possible monster revision

So I started to dig into the Open Gaming License and Open Game Content that allows people to use things from D&D and Pathfinders. I was directed to a couple of websites that I could check and see if any of my monsters were a no go for another game. I found about half of the monsters I had chosen I can use with no problems. The others I will have to post to the forums and see if they are able to be used. Or I may have to contact Pathfinders directly. The ones that I am not sure of are

• Blood Golem - Golems are OGC, but I couldn't find the Blood Golem. It in fact is not a Golem at all, as it is not a construct. So would Blood Golem be a "proper name" and is not covered under the OGC? We shall see.
• Two-headed Troll - Again, trolls are ok by OGC rules, but a two-headed troll is not listed. So like the Blood Golem is it going to be considered a "proper name"?
• Skulk
• Cave Scrpion
• Giant Scorpion
• Red Cap
• Amphishaena
• Titan Centipede
• Crypt Thing
• Crysmal
• Goblin Dog
• Decapus
• Nuglub Gremlin
• Gug
• Half-Fiend Minotaur - in this case both the half-fiend and minotaur are found in the OGC list, but not together as one character. So same as above.
• Slurk

As you can see quite a few are in question. In fact it seems like half are. I would rather be sure and KNOW that it is OK to use these names. I can't afford any sort of legal action against me and would rather not get into the gaming industry by pissing off one of the biggest gaming companies right now. That is not a good plan. 

I will be sad as I really like the above monsters and think that they would be awesome in my game. I may have to create or find other forms of the monsters. Maybe do some research on ancient myths and legends and see if I can find some that are similar to the above and then create stats based on them. 

Some quests.

Well, I posted on FaceBook and asked for help again for quest ideas. I actually got some this time. Here they are so far. Will post some more, hopefully. This Saturday I am going to Gaming for a Cure. It's an all day "convention" type of local thing that raised money for cancer research. We game all day long! At the convention, I am planning on handing out papers with quest options requests on it. I should get some good ones there as well. After all, it's a bunch of gaming geeks.

From Holly:
stole a mystical item that keeps a village safe
kidnapping of a young one that will grow to be a leader with powers

From Beau:
I am the crown prince. They slew my parents, and made off with our kingdom's greatest treasure. I am brave and a good leader, but not great in any one area. My loyal retainers come with me because they love their land, or they owe a debt or they are compelled by their own needs for vengeance.
   Party:
       I am an ogre. I was not always so, but I was cursed by an evil spell, and the only way to remove it is to slay the one who cast it. I am big and strong and can take incredible amounts of damage, but I am not very smart, and have no magic at all.
       I am the gnome. The prince saved my life, and I am bound to him by that debt. I am very clever with machines and traps, and can fit into places where humans can not go.
       I am the Royal Guardsman. I failed to protect my king and queen, and lost my honor. I will spill the blood of my enemies until they are all dead, or I am.
       I am the blacksmith. The monsters burned our village and killed my only son. I have limited experience in combat, but I can repair my team's armor and weapons, and modify any equipment they find in the monsters' lair.
       I am the Old Mage. The Evil Wizard was once my apprentice and friend, before he turned to the darkness. My powers may not be what they once were, but I have to set things right.
       Character from Norma:
          I am a Good Witch. I know Spells of Enchantment, however, once in a while the spells go not as planned, not bad exactly,yet different, still the spells actually turn out better then expected

From Matt:
The players going in are the survivors. They returned home from an adventure to find that everyone there, all their loved ones, friends and neighbors, were brutally murdered. They have fought monsters before, but now it's personal.

From Beau:
I am the cursed dwarf. My people built the halls in which the monsters now dwell, before they ran us out. The curse upon me slows my healing--magical or otherwise--until I drink from the Fountain of the Forebears, deep within the lair.

Well

So, I tried to get some ideas for revenge quests from friends on FaceBook and only my aunt answered. It was a pretty good one though.

You were made evil by your nemisis. Your friends are taking you to the dungeon to the magic potion/spell/rune to make you you again.

Have to say I was a little dissapointed that my gamer friends on FB didn't give me anything, but my one aunt, who is not a gamer, did.

May try to repost and tag some people in it and see what happens as I know FB sometimes is very wanky.

On another note, I have been trying to design my own monsters stats from the ones my daughter gave me that I wrote about in another post. It's harder in some aspects than I thought and easier in others. I think that I will put her monsters on hold for the time being and just focus on this game. Maybe find out if I can even use the monsters that I found, or if I have to create new but similiar ones.

Quests

Quests. Quests. Quests.

Stuck.

How about the one where the PCs rescue... no.

Been there, done that.

Go to {this place} and collect... no.

Boring.

Rid the world of the evil... no.

Played too many times.

What would entice a group of fighters, warriors, healers, wizards, into a dangerous dungeon. A place where they know for A FACT that the likelihood of them returning is next to zero. A princess? Possibly if they have a great affinity for the kingdom from where she comes from. To collect a shit ton of gold and jewels? Get a good halfling rogue and that is just a matter of time, without the danger of almost certain death. Rid the world of the evil God or Goddess who is going to rid the world of all good. Possibly. There is a personal stake in this one.

Revenge.

