Rána - Black Oil and it's mechanics

In front of you, you can see a big chunk of some weird metal alloy, that looks shiny, yet matte, strong but very light. It’s nothing like you have ever seen before. Tricking, dripping and oozing from it onto the stone ground of the cavern, is a thick, black glossy substance. It looks very much like that which was drooling down from the eye sockets, of those shambling creatures you met back in one of the rooms of the cairn above...

 

Black oil is the main “antagonist” of my Isle of Rána adventure. I wanted to create an adversary, different from a “BBEG” or a mad wizard or demon, or anything that has a true corporal body and whose intelligence mortals can easily comprehend. 

 

Black oil is an alien substance, intelligent, alive in a way, which is looking to possess bodies and overtake the isle. Ultimately its goal is to pave the way for its creators to come and colonize the world. ...Yes I watched the X-Files as a kid, why do you ask?

 

One of the mechanics I created for the Isle of Rana is the Black Oil infection. Delving deeper into the dungeon and coming in contact with the Black Oil and those it possesses, raises their level, slowly infecting them. This at first might have positive effects on the player's strength, it can lead to them getting first into a catatonic state and eventually being completely taken over by the Black Oil and becoming another Oil spawn minion. 

 

Story-wise – Black oil leaked into this world from a crashed spaceship and that is where it still exists. In the adventure, the party will be looking for pieces of a mythical artifact that is meant to bring fertility, food and life - a cornucopia or Sampó. is looking for in the Rána adventure was “given” to the original heroes of the isle, by the oil. What first seemed like a gift, soon turned to become a curse. The artifact was broken into pieces and buried deep in the oil. Black oil as well as the pieces of mysterious metal (remains of the crash) were disposed of. But the ancestors did not know of all of them. And time passes and with it, certain things fade into memory.

 

Meanwhile, the Black Oil has slowly been taking over bodies of the living and dead, controlling them, creating an army made up of shambling corpses oozing black oil, from its cavities, flying creatures which once perhaps were bats or other fliers, oozes, slimes and whatever else came it’s way in the depths of the earth.

 

Black Oil mechanics

 

Infection levels

1. PC has a feeling of mild chills and cold. PC also feels stronger +1 to STR.

2. Coldness deepens. The infected PC need to be near a source of heat or warmth or suffer fatigue.

3. Gradual blackening of the eye whites of the infected PC

4. Advantage / +5 to strength checks including to hit. Veins in the body of the infected begin to blacken

5. Advantage / +5 to dexterity checks including to hit. Lips of the infected turn black.

6. The substance thickens and grows to take control. Disadvantage / -5 to all attack rolls when facing any Black Oil monster.

7. Spreading the infection. The infected coughs and spits out Black Oil, uncontrollably at random times, trying to infect those nearby.

8. The infected enters a comatose or near-death state as the Black Oil takes control.

9. Now it’s too late. The infected PC has been fully taken over by the Black Oil and awakes from its coma as an Oil Spawn minion – retains the PC's class, level and abilities.

 

Gaining Black oil levels

• Automatically gain one Infection level, when entering a room with a source of Black Oil.

• Every three turns spent in a black oil source room increases the Infection level by one.

• Gain one infection level, by direct, skin to oil contact – touching a puddle of Black Oil, or an item or creature coated in Black Oil.

• Ingesting the oil automatically gains two Infection levels.

• If a character takes more than half of their HP damage from a single oil spawn creature, gain one Infection level.

 

Recovery:

• Long rest lowers one infection level.

• Resting alone cannot progress black oil levels below the thresholds of Infection levels 1 / 3 / 6.

• A successful remove curse ritual lowers the Infection level back to level one.

• If a character gets to Infection level eight and resets down to level one through a cure curse ritual, the Infection level grows automatically by one level each day. Every subsequent makes the Infection levels grow exponentially faster – A second remove curse increases the level gain to two per day, etc.

• To fully purge a PC from the Black Oil the party will have to explore the fourth Cairn – I haven’t thought of the cure yet to be honest – sooo you can make up anything, in case you wanna use this.

 

This whole entry is actually a prelude, to the first dungeon I want to put out for free. I realized that I perhaps should introduce the Black Oil and it's mechanics.

 

More on Rána: Check out The Magical Materials and their mechanic article

 

DCC Dying Earth monsters in Vaults of Vaarn

I have recently been running Vaults of Vaarn, the group enjoys it and I really love the system. On a related not, for winter holidays my partner gifted me the DCC Dying Earth Box Set, to my great enthusiasm. I don’t actually run DCC (yet) but I sure enjoy there products.

This combination, along with looking through my pdf collection of Ultra Violet Grasslands material, got me thinking, that there are quite some similarities between these games and settings. So why not try and combine them somehow?

