#RPGADAY2017 - Day 9

Day 9: What is a good RPG to play for about 10 sessions?

Two games in particular come to mind for this. The first is Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and any other cinematic unisystem game). These games are designed to be ran in seasons. Ten sessions/episodes sounds like a full season to me.

The second game that comes to mind is Shadow of the Demon Lord. Why? Because the game was designed for shorter campaigns. Characters in the game start at 0 level and are level 10 by the time the game ends. There is no XP system and you level up at the end of the adventure. 

Friday in Freeport - Shadow of the Demon Lord Freeport Companion (Final Hours)

We're in the last hours of the Shadow of the Demon Lord Freeport Companion. Shadow of the Demon Lord is great and Freeport is also great, so think of this as the ultimate peanut butter and chocolate together sanity destroying combo. If you want to get into the game, this is a optimal time. Every product in the game's catalog are available as add-ons at a reduced cost.

Friday in Freeport - Shadow of the Demon Lord Freeport Companion Kickstarter

The Shadow of the Demon Lord Freeport Companion Kickstarter is live and funded. This is a great time to pic up pdf's of previous books too (most of which are half-price in the add-ons section).

The stretch goals are pretty sweet. The first is a SotDL update to the classic Freeport Trilogy. The Second is Beyond the World's Edge, a 32 page expansion that details strange and bizarre islands. The third is Tales of the Pirate Isles which contains three one session adventures. The final stretch goal is the Demon Lords Companion 2, which if it's in anything like the first, will be an amazing addition to any SotDL game.

Are you a player of Shadow of the Demon Lord and curious about the content? Here are some some pages from the companion (which are not final layout, but contain some nice crunchy bits).

Pirates of Dark Water

Growing up The Pirates of Dark Water was one of those shows I loved. Here's the show's premise:

The alien planet of Mer is being devoured by an evil substance known as Dark Water. Only the brave (and inexperienced) prince, Ren and his allies can stop it by find the Thirteen Treasures of Rule. His allies in a monkey-bird, a pirate, and an eco-mancer. They travel the water surface of Mer looking for the relics in their ship, the Wraith, all the while being chased by the evil pirate lord, Bloth, and his massive ship the Maelstrom.

The show had a great style and unlike many cartoons at the time, a serious plot. I think it would make a great setting for a Shadow of the Demon Lord game. What if the Dark Water was actually the Demon Lord's shadow on the world? I'm sure just about everything a person would need to run this game will be in the Shadow of the Demon Lord Freeport Companion. Well, except monkey-birds, which would be a fun ancestry.

What do you think? Do you remember this show? Ever use elements of it in your game?

Friday in Freeport - The Celebrant

+Robert Schwalb has released his first preview of the upcoming Shadow of the Demon Lord Freeport Companion. One of the new expert paths in the book the celebrant looks like a lot of fun.

A devotee of the unpredictable pirate god, One-Eyed Pete, the celebrant is the best kind of cultist. These pirates are trouble makers that seek to find treasure and booze to placate their chaotic patron.

The celebrant path's abilities all hinge on him being wasted on rum or another pirate-y spirit. They become impaired but take less damage and are capable of doing other feats while influence by that famous old spiced. In addition, they get some pirate appropriate magic.

I have to say, the first taste of Freeport SotDL-style is quite awesome. Keep your eye out for more pirate-Demon Lord shenanigans here and remember the kickstarter is supposed to launch in less than a week (March 1st).

The Haunted Bed (SotDL)

This is my second attempt to stat something out using Shadow of the Demon Lord. It was inspired by his one page story (which originally appeared in Out of the Shadow #5).

The Phantom of the Haunted Bed
Difficulty 25
Size 1 Spirit
Perception 10 (+0)
Defense 10 (+0), Health 20
Strength 13 (+3), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 12 (+2)
Speed 10
Immune damage from cold, disease, fire, and poison; gaining insanity; asleep, blinded, deafened, diseased, fatigued, immobilized, poisoned, slowed.

Attack Options Grab +3 with 1 boon, target becomes grabbed for one round. The phantom can maintain this grab as an action. After the first round the target begins to suffocate (see page 202).

This phantom is the spirit of a priest of Father Death that was killed by an innkeeper who feared his life was coming to an end. As long as the bed exists, the phantom will rise when someone attempts to sleep in it. If the bed is destroyed it will reform on the next full moon in a random inn/boarding house/hotel somewhere in the Empire.

