Hall of Judgement Kickstarter for Dungeon Fantasy

SJGames may not have been too happy with the end result and lack of profitability on GURPS Dungeon Fantasy boxed set, but they are kind enough to license out publication of a module for it to Douglas Cole:



The concept of "viking flavored dungeon fantasy" sounds appealing to me. Douglas appears to have done other successful Kickstarters which actually got completed, including one I have (Dungeon Grappling) that is a uniquely exhaustive look on the one subject which we can all agree was a pain in the ass in D&D 3.0.

Death Bat's Top 5 RPGs of 2017

2017 was a flood year for new RPGs, as well as the year in which many big Kickstarters finally saw fruition. Here's my list, as best as I can manage it....too many games this year to ever play!!!

5. Best New Fantasy RPG of 2017: Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of

This game is gorgeous, the character generation mechanics are impressive and provide an elaborate character for you to play, it has loads of support on the way, and the entire game is a very smartly designed tribute to Robert E. Howard's character and world. Even if I never get to play the game I am very much enjoying reading it. Modiphius is doing very good work here.

Runner Up: Zweihander RPG, the OSR retroclone of classic Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. It's a beast of a tome and the most comprehensive new RPG I bought in 2017.

4. Best Universal RPG System of 2017: Genesys Core RPG

The funny-dice system by Fantasy Flight Games which previously powered the Star Wars RPGs is an amazing design and despite a toolkit approach is really accessible and easy to work with. I definitely look forward to trying this game out in  depth in 2018.

Runner Up: FATE Core Adversary Toolkit is a great resource for FATE GMs who would like more tools for building opponents.

3. Best Comeback: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Boxed Set

The GURPS Kickstarter for Dungeon Fantasy bore delightful fruit, in the form of a meaty boxed set, Companion book, GM Screen and pretty much everything you need to stealthfully teach your players GURPS without them realizing it. DF demonstrated beyond a doubt that GURPS has a bright future, especially in the form of focused "all in one" titles.

Runner Up: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea 2nd edition released in 2017 and this monstrous tome is a fantastic package and easy way to introduce your players to a dark, alternate-reality swords & sorcery themed version of AD&D 1E.

2. Best Sourcebook: Xanathar's Guide to Everything for Dungeons & Dragons

This was a much needed sourcebook for the D&D 5th edition system, with content split between useful new class options for players and tons of delightful DM content. And not a moment too soon! Everything in this book has already proven invaluable to my gaming table. More like this WotC, please!

Runner Up: World War Cthulhu: Cold War is already one of my favorite tomes of this year even though I've only had a few days to read it. Check it out for a great in-depth take on Cold War spying, Mythos style.

1. Best New Science Fiction RPG of 2017: Cold & Dark RPG

This deep delve in to the dark and horrific blend of science fiction and horror provides a fantastic experience, one which I have many plans for in 2018. Excellent art, a robust setting with plenty of details to customize and make it your own, and an excellent all-in-one book design makes this one of my favorite RPGs of 2018. Thanks again to Modiphius for bringing this amazing game to print.

Runner Up: this was a tough choice, as a lot of SF RPGs were released in 2017. In the end, I had to go with Starfinder, even though it's arguably "science fantasy" and not straight SF. That said, it's streamlined Pathfinder rules, excellent focus and design and beautiful art make it a very distinguished game and one I suspect a lot of people (including myself) will be playing more of in 2018.

0. Game of the Year Award: Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of

I was very tempted to give this to Dungeon Fantasy, which gets runner-up, but the Conan RPG is really a masterpiece, and easily one of the nicest designs and most carefully developed books I've seen. Even if you never play it, this book remains worth owning for any fan of Howard or sword & sorcery in general.

Runner Up: Dungeon Fantasy Boxed Set is an amazing all-in-one purchase and an excellent gateway drug to GURPS proper. Even if you never touch another GURPS product, Dungeon Fantasy will serve you all on its own just fine, though.