As It happens, one of the few things in which I found the VoV Deluxe Edition lacking was the bestiary. While great, there aren’t that many monsters. DCC Dying Earth, has a bestiary of it’s own. So once I started running out of VoV monsters, I reached for the DCC and converted a couple to restock my encounter tables.

 There’s not that many of them, more might follow in the future. Here goes:

 

Twk-person

• HD: 4

• AC: 12

• Morale: 9

• Attack: Spear 1d6

• Appearing: 1d4+1

• Intelligent, insect size humanoids, that live able to communicate. Often serve as scouts or spies. While pacifists by default, they will fight to defend themselves and their communities

 

Twk with a Dragonfly mount

• HD: 4+1

• AC: 16

• Morale: 10

• Attack: Lance 1d6 + 1d4 poison spray AOE (Dragonfly). Critical hit on 18 - 20

• Appearing: 1d4

• Twk scouts often ride large dragonflies as their mount. The Dragonfly itself has a HD of 2

 

 

 

Grue

• HD: 2

• AC: 13

• Morale: 8

• Attack: Bite 1d8+1

• Appearing: Group 2d4

• Lives primarily below ground or in the darkness. Makes sounds imitating human speech.

Vamp Weed

• HD: 3+1

• AC: 14

• Morale: 12

• Attack: 1dmg + 1d3 dmg each round (sucking blood). Target needs STR check to flee – with increasing difficulty each round, or the weed continues to drain them of their blood and is immobilized from the waist down

• Appearing: 1

• At first glance it appears as seemingly mundane flora, a bit more of a gray color then usual – a patch of 15x25ft patch of grey green grass. It’s not really a plant, but actually is an alien life form.

 

 

Hoon

• HD: 5

• AC: 14

• Morale: 9

• Attack: Slam 1d6+2. Hoons also attempt to charge and break through barriers or knock down their prey.

• Appearing: 2d3

• Large, grey-skined, bipeds, with great elongated limbs. Hoons haunt many a ruin deep in the Vaarnish dessert. 

   

   

  I might do more of these in the future if the campaign requires it. I'm also thinking of converting some of the dying earth artifacts into Vaarnish exotica, so I will share that as well.
  

Review: Vaults of Vaarn

Modrý piesok púšte, obsýpa megalitickú sochu, ktorá v jednej ruke drží zlatý kompas. Od kompasu sa odrážajú červeno-purpurové lúče slnka, ktoré o niekoľko krátkych generácii prestane hriať. Západ slnka na konci histórie... Vitajte vo svete Vaults of Vaarn.

Začiatkom tohto roka som rozbehol s jednou partiou mini kampaň Vaults of Vaarn (VoV). VoV ma zaujalo už pred rokmi, keď som, počas hľadania inšpirácie pre science-fantasy prvky, narazil na prvé zíny z tohto sveta, Môj záujem sa zvýšil, keď prvých troch zínov vyšlo vo tvrdej väzbe ako jednotná hra – Vaults of Vaarn Deluxe Edition. Neodolal som a knihu som si kúpil, prečítal a začal hrať. Toto je recenzia na základe mojich skúseností.

 

 

 

Umierajúci svet... 

Vaults of Vaarn je jeden z neveľa RPG hier – systémov, rozšírení alebo príručiek, ktoré sa snažia zachytiť atmosféru a setting Dying Earth¹. Svet, v ktorom už dejiny prebehli, všemožne civilizácie, spoločenstvá a impéria vznikli a zanikli a väčšina vedeckých objavov už dávno upadla do zabudnutia. Dejiny sú na svojom konci. Oblohe dominujú slabnúce lúče večne zapadajúceho slnka – tmavo červená, purpurová, oranžová a miestami silná zlatá. Pod povrchom sa ukrývajú príbehy, tajomstvá a relikty stoviek miliónov rokov...

Svet VoV obývajú všemožne zmutovaný ľudia, Neo-zvieratá – mix ľudských a ne-ľudských zvierat v jednom, synti a roboty z civilizácii minulých, myconidi – huby, ktoré “žijú” cez telá mŕtvych a mihne sa tu aj potomstvo “čistokrvných” ľudí.

Vo svete, lemovanom modro-piesočnou púšťou a v jej hlbinách sa miešajú predmety z technologicky vysoko vyspelých civilizácii z minulosti, s improvizovanými “falloutovskými” technológia, s mečmi, brnením a mágiou. Púšťou putujú karavány tiav či jašterov, spolu s nimi aj vzdušné motorky alebo mobilné domy na chrbtoch obrovských púštnych krabov. Vzduchom zas plávajú ako vzducholode, tak aj bio-technologické vtáčie stíhačky.

