Minions!

Daruma

This Daruma doll was a birthday gift from my friend Iris in 2017. I wished to earn my life with my art. Or at least to be able to pay my rent.

I painted the other eye because 1 year later, with my hours being completely cuts at the library I now have to pay my rent with my art. So while I don’t earn enough money to do it, I guess I kind of achieved my goal.

On other news, I finally found the courage to call some clinics and I have a rendez-vous to hopefully start my Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

x

"We said no spells."

Something a bit different:

Chaotic elf princess

Rolling on my random tables...

You arrive at the City of a Thousand Baths 

Travelers on the road told you (rolling on the people talking about towns tables):

• The city folks are relaxed, sensuous and open minded. 
• The city is a combination of new and very ancient architecture, the oldest building are linked together by underground tunnels. 
• The Folded Lotus is one of these very ancient bath house, it inner bath decorated in lapis lazuli is a marvelous sight. 

You settle first at the Folded Lotus (rolled on the city of a thousand bath houses post) 

• The building is a very ancient bath house.
• The bath house is run by a private administration (a old lady from a forgotten noble bloodline) 
• The staff wear special gloves and veils decorated with blue lotus flowers. 
• The lapis lazuli bath boost saving throws by 4 points...
• ... if you mix blood in the bath (at least a total of d6 dmg) ... 
• ... but you Gain a obvious non human trait (bio-luminescent spots)  
• the bath house is linked by labyrinthine passages to ancient city vestiges full of poisonous traps 
• While venturing in the tunnels you encounter outcasts, human hybrids of a ancient aquatic race. They seem scared and flee. 
• While resting at the bath house you discover that one of the baths is forbidden to some type of people. 

The ancient city vestiges contains (rolling on Random cultural influences for dungeon building tables)

• Artworks influenced by... a sworn enemy or competitor: water fountains and statue inspired by the Shadow Water School (forbidden stuff). 
• Philosophy tablets influenced by... a allied race or nation: tablets from the ancient coastal city of Xephir.  
• Luxury goods influenced by... a sworn enemy or competitor: perfumes from the kuo-toa (forbidden stuff). 

While resting at the Folded Lotus you learn about the issues of it personnel. 

(Rolling on the troubleshooters sandbox tables)

You learn that the old lady who own the Folded Lotus...

• actively seek help.
• her problem is stable.
• the problem is about a group or creatures.
• if resolved she will gain access to a useful location.

You learn also that a girl from the staff...

• don't seek help, but her problem is obvious. 
• her problem is very unstable
• her problem is about a special event, project.
• if not resolved, she will gain a negative reputation.

While helping people in the city you also visit other bath houses.

The Quiet Flame

• is a ancient building newly converted into a bath house 
• it foundations belonged to a ancient temple 
• the bath house is run by a guild
• the staff is well trained to protect the bath house
• one of the bath boost one wisdom by one bonus step...
• ... if you bath during the rising or setting of the sun...
• ... but you get a penalty of 3 in your saving throws when you are in the dark. 
• the bath house is linked to a place of knowledge (a old library full of stone tablets) 
• while travelling in the tunnels you meet shady people, smuggler of knowledges. 
• while resting at the bath house you notice that someone seem strangely out of place.

This out of place person...

• actively seek help
• her problem is stable
• her problem is about a NPC neutral toward her
• resolving this situation would grant her a positive psychological trait 

The Jade House

• is a new construction build by a avant-garde architect.
• the bath house is run by a mysterious oracle blessed by the gods  
• the staff are all betrothed to him  
• one of the bath boost hit points by one hit die...
• ... if you bath with a magical fish... 
• ... but you get a penalty of 1 AC point. 
• the bath house is linked to a private house
• while travelling in the tunnels you meet members of the bath house staff.
• while resting at the bath house you notice that one of the people bathing know one of the PC 

The oracle

• actively seek help
• his problem is stable
• the problem is about a creature neutral toward him (a magical fish)
• if the problem is resolved he will gain a new blessing

The person bathing who know one of the PC

• is secretive, he hide his problem and want it to remain secret. 
• his problem is unstable
• the problem is about a a special project 
• if the problem is not resolved he will enter in conflict with a faction

The Aquatic Tribes

While exploring the ancient levels of the city, you begin  to know the ancient aquatic folks who live in the underground lakes. (Rolling on the why these orcs are "evil"? table) 

• 6000 years ago, sad with the lost of a loved one, their leader made a dark pact with a dark deity. But a wise sorcerer was able to break the pact and sealed the dark goddess in one of the underground lakes. 
• 300 years ago a booming and ruthless economy followed by a crash destroyed their alliance with the upper city. 
• 100 years ago their territory was colonized by the forbidden Shadow Water School. Many hybrids were born during this time. 
• 6 years ago new rumors about the tribe started circulating, people fear that they want to awaken their dark goddess. 
• 1 month ago the Water Engineer Guild claimed ownership over one of their ancient cisterns to exploit it magical waters.  
• 4 days ago. human refugees from the city started to build a shanty town near one of their underground lake.
• The aquatic folk do everything as a family unit, children or elders are always present.  
• They have a good relationship with many of the declining human noble bloodline 
• They dislike the Oracle of the Jade House.
• They have a different historical version of a the city foundation. 

