Feeding the Lamb

 I'm thinking about expanding and rewriting Lair of the Lamb.

Refining the Lair of the Lamb

The Lair of the Lamb is alright.  It was meant to be a teaching dungeon, and to teach about consumables (light, water, food), time, and the importance of running away.  It mostly succeeded in that goal, but it could use a lot more guidance for the DM.  A lot of feedback involved 

I should probably remove/rewrite the stupid drowning ghost (better on paper than in practice).

The spiders in the crack are also unnecessary--there's no harm in letting people talk to the merchant longer.

Vandress and the sleeping priests are a lesson to teach (a) rooms are sometimes interconnected, and (b) secure the area before you start messing with things.  Vandress should probably have a spell that is well-suited to killing 1-2 PCs, but not more than that.  Vandress could also use more fleshing out.

Akina needs more fleshing out, too.

Jasper and Luntz, the gentleman ghouls.
I actually commissioned this from Alex S last year.

Refining the Gallery of the Ghouls

The Gallery needs a more substantial rewrite.  The purpose of this section was to allow the PCs to slow down, decompress from the Lamb segment, and learn about: investigation, exploration, negotiating with dubious NPCs, and puzzle-solving.  People tend to just rush through, without exploring the level much.

The ghouls will probably be fed some priests, so they'll probably be friendly and chatty when you first interact with them.  The PCs should have an opportunity to explore the area.

The goal--exit the dungeon, is confounded by the ghouls, who refuse to let you leave because they cannot leave.  Leaving will either involve killing the ghouls, tricking the ghouls, or befriending them.  Befriending them can involve several things, but one of them is certainly to find the missing fifth ghoul, and/or remove the ghoul fence.  They have about 24 hours--until the ghouls start getting hungry again.

The ghoul fence should be replaced with a sanctum septum.

Sanctum Septum

A sanctum septum is a general term for a certain type of seal constructed by the Church to seal off an area or prohibit a certain action.  There are many, many varieties.

One variety is a saint's hand atop a pole.  A piece of black twine is affixed to each finger.  The five threads spiral down the hand, and then down the pole.  Or perhaps they radiate, where they can be affixed to the walls.  Or they are woven into a loop, which is used to bind a cursed item or creature.

Another variety, is the nine eyes against chaos.  This is a symbol written onto scrolls, which are then nailed around the area.  Another version is a bronze tablet with the same symbol, sitting on a circle of dried ink.  Unbroken calligraphy flows out from the circle, guarding the area that is to be sealed.

Penalties for breaking the seal vary.  The most famous ones are an immediate sky execution or a hell summon--an immediate decapitation, where the severed head falls through the floor and straight into hell.

More commonly, however, breaking the seal merely summons a guardian.  The most common guardian is a pair of solamani.  A solamanus resembles a gigantic hand, a handspan the size of your armspan, with an eye in the palm.  They are draped in chainmail and amulets.  (The amulets determine what abilities the solamanus has, and with experience, you can learn to recognize them.)

Solamanus

Lvl 4/6  Def chain  Slam 1d12/2d8 + Grab

Fly  Int low  Str high  Dis guardian

Holy - Double damage to demons, undead, and warlocks.

Undead - If a solamanus is turned, it desummons for 1d6 rounds instead of fleeing.

Spells (2/3 MD) - knows revive solamanus and one other spell.

1. wall of fire

2. pacify

3. mirror image

4. summon serpent

5. glue

6. spell reflection

Revive Solamanus - Touch dead castromanus to revive it with 2*[sum] HP.

Pacify - Target cannot attempt actions that cause direct damage for [sum] turns.  Splittable.  Save negates.

Summon Serpent - Summons [dice] serpents.  Lvl 0  Def leather  Bite 0 + poison (1d6).

Glue - two touching objects become fused together.  Affects small areas: a palm, the sole of a foot, etc.  Creatures get a save (this extends to held or worn objects).  1 MD lasts [sum] rounds.  2 MD permanent.  3 MD - affects large objects and areas, 4 MD - permanently fuse two creatures into one (at least one creature must be willing; if you have two unwilling creatures then two people must cast this spell simultaneously to have a shot). Splittable.

Spell Reflection - Reflects the next spell that hits you.  Ignores spells that have more MD than are currently invested.  Covers you in a glowing aura (so it's obvious that you have some sort of protective aura).  Splittable.

The Abyssal Pillar

This is what's below the Lair of the Lamb.  I figure it can be keyed in 15-20 rooms/areas (but then again, I'm often too optimistic when estimating these things).

The Abyssal PIllar is a wonder of the ancient world--a crane system used to raise and lower things from the Underworld to the old city (the ruins below Lon Barago).

I'll have to shuffle some rooms around, but the elevator in LotL is built using the old windlass.  Move some rubble, open the hatch, and you can look down into a pitch black abyss.  If you fall, it's 2400' before you hit anything.

Stand on the south side of the lip, though, and hold a good torch, and you'll see a little ledge a ways off.

If you dangle down into this darkness at the end of a 50' rope, and swing back and forth a few times, you could probably grab hold of it and pull yourself up.

(Digression: I went rappeling off an overhang once and it was the most intense physical fear I've ever felt.  The moment when you let go of the ledge and put all your weight on your rope. . . it's whole-body terro.  I actually feel uncomfortable just typing this paragraph.)

The ledge is an old balcony.  The wall falls away--there's more abyss beneath you.

East is the prison stalactite.  About 10-20 prisoners were kept there.  They operated the wheel that powered the crane.  There's a section where cages dangle on the outside from chains.  The bottom floor is inaccessible (door welded shut) but you can get there if you climb down on the cages and jump to it.  (It opens into a hallway-thing.  There's no easy place for a grappling hook to attach.  (Sidenote: can a shitty hemp rope arrest a falling PC?  2-in-6 chance it breaks.)

West side has a big room where people lined up in front of the main gate (now caved in).  Gate offices hold records.

A regular staircase down turns into a sketchy external staircase.  You are now descending around the circumference of the pillar itself, which is about 200' in diameter (or 630' in circumference).  Metal spikes hammered into the stone once supported a staircase, but that has all rotted away.  The spikes are sturdy and well made.  Each about 2' long and spaced about 1' apart.  As long as you go slow and take your time, you can descend on them safely. 

Below, two albino apes have seen your light and are now climbing up to kill you.  You'll hear them coming well before you can see them.

Albino apes have the same stats as unarmed ogres with a climb speed.

The apes will attempt to throw people off the Pillar.  After throwing one person to their death, they'll probably break off the attack to go retrieve the corpse (unless the party seems very easy to kill).

