machai-umno

It took a while, but I finally managed to start work on breaking down the sorcerer bloodlines into more generic abilities. (See my earlier entry Sorcerers as Super Heroes). These are not comprehensive, and only represent the bloodline abilities that occur most often without modification. They can be incorporated into any theme a player desires. A sorcerer can choose one of the following as his 1 st level bloodline power: 1) An elemental ray he can fire as a ranged touch attack at one opponent within 30 ft. The ray inflicts 1d6+1 per two sorcerer levels. He must choose the type of damage this ray inflicts (acid, cold, electricity, fire or sonic) when he gains this power. This can not be changed. He may use this ray a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier. 2) Two natural melee weapons that inflict 1d4 + Str modifier damage (or 1d3 if he is Small). He can manifest these weapons as a free action and both are treated as natural weapons that ...

Of Forgotten Encounters: Forests .

There are always a lot of things on the go at the Purple Duck offices. Currently the following projects are at some stage of development. Monster Update Subscription (Mark/Stefen) Forgotten Encounters: Urban (Stefen) Forgotten Encounters: Plains (Mark) Monstrous Races 2 (Mark/Stefen) Drow NPC Guide (Mark) Legendary Weapons 3 (Mark/Stefen) Legendary Races: Medusa (Stefen) Caves of Anarchy (Mark) Other (Stefen) - I know he has one or two other things that I have no idea about yet. I am big on working on multiple projects as once. It helps me keep fresh and stops me from getting writer's block. I think Stefen prefers to focus on only one or two.

I started to read this novel last night when I bumped unexpectedly into the word badgerconda . Obviously such a creature is impossible to ignore so I present my badgerconda statistics below. BADGERCONDA CR 5 (1,600 XP)  N Large magical beast Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +13 [Defense] AC 16, touch 11, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex,+5 natural, -1 size) hp 52 (5d10+25) Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +2 Defensive Abilities ferocity [Offense] Speed 30 ft., burrow 20 ft., climb 20 ft., swim 20 ft. Melee bite +11 (1d6+7 plus grab), 2 claws +11 (1d4+7) Special Attacks blood rage, constrict (1d6+10) [Statistics] Str 25, Dex 15, Con 21, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 9 Base Atk +5; CMB +13 (+17 grapple); CMD 25 (can’t be tripped) Feats Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Skill Focus (Stealth) Skills Acrobatics +10, Climb +15, Escape Artist +6, Perception +13, Stealth +5, Swim +15; Racial Modifiers +4 Escape Artist, +4 Perception, +4 Stealth, +8 Acrobatics [Ecolog...

One thing I have been thinking about recently, is the direction in which the indie game scene seems to be heading. This is something that can be seen in upcoming of games, various talks, articles and what is considered the largest recent successes. It is a direction that might have large consequences for the future of the medium. Quickly summed up, there is a strong design trend of making games by iterating and extending a fun core gameplay mechanic. This is then incorporated to a game with heavy emphasis on re-playability and/or ease to make levels. The main perks of this approach being that the game becomes more fun to create (as you can have fun at a very early stage), it makes it easier to home in on a "fun" core and allows for an early beta to be released (thus allowing feedback and income to trickle in before completion). This is of course a rough outline of the trend, but I still think it represent the main gist of where the industry of indie game development is headin...

To use to the ghoul name while not going with an undead model we could try something like this: Living Ghoul Characters Living Ghouls are defined by class levels--they do not possess racial Hit Dice. Living ghouls have the following racial traits:   +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Constitution: Living ghouls are strong creatures with enhanced senses then help them compensate for the wasting sickness that forces them to eat the flesh of the living.   Speed: Living ghouls have a base land speed of 30 ft.   Low-Light Vision: Living ghouls can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light. See additional rules.   Feasting: Living ghouls can heal 1d4 points per class level by feasting on the raw flesh of sentient creatures (those with an Intelligence score greater that 3).   Natural Weapons: Living ghouls possess a bite attack that deals 1d6 points of damage.    Scent: Living ghouls are always on the hunt for nourishin...

It has been suggested that the ghoul should appear in Monstrous Races 2. I'm all for that but first we are going to need to define a ghoul's racial statistics as a player character race. This is my first run at, please tear this apart. Ghoul Characters Ghouls are defined by class levels--they do not possess racial Hit Dice. Ghouls have the following racial traits. +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Intelligence: Ghouls are agile creatures who exude a powerful air of malevolence, but are usually less educated than other races. Speed: Ghouls have a land speed of 30 ft. Darkvision: Ghouls can see in the dark up to 60 ft. Natural Weapons: Ghouls possess a bite and two claw attacks that deal 1d6 points of damage as a primary attack. Paralysis: When a ghoul makes a full attack with only on claw its attack is filled with negative energy that can paralyze opponents for 1d4+1 rounds. The save DC is equal to 10 + ½ character level + Cha modifier. This ability does not function against el...