Honorable Mention: Star Trek Adventures RPG is, like all other games produced by Modiphius, pure gold. Alas, I have found myself having a hard time "returning" to the Star Trek universe once more after all these years and so it has been neglected.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy: The Scurvy Rogue

I've rolled up quite a few GURPS Dungeon Fantasy characters over time, though I have never gotten around to running GURPS DF. I'm hoping that will change with the imminent arrival of the GURPS DF boxed set from the Kickstarter later this year (fingers crossed). Here's the first of three I worked up, a sample if you will of what a typical DF character looks like....

Seralon Galadastin   (250 pt build)                                                                                      

Human rogue from Hyrendan

Thief, Human, male age 27 5’11” tall and 145 lbs.                    

ST  11 DX  15 IQ 13 HT 11         

Dmg th/sw 1d-1/1d+1          

BL  24 lbs.          

HPs   11     Will   13    Per.   15     FP   11        Speed 6.0  Move   7

Base: Dodge  9 Block --    Parry 10    

Readied Defense:   shortsword (parry)

Active Dodge 10   Block --    Parry 11    Armor DR 1*

Modifiers: +1 to active defenses, +2 vs. Fright, +6 to recover from stun, +1 or +2 init mod vs. surprise

Archetype Advantages: Flexibility, High Manual Dexterity 1, Perfect Balance, Combat Reflexes

Archetype Disadvantages: Trickster (12), Callous (-5), Sense of Duty (adventuring companions) (-5), Lecherousness

Skills:  Forced Entry 15, Climbing 18*,  Filch 15, Stealth    18, Escape 16*, Pickpocket 15*, Lockpicking 14, Traps 14, Acrobatics 14, Sleight of Hand 14*, Gesture 13, Holdout 13, Shadowing 13, Smuggling 13, Streetwise 13, Search 15, Urban Survival 15,Shortsword 14, Main-Gauche 14, Thrown (knife) 15, Bow 14, Brawling 15, Gambling 12, Carousing 11, Fast-Draw-shortsword 15, Fast-Draw-Knife 15,  First Aid 13, Seamanship 13, Disguise12, Fast-Talk 12, Scrounging 14

Gear: leather vest jacket (chest and groin), and leather pants (DR 1*)

1 Large Throwing Knife (1D-1 impale; Acc 0; Range X0.8/X1.5; RoF 1; bulk -2)

Shortsword (1D+1 swing or 1D-1 impale; reach 1; Parry 0)

1 minor healing potion (1d), lockpick set, 20 yards heavy rope, grappling hook 

0 gold pieces 

*=modified by advantages/disadvantages

Seralon Galadastin is a rough and tumble sort of rogue who grew up on the post-war streets of Hyrendan, after surviving as a youth in a city ruled by the seditionist forces of the Betrayer King Makhorven. He's learned to survive during war time when the cruel soldiers of the southern seditionists would beat wayward urchins silly for fun, and later to thrive when the northern Emperor's forces occupied fallen Hyrendan, and the betrayer king was dragged to the bottom of his endless dungeons. He is simultaneously driven by endless amusement at irritating and provoking others even as his hard-bitten attitude drives him to assume the worst in life and others around him.

Recently Seralon stumbled across a duo, an infernal human with demonic blood named Volistaire Dartane and his comely traveling companion, the ebon dark elf sorceress Syraline Neredestyr. They spoke of forging a mercenary company, one which would seek out profit wherever it lay....be it in the heights of one of the betrayer king's abandoned castles or in the depths of the deepest dungeons. It sounded just crazy enough for Seralon to give it a go.... 

GURPS DF NOTES: I have an extended version of this sheet with all the skill stuff tracked (cost, formula, such) but that sheet does not like to play nice with blogspot's editing page, so I provided the condensed edition above.

GURPS as usual is skill heavy. The same character in D&D 5E would have Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Perception, and maybe Deception. This does contrast --sharply-- about just how much nuance is lost when you use a simple skill system. The downside is that the GM has to recall many, many more skill options when running a skill heavy game like GURPS....but I have a secret trick to this, in which (when a task is presented to the player) I ask them to tell me what skill they think works best for their situation, and then I'll see if I agree with their choice. It's not perfect (sometimes you gotta know the right skill and only that skill) but this is a good way of encouraging players to think about what they can do, within their wide array of skill options.

