My updated Berserker for DCC RPG

Some years ago I designed a Berserker class for DCC RPG (you can find a slightly revised version in the 2018 Gongfarmer Almanac).

Unlike my other classes, I finally managed to playtest it a lot in my DCC RPG home campaign, which has been running more or less steadily since 2013. The thing is, in hindsight, I was too much influenced by more mechanic-heavy games. There is just too much stuff going on with the original Berserker. For games like Pathfinder and 13th Age that is neat, but not for DCC RPG.

I'm trying to keep my DCC RPG running light and simple these days, so I changed the Berserker. That also gave me ideas regarding other DCC RPG classes that I've been tinkering with (I'll try to post them soon, especially a much delayed martial artist... the original version was absurdly complex and required the player to distribute points between attack, defense and damage EVERY round... that is a no-fun for me these days in DCC RPG).

With the help of the Berserker player (thank you Leozílio!) here is the version we're currently using. Hopefully it is better than the previous one and more fun at the table.

Using Colonial Brazil for your Hexcrawl OSR

Let’s talk about how you can use Colonial Brazil as a template for your OSR hexcrawl campaigns. No, I’m not talking specifically about history, but on how some of the general concepts behind Colonial Brazil can help. Long story short, Brazil was colonized at first just as a way to enrich the Old World by extracting all the natural resources and goods they could get their hands on. That also included slavery and when the natives wouldn’t “cooperate”, a massive traffic of slaves was brought from Africa to brazilian shores. The first brazilian colonizers were mostly explorers, mercenaries and criminals. In fact, it was typical to leave convicted criminals at unknown shores and if they managed to survive when the ships returned they could even be pardoned (you will find more stuff here) - and yes that is a great hook for a game.

I believe Colonial Brazil can be an awesome approach for a different hexcrawl or Points of Light campaign. Instead of civilization being a distant Great Kingdom or isolated villages, your only safe havens here are very specific points of the shores. EVERYTHING else is hostile and unknown wilderness. Only at the shores you can trade, rest and get access to special equipment (you can even tailor specific rules, maybe certain types of rest, training or item magic creation would only work at the fortified ports in the shores).

That said, it is obvious that you can play D&D by going into the wilderness and facing hostile monsters and humanoid tribes but - frankly - that is rather uninteresting so: apply a twist! Again, using Colonial Brazil as an example: Europeans believed that the had a sacred mission to conquer and convert (even through slavery and genocide) the natives; that the local tribes were savage and inferior. That was their propaganda and was, of course, bullshit. Show - don’t tell - that to your players. In the same way that Brazil had native civilizations (not savages) before colonization, do the same to your wilderness. Even better, fill it with orcs, bugbears, goblins and all other humanoid races from D&D that you love so much; but place them here as cultures, not as evil bags of humanoid-shaped HPs. I addressed something similar in another post. You can even make the character think that they will be facing “evil humanoids”, but let all that Monster Manual “flavor text” be fake propaganda from the Powers That Be in the Old World. After getting into the wilds, let them meet rich cultures, like those found in Brazil. Let the character decide if they want to take part in the genocide (and suffer the consequences) or if they want to take a stand. This can be especially interesting if you use the convict exiles approach mentioned before: one of the most famous and mysterious characters of Colonial Brazil was probably a convict, but he became a respected leader among the natives (check here, unfortunately the link is available only in Portuguese). Steal that idea! Make the character feel welcome among one of “monster” civilizations of your wilderness, and despised among the powers of “civilization”. Let that feeling sink in and see how they behave.

Another cool concept to steal from Colonial Brazil is the exploration aspect. Ok, Portugal used Brazilian land and slaves to plant vast amounts of sugarcane, a valuable good; however, that came later. Initial exploration was often of local plants and animals. The name of the country, according to some, came from the brazilwood, used for expensive red dye at the time. I would change that. What if brazilwood (or its equivalent in your campaign) was a potent magic component that could be used to increase the effect of spells? If you make it addictive to magic users that is a plus; maybe it has to be smoked to empower the spellcaster (which would be nice because tobacco came from the Americas and shamans among in Brazil used it in their rituals). I just would keep this “magical spice” as a vegetable resource, to keep things interesting (later Brazil would see a gold rush, but mines don’t encourage you to preserve the environment and so are less interesting at this point of the campaign).

