01/11/2025
NecropOD&D hack released! Free mutated undead rules for OD&Dish type games. [OD&D]
What are blogs and itch.io for if not to puke out dubious hobby projects for free?
This is the 20 page Crematory Ash-Can version of the ridiculous ruleset I cobbled together to run an eight player OD&D game with mutated undead in the Necropolis28 world last year. It's a one-shot prep document that got way out of control. Inspirations include early Gamma World, the Arduin Grimoires, and of course the independent undead skirmish miniatures game Necropolis28.
Includes tweaked combat rules and 56 blasted Gifts from the schools of undead magic, Blood/Bone/Plasm.
I uploaded this as a way of procrastination while doing my taxes.
It can be grabbed here. Enjoy!
23/03/2024
d24 Denizens of Plammenzet Fort [Mutant Future/Gamma World]
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| Source photo from rarehistoricalphotos.com |
M.F.O.S.C. campaign players stop reading here!!
Plammenzet is the biggest settlement in the Mutant Future/Gamma World campaign I'm running once a month, here's a little table to start to fill it out a bit. It's nestled into the mountains to the north and has a triple-walled fortification at front, with whispered rumours about the tunnels below, either stripped bare or with scattered tech of the ancients down there, depending on who you talk to.
Mutant Plants are strictly forbidden in Plammenzet by Whaltri and The Gommonde, supreme crime lords!
1 - A local drunk gathers a rabble of Synthetics around him. Hek nows the exact way to shortcut their interest/attention loops so they keep listening to his boring bounty hunter stories. (1d6+1 Synthetics)
2 - A floating insect-headed lump with extendable telescopic limb attachments (worth 1d6x100 in machine parts) is looking for an escort to sketch and paint some of the wretched mountain vistas beyond the forgotten northern walls of the city.
3 - Two hulking Pure Strain Humans wear boots and ancient camo patterning. They are obssessed with physical strength training manuals from the ancient times and will pay 300gp worth of materials per tome delivered to them, though any weaklings wishing an audience with them will be hard pressed to gain their attention. STR 19.
4 - Rabboxen breeder. He appears at first as a Pure Strain Human in blue face paint, though it will become apparent his nature is otherwise when he regurgitates his stomach in order to feed. He has stock of a certain strain that requires only half rations, and another that can be trained to explosively self-destruct with threatened. He is always in the market for uncorrupted stock of any herd or pack animal from the wilderness.
5 - A braggart Mutant Wolf. He considers unfurred Mutant Animals to be a simple waste of DNA. An expert in salvage and mechanical recovery, his presence may grant a re-roll to any failed Tech Roll, but tends to commands exorbitant prices for his accompaniment on missions, and will readily follow a party to claim jump. He dwells in a conical plasteel structure in the centre of Plammenzet.
6 - A mechanical doomsayer. It is 27% human tissue, and will hector anyone who will listen about the poetry of its pustules and decaying flesh. It is otherwise largely composed of glass lenses and grippers, and slithers around on a mass of cabling and piping. CON 11. Stun Ray: lasts for 1d3 rounds.
7 - Undertunnel delvers. A group of Pure Strain Humans and Mutant Humans who have ultimate plans to join the M.E.M.S.A. society, though they are yet to take the Prejudical Oaths and are in fact somewhat divided on the ethics of the society. That have proof that the rumours of the futility in deliving into the undertunnels beneath Plammenzet are in fact false, and those that know where to look can find tech and goods of value. They are scavenging for the necessary gift to get M.E.M.S.A. to admit them as members.
8 - The Society for Vegetal Beautification at Plammenzet (S.V.B.P.). A complete mix of all types, united by a mildly fanatical cause, namely that greater variety in urban planning at Plammenzet will encourage the citizens to greater things. Their focus, of course, is the importation of a greater variety of food crops and plants to decorate the settlement. This is viewed with suspicion given Whaltri and The Gommonde's view of Mutant Plants. There is a 10% chance when speaking to a member of this group that they are secretly dedicated to the welfare of Mutant Plants. They wear green robes, copper circlets and carry bolos as weapons.
9 - "Coded by Whaltri". A group of Pure Strain Humans who wear purple face paints. This cult has sprung up around a belief in the higher origins of the crime boss Whaltri. They believe he is the 37th incarnation of God. As proof, each states that they have received a secret three digit number in their dreams, indicated that they are special - Coded by Whaltri. They are bedecked in Plate Armour and own several Vibro Swords.