GURPS DF relies heavily on templates to help facilitate character generation. GURPS lets you build anything, but DF is all about channeling that do-anything design into familiar concepts, all of them essentially a riff on D&D style fantasy gaming. The templates are an important part of the process, and this character (and the ones I'll post next week) all use templates for their design. This is as close as GURPS gets to "class based design."

In the current form available at www.sjgames.com the DF rules suggest that it was originally designed to allow for dungeon delves in GURPS but that it was inherently representing an unsustainable, some would even suggest frivolous take on fantasy, as D&D style games are often characterized as such by those who prefer games such as GURPS, anyway.  My hope is that the new boxed set moves away from that characterization, or at least acknowledges that virtually all fantasy....from the gritty and bloody Song of Ice and Fire to the wildly out there Discworld are all equally improbable, and a setting about a world with an economy driven by dungeon delvers is no less or more improbable. By definition if it weren't then it would no longer be fantasy, but instead some weird alternative reality historical game or tale, anyway.

Predictions for RPGs in 2017

I'll venture forth to make a few predictions for the coming year.....maybe wishes or suggestions are more of what these are? Here we go.....

1. Green Ronin needs to produce a Companion Book to Fantasy AGE

My players have one complaint with Fantasy AGE which has blocked my ability to get buy-in on playing the game: it's too skimpy. The core rules give you three classes and twelve archetypes, but it really doesn't give you enough to simulate nearly as many characters as they would like. It's not that my players are that special....but it's that they are used to more robust systems with a range of options, and Fantasy AGE's basic rules are indeed very....basic. They need to release a follow-up book with more archetypes/subclasses, more spells, and more stuff.

2. Wizards of the Coast needs to release at least 1 new rules tome this year, and it better be for players

We've had D&D 5E for three years now, give or take, and the closest we've gotten to a player's companion is in the back of the Sword Coast book. What they need is a formal sequel to the Player's Handbook. I think they are expecting the need for this, as Unearthed Arcana articles have ramped up to a weekly(ish) status with a focus on player options. The latest tome....Volo's Guide to Monsters....was a great book and if I had my way they'd release one of those every year (but I'd be happy with one every other year), but the game is past due for more player content. Same problem as with #1 above, and the longer WotC goes without fulfilling this need, the more likely it is I'll hear quiet dissent and suggestions that there's always Pathfinder to play....and no, I do not want to go back to Pathfinder. Must....resist....

3. Starfinder really needs some straight SF options when it releases

Okay, it may have these planned, but I will wait for the final product before believing it. Right now all information released on this book suggests it's "Golarion....IN...SPAAAACE" but maybe with Golarion missing or something. It sounds cool for what it intends to do, but there's a viable market of SF gamers who are like me: they want a OGL sci fi RPG which is robust and supported, and do not want to mix their fantasy with their SF (and if we do, it's gonna be appropriately gonzo like Spelljammer). Fingers crossed that even if Paizo doesn't do it, some 3PP will take advantage of the hype to do a streamlined "fantasy free" edition.

4. Swords & Wizardry goes mainstream

Between all the different iterations of Swords & Wizardry one could argue this is already a game that's dragged itself out of the niche corner of the OSR and into the "mainstream" of gaming, at least insofar as I bet there are a lot more people playing S&W now than, say, most FATE based games (not all FATE collectively, but any single FATE title is probably carrying a fanbase smaller than S&W does). With Erik Tenkar's S&W Lite, the new 3rd edition Swords & Wizardry Complete and it's art revamp, and a variety of other independent projects like White Box going on....I suspect S&W's gone mainstream and 2017 will show off just how much.

5. GURPS "Returns" 

Stave Jackson Games had a very successful Kickstarter for the new Dungeon Fantasy boxed set, which will be a stand-alone product that you can purchase and play without ever needing the other GURPS books. It's a great proof-of-concept for SJG and especially fans (like me) who've been saying that GURPS would be perfectly viable if they could do a streamlined version that is genre-specific, books which aren't so formidable in their scope that players are either scared away or crippled with decision paralysis. I've just recently started running GURPS again with the After the End sourcebooks as the basis, and my group is rapidly learning how great GURPS is, but the thought that I'll have an accessible rendiiton of Dungeon Fantasy next year is quite exciting. Once SJG has that out, we need a boxed set for GURPS SF Adventures next....a version which walks the line between the hardcore hyper-realism of GURPS Space and the more accessible "roll up some cool planets to explore" of other RPGs like White Star and Traveller. Then GURPS Action Heroes Boxed Set, GURPS Monster Hunters boxed set......sky's the limit!