Nie je to tvoje tradičné sci-fi, fantasy ani post-apocalyptika. Miešajú sa tu všemožne a rôznorodé nápady, vplyvy a predstavy. Postavy cestujú po púšti, objavujú zaujímavé miesta – oázy, hrobky, anomálie, akrológie - obrovské sklenené domy plne rastlín a zelene – a hľadajú relikty z časov minulých. Nič iné, ako minulosť tento svet už nečaká.

 

Mutácia Knave

Vaults of Vaarn nie je iba setting, ale je to ucelený herný systém, postavený na prvej edície OSR hry Knave. Ako správny OSR systém VoV nemá veľa pravidiel a má jednoduché herné princípy. VoV používa 6 klasických vlastností postáv, aj keď trochu premenovaných – Ego je charizma a Psyché je múdrosť. Základnou mechanikou je hod k20, ku ktorej sa pripočítava bonus príslušnej vlastnosti. Zaujímavé je, že pravidlá odporúčajú, aby čeky a hody na záchranu boli štandardne DC 15. Ja to pravidlo používam a všetkým nám to uľahčuje život.

VoV nepoužíva žiadne zručnosti (skills) postáv ani povolania. Je to class-less systém, ktorý sa veľa točí okolo predmetov, ktoré postavy majú v inventári. Celkovo správa inventáru je podstatná časť hry. Tak ako v originále Knave, postavy majú obmedzený počet miest v ich inventári, ktorý sa rovná hodnote ich odolnosti. V prípade, že inventár je plný postava je preťažená a všetky jej hody sú s nevýhodou. Miesto v inventári zaberaj zbrane, brnenie, Exotiky (magické predmety z ér minulých) a iné predmety, ale napríklad aj únava, zranenia a voda. Voda je rovnako nutnosť na prežitie – živé hráčske postavy vypiť jednu jednotku vody – tak aj platidlo. Obchod prebieha buď výmenou, tak aj platbou za vodu.

Spomínané exotiky, dávajú hráčstvu dosť zaujímavé a často krát silné schopnosti, no zároveň slúžia na postup na ďalšiu úroveň. Na to, aby sa postava posunula o úroveň vyššie, musia hráči predať alebo vymeniť jednu exotiku. To vedie k zaujímavým rozhodnutiam - obetovať silnú zbraň či mocný predmet alebo si zlepšiť postavu? Pri posune na vyššiu úroveň si hráč*ka hodí k8 na zvýšenie maximálneho počtu životov a zároveň dostane 3 body, ktoré môže pridať do vlastností. Zvýšenie vlastnosti o jeden bod, zvyšuje aj jej bonus. Teda ak pri prechode na vyššiu úroveň hráč*ka zvýši svoju silu z 11 na 12, zvýši sa aj bonus tejto vlastnosti z +1 na +2. Maximálna výška vlastnosti a bonusu je 20 resp. +10.

Z mojej skúsenosti, tento ľahký systém bez povolaní, uvoľňuje hráčstvu ruky a necháva voľnú cestu ich kreativite a vynaliezavosti. Niečo v zmysle: “Neriešim aký skill má moja postava, viem , že mám tieto veci v inventári, tak ich skúsim nejak využiť.” Pre mňa, ako PJa je to zábava a rovnako aj pre partu.

Slabou stránkou pravidiel je slabo opísaný systém obchodovania, vieme iba to, že je to barter systém, kde je voda zároveň platidlo. To je všetko. Zvyšok musí vymyslieť PJ. Druhou slabou stránkou je príliš komplexný systém počasia, ktorý v zjednodušenej podobe je zábavný dodáva hre extra výzvu, no tak, ako je napísaný, veci zbytočne komplikuje a zdržuje. 

 

Malá modrá knižka

Vaults of Vaarn, vyšlo v tvrdej viazanej väzbe, s farebnou tlačou, v rozsahu 144 strán. Je to krátka, ľahká, kvalitná kniha ako tlačou tak aj jednoduchým rozložením stránok. Táto neveľká kniha obsahuje všetko, čo potrebujete. Pravidlá pre hráčstvo na tvorbu postavy, beštiár a všemožné pomôcky pre PJa, vrátane kopy náhodných tabuliek, na ktorých vygenerujete všetko od náhodného predmetu v piesku, po celé náboženstvo.

 

Okrem obsahu je kvalitný aj dizajn. Podobne ako piesok vaarnskych púští, je tieňovaná do modra. Dizajnu sa dá vytknúť možno to, že na dvoch troch miestach je vybraný font na tmavomodrom pozadí ťažšie čitateľný.

