People of the Serpent

In the Scaled Mountains, a war is being fought. The Ghoul Legions, clad in plate carried across the sea five hundred years ago, attempt to exterminate the People of the Serpent, men who turn from the grace of Isp the Deathless and attempt to find hope worshiping the Old Serpents who dwell so far below the mountains.

All tribespeople of the People bear the mark upon their arm - a scarred band around the left bicep simulating the scales of their beloved snakes. They wield spears and war-clubs with a terrible purpose, and many of their weapons bear poison, which, if not resisted, drains the strength from those wounded. (Save Vs Poison or -4 Strength for 1d4 days. Can be applied multiple times.)

A typical warband has 2d10 People of the Serpent, who are dexterous if not armoured.
HD 1 / ATTACK AS WEAPON / AC 13 / MORALE 9 / 2D10 APPEARING

The Serpent Kissed have gone through the initiation rituals to learn the way of the Striking Serpent. They are scarred from head to toe in the way of the People, bearing the marks with pride. They have learnt to bite with poison, their incisors crudely replaced with functional fangs. They lead the warbands.

HD 3 / ATTACK AS WEAPON +2  OR BITE FOR 1D6 + STR POISON (double effectiveness) / AC 15 / MORALE 10 / 1D4 APPEARING

Serpent Speakers listened to the hissed whispers of the Old Serpent's chosen representatives, and have learnt selected secrets. They are the priests and mystics for the warbands of the People.

25% CHANCE ACCOMPANYING WARBAND

TREAT AS 2ND LEVEL MAGIC USER 1 RANDOM SPELL :

1) Invisiblity to Undead
2) Cure Light Wounds (grows scaled flesh)
3) Magic Missile
4) Summon (always a snake demon)

The Resonant Serpent is an abomination gifted to the People. Each one slithered forth from the depths, and must be caged and placated with live prey to avoid a rampage. Rather than a single giant snake, the entire body of the Resonant Serpent is made up of snake-heads, each facing a different angle. It hisses continuously, the hisses running up and down the creature so that only one head is hissing at any given moment.  Their poison is perfectly suited to killing a man if the many bites do not.

8 HD / 1D(HD) BITES FOR 1D8 + POISON/ AC 16 / MORALE 12 / 1 APPEARING

Ghoul Class

The first – Hunger. This is what you know and what you are. The flesh of sentient beings is all you truly desire. The hunger never stops.

The second – Duty. Isp the Deathless chose you from among many to join him in his undying ways, and you should be loyal beyond death.

The last – Memory. You dimly remember what it was to be alive. The only thing you fear is losing what grip you have left, which means eating.

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Treat as Fighter with following additions –

Claw Attack – You can choose to claw for 1d8 damage, although your hands remain functional.

Bite Attack – You can choose to bite for 1d6 damage, infecting humans with the Hunger.

Dead – You don’t sleep or drink. You are incapable of these things, but share weaknesses with the undead.

Healing – Healing magics and rest do not help you – only eating does. For each human body’s worth of meat eaten, regain 2d6 HP.

The Hunger – You are afflicted with a supernatural hunger which must be kept in check with the flesh of thinking creatures. Every 6 hours without a morsel of meat (at least a hand’s worth of meat) causes you move down a step.

1.       High Functioning – You gain an additional +1 to hit and a +1 bonus to all saves. You are fully lucid. This state only lasts 2 hours before degrading.

2.       Functioning – You are at your normal state. The hunger is present but in check. You get slightly agitated in the presence of injuries.

3.       Craving – You are reverting to a bestial state. Complex plans are difficult, although cunning comes naturally. +1 to all damage rolls. Save Vs Poison to avoid pouncing on any injured human.

4.       Rabid – You have fully submitted to hunger. Until you eat you are uncontrollable. You will gorge yourself into a functional state before returning to player control. +2 to damage rolls. It takes 12 hours to degrade from this state.