10 - Billowers. 14 Mutant Humans with wavering, ballooning, pouching skin. They will grasp PCs hands and with whispering voices enquire if they need any work doing. As a group they are fascinated with objects from the sky, space beings and planetary systems. They are armed with slings and daggers, and may strike with the latter for triple damage if hidden in shadows.
11 - Khaldador, a Mutant Human borne in a covered litter held by four Pure Strain Human bearers. He studies routes into the Plammenzet undertunnels using ancient manuals. He believes many of these tunnels in fact extend far under the city and outside of its bounds beneath the mountains to the north. He has never ventured there himself due to a weak constituion and extreme sensitivity to light of all kinds. He values knowledge above all else. He can emith coagulating rays in a 30' radius that cause the thickening of mucus, causing choking in all who fail a Save Vs Stun. The effect lasts for 2d4 rounds, and causes 1d10 damage each round. His most prized possession is a Condition 3 Mk2 Laser Pistol.
12 - Seven bipedal orange-skinned Mutant Anteaters covered in scaly buboes. They seek work for food, and are somewhat lazy, preferring jobsi nvolving intimidation or thuggery. They are easily bored. Their mutations are variable: 25% spit acid cloud every three rounds 20' radius 5d6 damage, Save Vs Poison for half. If hit twice by this attack, normal armour is rendered useless. 25% active wing development. 25% mental blast (3d6). WIL 9.
13 - Yashmina, a Pure Strain Human infested with seeping nanobot colonies who only has three months to live as a result. She occasionally coughs violently, giving up gouts of black foam, though she tries her best to hide it. She is a good fighter with her morningstar, having +3 to damage, and being able to disarm an opponent on a 19 or 20. He nanobot infestation gives her perfect night vision and an inability to eat normal food. Her main wish is to overthrow Whaltri and take command of Plammenzet, though she knows there is slim chance. Finding a cure would merely be a nice bonus.
14 - Eleven rolling Mutant Beetles, covered with organic studs and spikes all over their lustrous brown carapaces. They also fight with whips causing 1d3 damage, that entangle and trip opponents 1-in-6 times, though any DEX bonus will negate this. They attack as an initial avalanche of rolling beetle fury, causing 7d6 damage per individual on their first round of combat. They have dual heads and a WIL of 15. Their main belief is in the value of hard work, and insist any accompanying PCs engage in morning exercises. They are on the lookout for a new habitat to engage in their upcoming frenzy of copulation and subsequent spawning (the frenzy is due to occur in 3d6x2 weeks).
15 - Andar, a dark woman with a bulging stomach into which run wires and metallic filaments. Her right arm is an enormous circular saw that causes 3d6+6 damage in combat and is worth 3500gp in parts. "Just try and take it" she entreats aggressors. She escaped frtom a testing facility of some kind to the far north, her memory having been entirely wiped by means she does not understand. Though she dislikes intoxication, it does occasionally jog her memory. She wishes to increase her security/access clearance cards collection, which she sports on a string around her neck, though she does not understand their ranking (1d3 cards, refer to Gamma World 1e for security card information).
16 - Gurbanik, a human(oid) dressed head to toe in echoing green plate mail armour which he never removes. This is due to the fact he is horribly burned and ashamed of his appearance. OTherwise cocky, he brandishes as brutal looking Condition 4 submachine gun and shortsword. He runs into battle with the cry "It's Gurbanik's kill!!". He seeks a good life, adventure, and drinks he can enjoy through a straw via his visor. He believes those that have unfulfilled desires just don't want it enough. CON 14, WIL 14. He takes pity on anyone or anything that is disfigured or ugly.
17 - Harmabul, a sleek, black swan-like Mutant Animal of indeterminate origin. It is a sharpshooter with a longbow, causing +3 damage and able to get off two shots per round if stationary. It seeks to form a warrior clan, but its standards for recruits are impossibly high. It takes a dim view of poor tactics.
18 - Abbagone. A Mutant Human with a long serpentine torso and 11 legs who travels with a huge armoured box of his luggage. He can control the weather once per week for 1d8 turns. Secretly, he believes (incorrectly) this is because he is in touch with an ancient satellite. He wishes to destroy a rival gang leader, Tobrax (see below).
19 - Tobrax, a crystal-infested Pure Strain Human. The crystals studding his skin are black, emerald and topaz coloured. Tobrax believes that Plammenzet is far more vulnerable to attack than it realises. He thinks Mutant Plants should be admitted as common sense, making use of their varied mutations to bolster defenses. He listens for rumours of merchant caravans and forms impromptu raiding parties, rarely recruiting the same warriors twice. Tobrax disdains any concept of hierarchical rule.