6. Pathfinder 2.0 Should Start Development

My guess: Starfinder will include some bold and new innovations in game design (by 3rd edition D&D OGL standards) as a way of testing the waters for change. If they fly, Paizo may announce a 2.0 edition of Pathfinder to go in to development and playtesting before the year's end. This could be a good thing, if only because I think Pathfinder's core conceit (a complex, robust mechanically intense system for playing not-D&D) can remain intact while still fixing key issues (which of course is the problem: namely, no one can quite agree on what the key issues are). But they probably can tweak a few specific areas of the system and then clean it up for a very nice revised edition that looks similar to the formatting seen in books such as the Strategy Guide and the Beginner's Boxed Set. Sometimes even just a "cooler, newer look" is enough to make a game stand out.....and as Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition proves, you can make just a few tweaks and that will feel like a lot of change to many people, but a measured improvement in the look, feel and accessibility of a new edition can be accomplished through smart graphic design as well. Pathfinder is a surprisingly robust book as it stands.....but I think it could benefit (greatly) from a revision that improves accessibility and adds in some rules for non-miniatures-based combat, which will at least get it in to the design ethos of the 2010's.

Dungeon Fantasy RPG powered by GURPS is a Real Thing

ENWorld breaks the news! Look at it right here:

UPDATE! Kickstarter is Live. BACK IT NOW!!!! NOW!!!! BACK IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!

Short version:

It's a full featured stand-alone edition of the game tailored for dungeon fantasy gaming

Box includes five books, maps, cardboard flats and dice

Will incorporate some changes/udates to the 4E GURPS rules

Sounds like its slated for a 2017 release

....If SJGames makes this happen, I will be very pleased. I'm sincerely hoping this does well, as it's exactly the kind of stand-alone product that I and many other GURPS fans have said the game needs, and a boxed/print set, no less!!!!

We could see some GURPS revivalism in gaming in the near future all of a sudden. Print remains the "living" realm for gaming, no matter what PDF fans might say....gaming is very tactile, very much an experience in physicality for most gamers who aren't invested in Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds, so a product like this is necessary for the "health" of a game system. Very exciting!


EDIT: If you're not 100% sure about this, imagine for a moment two scenarios:

1. A realistic fantasy gaming system that goes for verisimilitude on a level unparalleled, while still delivering to you a genuine dungeon crawling experience
2. A revival of The Fantasy Trip, or as close to it as we can get in the 21st century

If either of those appeal to you, then this is why you must back Dungeon Fantasy!!!!

GURPS and Fantasy: a Tour for the Uninitiated

GURPS has two flavors of fantasy: GURPS Fantasy is a wonderful sourcebook for how to make a deep, meaningful fantasy realm that might truly be inspired by the wondrous epic fantasy novels that fill our shelves and e-readers to the brim. Then there is Dungeon Fantasy, which is the flavor one gets when you grab GURPS Fantasy and spike it into a mosh pit of Mountain Dew, Cheetos, and Frazetta painting blended into a thick slurry of awesome.

So yeah, a lot of choices. There’s also “historical fantasy” which works really well in GURPS, especially if you poke around with GURPS Thaumaturgy to get exactly the sort of quasi-historical magic system you would like to play with. The point, of course, is that you can do a lot of interesting fantasy with GURPS in this genre.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy is ostensibly all about a quick and dirty way to kit out regular GURPS for some craziness. Hidden within the madness is a metric ton of stuff that, while regarded as entirely whimsical and not serious by certain GURPS standards (including Kromm, the author!) is seen as serious bizness when you come from the Dungeons & Dragons side of the spectrum. Want to make a tiefling paladin/rogue? Easy enough, make a half-spirit infernal holy warrior-swashbuckler. Dungeon Fantasy was carefully designed to emulate D&D in spirit and form.

