The Baby Changing Station: A Magi-Tech Item for Your Game!

"The Baby Changing Station" was inspired by a graphic found on Facebook (included) and a comment made by a Facebook Friend. It is written with the d20 System in mind, but it is rules-light enough that it can easily be incorporated into any game setting that features highly advanced technology and/or magic---or even a combination of the two, as can be found in the World of 2044. All text in this post is presented under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with it. Copyright 2017 by Steve Miller.

THE BABY CHANGING STATION
In the year 2244, the Baby Changing Station allows wealthy parents who are tired of taking care of an infant to turn it into a pet. In certain jurisdictions, parents convicted of child neglect or endangerment are compelled to turning their infant into an animal. If the neglect or abuse continues, they are executed.

The Baby Changing Station was developed from Atlantean magi-tech, based on devices that turned rocks into edible food. When used for commercial purposes—voluntarily turning a baby into a pet—there is a charge to the parents of 20,000 credits.

The pet created is random and generated by the magic at the heart of the device’s function. All possible animals were favored pets of spellcasters in ancient Atlantis.

Roll 1d20 against the table below to see what the baby is changed into.

1. Bat
2. Cat, Demonic*
3. Cat, Domestic

4. Dog, Chihuahua*
5. Dog, Poodle

6. Ferret

7. Fox
8. Gecko

9. Gibbon

10. Hedgehog

11. Hedgehog, Demonic*

12. Iguana
13. Meerkat
14. Mongoose
15. Parrot

16. Raven

17. Raven, Demonic*

18. Sloth

19. Snake, Garter
20. Sugar Glider

*See below

Occasionally, a glitch introduced when humans modified the magic to create the Baby Changing Station will cause a “demonic” version of an animal to appear. The creature appears normal, but has INT and WIS scores of 18, can cast spells as a 13th level sorcerer, and is fluent in all human languages (although many animals must use spells to speak). The demonic pet may or may not reveal its true nature to its owner, depending on how it perceives its situation.

If treated kindly by its owner, the supernatural beast will grant three wishes each month to him or her—even if the owner doesn’t know the wishes are being granted. (For example, if the owner says within earshot of the demonic animal that he wishes he noisy neighbor would die, and no other wishes have been requested or granted, the neighbor will indeed die a horrible and messy death. These beasts were familiars to the most powerful Atlantean mages in ancient times, and if an owner actively takes advantage of the creature's ability to grant wishes or asks it to cast spells in support of his or her activities, the owner suffers all penalties described in the rules that occur when a familiar dies.

If the owner of the pet is not kind to one of the demonic variety, it turns its magic subtly upon him or her, inflicting a -2 penalty to all rolls until amends are made. If the owner outright kills a demonic pet, he or she must is subject to the affects of a curse spell (as if cast by a 13th level caster, and permanent until a remove curse is cast by a 15th-level or higher caster), and the pet haunts his or her home as a poltergeist.

For an additional 20,000 (40,000 total) the parents can choose what sort of pet the baby is turned into. In such a case, the GM must still roll a 1d6 to see if the pet is a "demonic" variety. On a roll of 5-6, the pet is "demonic." Note that Chihuahua Dogs are always demonic.

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Three Nights of the Werewolf

Here's another random table to help spur adventure ideas (or subplots for adventures). With this one, you determine which among a group of citizens in a village is a werewolf, which are the monster's victims, and what is motivating it (aside from bloodlust).

Art by Pablo Marco

THREE NIGHTS OF THE WEREWOLF

By Steve Miller

This plot generator is here to help you build an exciting horror scenario for your roleplaying campaign.

First, 20 character tags are listed, the list of suspects/possible werewolf. Then there are a series of questions seven questions. Roll 1d20 against the list of characters for each question to generate the plot surrounding the werewolf.

