The Black Emperor vol 15

 

Session 15:

The time has come, the party gathers its forces in the druid’s forest and marches on the capital. Their army consists of druids, villagers, pine knights, fae, regular soldiers, and even Lugh’s men, a formidable force. When the army arrives they find that the capitol has been buttoned up, prepared for the siege but having left the people of the slums to fend for themselves. 

Colossal spies an opportunity and heads into the slums. She seeks out the gang she was accidentally inducted into, the Black Back tribe. After some negotiations she convinces them to assist in getting a strike team into the city. Their price is that they get full plunder of the city’s major guard post. Colossal agrees and returns to the army which has already begun construction of siege weapons.

A party rides out from the capital under a white flag of truce. This party consists of Jagh-Deesh, Cormac, and the emperor’s hand. The party is asked to disband its unlawful rebellion. Atreyu states that the rebellion is lawful and declares that the emperor has forsaken his people. Cormac states that Atreyu’s honor is above reproach and he will hear out his case, asking them to collect seven peasants to speak before them. The party presents a slew of peasants along with the fury, Pluto. Most of the peasants are dismissed by the hand, their responses and stories are not backed by law. Pluto, it seems, came prepared. He makes declarations and with the two Kenku of his party he quotes the exact letters of the law that are violated by the emperor. The end result of this is that Cormac declares his clan must begin an investigation through the empire, as a result his clan cannot assist in any conflict the empire finds itself in for at least a month while his clan rides out and surveys the villages. In frustration the hand of the emperor rides back into the capital. With the official gone Jagh-Deesh and Cormac relax. Jagh-Deesh informs the party that without the support of the Buryn clan, the walls wont have enough defenders to adequately cover every inch. He further advises that they may be able to take the wall with little more than ladders. Jagh-Deesh laments that the emperor may have lost his way but in his own way he has brought peace to the rest of the world who remains in a stalemate, fearing the black army. After some pleasantries they part and return to their respective camps.

That night the party discusses their plans for the assault and while arguing they realize they have the powerful magical shovel, The Dirt Devil, and could simply undermine the walls or dig into the sewers. They agree that the best course of action is to use the dirt devil to get the army into the sewers while the knights distract the troops on the walls. Then, using the black back tribe’s advice, they position the army around the city. A separate team consisting of Illanth, Atreyu, and Homlet is set to attack the keep itself, making an attempt on the emperor. 

The assault on the capitol is better than expected, the walls quickly surrender and the troops lay siege to the keep, lead by Lugh and the rest of the party. This draws the emperor’s house guard to the keep’s walls and out of the party’s way for the most part. Ilanth draws on her divine senses and leads the party through the keep, avoiding all remaining guards and possible threats.

The trio enter the throne room and are confronted by the emperor himself. He laughs and explains that he has waited a long time for this. He explains that he has been alive as long as his empire has stood, and he cannot die until the empire does. He has spend ages trying to make himself the enemy of the free world to no avail. So he turned against his own people, trying to spark a rebellion all this time. He comes at the party with all his strength, crossing blades with Atreyu. Homlet, in a moment of brilliance draws another magical nova out of himself, casting a powerful spell to make everyone in the capital believe that the empire is broken and that the emperor has betrayed his people, filling the need for the empire to die before the black emperor can. The emperor disarmed Atreyu and used a magical blast to strike down Homlet. Ilanth picks up Homlet, healing him and protecting him against further attacks. Atreyu takes up the Beryn clan shield and his sword, using them to fend off the emperor while Homlet reaches deep and draws on another magical nova, shielding his allies and leaving his body withered and weak, a moment away from death. Even with the protections it seems the party is only evenly matched with the emperor. Ilanth draws on the mightiest powers of her god and paralyzes the emperor. After some deliberation the party realizes they cannot let this man live, he will only find away to be a threat later, so they finally put down the mad emperor.

Class: Kobold

This one comes to us in a similar vein as the Minotaur. One of the core ancestries in the setting my friends and I built together is the Kobold, small, scrappy, and lucky little guys who fight best in packs. Translating that into a class meant creating something that plays to those strengths: a small character who spends Luck to support their allies, boosts their attacks, and shares their Armor Class with bigger party members.

I had a lot of fun refining this one into something that feels satisfying to play alongside others. The Kobold class plays like a mix of thief and halfling, darting in for backstabs while enemies are distracted, lending Luck to the team, and even wielding a unique spell. It’s a support-forward class that thrives in the thick of the fight, right next to its bigger, louder friends.

