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Clan Rumbleseed

28 Saturday Mar 2020

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On 3/21/20 an online group of players made Clan Rumbleseed. Here we go!

The Delve

The Stonefist overclan was continuing to explore the Eastern Jaw mountain range’s lower reaches, trying to stem the expansion of goblins from the Great Incursion into their underground spaces. An expedition found a petrified underground forest that got swampier the deeper they explored, and more full of life. They found hexagonal cell buildings, like hives, long abandoned. There was more life deeper in, they met bug creatures, some of whom had their own societies. There were fossilized beetles in green amber, and reports of rare metals and so much more. In the year 1,218 Clan Rumbleseed was commissioned to investigate further.

The Rumbleseed Gunners

Rumbleseed was founded by elite gunsmiths. The clan was named after an order of 30 masters that guard the secrets of their trade, who were ready to colonize and develop distinct from the overclan. They used the peculiar beetles and organic components of the delve to improve their gunpowder. The very best gunpowder is made from a specific kind of beetle that cannot be domesticated, but must be hunted, and this tradition is now embedded into their ritual and culture.

Rumbleseed founded Powder’s Rest, the clan home, and began their legacy of exploration.

The Ravenous

The dwarves became known by their Delve neighbors as the Ravenous, for they voraciously ate their way through the biome. They domesticated many kinds of bugs as beasts of burden, herd animals, and pets. They found grubs the size of wagons, called grubblies, capable of burrowing through earth with a combination of muscle, acid,and jaws; they use these as pack animals, and they also sometimes lash containers for them to drag as they tunnel or crawl. Rollingmeals are their name for pillbugs ranging from fist-sized to wagon-sized, who can be treated and cooked to form portable rigid-shelled balls of gooey food. They developed a process to ferment the glowing nectar sacs of a deep aphid species called burstsnappers to serve as portable gelled drink bags.

Their gustatory daring led to the rise of a culinary culture, with neighborhoods in the clanhome and tributaries centered around food colleges with unique styles that compete, their masters clashing in competitions for glory and titles. Duels and tournaments focused around cooking challenges concentrate prestige with the masters and their schools. A Stonefist machismo flavors their signature dishes, where diners must endure pain from spices, sauces, and textures with as much stoic dignity as possible to overcome challenges.

Deadfast Reach

In the initial exploration years, they found a fortress with different architecture than the rest of the sprawling built environment mixed with the caverns and tunnels. They discovered it was an empty prison, and upon breaching it, they found that the dead walked within. The prisoners were not a recognizable race or creature. Deathbrittle grew freely within the prison, and when word got out, human death cults and necromancers began making pilgrimages to the area and setting up settlements nearby. A certain type of beetle was discovered, a gem-like composition holding necromatic energy with impossible concentration, and this beetle corpse became the phylactery for undead wizard kings.

Various Garden

A new area has been discovered in the last couple years; ruins that are distinct from the building styles uncovered so far. An early explorer reported finding a “various garden” and the name stuck. The ruins overflow with unusual fungal growth, and the city beneath is ancient and apparently abandoned. The clan is gearing up to explore it further.

Starting ratings: Prestige 3, Strength 3, Wealth 3, 900 years old, 2 Dynasties, roughly 900 adults and 1,800 members total. The year is 2,121.

The clan seal is a pillbug on its back, open, with a chisel hammered into its center.

Humpercrunchers

02 Monday Mar 2020

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I am going to inform an area of Stoneshadow by defining some of the local creatures and then connecting them geographically and culturally.

I tried out the “Creatures Drawing Deck” today. Here was my draw:

Humpercruncher cards

So yes, this is a challenge. Here is the result.

Humpercruncher

I used the caterpillar as the body base, with a T Rex head and raccoon feet. (Besides the attitude, the feet are the most distressing part of the raccoon.) For texture, the waxy/fleshy/chitinous texture of a caterpillar is a challenge, especially with two kinds of camouflage going on at the same time. Adding a furry underbelly (that’s filthy dragging through muck and brush) and hard sinewy little paws, along with dramatic spines, makes for a weird and difficult set of ideas to get across. Especially without colors or graphite gradients. The one thing from the cards that I didn’t really get worked in was “muscles” but we can’t win ’em all. I figured the result was sufficiently alarming.

So what is this thing about? Consulting the handy quick-reference for statting up monsters on p. 203 of Under the Mountain, this is what I come up with.

HUMPERCRUNCHER

This form starts out about ten feet long, growing to about thirty before spinning a steel-silk cocoon and gestating for a few years, emerging a young dragon. It is a scavenger and ambush predator that haunts mountain valleys choked with scrub brush and stunted trees, where its camouflage gives it a hunting advantage. (The stats here are the base for a 10 footer, add 1 increment to every 10 feet as per p. 117.) They start in pods of six, but usually only one survives to the cocoon stage.

Combat 7. Bite 12.

Armor 2 (waxy flexible shell, tough hide). Vitality 30.

