Four Types of Old Magick

    Those who call to the stars above and look to the bones of the damned do not deal with runes. No, their magic cuts closer to the lifeblood of reality itself. These are the forces they invoke, and the magicks they wield. It is wild and strange and powerful, so pursue with caution. Each description is accompanied by 3 limited-use blessings. How they are granted, and the ramifications of their effects, are entirely up to you, but be warned, they may change your games and worlds forever.

Raven: They are the cries in the woods, mimicking the beasts and children. Icy black wings flutter as they soar in the warm night, flying as one. Their magic is of the beast, and of the night, and of darkness.

    Wings of Murder. Blades of the night sprout from your back. You can fly, and become invisible in darkness. In addition, your wings are sharp, and anyone killed by them will never come back by any means. However, you have attracted the ire of the winged folk, who will always cry out upon sensing your presence, and attack you if they feel good about their chances, which is rare.

    Forest Eyes. The beasts and plants bend to your will. You can command them to do whatever you so please, and can see out of their eyes at will, but every time you do this, your lifespan grows shorter and shorter.

    Crow´s Eye. You can see five seconds into the future. If you act on what you see, the timeline can change. Be warned, some events are fixed in time, and reality will lash out against attempts to interfere.

Ash: The lightning, the thunder, the forest fire, the storm, the flood. All of nature's primal fury. It all will begin in dust, and end in dust. This is the way it has been, and the way it will be.

    Holocaust. You can touch a spot and specify a time up to a year in the future. At that time, a bolt of divine fury will strike, and a wall of fire will burn outwards until it is stopped naturally or until it consumes a creature with a pure heart. This power has been rumored to consume worlds if not carefully contained.

    From Dust. Once, touch the remains of a creature. They will return immediately at full strength, against any odds or conditions, even the will of gods. Once you do so, your strength is sapped as long as they remain alive.

    Storm´s Avatar. Your blood is the wind, and your tears are the rain. You control the weather anywhere in the world at any time. In addition, if you die from unnatural means, the world is plunged into an eternal storm until your body is ritually consecrated.

Moon: The rays of darkened light from the Observer shine on the whispers in shadows. The Observer's grace is only rivaled by her cold majesty. Those who wear her crown are her penumbra, and walk the line between day and night, life and death.

    Lunar Crown. The Observer blesses you with a headpiece of polished moon rocks. It is unconsciously recognized as a symbol of great authority by all who behold it, even if they may not know what it is. Over time, it calcifies over more of your body, making you more majestic and better armored. Eventually, however, you will be trapped in a shell of calcified moon rock.

    Meteor. Once, you can call down a meteor. Its destruction is total, and it will carry with it vestiges of the stars above. When you do so, you ascend to the stars as an act of celestial balance, lost forever wandering the constellations and planets above.

    Hard Light. You can project this nimbus of astral light. Anyone entering the light´s path must choose to either retreat or be burned by this luminous halo. You can choose to negate this effect. Alternatively, there is an alternate version of this incantation that projects an aura that bolsters willpower and vitality within the nimbus.

Glass: Fractals carved in crystal, frozen doorways to other places and other times. A shimmering liquid light, colors pouring out like fish from a transparent stream. Their magic is is the mirror and the window and the door and the blade and the hourglass.

    Turn the Clock. Once, you can travel to any point in time. Anyone near you comes with you. You get approximately to where you need to go, and your travelling companions get approximately close to where you land. More precision may be possible with much planning and ritualistic study.

    Occulus. Your eyes are replaced with multifaceted crystals that can pierce illusions, lies, and facades. Eventually, you will go blind as you being to see through even what is real.

    Door to the Desert. You can open a shimmering gateway in the air to a vast desert, littered with portals. The portals lead anywhere and anywhen, but never go to exactly where you need or want them to. Once you step into the desert, the portal closes forever.

--

Here are some strange factions to introduce these magics into your world. Not much is known about them, and all reports and documentation of them are tinged by rumormongering and xenophobia. What mysteries of their mystic lore will be plumbed, and what revelations about the universe do they quietly safeguard?

The Heretics of the Wood dwell in the endless Vipernoss, its golden leaves cloaking their rituals and prayers. They venerate the creatures of the sky, looking upwards for their wisdom. They read omens in the clouds and the stars and the flights of the birds, and their idols are twisted and mutated animals stitched from the hides of the hunted.

The Blasphemers of the Sacrosanct Peak occupy a great mountain on the Xorshed Alps. They dwell the caverns and caves that riddle the slopes of the mountain they call the Progenitor. They delve into the earth below for their blessings, and eat the gems from their mines as a form of worship. They believe that if they delve deep enough, they will find the Sun Below, and it will grant them all their heart´s desires.

The Driftwood Papacy is a shadowy organization, dwelling entirely on the Arabus Ocean. No explorer has made it to their (rumored) fortress of floating flotsam and explored the greatest temple of their waterlogged faith, but it is said that a demigod lies slumbering in the lowest chamber, their waterlogged tomb lying at the convergence of many leylines.

Thanks for reading, and happy gaming.

HATS

I needed a creative jolt, the Oblidikjsdftch delivers a prompt unto me. "Hats". This post is d10 hats, in response to SteppedOnAd4's challenge.

