A look at Iron Falcon

Iron Falcon comes from Chris Gonnerman of Basic Fantasy fame, but unlike Basic Fantasy which focuses on an extremely OSR-themed rules-lite version of the D20 system, Iron Falcon is a pure retroclone in the finest sense, aimed at a very specific slice of D&D time: that period during which there were three little brown books plus one supplement (Greyhawk). As such it is occupying similar conceptual space to the Swords & Wizardry game, especially the Whitebox edition.

Before I go any further, let me point out that Iron Falcon is free in PDF format right here. As is traditional for the Basic Fantasy Project offerings the book can be purchased in a very inexpensive (at cost) print copy, or a more expensive hard cover. I've ordered the softcover myself....I am not sure I'll use Iron Falcon for actual gaming on its own, but I may use it as a supplement to planned S&W games. But who knows--I could also use Iron Falcon as the core rules and lean on S&W Complete for the "expanded content" of the later supplements.  It's a nice, complete package in and of itself, so a cheap portable copy of a 1975 0E-era retroclone seems rather useful to have around.

Since you can download it for yourself, I'll avoid going into too much detail, but Iron Falcon does distinguish itself from S&W as follows:

It has the four core classes (fighter, magic user, cleric, thief) with the thief from Greyhawk

Paladin is an option in the back appendix

No demons (those didn't appear until later supplements)

Classic saving throws (no "one save to rule them all" as S&W introduced)

Descending Armor Class (meh; I remember a time when descending AC seemed sacrosanct. Those days are loooong gone)

Some rules on trading out ability points to boost prime requisites (not sure if this was in the LBB set or not, memory fails)

Medium and Large size damage expressions for weapons, and optional rules on bringing back the weapon vs. armor type modifiers

Unlike S&W Complete, since Iron Falcon  strictly limits the scope to the 3 LBBs plus Greyhawk, we don't get a lot of optional or variant rules. Initiative, for example, is the group D6 roll option only since other later options appeared in other supplements

What's cool about all of this is that Iron Falcon (much like the core and whitebox editions of S&W) really hammers home how complete the original D&D was, and does a great job of revising and cleaning up the original into a compelling, playable package. It's also got a few advantages, depending on your personal taste: for one, it's written in a very clean, neutral tone....if you prefer a version of 0E that give you the rules without making any assumptions about how to play, this is a great edition for you to look at. It also is very concise....this edition, despite being branded as "not for beginners" by Chris is in fact actually a great starting point for new players (with the caveat that Basic Fantasy is, admittedly, the best starting point).

Downsides include a lack of art....as in no art. Also, since it only covers the first supplement of D&D it is missing the later content. Personally I'm going to hope that Chris follow up with an Iron Falcon sequel that brings the other supplements in to the fold....that would be ideal. But make no mistake...this game is a complete package, and has everything you could possibly want to start gaming like it was 1975. If your not burned out on retroclones yet, you should check it out.

Interview with Sandy Petersen at Yog-Sothoth.com

Check out this really interesting and informative interview (audio) with Sandy Petersen on the Changes and recent problems of Chaosium here. Really interesting listening. I had no idea Chaosium was in the dumps as deep as it was...probably because I didn't back any of their Kickstarters (thankfully! My aversion to paying for hypotheticals is paying off)

Cool Stuff: Random Urban Encounters, Traveller 5, Open Quest 2 Free Edition, Mini-Dungeons for S&W and Blueprint Dungeon Commercial Art Packs

Poking around RPGnow.com can reveal some interesting new and hidden gems. Here's a few I thought I'd share....

Random Urban Encounters

Touted as a 5th edition-compatible supplement and published by Assassin Games, Random Urban Encounters provides 100 short descriptions of possible encounters in a fantasy city. Each description offers a quick paragraph of readable text, a paragraph on what's going on, and some "what if?" type follow-up that can expand on the encounter. It's a really handy little tool and could work for any level of game in a city. The book also includes a weather generator, personality chart for NPCs, tavern name generator and a printer-friendly edition for your table copy. For $2.99 it's a useful little book.

