So. Last winter, in the middle of my campaign Witches of Frostwell, and its probably-never-to-be-published sequel, Fangs of Vulgoth, I also wrote another campaign… Star Dragon Rage. I put this last one on the shelf until there was a chance to playtest. Then edit. And illustrate. And now it is done!
I know, I know, I’m still wrapping up the playtesting on 13 Weird One-Shots, that’s coming. Soon. Just not as soon as this:
What is it? Exactly?
Star DragonRage is for low-to-mid Tier play. So you can start at Level 1 and continue up past Level 5. You start in the quaint little village of Kettle on the shores of a burning hot lake, doing helpful little quests for the locals and slowly improving the village itself. Then you discover a massive cave system under the village, with another village, and a decadent dying city, and a nether-city, and more caves… It’s a lot. Plus, it is designed to be recursive. Players are rewarded for going back and “finding all the things”.
For instance, if you find the village smith’s master tools, then he can make you any regular weapon or armor. If you bring him exotic materials, then he can make exotic magical items. There’s a nun who makes magical broth from bones, so you might want to keep bringing her the bones of the things you kill. There are mutants, plague victims, dragon worshippers, blind opera singers, snail racers, undead knights, insane cultists, and angry teens.
Plus dragons. Space dragons. With solar-sail wings and laser-eye-gems. And they are miffed.
I didn’t mean to write a Big Thing, but I did. Actually, it’s a bunch of little things masquerading as a Big Thing…
It is a collection of 13 one-shots for low-level (3) play. Each one has been expertly crushed down to fit on just two (!) pages (plus a page of treasure and 1-2 pages of monster stats), and they each play for 2-4 hours. You can run them as one-shots, or drop them into your campaign as side-quests. Quick and easy to run, zero prep, lots of weird.
Each adventure has at least 7 encounters, with NPCs, traps, treasures, etc. There are over 60 original magic items and weapons, and about 70 original monsters. There are also Saintly Shrines, Eldritch Altars, and Weirding Waters. (What are those? You’ll find out…)
It will be in two formats, for Old School Essentials (OSE) and for Fifth Edition (5E).
Plus, it has illustrations. By me. Like this Frostback Gorilla:
It felt great to be drawing again. I think recent influences include Mike Mignola and Luka Rejec.
We are deep into playtesting, and I hope to be done well before Christmas. I had to create a whole new game server on Discord to manage things, but we’re getting there!
My daughter came home yesterday and immediately demanded we play D&D. Since the last campaign was over, I grabbed my notes for 13 Dungeons and had her roll up a character using my homebrew system. Three minutes later, she had created Faythe the Paladin. (She didn’t know what a paladin was, she just chose the abilities Heal, Holy Fire, and Duelist, which I think is a pretty good build for a paladin.)
The mystery of the stolen gold
Faythe wandered into the fishing village of Anglerhead and found two sailors from the Orca Delima accusing the local fishermen of stealing the gold from their ship. Our hero immediately intervened and offered to find the missing gold. The sailors gave her one day before they would destroy the town!
A merchant cog
Faythe began exploring the area. There was gold dust in the tidal pools on the coral beach! She also saw a little girl being chased by a huge steaming Kettle Crab. The paladin unleashed her Holy Fire and cooked the crab to death. The girl thanked her, said she knew nothing about the missing gold, but had heard some strange singing up near Dwindle Cliff.
The lighthouse
At the top of the cliff, Faythe found a small lighthouse. The creepy old lightkeeper invited her in, but Faythe declined. She snooped around outside, and fought off a Dire Pelican with her sword. The noise brought the old woman outside again. This time, she led Faythe to the edge of the cliff to show her the gold dust under the waves. Then she tried to shove Faythe to her doom. The paladin just barely grabbed the edge of the cliff and climbed back up. When the old woman attacked again, Faythe ran her through with her sword, and the woman fell into the sea. Back inside the lighthouse, Faythe found some silver coins, and obtained a magic lantern that could clear away a foggy sky.
Maybe not the Tower of Hercules lighthouse, but close
An insightful interlude
It was at this moment that my 9yo daughter turned to me and said, “I think I’m the villain. I just killed an old lady, and stole all her things. That’s villain stuff.” Then she laughed and continued the game.
