The Thousand Year Sandglass now available on DriveThruRPG!

Behold!

 More than a thousand and one tales await in a brand new campaign guide from BigFella Games!  Inspired by the Arabian Nights, and written to be compatible with Labyrinth Lord, this is the first volume in a series of books bringing my long running campaign to the public.

Contains a world hex map and gazetteer, four new classes, extensive random tables for generating adventures in the fabled city of Kalabad, a fearsome array of new monsters, as well as extensive material on various types of jinni, and 8 fully mapped and keyed adventure scenarios. And much more besides.

I would be honored if you gave it a look, and thrilled if you would be inclined to purchase it!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/244365/The-Thousand-Year-Sandglass--Book-1

Available now in digital format. The Print on Demand version is in the works and should be appearing soon. Watch this space for more!

Like a jinni from an antique lamp, the magic can be yours to command!

The Creepy Crawl Chronicles - Session 38

Full house today!:
Greed – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Rael – Lvl 6 Thief/Werewolf
Vlad Draculastein – Lvl 4 Dampyr
Tarvinir – Lvl 5 Magic User
Ritzy – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Arongoth of Hogendaus – Lvl 6 Cleric/Vegetable

Monsters Mashed:

1 Grindeylow – Smacked about than rabbit-bit by Rael.

               48 EXP/ 6 players = 8 EXP apiece

 Argus Strangel, cleric of Leviathan – Silenced, shot, stabbed, then perforated with Magic Missiles

               1800 exp/6 players = 300 EXP apiece

Total: 302 EXP Apiece

Items Gained: Decanter of Endless Water. You’ll need to get it looked at by an expert (like the Occluded College) to gain full mastery of its abilities.

Commentary: 

In this session the party continued their raid of the Cult of Leviathan's hidden temple. They ganked a grindeylow that crawled up out of the sea portal. (The random dice weren't really workin' for me. I prolly shoulda just tossed another skrag at 'em since they'd used up their Fireball, now that I think about it long after the fact.) 

They also confronted and thoroughly murderated the cult's high priest, a nautical sort of fellow who if I recall correctly didn't get much chance to put up any kinda resistance to our industrious interlopers. (Lone spellcasters are kinda like bugs on a windshield when a party gets rolling, especially when Silence spells get into the mix.)

This session also saw the introduction of one of the most abuse-able, mischief making magic items in the game, the Decanter of Endless Water (particularly its firehose-like Geyser function), which the players eventually, and rather tellingly, dubbed the "Hydro Pump".

Lotsa boffo laffs comin' outta that unassuming bottle. Chuckles by the gallon.

Stay tuned for more hydraulics and larceny.

The Creepy Crawl Chronicles - Session 37

Greed – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Rael – Lvl 6 Thief/Werewolf
Tarvinir – Lvl 5 Magic User

Henching:
Vlad Draculastein – Lvl 4 Dampyr
Ritzy – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Arongoth of Hogendaus – Lvl 6 Cleric/Vegetable

Monsters Mashed:
Fog swimming bull shark who attacked Greed, Ritzy, & Arongoth in their room at the Rusty Bucket Inn. Bludgeoned to death and sold to the inn for soup stock to offset room repairs.
30 EXP/3 = 10 Exp for Arongoth, Ritzy, & Greed

Scrag in Leviathan Temple: Zapped, shot, and evaporated in a fireball.
               600 EXP/ 5.5 players = 109 Exp Apiece

               50 gp worth of copper, silver, and brass scrap from sea chest in shrine. /5.5 players = 9 exp apiece

Total Experience = 118 + 10 for Arongoth, Ritzy, & Greed

Addional gain: +1 cutlass with etched design of mermaid kissing a sailor under waves on the blade

Commentary:

In this session the conflict with the Cult of Leviathan escalated, with the cult sending another of its signature monsters after them: enchanted bull sharks that could swim through thick fog, which they sent after our heroes at the inn. 

