Tuesday 19 March 2024

What would a perfect monster statblock look like?

What would a perfect monster statblock look like?

I’ve done a lot of work writing up monsters for GURPS, be they D&D conversions or something else. Because of that, I got to see many types of monster descriptions and statblocks from different systems and editions. Many times, I could not find some piece of information either on the statblock or in the description, and I had to consult other sources. This made me think – “What would be the perfect monster statblock?”

Tuesday 12 March 2024

Wizardry: Adventurer Spells I

Wizardry: Adventurer Spells I

I didn't forget about wizardry. Let's convert some spells from Complete Adventurer. Absorb Weapon lets you absorb a weapon into your body. Balancing Lorecall is a dual spell that enhances your sense of balance. Bladeweave is a peculiar illusion spell that lets you entrance an enemy with the movement of your weapon. Branch to Branch is a brachiator self-buff. Exacting Shot makes a ranged weapon more accurate.

Tuesday 5 March 2024

Monster: Dullahan

Monster: Dullahan

This conversion is something one of the readers requested. I was surprised that the dullahan appeared in D&D only in the 5th edition (if you do not count the headless horseman from Imagine Magazine #23). The dullahan also appears in Bestiary 2 for Pathfinder 1e. Both of the monsters are similar, so I decided to combine them into a single entry. Since there are some summoning abilities in play, I also had to convert some "support" monsters.
I vaguely remember that some media treat dullahans as fey, not as undead. In that case, you can remove the undead traits, such as Injury Tolerance (Unliving) and add Vulnerability (Cold Iron, x2) [-10] or something like that.

Sunday 3 March 2024

Monsters: Aquatic Ooze

Monsters: Aquatic Ooze

Fiend Folio introduced aquatic ooze (even though many, if not all oozes before that could live in aquatic environments). I have nothing against the concept, but the monsters themselves seem a bit boring. Perhaps, that is the reason why they've gotten an off-hand mention in one of the Forgotten Realms books and then never brought up again in more modern editions. Despite this, this monster entry is solidified in my mind. I remember opening up Fiend Folio for the first time and seeing this bloodbloater illustration, thinking "Man, this actually looks horrifying!"

Friday 1 March 2024

Monsters: Aoa

Monsters: Aoa

The aoa are weird. Unless I am missing something, they were introduced in the 3e Fiend Folio and haven't appeared anywhere else, and I can see why. Even though the concept is pretty cool - reflective mercurial orbs that reflect all magic and dispel magic with a touch, there's not much you can do with it. They can just annoy spellcasters and bump into those who have lots of spells or magic items. You cannot communicate or otherwise interact with them.

Wednesday 28 February 2024

Monsters: Fiend Folio Monsters I

Monsters: Fiend Folio Monsters I

I guess I should start another big undertaking and chip away at another D&D monster book. Fiend Folio for D&D 3.5 is one of my favorites, so let's do this one. Abrians are Abyss-dwelling ostrich people. Abyssal ghouls are fiendish undead servants of Kiaransalee or the Ghoul King. I decided to remove most of their resistances. Ahuizotl is an aquatic beast that drowns prey with its tail-hand.

Saturday 3 February 2024

Review: SpaceMaster Armored Assault

Review: SpaceMaster Armored Assault

This is something of a digression from my usual topics, where I talk about GURPS or D&D. I want to talk about a book that fascinates me but the one that I haven’t even tried in a game yet. Aside from tabletop RPGs, I’ve always been interested in tabletop wargaming. Of course, the most popular thing is Warhammer 40k, but I’m not a big fan of it. I played it with friends through VASSAL and Tabletop Simulator, and it just… doesn’t play that well; it feels that the game is decided not on the table, but on army roster creation. I do find the concept of collecting, building, and painting miniatures, but without this aspect, the game feels absolutely hollow to me. A few years ago, I decided to search for a generic and reasonably crunchy sci-fi wargame. I scoured an incredibly long list of games on BoardGamesGeek, but most of the games were either too specialized or too light on the rules. There was a couple of exceptions, however, and one of them was Spacemaster Armored Assault.