Traveller 5

It's nearly 800 pages now. Some commenters on the page seem to imply its grown since it's formal print release plus CD-ROM copies a few months back. Is that even possible? At $34.95 it's hard to pull the trigger...I'm holding out for a print+PDF option soon, more bang for the buck.

Still....that's a lot of game for a system that I already know can function quite well in about 200 pages in the Mongoose version. Just trying to figure out how T5 got so wildly out of control is vexing me, but the older reviews of its first release are curbing that curiosity a bit. I'll cave eventually.

Open Quest 2 Free Basic Edition

Not only is this free, it's essentially the full game, with an option to print for low cost ($10). If you want a easy-to-learn way to break in to the D100/BRP line of RPGs, this is definitely a viable option. The free version has no art other than the cover (which is a nice rendering from the first OQ book iirc) but some might actually say this makes it better than the full version, which has some subpar full color art (YMMV of course). I may have to pick up a print copy of the free version now.

Mini-Dungeon line of "Dungeons of Dazegoneby" from Creation's Edge Games

There are 8 of these so far, each one a short, sweet and to-the-point mini dungeon for use with S&W. The modules are very basic, and give you all you need for a night's adventuring with brevity....if you have a group like mine you'll find them fine skeletons off of which to dangle lots of extra plot data, since they leave most of that up to you anyway....these are hardcore "here's a quick excuse to dungeon delve, and look there's the entrance" type adventures. Fun stuff. At $1.50 per module the mini-dungeons are hard to resist, and I snagged all of them.

0One's Blueprints Professional Ten Small Dungeons

Each of the aforementioned Mini Dungeons utilizes a single map from 0One Games' "Ten Small Dungeons" line that are available in their commercial art royalty-free "PRO" edition. If you are also a fan of 0One Games then you might like to check out these modules too, as they could work great for personal projects or quick dungeons at the table. 0One also has "Five Dungeons" in the PRO art pack format that are full-page presentations for $10. Note that if you don't want to use them for royalty-free commercial art purposes, there are lower cost $1.95 personal-use versions as well.

D&D 5E Saturday Creature Factory: Silgur Skinmen

Silgur Skinmen

CR 4 (1,100 XP)

CE medium humanoid aberration

Initiative +3

DEFENSE

AC 13

HP 55 (10D8+10)

Immunity: necrotic, poison and poison effects, disease

Vulnerable: radiant

OFFENSE

Speed 30 feet (20 feet in a corpse puppet)

Multiattack the silgur may strike once or twice with its razor claws.

Melee Attack – Razor Claws +7 (reach 5 ft, 1 target), 2D8+3 slashing damage and target must make a DC 15 Constitution check or become paralyzed for 1 minute. The target may make a new save each round to shrug off the paralysis.

Stealth Attack: silgur skinmen are natural stalkers and gain advantage on stealth checks to sneak up on victims unawares in dark or shadowy environments. They add 3D8 damage to strikes against a surprised opponent against whom they have advantage.

Statistics

STR 17 (+3), DEX 16 (+3), CON 12 (+1), INT 8 (-1), WIS 12 (+1), CHA 10 (0)

Languages: common, one other

Senses: superior darkvision, blindsight, Perception +3 (passive 13)

Skills: Stealth +7

TRAITS

Regeneration: Silgur skinmen recover 5 hit points per round. Damage from radiant sources will halt regeneration until the end of the silgur’s next round.

Corpse Puppetry: any small, medium or large target that reaches zero hit points to which the silgur is adjacent may become puppeted by the silgur as an action. This kills the target if it was not already dead, as the silgur will cut a hole into the victim’s corpse and enter with chilling speed, wearing the body almost like a skin. While wearing a “corpse puppet” the silgur can escape casual detection (DC 15 perception check) although those who are aware of the silgur’s presence previously may be suspicious and roll with advantage. If the corpse puppet sustained heavy damage prior to death it might also grant advantage to those observing the puppet’s motions. Silgur skinmen cannot puppeteer a corpse more than an hour or two old, however.

The silgur uses corpse puppets to sustain additional damage; the corpse puppet can sustain 40 points of damage before the silgur takes damage (60 HP for large puppets and 20 HP for small puppets), at which time the corpse falls apart due to the loss of structural hit points. While worn, the silgur can benefit from using any weapons in hand of the corpse puppet, as well as any armored AC due to armor worn by the victim.