I smile with fond nostalgia at the name of the inn, The Rusty Bucket, which is a call back to the second campaign I took part in with Paul and Delta and my Boston gaming crew. Somehow our group wound up buying a tavern and running it, in addition to fighting angry volcano gods, giant spiders, and midget vampires in a campaign set in the multi-doomed city of Treague.  

But I digress. After fending off the shark that crashed through their window and selling the fins to the inn to pay off the repairs, they sought out the squid cult's home base to get them to call off their repo-fish. 

I do recall some shenanigans with Rael trying to climb in wolf form onto the roof of the dilapidated dockside warehouse they tracked their foes to, but eventually they found the secret entrance and began their raid on the Shrine of the Leviathan. 

They made their way down into the entry hall, and Fireballed a sea-troll that crawled up thru the sea portal, and that's where we left off for this session.

To prep the cult's temple I used a small dungeon/temple map I'd run across as a 1 Page Dungeon entry titled the Lost Temple of Tyrandraxu written by Mr. Joshua J. Laboskie, proprietor of Jasper's Rantings.But I needed to make it a bit more maritime in tone, so here's my modified key:

THE HIDDEN TEMPLE OF THE LEVIATHAN

1: Shrine

The rickety steps lead down to a large 40’X50’ room with a thin pillar of barnacle encrusted stone every 10’. 

    There is a corridor in the N wall behind a rattling curtain of seashell beads strung with about 50 gp with holes punched in their centers. If any of the coins are gathered, it will cause enough rattling to alert other parts of the complex. 

    In a 10’ alcove to the E there is a prow of  a wrecked ship with a mermaid figurehead. The head has been struck off, replaced by a jagged bloom of bone white coral. A sea chest sits on a low stone slab in front of it, full of copper and silver pieces and smashed compasses and astrolabes. (about 50 gp worth of coinage) Beneath the coins is a cutlass +1 (1d6+1) that allows Water Breathing as long as it’s clenched in a user’s mouth. Its blade is etched with an image of a mermaid kissing a sailor under the waves. If the coins are disturbed, the coral head of the idol will start screaming like a shrieker for 1d4 rounds.

    There is a locked door to the W. A puddle of wet sand streams out from under. It bears a hammered copper image of a whale and a squid locked in a death struggle. 

2: Pool Room

    This room is 30’X30’ with walls of grime streaked green marble. A low well lies in the center, about 10’ across. If the shrines in 1 or 5 are disturbed, underwater guardians will be summoned to defend the temple. Monsters will also be called by Brother Strangel in 3 at will.

Roll 1d4
1: 1d4 Grindeylows HD: 2, HP: 14 each, AC: 7, Claw Claw Bite 1d3/1d3/1d4, Blinding eye flash Save vs. Paralysis or binded for 1 Turn (-4 to hit, 1/2 move) Mv: 90(30) Sv: F2, Ml: 8

2: 1d8 Tentacultists HD:1, HP: 8 each, AC: 7, Dmg: Tentacle grapple 1d3 per turn of constriction (-1 to hit per tentacle on victim) Mv: 90(30), Sv:F2, Ml: 12. Retributive strike save vs. Death or take 1d8 in 10’ radius. Ink cloud: Obscures vision for 1d8 rounds. 

3: 1d6 Bull Sharks (can swim and breathe in air in temple) HD: 2, HP: 12 each, AC: 4, Bite: 2d4, Sv: F1, Mv: 180(60), Ml: 7

4: 1 Scrag: Troll with gills: HD: 6+3, HP: 28, AC: 4, Claw Claw Bite 1d6/1d6/1d10, Mv: 120(40), Sv: F6, Ml: 10

3: Priest’s Chamber

The door to this chamber is ajar, and leads to a dank 20X20 room full of battered antique furniture and decorated with mildew spotted sea charts. A well stocked liquor cabinet sits in the E Corner. This is the dwelling of Argus Strangel, the priest and prophet of Leviathan.  A grizzled man of nautical bent with one wide, staring eye. He’s willing to negotiate sale of the hook. 