However, the timbre and approach of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy is not quite on par with the actual GURPS Fantasy book, in which 100-150 point characters are normal (DF starts with 250 points), and the notion of deliberate min-maxing in the tradition of the D20 era of D&D is anathema….or at least discouraged in favor of more realistic character building. This can be problematic because…well….all the COOL stuff is in Dungeon Fantasy, and the GURPS Fantasy tome only provides a modest medley of templates, races and other features, topping it off with a tepid but sorta fun “fantasy Rome but with dinosaurs” overview. Plus the Dungeon Fantasy line is the only 4^th edition resource for GURPS that even tries to offer some decent monsters and other fun stuff for adventurers.

Some of this is due to the problem with GURPS as a generic, universal system: its built to do everything, but in the process “everything” isn’t necessarily universally represented in the game’s body of resources. As a result, we have in 2015 a universal game system with one very good book on literary and historical fantasy, and a vast swathe of PDF resources on how to kick down dungeon doors and beat monsters up in contrast. So what should one do with all of this?

Don’t dismiss Dungeon Fantasy just because the subject is a deliberate mash-up of Dungeons & Dragons, and don’t take Kromm too seriously when he disses the genre even as he creates a masterful utility to run dungeon crawls in GURPS. They’re up to sixteen sourcebooks now, and the most recent ones (Wilderness Adventures and Henchmen) actually look at more normalized, gritty templates (which work well for henchies or low-level dungeon crawling just fine) and the Wilderness Adventures book even dabbles in what amounts to wilderness sandboxing. So the DF line is pretty diverse, and I would suggest poaching from it as much as you feel like you need to flesh out your regular GURPS Fantasy games, especially if you really want to have a more measured experience without as much gonzo. Use GURPS Fantasy to set the feel, but pillage the hell out of the GDF line to get all the weird races and concepts that make a good game setting come to life.

Caverns of Chaotic Kobolds for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy

Where to go with this one? Well, to start it's a rare module written....and statted....for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. It has a map, somewhere, but I've lost the original, and the remake by Simon Tranter is owned by a local friend of mine who at one time was assisting me with producing The Sorcerer's Scrolls in its reboot a few years ago, and to whom I turned the operation over when I decided that blogging was more rewarding than attempting to do a print/PDF magazine.

I don't know if that final issue ever got off the ground, but if it had it would have included this module. Alas, the map is history....and the cool one which exists somewhere is not mine to share, so I leave you to interpret the layout these rooms as you see fit....

Source

The Caverns of Chaotic Kobolds

Dungeon Fantasy Edition

   Deep within the Chaos Mountains lies the vast and evil valley of the Chaotic Caverns. Here, dozens of ancient tunnels, some natural and others dug deep by monsters, riddle the length and breadth of this valley. One such set of caverns can be found, the notorious Cavern of Chaotic Kobolds, near the entrance of the valley. It is a popular locale for young adventurers to assault, and the wary kobolds have grown used to this barrage of devil-may-care adventurers seeking to steal their plunder…

   The following stat blocks provide some basic stats for the kobold denizens in the caverns. These kobolds are derived from (but not exactly the same as) the kobolds depicted in 3^rd edition GURPS Fantasy Races:

Typical Kobold Statistics:

ST 8 DX 11 IQ 8 HT 10 Speed 5.25 Move 5 HP 8 FP 10 Will 7 Per 8 Damage: Th 1d-3 Sw 1d-2

Dodge 9 Parry 9 Block 9 (DB 1 with buckler) leather armor DR 2

Skills: short sword -11, Buckler Shield-11, Climb-14, Shortbow-11, Stealth-11

Advantages: cast iron stomach, dark vision, Flexibility (5)

Disadvantages: short attention span, uneducated, weak will -1

Weapon:  short sword (cut 1d-2 or impale 1d-3) or short bow (impale 1d-3 Acc 1; Range X10/X15, RoF 1)

Armor: small shield and leather armor (torso, groin, head)

Wealth: typically 1D8 animal bones, a rabbit fetish, and 2D6 copper pieces

Kobold Warrior

ST 10 DX 12 IQ 8 HT 10 Speed 5.50 Move 5 HP 10 FP 10 Will 8 Per 8 Damage: Th 1d-2 Sw 1d

Dodge 10 Parry 10 Block 10 (DB 1 with buckler) leather armor DR 2

Skills: short sword -13, Buckler Shield-13, Climb-14, Shortbow-13, Stealth-11

Advantages: cast iron stomach, dark vision, Flexibility (5), combat reflexes

Disadvantages: short attention span, uneducated

Weapon:  short sword (cut 1d or impale 1d-2) or short bow (impale 1d-2 Acc 1; Range X10/X15, RoF 1)

Armor: small shield and leather armor (torso, groin, head)

Wealth: 2D8 animal bones, a rabbit fetish, 3D6 coppers and 1D6 silver pieces.