  • Special: Ambush Predator. Prefers to hide, possibly partially buried. Head is extended out up to 8 feet, often surprising the target (if a risk test is not passed to detect the hidden predator.) If the target is surprised, the humpercruncher gets 2 attacks this round only, against a single target.
  • Active: Locking Jaws. If the humpercruncher inflicts a Wound, the humpercruncher can lock down and hold the victim, automatically inflicting 8 damage a round. The victim can attempt to escape with a move AND defend action, taking 6 Vitality damage in the attempt. Others can assist as normal.
  • Special: Pressurize. Takes a round with no other actions, can be done even if defended against. Bolsters with intake of air. Halves incoming ranged attack damage, and humpercruncher speed; expands torso by about 1/3, retracts head halfway into shell.
  • Special: Compact. Takes a round with no other actions, can be done even if defended against. Regains 15 Vitality. Expels air through wounds and/or vents, spraying ichor on all those in melee range. Those sprayed must pass a risk test or be poisoned. The effect does no damage but simulates 2 Wounds for purposes of turning all tests to risk tests (lose 2 Vitality each time you don’t pass, in addition to Vitality from other Wounds) and healing time. Multiple doses do not stack. Can only be done once an hour, or twice if pressurized first.

BEHAVIOR:

  • 1-2: Retreat. Compacting in the process, if appropriate, even if defended against.
  • 3-4: Puff Up or Lock Down. Pressurize or Compact, as appropriate.
  • 9-10: Wand Surge. The spines flex, if an energy manipulator is within about 30 feet. Energy manipulators (Adepts, Enchanters, Chosen, human wizards, all elves) feel a hideous crawling sensation in their veins, and they must pass a risk test or spend the round clawing at their flesh and shuddering; if they manipulate energy the following round, they take 3 Vitality damage per magical effect used, and Armor cannot decrease that damage.
  • 11-12: Refit. Drawing on its alien vitality, the humpercruncher can do 2 of the following: regain 15 Vitality, gain an additional free attack, or sprint for up to 15 feet.

Diggeries

29 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by fictivite in Uncategorized

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creatures

I am going to inform an area of Stoneshadow by defining some of the local creatures and then connecting them geographically and culturally.

I tried out the “Creatures Drawing Deck” today. Here was my draw:

Diggeries Cards

Here’s what I came up with.

Diggery

First I decided to work in the “mustache or beard” by using centipede legs for a delightful chin-mass for expressive flexibility and weirdness. I figured I’d use the bear for a body template, with ‘dilla plating mixed with chitin. I added the cute ‘dilla ears and the overall effect is somewhat bat-like with some whimsical centipede antennas. The textural mix of baggy skin, chitin plating, fur, and claws was an interesting experiment. All of the critter is oriented towards a burrowing creature.

How big, then? My first thought was “grizzly size of course” then I took a closer look and thought maybe a 5’ height would be good. Dense and bulky, so more solid than humans, but often shorter (while still less compact than dwarves.)

How about that “national park” habitat? Alright, I’m putting them at the edge of human territory, and all we’ll say at this point is that human wizards were doing some experimentation and ended up creating (or importing) these diggeries, who formed a tribal community. I’ll figure out more as I add more creatures to the mix.

Consulting the handy quick-reference for statting up monsters on p. 203 of Under the Mountain, this is what I come up with.

DIGGERIES

Compact burrowing creatures. They can pheremonally communicate with and direct sizzlepedes. They communicate with hoarse grunts, in compact (often compound) words and grunts.

Combat 6. Claws and jaws, 6 (+2).

Armor 1 (natural). Vitality 14.

  • Active: Dirtspray. If fighting near sufficient loose material, turns back to a foe and rapidly digs, spraying the foe with a disorienting barrage of loose material that costs the foe an action next round. The target can ignore the effect by spending a Resolve or employing a similar defense.
  • Active: Tunneling. Move at a walking pace through loose soil, under the ground. Dig through soft rock, clay, or root-bound earth about a foot a minute. Claw through six inches of rock a minute, or a quarter inch of metal.
  • Special: Sizzlepede Affinity. Communicate empathically and simple ideas using chemicals and leg/beard twitches with sizzlepedes, who are inclined to obey diggeries. They can wear sizzlepedes as scarves, direct them as scouts, and lead them in battle.

BEHAVIOR:

  • 1-2. Leggit! Squawk and chitter, withdrawing (to prepared tunnel exits if possible.
  • 3-4. Raaagh! Act normally but also regain 3 Vitality.
  • 10+. Off ya! Those who are not defended do damage as normal, and in addition, each one tears off a shield or wrenches armor. If wrenching armor, reduce its value by 1 die code until adjusting it out of combat. If the target has no armor, the target is gouged for an extra attack inflicting 8 Vitality.

Chambers of the Clanhome

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adventure report caskbound clan creatures elf humans legend location lore magic map milestone open table planning play report promotion rules rumbleseed strange mission templar tributary update upgrade various gardens various gardens; rumbleseed

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