Argus Strangel: 9th. Level Cleric, HP: 27, AC: 5 (Bracers of Armor), Belaying Pin 1d6 or Broken Bottle 1d4
Spells: 1: Cure/Cause Light Wounds, Detect Magic, Purify Food & Drink, Resist Cold 2: Silence 15’ Radius, Resist Fire, Hold Person, Speak With Animal, 3: Animal Growth, Cure Disease, Dispel Magic 4: Lower Water, Detect Lie 5: Insect Plague (crabs instead)
Magic Items: Decanter of Endless Water hidden among liquor bottles.

4: Sandy Corridor

A corridor leading to a 30’X20’ flooded room with ankle deep brackish water. There is a lot of sand in the otherwise roughly worked stone corridor, which will slow movement by 1/2 (4a). Under 4b there is a pit trap (1d6 dmg from fall)

There are rusted manacles set in the walls of the room, and this is where the party will be taken if defeated. The corridor ends with a water swollen door in 5, which takes a 1 on a d6 to open.

5: Deep Shrine

There are two pressure plates in the corridor for 2, which will activate Poison Dart traps (Fire as F1, 1d4 damage, Save vs. Poison or affected by hallucinogen as Confusion. for 1d6 turns (1-4 Fight Phantoms, 5-6 Babble, 7-10 Fight Each Other). Past the point where two corridors meet, the hallway is hung with fronds of half rotted kelp, which slows movement by 1/2 to pass thru, and save vs. Paralysis or get entangled, needing a turn to get loose. 

    The shrine beyond is 40’X20’, carved in black stone with a row of polished, salt crusted steel columns leading to an 8’ wide porthole opening onto a vast dark underwater vista with vaguely perceptable shapes moving in the distant shadows. If touched ripples will flow across the wet surface. 

    On a small rock platform on the other side is a stone chest full of treasure. (2000 GP, 3 Pearls (10gp, 75 gp, 250 gp) nestled in a polished Oyster Shell (30 gp), A silver and coral bracelet (400 gp), A jade pendant depicting fish swimming around a crown (600 gp) And a silver ship’s clock and inlays of frolicking mermaids in walrus ivory (900 gp)

 Passing things through the portal has a 1 in 20 chance of attracting the attention of one of the creatures. Stepping through will put you at the bottom of the ocean, save vs. Paralysis or pass out from the immense sudden pressure. A giant squid will attack a moment later. 

Giant Squid: HD: 6, HP: 48, AC: 7, 8 tentacles(1d4) 2 Attack Tentacles 1d8, Bite 1d10, Mv: 120(40), Sv: F3, Ml: 9, 6 HP to cut small tentacles, 8 to large, will blast 30’ diameter cloud of ink to escape if fight goes bad. 

The Creepy Crawl Chronicles - Session 36

Session 36
Greed – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Rael – Lvl 6 Thief/Werewolf
Vlad Draculastein – Lvl 4 Dampyr
Tarvinir – Lvl 5 Magic User

Henching:
Ritzy – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Arongoth of Hogendaus – Lvl 6 Cleric/Vegetable

Monsters Mashed:
8 Tentacultists – Variously bludgeoned and mauled
1030 EXP/ 5 players = 206 Exp apiece.

Other gains: Mission to a lost school of the Occluded College to retrieve Staff of Koendar, secure membership in O.C. for Tarvinir. Burned letter from Prof. Scarabus to Prof. Friedrich. (Ramifications unknown.) Gained enmity from Cult of the Leviathan ‘cos Greed’s got that magic hook now and won’t fork it over.

Commentary:

So in this session some of the plot hooks I cast into the murky waters of the campaign went taut and started to pull the party along. 

Tarvinir got a mission from the Occluded College to determine his worthiness for induction into that secretive order of scholars. They would follow up on this presently. In the meantime a more pressing matter had arisen.