THE CHARACTERS
1. The Consulting Detective
2. The Debutante
3. The Baroness
4. The Baron
5. The Butcher
6. The Night Watchman
7. The Attractive Gypsy Woman
8. The Handsome Gypsy Man
9. The Inn Keeper
10. The Preacher
11. The Gameskeeper
12. The Retired Army Officer
13. The Farmer
14. The Farmer's Daughter
15. The Hermit
16. The Town Drunk
17. The Historian
18. The Libertine
19. The Mysterious Foreigner
20. The Widow


A. WHO IS THE WEREWOLF?
B. WHO IS THE FIRST VICTIM?
C. WHO IS THE SECOND VICTIM?
D. WHO DOES THE WEREWOLF LOVE AND WISHes TO MAKE INTO A FELLOW CREATURE OF MOON?
E. WHO DOES THE WEREWOLF HATE (and try to frame as being the werewolf)?
F. WHO IS THE FINAL VICTIM (whose death scene will contain a clue to the werewolf's true identity)?

Note: If you roll A, B, or F, more than once, the victim rises from the dead as a ghoul and attacks the player characters--either on its own or during a confrontation with the werewolf. Roll the question again, until you get a different result.

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Why does the mummy walk?

A random adventure idea generator for your horror RPGs! (For a more complex tale, roll twice on the "Why Does the Mummy Walk?" table. There can be one mummy with multiple motivations or two different mummies (or one fake mummy and one real mummy) shuffling along in the shadows.)

WHO IS THE MUMMY THAT WALKS? (Roll 1d12 and consult the list below).
1-3. A priest (or priestess) cursed by the gods for betraying vows.
4-6. A prince (or princess) cursed for betraying a spouse or lover.
7-12. A wizard (or sorceress) cursed for protecting a spouse or lover.


WHY DOES THE MUMMY WALK... AND KILL?! (Roll 1d12 and consult the list below)
1. It has sensed the reincarnated spirit of a loved one, and wishes to be reunited.
2. It wants to protect a person (whose mummy is also present, or is nearby, alive and reincarnated) it cared about in life.
3. It wants to recover an object it valued in life.
4. It wants to avenge the defilement of the tomb.
5. It has been awakened by a spell and is being commanded by the caster.
6. It has been awakened by a spell and is seeking the caster in order to gain its total freedom (and immortality).
7. An accidentially triggered enchantment awakened it, and now its gathering the components for a ritual that will grant it immortal life.
8. It is a guardian who is protecting an item that is in a different museum.
9. The Stars Were Right, and it is has awakened to bring together cultists and unleash the Black Pharaoh upon the world.
10. It seeks to trigger the Zombie Apocalypse.
11. An ancient curse has caused mummies world wide to reanimate and go on murderous rampages.
12. It doesn't. It's a hoax, carried out by the (1-3 museum curator; 4-6 disgruntled Egyptologist; 7-9 tabloid reporter; 10-12 creepy ex-cop turned insurance fraud investigator) in order to (1-3 drum up publicity; 4-6 cover up murders; 7-9 cover up a theft of an ancient artifact; 10-12 distract from a ritual that will awaken another mummy for real).

Random Sex and Gender Generator (for any RPG)

They say that gender is as inborn a trait as sex. To reflect that, here's an add-on to any roleplaying game that let's you randomly generate both your character's sex and gender. A third optional step that lets you randomly generate what your character presents as--does he or she prefer to live as a male or female, regardless of sex or gender--is also included. (Frankly, it is our opinion that the third table should be a player decision made as part of the roleplaying process and not rolled randomly.)

These tables assumes the character is a baseline Human with no genetic abnormalities. These tables also assume that the society in which the characters exist value gender identities as part of cultural and social interaction--otherwise, the whole gender thing is pointless.

WHAT IS YOUR CHARACTER'S SEX (Roll 1d10)
1-5. Female
6-10. Male

WHAT IS YOUR CHARACTER'S GENDER (Roll 1d10)
1-4. Female
5-6. Fluid (Roll on the "What Is Your Character's Sex" table whenever it's relevant to determine your character's gender at the time.)
7-10. Male

WHAT DOES YOUR CHARACTER PRESENT AS? (Roll 1d10)
1.4. Female
5-6. Fluid. (The character is equally comfortable in the dress and roles of either gender.)
7-10. Male

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If memory serves, we've included rules for characters who can change their sex in Lady Satan 2004 and/or Dynamic Man. We'll have to check--it was considered for one or both, but at the moment we (well, me actually) can't remember what the final decision was. If we didn't... well, it's another excuse for a random table or two for the blog!

