Random Dungeon, Room 6

Another large chamber roughly 20 ft wide but 40 ft long. The ceiling in the southern half of the room looks as if it partially collapsed, as several feet of rock are shattered on the ground and the ceiling extends about 5 ft higher.

Hiding in the rubble is a giant snake (50% chance for either a constrictor or poisonous snake). If not discovered it will strike with surprise.

Snake, Giant (L) – AC 5[15]; HD 3; Att bite (1d4) + special; Save 14; Morale 6; MR Nil; Special constriction (2d6) or average poison; Move 90 ft (30 ft); TC A; CL/XP 4 / 120

Random Dungeon, Room 5

This plain stone chamber appears to be empty, near the center of the room some dark stains and a skull rest on the floor.

Running about 1 inch high along the east and west sides of the room are iron bands. They stick up from the floor and against the walls. When at least 2 man-size creatures move along the same wall, the entire floor tilts, dropping them into a 15 ft pit. The entire floor rests on a central stone beam (like a see-saw) that runs east/west and is counterweighted to spin two full rotations. On the second spin anyone in the pit of man-size or larger must successfully make a Dodge saving throw or be decapitated by the sharp iron edge of the floor. The rotation of the floor and the edge carry the head back up and the sudden stop usually bounces the head off the wall and rolls it in the general vicinity of the room’s center. There are 5 bodies of adventurers (long dead fighting-men, nothing usable) and 3 giant badgers (more fresh but rotting). One adventurer is decapitated.

Random Dungeon, Room 4

A large stone chamber roughly 20 ft long and wide houses several large nests, of which are several large badgers the size of a man.

2 Badgers, Giant (M) – AC 4[16]; HD 3; Att 2 claws (1d3) + bite (1d6); Save 14; Morale 7; MR Nil; Special Nil; Move 60 ft (20 ft); TC A; CL/XP 3 / 60

Random Dungeon, Room 3

Camped in this stone room are 3 small creatures, barely 2 ft tall. They look as if they haven’t eaten a decent meal in weeks, their light grey skin pulled taught over their thin frames. Several bones and scraps of leather litter the room, but nothing appears intact. Several alcoves line one side of the room as well, their contents hidden by the darkness. The gremlins here have been starving for a good meal for a long time. The scraps of what’s left of their last meal has nothing of use or value. The alcoves are lined with statues of dwarven warriors, with the exception of location B; in this alcove is a dwarven magic-user whose hands are held out as if he were reading a scroll, but none is present. Each of the statues were previously living adventurers turned to stone long ago, then sold off to collectors. How they ended up here is anyone’s guess.

3 Gremlins (S) – AC 7[13]; HD 1d3 hp; Att 1 claw (1) and devour food; Save 18; Morale 6; MR 20%; Special bad luck aura, devour food, DR 1/arc wood; Move 120 ft (40 ft); TC B; CL/XP B / 10



Random Dungeon, Room 2

2 - Heading Things Off Quick: The door to this room is locked with an easy lock. The room is lined with plain, upright stone coffins, all of which are opened. Inside are the dried husks of dead warriors, their ancient weapons and armor corroded beyond repair. The bodies themselves are unremarkable, but if anyone in the party inspects any of them closely without touching them, it will be noticed that the heads were cut cleanly from the bodies and set back on the neck stumps. If the bodies are touched or moved, the heads will roll off the bodies and attack! One of the bodies is concealing a wand of floating disc (39 charges, caster level 5).

12 Crawling Horrors, Head (S) – AC 6[14]; HD 1d6 hp each; Att bite (1d4); Save 18; Morale Nil; MR Nil; Special turn as skeleton, undead immunities; Move 60 ft (20 ft); TC A; CL/XP B / 10 each

Random Dungeon

Since the end of the X4 game (which was awesome if I say so myself), I've changed jobs and my regular tabletop game has been forced on hiatus. I still have a play by post and  late night messenger game going, but these are more like situational sessions than campaigns. Anyway, I figured it would be neat to create a Random Dungeon using the tables for encounters/contents in the Expanded Core Rules every day or so to do up a short description of a room and its contents. Use it if you want or just steal a thing here or there for your own Onn/OD&D/S&W or B/X D&D games. As a new project, we'll start with a 1st level-type difficulty. Heres a larger size map, cause i know its tinyish over on the right.