They will recover the body and bring it to Toro the Death Knight, who lives at the quarry upriver.  He is holding their baby hostage (sort of).

The wheelhouse contains the body of the lower crane, a door to the halfway platform, and chain that allows you to climb back up to the bottom of the prison stalactite (if you still need to access the hard-to-get room).  It's a 200' climb up a chain, though.

The problem with climbing the chain is that there's no place to put your feet.  Your hands can grab the chain links easily enough, but your feet can't fit in the links.  If you had chicken feet, or pointy sabatons, climbing would be simple.  If you have a way to take rests (even just looping a rope around your waist and through the links) and a way to use your feet, you can climb the chain without any rolls required.  Without a way to rest, a Str check vs death is required to ascend.

At the bottom is the waterwheel that powers the whole thing, the remains of an ancient stone dock, and some stone houses.

Upriver is the old quarry.  Downriver is the Lake of Lamentations.

Feeding the Lamb + Four Demons

 Thinking about how I'm going to expand the Lair of the Lamb.

You don't have to read it you haven't already.  Just know that the adventure starts with the White Temple sacrificing the PCs to the Lamb and (probably) ends with the players escaping.  It's possible that they release a demon named Davok in the process.

The Rulers of Lon Barago

The Duke and Duchess are are in the capitol of Bospero, attempting to curry favor with the queen and her four mad sons.

Their son, the Dorcheso, can usually be found in his pleasure barge upriver, asleep between a lotus cloud and a breast.

There are several knights with households nearby--you may meet them.  The only interesting one is Sir Beloram, who married a fairy-woman.

For everyday matters, the White Temple is the real power in the city.

The White Temple

They worship Dormin, the god of wisdom and mathematics.  They have their fingers in many pies, but importantly, they control the only court in Lon Barago.

The Lamb is not something they summoned.  (It's more of a happy accident.)  They became interested in it once they discovered it could grow lambfruit, which shows the future.  (And unless the PCs killed both the Lamb and the Little Lambs, the possibility of lambfruit is still on the table.O

Sister Aloss tends the flowers.  She's convinced that they are sending him messages.  She is desperate for someone who can decode them.

Father Dibulus runs the court.  The dead are allowed to speak in Lon Barago, and a windchime in the window of the courtroom gives them voice.  (Father Dibulus interprets.) 

Father Saffron is legitimately the nicest dude you will ever meet in Lon Barago.  He loves helping people almost as much as he loves his church.  Knowledgeable about diseases and curses.  He runs the charity kitchen.

High Priestess Leshavela can read your character sheet by looking in your eyes.  Best avoided.

Brother Alabaster is an astronomer who wears bulky, concealing robes.  He is the fraternal twin brother to the Lamb.  (He resembles their late mother, while the Lamb resembles their father.)

Sister Omsa tends to the Lamb.  She noticed that the lambfruits improved when the Lambs diet was switched from grains to mutton.  She was the first to feed the Lamb a human.  Energetic, cheerful, absentminded, always intensely focused on one project at a time.  Right now it is the Lamb.  Before that, she was trying to improve the pie.  Before that, she was attempting to discover how eggs were made. 

Father Welton is not a member of the White Temple, but instead the representative of the Church.  He collects the tithes.  Whenever someone brings a cow to be sacrificed at the White Temple, they must bring two cows.  Father Welton will pick the nicer one for the Church (himself) then turn around and sell it in the marketplace.  He is contemptuous of Father Sprat.

Quests of the White Temple:

• Bring Omus captured people to help feed the lamb.
• Obviously impossible if the lamb is dead, but I still want this module to be flexible.
• Weaken the Heavy Temple.
• Take this tiny mummy and put it under Oxenbrand's bed.
• Take this little worm thing and throw it in their well.
• Find out how they get so strong.  (Secret: they're eating Davok's body.)
• Embarrass them when the bishop visits. 
• One suggestion: Get Grell out of there.
• Another suggestion: get them drunk.

The Heavy Temple

Worship Parshekkis, whose prime virtue is HUGENESS.  Kindness and discipline are also in there.  They lack the subtlety of the White Temple and will probably lose the power struggle on a long enough timeline.  They are friendly and popular with people.  Every brother and sister is buff.  (This is where you can learn to be a muscle wizard.)

Oxenbrand, the Prime.  The strongest man alive.  Good natured.  So disciplined that he's actually pretty boring.  Just talks about his training program and how many eggs to eat per day.  ("Some say it's twelve, but I've found better results with sixteen.")

Miss Greff, the cook and medic of the Heavy Temple.  Mid-thirties, former adventurer.  The brains of the operation.  No real title, but she is universally respected.

Mordin, the Eldest.  First among equals, and the only monk with any weapon training.

Dansfurion, the Eagle.  Good at jumping.  Wants to train you and will not stop talking about it.

Loktar, the Demon.  The bad boy.  Competitive.  Wants to wrestle you.  Will probably win.  Can easily become an enemy or a friend, depending on how it goes.  Prime henchman material.

Father Sprat, the Church representative.  Collects tithes, hates Father Welton.

Their dark secret: Davok's headless body sits in their basement.  They carve flesh from his still-living body, and eat it.  The body regenerates slowly.  This is the secret to their inhuman strength.  In the meantime, the body seeps malice into the surrounding area, causes nightmares and mental illness.  (Note: Davok's chains are enchanted for use against demons.  Savvy PCs might want to hang on to them.)

Quests of the Heavy Temple

• Secure a source of cheap, reliable protein.  This is their main problem.  Only Greff is astute enough to give other quests.
• Kill the Lamb.
• Figure out where the Lamb came from.  (Sister Omsa is exactly half a beer from telling you everything.)
• If they find out about Alabaster, then kill him, too.
• Fuck up the White Temple.
• Make copies of the High Priestess' letters.
• Recover the Anvil of Parshekkis.
• Burn down their library.
• Make the White Temple look bad when the bishop gets here.
• Suggestion 1: Stage events in the streets to show how popular the Heavy Temple is in the streets.
• Suggestion 2: reveal the Lamb sacrifices.  (The sacrifices aren't illegal, but every sacrifice to a lesser god needs to be matched with an equal-or-better sacrifice to Zulin.  The White temple has been dodging taxes, in a way.  The White Temple will argue that they're just feeding livestock, so there will probably be a trial.

The Bishop

Here's here to oversee the festival, but also to check on how the two temples are doing.  He wants things running smoothly--no fighting.

He's also looking for some brave souls to investigate the Crawling Castle.  (It started moving again.)

He does not yet know that the Maggot is stirring.