Kobold Shaman:

ST 8 DX 11 IQ 11 HT 10 Speed 5.25 Move 5 HP 8 FP 10 Will 10 Per 11 Damage: Th 1d-3 Sw 1d-2

Dodge 8 Parry 8 Block -- cloth armor DR 1

Skills: shortstaff/sword -11, Climb-14, Shortbow-11, Stealth-11, Occultism 11

Advantages: cast iron stomach, dark vision, Flexibility (5), Magery 1

Disadvantages: short attention span, uneducated, weak will -1

Weapon:  shortstaff (crush 1d-2 Parry 0F) or short bow (impale 1d-3 Acc 1; Range X10/X15, RoF 1)

Armor: Cloth armor (torso, groin, head, legs and arms)

Magic:  Itch-12 (cost 2), Spasm-12 (cost 2), Pain-12 (Cost 2), Sense Foes-12 (cost 1+), Haste-12 (2/1+), Ignite Fire-12 (1+), Create Fire-12 (2/1), Shape Fire-12 (2/1), Fireball-12 (1d/pt up to 3; ½D 25, Max 50, Acc 1)

Wealth: 3D6 animal bones, a rabbit skull cap, 4D6 coppers, 2D6 silvers and 1D3-1 gold pieces

Description of the Kobold Lair

    The Yeargat Tribe (loosely translated into “Flaming Rabbit Tribe”) has been a denizen in this particular wing of the Chaotic Caverns for centuries now, or so it seems. In truth, the kobolds are frequently cleared out, only to be replaced by a new tribe periodically. For reasons unknown, the Speaker in the Pool likes to surround itself with kobolds, and seems to call to them telepathically.

   The current leader of the tribe is the warrior known as Warangit, and his chief shaman is the female kobold Katala-Thika.

   Unless otherwise indicated, all doors in the dungeon are locked, but all guards will have a key ring that opens most doors; only the chieftain has a door that opens area 10, however.

1. Entrance

   The main entry is partially barricaded by a rubble barrier of stones that the kobolds have heaped up over time. The barrier was partially knocked over when an ogre named Crothux came visiting a few weeks back, and the barrier remains partially toppled. Guarding from a small stone walk-way along the “ramparts” of the stone blockade are four kobold sentries.

2a., 2b. and 2c. Sleeping Chambers

   These wide den chambers contain eight primary nests each, and huddled within at any given time will be 2D6 female kobolds, 4D6 children and 1D3 off-duty kobold warriors.

3. Storage

   This is the storage room and pantry for the kobold raids, and includes the wealth of several stolen caravans as well as good pilfered from their immediate neighbors. The storage containers within include the following items of note:

2 barrels of 20 short spears each

3 sacks of cinnamon

1 heavy “powder keg” containing orcish firegrain

4 small dwarven kegs of stout

2 satchels (open) of salt

1 heavy open barrel full of ground flower

1 large mortar and pestle

1 loom (broken, needs repairs)

1 stack of approximately 20 deer skins (tanned)

1 skeleton stacked in a corner adorned in nobleman’s garb of Octzel City

1 crate full of leather sandals

4 large amphoras full of water (tepid, with mosquitos breeding from it)

1 ogre-sized chamber pot (full)

12 wineskins stacked in a corner, half are still full of wine, the rest have been drunk and discarded

   There are usually 2 kobold warriors on duty here, but there is a 50% chance they will be asleep.

20 yards of giant-spider silk cord rolled up in a corner next to 50 feet of rotted hemp rope

4. Pool of the Speaker

   Here is the mysterious sacred water in which dwells the mysterious Speaker in the Pool.  The Speaker is an ancient entity which has dwelt here for thousands of years, or so the stories go. For some reasons it is seen as a godlike being by kobolds, who claim they can hear it “speak” though no one else can; when the entity forms it exudes only hideous bubbling noises.