Consider the squares to be 10 ft with a height of 10 ft, doors to be old iron-banded wood (not quite rotten yet), unless otherwise noted and no light.

Since Area 1 is the entry area, there are no encounters, treasure or traps (let the players feel a little safe before the carnage begins). The worn, winding stone stairs lead to a rough-hewn room about 30 ft square. The dank and musty air feels oppresive and the flickering light creates menacing shadows across the walls. From the base of the stairs you can see passages leading north and south from the far corners of the room.

Tunnel Horror

Inhabiting the dark places under the earth, tunnel horrors are large, bug-like terrors best avoided by those that know of their existance. Tunnel horrors are beetle-like creatures that walk upright on four thick legs, their other four legs ending in wickedly sharp and strong pick-like claws. They can feel the vibrations of creatures moving on stone (a type of tremor-sense) within 200 ft. Tunnel horrors have the a fanged maw as well and a single, compound eye on their heads. Their eye glows with a soft limunescence and at a distance can be mistaken for a faint lantern. In combat, those looking at the eye (25% chance per round unless the attacker is avoiding looking at the monster's upper half, suffering a -2 penalty on 'to hit' rolls) suffer the same effects as a confusion spell for 1d3 rounds, plus the difference of the failed saving throw. They can burrow through solid rock at the rate of 10 ft per round. A favorite tactic of tunnel horrors is to wait behind a wall of rock a few feet thick and then burst through when the feel something approach the other side, gaining a +1 suprise bonus.

Tunnel Horror (L)
Armor Class:	2[18]
Hit Dice:	8
Attacks:	4 claws (1d6) + bite (1d8)
Saving Throw:	8
Morale:	8
Magic Resistance:	Nil
Special:	burrow, confusion
Move:	90ft(30ft) / 30ft(10ft) burrow
Challenge Level/XP:	10 / 1,400

Merry Christmas Delays

Well another Christmas deadline, another year missed...Happy Holidays to everyone from Rogue Ranger Games and the World of Onn! I actually started a new job on December 20th and on the weekend of the 18th and 19th found a huge layout problem that affected all the projects I've been working on. With the Holidays here though no work will get done until after the 1st of the New Year, but even though with a delay, in the end a better book will be done!

Thank you all who continue to support Onn with your emails! May your stockings be full and your Holiday be felled with the love of Family and Friends!

James

State of Affairs

Things are coming to a close now for work on the Onn Player's Guide, Onn Referee's Guide and Onn Supplement II for Swords & Wizardry. It's taken way longer than anticipated with several RL interruptions to my gaming and work on the projects. Suffice to say, I hope for those of you that find the material useful and interesting to your tables, these new items retain those qualities.

I still have a few things to iron out among the playtests of changes that have been made, but I'm shooting for at least a week before Christmas.

Keep watching for further news!

James

Hit Dice Beyond Name Level

Ok, so with damage scaling uncapped by most spells (as it should be), eventually you get to a point where even saving for half will decimate characters and kills them. I've been thinking about something Bart (a good friend in one group I played with in the past), made a suggestion that a character should continue to get new HD, but a slower progression. Instead of gaining a fixed number of HP at levels beyond Name Level, the character would have levels where no HD or HP are gained, but then gain an additional HD (adjusted by Constitution).