The Mossybump

Twenty years ago, a street urchin named Gallenty crept into a little stone house to find shelter from the rain.  She had discovered the long-abandoned altar of Shendormu, a small god of mushrooms and mold.

Mossybump is about half a mile out of town.  It's a weird little hill with a bunch of rare plants growing on it, often just singular examples of rare species.  Visitors think that it's a clever garden, but it's not.

Inside are two rooms.  The first room seats about 12 people and the priestess.  Behind a sacred door is a small, moldy room, where a big mushroom grows.  The mushroom doesn't seem to do anything, but it's wearing some jewelry.  

(DM Secret: the mushroom is just a mushroom.  The mold is the actual avatar of Shendormu.) 

Gallenty sleeps in a tent outside, where she makes a living selling drugs.  She'll happily tell that Shendormu is more of a metaphor than anything else.

Her only regular visitors are the two gangs of Lon Barago, for whom the Mossybump is truce territory.  The Tigersnakes visit during the day, while the Razorcocks visit at night.

She will be surprised when the bishop shows up to bless the shrine.

Two Gangs

The Tiger Snakes are the premier child gang of Lon Barago.  They buy drugs from Gallenty and resell them.  Don't underestimate them--they'll still fuck you up.  They also sell treasure maps (some of which are even genuine).  Their leader is Power Wolf.  He rides a huge dog named Power Dog (Lvl 3).

The Razorcocks organize cockfights on their boat.  They're friendly as long as you are spending money, but they're also quick to stab you.  They know no one will miss the weirdos from out of town.  Their roosters (Lvl 0  Def none  Razors 1d10) are trained to go for your throat. 

The two gangs are technically rivals, but c'mon, adults can't beat children in the street.  And so true violence rarely breaks out.

Befriending the Temples

Should be easy.  They're both involved in all the aspects of Lon Barago.

If you're starting out with the Lvl 0 funnel in Lair of the Lamb and the players have just escaped, both temples are looking to hire some deniable assets.

If the PCs advertise the fact that they killed the Lamb, the White Temple will try to have they reclaimed as escaped slaves (which I guess is legal?) and the Heavy Temple will try to shelter them.  There might be a trial, money will probably have to change hands, and the PCs will have a debt that they need to pay immediately.  (The White Temple will send Father Saffron to parlay with the PCs.  He's very nice, and appropriately contrite.)

If the PCs are starting out in town, then the same thing is true.

unrelated pic by Trevor Henderson

Four Demons

If you're running the level 0 funnel, the party will exit the dungeon with one of three conditions.

• Davok is controlling one of the party members.
• Davok is free, but not controlling anyone.
• Davok is still in his box.

If the PCs are approaching Lon Barago as Level 1 characters, then Davok is still in his box.

If Davok is someone's warlock patron, he'll want them to locate Drivian.  

If Davok is free, he'll eventually possess some poor White Temple monk, and then locate Drivian.

If he's in the box, he's probably going to stay in the box.  If the players locate Drivian, they might be convinced to go free Davok.  Or, much later, Shinedown might have them do the same.

Demons vs Devils

Demons are the rebellious hellspawn who fled the Nine Circles after the Church conquered hell.  Their interests are mostly abyssal, but occasionally you get a sociopath who likes it on the surface world, despite it's noxious mein

Devils are chuchgoers.  They can be recognized by the shackles that they wear.  They serve the Church-In-Hell (which is the same as the Church?  Everyone hopes so.)  The devils that travel to the surface world do so to tempt us and harm us.  For example, succubi are here to ensure that all humans have equal opportunities to damn themselves, not just the pretty ones.

Davok

He's the first demon that the party will encounter, and the second most powerful.  He's a beast demon, and the souls of a thousand hunted animals swim in his heart, crying for release.  (If he encounters a hunter, he has a hard time not killing them immediately.)  He also allows a character to start taking levels in warlock.

He is clever, more clever than any man, but this intelligence is dulled by the brute emotions that slosh in Davok like an overfilled bucket.  Still, the PCs should never underestimate him.

If Davok recovers his body, he will be whole again (see statblock below).  He will want to become the patron of one (or more) of the PCs, so that they can bind themselves to each other.  Patrons and clients cannot act overtly against each other.  The spells he bestows do not come from him, but from his master.

Existing in his full form is exhausting, however.  If the PCs agree to work for him, he will shrink down into a tiny elephant (6" tall) and demand to be taken along with them.  When he is not giving orders, he will sleep, turning into a stone elephant figurine.  Davok sleeps a lot.

His goals: find Drivian and/or Fuckload, figure out what happened, then link up with his master.

Davok will avoid helping you in his full demon form, or even in his adorable tiny elephant form.  He's very drained.  In a true life-or-death emergency, he might deign to help, but only at a terrible cost (e.g. another PC pledges their soul to him).

Like all demons, Davok cannot be easily killed.  If he is killed through mundane violence, he will return in 1d20 hours as a spirit.  Once he possesses someone (Save to resist) he gains control of them.  Every day, one Level of Davok will be invested in them until they are Davok.  (Davok can choose to suppress this effect.)  At this point, the possession cannot be reversed. 

Lvl 6  Def leather  Bite 1d10

Move as human  Str as ogre  Dis goal-oriented, irritable

Spells (3 MD): ignite, shattershield, extinguish

Explosive Polycephaly - Whenever Davok takes damage, a new animal head explodes out of the wound giving him a new bite attack that does 1d6 damage.  Davok can have up to 6 of these heads, but only two of them can attack the same target.  When combat is done, Davok will rip them off and eat them (too noisy).

Banishment - Davok can only be permanently killed if the killing blow is performed by a rodent.  

Ignite: Target takes [sum] damage and catches on fire.  Save for half, and doesn't catch on fire.

Shattershield: Castable as a reaction when you are attacked.  [Least] +4 Def.  [Better] +4 Def and opponent weapon is damaged.  [Best] +4 Def and opponent weapon is shattered.

Extinguish: light source is extinguished.  1 MD for a torch, 2 MD for a campfire, etc.

Least, Better, Best

Have I talked about this spell format yet?  Basically your roll all of your MD, look at the highest result among your dice, and then index the result below.  The more dice you roll, the better your chance for stronger results.

1-3    Least

4-5    Better

6        Best

Pretty sure Chris came up with this mechanic, but I can't find the exact post.

Drivian

A lowly spider demon, no bigger than a dog.  He lives in the abandoned windmill where he considers himself a spymaster.

Drivian has a genius intellect that is spoiled by his reductionist mindset and crippling biases.  He sees so many trees, but he cannot conceive of the forest.