OK, we have local “monsters” and a unique supernatural resource so lets steal another thing from Colonial Brazil: Bandeiras! Like other historical themes that we are working here we don’t want the “real” Bandeiras and their members - the Bandeirantes (whomever they were). Actually, probably the historical Bandeirantes were brutal slavers and killers… like pirates, samurai, cowboys, vikings, and other famous archetypes, Bandeirantes were later romanticized into “national” heroes. Who were the Bandeirantes? (Long version is here). Short version is that Bandeirantes (literally “Flag-carriers”) were members of huge expeditions that braved the wilds in search of riches (like the famous Mountain of Silver) and slaves. Now, history aside, the awesome thing about Bandeirantes is that they really were adventurers’ parties! Exactly like OSR parties: adventurers, followed by followers and tons of hirelings. Some served the powers of the Old World, others were independent or worked as mercenaries, but it is definitely hard for a D&D player to read about them and NOT think on a campaign (there is a reason the first Brazilian RPG based on Brazilian history and folklore was called Desafio dos Bandeirantes or The Bandeirantes’ Challenge). You can use all your favorite party tropes from D&D as an official and socially recognized part of society in Colonial Brazil (i.e. adventurer partie were common and had a social niche). You can even play with party x party rivalry (c’mon, the most dangerous monster in D&D is nothing like the Tarrasque, but actually a high-level party of NPCs).

My third RPG and still a great game!

Now, you have the three main elements that I wanted to share with you:

• A vast “wilderness” full of “monsters”, with the powers of Civilization and Order holding small “Points of Light” at the shores.
• Legends of riches and exotic goods in the depths of the wilderness, like our supernatural brazilwood (spell empowering drug) or maybe a huge megadungeon sitting above a mountain made of silver, gold, adamantine or whatever precious metal you want.
• Organized (and probably rivals) parties of explorers sanctioned (or not) by the powers of Civilization.

I mentioned that you could use classic D&D monsters as strange and different cultures but you can move forward and use a setting just with dwarves, elves and other races from the Player’s Handbook (like this approach here). The “monsters” here are other humans, elves, dwarves etc. That would be a lot better to drive home some of the themes behind this theme (however, these days I believe that using all the humanoids is better, because it gives you A LOT of good options). Finally, you can do yourself a favor and do some research about the tribes that lived in Brazil at the time (the mythical and the historical), like:

• A historical tribe whose warriors were so fierce and feared that they used to jump in the sea, drenched in animal blood, so that they could hunt sharks with spears!
• Another tribe, with a rich religious culture, believed that each person had from 5 to 6 souls. And those souls could change daily or even be lost (like when you were sick).
• A mythical third tribe that lived in caves and had bat wings!
• The curupira, a forest spirit with backward feet who would lead raiders and those that disrespected the wilderness to other monsters dens.
• A monster known as the mapinguari that acted, basically, as a bigger bugbear. The mapinguari would grapple a victim (like a character in a party) by surprise, and run while carrying the poor soul into the woods (while EATING him alive, I forgot to mention). Usually trying to follow or catch up with a mapinguari would leave most parties lost.
• A type of epic monster known as the Earthshakers, of which only three survived. These ancient beings from a previous world have a vibe that mixes kaiju and Lovecraftian horrors in one place.

I love that art!

That is not even a tiny sample of the material that you can find. A good primer for gamers would be the outstanding The Elephant and Macaw Banner. Author Christopher Kastensmidt gives us an unlikely party of two adventurers in Colonial Brazil that adamantly refuses to employ slaves (one of them was actually a slave from Africa) and that travels in the wilderness to help people and battle monsters (real monsters!). The best part is that you have not only an awesome novel but also a great RPG recently made available in English (even if you don’t use the system, the bestiary and the art alone are more than worth the purchase). It is really a shame that Desafio dos Bandeirantes is out of print (and not available in English) as it had amazing ideas and concepts (like an african-based blacksmith magician known as the “Iron and Fire Sorcerer"... what a badass class).

My DCC RPG House Rules (so far)

Good news is that I finally managed to get a regular online game going after all these years. I’ve been running a DCC RPG campaign since 2013 for my old table from Brazil but in a very sporadic way. However, I started dedicating myself this year (and got a few ideas from fellow Roll20 GMs) and the game so far has been a blast, with sessions every 10-20 days. We just finished session #40 (starting a heavily modified 13th Skull module).

Bad news is that I (again) neglected this tower. I must finish that Tower of Visions post-by-post dungeon and I also want to share my thoughts about how Colonial Brazil can offer an interesting and new approach for ye olde hexcrawl campaigns. With the beautiful The Elephant & Macaw Banner Roleplaying Game getting finally released in English, I feel this is the perfect moment.

That said... my House Rules!

My DCC RPG started with very few of those: basically we disregarded XP and used a system very similar to Warhammer 2nd Edition’s Fate Points, plus Re-rolls Points granted for good roleplay and coming to sessions (something inherited from my D&D and Pathfinder games), to reduce lethality and allow for a longer campaign.

With time (and character reaching levels 3-4) I removed that “safety cushion” and actually desired to move back to DCC RPG RAW. To my surprise the table really does not want to use XP (which left me a bit sad, since I really wanted to use for Carousing).

Without further ado the House Rules

The Golden Rule: Standard DC is 10, really hard is 15 and epic is 20. Failing but rolling close to the DC (or giving a very good ou clever description of the action) might allow you to Succeed with Cost (the famous “Not, but…”). Usually 1 is an automatic fumble and 20 is an automatic success. (Yes, this entire “house rule” is more a clarification than a rule)

Luck: I grant +1 Luck for showing up for a game session. The party also gains +1 Luck after an encounter where they permanently vanquished an area of the Un-dead (Law and Chaos desire souls and revile Un-dead in my campaign. Carrying too many magic items (or those against your deity, patron or alignment) might cap your maximum Luck. The Un-dead bit I took years ago from a very good DCC RPG blog and cap for magic items is my take of something that I read in the Core Rulebook.