This is twofold in nature by not just allowing Constitution to play a factor in the acquisition of HP of the early levels and to continue to be a factor for the character throughout his career, but something else as well. HD is also used to determine when characters and monsters become immune to the effects of certain spells and effects and not their level. This would mesh well (in theory) with that, especially in the case of higher level magic. I've been turning this over in my head and came up with this (extremely untested):

Optional HD at Higher Levels

Level	Cleric	Fighting-man	Magic-user
8	8d6	8d8	8d4
9	-	9d8	9d4
10	-	-	10d4
11	9d6	10d8	11d4
12	-	-	-
13	-	11d8	-
14	10d6	-	12d4
15	-	12d8	-
16	-	-	-
17	11d6	13d8	13d4
18	-	-	-
19	-	14d8	-
20	12d6	-	14d4

New Forum

I repurposed my old NWN forum for the World of Onn and S&W game discussion. If anyone is interested, the forum can be found here: http://rifthaven.19.forumer.com/index.php the main reason being its easier to deal with any opinions, questions, or whatevers in a forum setting where everyone can see and respond  instead of 15 emails floating around at various times.

I still plan on keeping the blog moving along, posting more as the workload of the 3 books winds down.

Thanks all, for your continued support!
James

Vendee's Missile Magnifier

Vendee's Missile Magnifier
Spell Level: Magic-user, 2nd Level
Range: Touch
Duration: 48 turns (8 hours)

The caster may 'magnify' up to 20 pieces of ammunition per 4 caster levels, lasting until the missiles are fired or the duration expires (whichever occurs first). Missiles affected by this spell inflict 50% more damage on a successful hit. Magnified missiles are considered +1 per 4 caster levels (maximum of +3) for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction as well.

The Asarlai (Character Race)

ASARLAI

Long ago the Asarlai were human, before the Fire in the Sky decimated Onn. After the devastation some monsters, such as lycanthropes, thrived in the aftermath due to their resistance to physical damage and the sudden rarity of humans and other races wielding magic and weapons that could harm them. Of the few Humans on the continent of Karsin that survived the cataclysm, lycanthropes hunted them down mercilessly and left none alive or unchanged when they were found. In the millennia since when human explorers from Var-Ultar landed on Karsin’s shores they found cities of men with an advanced society under the banner of a nation called Asarlai. To these new visitors the Asarlai were just another race of Men, but in a relatively short time it was revealed that the Asarlai were the descendants of the lycanthropes that ravaged Karsin. Their ability of a full animal transformation had been long lost through the centuries as the bloodlines intermingled, but they retained an animalistic quality and could perform a minor transformation to bring the traits of their ancestral animal line out. Rumors speak of Clerics of Dalamon that retain their ability to fully become animal still, but they are unproven to the world at large.

Most Asarlai worship Dalamon Wolf-Mage, an ancient hero, as their race’s savior from the Bloodline Wars. When the lycanthropes noticed the ancestors of humans-turned-lycanthrope from after the cataclysm were losing their ability to transform, many decided to purge those weaker elements from existence. Due to the hero Dalamon’s leadership and personal efforts (as the Asarlai historians record it), the lycanthropes were nearly annihilated and the Asarlai settled into an advanced nation who now trade briskly with the Empire of Ankh-tor and are only beginning to set their sights on trade with the ports on Ossus’ shores.

A character must have at least a 9 Constitution to be an Asarlai.

Favored Class: Asarlai have unlimited advancement in the Druid and Ranger classes.

Damage Reduction: Due to their lycanthropic heritage, Asarlai have Damage Reduction 0+ Constitution adjustment (minimum of 0) / silver.

Nightvision: Asarlai can see up to twice the distance as a man in low-light or torch/lantern-lit conditions.

Animal-like Senses: Asarlai have a keen sense of smell and hearing. They gain a +2 bonus to any rolls to detect creatures or objects by their scent and when listening for noises.

Animal Form: Asarlai are descended from a type of lycanthrope and can take on the physical qualities of their ancestor animal for a short time (1 turn + Constitution adjustment). At the end of the transformation the character is treated as if exhausted. When the character is created the player selects one of the animals from the list below and when he transforms he takes on a humanoid form with his ancestor animal traits.