1 The Fish of the Bowling Bear. This is a large, taxidermied carp attached to a leather cap, in a faux sort of flopping motion. It is given as a prize to the person who manages to stomach the most Fire Eel, a drink of flaming Dwarvish ale with a live eel in it, within an evening. The Fire Eel is sold exclusively at the Bowling Bear tavern, and is currently held by Bjorkstel Untergaardt, the barkeeper and resident mixologist of the Bear.

2 Psychic Cap. This cap uses illusion magic to look like whatever sort of headgear any onlooker would find most impressive or fearsome, whatever that might be.

3 Coward's Beanie. This was some Elvish artificer's Sophomore year final, and they got a D+ on it. While wearing this bloodstained beanie, if you pull it over your eyes, you become invisible, but inexplicably emit a high-pitched whining sound. In addition, you can rip in in half to tear open a portal to the Astral Plane that sucks everything around it inside. Generally regarded to be a useless piece of garbage, which is code for ripe for adventurin'.

4 Skull-Crown of the Corpse Warlord. While wearing this rotten mass of spongy and mold-infested bone, you can roll CHA to command any mindless undead creature you can see. Once you have 10 commanded undead in your retinue at once, your skin begins to slough away. When you get to 15 at once, you become the new avatar of the Corpse Warlord, reborn in malice.

5 Helmet of Orb Attraction. This large, crystalline mass, covered in multifaceted spheres carved from magical gems, really puts a strain on the neck. When the conspicuously large switch on the back is flipped, it acts as a magnet to any and all orbs (smaller than an astrological scale) near you. If it can't be pulled to you, you are pulled to it. Once you put it on, you are cursed so that you cannot take it off.

6 Fez. This strange hat makes the user immune to aging and withering effects, and can be used once to travel to any other point in time, at which point it is destroyed. Once, it belonged to the Medic of Many Faces, but was since lost after his fall at the Battle of Trenzalore. (Sorry, had to.)

7 Twiggsley's Crown. Twigglsey is an archdruid from a far away woods. They are also a vulture. This mighty holy artifact, to the untrained eye, looks like an unkempt and empty bird's nest. Druids and priests of the old gods pay pilgrimages to visit this mobile shrine. Wear it and keep it safe for long enough and Twiggsley will lay an egg in it...

8 The Slime Helm. At first it looks like a globby, gelatinous mass on someone's head, but upon closer inspection, the ooze is actually congealed atop a steel helm. The ooze can attack with pseudopods at the wearer's command, destroying equipment with a corrosive touch, but if it remains unfed for to long, it will crawl into the wearer's eyes and begin to pilot their body.

9 Xymanthur's Cowl. An ancient lich-lord from Not Egypt (TM) was the bearer of this gaudy, bedecked cowl. The lich can speak in deathly whispers to anyone who wears the helm, making offers of power in exchange for "favors". There are three sapphires set in the front of the cowl's brim, the eggs of the eagle set just above. Touch the eagle after having drunk fresh blood to fly for a TURN.

10 The Dread ANTI-HAT. Nothing is atop your head, and nothing will ever be atop your head. If you put on a hat, it is instantly sent to a parallel dimension, never to be seen or heard from again save ungodly powerful magics. If you put something else on your head, the object sparks, burning you enough to make you drop it.

Thanks for reading, and happy gaming.

A footnote on pirate games

    One of the hallmarks of the pirate genre, besides being a very classic DnD structure (hero chooses to pursue some adventure hook or is tossed into it by fate, goes through ever more difficult challenges that result in the loss of more and more resources, then stumbles upon the final challenge and completes it with creativity and ingenuity to get a shit ton of treasure that is in inexplicably spent before the next movie adventure), is how much freedom the main character has. Their actions drive the story. Without their interference, nothing happens- no pirate movie if the pirate is stuck in jail with half a bottle of rum, the movie starts when they use that bottle to hold a guard at ransom and break out of jail and onto the rowboat with the old fisher and her daughter.

    So the first most important component is agency. For a classic nautical adventure game, characters should be given situations, not plotlines. The experience is made more rewarding when the players get to do exactly as they please, and live or die by their own hand. Otherwise, the whole thing feels inorganic, which is anathema to the way an adventure should unfold, particularly in this idiom.

    The other component is creativity. When you think to pirate media, the memorable moments are when the eponymous character makes use of the available resources to turn the tide. I have been running a pirate game for the past 6 months or so (which I will get to in a moment), and the same is true of an RPG. Instead of building in "ways out" or making the players reliant on the dice to do cool things, spend your time giving them tools. Describe the ropes and rigging on the ship about to plunge off the edge of the earth, hand the players a bag that miniaturizes anything put into it, describe a crack in the jail wall with a bundle of sticks in it. Create these little treats, and (this is important) DON'T GO INTO IT KNOWING HOW THEY'LL BE USED. Play the game and enforce consequences as normal, even letting the players miserably fail, and let THEM be the drivers of the creative use of these resources.

    Now, all that leads to the thesis: pirate games thrive on flexibility. In the plot, in the way that tools are utilized, and, in my opinion, most importantly, in the mechanics. If the players feel like they're in a system where the main way they can have agency is pushing mechanical buttons, like 5e, the game won't feel as organic and spontaneous as it has to. My pirate game started in 5e, and the further I hacked it away from 5e to get it run faster and more flexibly, the more my players have leaned in the the tropes and created memorable moments. Recently, I made the switch to MARROW, and that really made me see this issue in a lot of clarity, because the amount of freedom and agency the players have is so much higher, and that increases the engagement, as well as the drama.