5.       Comatose – You have been paralyzed by the maddening hunger, and will remain as such until you scent meat in front of your nose, where you will gorge until High Functioning.

SWYVERS MONSTERS

HD ARE d6 (Humans are 3d6 for reference)
Stats are for swyvers - current pdf here

Gargoyle – Living demons encased in stone, perfectly adapted to survive in the more historic streets of the Smoke. The sun hurts them immensely, paralyzing them with pain during the day, something they wish to share at night.

HD 5

ATTACK +3 - CLAWS D8 + 2

DEFENCE – 12

ARMOUR – AS HEAVY (STONE HIDE)

MOV AS MAN

INIT AS LONG WEAPON

MORALE 10

D4 -2 APPEARING

Uses stony camouflage. Uses great weight to drop and crush for 1d12, save to notice and dodge.

Ghouls – Humans infected with The Hunger – when not starvation-wild, they are rational and can be conversed with. Nobles infected with The Hunger manage to stay sane, whilst the poor inevitably end up dead or a member of a ghoul-warren.

HD 2

ATTACK +2 – BITE 1D6 + DISEASE + 1

DEFENCE – 8

ARMOUR – NONE

MOV AS DOG

INIT AS SHORT WEAPON

MORALE 6

D10 APPEARING

Disease – Save or The Hunger sets in. For the first week, you eat twice as much. The second, meat only. The third, only human meat satisfies the hunger. You become yourself when sated, but the hunger always lurks, returning in d6 hours. Your will file your teeth sharp to better bite through human flesh.

Ratmen – The Ratmen do not exist. They are not sneaky, cunning or adapted to their warrens in the Undercity. They do not collaborate with the criminals and the desperate so common to the Smoke. They do not carry any diseases. The bounty for their tail stands at a shilling.

HD 3

ATTACK +1 – AS WEAPON / BITE 1D4 + DISEASE

DEFENCE – AS WEAPON + 3

ARMOUR – AS LIGHT (FUR)

MOV AS MAN

INIT AS WEAPON

MORALE 7

D20 APPEARING

Disease – Save or random disease carried by rat or man.

Ashdweller – Some are forced to dwell in the Undercity, and generations spent away from the Sun take their toll. The Ashdwellers are ghostly pale, hairless and emaciated. Their eyes are huge, and they flee from open spaces with an uncomfortable four-limbed gait.

HD 2

ATTACK +1 – AS WEAPON 

DEFENCE – AS WEAPON + 2

ARMOUR – AS ARMOUR

MOV AS FAST MAN

INIT AS WEAPON

MORALE 5

D12 APPEARING

Inverted Nobles – Ashdwellers driven mad and given to collecting the dropped wealth which filters down into the Undercity, storing finds in their rotund bellies. They are perfectly willing to share this wealth, at a cost – 1d4 permanent damage to a random stat, manifested as the Inverted Noble whispering into your ear, is rewarded with 50 shillings, vomited painfully yet joyously by the Inverted Noble. If killed, their belly contains only corroded, worthless pennies.

HD 3

ATTACK +1 – AS WEAPON + 1D4 PERMAMENT STAT LOSS

DEFENCE – AS WEAPON + 1

ARMOUR – AS ARMOUR

MOV AS FAT MAN

INIT AS WEAPON

MORALE 12

1 APPEARING

Rotworm – The filth of the polluted rivers bleeding from the Smoke into the sea breed awful beasts. The Rotworm slithers through the muck in search of animals to drown using their 8 mouth-tentacles. Those unfortunates are used as egg-casings and birth-food for their loathsome brood.

HD 4 

ATTACK +3 – 1D8 +2 MAUL BESTIAL / GRAPPLE & DROWN 

DEFENCE – AS MEDIUM WEAPON +3

ARMOUR – AS LEATHER (TOUGH HIDE)

MOV AS FAT FISH

INIT AS MEDIUM WEAPON

MORALE 8

D4 APPEARING

Dead Giant – Timeless, deathless, lifeless. The long-dead Giants of the country slumber in chambers riddled with warnings of the terrible uncorpses they contain.