   The Speaker in the Pool is actually a sentient Erupting Slime, a unique creation forged either naturally or by magic eons past. It has IQ 20 and Telepathy 20 (with access to animal empathy, invisibility, mind control, mind probe mind reading, special rapport-kobolds, telesend and terror). It has one huge limitation: the Speaker’s power source is actually within the natural confines of the pool in which it rests, and should it leave (traveling more than 200 feet from the pool) it will lose its power of telepathy as well as its sentience.

   Hidden in the bottom of this thirty foot deep pool, trapped in ancient encrusted calcite is a long-lost Kadantanian Artifact from ages ago. The device looks like a small container, and bears the engraved image of a squat goat-demon with six arms lifting up a gem, which doubles as a sort of “lid.” The Gem is a pure ruby worth 500 gold pieces, and if unstoppered reveals that inside the odd vessel lies a solid crystal skull that pulses with a faint blue light. Any who touch the skull are assaulted by the ghost of the Kadantanian sorcerer Eurenesas, who will seek to possess the target (possible only by touch, however).

   Eurenasas is the source of the Erupting Slime’s sentience, although it does not know that the artifact is the source of its might. Should Eurenasas’s crystal skull be removed from the vessel, or be awakened through the possession of another target, then the slime will lose its sentience in the process.

5. Hidden Cache

   Chieftain Warangit likes to hide his really good stuff down this secret passage that leads to a collapsed region. The discovery of the passage is not too difficult (Perception -3 if actively being searched for), but it requires small hands to reach down a long hole to grasp an iron ring that opens the door. Worse, nestled within the hole is a fat black widow familiar which will bite any arm that does not reek of either the war chief or the shaman…

   The cache contains the “good stuff” of the tribe, including:

A coffer with 345 gold pieces, 53 electrum pieces, 12 iron coins from the far north, 421 silver pieces, 2003 coppers, and 3 mithril bars.

1 tall ceramic amphora in which a pickled undead troll head floats

An ornate high-quality greatsword (very fine; -2 to breakage and +2 to damage)

1 satchel of pure opium in a worked wooden coffer (5 lbs.)

6. Well

   Here the kobolds draw their water from a cistern well, which collects runoff from a slow but steady drip in the stalactite-laden ceiling. The water is the only purified source in this cavern that has not been corrupted by the seeping effect of the  Pool of the Speaker. There is usually 2-4 kobold females here filling urns that they carry on their heads.

7. Kobold Market

   Here can be found a wide deep cavern that has been turned into a warren of small shops and businesses. Approximately four dozen kobolds can be found here at any given time, bartering and bargaining with one another in an effort to make money at the expense or misfortune of others. The kobolds have several small shops here (and by small I mean only gnomes, Halflings, goblins and other short kin can safely enter standing) with salvaged gear and weapons; most gear is priced double the normal cost, and the kobolds will shrewdly haggle at the price to keep it as high as possible.

   If the adventurers have already made themselves a known nuisance, then there may be as many as a dozen guards in this area to protect the merchants. Should the adventurers decide to siege the market, about three dozen common kobolds will flee while the dozen soldiers fight. The kobold merchants, being venomously jealous, will likely depart their shop while setting a variety of deadly traps in place to protect their goods. A sample trap:

Trip-Wire Triggered Crossbow (hits on 10 or less on 3D6; 1D+3 damage if an adventurer fails to spot it (-3 penalty to Perception as it is cleverly disguised); spotting the crossbow as it triggers allows a dodge roll to avoid, but the person behind the adventurer is then targeted.)

8. Camp and Hub

  This chamber is used as a camping spot for foreign visitors and also as a hub for traveling into the deeper caverns. Roll 1D6 and check the following list to see who or what is in the chamber when the PCs stumble on it; re-roll for a new encounter once every 1D3 days:

1.            A trio of ogre traders with casks of deepwater grog; they use a half dozen severely malnourished shadow elves as their slaves.