One day you discover a baby aquatic hybrid (rolling on the orc baby generator table):

• You see a giggling little thing with chubby arms, breaking things with a blood soaked doll, she look at you and wince,

Spinetooth Oasis actual play

First session of running the Spinetooth Oasis with the Black Hack.

We used the Fabulous Tiny Guild mini-zines to create the characters, this worked very well as the tiny illustration inspire the players but at the same time they are simple enough that you can interpret them in different ways. They kind of work like canvas.

The group:

The setup was that the player characters were the henchmen of the Wizard and now that he is dead they have to work for themselves and become full fledged adventurers. But after a while I realized that since the Black Hack award levels for completing quests or something that I had to give them goals. So we modified the setup a bit. The players are now in charge executing the will of the Wizard and to bestow the items from it inheritance. So instead of delving to find loot, they delve to deliver loot!

The first item to bestow was a frog bottle of transmutation to the Cactus Mother.

• They met some owl faced cultists and learned about their vendetta against the city state of Zar Naf.
• They walked through the purple grass and avoided a group of lost soldiers from Zar Naf. 
• They picked up some narcotic cactus flowers. 
• They encountered the succulent owl bear and pointed him toward the soldiers.
• A halfling kid shoot someone in the head with a sling shot and vanished in the cactus bushes. 
• They encountered a group of sisters of filth who stole cactus flower from the Reboo's gang. 

Session 02
There was no fights, but there was a lot of fun interactions.

• The group evaded goons from the Reebo's while hiding in the cactus grooves. 
• They met with the Cactus Mother who revealed that the old Wizard was once her apprentice. 
• They gave her share of the wizard's inheritance: a bottle of transmutation liquor. 
• She made one of the PC her champion and transformed him into a giant jade spider. She gave them the quest of awakening the statue of the Succulent Goddess.
• The group ventured in the caves and traded with the succulent guardian. 
• Someone tasted the nutritive poop and said it tasted like caramel pudding. :P 
• The group was ambushed by succulent spiders but the jade spider PC was able to recruit them. 
• They awakened the Succulent Goddess and convinced the owl cultist that her people must help the goddess to protect the oasis instead of desiring vengeance over the city people. 
• The goddess transmuted back the PC. 
• Everyone leveled up to level 2. 

The next item on the list is a set of garden gnomes that must be delivered to Reebo Carubo!

I think that the cactus caves could have used a few more rooms to explore, but it would have been probably a bit different if the succulent creatures were not friendly to them.

I like the Black Hack but I think that I don't like awarding levels for quests because it short-circuit the exploration as the group only focus on accomplishing their goal. I prefer exploration oriented award but I am also curious about the option of awarding a level each session presented in the Black Hack book. I want to see what happen when the players don't have to worry about doing specific things to level up.

Since we rarely have the occasion to play, I think that I will use this option and award a level every session. This way if we play up to level 09, this will give us a 9 sessions campaign. Considering that we play maybe once a month, this give us reasonable campaign length and pacing.

To avoid the feeling that the whole campaign is a accelerated 9 days leveling up, I will run it as a episodic campaign, a month passing by between each session. This will also let me re-setup the seting a bit to underline the consequence of the player character's actions.

Fog-bound province background generator for Evey L.

Evey Lockhart created a bleak and weird setting while answering the classic set of 20 questions from Jeff Rients. There is something that I like in how raw her setting is and I created a background generator for it, just in case that someone want to use it to flailsnail. 

Evey's original post: 

http://violentmediarpg.blogspot.ca/2018/05/what-is-this-20-questions.html

Background generator for the Fog-bound province

Your character come from (d20):

1. a small village near the Desart Strange.  
2. a tribe of Desart nomads 
3. a tribe of amazons 
4. a small village near the acid caves
5. Lawn Town
6. West town 
7. Furthest Farthing Town
8. Hog-Scratch Town
9. Laugh Town
10. a small village in the Dreaming mountains
11. a small village near the Canals 
12. a small village near the Mushroom forest 
13. a small village near the Smiling God Forest 
14. a small village near the Ruinous Wood  
15. a small river village
16. a coastal village 
17. inner Xephir
18. outer Xephir
19. the Xephir stretches 
20. beyond the Fog

What ruined your family (and made you a adventurer)?