Za toto všetko som zaplatil výbornú cenu. Na imagu (fakt im nerobím reklamu) som knihu zohnal za 589 Kč, teda asi 24€. V našich končinách je ,viac ako s cenou, problém s dostupnosťou. Sám som prvú vlnu kníh na imagu premeškal a čakal som niekoľko mesiacov na ďalšiu šancu. Aktuálne je VoV na objednanie na imagu, prípadne môžete skúsiť nemecké All The Problems in this World alebo Spheremeister Games.

 

Záver (histórie)

Vaults of Vaarn, je zaujímavý a fantastický setting, dobrý systém, skvelá pomôcka pre PJa z mojich skúseností veľká zábava pre družinu. VoV možno vytknúť nejasné pravidlá obchodovania, prekomplikovaný systém počasia a pár malých chýb v dizajne. Kvalitná viazaná kniha je dostupná za veľmi prijateľnú cenu a nám poskytla už veľa hodín zábavy.

 

 

1. Dying Earth – je sub žáner sci-fi alebo science-fantasy vychádzajú z rovnomennej série kníh, ktoré napísal autor Jack Vance. V jeho tvorbe opisuje svet podobný Vaarnu – planéta na konci životnosti svojej hviezdy, v ktorej sa mieša fantasy, mágia, sci-fi, a to všetko na hromade eonov minulosti. V RPG a zvlášť v OSR, do tohto žánru zapadajú ešte Ultra Violet Grasslands od famózneho Luku Rejeca alebo rozšírenie pre Dungeon Crawl Classics s názvom – Dying Earth.

 

 

Rána - Magical materials and their mechanics

 

I am working on an adventure or a mini-setting on the northern island of Rána. Rána is inspired by Slavic, Baltic and Finnish mythologies and by the mythological world of Runequest. I want this setting to be as system-neutral as possible; I plan to test it with OSE, Cairn and perhaps Dragonbane, so I will try to reflect it in any mechanics.

I want to make a place where magic and the gods and spirits are living in the world, and magic is something visible, tangible, yet powerful, and to be respected. One of the ways I want to do it is by assigning magical properties to different materials.

So far, I have identified six materials considered somehow magical in Rána. Each material has assigned different qualities, if it is made into a weapon, armor or a trinket. The property descriptions are broad, partially to make the mechanic system neutral, leave space for interpretation, and differentiate levels of magical properties.

Sooo, I came up with this chart.

Material	Weapon property	Armor property	Trinket property
Bronze	Advantage vs. Evil	Magic Resist	Charisma Vitality
Gold	Solar damage Light Heat	Light Protection vs Death / Poison	Diplomacy Persuasion Wealth
Iron	Advantage vs Fey Advantage vs Undead	Protection vs. Earth Protection vs. Fey	Luck Protection vs. Negative plane Protection vs. Magic
Obsidian	Advantage vs. magical beings Advantage vs. Unarmored opponents	Regeneration Improve Endurance Resist fatigue	Healing Clarity of the mind Protection vs. Poison
Silver	Advantage vs. Undead Increased power under the moonlight	Protection vs. Undead Protection vs. Dissease / Infection	Psychic protection Repel Undead
Steel	Durable Penetrates armor	Durable Intimidating	Increases strenght Strenghten resistances Increases Constitution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So how would it work? Let’s take a Bronze weapon, Silver armor and an Iron trinket.

Bronze weapons give an advantage vs. evil monsters and opponents. Mechanically, this could mean an increased modifier or a roll advantage to hit and/or damage rolls.

Silver armor protects against undead, diseases and infections. Mechanically, it can be an increase in save rolls, a damage reduction, or a percentual chance to resist diseases.

Iron trinkets grant luck and protect against negative planes and magic. Mechanically, this can grant the wearer an occasional re-roll or increase the Luck score (if you are running DCC) to protect against abilities that drain levels, stats, or a percentual magic reduction.

The actual value of the boon granted by the material would depend on the amount of the material used, the skill of the artisan making it and any other GM considerations. A weapon with bronze mixed into its alloy might only give +1 to hit or damage vs evil opponents, while a weapon made dominantly out of bronze might give an advantage or +5 on to-hit rolls while also granting a damage bonus. The armour with a few silver scales or rings here or there might protect against some common diseases, but one made by a skilful blacksmith and has enough silver might increase AC vs Undead and protect against all diseases. Finally, a brittle iron necklace might let a player re-roll one throw once per session or long rest, while a torque or set of Iron jewellery can protect against a negative plane and offer 10% magic resistance.

I’m only making all of this up on the fly; the final decision should come from a discussion between the players and the GM.

Feel free to use this table as an inspiration or the whole mechanic. I would be happy if someone took it, tested it, and gave me some feedback. You might get to play it sooner than I will…

There might be other materials I will add in the future, and I will share one or two more mechanics or prep from Rána.