The box that Greed got from the crazy old sailor turned out to be a literal plot hook, in the form of a giant, rune inscribed fishing hook about seven inches across, that several hooded, cloaked, vaguely fishy smelling fellows expressed a very keen interest in acquiring. 

When our heroes demurred, the eight representatives of the Cult of the Leviathan each extruded a huge, flailing tentacle from the depths of their hoods and attacked. 

The tentacultists, as I dubbed them, are probably one of my favorite monster re-skinning jobs, if I may say so myself. They're essentially a single giant octopus, stat wise, but they appear as eight hooded nondescripts in heavy cloaks and robes, each barfing a big tentacle from their head when the time comes to throw down. They'd be fun to make into miniatures if I could get the right components together.

The only plotline that went kinda dead was their dealings with Professor Scarabus. Whatever pique they might have inspired from the murderous mage by burning his letter to Professor Friedrich was postponed by their suddenly finding themselves at war with a Lovecraftian squid cult.

Stay tuned next week as our merry monster squad dives into that particular tenticular kettle of fish. 

 

The Creepy Crawl Chronicles - Sessions 34 & 35

Session 34 Attendants:
Greed – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Rael – Lvl 6 Thief/Werewolf
Vlad Draculastein – Lvl 4 Dampyr
Tarvinir – Lvl 5 Magic User

Henching:
Ritzy – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Arongoth of Hogendaus – Lvl 6 Cleric/Vegetable

Gold Acquired: 800 GP payoff from Professor Scarabus for being an accessory for the undead axe murder of the composer/mage Phillipe Von Zann.

800EXP / 5 players = 160 EXP

Session 35 Attendants:
Greed – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Rael – Lvl 6 Thief/Werewolf
Vlad Draculastein – Lvl 4 Dampyr
Tarvinir – Lvl 5 Magic User
Arongoth of Hogendaus – Lvl 6 Cleric/Vegetable

Henching:
Ritzy – Lvl 5 Homanculus

No combat or cash in, but a lot of contacts made around Kroenenburg the last couple of days:

Lew Kelp of Kelp’s Apothecary down on the dock front. If asked where Arongoth got the Mandrake Powder he’ll deny ever having met you.

Adolphus Gunn from the Shrine of St. Heironymus, who hipped you to the existence of Krenshaw’s Powder and some info about Isengrim the Werewolf King.

The nice people at the Hostel of St. Gwenivere took care of Vlad until his case of the sewer pukes were cured.

Gertrude Getz, a widow and owner of Getz, Havram, & Felderman’s, a bookseller in the market district that deals in bad romance novels and good poetry. A point of contact for the Occluded College. Also a big poetry fan.

The clerk at the Shrine of St. Eumenides, where students go to make offerings for good grades.

Knowledge that the pub called “The Moment of Clarity” is a front for the Occluded College of Mages, where you met Hiram Voss. Tarvenir has presented the late Heinrich Howel’s spellbook cover and wand, and is under consideration for membership. This will entail an entry fee of 90 gp, an annual fee of 110, which will entitle you to research and magic item identification in exchange for the same from other members, and writing scholarly papers on your own discoveries.

Greed got a box from a desperate seeming old salt who foamed at the mouth and fainted when Greed tried to stop him from hobbling away. As yet unopened.

Rael got whacked with a broom and chased off by a washerwoman, but eventually obtained the makings of a disguise to pass as one of the city’s ragamuffin street urchin/guides. Tarvinir bought a nice sturdy travelling coat and looks less scholarly. Whether that will throw the town constabulary off their trail for the shocking murder of Von Zann remains to be seen.

Whilst paying for the Von Zann job, Professor Scarabus has given you a large sealed envelope with the words “For Dr. Friedrich” and an address on it.

Commentary:

These two entries were a couple of those runnin' errands, makin' contacts, pickin' up plot leads kinda sessions that inevitably happen in campaign play. A lot of NPC's made up on the fly to serve as DM's handpuppets for conveying information. 