Dangerous investigations
Through the dense fog, Faythe heard the sailors singing on the Orca Delima, and a woman singing near the Dwindle Cliff. The paladin climbed down to the beach, and then worked her way along the rocks. A huge wave almost drowned her, and smashed on the rocks. Then she spotted some stone stairs on the cliff, and the gold under the water. She dove into the sea and swam down into the glittering cave. Defying the powerful current and avoiding the deadly sharks and barnacles, she emerged in a flooded cave. She spotted thirteen mounds of gold, and one tentacled sea witch!
Gold!
The witch attacked with stinging tentacles, but Faythe blasted her back with Holy Fire. Then the sea witch unleashed her magical song, but Faythe sang back at her, and overwhelmed her with holy music. With the sea witch weakened, Faythe grabbed the gold bricks from the Orca Delima and swam to safety. She returned the gold to the sailors and saved the village!
DM Notes
Another win for the homebrew system, we got a game started in just a couple minutes and had a great time. As always, I was excited to see how versatile and creative my little girl was in dealing with strange people, problems, and creatures. But most of all, I was impressed with her realization that her “heroic actions” were not so heroic!
I recently read a blog post by Patrick Stuart about how a classic D&D monster, the owlbear, doesn’t seem to embody any of the cool traits of either owls (silent fliers with super senses) or bears (honey-loving tree climbers). He goes on to reinvent the owlbear for his own game. But this inspired me to create my own monster for my Dungeon Age world of Harth, the Ravenwolf!
Lore
The ancient world of Harth is home to many strange and dangerous forces, not the least of which are the cosmic horrors known as the yugharim, the Immortal Dreamers, the Engines of Chaos. Their mere presence on Harth (and its moons) causes bizarre mutations such as the Ravenwolf.
Dreaded across the frozen tundras of Harth’s northern wastes, the ravenwolf is a pack-hunter with a child-like yet cruel intelligence. Rather than waste precious energy stalking their prey, they prepare elaborate ambushes tailored to the local wildlife. Which includes humans.
Physical description
A shaggy gray wolf with the sleek black-feathered head and wings of a raven. Their large black beaks can rend flesh and crack bone, but also gently manipulate delicate items and tools with great precision. Their keen vision can spot distant creatures and objects in great detail. They typically keep their wings folded to run through the woods, but will extend their wings for short glides to overcome difficult terrain or to cross treacherous ravines and icy creeks.
This… but blended into a wolf
Tactics
Ravenwolves live and hunt in packs (1d6 + 3), never alone unless sick or injured. Their preferred hunting tactic is the ambush. They gather objects known to attract prey animals and then lie in wait all around the bait. A ravenwolf will use its Mimicry ability to call out, hoping to draw a target closer to the bait and the ambush.
When hunting humans, ravenwolves often assemble a pile of shiny objects including coins, gems, shards of glass, or polished metal scraps. When a human is spotted in the area, one ravenwolf will call out. Sometimes they mimic a human voice calling for help, or a baby crying, or even the sound of an injured animal. When the human approaches the pile of shiny objects, the ravenwolves all attack simultaneously. Some hunters will go low to sweep the legs, some go high to knock the target over, while others attack the limbs to immobilize weapons. The target is often torn to pieces in a matter of seconds.
Stat Block (5E)
RAVENWOLF: A wolf with the head and wings of a raven. Uses shiny objects or Mimicry to lure prey into ambushes.
Medium monstrosity
AC
HP
Run/Fly
unaligned
13
25
50 ft
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
12 (+1)
14 (+2)
12 (+0)
10 (+0)
12 (+1)
6 (-2)
PACK TACTICS. The ravenwolf has advantage on attack rolls against a target if at least one ally is within 5 feet of the target.
MIMICRY. The ravenwolf can mimic sounds it has heard, such as a baby crying or animal calling.
BEAK. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d6) piercing damage. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Stat Block (Old School)
RAVENWOLF: A wolf with the head and wings of a raven. Uses shiny objects or Mimicry to lure prey into ambushes.
Medium monstrosity. Unaligned. Save as Fighter 2. HP 8. AC leather. Move 50. Attacks 1.