Forgotten Encounters: Forests from Purple Duck Games brings you five new encounters featuring creatures from Tricky Owlbear Publishing’s Forgotten Foes . Will you be able to save the poisoned brownies? Is this a drow hunting party or something more sinister? How long have the aranea lived among us? Can you escape the clutches of a phrenic greymalkin? Is there any way to stop a krenshar from pealing back its face? (yuck)! These questions and many more will be answered within this 22 page supplement. Get your copy today.

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A4. The Slurk Pond [EL 2; 600 XP] [box] The sound of trickling water echoes through this chamber. Illuminated by crude, glowing torches the center of this chamber is a massive pool of dark water. Thin grooves along the edge of the pool allow water to spill downward while new water bubbles up in the center. A dark shape move about the pool. [/box] This chamber is the home of Mekmep’s mount and guardian, a slurk. This foul-smelling amphibian has been known to gobble up many careless members of Mekmep’s tribe who ventured to close to the pool.   The slurk regularly wallows on the edges of the pool making the sides difficult terrain, due to the humidity of the room, this slime never dries out. The slurk will attack any non-kobolds attempting to to reach A7 or A6. The slurk does not collect treasure but at the bottom of his pool likes the remains of a halfling wizard who did not expect the savagery of the slurk’s attack. Trapped within the corpse’s backpack is a battle mage’s wand +1 a...

This week our inquisitor was looking to get this enhancement added to his loving glaive. Collapsing:  As a swift action a collapsing weapon  can be shrunk to lose its reach property so that it may be used against adjacent foes. This weapon property can only be applied to a reach weapon that does not normally allow attacks against adjacent foes. It remains shrunk until another swift action is used to lengthen the weapon again. Moderate transmutation; CL 7th; Craft Magical Arms and Armor, shrink item ; Price +2,000 gp If you have seen a similar property somewhere please let me know.

(Not read part 1? Do so here .) Molding the Abomination by Olof Strand ( www.OlofStrand.com ) As a modeler the first thing I noted about this character was that the concept design demanded it to be completely unique in all of its parts. Usually it is possible to mirror some parts (e.g. an arm, a leg or some cloth piece) to save texture space and maybe some production time when modeling game characters. Not so this time. The character was based on a human body type with various deformities and modifications done to it. This meant that I could easily use a regular human base mesh as a starting point. Using already existing meshes as a starting point is, when possible, very important for production efficiency. Another thing that needed to be taken into consideration was how the character would be rigged for animation later on. In this case the rig would be shared with another character from the game and therefore needed to be built under certain specifications (joints in specific places,...

For Halloween last year Purple Duck Games released "Horrors of the GOW", a book of scary monsters, items, hexes and adventure seeds. While reading the first installment of the latest Pathfinder RPG adventure path, it struck me some of the stuff in our product might complement the flavor of the Carrion Crown. I'm not saying we here at PDG are as brilliant as the guys at Paizo -- they are designers and writers almost without peer. What I am saying is if Carrion Crown has whet your appetite for horror-related fantasy RPG stuff, and you need more right away, our little book fits the bill!

(The following was supposed to be an article in a Russian magazine, but was never published. So because of that, I decided to post it on the blog instead. It was written in June 2010 by myself, Jonas Steinick Berlin and Olof Strand. Jonas and Olof were working as contractors for Frictional Games at the time. ) Creating Unspeakable Guidelines by Thomas Grip ( Frictional Games ) The following article outlines the process of creating a creature model from scratch for our first person horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent . It will go through the basic thinking that went into the design of the enemy, how the concept images where made, how the mesh was built and finally how it was put into the game. For this work we used two extremely talented external artists and they have themselves outlined how their horrific creations came about below and it a future part. Before moving on to their work though, I will detail the thinking that went into the basic design of the creature. When creating a...

Monstrous Races gets a 5/5 from Tom Baumbach

A3. The Private Holdings of Mekmep the Blue The secret door that opens into the private holdings can be discovered with a Perception check (DC 22) and unlocked with a successful Disable Device check (DC 20) or with Mekmep’s key. The tunnel into Mekmep’s private holdings is only six feet high. [box] The short tunnel leads into a long chamber stacked with crates, barrels, weapons and other treasure.[/box] Within this hidden chamber, Mekmep hordes his share of the tribe’s treasure. Currently within this chamber there are two barrels of dwarven ale, four crates contain four pound sacks of sugar, 10 square yards of blue-green deepdale silk, three crates of carved wooden stakes, two masterwork spears, a masterwork sharpened pick and a bird feather token.

Purple Duck Games has been involved in the last two charity ventures at Rpgnow/DTRpg. Although we have no bundle to support the Japan effort I would like to recommend that people who are interested in supporting the Red Cross and Japan at this time consider picking up: The basic $5 support donation  or Highmoon's Ronin Charity Bundle  or Sword Edge's Charity Bundle .

The first review for this product is posted over at Rpgnow . Please stop by and check it out or add your own.