That's all some nice talk, but how do you integrate it into your game? Well, here's a bulleted list:

    -Transition to a lightweight system. 5e works for many things, but it only serves to hamper here. Try something new, like GLoG, Black Hack, ICRPG, or any number of other lighter games.

   -When you're building your adventures, create a branching path with options with what happens if the players either succeed or fail in a given scene, with enough notes to flesh out the secret third option players always find. Be receptive to change- this flexibility and non-commitment to victory will be what will emulate the genre best.

    -Build tools into your encounters. Don't be literal or outright about it- a potion of health is a decent tool, but a strength potion is a much better one, and a potion of flight with a 7-second duration is even better. Give the players things that even you don't know how you would use. Let them use these things creatively, and be sure to reward them when they do it with mechanical advantages.

    -Let the players drive the story. Let them make up their own adventure hooks ("I heard there was a treasure below a volcano put there by a mad iron golem named Smee Shamil"), choose between multiple paths ("do we help the baron or kill him and hold his daughter at ransom?"), watch the world around them change to their actions and not the other way around.

  --

    Let my experience improve your game, and help you run the best damn nautical adventure you can. Let me know if you think of anything else down in the comments below. Thanks for reading, and happy gaming.

Base Under Siege

 I'm slowly warming up to that new-fangled Mandolorian TV show. I just finished the… I think 4th episode? The eponymous character is in the fishing village under attack by bandits with an AT-ST, that one. Anyways, that inspired me to write up some tables to generate an interesting “base under siege” adventure. Have fun, and happy gaming.

BASE SIZE (feel free to round)

1 2d8 people

2 1d20+10 people

3 1d10+40 people

4 2d100 people

5 1d100 x 10 people

6 The base is the size of a city

ENEMY SIZE

1 Solitary (perhaps the most frightening of them all)

2 2d4

3 2d10

4 d10 x 10

5 The enemy is an army

6 Roll twice, these are different enemy forces (this can stack)

BASE VALUE

1 Scientific [Something important is being studied]

1 The behavior of a nearby astrological or cosmological body

2 The physiology of some remarkable creature

3 The properties of an ancient artifact

4 The relics of a bygone civilization

2 Agricultural [A vital food product is being produced]

1 The food stores for a massive area

2 The key ingredient in a valuable drug

3 A a cyclical ranch-slaughterhouse system

4 It’s actually people… peeeeeople

3 Military [A large cache of weapons and soldiers]

1 The last outpost of an anti-imperial rebellion

2 A weapon stores for a powerful military company

3 A cobbled-together mercenary base

4 An experimental weapon-testing range

4 Defense [The base is protecting something important]

1 The last of a particular species

2 A source of a rare good or lots of income

3 Some volatile and strange anomaly

1 An artifact

2 A ripped ley line

3 A temporal distortion

4 A strange new type of creature

4 A tactically or scientifically significant location

5 An anthropologically significant site

6 A portal or passage

5 Production [Something vital is being manufactured or collected here]

1 A Shatterstar mine carving into a fallen meteor

2 A weaponsmithy or munitions factory

3 A craftperson's guild or factory

4 A library collecting very specific knowledge

6 Population [There’s a lot of civilians here]

ASSET (Roll once for both base and enemy)

1 Weapon

1 Heat-seeking

2 Metal-sundering

3 Wide area

4 Instant death

5 Intelligent

6 Structure-killer

7 Virulent

8 Elemental

2 Trap

1 Pit trap

2 Meddlesome terrain

3 Hidden siege weapons

4 High walls

5 Force field

6 Magic glyphs (activate on contact)

3 Spy

1 Animal compatriots

2 Mole

3 Scrying/surveillance

4 Capable of hypnosis

4 Ally

1 Monstrous protectorate

2 Powerful mage/engineer

3 Charismatic politician

4 The real native residents

5 Movement

1 Flight

2 Climb

3 Jump

4 Burrow

6 Something truly weird

LIMITATION (Roll once for both base and enemy)

1 Poor vision

1 Only capable of detecting movement

2 Cannot see color

3 Can only perceive one target at a time

4 Can only see thermal signatures

5 Can’t see FAR or farther

6 Can’t see any farther than NEAR

2 Poor weapons

1 Easily broken

2 Only melee

3 Only ranged

4 Have a habit of exploding

3 Poor mobility

1 Moves half speed

2 Cannot jump, fly, or go vertically

3 Takes a ROUND to change direction

4 Easily tripped or knocked over

4 Poor stealth

1 Brightly colored

2 Large

3 Noisy

4 Constantly emits…

1 Smoke

2 Sparks

3 The ice cream truck jingle

4 Lights and lasers

5 Poor skill (cannot add bonuses to non-attack rolls)

6 Poor adaptation

7 Poor communication

1 Only communicates through visual signals

2 Only communicates through touch

3 Speaks different languages

4 Missing key vocabulary words

8 Uncreative

RUNNING A BASE UNDER SIEGE

Advice. Each bullet has two points that run counter to each other, yet both sound. Read them, and choose what feels right to you. Play to your strengths.