Rael and Tarvinir made the drop off of the violin case at the residence of Philippe Von Zann, and were dismayed a couple days later to hear about the mage/composer being hacked to death by a pair of floating skeletal arms that popped out of a violin case with a hatchet. They were even more dismayed to hear that the local constabulary was looking for a couple people who matched their description who'd been observed dropping off the case at Von Zann's place. 

(This supernatural assassin was an old monster from the 2nd. Edition Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume 1 called a Dread. I'd had Scarabus pull the old Dread in the violin case trick before, back in the Wardicon campaign when I first introduced him and he was doing an Avengers (as in Steed & Peel) style murder list on his former colleagues.) 

Handy and horrifying.

Arongoth found a source to feed his growing (in a couple of senses) mandrake root habit. This time in concentrated, powdered form. 

And speaking of dubiously obtained and possibly dangerous powders, the green powder that Morgus the Malevolent's money mummy coughed up to turn Arongoth's entourage of undead against him was identified as Krenshaw's powder, which is a vile concoction that can either wrest control of animated corpses or just make them murderously free willed, depending on how it's formulated. There will be more on this in later Chronicles.

Vlad either suffered some infected bites or fell in the sewer (I don't rightly recall.) during last session's visit to the wererats and came down with a nasty case of something gastrointestinal. He convalesced at a hostel run by the order of St. Gwenivere. 

Tarvinir followed the trail of breadcrumbs I laid down with the spellbook cover and wand they found in the spider wolf's lair, and worked his way toward induction into the Occluded College. This was made a bit more difficult from having to keep a low profile thanks to his involvement in the Von Zann atrocity, but he managed to make some connections and grab onto one of my plot coupons. 

And finally, in a Lovecraftian twist, Greed the homanculous was accosted in the street as he took the air in front the inn they were staying at by a wild eyed old sailor who handed him a macguffin mysterious wooden box and promptly expired as he staggered away. 

Just what all these plot hooks are attached to we shall see in subsequent entries. Stay tuned.

The Creepy Crawl Chronicles - Session 33

Greed – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Rael – Lvl 6 Thief/Werewolf
Ritzy – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Arongoth of Hogendaus – Lvl 6 Cleric/Vegetable
Vlad Draculastein – Lvl 4 Dampyr

Henching (Hope you feel better.)
Tarvinir – Lvl 5 Magic User

Loot Gained: 1000 GP payment to Greed & Ritzy for Spider Wolf Poison glands from Professor Scarabus (Vlad was present also. I leave it up to you as to how it’s split)
333 EXP to Greed, Vlad, and Ritzy

Contacts made: Professor Scarabus has asked Greed & Ritzy to drop off a violin case (that occasionally makes ominous scratching noises from inside) to the music conservatory of a nobleman and composer named Philippe Von Zann.

After an initial mugging, Rael charmed the were-rats of Kroenenberg’s undercity into taking you to their leader, the horrible Rat King, to discuss enhanced lycanthropy techniques with Rizzo, its medically knowledgable head. His recommendation: seek out Isingrim the Werewolf King, or one of his sons, and eat his heart. He is reputed to lair in the high alps far north of Strangledorf.

Commentary: 

So the party finally made it into town and secured lodgings at an inn, then set about pursuing their various agendas or discovering new ones. 

Greed, Ritzy, and Vlad headed to the address given to them by the monkey skeleton and were met there by a scarab beetle rolling a disembodied eyeball, which led them to an abandoned chest of drawers/vanity in a seedy back alley. The grim visage of Professor Scarabus appeared in the mirror, and instructed them to place the poison glands of the spider wolf in the top drawer. As soon as they'd done so the middle drawer popped open, revealing their payment of 1000 gp. 

While they scooped their money into sacks, the Professor asked them if they'd be interesting in doing some delivery work for him. Judging him to be a trustworthy, benevolent soul, they agreed, and the bottom drawer popped open, revealing the violin case to be delivered to Philippe Von Zaan, for the price of 800 gp.