Fleeting Luck (from DCC RPG Lankhmar): usually awarded when a character spends gold on Carousing. Currently, Carousing at my table is a source of Fleeting Luck, rumors, hirelings, contacts etc.

Shields shall be splintered!: the classic house rule of the OSR. You can destroy your shield to negate a hit or reduce damage to half (if the source of damage is something powerful as a giant or if you’re using a buckler, for example). It doesn’t work against critical hits. Magic shields usually aren’t broken (and I might ask for a Luck check), although you can declare that you destroyed yours to accomplish something (like protect you and a fellow party member from a dragon breath). This last part I took from 13th Age. Spellcasters can’t benefit from this rule.

Saving your head!: if you’re using a helm and suffers a critical hit, you destroy the helm to change the critical to a normal hit. Closed helms allow you to roll Luck and keep the helm. This rule came, I believe, from Baldur’s Gate (the computer games) and is something that a player in my table loves. Helms usually give you a penalty to perception checks (Luck in DCC RPG). Spellcasters can’t benefit from this rule.

Treasure: instead of counting coins I use an abstract system where your gold is a modifier to checks when you try to buy something. That is usually a d20 check. This is based on Burning Wheel’s Resources system, mixed with the simple but awesome rules from Kevin Crawford’s game. Usually a +0 bonus is a few copper coins, with fat gold coins giving your +2/+3 and a big loot (that you can still carry) around +5. DCs are usually very low and I only require a roll when there is a chance of the character getting into a bad (financial) spot. Failure usually means the PC has no dinero or is in debt. I also roll between downtimes for maintenance of their gears. Simple and fast.

Reputation: you usually roll a d10 check plus Personality to see if you get a good impression or someone recognizes you (good roleplay, of course, can fix that). After each deed or adventure, you can receive a bonus for fame (or infamy), things like “Slayer of the Beastmen from the Sea of Fallen Stars +1 DIE Step”. It is also a good track for the party’s accomplishments.

Utility Die: used to track torches, rations, ammunition etc. From Black Hack 1st.

Destiny: after one complete adventure (one entire module) your character gets 1 Destiny Point that she can spend to save her life or to change something in an encounter. Based on Warhammer 2nd Edition’s Fate Points. Once spent Destiny is gone for good. Spellcasters don’t gain Destiny (they have their deities and patrons to save their ass.)

Spells’ DC: inspired by something I read in the Goodman Games Board (and after getting tired of my table’s spellcasters going nova with Spellburn and always rolling DCs higher than 20). The DC that you have to beat with a save is the natural roll of the spellcaster’s Action Die plus his stat modifier. Just that. So far it is working rather nicely.

Spellburn: from the awesome Sheep and Sorcery blog. Instead of letting the spellcaster cherry-pick points of damage, she chooses a number of d6s and distributes them among Strength, Stamina and Agility. The total result of the d6s is the amount of Spellburn damage and bonus to the spellcasting check. Oh, and the d6s explode on a “6”. Did I mention that if you “zero” a physical stat during Spellburn you die in a blaze of sorcery glory? (Yes, it should be scary… Spellburn at my table was becoming a routine action before that. Now I can see the spellcaster player praying for his patron each time he rolls.)

The Laws of Magic: I let it quite clear to my players that the rules of magic as written in the DCC RPG Core Rulebook are just the most basic and “safest” way of spellcasting. There are hidden rules, loopholes and dangerous approaches that they have to try or find out. This is to encourage spellcasters to negotiate and seek news ways to spellcast (here is an example of my approachto magic, but using D&D 5E).

The Tower of Visions #4 - The Fane of Lost Reflections

Edit: Oh, and here are posts #1, #2 and #3 in the series!

Howdy folks!

Nothing like a world pandemic, moving to a new house and trying to keep yourself sane for a perfect combo for this (already) cursed and thrice-damned year! Anyhow, sorry (again) for the considerable delay in updating this much forsaken demesne.

Lets go to another room/encounter on the Tower of Visions, my first attempt at a “post by post” dungeon (today is post #4). Today, I’m following the great guidelines of David Cook, where for every combat encounter you should have 3-4 non-combat ones. So, let me see if I can create a weird place for the characters to explore in this dungeon.

This room holds a lot of magical mirrors. Each one has different effects and consequences. Most can be broken or shattered, although that is not always a good idea. To make things interesting you can introduce an NPC if you want: the Mirror Lord!