20 - A headless Mutant Human with speech-synthesis modules built into its arms (value 1300gp). It is photosynthetic, and is also able to cause its feet to combust, attacking with furious flaming kicks for 2x2d6 damage - though it will then suffer 2d6 damage once combat is concluded. It is otherwise armed with a flanged mace. It is a bodyguard for hire that is not shy about demanding its share of the loot. Often given to sardonic jokes in its crackling and buzzing voice that emanates from the sythesisers. Its partners was slain by Canusoids, for which it has a violent hatred and +2 to hit.
21 - Umlaut, a membranous web-covered Mutant Marsupial, like a half-formed slimy joey. Darkly given to trance-like predictions of doom. He collects crystal shards for their 'magical powers', and one of them does in fact inflict Class 4 Radiation on all within 30' if it is struck. He wishes to work with Whaltri, but has already been denied in disgust twice.
22 - A pachydermal tripod Mutant Animal of unknown origin. It appears as a creature of tough grey skin (AC 4) around an orb structure on three columnar legs. It may look bizarre, and is extremely quiet, but it speaks perfect common in a small piping voice ans has INT 15, WIL 16. It can attack with tusks for 2 x 1d12. It wishes to view the sea for the first time, to possibly live and hunt there, and is naturally curious.
23 - Oolad the Carver. An armless Mutant Human who has had a fighting blade fitted to his left foot (1d6 damage) and owns a collection of 1d3 grenades he does not understant the function of. He sadly believes that true craftsmanship is dead, and that there is spiritually no excuse for the use of debased, broken or primitive implements or tools. His main believe is that skilfullt carved wood could elevate civilisation to its next highest stage, and is saddened at the lack of real good quality unmutated wood - and would love to establish a grove of precious trees. Despite his eccentricity, he is genuinely a master craftsman and will endlessly discuss woodcarving with anyone.
24 - Spasom, a Mutated Animal of unknown mammalian origin. It has a tiny head with a trio of blinking black eyes and is covered with tawny fur fading to white. It has extremely long hands and feet and a chattery manner of speech - it is never still. Spasom is overly fond of food and intoxicants. It carries sharpened metal discs which it can throw at a rate of three per round is stationary, range 15/30/45 for 1d6 damage. Its insistent chattering can make speech, sleep, or listening at doors rather difficult. At the end of every third day, Spasom sleeps like the dead for 24 hours and cannot be woken by any means save strong stimulants. Its motivations are difficult to determine due to its extreme flightiness, though it has a strong fascination with writing implements of the ancients such as ink, pens or pencils.
25/10/2023
[Mutant Future] Chance to Know Languages
According to the core rules, characters with high INT scores have the means to learn additional languages at scores of 13, 16, 18, and 20. The following simple system of houserules is used to determine the chance a PC may already know a given language when it is encountered in the wastelands.
Xenophobia and ignorance is rife in the wastelands, with factionalism leading to many secret tongues. However, 'slots' for extra languages granted by high Intelligence can be left empty until the player wishes to try and use one - the character may simply happen to know the language spoken by those they encounter, if they wish to cash in a potential extra language.
To do so, make a Know Languages roll on a 1d6, and get a 6 or higher. A natural 1 is always a failure.
A character failing to know cannot roll again for that particular language unless they've spent significant down-time studying.
Languages of The Ancients (not counting machine languages) have a negative modifier, usually -1 but as much as -3 for obscure or heavily coded languages.
High Intelligence scores grant a bonus to Know Languages rolls.
16-17: +1
18: +2
19: +3
20: +4
21: +5
Further modifiers are based on the inverse of the Reaction Adjustment charts on pg 11 of the Mutant Future rulebook:
Mutant Human knowing language of:
MA -1
MP -2
PH -1
Mutant Animal knowing language of:
MH -1
MP -2
PH -2
Mutant Plant knowing language of:
MH -2
MA -1
PH -3
Pure Human knowing language of:
MH -1
MA -2
MP -2
Androids have a -2 reaction adjustment to all cases except machine languages, unless they have a background functionality in protocol, diplomacy, hospitality etc.
Replicants can never 'already know' languages - their short lifespan makes it unlikely they will have learned a particular language encountered in the wild. They can still study and learn as usual though.
