Dice

The Zucati Retro Dice arrived today and were subsequently crayon'ed. I think retro is the perfect descriptor for them.

They're not really facsimiles but instead are imitative of the dice of that period. They have notes of untumbled cheap plastic and a satisfyingly "chunkier" sound without the "ting" of harder plastics. They're not High Impact dice, but they're not crappy—and at ~$7 for a set of 7, I'm well pleased.

Note: only one d6 per set, I ordered two sets

I colored the 1 & 20 on the d20 red and white respectively, and I really like how it looks. I feel like this had to have been something some kids of yore did—I'm aware crits appeared in 2e, but a 20 always hitting was a rule in Holmes's B2 and B/X.

In summary: I pushed too hard and broke the crayon; cleaning the excess smudges was tedious and fun; and the dice, much like the OSR, bear little real resemblance to their ancestors but allow you to feel an illegitimate nostalgia for a time you weren't present.

Make Old Scool Maps in GIMP w/ MarkGosbell's Assets

Dungeon Pamphlet: Crimson Gore-Blossom

Pressed for time? This 17 room dungeon is a quick drop-in. 

The Gore-Blossom is a enormous red flower whose intoxicating scent and clouds of hypnotic pollen arrests victims from miles away and leads them to collapse at the base of the blossom—to be dragged beneath and fertilize it's swollen roots.
After years of feeding, an earthen cyst formed around its roots opening into a hidden dungeon.

CHRONO-MANTIS

It's spiked forelegs ripping a hole in space and time; an 8' tall Mantis of translucent crystal bursts forth. It's multifaceted eyes reflect a hundred-thousand worlds, living fractals dance across it's skin etched in impossible colors. It's recursive mouths never end—a roiling hole of mandibles and teeth, it's movements profane geometry, and suddenly, it's upon you.

Source: https://photos.alaskaphotographics.com/image/I00004hyZ_ajSPe8

Getting Started for Dirt Cheap—12, 20, or more $$

Notes:

The rulesets I recommend are cheap compatible with the majority of OSR stuff, and safe picks for any group. Some more exotic or wacky, but free, rulesets are given at the end of the post. Check them out, one might grab your eye.

Taxes, I did not factor in taxes. Usually a couple extra bucks.

Shipping, if included, is for WA, USA.

Amazon, if you don't have prime (free shipping), ask a friend.

Library Printing (LP), usually ~$0.10 a single-sided page. They may also have staplers and the big guillotine things, sometimes card-holders get a free printing allowance.

Packing Tape, put strips over paper, now you can use dry-erase markers.

One page dungeons, print some.

My Weather Hex-Flower

 

Building an Adventure & Environs: 1.6

Busy busy, just some maps.

Legend of the Pig-Faced Orc

Of all the mighty cities of yesteryear, Ulyaabus was the greatest. 

Her marble towers reached into the clouds and heavenly gardens floated between her spires. The citizens of Ulyaabus lived in utmost luxury, as all their wants were seen to by the learned sorcerers who dwelt among them. Many serfs farmed the lands outside their walls, and many paupers would travel to the city, hoping to be taken into the house of a great lord or lady.

The City That Was - Tim Hildebrandt

Indeed, the wonders of magic performed there were unmatched in all the ancient world, and never will be again, for the magicians of Ulyaabus had untold epochs to learn and perfect their craft. You see, the people of Ulyaabus—at least those dwelling in the marble spires—did not age. Nor did they fall sick in the winter, have any pains or any troubles of the body at all.

Building an Adventure & Environs: 1.5

 Map in Progress 

Click for full-size

Features Thus Far:

Daemon Wastes: Inspired by the Demon Wastes of Eberron, but with of a more doom & gloom, less hell-fire feel. Daemons are named according to their alignment (some are only moderately evil): chaotic, Cacodaemons; neutral, daemon; lawful, Eudaemon. Foolish wizards sometimes travel to the border of the daemon wastes to seek a patron or strike a bargain with a fiendish spirit.

Windless Hills: An eerie silences hangs over these hills. Folks buried their dead in these hills long before the walls of Galen's Well were raised. Abscesses run through many of the mounds, and a flat-faced runestone standing near a sealed archway signifies that the limestone hollow has been widened and now serves as a resting place for some ancient clan.

Whispering Wood: Most will divert around this fae-haunted forest. Intrepid adventures will trip on roots and have their clothes torn by thorny vines. It is impossible to traverse the woods without being noted by the fae inhabitants. Laughing foxes dart in bushes and tiny yellow-eyed things drop rocks and prick travelers with needles dipped in sick-pus.

Bone Raven Crags: The domain of The Bone Raven. A thirteen-foot highly-intelligence undead corvid formed from the bones of countless ill-fated creatures. It's bones are held together with sap pecked from a weeping sore in the World Tree—in whose brances it makes its nest. Of course, this is only the conjecture of shamans and curse-spitters, as none have ever lived to see the Bone Raven's nest. It never leaves the crags but has complete freedom of movement within them, able to disappear and appear anywhere at-will unless under the gaze of a halfling. If slain, the boneraven reforms in its nest as a flightless five-foot chick.

River Brack: This river flow backwards, bringing briney waters and ocean creatures far in-land. The lands around the river are thoroughly warped: oil-slicked mangrove forests, salt marshes, and dried salt plains where only tufts of razor-grass grow. The river was cursed by a foul sorcerer spurned by the queen of the city that now lies in ruins on it's banks. As part of the curse, the sorcerer set a condition now lost to history: The reversal can be ended by baptising a beardless dwarf in its waters.

Building an Adventure & Environs: 1

When I'm taking notes I'll put a "?" in front a thought to indicate uncertainty or incompleteness. 

I'll be referencing the Tome of Adventure Design, Gygax-75, and AD&D DMG. 

Inspiration:
• Electric Wizard
  
• Dungeon Crawl Classics
• Dying Earth
• Anomalous Subsurface Environment

First a quote from the DMG pg.86:

"To belabor an old saw, Rome wasn’t built in a day. You are probably just learning, so take small steps at first. The milieu for initial adventures should be kept to a size commensurate with the needs of campaign participants (. . .) This will typically result in your giving them a brief background, placing them in a settlement, and stating that they should prepare themselves to find and explore the dungeon/ruin they know is nearby. As background you inform them that they are from some nearby place where they were apprentices learning their respective professions, that they met by chance in an inn or tavern and resolved to journey together to seek their fortunes in the dangerous environment, and that, beyond the knowledge common to the area (speech, alignments, races, and the like), they know nothing of the world. Placing these new participants in a small settlement means that you need do only minimal work describing the place and its inhabitants. Likewise, as player characters are inexperienced, a single dungeon or ruins map will suffice to begin play."

I plan on creating several locales but will start by outlining the background, settlement, and dungeon. I tend to work by jumping around haphazardly between topics and will keep the current info here. (TODO)

Downtime & Strongholds: Demihumans

Clans and kin play a much larger role in demihuman societies and are the basis for these rules. Portions of the text were taken from B/X Essentials by Gavin Norman which in turn includes elements from Labyrinth Lord by Dan Proctor

(Larry Elmore, from the Mentzer D&D Basic Rules Set: Players Manual, TSR, 1983.)