• Give the players a strong motivation to help the base. Be it money, reward, or an emotional hook, you want your players to buy into the base as fast as possible so you can get to the fun stuff. Use every dirty trick you can to get the players invested. // Distance the players. The players might wander in the side of the invaders. They might have to choose between a monetary reward or a moral high ground. They might decide the residents of the base aren’t worth saving, and want to cut their losses and run. Paint in shades of grey, and let the players’ minds wander outside of the genre.

• Lay your cards out onto the table. Reveal all the variables ASAP, in simple terms. The barracks has the laser crossbow, while the reavers at the gate can summon their Hellfire Dragon at a moment’s notice, and carry atlatls, there’s a medbay and a stocked pantry, now go forth and figure it out. // Have a trick up your sleeve. Surprise the players with a new variable or two and watch their plans get rearranged. Get the panic going as a couple well-placed reveals can shatter the hero’s ideas of what’s about to go down.

• Add twists and reversals. Keep the players on their toes by throwing a wrench into the mix every so often. A new force shows up, the enemies cleverly overcome traps laid, the mole reveals themself. Don’t let them rest on their laurels, they should be on their toes throughout the siege. // Keep it embellishable. The PCs will already bring a lot of creativity and dynamism to the mix, and often their actions alone will provide enough variables that you can take your hands off the buttons. Push the marble, but just watch it travel down the course once it’s moving- don’t change the boundary conditions.

• Make choices matter. The player’s actions should make or break the siege. The base shall fall or remain standing by their hand and theirs alone. Agency is key in every adventure, but especially here. // Embrace inevitability. How will the players face down an army when they’re backed up by a 4-strong team of academics with a rusty golem and a psychic sword made of crystal? The sheer absurdity and hopelessness has great potential to spawn novel reactions and emotions, and generate stories told for ages.

I'm gonna write up an adventure using this generator soon, look out for that in a future post. Until then, happy gaming, and thanks for reading.

Blog challenge: Transformative Posts

A NEW CHALLENGE FOR EVERYONE: Hunt down the blog posts that have forever changed how you have run your games, prepped your games, done your game design, or is otherwise terribly significant or personal to you. Here are a few of mine.

7 MYTHS EVERYONE BELIEVES ABOUT DRUIDS This was the first post I'd ever read from an OSR blog. I think it was linked to in a Power Score post, and I was instantly hooked by the style and flavor. By that point, I was pretty exclusively 5e, so the intensity and gritty flavor really took me aback, and instantly opened my eyes to the wider possibilities of grittier worldbuilding.

THE APE A post from perhaps my favorite OSR blog, Basic Red RPG. Out of all the posts from this blog that have inspired me, I chose this one because it was the spark of inspiration for MARROW's advancement system. Just as I was discovering this new vista of ways to play (the OSR scene), I saw this class, which got abilities randomly each level. The idea of a table you rolled on instantly inspired me, and I opened up a google doc and began to draft the tables you now see in MARROW.

OSR CLASS PYRAMID An incredible labor of love from the Manse, a favorite of mine. 100 unique and rich-feeling classes built out of a single ability. It really helped me "understand" retro-style class design, and a lot of the stuff here also went into the MARROW tables.

CHANGES I'D LIKE TO SEE IN NEW RPGs This is a newer one, but no less significant to me. A well-reasoned set of pointers for writing and presenting new RPGs and RPG material. I'm always hunting for new ways to write up games and adventures, and while I as a consumer don't agree with all of what's presented, I appreciate the thought and scrutiny that went into this list, and it's defining how I do my stuff here on out.

SMALL TABLES I just really like this philosophy, it's always intimidating to go into a project expecting to have to write really long lists of random encounters to have everything be complete and usable, and so this sort of creative release allows you to put more effort into making a few things as good as they can possibly be. This is at a tie with the one about railway-style route mapping, that one is also lovely and you should check it out.

BONES. I've talked a lot about this game on my blog, and it was the seed from which grew MARROW. This got me into GLoGhacking, an unparalleled gift.

There are so many more, and this might become a series here (because I love spotlighting content from others in the RPG community who know how to do this whole blog thing so much better than I), but I want to turn the torch to you. What posts have changed your games and given you food for thought? Thanks for reading, and happy gaming.

d8 Inverted Fairy Tale Hooks

    Are you feeling subversive? Have you been reading a lot of fairy tales, or derivatives thereof, and want to introduce them into your games? Do you just need some inspiration for your next adventure, and want to trick your players a little bit? Roll below, and find some topsy-turvy versions of stories we all know and love.

1 Princess in the Tower. To invert this tale, the imprisoning creature (usually a dragon) is actually doing it for the safety of the kingdom. The princess was born a powerful arcanist, whose volatile emotions caused outbursts that ended in conflagration. The royals, fearing for the safety of the kingdom, conscripted a dragon to sequester her in a far corner. The princess managed to get a message out, luring the PCs under the guise of a damsel in distress... To twist the adventure further, make the dragon’s tale ambiguous. Are they telling the truth, or hoarding the princess away for themself?

2 The Evil Stepmother and Prince Charming. Prince Charming is an undead monster, a warlord slouching across the earth. He knows of a sorceresses’ child who he could infect with the touch of unlife, and add a lich-bride to his army. The sorceress must perform a ritual to put her daughter in a coma and seal her daughter on another plane, where the warlord cannot convert her, but to do so, she needs special components and herbs from the distant woods. Enter the PCs...

