dungeon doll

I hope everyone's holidays have been good! I've been sitting cozy by fires and playing lots of Demon's Souls. It feels a little bit weird writing a year-end blog post seeing as my blog didn't even exist for all of 2024, but I had some thoughts I wanted to organize. Firstly, thank you for all the support and excitement I've received for this blog, especially over on Bluesky, and within the diy/osr blogosphere. It's been really encouraging! Thank you everyone <3 New years resolutions? Not exactly, but I do have a few things I'd like to do for the blog next year. Write more. Write more for games. Write more personally. Make more things people can use in their games. Play more games. Post about those games. Get better at writing session logs. Games I want to run in 2025: Keep running Hagfish Hall. Ideally finish it, if that's even viable? Right now it's 100 rooms across multiple levels, with some potential to expand further. Classic Traveler. Wolves U...

If you missed it, you can find session 1 here ! My group returned to Hagfish Hall this week, for our first full-session delve. I also tried out some downtime mechanics, and made my first checks for dungeon restock. The systems for both of these were adapted for od&d from the Serpent Song Hymnal , by I Cast Light! . Without further ado...   The Party Last week, the Long-Night came and went. Cennich was decorated with paper lanterns, and all gathered round their hearths to tell ghoul-stories. A member of the courier's guild, clad in red trim, brought a small sleigh of parcels for the people of Cennich. Some of these were for our party. [i prompted this as a creative exercise prior to play]. Daevon , a Veteran. Received a mace from a colleague, alongside a paranoid letter warning about the dangers of skeletons. Isabella , an Acolyte. Received a zweihander from an unknown source. Dandelion , a Medium. Received a bright yellow scarf from her cousin. The Delve Date: December 26. Fres...

Over the last little bit, I've been really wanting to try out the Shock system from Worlds Without Number in od&d. I think it would pair well with weapon-as-initiative , and add some punch to larger weapons. Basically, in WWN, every weapon has a shock score, written as #/AC, representing an amount of automatic damage dealt even if the weapon fails to hit a target, as long as the target's AC is equal to or less then the listed one. In od&d, all weapons deal 1d6. I like to play it so that two-handing a weapon deals 2d6 drop-the-lowest. Generally, I don't like to restrict which weapons can or must be two-handed, because I personally find the choice of two-handing vs. holding a light source vs. holding a shield to be very compelling moment-to-moment during game. If you wanted, you could also treat the Shock score as a minimum damage dealt for weapons, even on a hit, to reduce underwhelming hit rolls. The values listed below are adapted from Worlds Without Number, ...

I got to run od&d for a small group of friends this week, in a dungeon of my own devising. We made characters, talked a bit about game expectations, and did a little group world-building exercise, so the delve itself was on the shorter side, but I think everyone seemed to enjoy it, and I'm happy with how it went. In addition to the rules in FMC, we used weapon-based initiative and a simplified version of The Clock . Additionally, I chose not to restrict weapons or armour by class. This was my first time writing a session log other people will be reading, so I'm still trying to find the style a bit. I expect as we play more I'll find my flow a little easier. Swamp - Susan Van Camp The Party Daevon , a Veteran. Polearm, chain + shield. Isabella , an Acolyte. Pike, leather. Dandelion , a Medium. Sword, chain + shield. On a whim I decided that character alignment would be kept secret from those who did not share alignment with one-another. This may or may not come up again...

A little project I've been working on between exams and such. od&d character rules for playing Bloodborne-style hunters. Use with your favorite set of resolution tools. Moby Dick by Gérard DuBois Character Creation Roll a Perk. If you're not satisfied, roll a second perk, then roll a flaw. Re-roll flaws that correspond with one of your Perks. (Taken from this article from Idraluna Archives) Choose a class: Hunter, Physician, or Warlock. Roll starting Hit Points (1d6+2 for Hunters, 1d6 for Physicians and Warlocks). Note saves. Perks & Flaws d20 Perk Flaw 1. +1 to melee attack rolls -1 to melee attack rolls 2. +1 to melee damage -1 to melee damage 3. +1 to gun attack rolls -1 to gun attack rolls 4. +1 HP per HD -1 HP per HD 5. +1 to detect secrets -1 to detect secrets 6. +1 to follower morale -1 to follower m...