Botchlings for SotDL

I've only had the Shadow of the Demon Lord book for a little over a week, but being me I've decided to try to make original content for it already. As I mentioned previously, I think the creatures of the Witcher universe would make great additions to SotDL. For that reason, my first statting attempt for the system is the botchling, which is from one of my favourite quests from The Witcher 3, Family Matters.

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A botchling in natural form

"Saying a botchling's ugly is like saying shit's not particularly tasty: can't say it's a lie, but it doesn't exactly convey the whole truth, either."
-Lambert, witcher of the Wolf School

An angered botchling

A botchling is a small creature that looks like a really deformed fetus. It is created from the improper burial of a still born infants. They sap the strength of expectant mothers and when the mother is totally defenseless, they drain her blood (killing her and the unborn child). The creature then seeks vengeance on the parents that created it. They can magically track individuals of their bloodline. The only way to stop a botchling is to end it's life by violence or by performing a special elven naming ritual. This will turn the botchling into a lubberkin (a helpful spirit that will protect its family). When angered a botchling can grow to a man-sized humanoid, more capable of defending itself.

Botchling
Difficulty 25

Size 1/2 frightening undead
Perception 13 (+3)

A lubberkin

Defense 8  Health 15
Strength 10  (+0) Agility 10  (+0) Intellect 8 (-2) Will 12 (+2)
Speed 6
Immune damage from cold, disease, poison, gaining insanity, charmed, dazed, deafened, diseased, fatigued, frightened, poisoned, stunned

Attack Options Grab +0 with 1 boon, target becomes grabbed until the end of the next turn.

Claws (melee) +3 (2d6), this attack can only be made when the botchling is transformed

Special Actions
Transform: When angered the botchling can take on a form more suitable for battle. In this form the botchlings Strength becomes 12 (+2) and it's Agility becomes 13 (+3). It's Defense also become 15 and it cane make claw attacks. Finally it's Size becomes 1 and it's Speed becomes 8.

Friday in Freeport - Pirate Robot

+Robert Schwalb has announced that Shadow of the Demon Lord is getting the Freeport treatment which is one of the (many) things persuaded me to pick up the game. I found this picture and it made me think of a swashbuckler with clockwork ancestry.

Pirate Robot by Angel Diaz

Shadow of the Demon Lord

Warning: Reading this book may cause temporary bouts of
insanity and lead to corruption.

I recently picked up Shadow of the Demon Lord and I have to say, I've not been this excited to run a game in a while. +Mark Craddock's posts over at Cross Planes were one of the big reasons I picked it up. Also the announcement that there would be a Freeport book for it may have further persuaded me.

• The genre is fantasy/horror and it feels a lot like a mix Diablo/Warhammer Fantasy. 
• This game is metal as Hell. There's a spell called "Hateful Defecation."
• There's a bit of steampunk. You can play a clockwork creature.
• Simple, but complete rules that are easy to pick up, especially if you've played D&D.
• That being said the game has some interesting original concepts like short turn/long turn and bane/boon (which are similar to disadvantage and advantage, but there own thing).
• There are lots of charts to create random everything. I think this gives the game a fun chaotic element and adds to the replay value.
• You start the game a normal (read 0 level) person. You gain a level the end of each adventure. 
• You don't pick a race, you choose an ancestry. This gives you your starting attributes and abilities. You also gain new things at higher levels for your ancestry. The ancestries are human, changeling, clockwork, dwarf, goblin, and orc.
• Instead of classes, you choose paths as you level up. Your first path is novice and is taken at 1st level, at level 3 you choose an expert path, and at 7 you get to pick a master path.  Currently, level 10 is the max level.
• The game is designed for shorter campaigns. With only 10 levels, most campaigns should only be 11 adventures long.
• The bestiary is brutal. There are some familiar faces, but there are also some extra nasty beasts.

This is one of the good ones. You should definitely check it out. I have some plans for it. I think it'd be a great system to do some Witcher content for. It would also be a good system to do a Bloodborne game with. Hell now that I think about it, Bloodborne is basically a Shadow of the Demon Lord campaign in video game form.

This is one of my favourite illustrations. I just love goblins.