The Mirror Lord is an “echoling”, a creature that exists only on the rare and unknown Mirror Dimension. It can only interact with the party through a mirror. Its name is not actually Mirror Lord, it was just a lesser extraplanar jailor bound by the master of the Tower of Visions to keep the local artifacts in order. It desperately wants to convince a character to use the Harry Potter mirror to make it real (more about that mirror below). Unfortunately, it is a bound entity and thus it will always give the worst possible explanation about any magic mirror (if asked!). Thus, it seeks to give information without being asked. If somehow freed, it will be an above average loyal hireling but a regular stated one. If the party can figure that out, this NPC can be a very powerful source of help.

Without further ado, let's delve into the...

 

The Fane of Lost Reflections

 

That is a good image for the Tower of Visions

The Mirror of the Hidden

This magical mirror won’t appear to reflect anything, including the room. However, what it does is reveal invisible things or the true form of objects or creatures obfuscated by illusions. This is an oval shaped mirror framed in the bones of angels. Clerics and other (good) divine spellcasters feel pain be carrying it (and it will probably bring trouble for the party). Although cumbersome to carry, it is not that heavy (but a human-sized PC must use both hands to carry it). It is hard to shatter, due to its magical nature, but every time it is hit there is a 50% chance that every creature in a 30 ft. radius suffers the damage instead of the mirror. Yes, celestials and champions of Law will think the worst about the carrier of this potent artifact.

 

The Window of Doubt

This magical mirror will show the exact opposite of who you truly are. Details are left to the Judge. Usually, standing before it will show the viewer doing something in the near future that is the last thing she would actually do. Law-abiding heroes will be seen killing the local lord while greedy wizards will see their future reflections delivering their most precious magic item to the local church. Actually, this mirror is the perfect guide on “how to invert your alignment” (if you care about alignments in your game). This should be a huge door-like mirror, very hard to move or carry. If broken, the character responsible for breaking will be cursed with dreams showing them doing all those terrible things (the Judge is encouraged to give secret information to the dreamer, to tempt her to do those horrible deeds… like showing the Law warrior killing the local lord and stealing a thus far unknown Chaos magic sword hidden below his castle).

Yes, other characters not directly in front of the Window of Doubt will see all the stuff above. Let paranoia run loose!

 

The Harry Potter Mirror

If you’re standing right in front of his mirror you will see your heart’s desire fulfilled. This is an excellent opportunity to talk with the player and let THEM, not you, to describe what transpires. Oh, and every other person close by (but not standing right in front of the mirror) to see that. If more than one character is in front of the mirror, ask them to roll a Luck check (or a Charisma check) and the best roll is the “chosen one”.

This a big mirror, that must be carried by at least four strong human characters. Destroying it is really hard, takes a lot of time but should work. However, each destroyer cries in their sleep for a really long time following that event (and a cruel but fair Judge should ask what is their heart desire and let them know they will never achieve it).

 

The Shadow Prince’s Looking Glass

When a character stares at this mirror for some time she sees her reflection taking one of her items and throwing it away, beyond the mirror’s frame. That item really DISAPPEARS. If the characters keep starting, another will go away a few moments later.

A “good sport” character that leaves without complaining about it. She will awake 1d7 days later with a new and cool item (and yes, that item was stolen from someone else… Judges, please, be creative). The item should be useful and preferably magical.

If the character tries to break or destroy the mirror… well, first it reforms one day later, when no one is looking. Second, the mirror-breaker is now cursed. Actually, she is under the Murder Men Curse. What is a Murder Man? Look here.

The Prince of Shadow’s Looking Glass should be the shoddiest and poorest mirror in the room, preferably covered with a dirt sheet with a warning “Prince of Shadow Property! Do not touch. DO NOT bring it back to Minas Morgul!”

 

The Cornucopia Window

Whoever is standing before this mirror for more than a few seconds will start to see all kinds of delicious food and drinks appearing around her. Although nothing shows up in the real world, the character can eat/drink the reflections. After such a banquet, let her know that she is superbly satisfied and gained 1 Advantage (once chance to roll twice any check and take the best result). The downside? The food and drinks were fake and after her next sleep, the character will awake famished (i.e. treat as if her physical stats are half, including her hit points, until she can eat a lot; if you play 5E give her 1d3 levels of Exhaustion).

The Cornucopia Window should be a giant mirror, almost impossible to move. If broken, it will fill a 15 ft. spread area in front of it with rotten food, possibly inflicting damage on any character on the way (and a fair Judge can also unleash one disease or rat swarm).

 

The Mirror of the Lost Room

This mirror shows the character’s reflection standing in a different room, a small camber with nothing on it. However, if the character drops anything on the floor while standing before the mirror, the item will disappear from the real world and show up in the magical room. This is basically the “mirror version” of a portable hole.

The mirror itself should be something as big as a shield, preferably with iron frames shaped in a (green devil) grinning face. It can be carried although it will be so voluminous that it will require a hireling only for that task. It can hold A LOT of stuff but if it is broken (it is very sturdy) or lost, all the items inside of it are lost forever (or until the Judge can concoct a weird quest to an yet more bizarre demiplane where lost items of the Multiverse can be found).