• Bat - The descendants of were-bats can glide short distances (20 ft) as part of their movement and gain echolocation 60 ft (the ability to sense their surroundings through ultra-high frequency sounds).

• Bear - The descendants of were-bears gain a bite attack (1d6+Strength adjustment) and a +2 bonus to any climbing checks.

• Cat - The descendants of were-cats gain two claw attacks (1d3+ Strength adjustment) and can leap 20 ft once per 5 rounds if unencumbered.

• Rat - The descendants of were-rats gain a bite attack (1d3+ Strength adjustment) and 2 claw attacks (1d2+Strength adjustment).

• Shark - The descendants of were-sharks gain a bite attack (1d6 + Strength adjustment) and a +2 bonus to any swimming skill checks.

• Wolf - The descendants of were-wolves gain a bite attack (1d4+ Strength adjustment) and a -1 bonus to initiative checks.

Languages: Asarlai speak common.

World of Onn: Core Rules Player's Guide

A quick rundown of the contents of the Player's Guide for those interested:

• Ability Scores: Generation and tables for all 6 abilities for scores of 1-25 (keeping in line with AD&D's maximum scores), also included bonus spells table here now.
• Races: Men, Asarlai, Dwarves, Elves, Endu, Forged Men, Giantkin, Gnomes, Gnolls, Halfling, Tigrans, Trollkin
• Classes: Priests (Clerics, Druids, Shao Disciples), Warriors (Fighting-men, Barbarians, Divine Champions, Rangers, Spellblades) and Wizards (Magic-users, Bards, Illusionists)
• Equipment: Lots of goodies here, some new things as well.
• Sections on Playing the Game, Hirelings, Initiative and Combat
• Spells for Clerics, Druids, Illusionists (1st - 7th level) and Magic-users (1st - 9th level) including even more new spells from the original Onn campaigns.
• An Atlas section containing common knowledge descriptions for player characters about the major places and kingdoms of Onn.
• Several Appendices with further useful information for players.

There's alot in there. I'm shooting for 150 pages (9pt, single-spaced, single-column). I didn't forget about the Asarlai description for the blog either, just haven't gotten around to it yet!

Onn Updates

Even though the blog has been slow there's alot going on for Rogue Ranger Games. I've been furiously chewing through the editing for the Core Rules Player's Guide, Core Rules Referee's Guide and Supplement II like there's no tomorrow. Some of new art is coming in from Kimberly now and the playtests that are going on are going very well. While it may seem like things are moving slowly (and in a sense they are, working 3 books at once isn't an easy task combined with family and work), they are happening.

Carrion Worms

Now of course you can't have a low level game without familiar catepillar-like, tentacle ringed mouth monsters that climbs walls and eats whole parties at once. For the World of Onn, an old favorite, with a slightly new take.

CARRION WORM

These odd creatures resemble a 10 ft long armored and segmented caterpillar. On the monster’s head are two large black eyes and a beak surrounded by six long tentacles. Carrion worms inhabit deep places and popular ruins, places where animals and people die frequently so they can feed off of the corpses. A carrion worm has no qualms about killing for its meal either and will attack groups of smaller creatures in the hopes of securing something to take to a safe place and let ripen for feasting on at a later date. In combat the carrion worm lashes out with its tentacles. The tentacles are covered in a slimy substance that causes paralysis to those creatures struck (Toughness saving throw negates), so they are rightly feared by those that know of them as well. Sages suggest these creatures were once one of the experiments of the ancient Zuhn Empire in their magical laboratories.