3 Monstrous Transformation for Love. In the classic version, someone transforms into a monster as a result of their lust for another. In this version, they morph because they wanted to repulse their partner. Unfortunately for them, it doesn’t work, and their partner wants to make it work anyways. The monster pleads the PCs to help end their relationship, and perhaps rid them of their curse.

4 The Starcrossed Lovers. Two families, feuding for ages, are finally holding a marriage for the youngest of their clan, lauded to be lovers for the ages. However, the two teenagers despise each other with a burning passion. The whole ordeal was orchestrated by the patriarchs of the families, seeking to unite for political gain (or perhaps they are in love). The PCs are hired by the patriarchs to keep the wedding going smoothly, but are bribed by the young spouses-to-be to make the wedding go awry.

5 The Lost Children and the Witch. Two children who live on the periphery of the woods leave homes each day in the morning to head to a hut in the center of the forest. Their parents are worried, and hire the PCs as witch hunters to end the enchantment luring their children before they’re eaten. The twist is the woman living in the hut also doesn’t know why the children scratch at her locked door each day. There are wendigo spirits infesting the children, and they’re actually hunting the woman.

6 A Hero Lost at Sea. The legendary warrior, after the greatest war the world has known, begins to return to his home. However, over the course of the war, his home country’s values had changed, and they sought to cleanse their history of this hero, who they now saw as a senseless butcherer. They hire the PCs to waylay this hero’s travels with trials and tribulations until they can rally a navy with which to take him down.

7 The Chosen Hero’s Blade. In the original myth, this hero is the one destined to wield the blade. In this version, they will be the one to destroy it. A great ruler wields the greatest blade of the age, but a knight clad in gold in black begins an assault on their castle. The sage advises the ruler that if the knight so much as touches the weapon, it will crumble to dust. The PCs could be allies of the knight or the ruler, or perhaps even be the ones destined to destroy the weapon...

8 The Chosen Wizard. A small child is declared to be a great wizard-to-be, whisked away by a wizard of great repute (whose name no one seems to recall) to an arcane academy in the distant mountains. This is a fey plot- the child is a mundane one, the castle is an illusion, and this is a routine scam used to whisk away children for nefarious purposes. For extra fun, the PCs might be these non-magical children investigating the “academy”, and one among them the actual chosen one.

Thanks for reading, and happy gaming.

The Ocean of Oil, and a new edition of MARROW

 

THE OCEAN OF OIL

The heroes accidentally dig too deep and break into a massive cavern, plummeting down onto a fungus-choked island in the path of a massive warship. Trapped on the subterranean Ocean of Oil, they are the only thing that could stop a ruthless warlord from taking over the surface world. Can the heroes stop Xokrodir and the crew of the Berg, or are they doomed to perish in the lightless depths?

MAKING A CHARACTER

The heroes begin as indebted, drug-hyped miners, and as such, start with the following equipment instead of the standard package.

• 2 SUPPLY

• Either a 1 WOUND weapon or 1 Armor

• 3 doses of Amphetamines (a Drug; one dose heals either a STRESS or a WOUND, or grants ADVANTAGE on a roll, but DISADVANTAGE on the immediate next roll made)

• A random item

INITIAL ENCOUNTER: The Myconic Isle

• The heroes plummet from the ceiling of the massive cavern, landing on a mushroom-laden mass of rock bobbing in the oil.

• The island is home to myconids, who are baffled by the arrival of the heroes- they will attack first, ask questions later.

• There are 4 myconid priests and 4 myconid warriors in total on the island.

• They all know about the Berg’s conquest, its destination, and its captain, and will dispense this information if inquired

• In d4 ROUNDS, the Berg will slam into the side of the island, and in another d4 ROUNDS, it will tip over into the oil (the incline of the island impeding movement).

• Luckily, a doorway on the side of the Berg is about island level- with a STR roll to clear the gap, perhaps a hero could make the jump!

• What room does the doorway lead to? Roll a d4 to find out!

1 Room I, the Engine Room

2 Room IV, the Gelatinous Generator

3 Room VI, Fungal Hydroponics

4 Room IX, the Deck

• Perhaps the heroes could save a myconid as they clear the gap, earning its trust and companionship as a Hireling!

MYCONID PRIEST N 2 H 4 A Telepathy Spore (emit to speak freely in the minds of all FAR), Holy Fire (roll WIS or take 2 STRESS), Myconic I To survive

MYCONID WARRIOR N 2 H 6 A Telepathy Spore (emit to speak freely in the minds of all FAR), Flintstalk Spear (2 WOUNDS), Myconic I To survive

WHAT IS THE BERG?

• The Berg is a massive warship created by hollowing out one of the stone motes floating on the Ocean of Oil.

• The Berg is sailing to an defunct Dwarvish cargo elevator known as the Core Isopach

• The Berg will use the electrified hooks in rooms VII and VIII to reignite the Isopach’s motors, pulling itself upwards through the elevator and onto the surface world.

• Then, the conquest begins!

• The Berg is 15 TURNS (2 and a half hours) away from the Core Isopach upon it colliding with the Myconic Isle.

• The heros have to stop the Berg from getting to the surface before time runs out!

ENEMIES ON THE BERG

• These are the most significant threats on the Berg.

• Play them intelligently, and without mercy...

