Sunday, May 10, 2020

You are on time... IN SPACE! [LotFP/Spelljammer]

Recently the LotFP campaign I play in moved into space and morphed into this weird Spelljammer thing. So I was tasked with coming up with new tables for on-time players, late players, carousing, etc... So far I have a little table of six bonuses reliable players can get:
  1. Your latent psionic powers awaken! For this session only, you gain Carcosan psionic powers. You gain access to 1d4 random powers (roll 1d8: 1 – Clairaudience, 2 – Clairvoyance, 3 – ESP, 4 – Mental Blast, 5 – Mind Control, 6 – Precognition, 7 – Telekinesis, 8 – Telepathy; see Carcosa p. 19-21). The total number of uses is determined by your character level. Once used up, the powers are gone.
  2. You sprout a new organ! Roll 1d6: 1 – hard prismatic skin growth on your forehead, 2 – fleshy tentacle from your chest (connected to your heart), 3 – third eye, 4 – extended nervous system in the shape of dark braided hair, 5 – third (or extra) arm that cannot really grab anything, 6 – the organs on your face merge into a single sensory organ. Regardless of shape, the organ grants a 6-in-6 Languages skill. At the end of the session, the organ dries off or the body returns to its original shape. All languages acquired this way are lost with the organ.
  3. Your body absorbs and stores phlogiston. The transformed phlogiston grants 1d3 uses of a random spell, only usable in this session. Roll 1d6 for the spell: 1 – Shield, 2 – Ray of Enfeeblement, 3 – Mirror Image, 4 – Levitate, 5 – Faerie Fire, 6 – Light.
  4. Exotica Erotica! Okay, okay, nothing naughty here… But for some reason, NPCs that are not the same species as your character are better disposed towards you (treat as Charisma 18 for Reaction rolls, etc.).
  5. Time distorts around you. You foresee what others are about to do. The first time you roll initiative, roll it with 4d6, then 3d6, then 2d6, then with the regular 1d6 as the effect slowly diminishes. This doesn’t carry over to the next session.
  6. You gain the ability to reflect missile attacks! Any missile attack that is directed at you but doesn’t score a hit against your AC is reflected back at the attacker. Roll a flat d20 against the AC of the attacker. Attacks that hit your AC do damage as usual.
    Hazards or effects that require a save against Wands or Rays or Devices are reversed if you successfully save (and in this case the source of the effect must save. If this is inapplicable (e.g. the source is a machine), the chance of hitting the source instead is 3-in-6).




Saturday, May 9, 2020

Magnum, P.I. + Pulp Cthulhu [Random game idea]

Mustaches vs tentacles on Hawaii! So, yes, just take the basic idea of Magnum, P.I.: it's the 1980s, the group of protagonists are security experts, bodyguards, private investigators (some of them Vietnam vets) etc., who work for a mysterious rich patron (who only communicates through recordings or the trusted estate manager). Initially, their job includes perimeter checks at the mansion, low-key investigative work... but eventually the weirdness ramps up as the mysterious patron's missions become more mysterious and plunge the team into the depths of cosmic madness.


Yeah... just a random game idea for this lazy Saturday afternoon.

I kinda dig the [something + Cthulhu] formula. You know, like Scooby Doo + Call of Cthulhu.