His voice is wet and gurgling, full of hisses and pops.  He has befriended the Tiger Snakes, and has enlisted them as his spy minions.  His many ensorcelled spiders also gather information on his behalf.  He often has the Tiger Snakes perform missions for him.  ("Yessss.  YESSSS!  You must put these spiders on the priest's cat!  Then I will learn the secrets of the White Temple!  AHAHAHA!")

From his army of spiders and alcoholic children, he has learned a great deal of gossip.  ("Yesss.   YESSSS!  Soon Elanda will discover that Marcel is cheating on her with their daughter's tutor!  AHAHAHAHA!")  

He's also learned that Santa Claus exists, spicy things are gross, and that dogs cannot look up.

He asks the children to sacrifice babies to him, but he doesn't actually know what babies look like (he doesn't leave his windmill--all his knowledge is verbal).  And so the children have been happily sacrificing stray kittens and other small animals, much to the maniac delight of Drivian.

The children, in return, have been happily subsisting on Drivian's stories.  What 10-year-old boy wouldn't want to hear about the flensing of the damned, or the endless oceans of blood, or how it sounds when the needle-hounds devour themselves on the peaks of the Apocalypse Mount?

Way better stories than Pappo tells.

If you were thinking that Drivian was harmless, you would be correct.  Without Davok to motivate him, he is.

Lvl 3  Agility plate+2  Bite 1d6+poison (1d6)

Move quick  Int high  Wis execrable  Dis Zim

Possession - Drivian is too weak to possess humans.  He can possess spiders, though.

Banishment - Drivian must be bound in a cloth or net woven by a virgin.  Then he must be drowned in holy water.

Spit Web (1/day) - 20' diameter.  Dex or become entangled and rooted.

Summon Spiders - Swarm of spiders arrives 1 round later.  (Lvl 2, immune to most forms of damage)

The Demons as Enemies

If left unattended, the PCs will eventually hear of a murder at the Heavy Temple.  Although no one outside of the Heavy Temple knows it, Davok has reclaimed his body.  At this point, Davok will locate Drivian and learn what happened.

Davok will probably try to possess someone (ideally a monk from the White Temple) and set him up as a prophet.  Suspicion will be allayed as Davok-monk's proclamations are revealed to be true.  Marcel was cheating on Elanda.

He will preach, and he will become popular.  At some point he will start prophesying.

He will locate a missing child.  (One of the Tiger Snakes, obeying Drivian.)

He will predict a fire.  (Started by one of the Tiger Snakes.  This one is suspicious, since it looks like arson.  The demons almost bungle it.)

He will predict a spider bite (one of Drivian's minions spiders) and arrive with an antidote, just in time.

This sort of thing gets the Church's attention very quickly.  In a few months, expect a retinue of priests and paladins to show up to meet and welcome the new saint (or eliminate him, if he is genuine).  The demons expect to have the business wrapped up very quickly.

While all of this is going on, the Davok-priest will fund expeditions into the Light Collector, attempting to free (or at least contact) their master.  

If the demons remain unattended, they will probably succeed at all of their goals, eventually evacuating the village to the stone circle under false pretenses, where 500 of them will die and their bodies filled by the Perilous Company.

The Demons as Allies

If Drivian is encountered first, he will try to get the PCs to seek out Davok.  He knows one of the temples has him, but not which one.  The PCs will probably encounter Drivian eventually.  The cackling spider-thing in the old windmill is a secret, but not much of one.

When Davok and Drivian meet again, they will spend a good chunk of time cursing each other out.  

"May beetles copulate in your brain, that you may have an excuse for your stupidity!  You were captured!  I alone evaded!" 

"Worthless insect anus!  Would that you had a thousand testicles and I, a hammer!"

But they'll eventually calm down and cooperate.  They need to find their master.

Davok has no clue about what happened, but Drivian can fill him in.  The story is simple: Fuckload betrayed them all.  

Fuckload

Fuckload is a legion demon.  The last time that Drivian saw him, he was possessing a herd of about 100 pigs.  

When he jumped ship, the ensuing cascade of disasters ultimately killed the Light Collector and trapped the eldest demon in a geas that was impossible to fulfill.  It was a shitstorm that ruined everyone's plans.  Even Fuckload regrets it.

Because let's get one thing straight: Fuckload is an absolute idiot.

Quick, think of the tactics and planning that a violent, distracted six-year-old would choose.  That's how Fuckload thinks.

He swears constantly.  He shouts constantly.  He wants to break things and get drunk (and it takes a lot of beer to get 100 pigs drunk.)  He constantly fornicates with himself (pig on pig on pig on pig on pig).  

This made everyone uncomfortable.  It even made the other demons uncomfortable, although for different reasons.

Fuckload is actually hiding out at Glinden Dairy, but that's a whole separate blog post.

Banishment: All of the pigs must be killed except one.  There must be no other pig or farm animal within a mile.  The last pig must be seasoned, stuffed, and roasted alive.  Then he must be eaten by his captors--all of them.

Finding Fuckload: The PCs will probably get their hook for that place when someone sensitive (Davok, Drivian, paladin, priest) takes a sip of a glass of milk and declares "Glech!  This milk tastes like it came from the teat of a demon!".

Which is true--it did.

Shinedown

Shinedown is the master of the other two demons.  He is currently trapped somewhere in the bottom of the Light Collector.  (The dungeon, and the wizard who made it, are both called the Light Collector.)  

Unlike the others, Shinedown is a chilling instrument of surgical malice.  She is ruthless and utterly pragmatic, although she can be urbane and charming when the need arises.

She is currently trapped inside a dead oak tree somewhere on the bottom levels.  She's a big, grimy tree.  Around her are three aspects of her personality that she has isolated from the rest of her mind.  Compassion, Playfulness, and Trust.  They look and behave like children, and rarely stray too far from the tree.

If she is freed, she can pull herself from the ground and actually start doing stuff.  She looks like siren-head with a tree atop her shoulders.  As she takes damage, the wood of the tree will flake away, revealing her real face--a bloody nest of skulls and far, far too many teeth. 

She can also transform into a human with a red scarf and red gloves.  Anyone who removes it from her has power over her.

Shinedown is also capable of extracting oaths.  Most people die when they break a promise to her.  Combined with her willingness to threaten people's lives and families, she's capable of collecting a lot of servants very quickly.

Lvl 9  Defense plate  Slam 2d8 + shatter

Move fast  Int high  Wis high  Dis cold pragmatism

Spells (4 MD): raise zombie, charm, teleport, control teeth

Possession - Shinedown can possess anything taller than a child.

Banishment - Shinedown must be crushed by something really, really heavy.