Silgur are an ancient race descended from the stars. The stories are that they were a servitor species of an ancient star-traveling realm, used to manipulate test subjects by their vile masters. One day a silgur escaped into the wild, and as its species procreates through the seeding of a corpse puppet host it laid eggs and propogated before it could be caught. Now the silgur are a threat everywhere.

Silgur skinmen get their name from their slender, gaunt appearance. A sligur’s skin is black and leathery with a glistening wet sheen, with sharp silver knife-like fingers. They have no visible eyes, mouths or noses. When the silgur kills a target it rapidly cut an incision in the victim’s back and slides almost effortlessly in to the body, creating disturbing protuberances beneath the skin. The silgur then puppeteers the fresh corpse, its skin somehow manipulating muscle and bone to do it’s bidding.

Silgur can only manipulate a corpse for one to two hours, and as rigor mortis sets in they must leave the body or go into a state of torpor from which they do not awaken until all nutrients in the body have been absorbed, a process that takes nearly as long as the body normally would to decompose. Silgur in this state of torpor usually awaken when they sense the presence of a new viable life form approach within three hundred yards of their location.

Silgur, though intelligent, still behave strangely due to the programming of their lost masters. A silgur, left to its own devices, will seek out victims, slay and puppeteer them, and drop the corpses off in a sort of eerie charnel house as if it is gathering bodys for the research of its lost masters. Despite being able to speak, silgur do not seem capable of deep thought or questioning their own behavior beyond the insatiable need for freedom and the gathering of corpses.

Lost Lands still lost; Frog God cultists need to pray for improved inventory and shipping controls

I was very excited today as my Swords & Wizardry editions of Lost Lands: Stoneheart Valley, Lost City of Barakus and Sword of Air were scheduled to arrive. Alas, only Stoneheart Valley was actually for S&W, the other two were for Pathfinder....also known in this neck of the desert these days as "that thing we played while we waited for  a real D&D to come out."

The Frog Gods are awesome and I have to thank Krista for her work in sorting things out, but they definitely need some organization/inventory management, especially since I bet they have an escalation of sales thanks to all the special offers they are pumping out these days. I'm still waiting for a couple other books from last month (Tome of Horrors Complete for S&W and a print copy of The Tome of Adventure Design) and suspect that someone else may have received them in error. A couple months ago I ended up with a bonus copy of Razor Coast, too....not a cheap book.

Soon now, hopefully, I will have a complete set of The Lost Lands in the S&W format once this shipping error is corrected. I plan on starting a campaign in the grandest old school tradition once it's all actually here....although with Stoneheart Valley I think I have enough to get the ball rolling (plus I always had Tomb of Abysthor, which is part of the book, as one of my favorite D20 era Necromancer Games modules).

The Magic Item Economy in 5E - Why it manages to be mechanistic and filled with verisimilitude at the same time (maybe)

I was reading a thread over at rpg.net about magic item economies. If you know rpg.net then you also know it's sort of the cool place to bash 5E, albeit with a lot less effort and energy than the old edition war days. Some of this is because most of the remaining 4E fans of that edition still linger at rpg.net, and they have some old grudges against the way WotC cavalierly speared their edition through the heart and roasted it over 5E's birthing fire. That said, I had some comments about 5E's magic item economy I thought I'd share here, for fun:

So far in practice, after I got over the initial shock/hump of resetting my perceptions from the magic item economy of Pathfinder and 4E to the 5E methodology, I am extremely content. From a verisimilitude perspective the costs of magic (which are defined in terms of creation, selling and even purchasing albeit with a lot of emphasis on the GM deciding on how inexact the market is) are useful in identifying the fact that gold is also devalued in 5E....or more accurately less gold goes farther, and its an important element of the whole game economy. I say game economy because clearly D&D does not (and never has) done actual mirroring of a fantasy economy very well; it does just enough to make the game playable....but no edition to date will hold up under scrutiny without making a lot of special assumptions (one of which* is very safely that not only are adventurers the only ones who regularly find magic, they may be the only "adventurers" in your campaign to find magic at that moment, too.)