• They will retreat, parlay, interpose minions, summon reserves, and do anything it takes to stay alive

• XOKRODIR

• Xokrodir is an undead Mind Flayer with a warped, burned face

• He is the Captain of the Berg, and can bring all its traps and tricks to bear

• He uses Brain Worms to control his underlings, converting them into Ghouls, strange hybrid Mind Flayer spawn

• His greatest weakness is his ego

• If he is flattered and appeased, he will be made suggestible.

• If he is disrespected, he will grow distracted and erratic.

XOKRODIR N 4 H 10 A Mind Crush (roll INT or take 3 STRESS, or all NEAR roll against 2 STRESS), Telekinesis (Xokrodir can lift and manipulate things at FAR range), Brain Worms (whoever deals killing blow must roll DEX or get a Brain Worm), Brain Eating (spend a TURN eating a fresh brain to get to full health), Egotistic (a display of disrespect grants ADVANTAGE on attack rolls), Undead, Hideous I To conquer and pillage

• DR-II-KOR

• Dr-ii-kor is a warped myconid, snivelling and subservient to Xokrodir.

• He will try and avoid direct confrontation at all costs.

• His modus operandi when conflict starts is to retreat and leave his scions to do the stabbing for him.

• However, his fatal flaw is flattery.

• He feels that he could one day supplant Xokrodir, and if the heroes lean into that strength, he could become a powerful ally.

DR-II-KOR N 3 H 8 A Spore Cloud (A cloud appears NEAR Dr-ii-kor and lasts for d4 ROUNDS, roll CHA or be at Dr-ii-kor’s command until you succeed on the roll), Telepathy Spore (emit to speak freely in the minds of all FAR), Rotting Fist (2 WOUNDS), Myconic I To control

ROOMS OF THE BERG

I THE ENGINE ROOM

• This large room is choked with thick black soot.

• Every TURN you spend in this room, roll CON or get a Disease called Blacklung (-1 to all rolls per slot occupied, roll CON every day or have it occupy another slot).

• 8 spore-addled laborers toil at the massive rusty machines that help propel the Berg.

• Perhaps the engines can be sabotaged?

• If he isn't anywhere else in the Berg, Dr-ii-kor is here overseeing the laborers.

• Passages lead away to rooms II and IV.

SPORE LABORERS (8) N 1 H 1 A Myconic Cough (Roll CHA or be infected and at Dr-ii-kor’s command until you succeed on the roll), Rusted Tool (2 WOUNDS), Infected (if Dr-ii-kor is killed or the spores removed, the laborers become lucid and helpful) I To work the machines

II DR-II-KOR'S OFFICE

• A battered desk is propped against the stone wall by adhesive mushroom clusters.

• On the desk are scraps of notes and an unmarked, sealed clay jar.

• The scraps include a map of the Berg.

• The scraps also have some of Dr-ii-kor’s notes concerning “the Captain”.

• Always remain deferential.

• Refer to him as Your Eminence.

• Don’t talk about the burns.

• If these precepts are broken around Xokrodir, he immediately flies into a range and attacks, but the offending party will have ADVANTAGE on their next attack against him.

• The jar is full of Hookwing Pheromones, capable of luring or controlling Hookwings with careful application.

• In the corner lies a sleeping Spore Hound, if it awakens, it will attack, summoning Dr-ii-kor in d4 ROUNDS.

• Passages in the room continue to rooms I and III.

SPORE HOUND. N 2 H 7 A Tentacles (can attack for 2 WOUNDS NEAR), Mushroom Maw (those wrapped in tentacles take 3 WOUNDS from attacks and must roll CHA or be infected and at Dr-ii-kor’s command until you succeed on the roll) I To serve Dr-ii-kor

III CARGO HOLD

• Crates and boxes line the walls of this cramped room.

• They all have a small, glowing rune of repelling carved on them, and are locked with rusty padlocks.

• If something touches a crate with the rune on it, it must roll STR or be blown back to NEAR range.

• In the crates are…

• 150 feet of rope

• 3 points of SUPPLY

• 2 random pieces of MARTIAL LOOT

• If the crates are disturbed, d4 Dynamite Spiders pour out of a small clockwork box hidden among the crates.

• As long as the box is intact, another Dynamite Spider will spawn every ROUND.

• The box can be found with a WIS roll.

• In d4 ROUNDS, if not indisposed, Dr-ii-kor will enter the room to check on the disturbance.

• Halls lead away to rooms II, VI and IV.

DYNAMITE SPIDER N X H 4 A Swarm (N is equal to the number of Dynamite Spiders in FAR range), Mandibles (1 WOUND), Detonate (At any point or upon being destroyed, roll DEX or have all CLOSE take 2 WOUNDS) I To protect the crates

IV THE GELATINOUS GENERATOR

• A massive machine called a Gelatinous Generator dominates the room.

• It churns out Gelatinous Cubes every d4 ROUNDS.

• There’s a 50% chance it has just spit one out as the heroes enter the room.

• A Ghoul Technician stands overseeing the machine, making sure it keeps functioning.

• The ghoul has a Scepter of Assertion.

• The Scepter is a piece of HERETICAL LOOT that allows you to take control of any creature for a ROUND once a day.

• The ghoul will not hesitate to use it on the heroes.

• Any newly generated Gelatinous Cubes will simply begin to devour the nearest source of fresh meat, hero or ghoul alike.