Shatter - One piece of armor or held item shatters.  Magical items get a save.

True Magic - This is basically just a small version of wish.  Twice as many MD must be invested as normal.  So to get an effect comparable to a 1 MD spell, 2 MD must be expelled.  The high cost is offset by the extreme versatility of this ability.  Effects are permanent whenever 4 MD are used.

Demon Magic - Whenever a mishap is rolled, a lesser demon is summoned.  Whenever a catastrophe is rolled, a similar demon is summoned.

Teleport: Max distance is 5 ft / 50 ft / 500 ft / 5000 ft.  You can bring yourself and 0/1/2/3 other creatures.  Unwilling creatures get a save, and must be touched.

Control Teeth: Can be used to push or pull things with teeth, hold jaws closed, etc (Str bonus = [sum]).  Can also be used to rip out [sum] teeth if they fail a save (dealing [sum]) damage, and breaking their jaw if more than 10 points of damage are dealt.  As part of the same spell effect, teeth removed this way can be fired at a target for [sum] damage, although this requires an attack roll.

Shinedown's dramatic executions are typically performed by pulling someone's teeth down their throat, through the arteries of their neck, and into their heart.

The Perilous Company

All of the demons are trapped here until they can fulfil their oath, which is to resurrect the extracted souls of a mercenary group called the Perilous Company.  

If Fuckload hadn't fucked everything up, Shinedown would have helped the Light Collector instill the souls of the Perilous Company into immortal war-bodies.  But that's all gone now.  By now, containment has failed and the war-bodies have probably all been eaten by rats.

For what it's worth, the Perilous Company agreed to all this.  Or at least, the part where they agreed to get paid in exchange for godlike strength and invulnerability.  The part where their souls were trapped in some dungeon while their bodies rotted wasn't part of the plan.  Neither was all of their loved ones dying without ever knowing their fate.

Shinedown, Davok, and Drivian will probably work together to install the Perilous Company in the bodies of whatever peasants and bystanders they can get their hands on.  They want to go home, and there's no other options.  This may be a peasant or two in the beginning, but if left unattended, they'll eventually try to capture the whole town of Lon Barago (or at least, 500 of them).

The Perilous Company is probably alloyed to the same cause, but expect some anger when they wake up in the body of a random rancher.  Most will want to resurrect their battle-brothers immediately.  Other goals include finding their living descendants (if any), destroying the Light Collector, and/or trying to see if they can still get immortal warbodies.

The Obliterat and the House Unheard

It is understood that much of reality only exists because it is observed.  The Authority is capable of seeing all things, and therefore the world is stabilized and made persistant by his unwaverig gaze, watching the world from atop the Throne. 

Who gave you your eyes?  The Authority?  Do you trust him?  To see that which is hidden, then, requires you to stop looking with your eyes.  The void monks pluck out their eyes so that they might see more clearly.

The void monks offer peace, forgetfulness, lobotomies, absence, and the release of oblivion far beyond the reach of petty gods and unfair afterlives.  (Is it any wonder that they were founded by orcs?)

The most important monastery of the void monks is the Obliterat.

Within the Obliterat, the monks attempt to answer difficult questions.  When we are obliterated, are we truly gone?  Or is there just another place we find ourselves?  Is there anything after the end of time, or before the beginning?  What forms these boundaries?

They investigate these things through meditation, astral projection, and psychotropics (occasionally used as a crutch by the younger members).  The philosophical body that they have created is called the Annihilum.

"I think, therefor I am." is an empty phrase to them.  Thinking something is not proof of anything.  To them, the human mind is an echo chasing itself back and forth across a canyon.  It is an empty loop, repeating meaningless symbols, signifying nothing.

But the players do not care about most of this.  More to the point, the monks also study the lacunae.

by Chris from spiceomancy.blogspot.com

The Lacunae

There are holes in the world.  The monks know this better than any, having created so many themselves.

And that is why the monks of the Obliterat have become the best surveyors in the world.

From the crossroads at Dzorum, walk exactly 5000 feet south.  Then walk exactly 5000 feet west.  Then walk exactly 5000 feet north.  You will find that you are exactly 4851 feet away from where you started.

At the imperial quarry at Clavenhorn, it is clear that four stone gloryboats have clearly been cut away from the cliff at roughly the same time period.  The second emperor began the practice, and the fourth emperor ended it.  Where is the missing emperor?

The calendars do not match up.  The equinoxes have shifted too much.  The eclipses do not fall where they should.  Something has been corrupted.  Something has been stolen away.

The astronomers of the Obliterat have calculated that there is over three hundred years of missing history that occurred within the bounds of recorded history (a little over 700 years).  A third of the last millennium has been lobotomized, and no one knows what is missing, much less how.

The dinosaur cults have long been suspected.  But the dinosaur cults have been allies with the void monks in the past, and even when they met as friends neither could discern the truth of it.

The other possibility lays with the Order of the Owl, but who can question them?  If they ever knew the truth of it, they've long since chosen to discard the memory.

by Loch at nothicseye.blogspot.com

The Obliterat

The Obliterat was once a lighthouse.  That much was once apparent.

Like most lighthouses, it was probably built on a promontory, or at least an island.  But in the long years since it's construction, the foundation must have been washed away or eroded.  Now, the Obliterat floats above the ocean, held aloft by time-and-space-locked void monks.  The whole tower is wrapped in an enormous black sheet, like a flag over a corpse.  It flaps in the wind.

The tower itself exists in a lacuna--a gap in space.  If you hunt for it, you will never find it.  It is hidden, like a raisin under a fold in the tablecloth that you will never see, much less touch.  

But there is a way to get there.

Here is the traditional method.

• You must not intend to reach the Obliterat.
• You must not know where you are.
• You must be close to death--the boundary of the smallest oblivion.

Traditionally, the most common way for someone to get there is if their friends (or allies) conspire to send them there.  The unfortunate soul will be drugged, or plied with drink.  They will be given a near-fatal dose of black lotus.  They will be placed into a row boat below the Bastion of Medurak, when the tide is going out.  A thousand gold coins will be scattered over their unconscious bodies.  And then they will be pushed out into the churning sea.

It works best in spring.

From there, the monks will find you, hopefully.

If the gold is sufficient, and if you seem like an honest supplicant, they will take you in and tend to you until you recover. 

It is, of course, much bigger on the inside.

Honestly, the other void monasteries are a lot easier to get to.  It may be easier to just ask those void monks how they get to the Obliterat.  They can't all go through this every time they want to visit.

DM Advice

It's difficult to get the whole party to the Obliterat without railroading them.

