Umberhulk at Midnight

This is a hex map for the B2 Keep on the Borderlands. The original uses squares. I thought hexes would be a nice interpretation.

You’ve all leveled up at some point. Its a rite of passage! Add another hit die, add some more interesting abilities. What’s the real point? While it feels like advancement, I think it throws the game out of balance, constantly. The advancements in games like D&D are applied to wrong character features. What does leveling up do to the game? Leveling up creates problems. Things that were once…

Another classic and iconic creature. Here is the stat block from the Monster Manual. RUST MONSTER FREQUENCY: UncommonNO. APPEARING: 1-2ARMOR CLASS: 2MOVE: 18”HIT DICE: 5% IN LAIR: 10%TREASURE TYPE: Q (X 10)NO. OF ATTACKS: 2DAMAGE/ATTACK: NilSPECIAL ATTACKS: See belowSPECIAL DEFENSES: NilMAGIC RESISTANCE: StandardINTELLIGENCE: AnimalALIGNMENT: NeutralSIZE: MPSlONlC ABILITY: NilAttack/Defense…

A creature I have been thinking about for some time. I’ve been trying to shoehorn it into an adventure. Seems like it should be a sort of boss, or at least an important player in a larger situation. RAKSHASAFREQUENCY: Very rare to rareNO. APPEARING: 1-4ARMOR CLASS: -4MOVE: 15″HIT DICE: 7% IN LAIR: 25%TREASURE TYPE: FNO. OF ATTACKS: 3DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1 -3 / 1 -3 / 2-5SPECIAL ATTACKS: See…

Another classic creature from the original Monster Manual. Here is the original stat block as printed. DOPPLEGANGERFREQUENCY: Very rareNO. APPEARING: 3 – 12ARMOR CLASS: 5MOVE: 9”HIT DICE: 4% IN LAIR: 20%TREASURE TYPE: ENO. OF ATTACKS: IDAMAGE/ATTACK: I – 12SPECIAL ATTACKS: Surprise on a 1-4SPECIAL DEFENSES: See belowMAGIC RESISTANCE: See belowINTELLIGENCE: VeryALIGNMENT: NeutralSIZE: MPSlONlC…

A classic from the Fiend Folio. FLAIL SNAILFREQUENCY: Very rareNO. APPEARING: 7ARMOUR CLASS: 4MOVE: 3″HIT DICE: 4-6% IN LAIR: NilTREASURE TYPE: NilNO. OF ATTACKS: 1 per tentacleDAMAGE ATTACK: 1-8 per tentacleSPECIAL ATTACKS: NilSPECIAL DEFENCES: See belowMAGIC RESISTANCE: See belowINTELLIGENCE: LowALIGNMENT: NeutralSIZE: LPSlONlC ABILITY: NilAttack/Defence Modes: NilLEVEL1X.P. VALUE:4UD: III/150…

Thinking about the Mimic. This is the stat block and description from the original Monster Manual. MIMICFREQUENCY: RareNO. APPEARING: 1ARMOR CLASS: 7MOVE: 3″HIT DICE: 7-10%IN LAIR: NilTREASURE TYPE: NilNO. OF ATTACKS: 1DAMAGE/ATTACK: 3-12SPECIAL ATTACKS: GlueSPECIAL DEFENSES: CamouflageMAGIC RESISTANCE: StandardINTELLIGENCE: Semi- to averageALIGNMENT: NeutralSIZE: LPSlONlC ABILITY:…

Shrine of the Oozing Serpent is an adventure for level 1 to 3 characters, featured in Adventure Anthology 2, published by Necrotic Gnome, written by Nate Treme. I ran this adventure with four players playing 8 first level characters, and a retainer. What follows are my thoughts from actual play. The Facts The location describes a 12 room Gnome shrine with two entrances. Described as existing…

Described as: designed to be “classic” without being full of callbacks and nostalgia. It has some, but not all, of the major tropes. It also has full design notes. I like this one, its free and well done. This adventure offers a lot to recommend itself. It offers design notes, with the offer of being a guide to dungeon design. I like all of the ideas offered here. They do a great job of showing…

Here is a small hex map. The valley of Gorm will be presented in Delver Issue 2. I know I haven’t even released Delver issue 1 yet. I had a good idea for issue 2, and so started I started it. This is a dessert region with a river that runs from the mountains at the top of the map to a port city at the bottom of the map. Between the terrain varies from scrub land, rock badlands, canyon lands, and…