• Corridors lead away to rooms III and IV.

GHOUL TECHNICIAN N 3 H 8 A Wrench (2 WOUNDS, fix any damage to the Gelatinous Generator), Brain Worm (whoever deals killing blow must roll DEX or get a Brain Worm) I To keep the machine running

GELATINOUS CUBE N 2 H 10 A Envelop (1 WOUND +1 per turn of successful attack, after the first DEFENSE rolls have DISADVANTAGE), Acid (Every ROUND, destroy a random item from each enveloped, heal 1 for every item destroyed), Weak to Temperature I To grow

V LAMP GOLEM'S LAIR

• Winding stairs lead up to this balcony atop the Berg.

• A Lamp Golem strange mechanical creature shines light into the darkness, aiding in the Berg’s navigation.

• Its beam is powered by a Bright Crystal, a piece of DIVINE LOOT that allows the wielder to use the Golem’s Flashbomb Ability once a day.

• If the Golem is destroyed, it waylays the Berg, slowing its arrival to the Core Isopach by 3 TURNS.

LAMP GOLEM N 3 H 8 A Flashbomb (All in a cone in front roll CON or be blinded until you succeed on the roll), Slam (3 WOUNDS, hot), Armored I To chart the course

VI FUNGAL HYDROPONICS

• Massive fungal clusters lie about this high-ceilinged room, letting off strange spores and oozes.

• Use your favorite fungi list to stock the room.

• Some fungi should provide dynamic challenges, others having beneficial effects to be discovered.

• This adventure has a number of fun fungi and is very well put-together.

• A Spore Hound lies concealed in the fungi.

• It uses hit and run tactics along with its natural camouflage (ADVANTAGE on rolls to hide) to dart in and out of the strange fungi.

• Passages lead off to rooms III and VII.

SPORE HOUND. N 2 H 7 A Tentacles (can attack for 2 WOUNDS NEAR), Mushroom Maw (those wrapped in tentacles take 3 WOUNDS from attacks and must roll CHA or be infected and at Dr-ii-kor’s command until you succeed on the roll) I To serve Dr-ii-kor

VII THE WRAITH'S DOOR

• This room has two rusted iron doors on either side.

• Whatever door is opposite the heroes’ entry is locked and has an ornate stone frame, in which are carved some words, as well as 4 small indentations

• “I VINDICATE YOUR SINS”, and smaller under it, the letters “NIEC”

• .The wall of this room is dominated by a large metal unit with a latch release on the side

• This is the second bay of electrified hooks that will be released to activate the Isoprach and pull the Berg up the elevator shaft.

• Against the opposite wall is a small iron plaque

• 4 gems sit in shallow indentations, all of which can be easily removed.

• A scarlet ruby

• A violet amethyst

• An indigo sapphire

• A yellow quartz

• The indentations on the door frame are perfectly gem-sized, and the proper order will make the door unlock.

• The correct order is sapphire, amethyst, quartz, ruby

• This is a letter puzzle. Taking the first letter of the word in the phrase next to the letter of “NIEC” gives the first two letters of the relevant color.

• IN for indigo, VI for violet, YE for yellow, and SC for scarlet.

• If the plaque is peeled back, behind it, in a shallow alcove, is a Replicator

• The Replicator is a piece of ODD LOOT that can make an exact copy of anything put in it once per TURN

• When the heroes touch something in the room, a Ghoul Wraith rises from the ground and begins to attack.

• Passages in the room lead out to rooms VI and IX.

GHOUL WRAITH N 3 H 6 A Spectral Throttle (2 STRESS), Brain Worm (whoever deals killing blow must roll DEX or get a Brain Worm), Incorporeal I To take revenge on the living

VIII DIVING HATCH

• The wall of this room is dominated by a large metal unit with a latch release on the side

• This is the second bay of electrified hooks that will be released to activate the Isoprach and pull the Berg up the elevator shaft.

• 3 Ghoul Technicians stand ready in dive suits.

• A hatch down to the Ocean of Oil lies in a corner of the room.

• It can be opened with an INT roll, ADVANTAGE with appropriate tools.

• A random piece of oil-soaked LOOT, the fruits of the most recent dive, lies in the corner.

• Corridors lead away to rooms V and IX.

GHOUL TECHNICIAN N 3 H 8 A Rotting Throttle (2 WOUNDS), Brain Worm (whoever deals killing blow must roll DEX or get a Brain Worm), Dive Suit I To keep the machine running

IX THE DECK

• This open-air deck looks out onto the Ocean, a visual reminder of just how close the Berg is to the Isoprach

• Xokrodir stands at the wheel, standing inside a circle of runes

• These are runes of invulnerability

• Anyone who stands on them cannot take WOUNDS or STRESS

• If Xokrodir is tricked or forced off the runes, he will retreat, locking the wheel

• Passages lead away to rooms VII and VIII.

XOKRODIR N 4 H 10 A Mind Crush (roll INT or take 3 STRESS, or all NEAR roll against 2 STRESS), Telekinesis (Xokrodir can lift and manipulate things at FAR range), Brain Worms (whoever deals killing blow must roll DEX or get a Brain Worm), Brain Eating (spend a TURN eating a fresh brain to get to full health), Egotistic (a display of disrespect grants ADVANTAGE on attack rolls), Undead, Hideous I To conquer and pillage

RANDOM ENCOUNTERS

As normal, a random encounter occurs every 6 TURNS, and can be negated by spending a point of SUPPLY. Roll a d6 to see what the heroes encounter.

