Character Class: Jack

I started a B/X campaign a month ago that I'm calling Deep Valley. The idea was to start fresh and design some things based on images only. So I spent a few days picking art that I love - such as paintings and drawings by Rodney Matthews, Hannes Bok, and Eyevind Earle to name a few - and writing short things inspired by them. I wrote a bunch of character classes and asked my players to choose from them instead of anything standard.

This class emerged from that idea. It's my riff on the sly Jack from Jack Tales stories. This class sort of stands in the place of the Thief in the Deep Valley setting, which has a strong faerie tale falvor (I hope).

Here's a PDF of the Jack class and screen shots below. This is formatted to digest size.

Rabbits & Rangers in PDF and Print

Bears? Tigers? Stoats? Fossas?

Yes to all.

Rabbits & Rangers, a Labyrinth Lord supplement, is now available in PDF and print. If you like funny animals and fantasy then I got you covered.

B/X Bode: The Lizz Character Class

©I'm firing up a new B/X D&D campaign and I decided all the classes needed to be unique. No standard races or classes allowed. One of the classes the dripped out of my brain late last night was this. If you know da Bode, then this will make sense.

PDF is here.

LIZZ

You are a righteous one. You da boss.

RESTRICTIONS

Your Prime Requisite is spunk, but that don’t matter. You got all the juice. You fight like a Thief. You can use little bitty weapons like daggers, short swords, and little bows. You can wear armor what was made or modified to fit ya, but you ain’t no good at it and when you gets hit with a 20 or you rolls a 1 it falls off. You gots a 3 in 6 shot at makin’ any magic doohickie do its thing but if ya rolls a 6 something real bad gonna go down.

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Lizard Luck: Sometimes da crazy universe has a heart an’ smiles luck down on ya like sweet rain. If things go south, you can petition the big ole ‘verse howevers ya like and if ya makes yer savin’ throw vs. spells somethin’ real good gonna go down. ‘Course… if ya was ta fail dat save real bad… well, you might get tossed about like a piece of cabbage.

Honey Magnet: You is not only da boss o’ adventure, you is da boss o’ the ladies. When you see a dew eyed sweetmeat of a mountain cantelope (a female, or whatever), you gotta save vs. spells or be compelled ta woo her wit witty words and witticism stuff. Roll a d20. If you happen ta gets a 20 she’s all into ya like a charm person done happened. Otherwise, who knows?

Naturally, this is a fan-fic post and the art and original characters are (c) copyright Bode.

Rabbits & Rangers!

At long last, Rabbits & Rangers is live and available for download! It's rascally.

B/X Bandits

Here's a personal piece I did as a bit of homage to Moldvay's D&D, riffing on the iconic art by Erol Otus and Bill Willingham.

Next Project Pondering #1

Rabbits & Rangers is finished and in the hands of the best layout guy I know. So now I'm thinking about what to do next. And what's been rattling in my head for a while is something that captures my love of B/X and allows me to use a bunch of material I've got lying around. So maybe, just maybe, I'll do a B/X setting book like I talked about doing last year.

The setting I've been using as a default for a little while is the city of Old Gnarl. This is an ancient place full of corruption and evil and other good stuff and its a melting pot of races and cultures. So naturally it makes a good launching point for any good old fantasy campaign.

Players in my Monday game will recognize elements of this idea because it is the same setting in which I ran the Frimmsreach campaign in 2014. But in their case, they never actually explored beyond one small area of the frozen north so the city of Old Gnarl never came on the radar.

I'm always nervous about attempting to write setting material. I always feel hemmed in if I do a big map with lots of detail. It makes the world feel smaller. But at the same time a world without boundaries feels limitless and unfocused. A bit overwhelming. I think a good compromise is a zoom-in on a setting. Just show a city and stuff around it. Hint at what might be beyond the map's edge. But don't lock yourself in too much.

I don't know. This is all still up in the air. If I end up not doing it then this barbarian chick won't have a home.

Wytchfynder

WYTCHFYNDER

AC 6 [13]; HD 2; DMG 1d6 or spell; MV 30; SV 15; ML 9

These black-garbed, frowning men are fixed points of moral authority in a world of sinful magic. They will always try to eliminate magic where it is found. They can detect magic within 20’ on a 3 in 6 roll. On a result of 4, they are convinced magic is present even if it is not.

Wytchfynders issue a divine decree that stuns the target for 1d6 rounds on a failed save. They may draw a magic circle trap around a subdued target. No one can break the circle from the inside unless they cast Dispel Evil or Wish, but it can be broken easily from the outside. The exorcism process takes 1d6 turns and deals 1 point of damage per round per wytchfynder. At the end, the victim must pass a saving throw or else be compelled to confess all sins (real or imagined) and be unable to use magic of any kind. By questing to reverse this damage and earning at least 1000 XP in the process the magical ban can be lifted.

Wytchfynders use sabers in combat and may cast 3 first level cleric spells per day. They are easily fooled by illusions and have a -3 penalty to save against them.