It's Dangerous to Go Alone - Sample NPC Roster

 

It’s relatively easy to generate a BX/Old School Essentials character on the fly whenever you need some new NPC adventurers, but rolling 3d6 in order does still take some time. To save some during play, I decided to make a roster of potential NPCs for my Haunted Halls of Eveningstar solo game. For fun, and to simulate the cosmopolitan nature of my (extremely vague) impression of the Forgotten Realms, I used a wide selection of classes from OSE Advanced Fantasy, some of the Carcass Crawler zines, and from 1d4Caltrops’ Monster Classes.

D20 – I’m New In Town

1) Dunsell the Daring	11) Pearl Osgrey
2) Lurk of Ninemoons	12) Frund the Firelord
3) Mallowthorn of Misthollow	13) Seena
4) Deyla and Stonescale	14) Idris Darkelf
5) Nogi of Firedeep	15) Mirru One-Eye
6) Rudeam of the Ruins	16) Chessak Red-Stripe
7) Ellis of Otterhall	17) Oa
8) Sheyla Silverstrings	18) Mimbelyon Clique
9) Sab the Swindler	19) Chichik-Chaumea
10) Pious Oddle	20) Tzarbo 2

Haunted Halls of Eveningstar: Wandering Monsters

As mentioned back in Delve 1, The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar does not use a wandering monster table because “the best encounters use creatures and situations deliberately chosen by the DM”. Dubious advice from a module writer in my opinion, who might instead “deliberately choose” to stock the table with creatures and situations.

It’s possible that Ed Greenwood didn’t actually roll for random encounters at all in his home game, and instead just chose whatever seemed appropriate at the time. In that case he might’ve included a list of drop-in encounters to pick from, perhaps finding space for it by cutting some of the sections where he complains about not having enough space.

Regardless, elsewhere in the text however it calls for rolling wandering monsters every other round, and suggests that “if desired” the standard tables for dungeon encounters may be used. OSE does have a generic encounter table by dungeon level, but it has slightly too many Killer Bees and Giant Shrews for my vision of the module’s weird purple late-summer high-fantasy vibe. Therefore:

Haunted Halls: Wandering Monsters

1. 4d4 Kobolds. 2-in-6 chance of specialists

2. 2d6 Giant Rats

3. Bats: 50% chance of either a Bat Swarm or 1d4 Giant Bats

4. 1d8 Fire Beetles

5. 1d4 Living Statues

6. Haunting, Minor

7. NPC Party

8. 1d3 Curst

9. Green Slime

10. Haunting, Major

11. Owlbear

12. Basilisk

Kobolds: some kobold patrols include specialists. In such groups, a quarter of the kobolds will have the following modifications:

1. Picked Guards: each guard has maximum HP (4) and is equipped with helmet, shield, shortsword and a hand-crossbow with 12 darts coated with sleeping poison. Guards have Morale 10 (roll separately for them and any other kobolds)

2. Slingers: armed with pots containing 1) green slime, 2) wasps, 3) sleeping potion, 4) burning oil.

3. Slinkers: scout ahead of the main group. Roll separately for surprise: if the slinkers achieve surprise but the main group doesn’t, then they have flanked the party. If the main group achieves surprise but the slinkers don’t, then they were an advance group: the party initially encounters the slinkers and is then surprised by reinforcements in the following round.

4. Ratshirts: wear the pelts of giant rats they have slain and fight with longswords or battle-axes (two-handed weapons for the diminutive kobolds). Ratshirts have Morale 8.

Living Statues: made of stone, but use the stats for Crystal Living Statues. Each statue in the Halls has a gemstone core set into its chest or brow. Determine the value using the normal rules for gems. Living statues can cast the spell Chromatic Orb (1st level Illusionist spell, OSE Advanced Fantasy) using the value of their gemstone core to determine the effects.

Hauntings: old magic has stained the very stones of the Haunted Halls and occasionally flickers back into life.