 

The Chess Mirror

This baroque and big mirror appears to be immune to damage and shows a weird room, where the floor is painted like a chess board, but in white and red tones. Stepping inside makes the character disappear. It is a one way ticket to a Red and Pleasant Land.

 

The Door to Hades

This mirror is shaped with skeleton and death motifs, reflecting umbral mists. It is considerably cracked and it is a miracle it is still whole. If any corpse is placed before it a reflection of the live counterpart will show up and step out in a few moments. Yes, it is a “Raise Dead mirror”. The catch? (You know there is one) The reflection is an inverted version of the original. Don’t tell that right away… if the raised one is a player character let him know that between sessions (and yes, this is a classical “traitor plot”). If the raised character is a NPC, give subtle clues and a fair chance for the party to find out (otherwise kill the character with the lowest Luck/Charisma in their sleep and let them hunt the traitor later).

Every time someone is raised with this mirror roll an Utility Die (I would use a 1d4). A 1-2 roll means the mirror shatters. Any other roll just add a crack in the mirror.

 

The Sea King’s Eye

This big oval mirror, framed with valuable corals and pearls, fills the corner of the chamber. Anyone standing in front of it sees what appears to be the depths of the ocean, but illuminated by the gold radiance of a treasure hoard of a thousand shipwrecks. This is the Sea King’s trove and that is the closest anyone is going to get to it. If anyone tries to break this mirror it starts to leak. If that is not a fair warning, then fill the room with sea water… and sharks! Undead sharks if you’re feeling nasty. The party has to run out or drown.

 

The Mirror of the Other

This mirror visibly floats in the middle of the room. It is framed in silver or mithril or anything valuable that you want. If a character walks in front of it, a perfect reflection of that character will show up and start a chat. It will explain that it is “just a reflection, an imperfect copy” of the original. It will ask for just one favor: “to live a full life as a mortal”. It will accept to serve the character and help them in their quest, after that it will ask for a retirement in a quiet village, far from trouble.

If the character accepts, the doppelganger will step out. It will be exactly like the character. For the next 7 days a new doppelganger will show up whenever the character sleeps. They will always help… until there are more of them than the party (or after 7 days). Then, they will strike and kill. If they can’t do that they will flee and unleash havoc at the best moment. They will always be of the same level and power of the original character.

The mirror only works for one character, if multiple characters try to stand before the mirror the one with the LOWEST Luck/Charisma will be the one that can talk with the doppelganger.

Shattering this mirror is impossible. It is a mighty artifact, birthed from the mind of the dead god of illusions. Only an innocent child, wielding the Sword of Truth, can shatter the Mirror of the Other. Doing that will kill all doppelgangers.

 

The Dorian Mirror

When the first character (if you must roll a Luck/Charisma check, the best result wins) stand before this mirror they will see their reflection (a debased and old one) offering them immortality in exchange for keeping the mirror forever hidden. If they accept that they’re immortal as long as the mirror stands hidden and intact.

What is immortal? They will never age or die (if reduced to 0 hit points they won’t go lower but will fall unconscious unless they succeed at a hard Fortitude or Will save every round, Judge’s call, and yes… please change the saves once in a while).

After 7 days, the pact is sealed and the character discovers that she must keep the mirror always within 100 feet of her. Otherwise she starts aging and losing 1 full Hit Dice per round until turned to dust,

Of course, if the mirror is destroyed or anyone sees her reflection she is also dust. To make things worse, if a wizard (or gods forbid it a devil/demon) gets the mirror, then the character must obey the owner or start losing 1 full Hit Dice per day.

Welcome to immortality!

 

The Mirror of the Trickster

This is the only hand mirror in the room. It is held by a corpse. If removed it will always show the character doing slightly different things than what she is doing at the moment. The true effect of the mirror happens if it is held during combat or while rolling a save or ability check… it literally gives the character a second chance.

If the character fails at any check (or wants to force the Judge or enemy to reroll), she can do that if she is wiedling the mirror (yes, let that clear to the player). She either gains a reroll or forces the enemy/Judge to reroll. If the result is the same, the Judge should treat it as a critical hit/fumble. In other words, if the orc hit the character and she requested a reroll, and then the orc hit again, that second hit is critical. It is the worst thing possible.

Finally, the gods hate mortals meddling with Destiny/Fate. Any character that uses the Mirror of the Trickster is immune to beneficial divine/clerical magic for 24 hours. Oh, and if the mirror breaks the character is immune to beneficial divine/clerical magic for 7 days and all her critical successes are considered fumbles for the same period.

The Guardian (v.2) - a new class for 13th Age!

Here is the second and so far current version of my Guardian class for 13th Age (the first version was here).

The Guardians was created to a warrior that keeps enemies in check in the battlefield, inflicting conditions and interrupting a foe's actions. Guardians should be especially effective against big groups of weaker foes. In terms of flavor, there a lot of inspirations, from Wheel of Time's Wardens (that is where I tried to get the names for some Stances and Strikes) to the Dúnedain and also including stuff like the Dwarven Defender (and the Devoted Defender) prestige classes from 3rd Edition... and yes! from that from amazing scene from Fellowship of the Ring (among others).