Carrion Worm (L) – AC 5[14]; HD 4; Att 6 tentacles (1 hit point + paralysis); Save 13; Morale 7; MR Nil; Special causes paralysis; Move 120 ft (40 ft); TC A; CL/XP 6 / 400

The Desert Nomads Campaign Info

I'm running the 'Desert Nomad Series' Modules X4 and X5 for my Thursday night World of Onn RPG group. I think I'll start to post the old module covers when we start a new module so the beginning of any campaign has an immediate reference for you, the readers. Please feel free to post or email any questions about how anything has been handled or how I may work something 'behind the screen' and I'll be happy to share. Thus far, the World of Onn ruleset has been a perfect mesh for the D&D modules and module bits I've run over the last year. This is the first (hopefully of many) full module series I plan to run for my group. Thus far the module has run stock and as-is with no changes needed by me to smooth any rule inconsistencies or monster issues. I did change the NPC that kick starts the adventure series, making him a Magic-user since the group didn't need another Cleric. The core group consists of:

Cortain - a male elven Spellblade, level 10
Val - a male gnoll Ranger, level 10
Steel - a forged man Fighting-man, level 10
Yurur - a male dwarven Cleric of Gromlun, level 12
Richard (NPC) - a male human Magic-user 11

Core Rules, 2nd Print Update

Time and the evolution of the game is changing my view on how the Core Rules are best presented. While I am still so into the Cook/Moldvay/Marsh idea of the successive sets and their cover-within-a-cover scheme for each successive set, I've had to drop that in favor of putting all of the player's infomation into one book and the Referee's information into another. The upside is that individually each book is going to be geared towards what information is needed by each to play and now I can cram more things into them both without bleed-over of information.

This also means that there will be no 'Companion' volume either (at least where the rules are concerned). The Core Player's Guide and Core Referee's Guide will have the information for levels 1-25 for both Referees and players, including higher level spells. Also included is the Barbarian class that was slated for the Companion and a new player character race, the Asarlai, more Fighting-man Combat Options more monsters, magic items and Referee advice and guidelines for running their games.

Stay Tuned for more exact details!

Desert Nomads, Session 3

Session 3 begins with a short rewrite of history. At then end of Session 2 someone was found resting in the center of the strange hut. The younger nephew of one player joined our gaming group, so in the interests of getting him into the game, his PC was found as well, making two people found in the hut instead of one.

Once introductions were made, the Forged Man offered the name Steel and the human man that was resting nearby called himself Delf, both sides exchanged stories of what had befallen them since being trapped in this strange area of the swamp. Steel and Delf had been trapped a number of weeks (by Steel's reckoning) with no other living things to be seen. Cortain, even utilizing his Elven senses, couldn't discern a way out and several ideas for traveling in various directions from the hut back into the swamp always brought the person back to the hut's clearing. At one point Steel threw a rope and grapple into the thick swamp thicket surrounding the clearing and tugged on it until it caught something, then followed the line into the swamp...only to reappear from the same place he passed into the scrub following his rope line. The spellcasters consulted one another and it was decided that several spells would be needed on the morrow that the casters didn't have currently memorized.

Using the hut as shelter, the night passed by uneventfully. Everyone in the party had more nightmares, especially Yurur who suffered them before coming into this place. Once the bleak light of morning arrived, the group prepared themselves, but noticed Richard studying his spell book longer than usual. On closer inspection, he was found sitting quietly and still breathing, but his eyes were vacant and he was unresponsive...as if his mind were gone. This spurred the group to some immediate action. They gathered Richard, with Cortain ensuring none of the others damaged Richard’s spell book, and exited the hut.

Yurur called upon his deity Gromlun to show him the source of the evil in this place and the hut and a pool of muck beneath it gave him an unsettling response. Short discussion followed that ended with Cortain destroying the hut and muck pool with a fireball, sending bits of flaming wood and muck everywhere.

A party member tried to leave again, ending back at the clearing again. Still sensing a dark presence at the hut's former location, Yurur called upon Gromlun to dispel the dark presence. Yurur's holy symbol flared to life with a golden pulse and immediately everyone heard a bitter feminime voice in their heads telling them to go. Quickly the party beat feet out of the clearing, with Richard coming to whilst riding on he shoulder of a party member and wondering what was going on.