• Minor: roll a 1st-level Illusionist spell and apply the results as seems appropriate.

• Major: use an Illusionist spell of level 1d4+1

NPC Party: generate 1d4+2 characters. Roll for each character’s level: 1-3) 1st, 4-5) 2nd, 6) 3rd.

"You fool... Don't you understand? No one wishes to go on..."

Curst: A dreadful curse still hovers in the air of the Haunted Halls. The Curst are former adventurers, suffering from deathless existence.

Stats as NPC party, with the following modifications:

• Morale: Curst have Morale 10. Curst do not experience fear, but may occasionally get distracted and wander off in the middle of a fight.

• Undead: Curst have all relevant strengths and vulnerabilities common to all undead.

• Curse of Immortality: Regenerate 1 HP per round. Curst cannot be slain – if reduced to 0 HP they become immobile until restored to full Hit Points. 

• The only way to permanently destroy a Curst is an application of the Remove Curse spell (which causes them to collapse into dust with a grateful smile on their lips).

• Madness: Each round of combat a Curst has a 1-in-6 chance of experiencing a bout of madness. They spend the round engaged in some odd activity (reciting rhymes, skipping, laughing, counting stones in the wall, etc.) and cannot be distracted from it.

Curst Reaction Rolls

2: Believes it is alive and that the PCs are monsters or old enemies. It attacks. You may wish to roll on one of the OSE Dungeon Encounters tables to determine what the Curst thinks the PCs are.

3: Bashing its head against a nearby wall. If it notices the PCs it attacks, growling animalistically.

4: Guarding an area. Attacks trespassers while engaging in casual conversation.

5: Wandering in circles or pacing up and down. Attacks if the PCs cross its path.

6: Distracted by a bout of madness. Roll again next round.

7: Lucid. It attacks, hoping to be killed. It may explain what it’s doing as it attacks.

8: Talking to itself and laughing. Roll again next round.

9: Idly inflicting self harm (holding its hand in a brazier, etc.). May engage in conversation for 1 round, then roll again.

10: Crestfallen. It sits muttering to itself and largely ignores the PCs. Will answer 1d4 questions before experiencing a mood swing (roll again on this table).

11: Believes it is lost and that the PCs are its old companions. It will join them for 1d6 turns before experiencing a mood swing (roll again on this table).

12: Lucid and listless. It asks if the PCs have a cure for endless life.

Owlbear: the first time this result is rolled the party finds evidence that the creature has entered the Halls and is now stalking them. The next time an encounter is rolled it will be with the owlbear.

Basilisk: an escapee from the Chamber of the Chain (Area 25), the Basilisk that roams the Halls is cunning and very old. It has maximum HP (48), but Morale 6. Use the attack patterns from Tomb of the Serpent Kings, pages 19-20.

My preference is for basilisks to only petrify with their gaze, rather than also having a petrifying touch attack. If this feels too modest, substitute poisonous fangs (death in 1d4 turns).

If the Owlbear and the Basilisk ever encounter each other, they will fight for dominance over the Halls. The winner becomes more aggressive (replace the loser’s entry on the table with the winner).

Night-Haunted Hogwarts: Downtime Draft

Belly up to the bar between adventures

 Josh of Rise Up Comus recently asked me if I had posted my Hogwarts downtime action rules and I said that I had put the the proof-of-concept version that I'd used in the playtest session report that I posted back in September. This, it turns out, was a lie. I referenced the downtime actions in the write-up but I didn't actually post the rules! Well, here they are:

Name Generators: Lizardmen & Salamanders

this illustration is one of mine

Sometimes you want some names for your lizardfolk. When designing these I used the monitor lizards from Brian Jacques' "The Pearls of Lutra" as my north star: "Lask Frildur" is a perfect lizardman name. I incorporated a lot of "boggy" sounds into these, with lots of croaking, hissing, and skittering noises. Talking like a lizard should be fun.