Thank you to the 13th Age Facebook community and especially for Martin Killman for the feedback! The Guardian still needs (a lot of) playtesting but I hope to start using it at my table soon. I think a lot of abilities in the class need tinkering (like the Bodyguard stuff) and I'm not sure about how the Stances work thematically yet (I feel I'm still missing a few mechanic niches there). Anyway, let us see how it runs on the table.

Meanwhile, it is time to start working on my other two class ideas...

A Guardian going to battle!

The Tower of Visions #3 - The Tigers of Doors

Time for post #3 for the Tower of Visions! Here are post #2 and post #1 if you’re curious (they are not in order, I'll try that after finishing the dungeon). Unlike the previous posts this one can be played as a straight combat encounter (or not). Actually, I’m think that this can be the first encounter of the entire thing.

The Tigers of Doors

The party enters a big hall of unworked stone, 30 ft. wide, 12 ft. tall and roughly 100 ft. long. There are corpses of previous raiders to the Tower lying in the ground. At the end of the hall it is possible to see gigantic doors (from the floor to the ceiling) made of grey crystal. Guarding the doors are two big statues of tiger that seem to be made of multifaceted mirrors. Each statue is an otherworldly work of art and the characters can see themselves reflected in the various mirrors that made up each tiger.

The Gate Is Shut: If someone in the party gets close enough to the doors there is a chance they noticed something is wrong: besides the fact that the doors are really big and look more like a castle’s gate than a door there is no handle to pull them open. Close inspection (or the right questions) will reveal to the party that they are not doors, just a big crystal wall carved with the shape of doors (the Judge call allow Dwarven characters to notice that automatically if they reach the gate).

The Corpses: The corpses don’t rot and are in the position as of their demise. Investigating the bodies reveal razor sharps cuts that got through flesh, leather and metal.

The Judge can leave anything to be looted but when in doubt roll a few coins, 1d6 normal weapons (and ammunition) and maybe a shield or helm laying. Material components for arcane spells are also in order and if you’re feeling nice they can grant 1d6 “Spellburn points” to any spell (but if you roll a ‘6’ the caster suffers Minor Corruption). Oh, if you play 5E or other d20 game maybe the special components can give double damage or duration for the next spell (but there is a 25% of suffering Exhaustion or a wild mage surge). In fact, merciful Judges can leave one or two healing potions here or a few scrolls of lore collected about the Tower of Visions (these scrolls grant 1d2 “answers” to questions made by the party, after translation or any check required by the Judge).

The Tigers of Doors: When the party gets at 30 ft of the Tigers their reflections in the statues start chanting “Oh bloody ones! Offer honor and sacrifice to the Tigers of Doors, the Keeper of Impossible Paths, Masters of Mirror Worlds!”.

Not surprisingly (or so I believe) they Tigers start moving at that points and, after 1 round staring at the party, will jump to attack (preferably at the closest or unluckiest character).

Start with normal tiger stats of your choice (like the ones on page 174 of the DCC RPG Annual Vol. 1) but give them higher Initiative (+8 is nice) and AC (around 16-18). Piercing weapons deal minimum damage, slashing weapons deal half damage. They are immune to poison and effects that target living creatures, but suffer double damage from sonic attacks. They are immune to any ray attack (and there is a 25% that it is reflected back).

The biggest danger of the Tigers are their claws and bite. After rolling damage for a claw or bite attack, tell the hit character that she has a choice: either suffer bleeding damage equal to half the damage suffered at the start of each round; or lose 1 point of AC (that includes having a shield destroyed). The Tigers’ attacks are almost vorpal-sharp. Bleeding damage keeps going until healed (and is not cumulative, use the higher amount).

A way out: The way to leave this room is either to destroy the Tigers of Doors in combat or to notice that each Tiger is actually a magic door:

- Destroying a Tiger will open for 1d3 rounds a magic door to the next part of the dungeon. After that the Tiger will become a shard of living mirrors (use the same stats, with half hit point and attack as swarm against everything in 10 ft.) for 1d3 rounds. During the “swarm phase”  the magic door is still open, but anyone jumping through will suffer a free attack. Oh, and read later about the Curse.

- Anyone fighting a Tiger in melee range can glimpse in one of their multifaceted surfaces a shining door. Touching the right spot (this is a melee attack with Advantage) takes the character way to the next part of the Tower of Visions. Evil Judges can declare that such a “touching attack” grants the Tiger a free attack.

- Anyone “offering honor and sacrifice” to a Tiger of Doors can be transported away instantly. This can be either a religion check (DC 15?) or a cool roleplay, preferably followed by some concrete offer (blood and 1 point of damage is the standard ticket, but the Judge is free to accept anything of value).  

- The “sacrifice” bit can actually mean that a character lowers her guard to the Tiger and offers herself for 1 free attack. After the attack (dead or bleeding) the character is transported away. Maybe each “free attack” against one character can transporte another member of the party.