In actual play my players have figured out that any item they seek to make has a cost and a quest attached. This is fodder for future games, but has only been acted on a few times now. They've also figured out that selling a magic item is a bigger deal than just selling regular stuff; they don't just dispose of a magic item of note, they need to find a buyer with the money, and the haggling rules in the DMG facilitate that process. In one game I let players have some say (4E style) on what they found in a loot horde. It was a HUGE mistake as it turns out. 5E does not work well with "player agency" in loot acquisition like 4E did (I'm eyeballing that Staff of the Magi you've got Jeff!!!)

As GM, being able to assert that there is no local magic item economy (except if the players dig hard to find someone locally who might have a lone item or two to sell, or at best a potion or scroll shop run by the local mage's guild) has been not just liberating but shockingly effective at removing what has long been a Big White Elephant in the room for the last 15 years of 3rd edition: the demystification of magic items as a unique treasure, instead being treated as a commodity that you buy and sell like anything else. Now they are rare, valuable, and not something you can just buy....even if you do sell them; and so valuable that just like other exceedingly rare and covetous items in the market today, once you've sold it the chances of getting it back are insidiously hard.

The magic item selling rules on page 130 in the DMG really encourage the thought that the "base price" in the book is a mechanical base price.....that the actual price of magic in value is less than the stated price on average, and only occasionally worth more. I'm no economist (it should be obvious) but to me this helps emphasize that in 5E a little gold goes a lot further than it does in prior editions. It also suggests that if selling magic items is happening a lot in your game (which lower value seems to me is a way to discourage such.....or at least prevent the sale of such from being a means of gaining quick cash) then maybe you're handing them out too often.

Items selling at a devalued worth is contradictory to items being rare and coveted enough that no market exists because they are "too valuable" to those who own them. It implies an entirely different market out there: pawns. I think back to my youth when after my first marriage ended I needed money and went to pawn my wedding ring. It was worth (by sale price) like $1000 but the pawn shop offered me $30. Wake-up call on gold value in jewelry! Maybe the devaluing of magic items comes from the fact that since no one in 5E land knows the average value of such items...or their use....then the sale of such goods is severely devalued? Or just as likely even if they are known to have value, no one actually has much coin (a shockingly realistic moment in D&D coinage and economics, I admit) to buy them with, such that the only sales of such rarities always come from suspicious fellows, noblemen with money to burn and weird wizards who'd rather get you to quest for them anyway?

Imagine if attunement was only possible for characters with a level in a class, or some training? Not in the rules, but it makes sense to me that average merchants and commoners would lack this talent to use such items, rending them mostly ordinary.

Heck, imagine if every time you attuned to an item there was a 5% chance the item lost its power? And that increased by 5% each time it was re-attuned. Not a 5E rule, but it would really clarify why magic item trading and selling was rare.

For that matter: the 3 item attunement limit really does put a crimp on use and need, anyway. Think for a moment what our world would be like if each person was assigned exactly 3 power sockets for their entire life, and power-strips/surge protectors did not exist. We'd save money, that's for sure....and the competition of the market to get you to buy their amazing all-in-one appliance would be great, I imagine.

If you look at the starting equipment at different levels of play (and magic) in a campaign on the DMG, page 38 it's interesting to note that a 17th to 20th level character in a standard campaign has only 2 uncommon magic items and 1 rare magic item. That's pretty stingy by...say...Pathfinder rules. Even with the starting GP it is unlikely that the PC could afford another rare item if the GM allowed the purchase of such. This tells me that in 5E's realms where characters can only attune to 3 items, it is entirely possible that you could adventure for 20 levels and only ever find 2-3 items to attune to....and possibly never even find opportunity to swap out. That's extremely different from 3.5/PF assumptions which had a mechanically forced magic-item churn economy.



*two others would be: clear rules and guidelines on how and when magic items lose their power, and the most important of all: how many magic items are actually out there, and how many actual artificers are there? Set these sliders really high and you have Eberron. Set them really low and you have what I think is standard for 5E now.

Fallout 4

If you haven't seen it yet Fallout 4 has a trailer and is now officially a thing. Needless to say I am excited....Fallout 3 remains my favorite game and experience as PC gaming goes. Consider me officially pumped. Enjoy a view from Dogmeat's perspective.



