COFFINS!

Quick craft! Making coffins from styrofoam!

DOOOM!

While following and participating in discussions on the new 2d20 system, and the concept of the DOOM mechanic, it was brought up that it could be used to build tension. As the players are adding to the doom pool and using it to build successes it is always in the back of their mind that the GM has this resource and it will eventually come back and haunt the PCs.

It is a cool mechanic.

While playing the system I found that while using a screen it prevented the players from seeing just how much DOOM that had accumulated. I had tossed around ideas in my head including a drawer like system that you could pull to your side, add doom, and push back to the PC side of the screen.

My final solution, which has not been used in a game yet, but I think has some cool potential.

It is a simple solution. 3x5 note card. Divide into 4 segments, draw skulls on them, fold them over. PCs add to the doom pool? Now that can clearly see how many skulls they have accumulated that may bite them in the ass.

What do you think? leave a comment below and let me know!

Dungeon Tiles

My take on dungeon tiles.

28mm Horses for RPGs (and other games)

Horses are important in a medieval fantasy world. They allow your PCs to travel fairly quickly and provide a way to transport goods from town to town.  However if you use miniatures they can be on the expensive side.



You can go this route from litko: http://www.litko.net/products/Horse,-Character-Mount-Marker-kit.html#.WFLq2v7n_uo



Mounted characters from Reaper run around $10+ https://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/horse/



A Pre-painted horse might run you $6 or $7+  http://www.miniaturemarket.com/pbrdi-025.html

OR

If you swing by your local Dollar Store you might find something like I found in the party favour section.

I found this bag of 10 horses for $4 CAD.  They are of course un-based, and I wasn't 100% sure about their size. 







But for the price I had to give them a shot. I have a few Mongol rifle guys and they have slightly smaller mounts, but next to a regular 28mm figure they were not unbelievable.   They have an ok selection of colors, and with the exception of one of the poses (2 horses) they all stand very well without bases.

And next to a Paizo pre-painted? Pretty much exactly the same size. $4CAD for 10 horses. Enough for a party of 4 adventurers, with 6 left to pull carts or work as pack animals. Great deal for horse figs!

Conan 2d20 play aids

After playing the first run through of Modiphius's new offering to the Hyborian Age, with Conan 2d20 I thought I would share some tools I used.  Mainly a simple and I do mean SIMPLE momentum pool and using note cards to track a mob as well as a Nemesis.  And how I use note cards to equip NPCs on the fly if needed.

Our hero in this example is attacked by a mob of 5 skeletons.   It's not the most complicated thing to record, but this is how I go about it.

I start with a blank note card and write the creature across the top.  "Skeleton Mob".  Next to that I write in the Armor Soak, and Shield Cover Soak if it is relevant.  You can place a spot for courage if that matters. I then write the total vigor for each mob member on the next line.  Finally I write down the numbers from 1-5 for each of the creatures in the mob.  

Hero rolls to hit!

Rolls Damage! 7!

Skeleton rolls shield.  3 cover +2 soak = 5 total soak.  Suffers 7-5 = 2 damage

Mark 2 'X's under the first member of the mob.  If you use Xs and Os you can track physical and mental damage.

And I use a similar card to track a Nemesis.  Although I would suggest having this prepped before hand as it is a little more time consuming to prepare, although not that much

As you are running a game and you need to be able to create an NPC with some weapon, armor and shield you can delay your game by looking through the manuals finding the relevant stats.  Instead I keep a generic human set of stats and a set of weapon, armor and shield cards handy so I can spend a few seconds getting the stats together vs digging through the book.

.

Finally the method I use to track momentum for the players involves a somewhat decorative bowl, some markers and a notecard.

Momentum markers and the pool.  I put notes on there for the players as well.  Max 6.  -1 end of round/scene.

The pool with 5 momentum

At the end of the day, anything we can use to help track and move the game along smoother should help to make the session more enjoyable.  I hope you find some good ideas or inspiration to help you run your game sessions.

Creating the Tomb Entrance

The Gibbering Darkness: Conan 2D20

He stepped lightly into the stone chamber, his sword gleaming in the light of his torch.   His small party of explorers seeking treasure and knowledge in the dark places of the earth.

His eyes took in the room, and the unnatural darkness that hung there, darker than the torchlight would penetrate causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand.  "What do you see?", came a voice from behind him.

"Nothing....", he replied uneasily as he moved further into the room, "There is a darkness here......"

The rest of the party moved in, all proven warriors in there own right, all had seen more than most human eyes could comprehend.   Now they all saw the darkness hanging a dozen or so feet in front of them, obscuring the rest of the room.

Then they heard it, unintelligible noises, voices, non-sense.  Bjartur, whispered a prayer to himself as he saw the first of the shapeless forms slide out of the void towards him, before he could react he was beset on all sides by blackness, ethereal cold clawing at him.  He screamed even as he swung his sword.  The steel blade passed through several of them as if they were smoke, but even as it passed into the formless shapes they vanished back to the void.

Birta, muttered, "by Mitra", under her breath as her sword cut an arc through the black formless things, sending the remainder of them back to whatever darkness had spawned them.

Bjartur's arms and body ached with the cold of unnatural wounds, he gasped in agony, looking up at the unnatural darkness, the gulf to another place flickered and vanished.  The room was silent beyond the sounds of their own breath.......

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In Conan, monsters and NPCs die quickly.  Without players feeding into the DOOM pool, a GM may find it difficult to provide challenges to the players.  A brand new fighter may have the ability to add to the momentum pool while maintain swift actions most rounds.  It is possible this fighter could kill a Toughened opponent in the beginning of combat.

What to do?

I give you an idea for a creature from beyond.  Small formless demonoid beings that spew forth from a tear, or portal opened by a dark sorcerer, or perhaps a natural occurrence?

They are minions and spring forth from the void in a mob.
They are Dread Creatures starting with 1 doom, so they can gain initiative.
They excel in melee with an Agility of 14 and a combat focus of 2, with dark ethereal claws, reach 2, 8CD and Vicious 1 and Piercing 2. 
They have no armor soak.

They won't last long in a fight, but they will probably put the fear of Crom into your heroes.

This is untested at this time, but I wanted to get the idea down, they may end up doing too much damage.  The general idea is something small, easily killable that can generate doom and actually make the characters realize that they are also pretty fragile.

Slightly modified version after some dice rolling.  Damage reduced.  Agility and Focus updated.