The Curse!

The Tigers of Doors required a sacrifice! These dudes are quasi-deities (weak ones). Killing their material forms won’t stop them for long but will deeply offend them. The character that did the killing strike should lose 1 Luck right away (to know that something is wrong). Congratulations, the character is cursed!

This is how the curse works: ask for a Luck check, rolling equal or less than the stat. Start with a d30. Once per game session or adventure ask for a Luck check. Each time the character fails, before crossing any door of the Judge’s choice, the character will see a Tiger of Doors briefly crossing it on the other side. After stepping through THAT door, it doesn’t matter what steps the character takes, they will suffer one successful bite attack (don’t forget the bleeding damage and maybe roll a d20 just to see if it is a critical hit). Each time that the character is damaged, decrease the curse die by one step (it stops at d10 but don’t forget that rolling a d10 is always a failure). If your d20 game doesn’t use Luck as a stat (heretics!) use Charisma.

How to remove the curse? I don’t know… sell your soul to a patron, do a quest for a god, build a shrine to the Tigers of Doors (which will grow to become a new Tower of Visions?) etc. This is the fun part and I will leave it to the Judge.

What if...

...some try to attack the Tigers of Doors from a distance before they animate (c’mon, it is obvious they will animate)? Remember, the trigger is 30 ft. Well, if that happens the Judge can just allow it and give the party 1 round of free shots. Evil Judges (you know, the best ones) will probably remove the message part of the encounter and just leave the party to figure it out the hard way.

Imagine something awesome like this... but it is a tiger! By Kardie Art.

The Tower of Visions #2 - The Stairs of Mortality

Continuing my Tower of Visions dungeoncrawl posts (#1 is here). I’m posting one encounter each time and later I hope to make some sense of the whole thing.

Actually this encounter here is based on my friend’s first idea for the dungeon: The Stairs of Mortality.

There is no room, just an infinity of darkness, an eternal abyss. The only path through it is a set of stairs wide enough that can allow two people side by side (but not fighting). The stairs appear to climb forever but there is a light above. When the party enters it seems more like a star, as it is pretty far. After climbing for a long time (enough for a long rest or 4d4 hours) the characters start to see things coming from the Abyss (from all directions). Mirrors, floating and rotating in the dark, each one man-sized and diamond-shaped.

The mirrors start at long range (60-100 ft.) where it is practically impossible to see their surfaces. When within medium range (0-60 ft.) the Judge can allow a Perception/Luck so that a character can try to see details in one of the mirrors (if the character succeeds roll on the table below and describe it). Basically each mirror shows a possible reflection of a character. Each mirror has AC 15 and 3 hit points. There are 1d2+1 mirrors per character. The mirrors take 1d2 rounds to get really close to the party.

Once within medium range, ask for initiative (each mirror rolls initiative on a d10). The action of each mirror is to cut a character, dealing 3d6 points of damage (but can’t reduce a character below 0). The target can avoid this with an Agility/Dexterity check or any other crazy idea. If the target tries to shatter or attack the mirror they also must roll on the table below (although using a shield or some other protection could allow the character a saving throw or Luck roll). Why that? Because breaking (magic) mirrors is unlucky.

If a character falls to 0 hit points because of a mirror attack, roll on the table. If a character drops to 0 (i.e. is affected by a mirror), the other mirrors pass by and won’t attack that character that round. The mirrors will fly around the party for just 1d3 rounds then fly back to the darkness.

Finally, after the encounter, if the party keeps climbing the stairs they reach the next door after more 4d4 hours of walking. If someone falls in the darkness or rolls the ‘8’ result, consider that they appear again when the party leaves the room (but again for them on the table ignoring any ‘8’ result).

Each effect below tries to describe first what the character sees in the reflection.  If brought to 0 hit points by that mirror, that reflection becomes the reality.

The Mirrors of Mortality Table (Roll a d8):

1 - The character sees herself as a youth, almost a child. Reduce your age to something around 10-14 years old (or the equivalent of your race). If you have a positive modifier (or 0) in Str, Con or Per/Wis, reduce it by 1 (and adjust the Stat). For example: in DCC RPG, if you had Str 12 (+1), you Str is now 9 (mod 0). On the bright side, your Luck mod increases by 1 (if you don’t use Luck, as in 5E, just give the PC a free Inspiration after each long rost… the gods seem to favor the young).

2 - The character sees herself as old and decrepit. Increase your age to something around 80-100 years old (or the equivalent of your race). If you have a positive modifier (or 0) in ANY Stat reduce it by 1 (and adjust the Stat). Check the example above. Your Speed is reduced by half. If you’re playing DCC RPG, double your Luck points. That is how much Luck you have before you die of old age. You don’t recover Luck points anymore. If you’re playing something else, like 5E, you gain a number of Inspiration (yeah, I know it doesn’t accumulate and I hate that rule) or Advantages equal to 7+1d6... after that the Grim Reaper is coming for you.

