Salutations of the Land Squid 20 Rule Questions

 

As a reference to the Jungle Hexcrawl Rules and Rulings page. In between character creation at campaign start and the first 3 or 4 sessions, we effectively switched from B/X Dungeons & Dragons (Moldvay edition) to Lamentations of the Flame Princess. I suggested the specialist skill handling, and the class was more appealing upon player review.  We used summon for a standing in the Chlendi spirit magic, and switched over completely to eliminate confusion (and because Shawn was tried of fumbling through the layout of BX booklets).

1. Ability scores generation method? 3d6 in order.  Either classic (SIWDCCh) or LotFP (ChCDISW) order.
2. How are death and dying handled? We're not using the LotFP rule, but we should.  So far it's mostly been henchment and hirelings, who have died going below 0.
3. What about raising the dead? It is possilbe, as are most things with powerful enough magic.  Researching the ritual or finding someone who knows are a differen question. 
4. How are replacement PCs handled? Come in at 1st level or promoting of a henchman.
5. Initiative: individual, group, or something else? Group, players win on even ties, foes win on odd ties. Actions must be declare in advance of roll. 
6. Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work? No fumbles.  On natural 20, decide if you want to roll double the damage dice or double the results of a normal roll.  Foes do the latter.
7. Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet? Lack of malicious targeting by the Dungeon Master.  Some helmets will give specific bonuses.  Still not happy with the rules, but most rules prevent the likelihood of characters having awesome mohawks.
8. Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly? Yes, more or less per the rules.  Line of sight and outnumbering are the primary factors.
9. Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything? Yes, flee.
10. Level-draining monsters: yes or no? Yes, but still torn on method: probably drain XP (but not levels) or maximum hit points (but not levels).
11. Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death? Yes, Still trying to find a reasonable mitigation of poison risk beyond luck.
12. How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked? Pretty strictly per the rules for this campaign. Shields do not count as encumbering unless they are tower shields (or similarly large). Buckler, Small, and Normal Shields still count as one item. 5 torches count as one item. 5 days of rations count as one item. 
13. What’s required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time? New spells but be transcribed at no cost.  No training for this campaign, but you must secure the necessary treasure which usual means an informal downtime checkpoint.
14. What do I get experience for? Primarily recovering treasue, with some granted for identified magic items.  Some for defeating foes.  Bonuses for supplementing the game experience through record keeping or work as quartermaster.
15. How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination? Either and both.  Per rules, but good description will provide bonus or eliminate roll.
16. Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?  Yes, highly.  Checks largely by rules - losses in combat, mistreatment or undue risk, failing to provide timely recompense or rest.
17. How do I identify magic items? Magic items must be used (typical for weapons and armor), tested (often for potions, charged items), or otherwise identified (by reading scroll, use of Identify spell, sage, etc) 
18. Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions? Basic healing potions are sometimes (availability roll) available from apothecaries, alchemists and the like, along with out strange drugs and substances.  Scrolls can also be similarly purchased  Other magic items are very rarely available for sale and even then may be forgeries or have functions in inaccurately described.
19. Can I create magic items? When and how? Yes, per LotFP rules.
20. What about splitting the party? Fuck around and find out.

2d6 Religions of Uod for your Doomed Adventurer or Agent

Roll 2d6 to determine your character's belief system:

2. The Mindat Old Gods

3. The Maetah Old Gods

4. Roll on the Cults sub-table below

5. The Chlendi Spirit Host

6. Heteri Gods of Blood, Coal, and Horses

7. That of your lineage - roll again if you’re not sure what that is.

8. Heteri Gods of Blood, Coal, and Horses

9. The Mindat Path of the White Book

10. Thedine, the dutiful lord of the North Sea folk.

11. A heresy of an established religion - roll again to determine the source

12. One of your (character's) own creation.

Cults Sub-table (Roll d8)

1. You make offerings to the large squid in the cave by the port, like all sane sailors.

2. He has no name, but when you snort the orange powder you know his truth.

3. Member of the Sarpha Cult.

4. Mindat Vibrationalist

5. The Way of Flesh

6. Eschlatli Pleasure Cult

7. Local spirit of town, river or forest

8. The Supreme Being, a (1-3 old man, 4-6 old woman, 7 indeterminate gender, 8 childlike neuter) in the hills beyond town

• Some notes to be found here: https://widderslainte.github.io/uod/
• There is a 5% chance that your patron god, saint, or spirit is an extra-planar or dream plane inhabitant masquerading as a your deity.  20% change the masquerader is beneficient and a 50% change that the masquerader sincerely believes itself to be the diety in question.