If a single PC is trying to get to the Obliterat, they can't get there.  The only way a PC will get to the Obliterat will be if the other PCs conspire in secret to send them there.

Like, Alice and Bob will have to pass the DM a note that says "tonight we're going to get Charlie drunk, dose him with black lotus poison, cover him in gold, and send him to the Obliterat".

It's up to you what the chance of success in.  Maybe 5-in-6, if done in spring.

If Alice and Bob are smart, they'll send Charlie out at night and then go looking for him in the morning.  If he got picked up by the Obliterat, they'll never find him.  If he didn't, maybe they'll find a rowboat with their confused friend in it.

If Charlie makes it to the Obliterat, don't spend too much time 1-on-1'ing with him.  Elide the visit if you can, and/or include the rest of the party (they can suggest ideas to Charlie).  Then send him home.

The House Unheard

The void monks are the most extreme and most visible followers of the Annihilum.  But there are lay people who follow as well.  This is the house unheard.

They are functional nihilists.  They are not a death cult.  They might believe that life is pointless, but they don't seek to destroy the world.  They recognize the absurdity of their births, but they still love their mothers.

These are the people who support the monks.  They donate food, money, clothing, and other things besides.

The monks provide comfort.  Traumas can be wiped away.  Painful emotions can be burned out.  And if you insist on suicide, your loved ones can be made to forget that you ever existed, to spare them sorrow.

Most people love their mothers.

The Powers of the Obliterat

And they can, of course, easily hide anything that you need hidden.

They may even be able to find things that have been hidden, perhaps better than anyone else.

 The void monks have access to the roads that have been scrubbed from the maps.  The world is shaped differently for them (because they see the world as it is, not as it is seen).  The monks can move faster overland--sometimes shockingly so.

There are lost cities, erased from the world as thoroughly as they have been erased from the maps.  Did you think that Foxentown was the only one?  The void monks use them as an escape.  

Not as a shelter, though.  Lost cities might be lost to men, but they are not lost to everything that wanders.  Strange things stalk those empty streets.

The void monks have even learn to sing a few verses of the false hydra's song.

They sometimes align themselves with Zala Vacha, but mostly to share their protection.  They do not share most of Zala Vacha's convictions.  Why destroy anything when everything is already destroyed?  Does it matter if the void claims us now or in a thousand years?

The King of Nothing

Who rules the Obliterat?  It is said to be the King of Nothing, a person who close to oblivion that they have become unknowable.

Despite this, the King of Nothing is believed to be an actual person who walks around, holds meetings, and issues orders.  Void monks commonly experience missing time, and find strange orders in their pockets (in their own handwriting).  The instructions on these notes are followed.  They are from the King of Nothing.

That's the leading theory anyway.  The second theory is that the King of Nothing is a living Orb of Annihilation (or something very close to it).

by Kev Walker

d20 Orbs

1d10 MINOR ORBS

1. Cursed Orb of Evil Snowmen

A heavy white orb, like a small felted bowling ball.  Once you hold it in your hand, it begins turning into a snowman.

The white felt turns into snow, and it begins growing.  It gets heavier.  You probably set it on the ground.  

A small sphere appears on top of the first sphere.  Now there is a small snowball on top of a big snowball, both growing.

Then a third snowball appears, even smaller than the first two.  This continues until it is snowman-shaped.

Two lumps of coal extrude themselves from the head.  Then a mouth appears.  Then, all of your internal organs are teleported into the snowman.  

You can survive by running out of the snowman's line of sight.  Smashing the snowman while it is growing just makes more growing snowmen.

The cursed orb of evil snowmen can be recovered once the snowman melts.

This drawing is by Angus McBride
He painted it for a 1993 Middle Earth Roleplaying splatbook called Valar and Maiar

2. Orb of the Bounce

A red, rubber ball the size of your first.

The next time you would take fall damage, your body becomes elastic and you bounce back up onto whatever ledge you fell off of.  You take no damage.  This works even if you fall on spikes. 

In your pocket, the rubber orb shatters like glass.

3. Applejohn's Orb

Looks like wood covered in shiny red paint.  A silver band holds it together.

If you wear it or carry it, any arrow that would strike you will strike the applejohn instead.  If the orb is unattended, the radius of the attraction is 3'.

The applejohn shatters the first time a single source deals it 6 points of damage or more.

4. Glass Eye 

If you put it in your eye socket, you can see out of it. 

If you take it out of your eye socket, you can continue to see out of it (until someone else puts it in their eye).

5. Orb of Unlucky Arachnids

Black and shiny, like an insect.  It has a pale, wrinkled side, yellow-white like the bottom of a melon.  You can hear soft rattling when you shake it.

During combat, whenever you roll an 8, you become covered in spiders.  (Bite for 1 damage on the first round, 2 damage on the second round, and so on, until you spend a round brushing them off.  Lasts 5 rounds if uninterrupted.)

During combat, whenever an enemy rolls an 8, they become covered in spiders.

This orb shatters the first time it triggers twice in one combat.

6. IOUN Medic

Once per day, the first time you start dying, the medic heals you for 1d6-1 HP (min 0) and lectures you in the language of the stars.  (All IOUN stones used to be stars.)

Whenever you would actually die, the medic turns you to stone and embeds itself in your forehead.  All you need for a full recovery is stone to flesh and heal in the same turn.

7. Treacherous Bubble Demon

About the size of a cantelope.

Whenever the treacherous bubble demon would normally be popped by something sharp (arrow, armor spikes), the sharp thing pops instead, and the treacherous bubble is unharmed.  Swords break, armor shatters, spiky creatures take 1d6 damage as their spike explodes.  (Magic items get a save.  Epic items are immune.)

Whoever holds the Wand of Bubble Command can command the treacherous bubble demon to fly around at a rate of 30' per round.  You can also shove it in your pocket if you want--the bubble doesn't mind.  It has a Str of 0, but it can carry tiny objects (a scrap of paper) inside itself if you poke it in there.  Dex 0.

All attacks automatically hit the bubble, and it dies the first time it takes damage from a non-sharp source.  Dead bubbles look like a greasy, torn plastic bag and can be resurrected if fresh air is blown into them by someone who is truly innocent.  (The average farm toddler will suffice.)

If you ever come across a bubble breeder, your pet bubble will instantly ally itself with the breeder.

8. Orb of Ultimate Safety

A blue glass orb, with darker swirls going from pole to pole.

When activated, the orb instantly grows to encase you (and any nearby allies you designate).  You are all safe inside the 10' orb, which is as hard as steel.  Usable once per day.

It lasts until you dispel the effect, or until you pass out from carbon dioxide buildup.  (This occurs around 6 hours, assuming a single person in the orb.)