That is almost always a good one. Can always figure out plenty of reasons for revenge. Very much a personal stake in this one. And good friends will always stand by to help in vengeance.

The rape of a sister.
The stolen lands and lies that caused the imprisonment of one of the parties whole family.
To find and kill a mob of Nuglub Gremlins that murdered an entire village, that are working for the mysterious dungeon lord.
The kidnapping and murder of one of their own party.

This could be good. A game of revenge. Could work.

New Monsters?

I told my daughter about my blog and she was commenting on the monsters. She thought they were cool. Then she started coming up with monsters that took every day animals, some even cute little things, and turned them into horrible death dealing monsters.

• Fire Spitting Rabbit
• Boiling Water Spitting Tiger
• Sharp Toed Hippo - who's toe nails are metal blades
• Acid Laced Sugar Glider - if it touches you, will poison you (she said kill, but have to be able to fight a little bit)
• Killer Mermaid - who can walk on land
• Laser Eyed Bearded Dragon - who shoots lasers out of his eyes
• Death Bringer Komono Dragon - eats people 
• Poison Kitten - has poisonous claws and also has thumbs to be able to grab
• Skull Chomping Chinchillas

Such an imagination! I may use some of these. I did notice that I didn't have any dragons in my monster list. I can see more research on the way on how to build stats for a monster. I know I've seen it on the Paizo web site. 

Player Character

Player Characters, or PCs. There are so many different ways to do this. I thought at one time I would probably stick with the basic core races and classes that are familiar in most games be them board games or RPGs. The Races would include Dwarfs, Elves, Gnomes, Half Orcs, Half Elves, Halflings, and Humans. The classes would be Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Wizard, Bard, Cleric, and Druid.

Boring! Right? Same ole same ole.

I am currently playing Decent with the guys. It's the campaign version (which is fun so far). The character I am playing is not one of the races above. It's a lizard looking thing and its name is Ispher. I say it's a female who is waring lipstick, but the guys swear it's a male and it's blood around it's mouth. Pffft! They are probably right but, hey, it's my character. I've always played women, so this is a different thing for me.





So now I am thinking that I wouldn't have to use the core races from above. Shake things up a bit and go for completely different PCs. Or maybe a mix of the old tried and true characters, and throw in a few new ones. I think I have a few days of research coming up to look into some new types of characters.

There are two different ways that I could do the character cards. One is to have one card with a race and class already combined on the cards and the players are dealt a certain amount of cards and they choose which character they would like to play. The second would be to have two sets of cards, one of races and one of classes. The players would be dealt a certain amount of both and can choose from those by mixing and matching to get the right character they would want to play. This is an idea I got from the game Small World, where there are two cards for the characters being put into play.

I am really leaning towards the two card option. I've noticed while playing games that I am sometimes not too happy with the characters I've been dealt. Like I said before, I am not too comfortable with magic yet. So when I am dealt a lot of magic type characters I don't feel as confident as I am with a fighter of some sort. There are also a couple of the guys who always play the healer, or always play the wizard. When they are dealt the fighters, they are not as happy in game play as when they are the class they really like.

What the cards will look like will be for another time. I have to get more into the rules and how the game will play out before I decide on that.

Spells

A spell deck. I am not one to do spells when I play RPGs. I am usually just a fighter and don't get into magic. Mostly because I am so new to gaming that I am just trying to learn the games that, lets be honest, are very hard to learn. To some who have been playing D&D since its conception thing that games are pretty easy to learn or to play. They can pick up a game very easily. However, someone like me who is very new find it quite over powering sometimes. So with just trying to learn all the game rule, tricks, terminology and such, I have just avoided anything magic. The rules and regulations that go along with magic and spells is just way beyond what I can comprehend and remember at this point. 

So this being said, I know this part of the game is a necessity. I am also aware of the thinking - what kind of game would it be it if didn't have magic spells? Below is my pitiful attempt at some spells. This is a section that I will definitely be revisiting. 

There are two different ways I can see of doing spell card decks. One would be to have the cards listed as the different schools of magic (which I took from Paizo Pathfinders) which from what I can see there are eight. This, of course, would then create a huge amount of decks. Or I can just pick a few commonly used spells and just have a spell deck. 

The eight schools of magic are:

• Abjuration: protective spells
• Conjuration
• Divination
• Enchantment
• Evocation
• Illusion
• Necromancy
• Transmutation

Some common spells:

• Revive - resurrect the dead
• Remove curse - can be used on card holder or another player
• Speed boost - increase speed by X (die roll?)
• Shield of protection - protects from either death or harm (?) for X turns 
• Explosion - knocks ALL figures back X spaces (maybe in certain direction based on roll?)
• Revert - transfer all magic effects back to caster
• Blind - blind a target for X amount of time
• Disarm - disarm target of weapon for X turns
• Slow fall - slows a fall as if from only a few feet
• Fireball - tiny ball of fire that explodes X distance
• Invisibility - invisible for X time but if attacked becomes visible
• Lightening - bolt of energy
• Meteor Storm - X meteors fly and explode like a fireball
• Polymorph - change target into another form of living creature
• Teleport - to transfer someone or thing to another place
• Cure light wounds
• Cure critical wounds

This is a subject that I will definitely need to look at more closer.