PACK TACTICS. The ravenwolf has advantage on attack rolls against a target if at least one ally is within 5 feet of the target. MIMICRY. The ravenwolf can mimic sounds it has heard, such as a baby crying or animal calling. BEAK. +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d6) piercing damage. The target is knocked prone.
Can’t stop, won’t stop. My daughter insisted we complete her campaign!
Play time: 1 hour
Characters: Rose the Druid (2)
Homeward Bound
Rose the Druid slept the night in Fang Castle, and in the morning Bella made pancakes. With the Red Gem in hand, Rose set out into the forest. She quickly spotted a wolf, but it didn’t try to approach. Instead, it followed her all the way back to the Heart of the Forest where she found her friends waiting for her. Together they befriended the wolf and Rose restored the gem to the Great Tree. One gem to go!
Webs and Thorns
Rose headed west into the Old Forest to find the Thorn Castle. The trees grew closer and darker. Spiderwebs filled the branches. Sounds of footsteps pattered in the darkness, along with tiny giggles, but she ignored it. When webs blocked the path, she used her magic candle to burn them away.
Burn, baby, burn
Soon she arrived at a massive maze of thorns. Rose transformed into an eagle and carried Mittens of the maze. But a giant violet dragon swooped down at them! Rose dove through an open window into the castle and the dragon roared outside.
Magic Mystery
Back in human form, Rose explored a dining hall full of sleeping nobles. She detected a magic spell at work, and found a wisp of magic smoke under the table. The smoke tried to put her to sleep, but she trapped it in her hand. Rose followed the smoke upstairs to a bedroom where a woman was sleeping, the Purple Gem in her hands.
Just then the dragon burst through the window and transformed into a tall woman, the witch queen Malice! She challenged Rose to a duel. Malice unleashed fire and thorns. Rose captured the thorns and hurled them back at Malice with ice, freezing and wounding her. Malice surrendered.
Rose claimed the Purple Gem and the sleeping princess awoke, but she was still tired and went back to sleep. After checking on the waking people downstairs, Rose flew back to the Heart of the Forest and restored the fifth gem. The forest was saved!
DM Notes
The little one struggled a bit staying focused and deciding what to do, but I stayed quiet and patient and eventually she came up with a solution to every problem.
The best part of this little campaign, beyond watching my daughter display some dazzling creativity, was seeing her genuine enthusiasm. Night after night she came downstairs with her dice bag, demanding that we play D&D! So I am very much looking forward to adventuring with her next characters and exploring new worlds with her.
I like mushrooms. They look cool, and have cool names like Destroying Angel, and are part of a completely unique Kingdom of lifeforms. I like that there is a giant mushroom under Eastern Oregon that is 8,000 years old and weighs 35,000 tons and is totally not a cosmic horror monster. Probably.
So of course I had to have my own fungal monsters on the Dungeon Age world of Harth: the Mycotic Zombie and Mycotic Sprawl.
Lore
No one knows how old or how large the Mycotic Sprawl is. There are legends and fairy tales that mention the vast orange mass of spongy fungus all over the world going back to the earliest Ages. Sometimes it is merely mentioned as a convenient meal, or a deadly toxin. Or it is a force of nature that must be battled by heroes and defeated by sages. Sometimes it is even worshipped as a god. All that is known today is that the Sprawl is everywhere, and possibly immortal, and its spores can not only animate the dead as fungal zombies but also colonize the living to serve its alien purposes.
Physical Description
The Mycotic Sprawl has never been seen in full. It spreads throughout the countless caverns, cisterns, tunnels, and cracks of the mantle of Harth and appears as bright orange lumps and folds of soft, springy fungal flesh.
The Sprawl blossoms with both wide and narrow capped mushrooms as small as common toadstools and as large as houses. These caps are typically dotted with small white cysts, and the brown gills beneath the caps exude a sticky red sap that smells of iron and rotting fruit. Tiny orange spores float through the air around the Sprawl. Spores that settle on the ground take root as common mushrooms. If the spores settle on dead creatures, they bind to the corpses and animate them as walking spore factories or False Mycotic Zombies.
Spores that settle on living creatures root into their nervous systems and turn them into servants of the Sprawl, as True Mycotic Zombies. These creatures blossom with large orange stalks and caps and move about in a thin cloud of spores.