Machine languages should be treated on a case-by-case basis, with modifiers being applied for the level of technology used by the machine, its age, obscurity of functionality and so on. The language of vending machines should be far easier to know than that of nanites.
NOTE: Generally, machine languages are not 'computer code', although there may be some slight overlap. I would keep any extra bonuses to Technology Rolls arising from knowing a machine language to a minimum - perhaps 5% if the Mutant Lord is feeling generous.
18/06/2023
[AD&D] Wargame style movement allowances for 1e hexcrawls
WARNING - this post contains hex-and-counter wargame terminology!
Partially inspired by the first part of this video, I decided to bite the bullet and codify hexcrawling movement value in my 1e AD&D campaign in terms of hex-and-counter board wargames.
Wargames (I would prefer the term be reclaimed away from miniature games, but that's just me) are something I really enjoy and the counting of movement in hexes in terms of a unit's value is second nature to me, so this just makes sense. It does away with the B/X nightmare of terrain types causing 1/3 or 2/3 movement penalties and when you apply that across a multi-hex journey, and simply allows the party to move discretely from hex to hex, paying for terrain costs as they enter.
Though derived from AD&D materials, I see no reason this couldn't be used for any game with the 12/9/6 style movement.
So, here is the chart. I haven't yet tested this but I will do in my upcoming session this week. Read on if you care how I calculated the values.
So, first up, I'm not really a maths guy - I'm certainly no Delta. So there might be some wonkiness introduced by rounding or whatever the fuck. That being said, here's what I did.
1. Use the chart on pg 58 of the DMG to calculate the values in the Rugged and Very Rugged columns as fractions of the Normal values in each row. So for Light foot movement, Rugged is 2/3 of Normal movement, Very Rugged is 1/3 of Normal movement and so on.
2. Plug in and replace the PHB movement rates for foot. For mounted, round each Normal value to a preferred multiple of 6 to match my 6 mile hexes. It's only necessary for the Medium mounted and the Cart and Wagon. I've even got Gygax's blessing ("Some variation in the movement rate is justifiable") so shove it.
Examples: Light Foot, using the PHB method for overland characters on foot, is 24, which is a multiple of 6. Medium Mounted is 40, so that became 42.
3. Divide our newly six'd Normal rates by six to get the Movement Allowance for this type of 'unit' in wargame terms. So Light Foot becomes 4, Medium Mounted is 7 etc. This is what the single counter's movement allowance would be if we were playing a wargame, and is the amount of clear hexes it could move through in one turn (day) all being well.
4. Use the fractional values of the Rugged and Very Rugged columns as calculated in Step 1 to figure out what their terrain cost is in terms of each Normal value we acquired in Steps 2 and 3. This is what it costs instead of 1 to enter this type of terrain.
Example: Given our assumed Normal values, a Draft horse has a movement allowance of 5 (that is, 30 miles/day, is five 6 mile hexes). The Rugged value on pg 58 of the DMG is 1/2 of the Normal value. Thus, it costs a Draft horse 2.5 movement points to move into a Rugged hex.
Further assumptions that I've made.
- Light, Average and Heavy rows for foot movement correspond
to 12", 9" and 6" overland movement rates as usually determined by the PHB and whatever
system you're using for movement allowance based on armour and the
like.
- I treated the movement rates for the poor horsies given in the MM as top speeds to be used in combat, not journeys. As such I haven't applied the PHB movement rate for characters as mentioned above - I just stuck with the DMG chart values from pg 58.
- I fudged the rate for a Cart on Rugged terrain - if I did my maths right, it ended up with a movement cost of 1.666... so I just rounded to 1.5 for simplicity.
- The party will move at the speed of the slowest party member (although the nice thing about movement allowance here is that the 'stack' comprising the party can drop off 'units' if they need to and use up any remaining movement points to journey on)
- You'll need to determine how encumbrance affects all this given your chosen system. There's values in the DMG of course, but how they interact with the PHB system is...well...open to interpretation.
- You can always move one hex in a day, regardless of the cost. This is of course assuming there are no impassable barriers in the way. I've left the high Very Rugged costs for units in the chart despite the fact they all amount to 'only 1 hex movement'. This is to allow for spells or magic items that might increase your base movement (or the base movement of your mount).
- Roads? If it was a wargame you'd just treat as clear. Rivers? Sea? Don't wanna think about it just yet.
- Finally - even if the maths doesn't quite work out here (it's possible I may have slightly nerfed horse movement rate) it's consistent, which should be the most important thing.