It apparently takes place in post-nuclear Boston, but I haven't heard where along the Fallout timeline they plan to set it. The last two games took place close to 200 years after the war...sort of hoping this one takes place a bit sooner in the continuity, when things are still more wrecked and disorganized than they are later on.

The Even Dirtier, Simpler Monster Conversion Method for Swords & Wizardry to Dungeons & Dragons 5E (playtest update)

Playtest Update #1: I am revising how to do quick and dirty hit points based on my playtest experiences tonight.

As I was mulling over my recent Swords & Wizardry Complete acquisitions it occurred to me that at its core there is a single on-the-fly method to use S&W stat blocks with minimal or...seriously...almost no "real" conversion at all in D&D 5E. In fact most of the conversion work would be in guesstimating DCs for saves and skill/ability checks; the stat blocks themselves can be used with some simple rules in place for quick on-the-fly numeric conversion. The new method below will work with any 1st edition stat block as well, and I think is a bit cleaner than my prior system for conversion.

Here are my conversion method suggestions so far:

Preamble: before converting something in a S&W Complete tome from Frog God make sure they didn't do it already in Fifth Edition Foes; and remember a significant number of the creatures in Monstrosities are already in the 5E MM.

1. Hit Dice
I've mentioned in a prior conversion that you could figure "5E HPs" by looking at the hit dice of the monster and comparing that to the equivalent CR on the table on page 274 in the 5E DMG; there's a simpler formula that gets a good approximation:

The Dirt Simple Hit Point Method: Roll HD as normal (or figure from an average; usually 4.5) and multiply by 4. This will generate a wider range on the hit dice and avoid uniformity. You should still roll regular hit dice for humanoids (like humans and elves) that normally progress with levels, however. PLAYTEST UPDATE: I didn't like the hit points this way in tonight's game, and have revised this to work as follows: use regular hit dice rolls for level/class based humanoids. Take the hit dice, roll or multiply by the average (4.5) and then multiply by 2 otherwise (shortcut: take HD and multiply by 9). X4 is a lot of hit points...do not use unless you want to challenge the party, or have a lot of high damage dealers in the group.

2. Armor Class:
S&W's armor classes include an ascending scale that is very close to what 5E uses....you rarely see S&W ascending ACs that are higher than what you normally see in 5E. If you're using a non-S&W stat block for conversion, or a module for S&W that uses descending AC, remember the formula: subtract descending AC from 20 for 5E AC.

3. Saves: 
On the saves, I think you could give S&W conversions a bit of oomph and also simplify your math by dividing HD by 3 and rounding down; apply this modifier to any saves the creature makes in lieu of determing attributes. If the creature has a noteworthy stat mentioned in its description, apply a +3 or +4 bonus for that stat's saves only.

4. Attack Rolls: 
There are a few ways to do this, neither is any better than the other, but I settled on the following because it is easiest to do on the fly:

The Dirt Simple Attack Bonus Generator: use the HD as the attack bonus. This may mean the monster is 1-2 points higher on average (or lower) than the option one conversion, but it works just fine and is going to give you a range that will be level appropriate or even superior to other monsters without being out of bounds. Bump this up by +2 if the creature is noted for exceptional strength (or dexterity if ranged or finesse) on specific applicable attacks.

5. Initiative Bonus:
In 5E very few monsters have an initiative modifier beyond Dex. My suggestion is divide HD by 3 (round down) and provide as the init mod/Dex mod. If the creature has a noteworthy Dex, use the mod you settle on instead.

6. Damage:
I have worked out three methods, but personally default to the preferred version:

The Preferred Quick and Dirty On the Fly Damage Conversion: add the hit die number to each damage set rolled. So a 5 HD beast with 3 attacks dealing 1D4/1D6/1D6 (average damage 9.5) now deals 1D4+5/1D6+5/1D6+5 (average damage 24.5). If you want a really tough boss monster then add double the HD to each damage roll.

If you compare the above to our HD determination method, to use the example a 5 HD monster has 90 hit points (average) on conversion....going by the DMG chart on page 274 that means it's average damage expression is around 15-20, so we're higher than the average for defense CR right now, which is just fine, I assure you.