Tactics
The Sprawl spreads. If left unchecked, it proceeds to grow anywhere there is room and fertilizer to sustain it. False Mycotic Zombies merely move more quickly than the sprawl to spread spores. True Mycotic Zombies seek out dangers to the Sprawl and attempt to neutralize them. This often includes diluting acidic pools and poisoning human settlements. The zombies, however, are still zombies and move slowly and clumsily, and can be easily outrun or outfought. Just watch out for the spores.
Stat Block (5E)
Mycotic Zombie (50 XP): A person with orange fungal growths in a haze of spores. Slow. Mindless. Want to spread spores.
Medium undead
AC
HP
MOVE
Neutral
10
10
20 ft
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
12 (+1)
6 (-2)
14 (+2)
4 (-3)
6 (-2)
4 (-3)
Immunity. Poison.
Embrace. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: target is grappled.
Mycotic haze. When a creature starts their turn within 5 ft. of the zombie, they take 3 (1d6) poison damage. Roll 1d6: on a 1, the target is infected. They will become a mycotic zombie in 1 week.
Stat Block (Old School)
Mycotic Zombie: HD 1, HP 4, AC unarmored, 1 attack, Embrace (+3, grappled), Mycotic haze (any target within 5 feet takes 1d6 poison damage and must roll 1d6: on a 1, the target is infected and will become a mycotic zombie in 1 week), saves as fighter 1.
Night after night, my daughter comes to me with her jingling bag of dice, demanding more adventure!
Play time: 1 hour
Characters: Rose the Druid (2)
Beetles and Treasures
Rose the Druid set off from the shores of the Mirror Lake toward Fang Castle high in the mountains. Along the way, Mittens the Jaguar smelled something strange in the woods, so they went to investigate. A rustling in the bushes alerted them to a creature, so Rose transformed into a lion.
Roar
A giant Unicorn Beetle skittered out of the bushes, and Rose smashed it with her paw, and claimed its magic horn. Then they found a chest half-buried in the ground. Rose smashed the side of the old chest open and pulled out a magic candle that lit itself whenever she held it. Huzzah!
Howling in the Night
Back on the path, she quickly climbed up into the dusty mountains and found Fang Castle. Wolves began howling in the trees. She rushed inside and found the castle dark and deserted, except for a light upstairs. Wolves howled in the courtyard. Rose climbed the stairs and heard something growling above her. Scared of the wolves, she transformed into an eagle and flew out a window with Mittens. They flew up to a lit window and found a woman reading. Inside, they met Bella, who said she was a pirsoner of the werewolf Bastion.
Awoooo! Now read me a story!
The werewolf burst into the room and told Rose she was his prisoner and now she must read him books! Instead she stabbed him with the magic unicorn beetle horn and he transformed back into a normal human. Rose healed his wound so he wouldn’t die, and then she took the Red Gem from his sleeping body. Success!
DM Notes
My daughter was on top of her game this time, with lots of clever solutions and an adventurous spirit!
Victor Frankensteingoes to college to study science and medicine. He eventually discovers a formula and process for building a living being out of spare parts. But he finds his creation hideous and runs away from it. The creature wanders about the country, learning to speak and fend for itself, while being tormented and hated.
Eventually the creature finds Victor’s home. It begins killing his friends and family until Victor agrees to build the creature a mate. He starts to do this, but decides it is too evil to make another abomination. The creature then kills Victor’s wife. Victor pursues the creature to the frozen wastes where Victor dies and the creature kills itself.
What did I think?
Frankenstein is a gothic tale of deep inner struggles, dramatic conversations, and (in my mind) a lot of gore. It’s an impressive work, especially from a writer as young as Mary Shelley was at the time (18-20).
I hadn’t read it since high school, and I enjoyed revisiting this all-too-real world. The characters felt believable and complex (although overly talkative) and the story flowed naturally. This writing style isn’t my favorite, but it is one I enjoy from time to time. And while the writing is dense, the book is not long and covers a lot of content in a short space.
Can I use it in a tabletop RPG?
There are certainly a lot of elements that could be used in a game. Frankenstein demonstrates how to create a living ecosystem around a monster: the monster’s creator, the monster’s original purpose, how society reacts to the monster, how the monster reacts to society, and so on.