Later, Vlad, Rael, and Tarvenir went out on a little information gathering jaunt, leaving the homanculi back at the inn to avoid drawing any unwanted ire from the torch and pitchfork set.

After visiting a couple of the local religious orders, most notably the Order of St. Hieronymous (an organization of monster hunters. I don't rightly recall why they were inquiring there. Maybe it was werewolf related.) they got jumped and dragged into an alleyway by a gang of were-rats. Seems the lycanthropic rodents thought they had a bunch of neophyte monster hunters on their hands.

After some initial blows were struck, Rael revealed what she was also on the were- spectrum, and the rats quickly changed their tune and became friendly. They led the excursion group down into the sewers of Kroenenburg, where they met with the were-rat's leader, a hive mind of venerable were-rats conjoined by their tails. The horrible Rat King. 

Rael was interested in finding out if she could transform at will and reliably, as opposed to once per day and back and possibly getting stuck in either form like she was now. The Rat King told her about the King of Werewolves, Isengrim, and how if she wanted to freely transform she'd need to eat his heart, or the heart of one of his close relatives. 

How 'bout that for a plot hook?

Tune in on Wednesday as the networking continues.

The Creepy Crawl Chronicles - Session 32

Welcome to Kroenenberg

Session 32 Attendants:
Greed – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Rael – Lvl 6 Thief/Werewolf
Ritzy – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Arongoth of Hogendaus – Lvl 6 Cleric/Vegetable
Vlad Draculastein – Lvl 4 Dampyr
Tarvinir – Lvl 5 Magic User

Monsters mashed:
Morgus The Malevolent’s Money Mummy – Kerploded by a Lightning bolt from Tarvinir.
962 EXP (Factoring in the two coins in its eyesockets)

3 Zombies and 7 Skeletons – Formerly in Arongoth’s employ, gone rogue from the green powder. Stabbed, arrowed, explosively turned and otherwise smushed by party.
               178 EXP

The Skull Vulture – Also Kerploded by a Lightning Bolt from Tarvinir

Commentary:

This session was spent on the outskirts of the port city of Kroenenberg, battling an assortment of undead horrors.

Morgus the Malevolent's money mummy initiated its shakedown of the party by coughing up a vial of vile green powder that caused Arongoth's entourage of shambling corpses and skeletons to turn on him and his living companions. Whut oh!

Thus they were forced to smack 'em down, but it was better that way, since they were new arrivals in town and the welcome wagon generally brings torches and pitchforks (or in this case, probably gaff hooks and belaying pins) when you've got a gaggle of zombies and skellies following you around.

They also encountered a monstrous vulture with a human-ish skull for a head. I'm pretty sure I just reskinned a standard harpy for that bit. I think the creature was terminated at a distance. I also think I had rough plans for a dungeon connected to it but the party was intent on getting to their destination and didn't follow up on it. Such is the way. That's why it pays to play it loose.

I love doing re-skins on monsters, and had a lot of opportunity to do it in this campaign. Just like when I was a kid my action figures never really stayed as who they were on the package they came in. I was always coming up with my own characters and making up my own stories, even as a wee tad.

(Except for Han Solo and Chewy, although they flew around with Hammerhead, Walrus Face, Snaggletooth, and even Greedo (Dunno if he forgave Han first or what.) as kind of an ersatz pirate crew in the back compartment of my Millenium Falcon vs. Darth Vader and his one solitary stormtrooper. (Who kinda became like Professor Fate and Max, thinking back on my youthful frolics on the living room floor.) But I digress...)

By my use of the term "kerploded" in the email, I can infer that in both cases it was a one shot kill from Tarvinir's lightning bolts. I'm sure in one of those he used the Big Red d30. Like I've mused before, getting to roll a d30 for damage might be a bit overpowered, but the players enjoy it. As Jeff Rients famously said "Your NPC's suck and they are all going to die."

Tune in next week as our heroes hit the town, and the town takes a couple swings right back at 'em.

 Push the button, Max.