Get the official final version of NUELOW's martyrdom simulation game!

We've just released the official, final version of our martyrdom simulation game--Ramadi Roulette (aka Riyadh Roulette). Now you can experience all the excitement and ultimate disappointment of blowing yourself up for your god and/or prophet and/or whatever reason you want to come up with, without actually doing it.

The game is available as a "Pay What You Want" release, and, since in our experience that's the same as "Free," this is a game where you get what you pay for! Click here to get your copy now!

Heroes of 7-Eleven: The Feat and Talent Tree

A goofy project that we're putting together here at NUELOW Games is the OGL d20 Modern supplement Heroes of 7-Eleven. Here are drafts of an all-new starting occupation, feat, and talent tree that will appear in it.

The following text is presented under the Open Game License. Copyright 2016 by Steve Miller.

NEW STARTING OCCUPATION

Clerk

You're a proud employee of the greatest convenience store chain on the planet!

   Prerequisite: Age 18+.

   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 (electronic, mechanical, or structural), Climb, Drive, Intimidate, Listen, Repair, Spot.

   Bonus Feat: Select either Alterness or Confident

   Wealth Bonus Increase: +1.

NEW FEAT

Shift Worker

You don't need as much rest as normal mortals, so you can bounce with almost no notice from day shift to graveyard shift to swing shift with no problem! And double shifts? Not only not a problem--they're invorating!

   Benefit: You only need half the regular amount of rest and sleep to recover lost hit points, class abilities, and so on. This feat stacks with other feats or talents that reduces a character's need for rest.

   Prerequisite: Con 11

By Niall O'Loughlin

NEW TALENT TREE

Hero of 7-Eleven Talents

Day after day, you fight the good fight against self-absorbed morons who believe they are always right. They call themselves "customers," but you know them as "pains-in-the-ass." And then there's the tweakers and the wanna-be gangsters who for some reason think there's more than $40 in the till, and who are willing to shoot you and any pains-in-the-ass that happen be around for it. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it. That someone is, sadly, you. But you have some unique talents to help you survive...
   Feign Concern: When pretending to care about complaints, compliments, or threats regarding your job performance, workplace appearance, or anything relating to your place of employment or your employer, you gain a +4 bonus to all Bluff and Diplomacy skill checks. When inside any retail establishment, you also gain a +4 bonus to all Sense Motive skill checks.
   Bonus Feat: Gain one of the following feats instead of a talent. You must meet all qualifications and prerequisites for a feat before you may select it. You may do this up to five times.
   Altertness, Attentive, Confident, Elusive Target, Endurance, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, and Meticulous.
   Prerequisite: Shift Worker or Feign Concern talent
   Day Manager Material: As Feign Concern, but the bonus to Bluff and Diplomacy skill checks increases to +8.
   Prerequisite: Feign Concern
   Night Manager Material: When inside any retail establishment, you gain a +6 bonus to all Spot and Dodge skill checks. In addition, you gain a +1 bonus to your Initiative rolls and Defense Rating.
   Prerequisites: Feign Concern, Shift Worker feat

Did you find this material amusing and/or useful? Support my efforts to bring fun RPG material to the world by buying some of NUELOW Games' releases at RPGNow. Click here to see a selection!

NUELOW Games releases for D&D Fifth Edition!

WotC has opened the basic system that drives D&D Fifth Edition to third-party publishers by releasing a Standard Reference Document under the same Open Gaming License that has allowed NUELOW Games to publish our many supplements for d20 Modern.

We have released two horror themed supplements for D&D Fifth Edition so far: Monster, Monster: Werewolves and Monster, Monster: Soul Drinkers. Each book contains Fifth Edition game monster stats and rules that are bound to bring unexpected thrills and chills to your campaign world. As is the case with many NUELOW Games releases, each book also contains comics that partially served as the basis for the roleplaying game rules, and which we hope will entertain and inspire even more campaign ideas.

 

Both titles were primarily done by the creative team of game designer Andrew Pavlides and artist Pablo Marcos. On Monster, Monster: Werewolves they were joined by writer Augustine Funnel, who provided an offbeat tale of a werewolf who evens the score with his childhood bullies; and on Monster Monster: Soul Drinkers, the great Marv Wolfman (perhaps best known by horror fans for his work on Tomb of Dracula) provided a tale where prey and predator are indistinguishable that inspired Andrew to create not just one but two all-new monsters with which DM's can haunt player characters.