Option 1-The Extra Dice Method: treat hit dice as extra damage dice instead. Add those damage dice evenly as multples to the existing attacks. So in the case above with three attacks dealing 1D4/1D6/1D6 from a 5 HD monster, you have 5 extra damage dice to deal: adding it evenly works out as follows: 2D4/3D6/3D6 (for average damage of 24); you can fudge it to make attack expressions line up properly (in this case we assume the D6 attacks are claws so they'd be equal).

Option 2-The Extra Deadly Straight Multiplier Method: if you want the monster to be a terrifying threat, do this. Just multiply the damage rolled by the hit dice of the monster. It's up to you if you multiply any adds, but strictly by the 5E rules you shouldn't. So a 5HD monster with  1D4/1D6/1D6 expression in this gets a damage average of 47.5....yowza!!!! but it does make the monster hit much tougher.

7. Save DCs
Just use this formula for a good average: 8+HD=Save DC. Maybe give it +2 if it has exceptional ability of note in the stat that fits any spell casting ability. If the creature has more than 10 HD then increase the Save DC by 1 for ever 5 additional HD after that (i.e. HD 11-15 = DC 19; HD 16-20 = DC 20, etc.)

8. Converting Save or Die Effects:
For save or die effects, to convert to 5E I suggest the following: figure the damage type (i.e. necrotic or poison), then change it to a save vs. DC against appropriate stat from step 7 above. Then have the attack deal dice of damage of that type equal to the HD or the monster, using D8 (or higher if it seems appropriate). Problem solved. EX: A 7 hit die creature has save vs. poison or die. Convert this into a Save vs. Con DC 15 or take 7D8 poison damage (or 1/2 on successful save). Convert other effects precisely, but maybe add a save after 1/0th of the time has passed for the effect to shake it off. EX: save vs. paralysis or become paralyzed for 1 hour. Allow a save to recover after 6 minutes. Another example: creature does a paralysis for 1 minute, so let the victim save after 1 round.

A little secret: this is going to be a houserule for my upcoming S&W Complete game; I never liked save-or-die even in the 80's, so all save or die effects in my games will deal damage equal to the hit dice instead.

9. Magic Resistance:
You can use the percentage as-is, or just subsitute the 5E standard magic resistance. I do the latter (easier) but either method is fine. Feel free to beef up resistances and immunities on the creature if it looks like it could use some.

10. Converting "hit only by magic weapons:"
In 5E this is always resistance against normal damage, but silvered/magic weapons bypass.

11. Level Drain
Convert that into 5E's "reduced hit point maximum" rule with Save DCs vs. constitution.

12. Movement: 
Divide by 4 and multiply that result by 10 feet for movement.

13. Everything Else:
When you're done, you might see something that makes less sense in 5E without it. For example, MR is a big deal in S&W Complete, but not as much in 5E....a lot of creatures that used to be highly magic resistant now express that through additional resistance/immunity in 5E, so feel free to beef defenses up if needed.

12. Pulling it All Together: The Cheat Sheet
Here's my "preferred list" cheat sheet for conversion. Print it out and stick it inside Monstrosities and Tome of Horrors Complete....congratulation, you've just doubled (or tripled) your monster options for 5E.

THE QUICK AND DIRTY S&W to 5E CONVERSION CHEAT SHEET:

• Size: medium, unless text suggests a larger or smaller creature.
• Hit Dice: Take HD number and multiply by 9. Roll HD as normal (figure a Con mod) for level/class based humanoids.
• Armor Class: use the ascending AC as is.
• Initiative: divide HD by 3 and round down for init mod/Dex mod.
• Save Modifier: use HD as CR to look up save bonus; for quick conversion divide by 3 and round down.
• Attack Bonus: use the hit die as attack bonus (so 5 HD = +5 attack).
• Damage: add HD as a bonus to damage to each damage roll; for boss monsters double the bonus.
• Save DC: 8+HD=save DC. Add +2 if it's a spell casting monster or boss monster.
• Movement: divide by 4 (round up) and then multiply by 10 feet
• Convert Abilities/Save or Die Effects: use the force to guide you; for save or die deal damage of appropriate type equal to HD in damage of monster (with save for half). Convert MR to 5E, and magic weapon immunity to 5E resistance.
• Challenge Rating: calculate it using the 5E DMG or just make it equal to HD

Here's a link to the Cheat Sheet

Done!