Lizardman Prefix: d00

d00 Roll	Syllable	d00 Roll	Syllable
1-2	Ali	51-52	Kre
3-4	Ba	53-54	Kri
5-6	Be	55-56	Kro
7-8	Bru	57-58	Kroa
9-10	Cha	59-60	Kru
11-12	Char	61-62	La
13-14	Che	63-64	Le
15-16	Dra	65-66	Li
17-18	Du	67-68	Lu
19-20	Fi	69-70	O
21-22	Fla	71-72	Ro
23-24	Fra	73-74	Se
25-26	Fri	75-76	Si
27-28	Ge	77-78	Sii
29-30	Gla	79-80	Ske
31-32	Glee	81-82	Skii
33-34	Glur	83-84	Sku
35-36	Go	85-86	Sla
37-38	Gre	87-88	Sse
39-40	Gri	89-90	Sska
41-42	Hii	91-92	Ssu
43-44	Hli	93-94	Teno
45-46	Hlu	95-96	To
47-48	Ho	97-98	Za
49-50	Hoa	99-00	Zur

Lizardman Suffix: d00

d00 Roll	Syllable	d00 Roll	Syllable
1-2	ak	51-52	liss
3-4	bliss	53-54	lk
5-6	bulb	55-56	lok
7-8	cariss	57-58	lp
9-10	ddle	59-60	lusk
11-12	dop	61-62	miss
13-14	frill	63-64	mlok
15-16	gaa	65-66	plog
17-18	gash	67-68	plop
19-20	gat	69-70	pok
21-22	gleep	71-72	riss
23-24	glop	73-74	rk
25-26	gorl	75-76	rok
27-28	grik	77-78	russka
29-30	gweb	79-80	skul
31-32	gwort	81-82	ssak
33-34	gwurp	83-84	ssk
35-36	kit	85-86	sska
37-38	klak	87-88	ssor
39-40	kle	89-90	sstra
41-42	krag	91-92	tak
43-44	kyamon	93-94	weep
45-46	lash	95-96	wurp
47-48	ldeep	97-98	yk
49-50	ldur	99-00	zzat

Samples: Hofrill, Lewurp, Fassak, Cheweep, Durusska, Hiigleep, Skeklak, Gleeldur, Frirok, Gregleep, Gririss

Olm Names

a cave salamander

Olm are the blind salamander-people from Patrick Stuart's "The Veins of the Earth". They live in cold underground streams and are an exercise in talking to a human-like intelligence that isn't oriented around sight, warmth, or regular meals. I tried to pick sounds that a cave salamander would be familiar with: dripping water, flowing water, splashing water, water running over rocks, and the sound of rocks tapping together underwater. A couple of syllables are instead drawn from high-pitched whistles and exhaled breaths.

Olm names are three syllables long. Roll d30 three times on the table below, then roll 1d3. Place a hyphen after the numbered syllable (a roll of 3 is effectively "no hyphen").

d00 Roll	Syllable	d00 Roll	Syllable
1	Atch	16	Pool
2	Blib	17	Poolp
3	Blip	18	Rik
4	Blop	19	Saa
5	Deep	20	Shas
6	Dip	21	Sish
7	Dool	22	Skar
8	Dop	23	Tam
9	Drib	24	Tap
10	Kee	25	Tip
11	Klik	26	Tok
12	Kop	27	Tom
13	Lug	28	Top
14	Nok	29	Uff
15	Plash	30	Vish

Samples: Nok-deepdrip, Deeplugblip, Bloptap-pip, Plashtop-pip, Vishtokvish, Dooltom-pool, Tomatch-plash, Saa-riktok

Hopefully these are also fun to say, with their combination of sighing sounds and quick rhythmic taps. I particularly like "Saa-riktok"

You could also use these for Kuo-toa names. Eagle-eyed readers may note that it is possible to recreate "Blibdoolpoolp" and "Dooldipdop" with this table (these are the only two kuo-toa names that I'm aware of).