This Week’s post gives you another quick method for generating content with a handful of dice, this time creatures.
It was fun playing around with another type of Universal Profile last week, so let's keep it rolling. Can we make this work for creatures?
UNIVERSAL CREATURE PROFILE Roll 5d6, drop the highest, then read the remaining dice in order as:
Bone: How much hard structure does this thing have? Flesh: How much soft stuff does this thing have? Senses: How acute are its senses? Brain: How intelligent is it?
1=1: A Bit 2=2: Some 3=3: Lots 4=N: Null, actively none, perhaps by design 5=H: Hazardous, not through lack or excess but the nature of the thing 6=S: Super, off the scale. Think big then go bigger.
EXAMPLES
32H2 - Chitinous bug creature. It hijacks the senses of nearby creatures, severely limiting the victims own senses during this time, causing permanent damage if the bug isn't hunted down and driven out of the victim's head.
211H - Scrawny little wretches, fumbling around in the light of their hazardous lanterns, but crafty enough to have learned to use local wildlife to their advantage. If you find yourself beset by hostile encounters, perhaps one of these is pulling the strings in the shadows.
HN21 - A monster made entirely of bristling bone spines, tipped with paralysing venom. Simple minded scavenger that generally wants leaving alone, but won't hesitate to drive away competition for its carrion.
3S33 - Hulking ogre-like creature, as big as their mountain. They understand their realm better than anybody else, but more content to delegate work to their minions while they enjoy the fruits of their success. Frustrated by being surrounded by idiots.
Elsewhere
Goblin Punch looks at whether OSR combat can be reduced to a single roll.
Wyrd Lands talks about designing an Early-Medieval setting.
Mortal Wounds now occur when a target loses half of their VIG from an attack, instead of calling for a Save.
Shield Shattering is now part of the Onslaught rule.
Added the Oddpocrypha section, which will be much expanded. As usual all changes are to be tested and not final.
Coming Soon
On Patreon I talk about my approach to GM-guidance in Mythic Bastionland.
In approaching Mythic BastionlandI knew I wanted to do something different. Of course the flavour is different, the focus lies in a different style of play, and the rules have been warped, but I also wanted a new approach to how I'd advise the person running the game. Finally, I'm feeling good about the direction of the game now that I've started to work on the Oddpocrypha section, putting the focus on a large bank of examples of play, each accompanied by notes breaking down what happened, why, and how things could have been done differently.
Expect the full post next week.
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