Challenge Rating
Now, calculating the CR....this is obviously easy enough to do with the final conversion averages, using the rules on page 274-277 of the DMG, and good to try out since it will give you an idea of what converted S&W monsters look like in 5E under this method. If you are rushed (doing a conversion on the fly) but use the cheat sheet version above, just look up CR by hit die and call it a day.

Sample Conversions:

Malcarna (from Monstrosities, page 313)
Chaotic Evil large fiend
CR 6 (2,300 XP)
Hit Points: 45
Init Mod: +4
Defenses:
Armor Class: 16 (natural plus shield)
Magic Resistance: rolls advantage on saves vs. magic
Resistance: fire, only magic or silvered weapons do regular damage
Immunity: charming, banishment
Saves: +2 on all saves; +6 Charisma
Attacks: 
Multiattack: 1 tail plus 3 weapon attacks
Tail Attack +5 to hit (reach 10 feet, 1 target) 1D8+5 bludgeoning damage
3 long swords +5 to hit (reach 5 feet, 1 target each) 1D8+5 slashing damage each
Movement: 30 feet
Hideous Beauty: targets must make a Wisdom save DC 13 to even attempt to hit a malcarna. Creatures of level 4 (or HD 4) or less roll at disadvantage to this save.
A hideous four-armed snake-tailed demon reminiscent of the Marilith, a half-demon often born of Marilith and mortal relations. 

Spire Monkey (from Monstrosities, page 456)
Unaligned small beast
CR 1/2 (100 XP)
Hit Points: 18
Init Mod: +0
Defenses:
Armor Class: 12
Saves: +0 on all saves; +4 Dexterity
Attacks: 
Multiattack: 3 claw attacks
claws +2 to hit (reach 5 feet, 1 target each) 1D3+2 slashing damage each
Movement: 40 feet (both normal and climbing speed)
Spire Monkeys are two-headed, six-armed little simians that live on rooftops and trees. 

Xole (Monstrosities, page 520)
Chaotic Evil medium elemental 
CR 6 (2,300 XP)
Hit Points: 91
Init Mod: +2
Defenses:
Armor Class: 17
Immunity: fire, cold
Saves: +2 to all
Attacks:
Multiattack: 2 (weapon and tail)
Stone Mace +7 to hit (5 foot reach, 1 target) 1D10+12 bludgeoning damage
Tail Swipe +7 to hit 10 foot reach, 1 target) 2D6+7 bludgeoning damage
Movement: 30 foot (earth-phasing or regular)
Earth-Phasing: xole move through earth in a semi-incorporeal state. It takes 1 movement action to begin the process, then they move normally.
Evil Elementals: Xole are evil and can be affected by protection from evil.
Elemental Mace: the mace can only be lifted/wielded by elementals of stone and earth.
Xole are similar to salamanders, but native to the plane of elemental earth; 7 foot long humanoid torsoes and 10 foot long tails.

Cinder Ghoul (Tome of Horrors Complete S&W version, Page 270)
Chaotic Evil medium undead
CR 5 (1,800 XP)
Hit Points: 54
Init Mod: +2
Defenses:
Armor Class: 15
Immunity: necrotic, fire, psychic, poison, disease, does not breathe
Saves: +2 to all
Attacks:
Slam +6 to hit  foot reach, 1 target) 1D8+6 necrotic damage plus 1D6+6 fire damage plus target must make a Save DC 14 vs. Constitution or it's hit point maximum is reduced by the necrotic damage dealt and can't be regained until after a successful save at the end of a long rest. If the target is reduced to 0 HP on its maximum it dies (and probably comes back as a cinder ghoul).
Movement: 30 feet flying
This ghost-like monster of ashes and charred body parts is a terror to behold.