2.            A lone troll named Thaumat prowls the area looking for stray kobolds to eat. At one of the entrances a half dozen kobold guards have holed up while they wait for pitch arrows to drive the troll away.

3.            A single Mindwarper named Xymurgis is here, guarded by two flaming skulls and a trio of well-armed orcs is visiting. He has a rather impressive animated kiosk that travels on four spidery legs, and he sells any and all potions (usually 150% of the base cost, but he’s wiling to haggle).

4.            Kobolds from the Yaunkak tribe (literally means “Stolen Baby Tribe”) are visiting and there’s the kobold equivalent of a small renaissance fair going on here.

5.            A necromancer named Callous and his three vampire vixens is passing through. He’s offering the kobolds a princely sum for the right to speak with the Speaker in the Pool, but the kobolds (all two dozen, with the lead witch-doctor, wearing garlic necklaces and wielding sacred ankh-crosses of Naril—even though they barely know who the god of goodness is!) are rather mistrustful of the necromancer and his evil maidens.

6.            Seven kobolds, including lead kobold chief investigator Yeenkark are investigating a recent death; in the center of this chamber is a dead kobold known as Yonton, the best merchant and haggler in the community, and he’s been impaled by what looks like a spear from the Yauntak (Baby Eater) tribe…Yeenkark suspects foul play and an attempt to incriminate the other tribe falsely….may be willing to employ friendly adventurers to seek out clues….

9. Warangit’s Throne Room

    The ceiling in this wide but low chamber is only four feet high; it doesn’t bother the kobolds in the least. A trio of stalagmites stretching from floor to ceiling have been turned into a throne for Warangit, leader of the kobolds. Within this chamber the chieftain and at least fifteen guards and usually five or six harem wives can be found. Warangit is open to discussion with foreigners who will pay proper obeisance to him, but he wil order the guards to attack if the adventurers have been assaulting his caverns already.

10. Sleeping Chamber

   Here, behind the throne room, is a much wider and more spacious private chamber for the chieftain, his harem, and his three dozen children (and nests for more eggs on the way). Needless to say, if the adventurers have gotten this far, they will be met by at least ten angry harem wives and three dozen angry kobold children!

   Hidden beneath the carpets of this chamber are three cisterns filled with 10,000 copper pieces (approximately, give or take), 573 silver pieces and 1,021 gold pieces in hidden loot. An adventurer walking on the carpets who makes a Perception check will notice the curious “crunch” when passing over the cisterns.

   The three treasure cisterns do contain ancient traps: at the bottom of each cistern (about three to five feet deep) is a pressure plate held down by the coins. When half the coins are remove, the plate will release, exposing a substance which explodes in contact with air, dealing 3D6 damage in a 15 foot radius around the cistern and melting the coins in the process! The way to avoid the trap is to use the key held by the lead matron on three cleverly disguised key holes each adjacent to the cisterns (Perception -2 to notice the key holes), or to pick those locks (the GM should roll that if an attempt is made, as there is no way to tell if the lockpicking is successful in “locking” the trap or not).

 Conclusion

   There are several ways out of the dungeon, that lead to other warrens within the Chaos Mountains. GMs can use this as but one of many such avenues to further adventure, of their own design!

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Characters

With the holidays and a busy work schedule combining to make time a precious thing, I have gotten a bit behind in my blog schedule. So for today I offer up this interesting bit of interest from my archives: in this case, it's a trio of Dungeon Fantasy characters I worked up sometime back for use with GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. If you're not familiar with GURPS DF it's basically a high-powered simulation of classic D&D style dungeon mayhem, but of course using the ultra-realistic point-based rules of GURPS. There are 17 books in the series now, including one of the rare and coveted GURPS bestiaries (they don't have nearly enough good bestiaries out for GURPS 4E IMO) and a scenario that's pretty decent, actually. The only thing that has ever prevented me from getting GURPS Dungeon Fantasy going is that it's A: hard to sell the local gaming groups on, B: GURPS suffers from too many stray moving parts and not enough prefab content for my busy schedule, although Dungeon Fantasy does alleviate a lot of that issue, which leads to C: it starts at 250 points and I'd really rather it started with about 100 points less.....but all the templates and designs in G:DF presume 250 point starting builds.