A important family member…

(d100)

1. moved to... (roll on the previous table) 
2. made a bad marriage with someone from… (roll on the previous table)
3. made a serious crime against someone from…(roll on the previous table)
4. made a very bad investment or deal with someone from… (roll on the previous table)
5. wronged the Church of the God-most-Censorious
6. was forced to reach a state of divine censorship
7. became a (1.member, 2.speakers, 3.Seekers, 4.Sister, 5.Monk, 6.Inquisitors) of the Church of the God-most-Censorious
8. joined the cult of the God that Laughs
9. wronged the cult of the God that Laughs
10. vanished in the scarcely visible spirit world
11. dealled with the scarcely visible spirit world
12. became a Cultist of Isog
13. wronged the Cult of Isog  
14. dreamed of Isog
15. became a ostentatious merchant
16. was murdered by countryside scavengers
17. left to become a countryside scavenger
18. left to become a accomplished blacksmith
19. became a craftswomen of Isog
20. left to seek the Coleopteric Brother
21. became obsessed by the founding and the pre diaspora era
22. was murdered by zealots of the Coleopteric Brother
23. left to seek the Beetle of Truth 
24. wronged the Supreme Inquisitor's nephew, Jogg George the Mighty.
25. left to serve the Supreme Inquisitor's nephew, Jogg George the Mighty.
26. left to work for the merchants of the Eastern Coast  
27. wronged the merchants of the Eastern Coast  
28. left to work for merchant lord the Callister
29. wronged the merchant lord Callister  
30. became obsessed by the Sky Port
31. left with the Sky-Folk 
32. wronged the Sky-Folk
33. Left in vain to search for magical healing
34. Needed magical healing but none existed 
35. became a Witch
36. wronged a Witch 
37. wronged the Aelfs
38. left to find the Aelfs 
39. was infected with Lycanthropy
40. became a lycanthrope hunter 
41. was polymorphed into a object, animal or monster. 
42. left to become a hunter who hunt polymorphed people  
43. was killed by a undead serving a elementalist
44. became a elementalist 
45. was raised as a undead by a elementalist  
46. lost against Dead in paramortal combat.
47. started to bet on paramortal combats...
48. joined a secret cabal
49. wronged a secret cabal
50. left to become a expert in Xephir
51. consulted a expert from Xephir 
52. became a Church mercenary
53. was murdered by Church mercenaries 
54. became a low-life cheap mercenary 
55. was murdered by low-life cheap mercenaries
56. was accused of stabbing 
57. was stabbed by a stranger (AKA a adventurer)
58. left to become a adventurer  
59. was rightly accused of magic
60. was wrongly accused of magic
61. left to learn magic 
62. became a applejack drunkard 
63. became a applejack smuggler 
64. opened a public house
65. was murdered in a public house
66. opened a private tavern
67. was murdered in a private tavern
68. left to find the black-glass scales dragon
69. joined the cult of the black-glass scales dragon
70. left to serve one of these powerful men who lose dividends because of the dragon. 
71. left to become a shepherd 
72. was drafted in the holy war beyond the Ocean Fog.
73. was murdered by crusader from the holy war beyond the Ocean Fog
74. became a pit fighter
75. was drafted to become a pit fighter
76. was murdered by a pit fighter 
77. joined a cult led by goblin-spirits
78. was the victim of a cult let by goblin-spirits 
79. was polymorphed by goblin-spirit (with a animal head) 
80. left to become a egg merchant
81. choked on a bad stew of salted pork
82. was murdered with a wooden trencher
83. left to try to find the Naiad Treasury
84. was murdered after acquiring a piece of the Naid Treasury
85. was murdered by the amazons
86. left to join the amazons 
87. left to explore the acid caves
88. vanished in the Dreaming mountains
89. vanished in the the Canals 
90. vanished in the Mushroom forest 
91. vanished in the Smiling God Forest 
92. became obsessed with the Smiling God
93. vanished in the Ruinous Wood  
94. left to explore the ruins in the Desart Strange
95. became obsessed with the Desart Strange
96. was captured by a tribe from the Desart Strange 
97. Was murdered or taken by a creature from beyond the Fog
98. became a hunter who hunt creatures from beyond the Fog
99. became obsessed with the Fog
100. Ventured past the Fog…

Random important family member (d20)

1. grandfather
2. grandmother
3. father
4. mother
5. aunt or uncle
6. cousin
7. little brother
8. little sister
9. big brother
10. big sister
11. spouse or lover
12. daughter
13. son
14. step father
15. step mother
16. step brother
17. step sister
18. ancestor 
19. best friend
20. twin

PRE-GEN characters or hirelings

1. Verone Helton from Laugh Town, her mother became a applejack drunkard [cleric]
2. Misty Clifton from Furthest Farthing Town, her father vanished in the Mushroom forest [fighter]
3. Emmy Hornsby from beyond the Fog, her big brother started to bet on paramortal combats… [magic-user]
4. Leone Smithers from the Smiling God Forest village, her father was drafted in the holy war beyond the Ocean Fog [fighter]
5. Mathilda Stanford from West Town, her little brother wronged the Supreme Inquisitor's nephew, Jogg George the Mighty [thief]
6. Eppo Barney from inner Xephir, his mother became a Witch [fighter]
7. Noell Ramsey from a small river village, his uncle wronged a Witch [fighter]
8. Hurl of the Desart tribes, his daughter left with the Sky-Folk [magic-user]
9. Medwin the amazone, their big sister wronged the merchant lord Callister [thief]
10. Jessie Rudges from a small river village, his wife left to find the black-glass scales dragon [fighter]  

Blue Mud Fighters getting ready for battle

Ancient Yeti Warlord