First post

Hey there! I've decided to start up a little blog, entitled Sword and Board, to focus on OSR role-playing, and, occasionally, my day job, which is cabinet and furniture-making (hence the "Board"). My role-playing interests are concerned primarily with the OSR, and I figured I'd start out with some easy posts.

One of my favorite go-to books for running games is Matt Finch's excellent Tome of Adventure Design; I especially like his section on creating monsters. It seems that this might be a good way to start off blogging.

For those of you following along at home, the Monster section of ToAD starts on p. 55, and has us roll an initial 1d100 to determine the basic monster category. I do so, and get a 47. Our monster is a Horror!

The section on Horrors starts on p. 75. I roll 1d100 six times and get the following: 59, 81, 61, 74, 24 and 58. Our new monsters is: a horror out of a mad wizard's lab, is extremely intelligent (can act as a mastermind, and likely able to use spell-like abilities). It's basic form is that of a moth, with attributes of an octopus or squid, with diseased skin and the ability to levitate or float.

That gives us its basic profile, and I can work with this. Moving on to p. 105 we start to determine more about the creature. It attacks using its head and body and has one special attack (58), one special defense and two distinctive attributes. Rolling for head attacks we get 56, "mouth-bite (giant swallowing mouth), which doesn't make much sense at this point. For body we get 68 "enfolds and crushes".  Hmm. Let's see what else we get.

The special attack result is 53, or "Smell (radius)" for the delivery method and 47, or "emotion (despondency or sorrow) for the effect. I like that. The special defense is 5, for armor plates. Two distinctive attributes are 16 and 15, with results of "builds traps" and "builds strange and complex houses, lairs or nests." So, is the monster unique or are there many of them. Since it's the product of a mad wizard's experiment I'm going to roll 1d6, giving it a 1-4 chance of being unique: the result is a 1, so it is a unique monster. I like using random name generators, and will do so to name it.

ToAD doesn't provide actual scores for monster creations, so I'm going to make some judgement call here. Note that the creature is made using Labyrinth Lord Basic.

Xo'thar, the Weeper
# encountered: 1 (unique)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 90' (30')
AC: 3
HD: 7* (30 hp)
Attacks: 3 (2 tentacles and one probiscus)
Damage: 1d8/1d8/3d4
Save: F7
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: XXII (see below)
XP: 790

Created by a cross-breeding experiment gone horribly wrong, Xo'thar resembles an enormous gray moth, 7' tall, with small, non-functional wings and octopodal tentacles instead of legs. Its body is covered with thick plates of armor. Xo'thar levitates through magical means and uses its wings to push it in the direction it wishes to travel. Xo'thar is silent and difficult to spot in the gloom of its lair, surprising on a roll of 1-4 in 6.

Xo'thar exudes potent phermones that cause despair in those living creatures within a 20' radius of it, emitted from the almost constant mucous-like tears emitted from its faceted eyes. All of those within that range must Save v. Poison with every round or be filled with overwhelming sadness, unable to act or move for 1d4 turns, even to defend itself. It uses its tentacles to lash out at targets; the rough surface inflicts 1d8 points of damage. If both tentacles hit the same target it draws the victim into its embrace, driving its prehensile probiscis deep into their prey's body.

The horror possesses incredible intellect and makes its lair in the former home of its now-dead creator. It has reshaped the interior of the tower with a rough, sticky material similar to that used to make cocoons. The tunnels of its new home are arranged in seemingly chaotic fashion and are infused with the same phermones its body releases, though much less concentrated. For every two turns living creatures spend in its lair they must save v. Poison with a +2 bonus. Failure indicates they begin to suffer from a general ennui, taking a -2 penalty to all rolls. In addition, spellcasters must roll under their relevant ability score (Int for magic-users, Wis for clerics) on 4d6 whenever they attempt to cast a spell. Failure indicates they are unable to cast the spell (but don't lose the spell slot). The effects of both wear off in 1d4 rounds after being removed from area. Immunity or resistance to poison function to prevent or reduce the effects of the phermones. Failing an initial save against the residual pheremonal effects imposes a -2 penalty to the Save made when within 20' of Xo'thar.

Xo'thar has accumulated a fair amount of treasure in its lair since it was created, in addition to that belonging to the wizard that created it. The following can be found within the tower: 5,000 gold coins, in an unopened chest in the wizard's bedchamber, alchemical equipment worth 2,000 gold, three volumes dealing with the creation of magical cross-breeds, each worth 750 gold, the wizard's spellbook containing the spells of a 10th level magic-user, and a ring of protection +1. If desired the spellbook can contain vivimancer spells, as per Gavin Norman's Complete Vivimancer.

Possessed of great intelligence, Xo'thar likes to play cat and mouse games with those entering the tower, letting them explore the lower levels until they succumb to the initial despondence, then silently approaching in an attempt to get the intruders within the main radius of its phermones.