Anyone outside the orb can easily roll it around.

9.  Orb of Holiday Snow

A blue glass orb filled with fake snow and ethanol.  A miniature snowman is barely visible among the flakes, wearing a hat and with a blue circle on his chest.  On the bottom of its wooden pedestal, a tiny plaque says "shake and invert".

Whenever it is shaken and held upside down, it will begin to snow.  This even works indoors.

For most players, this is all the orb of holiday snow will ever do.

After about an hour of constant shaking and flipping, you will have enough snow for a snowman.

Each hour of work gives the snowman an additional Level (up to Level 5).  If you put a hat on the snowman and shove the Orb of Snow in the snowman's chest, it will animate.

A snowman is an intelligent and sensitive creature.  It speaks Gospeltongue.  It will be confused and horrified to find itself suddenly alive and sentient.  Unless it is in a naturally cold place, it will begin melting at a rate of 1 HP per 10 minutes (an very painful process).   It will probably die cursing your name (and rightfully so).  

50% chance that it uses its last moment of life to reach into its own chest and crush the Orb of Holiday Snow, so that no more snowmen will know its suffering.  (Although the exact percentage will depend on the situation and the conversation.)

10. Flesh Orb

Everyone who gazes on this soft, fleshy, pink ball will find it very sexually attractive without really understanding why.  (If you find nothing to be sexually attractive, you are immune to this effect.)

The effect isn't strong enough to magically compel people to hump it.  It's just strong enough to bring any dinner party to a screeching halt.  33% will disgusted by themselves.  33% will be disgusted by the flesh orb.  33% will be disgusted by the flesh orb but will discreetly ask how much it costs.

I'm gonna be honest with you here--the sages are just as stumped as you are.  Our best guess is that it's some god's boob, probably.

1d10 MAJOR ORBS

11. Orb of Pondering

A character who is at least level 3 may spend a whole session pondering your orb, thinking about a particular question.  (This requires the player to use an alternate character this session.)  At the end of the session, roll a d4.

1-2    Your question is answered by the DM.  (DMs are encouraged to be generous with their answers.)

3+    Almost. . . you need more time to PONDER YOUR ORB.  You will go insane if preventing from pondering your orb.

Every time you roll a 3 or higher, increase the size of the die.

 12. Orb of Annihilation

Four feet across, it hangs in the air like a blind spot in the universe.  The light around it is distorted like a lens.  There is a decent wind here, as air is annihilated upon contact and there is a constant vacuum at the surface of the orb.

An artifact called the Amulet of Annihilation allows the wearer to command the orb.

Whenever the orb sees a new creature (cat-sized or larger), it has a 5% chance to be interested in them.  It will pursue these creatures in a straight line (even through walls) until it either catches them or they move more than 100' away.  Do not repeat this roll each time you meet the orb.  The orb is either interested in you or it isn't.

After the orb annihilates someone, it sits in place for 54 seconds.  Although humans can't hear it, the orb emits a complex sequence of subsonic tones.  Some parts of this "song" are unique, some are common to every "song", and some parts are repeated several times within the "song".  After the song is complete, a liquid fraction from the consumed creature flows out of the bottom of the orb.  (For humans, this fraction is essentially a purified blood sample.  Other creatures yield other fractions.)

The orb is capable of more complex, unforeseen behavior.  To this day, no one knows why it suddenly lunged at Ascorion the Annihilator, the last wearer of the Amulet of Annihilation.

13. Orb of Orb Control

Black, shiny, covered with miniscule spikes.  It would be good for massages.

You can control anything orb shaped.  If you spend your turn holding up the Orb of Orb Control and shouting commands, you can rotate, roll, and move orb-shaped objects around.

It even works on the sun and moon, but they return to their normal positions as soon as you stop concentrating.  If you change the phase of the moon, all the normal werewolf stuff happens.  You can move the sun closer or farther, changing the temperature by as much as +/- 20 F (or 12 C).

Fucking around with the sun and the moon has a 90% chance of attracting an angelic strike force (1d6 angels of Level 8) in 1d20 minutes.

The Orb of Orb Control probably works on the Orb of Annihilation, but watch your back, dude.  That orb is plotting something.

14. Spherical Tutor

A sphere inside a sphere inside a sphere.  They are not fixed in place, and move slightly when you shake it.

Allows you to use the compress ability.  Once you successfully use the compress ability to kill a creature, the Orb of the Spheres turn into the appropriate monsterball.

Alternatively, if you boil the Orb of the Spheres until it becomes gelatinous, you can spread it on toast and eat it in order to gain your first level in Spherical Wizard.  (The toast is optional, but traditional.)

15. Orb of Lykorum

Oil slick.  It seems to vibrate.  If you hold it for too long, your joints ache.

When you activate this orb, it turns into a cube and shunts the current room off into a non-Euclidean dimension, and you along with it.

Each door connects to the door across from it.  If you look out the north door, it's like you're looking in the south door.  You can see your own ass.  The rooms that used to connect to this room are now connected to each other (like the map was pinched together) in whatever way makes the most sense.  If there's an odd number of doors, a new door sprouts. 

Everyone is trapped here until you deactivate the cube.  You cannot cut people in half with this effect--the extra dimensions have soft edges.  Every time you use this orb, there is a 1-in-6 chance of it breaking (reverting everything back to Euclidean space).

It works similarly on outdoor areas, but the scope is highly variable.  It's typically about the size of a large meadow, though.

16. Graviton Orb

Polished bronze.  Mechanisms visible beneath its skin, silently moving.

It has a nubbin on the bottom.  Whenever you point the nubbin down, activate the orb, and rotate the orb, whichever direction you rotate the nubbin becomes your new down.

You can use it once per hour.  The new gravity direction affects you as long as you hold on to the orb.  The new gravity direction affects the orb until someone reassigns it a new gravity.

17. IOUN Morningstar

Orbits your head, about 60 rpm.  Looks like the head of a tiny morningstar.

Gives you a free attack once per turn (as if it were a morningstar +1) but if you are also making an attack this turn, there's a 50% chance the morning star hits you instead.  It's got a pretty erratic orbit--best keep your hands close.

18. Prison Orb of the Bone Needle Men

A spaghetti-maze of thin, fused bones.  An evil red light bleeds out of a peephole.

Anyone who looks in the peephole will see a large cave, a thousand times larger than the sphere.  At the back of the cave, there is something approaching.  Anyone who watches this scene intently will see something that looks like a bone needle man, at which point they are sucked into the sphere.  The sphere seals up.  The prisoner remains in stasis until the orb is shattered.