Monster, Monster: Werewolves and Monster, Monster: Soul Drinkers are available at RPGNow, DriveThruComics, and DriveThruRPG.

A NEW OGL ARTIFACT FOR D&D & d20 MODERN GAMES

Since we like have lots of gaming value on this blog, even in posts that are basically plugs for our new releases, here's a magic artifact that has a thematic tie to Monster, Monster: Werewolves. These items are presented under the Open Game License, and they may be reproduced in accordance with it. Copyright 2016 by Steve Miller.

Fang of the Werewolf
This artifact, from the collection of occult expert Professor Anton Broussard, is said to have been created by the fearsome Sorceress of Zoom. The wickedly curved dagger appears to be carved from ivory and bears a resemblance to a wolf's canine teeth. Broussard claims that the dagger actually is a werewolf that he personally witnessed the Sorceress transform into the item after the creature tried to attack her.
   The fang of the werewolf functions as a +2/+5 vs. spellcasters dagger. Additionally, anyone who carries the dagger on their person has a chance of detecting a werewolf in human form. When appropriate, the DM rolls a secret Spot check against a DC9 for the bearer, and if the check is successful, the bearer can sense any werewolves within 30 feet of his or her current location). The downside is that the bearer has a -4 penalty to all Hide or Move Silently skill checks made to avoid werewolves.
   Notes: The fang of the werewolf is exactly what Broussard claims it is. The Sorceress had hired the Veteran Werewolf Leena Pryde to serve as an enforcer. When Leena made romantic advances toward her, the Sorceress responded with scorn, which caused the embarrassed and heartbroken werewolf to attack her. If the party somehow finds a way restore Leena's original form, the werewolf will serve them if they will help find and kill the Sorceress.

New Superpower Feat and Talent Tree: Emotion Manipulation

Heroes and villains with the power to manipulate the emotions of their targets--inspiring courage, fear, or sorrow, to name a few--can be found in the pages of comics ranging from Nedor's Exciting Comics to Marvel's Uncanny X-Men. Now, you can bring characters like that to d20 System campaigns that use NUELOW Games' feats and talent tree-based superpowers system. (Click here to see the basics.)
   All text in this post is presented under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with its terms. Copyright 2016 by Steve Miller.


MINOR POWER FEAT: EMPATHY
You detect the surface emotions of any creature you can see that is in the power’s area.
   Benefit: As a full round action, you can focus your attention on a single creature within your line of sight. Roll a Willpower save (DC10). If the roll is successful, you know the target's exact emotional state--afraid, angry, hate-filled, curious, friendly, or any other emotion. The following round, you gain a +4 bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Sense Motive checks you make directed at the target.
   Special: This feat serves a prerequisite for any talent from Superpower trees.

SUPERPOWER TALENT TREE: EMOTION MANIPULATION
The powers from this tree allows a character to sense and manipulate emotions in other beings. The creature must have a mind or be able to feel emotions in order to be a target of these powers.
   Master Manipulator: You can inherently sense the emotional state of beings you interact with. Gain a +4 bonus all Bluff, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, and Sense Motive skill checks.
   Prerequisite: Any Minor Power feat.
   Emotion Controller: Name a number of targets within 30 feet and your line of sight up to your Charisma bonus. As a full round action, you can either suppress or instill an emotion of your choosing (fear, anger, hate, curiosity, romantic attraction, and so on). The subjects of the emotion you wish to instill is also dictated by you instill the emotion. Targets may roll Willpower saves (DC15+your Charisma bonus) to avoid being affected by this ability. The emotion persists in the targets for a number of minutes equal to your Charisma bonus. If circumstances fuel the emotion further (such as anger toward someone who is already despised by the target prompting a physical fight that causes the target injury), the emotion can become indefinite.
   Prerequisite: Master Manipulator.
   Master Emotion Controller: As Emotion Controller, except the limit is line-of-sight, and you can instill different emotions in each specified target.
   Prerequisite: Emotion Controller
   Crippling Emotions: Name a number of targets within 30 feet and your line of sight up to your Charisma bonus. They must roll Will saves (DC15+your Charisma bonus) or be filled with an overwhelming sense of fear, sorrow, uncertainty, or some other negative emotion. If the Will save fails, the targets suffer a -6 penalty to all attack rolls and skill checks, The penalty is -3 if the save was successful. The penalty lasts for a number of rounds equal to 1d6+your Charisma bonus.
   Prerequisite: Emotion Controller.