Welcome to the New Gods

I'm still working out of the specifics of the New Gods.  There were will be some obvious influences, but these should not be directly derivative ("Flesh for the Flesh God").

Thus far, the contenders worth posting:

• The Unknowable Womb of Dreams - Creator of the World Made Flesh and Vine, and fundamental elements of the yet uncreated.
• Master of Writhing Memories - Doomed to wander the paths of the world and steal the thoughts of man to subsist.

The other three are in flux, their elements clear, but waiting a final form (in my brain) to be reborn upon this world.

Rumors from Yrem

1. Xagnus the Animated still roams Yrem as a ghost. He seeks his lost bride.
2. Frog people to the south know a secret way into the city crypts.
3. The Statue at the City centre holds a magic sword.
4. Gebelt the Merchant Price will pay handsomely for certain styles of art.
5. The Temple of Utan is unapproachable by Demons and still has most of its loot.
6. At midsun, captured slaves from the surrounding villages are sacrificed in Executioner's Square.
7. Avoid the pit.  I don't know why, but everyone says so.
8. A dragon sleeps trapped beneath the library, having forgotten how to change to human form.
9. Many have entered the dungeons beneath the Count's Palace.  No-one ever comes back.
10. A Sphere of Eyes has blasted a cave beneath the Gardens.  He will trade secrets for good books.
11. The Eastern Warlords are hiring.
12. The drunken priest of Lob over at the cutthroat camp will cast blessings if you pay his tab.
13. The Countess' troops hold the river gate. They shoot questionable folk on sight.
14. The Black Pit isn't pleasant or cheap, but you can sleep safely there.  That cutthroat camp on the other hand...
15. A refugee family wanders the rich quarter.  They were born before the demons came.
16. "I saw a smithy with fine swords and axes north of the market square.  Flying things came before I could pick the lock."
17. The wizard in camp has been in the clock tower.  He says there are riches, but refuses to go back.
18. "I saw white skinned folk beneath the cemetary.  I mean *white*. They asked about shiny glowing rocks.  They seemed nice."
19. One of the Eastern Warlords has brought in a renowned sage from his homeland.  On the sage's a direction, the warlord's forces are making a push to reach and stabilize the area around the Great Library.
20. A wizard in the Black Pit encampment sells Potions of Healing.  They taste like cow's milk.
21. Watch out for the area around the Clock Tower.  A group of explorers were found there, turned to stone, one of them clutching a crown in his hand.
22. The Mind Lords manipulate the leaders of the New Expeditionary Guild.  Do not trust them. Don't know about the Mind Lords?  You don't want to.
23. A master of the undead lives near the middle bridge.  At midnight, will trade in peace with others upon the bridge.  Do not approach him at other times.
24. The Countess is curious about Chlendi spirits and will pay good money for any knowledge of their summoning.
25. A Mindat scholar camps alone north of the city.  He can remove curses and hexes, but his fee is steep.
26. The Eastern Warlords have marked cleared buildings with a red "X".  No treasure will be found within, but they are usually safe places to hid.
27. Fresh "workers" are coming to the brothel tents next moon.
28. A pack of Hill People have taken over the Market Square, but have a truce with priests of Utan.
29. City Hall has yet to be looted and many wealthy took refuge there in their last days.
30. When the full moon rises over Yrem banishings and protective magics will always fail you.

The Start of a new Sandbox: The City of Yrem

I'm starting a new sandbox game, using a draft form of the Tactical Situation Rules. The setting I'm making up as we go along. Rather than a megadungeon, the tent-pole is a ruined city, cribbed from many sources:

The city of Yrem sits on the border of the Great Northern Empire's Stillmarsh province, upon a rocky ridge amongst the swampy forest that dominates the region. Generic fantasy history, blah blah blah.

Long a favorite of scholars for it's isolation and quiet, it gradually grew as a hub for experimentation and research by the Imperial Guild of Magicians. Unbeknownst to most of the guild, a faction under the control of Xagnus the Animated had begun capturing demons in ritual vaults beneath the city. During a heated argument with his assistant Ambrosia, one of the demons was freed, who in turned freed the rest. Chaos and slaughter ensued.

As his final act at the cost of his life, Xagnus funneled his power and soul into a magical stasis field containing the demons and city within.

Last winter - 500 years after it's creation - the stasis field fell. With the spring thaw, imps and winged beasts harassed nearby villages and towns. Factions from across the provinces (and beyond) began exploration of the city's edge.