(Conversion Note: the ToH stat block doesn't mention fire immunity but...come on, it's gotta have it; the rest are implied for 5E undead immunities)

Greg Stafford and Sandy Peterson return to Chaosium. Names taken, asses kicked apparently

Tenkar scooped this one from a Kickstarter post on the Horror on the Orient Express...which I had no idea was still in a "indeterminate fulfillment" stage but apparently it is (ironic considering I bought a retail big box and have it on my shelf). As always beware the backer. But...well, go over to Tenkar's Tavern and read the excerpt for yourself. Short version:

Greg Stafford is back as CEO and President of Chaosium.

Sandy Peterson is also back.

If you don't know who those two are, go read Designers & Dragons and mentally stick their names next to Arneson and Gygax (and if you don't know who THOSE two are, please resume playing Faraway Land or Mouse Guard or whatever you young scamps do on the computablets)

They are going to finish fulfilling the Horror on the Orient Express backer product that apparently is still log jammed somewhere (I did not know about that)

They are going to look deep into the heart of Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition and....rip it out? I have no idea. It's intriguing to wonder what's up. The 7th edition of CoC has been sitting on site as a PDF for a few months now, but no word on a print release. I guess Chaosium has had some money trouble....not really surprised....

Finally promises of returning to making awesome games. I hope BRP and Magic World remain on that list. Especially MW since I don't think they can extract Runequest 6 from the Design Mechanism. Or....can they? Who owns the RQ licensing again? Hmmmmm.....

Barking Alien's What are you good at? GM Challenge!

Barking Alien posited a list of questions for GMs, and I shall answer the challenge. The questions (and answers for me) are:

What genres, settings or games in general do you GM best? Which do you think totally rock?

Top Five:

Dungeons & Dragons - It sort of goes without saying...

Basic Roleplaying - I don't run this as often as I'd like, but every game is memorable.

GURPS Horror - I've used GURPS for some really strange horror games.

GURPS Space (not often, but always an experience when I do)

DC Heroes (MEGS edition) RPG - may never happen again, but still the best campaign and system I ever ran in the 90's.

Which games could you use work on? That is, if your group wants to play one of these games, you yourself would probably recommend different GM.

Bottom Three:

World of Darkness - I can't abide the core conceit of this universe, and would do it no justice. My version of this universe ends with a stake in the heart or silver bullet of every vampire and lycanthrope.

FATE (any version) - I spent a long time trying to discern how it worked, and when FATE Core came along I finally figured it out and was severely underwhelmed. An RPG for a different breed of gamer.

Hero System - despite owning all of it and being endlessly intrigued the actual process of pulling the trigger on this monstrosity is beyond me. My one attempt to run a Space Hero campaign was thwarted by my players who much preferred GURPS anyway.

What elements of gamemastering do you do best? What aspects do you nail more often than not?

Top Five:

World Building - d'uh.

Descriptive narration - I have been accused of making every orc's death meaningful and every chamber pot interesting.

Player Accomplishment - it's more art than science but I think I've got a generally harmonious balance between "difficulty of the job" and "wow we pulled this off" in my games, such that the players do feel genuinely rewarded when they figure stuff out. This is why I never really understand the core conceit of a system like Gumshoe...it's for GMs who don't know how to get what's needed to the players, basically.

Consistency - I show up 99% of the time every wednesday or try to make sure there is a sub GM if I can't make it. (Less consistent on Saturdays, but gotta slack somewhere!) Honestly, if you like this hobby, the best way to engage with it is to find a spot where you guarantee you will be present and running a game for 4-5 hours a week, every time. People will show, and soon you will have a loyal gang of players who appreciate you.

Agency - I work hard to imbue players with sense of agency and reinforce it. This makes everyone much more invested in the experience.

Which elements are still a work in progress? Name some things that you don't do as well as you like.

Bottom Three:

Keeping the Party Together - I am great at providing incentive for them to split up, terrible at getting them back together. Even when I use death as a motivator.

Wandering Eye - I sometimes get horribly distracted by whatever fancy thing is attracting me at the moment, which takes time away from whatever game I should be prepping for. This blog is almost like a clinical diagnosis of what my wife calls my "gamer ADD."

Love D&D Too Much - I really would like to run more space, horror, zombie apocalypse and planetary romance genre games, but D&D is just too seductive for me to escape. Even when I am feeling burnt out and need a break, I can't escape!