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If you found this material interesting or useful, you can see the NUELOW Games d20 Superhero rules in action in our comics/rpg hybrid books like Madden's Boys, Master Key, and Wildfire (just to name a few).

d20 Redheads

Redheads are everywhere in the sort of popular entertainment that we write RPG rules to emulate and/or spoof here at NUELOW Games, be it fantasy, sci-fi, or horror. It's almost embarrassing that it took us this long to come up with this post, especially since we have several redheads among our line up of characters (Linda "Black Cat" Turner, Vic "The Question" Sage, Carol "Wildfire" Vance, Tara, and, of course, Judy of the Jungle.) Well, better late than ever, as they say!
   All text in this post is presented under the Open Game License and may be reproduced within its terms. Copyright 2016 by Steve Miller.

D20 REDHEADS

Are they mutants? Are they magical? No one can really say, but since ancient times and through today, they have been walking wondrously among us. This material lets you bring redheads and their special powers and abilities into your d20 System games. Included in this post are:
   The Redhead Template. It can only be gained at 1st-level, and it is applied at the expense of a starting feat. It is useful in all d20-based roleplaying games--perhaps even the shiny new hotness known as Fifth Edition. (It follows the mechanics of the Racial Templates found here, and is applied in place of one.)
  The Redhead Feat. This is for characters who have unlocked their inner redheaded god/goddess. It, too, is useful in all d20-based roleplaying games.
   The Redhead Talent Tree. For redheads who truly master their special abilities--for good or evil. This material is designed with OGL d20 Modern in mind, but it is easily adaptable to games that include talents or traits.

The Redhead Template
During character generation, a player may assign this template to any Human, Dwarf, Elf, Half-Elf, or Halfling or Demihuman character. The player can apply the template and modifications at any point during the character generation process before the initial feats are selected. This template is chosen in place of a starting feat.
  Benefit: +3 Charisma, permanent -2 modifier to all Disguise skill checks.
  Special: Redheads suffer a -4 penalty to all Survival skill checks made in desert and tropical environments.


The Redhead Feat
For redheads who know they're special!
   Prerequisite: Redhead Template
   Benefit: Gain a +3 bonus to all Bluff and Diplomacy skill checks. Gain a +2 bonus to all Will saves. (If the game includes seduction rules, the +4 bonus applies to any checks related to those as well.)
   Special: This feat is considered a Minor Power feat for the purpose of gaining access to Superpower Talents.

Lina Inverse,
one of our favorite redheads

The Redhead Talent Tree
These are talents for redheads who have unlocked the mysterious potential that exists inside each and every one of them.
   Deathly Pale: Double your ranks in Bluff or Perform (Acting) when attempting to convince someone you are sick.
   Prerequisite: Redhead feat
  Disease Resistance: Because the Redhead's body produces lots and lots of Vitamin D naturally, you a +4 bonus to all Fort saves made to resist natural and magical diseases and infections.
   Prerequisite: Redhead feat
  Magic Use: Select a 0-level spell (arcane or divine) when this talent is chosen. You may cast that spell at will, without the need for material components, a number of times per day equal to your Wisdom bonus. Whenever you gain a level, you gain another 0-level spell of your choice. You may cast a combination of these spells a number of times equal to your Wisdom bonus each day. These spells are considered bonus spells, and they are added to any spells you already gain from class abilities, talents, and feats.
   Prerequisite: Redhead feat
   Reflective Skin: When in a brightly lit area (full sunlight or brighter), you may take a standard action to strip down to the point of being bare-chested. All who are looking at you must roll a Fort save (DC10+your Constitution bonus+your Charisma bonus) or be blinded for 1d6 rounds.
   Prerequisite: Deathly Pale
   Soul Eater: You have the ability to drain the life and soul out of foes and the unwitting. Make a successful unarmed attack. If you are injured, you regain a number of hit points equal to the damage dealt, up to your starting maximum. You also drain a number of XPs from the target equal to the damage dealt times 100. The target receives a Fort save against a DC12 to avoid the drain. The loss of XP causes the victim to fall below the minimum threshold for his current level, he loses a level. This ability works only on living beings from the Prime Material Plane with an Int score of 4 or higher.
   You can use Bluff or Diplomacy skill checks to trick the victim into allowing you to use your deadly life-draining touch upon him or her. In such an instance, you do not need to roll an attack or to deal actual unarmed damage, but you must still make a damage roll to determine how many XP the target loses. The target still receives a saving throw to avoid the drain. If you use this ability on a sleeping target, it wakes up after the first attempted drain, successful or not.
  If you kill a victim through this attack, you gain an Int, Wis, or Cha attribute point (roll randomly 1-2 Int, 3-4 Wis, 5-6 Cha). You also gain another freckle somewhere on your body.
   Prerequisite: Deathly Pale, Magic Use
  

