Tuesday, September 25, 2018

A preview of 'OGL Potheads'


To amuse himself and his Facebook Friends, our fearless leader Steve Miller did some pothead releated d20 Sysetm content. The thing took on a life of its own, and a product thematically similar to OGL Drunkards may be forthcoming. Meanwhile, here's a draft of some of the potential content. (Like Secrets of the Witchkind drew some inspiration from the classic TV series Bewitched, so does this hypothetical product draw inspiration from Charles Bands' Evil Bong series. (All text for the rest of this post is released under the Open Game License. Copyright Steve Miller 2018.)
Comments are welcomed!

NEW STARTING OCCUPATION
Stoner
Prerequisite: Age 15+
Skills: Choose three of the following skills as permanent class skills. If a skill the character selects is already a class skill, he or she receives a +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill. Craft (visual art or writing), Knowledge (arcane lore or popular culture), Perform (dance, keyboards, percussion instruments, sing, stringed instruments), Spot.
Feats: Select either Creative or Pothead
Special: Characters with this starting profession may select [Stoner] feats in place of bonus feats earned when advancing in their class.


NEW SKILL
Herbalism (Wis, trained only)
You can tell skunk weed from the good stuff, and you can tell what can be smoked and what shouldn't be smoked. You also know the ingridents for making simple herbal remedies. The DC of the skill check depends on what you are attempting to accomplish. Here are some examples:
   DC5: Tell catnip from pot
   DC8: Tell skunk weed from the good stuff.
   DC11: Make a hang-over remedy, or otherwise alleviate mild pain.
   DC15: Tell the good stuff from Magic Weed
   Special: If the character has 5 ranks in Herbalism, he or she gains a +2 synergy bonus to Craft (Pharmaceutical).


NEW FEATS
Emptyhead [Stoner]
You can clear your mind and gain amazing results.
   Prerequisite: Pothead
   Benefit: Roll a Concentration skill check (DC11+your INT bonus) and meditate. For each round spent in meditation to clear your mind, the character gains a +2 bonus to the next Resarch, Gather Information, and Spot skill checks you make.

Greater Emptyhead [Meta-Gaming, Stoner]
The wide open spaces of your mind can yield unusual insights.
   Prerequisite: Emptyhead
   Benefit: Roll a Concentration skill check (DC13+your INT bonus) as a full round action. If the check is successful, you may ask the GM three questions geared toward solving whatever problems or mysteries the characters are trying to overcome in the game. The GM must give you an honest and helpful answer (like an obvious clue or the outright solution). The GM does not necessarily need to provide the means to resolving the problem or evidence to prove the solution to the mystery, just provide the answers to the questions. If the question has no answer, the GM can say that he or she doesn't know. (In game terms, these answers come to the character using the Greater Emptyhead feat as flashes of brilliant and cosmic insight.)

Master of the Emptyhead [Stoner]
Your mind is a gateway to other times and places and worlds
   Prerequisite: Greater Emptyhead
   Benefit: Roll a Concentration skill check (DC13+your INT bonus). Meditate for three rounds. At the end of the third round, your mind becomes a dimensional portal and you and all creatures within 30 feet of your location are transported to a random time and place. [TBD = Table to be Designed]


Pothead [Stoner]
You toke 'em when you got 'em.
    Benefit: Gain a permanent -1 penalty to Initiaive checks, but a +4 bonus to Will saving throws to resist mind-affecting magic and spell-like effects.
    Special: You gain a +2 bonus to Wealth checks made when scoring weed.



Wednesday, September 19, 2018

A preview of "The Elementals"

This material will appear in a slightly different (as in edited) form in NUELOW Games' next release The Elementals for the OGL d20 System. First up, is an optional part of modifications to the character generation system that determines which Great Dragon's magic impacted the character's ancient ancestors.


HOW WERE YOUR ELEMENTAL POWERS AWAKENED? (Roll 1d6)
Art by Storn Cook
   1. You have always felt attracted to the element you draw your power from, but as you entered your teens, you began to develop the powers you now possess.
   2. You almost lost your life in a situation involving the element your powers are drawn from; in the aftermath, you discovered new abilities.
   3-4. Your family has always been key members of a global cult devoted to worshiping the dragon spirits. You were identified as one of the Blessed and prepared for the day when your powers would manifest themselves.
   5. You were doing yoga, meditating, taking mind-altering drugs (or some combination thereof) when your mind was flooded with flashes of a long-gone age when Great Dragons watched over Earth and all life on it. You fell into a coma 16 hours, and when you recovered, your powers had developed.
   6. A strange old man approached you and said that you were the heir to a great and ancient gift... and that you were to take over the role he had filled for the last several decades. After showing you his power, he trained you in the use of yours.


HOW DID THE PLAYER CHARACTERS MEET? (Roll 1d6)
   1. At the funeral of a shared mentor.
   2. They are abducted and imprisoned together for reasons they initially don't understand and must work together to escape and figure out why.
   3. They were raised in the same secret society and brought together when the time was right.
   4. They each felt drawn to the same isolated castle in Ireland.
   5. They are the sole survivors of a natural disaster.
   6. While they are individually being hunted by assassins, they each recieved a message (and the means) to travel to a remote building in the Mojave Desert in order to discover the key to survive and the reason for why they are being hunted.


NEW FEAT
Here's a feat that may be included... the editor is still mulling over a few last minute brainstorms that I had regarding what could go into The Elementals.

Sense Elemental
You can sense when you are near someone else who carries a spark of a Great Dragon within them.
   Prerequisite: Child of a Great Dragon, Spot 4 ranks.
   Benefit: When your characer is within 60 feet of another Elemental, the GM tells you the character feels as though something is "off" or as if "someone just walked over your grave" or some other statement to show you are sensing something unusual. Upon making a successful Spot skill check (DC12), you can identify the source of your unease--another Elemental. If the Elemental is out of your line of sight, you know exactly where he or she is. You may The sense of unease ends as soon as you recognise the other Immortal.)
   The sense of unease also ends if the Spot check reveals some other threat or mystery that draws your attention.



Wednesday, September 12, 2018

What ruins the interplanetary cruise?

Here's a table to spark ideas for a side adventures the next time the player characters are traveling between planets in your sci-fi campaign. Roll 1d12 to determine what disrupts a peaceful trip.

1. Crew is seized by Space Madness
2. Martian Fever spreads among the passengers, killing them and reanimating their bodies.
3. The ship is hijacked by Venusian seperatists
4. The ship is boarded by space pirates
5. An old friend of the party seeks them out for protection
6. An old enemy of the party seeks them out for protection
7. A deadly being made of pure mental energy is moving from body to body, causing murder and mayhemn
8. Assassins are targeting a politician traveling incognito
9. Thugs want to kidnap a couple of eloping rich kids and hold them for ransom
10. Space Witches have chosen the ship and this passage as the time and place for their latest ritual
11. The life support systems mysteriously malfunction
12. A powerful energy beam draws the ship toward Uranus

Art by Joe Doolin


And here's a song that might provide a little inspiration as well!