HD 10

ATTACK – SMASH - DODGED WITH DEX ELSE 2D8 +4 DAMAGE

DEFENCE – AS UNARMED

ARMOUR – AS CHAIN (THICK SKIN)

MOV AS LUMBERING, 15FT MAN

INIT LAST

MORALE 12

1 APPEARING

If a giant is not slain within 6 rounds, it will awaken enough to employ any spell of its choosing.

Piteous Giants – Degenerated Dead Giants never given over to slumber yet trapped in the depths. They have the bodies of a naked starved mean, smeared with shit and mud. They still have the head of a Giant, clumsily balanced atop their emaciated frame. The head is hairless, covered with scrapes and bruises. They have bones capable of huge amounts of deformation, allowing them to squeeze through tiny gaps. They have the ability to terrify humans with their dead stares.

HD 4

ATTACK +2 – AS WEAPON +1 or STARE – SAVE OR TERRIFIED, FOETAL POS. 1D4 ROUNDS

DEFENCE – AS WEAPON +3

ARMOUR – UNARMOURED

MOV AS CLUMSY CHILD

INIT AS WEAPON

MORALE 10

1D4 APPEARING

Vampire ¬– The perfect parasite, cursed with deathlessness and all-consuming thirst. Each one is killed in a differing manner, suffering no damage from standard attacks. They can be organised by their weaknesses.

HD 10

ATTACK - +5 – DAMAGE AS WEAPON + 3 OR BITE FOR 1D10 CON DRAIN

DEFENCE – AS SHORT WEAPON OR WEAPON + 7

ARMOUR – AS ARMOUR, IMMUNE TO NORMAL ATTACKS.

MOV AS FAST MAN

INIT AS STEP LOWER THAN WEAPON

MORALE 10

1D4 -2 APPEARING

Common Weaknesses – Silver, Head Destruction, Heart Destruction, Specific Herb, Blessed Weapons (assign 1d4 weaknesses)

Crown’s Own – The elite, professional bodyguard of the Crown and the Crown’s properties.

HD 3+4

ATTACK + 4 – DAMAGE AS WEAPON +2

DEFENCE – AS WEAPON + 6

ARMOUR – HEAVY

MOV AS MAN

INIT AS WEAPON

MORALE 11

1D6 APPEARING

Ruin Men – Flesh of broken brick, rusted metal and street muck. Their blood is the stuff of the filthy river, and its waters heal them for 1d6 a round. Their constructed nature makes bludgeoning weapons very effective against them (increase dice size). They seek to undermine the city and ruin all structures.

HD 5

ATTACK + 4 – SMASH 1D10 + 2 BESTIAL

DEFENCE – AS LONG WEAPON

ARMOUR – AS LIGHT

MOV AS MAN

INIT AS LONG WEAPON PLUS SHIELD

MORALE 12

1D4 APPEARING

Forgotten Dogs – Foul fluids and strays. A conglomerate of lost dogs, trapped in the Undercity and now fused. A canine rat-king with abandonment issues. About the size of a wagon. Treats or a home will just piss it off. Limbs and snapping heads jut out of the central mass. It totters about the tunnels and consumes those it once loved. It has awful mange.

HD 7

ATTACK + 3 – 1D4 BITES FOR 1D10+2 +25% OF RABIES (EACH AT A DIFFERENT TARGET)

DEFENCE – AS SHORT WEAPON

ARMOUR – AS MEDIUM (ABLATIVE LIMBS/HEADS)

MOV AS FAT DOG

INIT AS UNARMED

MORALE 10

1 APPEARING

Make the Bastards Pay, or, Do We Get Found Out?

It's a fair bet Cyberpunks are going to piss people off and commit crime. Now you won't get bitched at for arbitrarily deciding if they get caught.

An Agent is the tracking party, whether a corporation, the cops, or a nutjob vigilante. They get a Ruthlessness Score. Higher is worse for the players.