3 - The character change sex and, because of that, one random stat increases by 1d4 and another decreases by the same amount (no maximum and a minimum of 3). If you like craziness, the Judge will select a secret trigger (like “getting drenched” or “falling below 0 hit points”). When that trigger happens change your sex again. If your character is for any reason sexless (like a golem) you now have a sex (and the entire package), live with that!

4 - The character becomes his opposite. In most parties this means inverting Alignment, god, philosophy, maybe appearance (for some reason Chaos loves spikes and piercings) and general behavior. If playing the DCC RPG, the Judge can choose a very different Birth Augur (or just roll again). The character is still the party’s friend (this isn’t a free card to be a jerk). If this is too much hassle then the reflection represents a different path in the life of the character, one where a single and very important event played out differently, according to the Judge’s call (for example: one monster or enemy wasn't killed by the character or perhaps the character’s brother didn’t become a villain etc.).

5 - The character sees herself as she is and is emboldened by that, recovering either 2d3 Luck or 2 Hit Dice of hit points (Judge’s choice). If rolled a second time, your reflection is actually more confident than you and will come out of the mirror to begrudge you for not living to your fullest potential. This reflection is now a real NPC, a better and bossy version of the character (+1 to all Stats and maximum hit points) and will probably become an enemy in the log time (or a very weird patron for the party).

6 - The character sees herself as a very young child (anything between 5-8) years old. Reduce her physical stats by half and add +2d3 to her Luck (Stat and points!). Either the character is a 0-level PC or (my favorite option) change her class to an Alice/Fool of the same level (the awesome class from A Red and Pleasant Land).

7 - The character sees just a dusty skeleton. She was dead a long time ago!***

8 - A black surface without any reflection. The character is trapped inside the mirror and if not free (give the party 1d3 rounds), disappear into the Abyss.

Bye and thanks for playing!

***[OPTIONAL] Believe it or not the entire “Rock falls everyone dies” thing has its place in the game when used right. Adventyring (and dungeoncrawling) is an extreme hazard prone career. In this particular adventure it happens when the character is brought to 0 hit points by a crazy magic mirror and then rolls a ‘7’ on a table. Not bad in my opinion but, as they say, YMMV. So, if you don’t like this change the idea (or just remove the entry and roll a d7). An option could be that for the ENTIRE world the character died a long time (if you must roll a dice to know how many years ago… like 1d4 or 3d6, depending on your campaign). This means that probably most of the last adventures and deeds of the character never happened. Because the party is inside the Tower of Visions they don’t know that and the entire new timelines doesn't catch up with them. When (if…) they leave the dungeon they will see a place where probably some things happened differently. The “dead” character is now a living paradox, a weird clone of the original, the “true character” which died some years ago. The Judge is encouraged to come up with all kinds of weird and esoteric consequences: maybe divination magic can’t find her anymore (remember, she is dead!), or she can’t be raised from the dead (no soul?) or maybe she can’t burn Luck anymore (the Fates don’t know her) etc.

OR, if you don’t want to remove the character from the game and want something crazy but more simple, just pick one of the cool un-dead classes from the Gongfarmer Almanac and bring the character back.

[OPTIONAL] Place a NPC here to spice things up. He appears to be an old goblin but is an immortal and cursed human called Dokab. Give him stats roughly equivalent to a 5th level fighter (or similar monster of your choice). He is seeking “the Mirror of Dust” (i.e. any mirror on the table that ages or kills you) to remove his “undying curse”. The fact is that the mirrors of the Stairs actually avoid Dokab, because he was cursed by a deity. Dokab did titanic atrocities (and a few really good things) through the ages, usually with different names and aliases. He just wants to die. He does not trust anyone and so tells that he is looking “for a loved one trapped in a mirror”. If pressed he’ll attack (he is pretty reckless as he can’t really die). His curse? Basically, you can’t bring Dokab below 1 hit point unless you use something like a Wish. Oh, if the party pushes him off the Stairs, roll a d6. There is a 1 in 6 chance that he hits the right mirror and the party (unwillingly) releases him from the curse. However, if that does not happen, well, the party will probably meet an angry immortal waiting for them outside the Stairs. The Judge is encouraged to use Dokab as a recurring and really dangerous enemy. An observation: if this guy is an immortal of legend why the “low level”? (although in DCC RPG a 5th level Warrior is really something.) Well, he is immortal and nothing can really hurt him, so he got a bit rusty with his skills. Although if the party really rekindles his anger, he’ll train for a few months and “recover” his lost levels (imagine if Alexander the Great was cursed not only with undying and a goblin form, but also with never again rebuilding his empire… imagine how pissed off he would be. That is Dokab. If you have ever read the Malazan Book of the Fallen, this dude is Kallor but he looks like a lowly goblin, which doesn't help). Oh, and removing Dokab’s curse will anger the deity that cursed him. Use that to maximum enjoyment (of the Judge of course) and start by removing a few Luck points.

Art by Amelia Plant.