The party exited the clearing exactly where they left the trail, days ago. Standing there was the coward guide, asking then what they found. It was ascertained that no time had passed in he world outside the hut's influence and they pushed onwards north through the swamp.

With a day of hard travel and the light fading, they only found one mound of dry ground large enough for everyone to camp overnight upon. Camp was quickly established and watches set up.

Early in the morning in the pre-dawn light a large and powerful-looking swamp dragon landed from out of nowhere and in an aggressive stance immediately breathed a cloud of corrosive gas on the group, critically wounding many of them and killing the cowardly guide. Combat was joined and the creature fought ferociously, taking down Yurur's crystal golem protector and nearly killing Val (the group's only surviving Ranger). Cortain attempted several spells at the dragon, but the creature proved highly resistant to his spells. It was grievously wounded however and few off, taking some arrow fire as it left.

One of the group's members discovered the dragon's aggressive actions almost immediately after they were sure it wasn't flying around for another attack - there were large-sized rocks poking out of the soft dirt...rocks that were not rocks, but instead dragon eggs! Unwittingly, they must have stumbled over the dragon's egg nest. A very quick discussion over dragon mounts like the heroes of legend or the going rate for dragon eggs in any market was made then ended. A few minutes later, a female elf with emerald green eyes dressed in greenish-scaled armor trudged out of the swamp, hailing the group. Cortain, an elf himself realized she was no elf but more than likely the dragon in humanoid form, stepped up to parley with the newcomer. She proved to be not unfriendly but at the same time Cortain recognized the danger they were in, as she was standing before them in a presumably weaker form than her natural one and openly. Cortain managed to talk her into letting them go unmolested in exchange for not harming or removing any of her eggs. She agreed and gave them an hour to vacate or she would take action. Yurur healed everyone as best he could and Cortain produced a scroll he had been saving for he right time. He offered to Yurur to use it to restore the golem enough so that it could be healed and the group could move on. Yurur thanked him for the boon and Cortain, much to the surprise and dismay of Richard, used his scroll of limited wish to bring the golem back to functioning so they could be on the move.

Hard travel to put as much distance between the egg mound and themselves gradually brought them out of the swamp and into the stony badlands of the Great Waste. By the late afternoon they arrived at the caravan track and set up camp to deal with the hot sun and wait for Richard's caravan. Late in the day it arrived and after a meet and greet, the group got hired on as guards as the caravan made its way west across the Waste.

A couple days of plodding travel into the Waste the group found themselves on outrider duty with Val in the lead. On the horizon a dust cloud was kicking up, with Val shouting for everyone to get back to the caravan - he determined a large force was charging across the badlands and figured it was better safe to assume bandits or the Master's followers than friendly forces.

The caravan master's captain ordered the guards into formations to combat the incoming bandits. A few minutes later the bandits came in a well-organized attack, dividing its forces so that every formation of guards would have 2 waves to deal with. Val, Steel, Delf, Cortain and Yurur's Golem made a good showing, almost killing a bandit to every hit. The battle was long fought with the eventual killing of the bandit leader after he produced a horn that magically blasted Richard and several of the pack animals and driving off of the remaining bandit forces, but more than half the guards were slain as well as some of the animals. Yurur used the blessings of Gromlun to heal who he could and the rest of the wounded were patched as best as possible.

Session 3 ended here...

Divine Arcana

Divine Arcana
Spell Level: Cleric, 7th Level
Range: Self
Duration: 6 turns

When cast, the Cleric gains understanding in how to activate the functions of magical items restricted to arcane spellcasters of all classes. This allows the Cleric to cast arcane spells of 1st through 3rd level from scrolls and to be able activate and make the use of magic items normally restricted to the arcane classes.