1-3 d4 Hookwings

Hookwings are predatory creatures native to the Ocean of Oil, leathery-winged and crystal-eyed creatures with forearms ending in metal-rending claws. There is a massive nest of them lairing in the Isopach, and a small pack wanders out to investigate the Berg, ripping through the stone walls and attacking. Another Hookwing arrives every d4 ROUNDS until all the Hookwings are indisposed.

4 Collision

The Berg runs up against another island. The floor rocks and shakes for the duration of TURN, and 3 Myconid Warriors wander aboard the ship, fleeing the collapse of their home. Terrified, they’ll intercept the party next TURN.

5 Dr-ii-kor (if dead, 2d4 Ghoul Technicians)

6 Xokrodir (if dead, 2d4 Ghoul Technicians)

HOOKWING N X H 5 A Swarm (N is equal to the number of Hookwings in FAR range), Rending Claw (1 WOUND, destroy a random piece of equipment), Crystal Eye (if surgically removed, acts as NATURAL LOOT that allows you to look through any Hookwing’s eyes with a WIS roll) I To hunt

MYCONID WARRIOR N 2 H 6 A Telepathy Spore (emit to speak freely in the minds of all FAR), Flintstalk Spear (2 WOUNDS), Myconic I To survive

DR-II-KOR N 3 H 8 A Spore Cloud (A cloud appears NEAR Dr-ii-kor and lasts for d4 ROUNDS, roll CHA or be at Dr-ii-kor’s command until you succeed on the roll), Telepathy Spore (emit to speak freely in the minds of all FAR), Rotting Fist (2 WOUNDS), Myconic I To control

XOKRODIR N 4 H 10 A Mind Crush (roll INT or take 3 STRESS, or all NEAR roll against 2 STRESS), Telekinesis (Xokrodir can lift and manipulate things at FAR range), Brain Worms (whoever deals killing blow must roll DEX or get a Brain Worm), Brain Eating (spend a TURN eating a fresh brain to get to full health), Egotistic (a display of disrespect grants ADVANTAGE on attack rolls), Undead, Hideous I To conquer and pillage

GHOUL TECHNICIANS N 3 H 6 A Rotting Throttle (2 WOUNDS), Brain Worm (whoever deals killing blow must roll DEX or get a Brain Worm) I To keep the Berg running

THE CORE ISOPACH

Instead of covering every eventuality and plan the heroes could come up with (which would be impossible), this sequence of ROUNDS describes an ideal version of the ascent as Xokrodir planned it. Anything the heroes interfered with may delay plans by a ROUND, or cause extra complications to be exploited. This is it, the climax of the adventure- can the heroes stop the Berg from conquering their home?

ROUND 1:

• The set of electrified hooks from room VII deploy.

• Dr-ii-kor ingests the Hookwing pheromone from room II, and begins to emit hypnotic spores from either room V or IX

ROUND 2:

• The second set of hooks, from room VIII, deploy.

• The Hookwing colony laired in the Isopach are now under Dr-ii-kor’s control, he can spend an action summoning d4 Hookwings that do his bidding

ROUND 3:

• An electric current fills the chains, activating the ancient motors with a grinding hiss! The Isopach begins to pull the Berg out of the oil and into the air.

ROUND 4:

• The Berg is lifted out of the Ocean of Oil.

ROUND 6:

• The Berg is fully in the Isopach. It will take 3 more ROUNDS to reach the top of the Isopach, where the invasion begins on the 4th ROUND.

THE END?

Here are some ideas as to how the adventure might conclude itself, though every playthough is different, and you should use your discretion as to customizing the outcome for your playthrough.

• The Fall of the Berg. The players kill Xokrodir and stop the Berg from ascending the Isopach. Depending on if the Berg is intact or any outstanding allies and villains yet remain, this can be the great springboard for a campaign where the heroes explore the Ocean of Oil to find a way home!

• Xokrodir Fails. If the Berg is stopped from ascending the Isopach, but Xokrodir lives, he grows enraged. He lights a match and tosses it over the edge… it takes a ROUND for it to hit the Ocean, then it all goes up in smoke (see Fuel Holocaust).

• An Oily Rebirth. If the heroes are incapacitated over the course of the adventure, Xokrodir orders the Ghouls to toss them overboard. The surviving heroes are resuscitated by a Myconid mage and their apprentices and teleported back onto the Berg with a piece of ARCANE LOOT, 6 TURNS later or just as the Berg begins its ascent into the Isoprach (whichever comes first).

• The Berg Ascendant. If the Berg succeeds in scaling the Isopach, the heroes have a steep task ahead of them. The Isopach leads to the sewers under the heart of a Dwarvish metropolis (Erz, if in the Autumn Kingdoms). If Xokrodir is dead, Dr-ii-kor heads the conquest, which, without heroic interference, will be swift and brutal. From there, the Empire of the Berg will spread like fire on oil...

Fuel Holocaust. If, by some foul accident, the Ocean of Oil is lit on fire, it instantly not only destroys the Berg and the entire contents of the Ocean, but collapses the ground of the land above. The world is forever changed, as new passages to the underground ripped open by the explosion vomit forth eyeless, pale horrors...