There's a whole centimeter of snow on the ground, so it's time for me to post some winter themed monsters. My last set of monsters were for the dungeon, so these ones are for the wilderness. Oh and a heads up, some mention of dead children below. Without further ado: Elves of Winter 1 HD, AC as leather. Fae spirits which possess the bodies of children lost gathering firewood. Gangly, with pale flesh and vacant eyes. Walk atop the snow effortlessly, without sinking in. Sharpen icicles to a razor's edge to throw, or fashion into crude spears. Will-o'-the-winter 4 HD, AC as chain. Incorporeal, and immune to non-magical missiles. Appears as distant warmth--the light of a hearth, smoke from a chimney, a campfire just out of reach. Seeks to lure weary travelers to a frigid death. Only once death is certain will you see their true forms: wretched, princely spirits. Skin like ice, eyes aflame. Sack Man 5 HD, AC as chain, Damage 1d6+2. Carries a heavy burlap sack. Stands 10...

2024/11/28: In a cool coincidence, The Nothic's Eye also posted some dungeon gods today! I totally recommend you check them out here ! *** Seasoned adventurers know to respect the dungeon gods, those who's house is the Underworld. Regardless of what one believes on the surface, it is good to stay in their graces. Characters who preform the proper rights at the shrine of a dungeon god will receive +5% XP for the duration of the delve. This blessing is low stakes, and will not lock you into anything. Those seeking power may pursue boons from the gods of the underworld; however, once blessed, these boons are not shed lightly. Burning Shrine by John Tenniel, re-coloured by me   The King of Coins A covetous thing, always watching, always listening. His shrine is carved in smooth stone, a hunched figure in a cloak of eyes, ears, and hands. To make a prayer to him, leave behind a coin for his hoard. Coins disappear quickly when the shrine is unwatched. To gain his boon, you must prom...

Johtull Wurm by Ian Miller HD 15, AC as Chain, damage 2d6 (bite). 100' in length, and 12' or more in diameter. Flesh is smooth and rubbery, with a deep indigo hue, marking them as the lords of all worms. The worm's most defining feature is it's grinning maw of human-like teeth on an otherwise featureless face. It will eat anything in it's path, leaving behind a trail of acid-sludge. Always attacks living creatures on sight. Never checks morale.  Swallow whole. Whenever the purple worm attacks a creature human-size or smaller, the target must save versus dragon breath or be swallowed whole. Inside the worm. Creatures caught in the worm's stomach suffer 2d6 damage per round, and -4 to all attack rolls. Squishy insides. All damage dealt to the worm from the inside is doubled. Pearly whites. A purple worm has 32 teeth of smooth, white ivory, which are prized among collectors and make excellent grindstones. A single tooth will sell for 1,000 silver pieces.   **...

I've been trying to keep my posts pretty structured, tho this one may ramble a little. After an exchange with Miranda of In Places Deep over on Bluesky, I started thinking about weapon-as-initiative, and it quickly reached the point where I realized I wasn't going to get anything else done until I wrote a little blog post about it. Weapon as Initiative From Fantastic Medieval Campaigns by Marcia B.   The basic system: In Chainmail, weapons are given a number from 1-12, abstractly representing length. For dungeon crawling, you can use that number as an initiative score, counting down from 12 on the first round (representing the reach advantage of long weapons) and then counting up each subsequent round (representing combat getting all close and claustrophobic). I believe Tonisborg uses a system like this, tho I haven't actually read it. The cool side effect of this is it means daggers and other small weapons basically get a double-move when the initiative flips, before the o...

2024/11/19: Added a ruling on HP and character death. I read it in a blog post a long time ago, but can't for the life of me remember what the post was. If anyone knows, plz lemme know! 2024/12/05: Found it! It’s this post from Paper & Pencils! I've been flirting with the idea of starting an FMC campaign with some friends, and I wanted to compile some house rules into one place to make that a little easier, in case that does end up happening. As follows: Mortals: Prices are silver standard. Pay 1% of XP per month as living expenses. Use simple encumbrance except in edge cases. Armour prices are 25/100/1000. Any class can wear any armour. Replace Int and Wis with Arcane and Faith. Explained here. Use ascending AC. Fighters add HD to attack rolls. Everyone else progresses normally. Fighters have 1d+2 HD at 1st level, 2d+1 at 2nd. If you are reduced to 0 HP (don't bother tracking negatives), you are Injured, but can still act. Any subsequent damage will kill you. If you ...