19. Crystal Ball

You may ask a question of the crystal ball and gaze into it for 1 hour.  

During that time, the spirit trapped inside the crystal ball will show you a scene: near or far, past or present.  Everything the crystal ball shows you is true, but there is a 50% chance that the crystal ball is trying to deceive you.

Examples of deception: You ask where the magic sword is, and the crystal ball shows the king.  (In actuality the king doesn't have the sword, but he does know where it is.)  The crystal ball technically answered your question. . . sort of.

Another example of deception: You ask the crystal ball who killed the priest, and it crystal ball shows the priest's mother.  (In actuality, the priest's mother caused his death by allowing him to be born into this world.)  Same thing.

Essentially, unless you see it happen, don't trust what the crystal ball shows you.  On the other hand, it is obliged to show you a correct answer, so it's not useless.  The identity of the priest's mother is not useless information.

The deceptive nature of the crystal ball is not commonly known or easily identified.  It's akin to a cursed item in that way.  (The trapped spirit is hoping that you will become frustrated and shatter the damn thing.)

Once someone has used the crystal ball, they can never use it again.

20. The Sports Ball

When bounced three times on the ground, it compels nearby creatures to play a good-natured Ball Sport game.  Out of all the creatures in the area, whoever has the best Save makes a single save on behalf of everyone.  If the save is failed, everyone stops what they are doing and plays a good-natured game of Sports Ball.  

The save fails automatically if the bouncer is not being a Good Sport.  (For example, by trying to use the Sports Ball to distract the enemy while allies sneak in and rob the place.)

The save automatically fails if anyone is doing anything that demands immediate attention (e.g. putting out a fire).  

During the Ball Sport game, no one plays to win.  Everyone just plays to have fun.  Everyone should make some rolls.  What kind of rolls?  Whatever!  Attack rolls!  Barely-relevant skill checks!  Just try to roll big numbers and have fun!  You get points!  You all get points!  (DM: figure out some fair way to actually generate a score with all those checks, though.  Scores are fun.)

You have about 30 minutes of in-game time to discuss whatever you want.  That's 30 minutes where the dragon isn't trying to kill you.

Afterwards, everyone is well-inclined towards each other.  If people were about to murder each other before the game, now they just want to shake hands and walk away.  It's tough to kill your teammate.  Besides, there's plenty of time for 

The Sports Ball contains all ball sports.  There is always an appropriate Ball Sport game to play, no matter the circumstances.  The Sports Ball works even if 30 peasants and a dragon want to play a game.  The Sports Ball works even if two people locked in a chest want to play a game.  The Sports Ball works even if a thousand snails in a field want to play a game.  The Sports Ball is for everyone. 

The Sports Ball is usable once per day.

By SIR

Goblin Guts v2 + A Bit About Emergent Gameplay

It's been at least a year since I tore down my old ruleset and built a new one, so it makes sense that I'm feeling the itch again.  (TL;DR: here's a 22-page PDF.)

Going into this, I have the following design goals.

Diagetic Progression

In past incarnations of the GLOG, certain classes had diagetic abilities.  Fighters got bonuses based on how many things they had killed.  Thieves got bonuses based on the most expensive thing they had ever stolen.  

These weren't perfect, but at least they were (a) tied to in-game actions, such as heists, (b) a method of progression besides XP/Treasures, and (c) motivated class appropriate actions, such as heists.

These also fit pretty well alongside my idea for a character's Legendarium and should probably be integrated there.

Magic Dice For Everyone

Everyone seems to like the magic dice that wizards get.  I can probably extend it to other classes, too.

Will it be any good?  Fuck, maybe.

Centerra doesn't have a fine line of distinction between magical and non-magical things (citation).  So it follows that regular old vanilla fighters are able to do some things that are magical according to our Earthly eyes.  After all, magical shoes are made by regular cobblers, not wizards.

Mono-Class Parties

This is another idea that I've circled around for a while.  An all-thief party sounds as interesting as an all-wizard party.

First, because it invites a certain style of play.  Perhaps I should write more about to support those types of games?  For example, a mono-thief game might revolve around heists.  It makes sense to hammer out a few rules for the heist game.

Second, having a mono-class party fundamentally changes the assumptions of the game.  Lots of adventure writers will assume that the party will have access to certain magic spells by a certain level.  If everyone is a thief, that assumption will be incorrect.

That means that some parts of the adventure will be easier than intended, and some parts of the game will be more difficult (or impossible).  While a DM can flex the adventure a bit to accommodate a mono-class party, part of what makes this playstyle so interesting to me is the idea that, to a certain extent, mono-class players know and accept this. 

If we're going to write new rules for mono-class parties, we should realize that they are opportunities to fundamentally change the rules of the game, and we should embrace that.

This idea is so exciting to me that I'll create a new heading.

Emergent Gameplay and New Modes

Emergent gameplay is simply finding new ways to play the game outside of what the creators intended.

Have you heard of the Nuzlocke Challenge in pokemon?  It's a set of self-imposed restrictions that are designed to make the game more challenging, effectively twisting it into a new game.

Speedrunning is another form of emergent gameplay.  So is trying to get to maximum level on World of Warcraft without killing anything.  Same with any other videogame where players ignore the typical objectives and make their own.

Tabletop roleplaying already has a lot of emergent gameplay.  Players are already free to set their own goals and victory conditions (to an extent), but rarely do players have the option to bend the rules of the game.  The published Player's Guide and Adventure Paths present a singular interpretation of Correct Play (where both rules and goals are identical to the original publisher's). 

But it doesn't have to be that way.  

One example: I ran a one-player/one-DM Caverns of Thracia one-shot where the player was a level 20 wizard.  It was great!  Lots of exploring, lots of talking, and when a monster got uppity, they got disintegrated.  There was still some tension, though, because the dungeon had to be explored all in a single day, and each spell could only be cast once.  We weren't playing Caverns of Thracia the way that Gary and Jennell intended, but we found a new mode that worked great for us.

Another example: perhaps the group that is all dungeon hackers is able to automatically open every door they come across, potentially allowing for some major sequence breaking.

Another example: are there any groups out there that have completed pacifist runs of published modules?  That might work best if everyone is a divine concubine.

Anyway, mono-class parties seem like a crack in the Correct Playstyle Monolith that a lot of our peers worship at.  With a chisel, a hammer, and a pen, we can widen that crack.

from here

The PDF

Anyway, I ended up writing it.  I was gonna write four more classes (Ranger, Knight, Scholar, and Wizard) but I think I'll save that for another day. 

>>CLICK HERE<<

Have a look, and please let me know what you think.