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If you found this post amusing or useful, be sure to check out our d20 System releases at RPGNow or DriveThruRPG!

Remains of Atlantis: Mastering Magic (OGL d20)

Here's another preview of The Love Witch, a comics/rpg hybrid book from NUELOW Games. We present five feats that unlock special abilities for each of the major Atlantean spellcasting traditions. The material is expands upon the information in this post and this post. Ultimately, the rules work best with games that use both feats and talent trees, but the feats in this post work with any d20 System variant where characters can cast spells.
   All content in this post is released under the Open Game License and it may be reproduced in accordance with it. Copyright 2016 by Steve Miller.

Art by Larry Elmore

MASTERING ATLANTEAN MAGIC:
THE FIRST STEPS
Technology, science, and magic were equally respected in Atlantis, and anyone who had even the slightest aptitude for magic was encouraged to explore one or more of the magical orders to see if that was a suitable career path for them.  Magic-wielders could come from all walks of life--so in d20 System games, they could be of any character class. (Limitations and penalties for casting spells while wearing armor still apply, but access to spells in the system modeling Atlantean magic is tied to feats and talent trees, not class abilities.)
   The following feats represent the lowest level of mastery someone who aspired to a mage in time-lost Atlantis would have. The majority of such aspirants never made it past the point of having one of these feats. Although there were dozens of different magical traditions, and hundreds of schools within each of them, these five feats represent those that had the most practitioners. (They also represent the Atlantean magical traditions that have survived to modern times.)
   For GMs setting games in the time of ancient Atlantis, or where the heroes have been raised in an Atlantean enclave or have had knowledge of Atlantean magical traditions from an early age, one of these feats may be chosen as one of the starting feats. Otherwise, they can only be selected whenever a bonus feat is gained, after the character has become aware of Atlantean magic and has encountered someone to teach them some basic techniques and rituals. (For games using the rules from Feats of Mysticism & Magic, these feats are available to characters who may select Arcane feats.)


Aeromancy
The elemental power of air and fire flow through your body.
   Prerequisite: Int 12, Con 11
   Benefit: You know and may cast the following 0-level spells, at will: Message, Spark
   You may cast a combination of these spells a number of times equal to your Intelligence bonus each day.
   Special: The casting time, somatic, and verbal components of the spells remain, whatever is listed in the spell description, but all material components are replaced by this feat. The caster level is equal to your total number of character levels.


Biomancy
You have a strong connection to the physical world, and you turn that into magical energy.
   Prerequisite: Wis 12, Con 11
   Benefit: You know and may cast the following 0-level spells, at will: Detect Poison, Touch of Fatigue.
   You may cast a combination of these spells a number of times equal to your Wisdom bonus each day.
   Special: The casting time, somatic, and verbal components of the spells remain, whatever is listed in the spell description, but all material components are replaced by this feat. The caster level is equal to your total number of character levels.


Geomancy
The elemental power of earth and water flow through you body.
   Prerequisite: Int 11, Con 12
   Benefit: You know and may cast the following 0-level spells, at will: Ray of Frost, Resistance.
   You may cast a combination of these spells a number of times equal to your Constitution bonus each day.
   Special: The casting time, somatic, and verbal components of the spells remain, whatever is listed in the spell description, but all material components are replaced by this feat. The caster level is equal to your total number of character levels.


Philiamancy
Your magic is created by the bond between friends and lovers.
   Prerequisite: Cha 13
   Benefit: You know and may cast the following 0-level spells, at will: Dancing Lights, Open/Close.
   You may cast a combination of these spells a number of times equal to your Charisma bonus each day.
   Special: The casting time, somatic, and verbal components of the spells remain, whatever is listed in the spell description, but all material components are replaced by this feat. The caster level is equal to your total number of character levels.