I love Souls games. I love getting invaded. I wanted to bring some of that energy to my ttrpg games. Some of these are based on invaders from the Dark Souls games, others are my own ideas. For best results, use with the Underclock . Add a Black Phantom entry to your dungeon encounter table. When you roll it, roll on the subtable below. promotional image of a black phantom for Dark Souls Attributes: Invaders have Hit Dice equal to 1 + the number of classed characters in the party being invaded. Max 9. They can make a number of attacks each round equal to the number of humanlike creatures they are in melee with. They attack for 3 rounds, until they kill someone, or until they are slain. They appear as malevolent, burning shadows, but can be struck as if corporeal. 1d8 Invaders: Prong Knight. ac as plate, morning star-1d6+1. Wears thick, plate armour, bolted shut. Long iron spikes protrude from every surface, warning against those who would try to free her. Any who strike the Prong Knigh...

Primary inspired by this article on thief knacks from Rise Up Comus. I'm also a huge fan of this little spellbook by Substitute Adventurer on Itch.io. I've always liked witches. Lately I've been rocking with Berserk's take on them specifically. I love the way they seem to understand what's actually going on with the world, at least more then others do. This witch is a little more chaotic though. The powers that be are fickle. This is maybe a little high complexity for od&d, but I've still chosen to go with it, since od&d is usually my preferred system.  The Witch by John William Waterhouse Class Attributes Prime Requisite: Faith (wisdom). You follow the Mother, she of the earth and the sky. You follow a loose pantheon of other gods too, when it suits you. Hit Dice and Combat Ability: As a Cleric. Equipment Restrictions: You may not wear armour or wield weapons forged with iron. Weapons purchased during character creation are made of bronze. Cool we...

I really enjoy campaigns with a small selection of monsters. Luke Gearing wrote about this here . Mark Rosewater of Magic: the Gathering often says "Restrictions breed creativity." At least he used to. I haven't followed Magic in a while. That's the whole intro, I think. It's October, so I wanted to make a small list of spooky monsters, for dungeons which are creepy and/or wet. These are less new monsters and more re-imaginings of pre-existing ones. Here they are: Deathless Legion 1 Hit Die, AC as Chain. Desiccated corpses with pale grey flesh, clad in ancient armour. Very tactical and coordinated, communicating to one-another through battle-sign. Make no noise, but their armour clinks and sheds rust particles, which can give them away. Armour is either bronze rusted blue-green, or iron rusted deep orange, depending on the era of the corpse. Each legionnaire has a gold coin under it's dried, black tongue. Malice Hounds 1 Hit Die, AC as Leather. Twisted, lanky...

In the interest of procrastinating my upcoming assignments, I wanted to elaborate on something I posited on another website: replacing Intelligence and Wisdom with Arcane and Faith. What this means: Arcane is your hyper-specific magical and occult lore. It's your time spent reading giant tomes and dusty grimoires bound with hopefully-not-human leather. Arcane is your mathematics degree, rather then having any direct bearing on like, general knowledge. Faith is your blind trust in a cosmic path through the universe. The more you believe in something, the more real it is. If enough people believe in you, you too can play God. Reasons I like this: De-emphasizes character intelligence. You (the player) are clever. Don't feel like you need to roleplay otherwise because of stats. I think people already know this, but I like to see it reflected in game terms. Works well with od&d. Prime requisites map cleanly onto character classes. Wisdom becomes the Cleric ability. Intelligenc...

Morale system I've been using lately: Check morale when a group of npcs loses a leader or suffers half casualties, or when a solo npc suffers half health. To check morale roll a d20. If result is equal to or greater then target's Morale score, morale fails, the group attempts to retreat. Otherwise, morale holds. Morale score is by type of creature, as follows: Morale Example 10+ Normal humans, animals 12+ Bandits, orcs, goblins 14+ Mercenaries, elves, dwarves, hobgoblins 16+ Monsters. Basilisks, ghouls, ogres 18+ Demons, dragons What I like about this system is that I never need to reference a book. It didn't take long for me to have this memorized, and I've been yet to find a monster that doesn't neatly slot onto this scale. I also find it very satisfying that this system uses the same 12-14-16 rule I prefer for armour class and saving throws.

Hi, I'm alice! I've been playing ttrpgs for close to half my life now, and sometimes I have thoughts about them, so I made a blog. I don't except to post super regularly, I just wanted a place to put my thoughts. I love lots of different types of games, though I expect I'll mostly end up posting about od&d.