You could easily slip your band of heroes into the story of Frankenstein in many places: when the creator first makes the monster, when the monster is vulnerable and confused, when the monster is angry and hated, when the creator and monster are locked in tragic combat, and so on.
All of this could make for a rewarding story, either triumphant or tragic.
My youngest demanded that we continue the adventures of Rose the Druid, and the quest to recover the five Forest Gems to restore the magical woods. So we did!
Play time: 1 hour
Characters: Rose the Druid (2)
To the Green Island
Druid Rose set out smartly toward the Green Island to find the third Forest Gem. At the top of the trail she found a huge bottomless ravine in her path. With a little work, she cleared the earth from a tall tree’s roots and made it fall across the ravine, and so she crossed without incident.
At the bottom of the trail, she found the sparkling Mirror Lake. Huge blue crabs skittered about beneath the reflective surface, and Rose worried that they were not friendly. Then across the lake she saw a girl trying to wrestle a small boat away from a giant blue crab.
Not friendly
Rose transformed into a hawk and tried to carry her companion, Mittens the Jaguar. But she wasn’t strong enough. So she left Mittens behind and swooped over the lake to help the strange girl save her boat. But the blue crab was still hungry, so Rose grabbed the girl’s hand and pulled her into a narrow cave where they were safe.
The girl introduced herself as Marina the princess of Green Island. She explained that Dekah the giant had stolen the Blue Gem and taken over the island, forcing Marina to catch crabs to feed her.
The Giantess Dekah
Rose led the way deeper into the cave and up to a hole somewhere on the island. She found three scared rabbits near the hole, but she soothed their fears and helped them up to the surface. But then the giant Dekah attacked and ate the rabbits.
Delicious
Rose was angry, so she popped out of the hole and used her sling to knock the Blue Gem out of the giant’s hand. Then she ran across the grass, grabbed the gem, and leapt back into the hole. But the giant grabbed her leg!
Rose gave her Forest Gems to Marina and told her to escape back to the Heart of the Forest. Then the giant pulled Rose out of the hole and demanded back her gem. Rose admitted that she didn’t have the gem, and the giant shook her to make it fall out. But Rose just dropped her gold coins and witch hat. So the giant agreed to let her go if she would fish for crabs for her. As soon as Rose was free, she turned into a hawk and flew back to the shore of the lake where Mittens was waiting for her. Success!
DM Notes
This was a slow session. My daughter swung between being very silly and very tired. I almost stopped the game in the middle because she didn’t seem very focused, but I decided to keep going and eventually we reached a solid conclusion and she got to show off some of her trademark creativity. So I’d call it a win in the end, even if it wasn’t the smoothest game we’ve ever played.
The hero Beowulfsails to the great hall of Heorot where the people are being terrorized by the monster Grendel. After a some courtly conversation, boasting, and insults, Beowulf and his men go to sleep in the hall. Grendel attacks and Beowulf rips off his arm, leaving the monster to limp home to die. Beowulf then leads an expedition to track the monster, swims down to an underwater lair, and battles Grendel’s mother. He returns victorious.
Years later, Beowulf becomes king of his people. A dragon emerges from its treasure hoard when a thief steals a trinket from it (Bilbo?). An aged Beowulf battles the dragon, and with the help of a young warrior Wiglaf, kills the dragon, though it mortally wounds Beowulf.
What did I think?
I’ve always liked the tale of Beowulf, and I am fond of the Heaney translation. The story is short and straightforward, but still evocative of a time, a place, and a people. It carries a lot of viking-esque flavor, along with some courtly drama and fantasy monsters. I also recommend the Michael Crichton version Eaters of the Dead, and the film version The 13th Warrior.
Can I use it in a tabletop RPG?
Absolutely. Beowulf gives us a clear depiction of life in a post-classical hall, with warriors and royalty who live by strong codes of behavior. A royal court should always have an old ruler who needs a young hero, some trusted advisors, and a young upstart who thinks he’s better than the hero to make trouble.
Then the hero kills a monster not with his sword but in a contest of strength. He wins his way into the lair, finds an ancient sword, defeats another monster, and uses the head to claim his treasure not from the monster but from the king. These are great adventure elements that can help tie a scenario together, so it isn’t simply a dungeon hack or a fetch quest, but an evolving relationship with the people who need a hero.
