the gameplay just as amazing.

*You know that common complaint that people have when playing Battlefield 4's or Call of Duty's single player campaigns? The one where they admit they have no fucking clue what's going on or why they are going through a given level? That doesn't happen here. You are so involved with the story in The Order that it takes an almost concerted effort at not paying attention or a medical condition affecting attention to be confused about what's going on in this game. 

**I'm not sure if the length of time is really an issue. It takes me about 8 hours to finish the original Gears of War, for example....but yes, GoW doesn't have 2-3 hours of cutscenes so there is that. On the other hand I've played and finished GoW four times and I am still not 100% sure what the plot was, whereas I will not soon forget the amazing story in The Order. So....YMMV.