Technomancy
You hope to master the pinnacle of Atlantean sorcery--the union of technology and magic.
   Prerequisite: Int 13
   Benefit: You know and may cast the following 0-level spells, at will: Grease, Mending.
   You may cast a combination of these spells a number of times equal to your Int bonus each day.
   Special: The casting time, somatic, and verbal components of the spells remain, whatever is listed in the spell description, but all material components are replaced by this feat. The caster level is equal to your total number of character levels.

Remains of Atlantis: Magical Traditions of the Lost Continent (OGL d20 System)

NUELOW Games is getting ready to publish some comics written by the great Marv Wolfman (with art by Ernie Colon, Don Heck, and others). We're still deciding exactly what the content of the book will be, but as is our habit, we are including game material and other content that is based on, or inspired by, the comic book material. This time, expanding our version of Atlantis (referenced in several of our titles, such as Secrets of the Immortals and Jungle Terrors) in ways that take cues from Wolfman's stories, while providing an alternative feats- and talents-based magic system for OGL d20 System games.
   Here is a our second preview of the book that's tentatively titled The Love Witch--more information on Atlantean spellcasting methods for your OGL Modern games. This material is compatible with the rules found in NUELOW Games releases like Feats of Mysticism & Magic and both the Sorceress of Zoom and Three Lives of Fantomah series.

ARCANE TRADITIONS OF ATLANTIS

By Steve Miller

Instead of calling on forces outside themselves to power their spells, Atlanteans mostly drew upon their own life energy to power their spells. Only the most powerful of spellcasters were able to call upon more powerful entities to spare themselves from the cost that magic exacted upon body and soul.. As such, it is a more "egalitarian" magical tradition, as the need for a large and steady supply of rare or expensive components, such as black pearls, diamonds, or dragon scales, is unnecessary. All a would-be magic user needed was a willingness to give up a piece of themselves.
   Atlantean magic was not limited to "wizards" or "clerics." Anyone with an aptitude and a willingness to bear the personal cost of being a magic-user could find a home among the ranks of spellcasters. "Fighters," "thieves," "barbarians"--anyone could tap into the power of magic in Atlantis. There were dozens of orders and schools who would admit anyone who they felt had the right mindset to fit among its practitioners. Foremost among these were the Aeromancers, Biomancers, Geomancers, Philiamancers, and Technomancers. These are also the only traditions that have survived (albeit in diminished and distorted forms) to modern times, hidden from view within secret societies. Those who gravitate to Atlantean magic usually do so because of family heritage or because it is the first (and sometimes only) magic tradition they encounter, so they never consider other options.

OGL d20 Rules for Atlantean Spellcasting
Regardless of which magical school or tradition practiced, the following OGL d20 talent tree models the fundamentals of Atlantean magic. While the different schools of Atlantean magic cast different spells, the game mechanics of how they acquire and cast those spells is the same.
   To use Atlantean magic, spellcasting works is the same regardless of the spells being cast. Characters must first have the Atlantean Magic feat, and they can then gain talents from the Atlantean Spellcasting Talent Tree. It, in turn, provides access to feats and talents specific to each of the major Atlantean magic traditions


Atlantean Spellcasting Talent Tree
No matter what order or school Atlantean spellcasters follow, they have access to the following talent tree. Any time a character who meets the prerequisites earns a new talent, he or she may select one from this tree.
   Initiate: The total number of spells you may cast per day increases by 1. The XP cost for 1st - 3rd level spells is reduced to 50XP per level.
   Prerequisite: Atlantean Magic
   Brother/Sister: The total number of spells you may cast per day increases by 1. The XP cost for 4th - 6th level spells is reduced to 50XP per level.
   Prerequisite: Initiate
   Thaumaturgist: The total number of spells you may cast per day increases by 1. The XP cost for 7th - 9th level spells is reduced to 50XP per level. You may cast 1st level spells without losing XP.
   Prerequisite: Brother/Sister

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The text in this post is presented under the Open Game License (OGL). Content in the section titled "OGL d20 Rules for Altantean Spellcasting" is Open Game Content and may be reproduced in accordance with the OGL, but everything else in this post is defined as Product Identity. Copyright 2016 by Steve Miller.