Here is your chance to have a character, a major settlement, a military unit, a planet or planetary system, and yes…even a model named after you or given a name of your choosing. (Pending Approval). Currently called the Black Widow... Could be named?? You decide. I could lock myself away and develop Iron-Core in a vacuum, but I prefer to hear other viewpoints and receive input from the community that will be using this system. I will post rules sections on the forum for review, any input that ultimately ends up in the game will earn the poster -Contribution Points-. When the game goes to beta testing the contributors will be notified as to what level they have earned and will be given the choice to use either their name or a fictional name of their making. The contributors may then submit three names (I will choose one of the three) that will be used to name a character, a major settlement, a military unit, a planet or planetary system and even a model, created or yet to be created. Na...

Flipping through an old module a few days ago (G1: Against the Giants) I noticed the phrase "fights as" quite often. Female hill giants fight as ogres, the hill giant king fights as a frost giant, etc. In the days before standard rules for monster advancement, a tougher stronger monster used the stats of something related, but bigger. This made me realize that since RPGs are really just a bunch of numbers at their core what makes them exciting is our imagining of what those numbers mean. For example, if the PCs fight a wingless drake, but the DM uses a dire tiger's stats, how would the players know? What makes the encounter exciting is the GM's description of the drake, its terrible roar, its coppery scales, its fetid breath, and its intelligent, greedy eyes. The original writers of D&D understood this and used it all the time. The great thing about this is that you can come up with all kinds of "new" monsters and never have to buy a monster book or work...

This is just a note to remind people that we are running our 50% off sale on all our products through March 9th in honour of GM's day (for those late GM's Day presents). http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?cPath=5687

Many of you know John from his amazing cad work, designing models for Rebel Minis, MERCS and many others. Did you know he is also a writer? He worked long and hard on a pulp sci-fi project back in 2008. John is now a published author. You can find his literary genius here... Mars McCoy-Space Ranger Volume One   for the bargain price of $3.00 PDF format.  Support the artists you enjoy or lose art altogether.

With the (hopefully soon) beta testing of Iron-Core it was time to open a forum. Forum Banner Art You can find the forum here Why a forum when I have a blog? A blog is a great place to post news but when you need feedback or a place to ask and answer more in depth questions, a forum is a far better tool. It also allows me to email all my members with important news such as pre-orders and new product information as well as special offers. Although the forum is primarily designed for DreamForge products, you are free to discuss any games or minis. As the discussions grow, I will tweak or add boards to allow for easy searches and updates. It has been some time since DreamForge had a forum and I miss the communal exchange of ideas and feedback. The members of the old forum helped to shape Iron-Core and it is my hope that this communal effort will continue and enrich the Iron-Core universe. Will I still update the Blog? Absolutely! It is still the best place to check for up to the minuet ne...

A plethora of bloodlines exist for the Pathfinder sorcerer. It's obviously something that's caught people's imaginations. I'd know, having written a few myself. It's also an easy and cool way to individualize a character within a generic class. What occurred to me while working on a recent sorcerer bloodlines piece was maybe there's an easier way to build the things. The supplement I was writing took the angle that abyssal, infernal, undead, etc. were too general as bloodline concepts -- that within a specific category such as "undead" there existed ghouls, liches, and vampires, all of which would imbue a sorcerer with slightly different powers. The same goes for other magical inheritances. If your father was a balor demon, wouldn't you expect to have different powers from the guy sired by a succubus? Yet, constructing a bloodline for every possible undead, devil, demon or angel would be tedious. It put me in mind of Champions, the superhero RPG. I...

Hello everyone, this is the other half of Purple Duck Games here. Well, maybe I should say the other "one-third" since I just write game stuff while Mark gets to do layout and advertising and all the necessary, but boring, things that keep this joint running. Today we release "Legendary Items", a bunch of magical accouterments that become more powerful as their owner gains levels. This series, along with "Legendary Blades" and "Legendary Weapons" is intended to make magic items more integral to a PC's identity. Instead of selling or throwing away useless equipment because it no longer grants enough benefits to a high-level character, the Legendary series attempts to construct items a PC can use over an adventuring career, and also works with the character's unique combination of abilities, skill and feats. We feel this mimics the source material better, and grants the game a more epic feel. Elric never traded in Stormbringer for a better ...

A2. Private Chambers of Mekmep the Blue (EL 3; 805 XP including trap) The door to this room is locked (Disable Device DC 20) and trapped with a poisoned dart trap. The key that Mekmep carries allows him to bypass this trap and gain access to his private chambers. Poisoned Dart Trap CR 1 Type mechanical; Perception DC 20; Disable Device DC 20 Effects Trigger touch; Reset none Effect Atk +10 ranged (1d3 plus greenblood oil) This room radiates a heat unlike that of the rest of the stone caverns. The floor of this large chamber have many shallow beds of smoldering coals. Across two of the beds lie dampened rolls of leather, which sizzle and steam. Lying on one of the covered beds is a white-scaled female kobold who begins to rise excitedly as you enter the room. To the north and south ends of the room, two female guards move to draw heated short swords from nearby beds. If the player characters manage to disable the trap and unlock the door without causing too much commotion they will ...