Old School Ju-Jitsu

These moves have been around a long time. 

Hookin' the Adventure

An adventure idea based on the animated special, 'Wakko's Wish'. It can be the basis for a Holiday themed adventure that doesn't revolve around yet another raid on the Anti-Santa's Compound.

Images Source

The HOOK: A star has fallen in a nearby valley. Soon rumours begin to circulate that the star is magical. Throw in some interesting groups to compete against and you have a solid, Wacky Races style adventure (something there needs to be more of IMHO).

What is the Star? Rumour Table

1  A giant diamond, worth millions.

2  A robotic being on an intergalactic search for its soul. 

3 The cracked bottle of a dying genie. He has enough lifeforce left to grant one Wish 

4  An inexhaustible power supply.

5  The star is a gateway to a dimension of pure evil and must be destroyed.

6  The Wheel of Morality

7  The Egg of Mantumbi

8  An unexploded photon torpedo.

9 A virginal woman of unimaginable beauty. 

10 Crimson Gem of Cyttorak

11 A giant star ship filled three factions of alien soldiers, all locked in bloody battle.

12 An aethership, completely intact but utterly empty. A warm, half-eaten dinner is still on the galley table. 

13 The nefarious Wand of Orion, presumed destroyed after the War of the Void. 

14 An angel cast from the Heavenly Plains for the sin of Despair. 

15 A small black hole that is slowly boring its way into the heart of the land.

16 An amnesiac god in the form of an giant snail. 

17 A meteor filled with a strange green goo, that transforms all who touch it into the hungry dead!

18 A shard of the Ice Star. Its unearthly cold will soon spread across the entire planet.

19 The sled of the demi-god of the Winter Solstice, laden with a sack filled with the souls of naughty children that have been turned into lumps of coal. They must be burned before dawn to ensure the return of the sun. 

20 A rock of extra-terrestrial origin. Worthless except to collectors and astromancers. 

The Loot

ELIXIR
This potion tastes absolutely aweful, but it will restore half of all lost hit points.

It is also a powerful explosive that will do D6 damage per thrown bottle.

Frozen Nuts
A powerful spell for preserving food and material components. Will also D8 damage to any male character/opponent. If the full 8 points is inflicted, the spell also incapacitates for d4 rounds.

The Cave of Worst Nightmares

Reached only by an abandoned mine below the Duke's Castle, this terrifying cave shows each traveler what they fear most; be it a washed up comedian with an 'edgy routine', or the greatest fear of any traveler: a gas station washroom. 

Gookie
This counts as a feat or special ability. When utilized, it will stun one opponent for one round. This is a non-magical effect.





Megabeltch 
This spell unleashes a powerful sonic attack capable of stunning opponents, causing avalanches and eliciting cheers at any frat party.
Material Component: any carbonated beverage.

Gnomithopter
This gnomewerk device can carry up to ten pounds plus a gnome pilot/power-source.

        

Anyone else see it?

D&D Cartoon Cyclopedia

Dungeons & Dragon Cartoon Encyclopedia

Mysterious Path

Don't you hate it when you find someone out there doing it so much better than you are? These illustrations from The Mysterious Path Blog are exactly how I was trying to picture gnomes. I lie, these are so much better than I was picturing.

The entire blog is filled with goodies, like this one...

Weapons Ago-go!

The nice thing about the Variable Weapon Damage is that it becomes much easier to assign weapons and armour to enemies. You can give them whatever suits the situation best, then roll a d12 (round up) to determine the damage/protection. It would certainly keep the players on their toes. 

NaGaDeMon 2013: W,T,F!

W,T,F! Download

This year's entry into NaGaDeMon for 2013. I concede that I failed this year's challenge, in that I never got a chance to play test. And as made evident by the typos, I spent more time thinking about it than writing it, but overall I am happy with the final result. I don't pretend that its very original, but it's fast and simple and the players and the DM (DiceMaster, in this case) to play with the full range of dice in their bag.

It also allowed combine a number of elements that I've wanted to use for a while now:

Simple, open-ended character creation
-You choose to be a Wizard, a Thief or a Fighter to start, but beyond that designation the rest of the process is up to you.

Clear Rules
-If you have 8 in your Combat Skill, you roll a D8. If for example, the Opponent has a 6 in Combat, the DM would roll D6. High roll, wins. That example pretty much encapsulates the entire rule-set.

Eliminating Imitative
-There is no initiative. Once the melee starts, everyone is assumed to be acting at pretty much the same time.

Wounds
-No Hit Points! You roll your Body stat below the number of accumulated Wounds to avoid a TKO.

Magic is Internal
-Wizards role vs their own Magic skill to see if the spell worked, not against an arbitrary Saving Throw.

Weapons and Armor Ratings
-I solved another RPG peeve of mine here, the weapons and armor issue. I've tried to develop a few different rpgs over the years and one part I always hated was determining what weapon did what damage (does a battle-axe do more damage than a giant sword? What about a blunderbuss?) and how much protection armor is suppose to do (is plate better than dragon scale?). My solution?

It doesn't matter! At the time of character creation, you get a certain amount of points to put into a Weapon and Armor. The more points, the better damage/protection, but as to what the weapon/armor actually is ... doesn't matter. Choose whatever suits the character, so it can be an exceptional knife that does D20 damage, or a rusty old greatsword that does only D6.

Help for Writers

We're all tired of hearing it, but  a writer must write everyday.

The only kind of sentence you should ever use.

25 STEPS TO EDIT THE UNMERCIFUL SUCK OUT OF YOUR STORY

Ghost Blogging. Has anyone tried this?

Anyone interested in how to properly structure a story should read this book, written by Sgt. Pinback himself, Dan O'Bannon (writer of Alien and Total Recall).

A Reign of Hot, Cardboardy Death!

With the Holiday season once again upon us and the plethora of wrapping-paper tubes that it brings, I once again dream of starting up an East Coast Cardboard War League. 

Skull Man's Box Wars

The CTFL

Cardboard Wars: Tumblr

Guides for Building Samurai Armour (Cardboard or otherwise)

Cardboard Samurai 

Nihon Katchu 

Link Dump: Aikido and Iaido

Thanks to a recent push from a friend of mine, I am slowly getting back into serious training again. 

Shohei Juku Aikido Canada.

I am generally not a very competitive person, which is one of the main reasons Aikido and Iaido appeal to me. 

Defensive Tactics, Halifax. Because I get punched at my job more often than I might like. 

The High Cost of Externalizing 'Internal' Energy. by Nev Sagiba

I am striving to make the first 10minutes of this my daily morning routine.

Haga Junichi IaidoYoshio Sugino

Katori Shinto Ryu

Nakayama Hakudo Iaido

Finger Locks

Secret of the Samurai Sword

One of my favourite Aikido demos

Link Dump: Misc

On a very overdue vacation! Which means I am clearing out some of the many bookmarks I've collected over the past few months. 

The Most Evil people of the Medieval period. 

The Wiki of Unusual Deaths

101 Science Fiction Tales, from io9

A History of Painkillers

8-Bit Game of Thrones. Fun, but would have been better as an RPG. 

Cryptids from Europe and Africa