For other tables that will infuse more inclusivity into your RPG's character generation system, we refer you to the one that lets you randomly roll your character's sexual preference, your character's race, and the one that lets you generate a disability (can we still use that word?) for the character with a deck of cards.

Random Sexual PreferenceTable (for any RPG System)

Continuing our quest to become a respectable game company and to forever be patting ourselves on the back over how inclusively diverse their products are, NUELOW Games brings the world yet another element that can be added to to the character generation process of any table-top roleplaying game where the designers HAVEN'T been diverse in their inclusivity and thus have come up with a biased game that isn't properly representational of its player base.

WHAT IS YOUR CHARACTER'S SEXUAL PREFERENCE? (Roll 1d10)
1-6. You prefer relations with the sex opposite your own.
7. Bi-sexual, with leanings toward the sex opposite your own.
8. Bi-sexual, with leanings toward the sex same as your own.
9. Bi-sexual, with no particular preference whatsoever.
10. You prefer relations with the sex same as your own.

For even more diversity it your game, be sure to add this to its character generation system, too. (You can randomize race by rolling a d6 and comparing it to the list.)

Sci-Fi RPG Subplot Idea Generator (for any game system)

Here are a couple tables to randomly generate subplot ideas for your sci-fi campaign. Roll first on Why is the Android Behaving Strangely?, then on Who's Behind It?

WHY IS THE ANDROID BEHAVING STRANGELY? (Roll 1d6)
1. A flaw in the programming. (Don't roll on "Who's Behind It").
2. A hacker is trying to control it via a remote uplink.
3. Adjustments to its programming intended to 1-2, make it more efficient; 3-4 make it more human-like in its reactions; 5-6 make it eventually turn on its owners.
4. A virus uploaded into its programming matrix is gradually causing it to 1-2 shut down; 2-3 become a spy-bot; 5-6 become a killing machine.
5. A disembodied alien entity has taken over its personality maxtrix and is now in control.
6. The android is unchanged. The player characters have been shifted to an alternate universe similar to their own.

WHO'S BEHIND IT? (Roll 1d6)
1. No organized force; it's just one of those things.
2. An old enemy.
3. An agent of a galactic mega-corp trying to get the PCs under his or her control.
4. An old friend trying to secretly reach out for help.
5. A mercenary group trying to establish their reputation by taking down the player characters.
6. An alien invasion force that wants to distract or neutralize the player characters so they won't get in their way.

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d20 Supers: The Reports of My Death Were Exaggerated!

A couple superpower feats, yet more parts of the d20 Supers game that we may or may not ever produce. This pair of feats exist to explain how certain characters can come back from the dead over and over and over. (As always, these are released under the Open Game License. Copyright Steve Miller 2017.)

LUCKY [Minor Power, Meta-Gaming]
You lead a charmed life.
   Prerequisite: One attribute above 12

   Benefit: Once per game session, you may declare a single attack roll, skill check, or saving throw that faled to be a success. The success is never a critical.
   Special: This feat can be replaced with The Reports of My Death... under the right circumstances. See The Reports of My Death... for more details.


THE REPORTS OF MY DEATH... [Minor Power, Supernatural]
You were dead... but you got better!
 Benefit: If the character dies (reduced below -10 hit points, disintegrated, blow to tiny bits, lost and drowned at sea, eaten by rabid weasles--any death, no matter hor mundane or terrible), this feat allows them to instantly return from the dead. The character reappears somewhere out of harm's way, with 1/4 of his or her hit points and a semi-plausible explanation of how he or she survived (the GM or player may invent something).

Art by Everett Raymond Kinstler

     The feat can only be used once. After the character has miraculously (perhaps literally) escaped death, the feat must be replaced by one of the following (with all prerequisites needing to be met): Attentive, Better Lucky Than Good, Cautious, Dodge, Lucky, Never Say Die
   Special: There is no benefit from this feat until the character dies. If the character possesses the Lucky feat, the character can replace it with this feat after he or she is killed, essentially getting a two-for-one on rising from the dead.
   If the character replaces this feat with Lucky, the cycle can repeat itself.

You can see the first parts of this game approach here, and everything on this topic that's been posted here. Much more (and refinements of these posts) have also been featured in many of our comics/rpg hybrid releases.