Particularly personal or horrific crimes can modify the ruthlessness of the Agent.

The Player-group has a Stealth Score. This is effectively a penalty (or bonus) to the tracking party.

Stealth Factors

Finger-prints not removed & on-record (includes ammo casing left behind) +3
Camera feed not destroyed, corrupted, interfered with etc. +3
Disguises worn -3
Distinctive look +2
Bribed false witnesses -1 per witness (reverse this if witness brainjacked)
Known base of operations +3
Direct route taken to escape +1

Agent Resources
(These are limited by the Ruthlessness of the Agent)

Ruthlessness 0
Informants +1
Existing records on accessible databases +3

Ruthlessness 1
Neutral Witness +1

Ruthlessness 2
Records on restricted access databases +2

Ruthlessness 3
'Unwilling' Witness +1

Ruthlessness 4
Brainjacked Witness* +3
Unauthorized access to databases with records +2

Witnesses/Informants can only add +10 in total. Those with good information (clear sight, attentive etc.) add an additional +1.

Finally, roll a d10 and add the bonuses. Get over a 15? The agent knows the players did it, and potentially where they stay. Fun times ensue.

*Brainjacking forcefully rips information from a person, at best causing severe psychological scars, more often turning them into a vegetable.

Sighted Spiders, One Eyed Wolf

A tiny translucent spider, marked only by the tiny red speck (the egg) located in it's abdomen. The eggs reflects light like a cat's eye. They seek only to propagate the species through implanting their eggs into the eyes of just about any animal they find.

SIGHTED SPIDER
HP 1
AC AS LEATHER SIZE
ATTACK - SPECIAL
MORALE 12
MOV AS SPIDER
1D10 APPEARING

Attack - Sighted Spiders seek the eyes and deposit their tiny red eggs in the tear ducts. A day after being laid, the spiderlings burrow into the eye itself and feast on the vitreous humour. It take one spiderling a year to eat your eye, at which point it leaves.

Whilst infested, hosts gain the ability to read the information woven into any spider web, giving information on the local area and recent events, from a distinctly spidery perspective. With practice, the host gain retain this ability after the spiderling is fully grown and has left the eye.

Unintelligent animals gain a burgeoning consciousness, and will seek others of their kind to ponder the meaning of this. Such Sighted Animals communicate to each other via artfully arranged spiderwebs, and will maintain Sighted Spider nests for their children.

--

Corq, One Eyed Wolf
HD 4
AC AS CHAIN FROM SCARS, SPEED
ATTACKS - 1 BITE 1D10 2 CLAW 1D6
MORALE 10
MOV AS WOLF
1 APPEARING

Corq leads a pack of Sighted Wolves on a mission of revenge against the settlers burning the forest and killing his Blind kin. Corq is attempting to bargain with the Great Spiders of the deep forests, but the spiders do not trust the one eyed wolves.

Corq has brokered alliances with the other Sighted animals of the forest, most notably the Sighted Boars led by Two Tusk One Eye Three Leg and the Sighted Pigeons led by whomever COO's the loudest.

The settlers believe there to be a witches in the area, and have called for the Nilfenbergian witch-hunters to settle the matter.

Gearing Guide to the Planes Issue 4 - Planes of Illumination

Less satisfied with the presentation here, but I like the ideas. Click the picture for the pdf.

Swyvers RPG - Formerly Dying in a Tomb RPG

Expect to die and roll characters quickly. Expect to scrimp pennies and murder for shillings. Expect magic to ruin your day. Expect to die in a tomb.

Now features a bunch of stuff. Not necessarily the final version, still some tweaking needed I suspect.

THERE'S GONNA BE AN ACTUAL VERSION WITH ACTUAL ART AT SOME POINT SOON I PROMISE YOU'LL BE ABLE TO BUY IT

CLICK THE PICTURE TO GRAB THIS ANCIENT VERSION