Wednesday, April 11, 2018

The Omnimental

Art by Thomas M. Baxa
I have dozen of pages of monsters that I have created over the years but Elementals have always been one of my favorites. They are a primordial expression of nature, yet it's so raw it often feels unnatural as well. In a DnD style setting Elementals are not even native to the material plane, the plane where most adventures begin and where they also take place. The Omnimental is not one of those. They are unnatural beings to both elementals and most adventurers. Omnimentals do not hail from the elemental planes but are from the void, the far reaches, gray reaches or where ever the chaotic wastes lie in a setting.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Desperate Defenses

These defenses are something that came up me a while ago but never really fleshes out. I thought

"Why doesn't gurps just let me put my hands or my weapon in front of the enemy and make no attempt to brush it off to the side?"
Well these rules are going to attempt to bring those into reality. These rules are going to be rather complex and will bring in some housekeeping or it will slow the down the game. They also make shields a bit better to say the least

Thursday, March 1, 2018

New Damage Type: Aging

I have always been looking for a non-janky for aging attacks. Leech with steal youth seems prohibitively expensive in most cases and doesn't make the years disappear into the void. The main purpose of this was to make the point costs more grounded and in line with the actual effects. 10 or so years is what I think is the safe "area" for most PCs. In Ultra Tech settings aging damage is pretty much the same as real damage, that is temporary unless instantly fatal.

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Goblin and Goblin-Kin: Traps

Goblin Trapper

This little guy is more of an excuse than a real monster. Usually he will be in the back and retreat first once fights south. The most common trap will be a pit fall which is easy to construct and not that deadly. On forested trails they might employ spring snares. Those two are the bread and butter for a Trapper. They are relatively easy to set up but for calculations sake we will say that a goblin trapper will have a band of at least 9 total goblin with 7 average ST and all have wooden tools. Using the Basic Set digging times our team of Goblins can dig 2 Cubic Yards per hour, meaning in 2 hours they could have turned an ordinary hex down to a respectable 4 yard drop. Snare spring traps are an easy 30 minute set up but cover less of an area, and since the party will be traveling together it won't be much of a setback unless it's followed with an immediate ambush.

Monday, February 19, 2018

Goblins and Goblin-Kin I

Goblin Chaff

The rank and file of the goblins, the cannon fodder, the monster you send out when you want to make your players feel like a badass. It doesn't work too well since nobody feels that good after turning a goblin into a red paste. Goblin chaff are only a problem in the most dire of situations or when ambushed by them. When ambushed they should flee immediately or surrender in case they can't scram in 50 different directions. They should often be armed with spears, clubs and simple bows. If nobody is there to command the goblin archers they should not be aiming at all and shoot as soon as they are ready.