The Kobold

Rapid Plant Growth 

Black Emperor Chapters 14

 

Session 14:

Leaving the strange wizard behind, Ilanth, Atreyu, and Homlet advance into the village of Four Oaks, who show suspicion right away. The mayor of four oaks, a Minotaur known as Trista informs them that she doesn't trust them and would like them to move on from the town quickly as she suspects them of being rebels and will not have them in her town. The party considers overthrowing her but believes she’s not evil and the spark of rebellion hasn’t touched this place.

Leaving quickly after re-supplying the party finds the Deesh clanhold, now a tomb, easily. They find something strange about this clanhold, its hidden in the mountainside, unlike most holds that are obvious bastions and fortresses. As they get deeper into the trap and ambush ready passages of the hold they realize that being told they were worthy of the Deesh clan weapon might have been an insult, as this clan seems cowardly and dishonorable. When they get into the hold’s entry hall they suddenly hear the familiar cries of “doom” coming from the corbies in the balconies above. Realizing they are trapped here the party searches for the weapon, hoping to find it and use it to turn the tide against the assassin and his abominations. Their chaotic scramble is a success! They find the glaive and without wearing the protective rind, Atreyu takes up the weapon. He is possessed by the spirit of the clan’s former patriarch who sets to work cutting up the incoming corbies. Through their magics, Homlet and Ilanth free  Atreyu from the possession and as a team they create a mountain of dead corbies in the doorway, enough to buy them a respite. They agree that they need to rush death rattle and when the door is cleared by the attackers Homlet unleashes a devastating magical nova color spray to clear the way. Atreyu, powered up by Ilanth’s blessings, charges the assassin and quickly puts him down and claimed his mirror shard.

    The party quickly retreats and heads back to the grove. On the way to the grove Colossal is visited by her patron, The Architect, in her dreams. Colossal agrees to give the mirror to him and he offers his support in their battle against the emperor. 

  

If you're following this then thank you for following along with the stories of my player's adventures. the next chapter will be the last from this series along with the epilogue.

Experience Points & Player Investment

I recently ran a game and at the end of the session, as with every session I've run for years, I stated "Now we come to my favorite part of the night: Fellowship." In this moment, I realized how important to me this weekly declaration is, and how much it holds power at my table. As soon as the words leave my mouth, everyone lights up. They sit forward, ready to reflect, not just on what they did, but on what each other did. Fellowship Experience is going to be what the soul of this post is but below that there is a list of other ways that I modify how I award XP at my table. Keep in mind this is for DCCRPG and the numbers talked about should be modified for the game you run.

This idea came to me when I went to my first ever Heroclix tournament. The players spent the night rating their opponent based on how fun it was to play against them and how much of a good sport they were when playing. Now at this tournament, this system turned into everyone saying their friends were the best and the strangers or people they didn't know were bad in every way that mattered for this rating system. At the end of the night the Judges would consult this rating collection and people who were rated well got an extra little prize at the end. I remember being really impressed at the time and talking to my friend about how cool that was. He explained the local politics and how it really worked - it was a little disappointing, but there were good bones there. So I left that tournament with a white lantern Martian Manhunter and a cool idea. 

Even if it didn’t work perfectly there, the bones were good. And when I brought the concept to my own table, I had one of those moments where I genuinely thought: Why haven't i been doing this all along?

Fellowship Experience: The Best Part of the Night

At the end of every session, I tell my players that they each have a number of xp points that are equal to the number of players, including themselves (but they can't award any to themselves!). The goal is for them to award them to their fellow players, and say why.

Maybe they liked a bit of roleplay. Maybe someone saved their character’s hide in a close fight. Maybe a single moment cracked them up so hard they still can’t stop laughing. Whatever the reason, they share it out loud, and award their points accordingly 

To set the mood and expectations, I go first. I pick one thing I liked for each of them and I give out a single point of experience for that moment - I also just really like being able to join in on this fun little wrap-up activity. It’s a small ritual, but it matters.

This has a few purposes. 

First: It gets each of the players invested in the game - they know this time is coming later and they are looking for moments that they want to reward other players for. This gives the players a way to tell each other, "I saw what you did and it meant something to me." 

 

Second: it makes everyone at the table feel appreciated. In all the years I've been doing this, I've found that the number of players is the golden number. Everyone wants to give everyone at least 1 point, but by giving someone that extra point, the player gets to say "This was the moment of the night to me."

 

Third: The players feel seen, Even if they played a quiet support character most of the night, they are told by myself and their fellow players "I see you back there, quietly keeping our lives in order."

My final thoughts on fellowship are that, at least at my table, it has turned into this important ritual that tells us all that the game is over for the night and it's time to wind down. It's also helped build bonds and even helped me shape the game. I keep track of why people are awarding fellowship for; it says they liked something and want more of that thing. And yes, you will have nights where everyone dumps most of their experience into one person, but that is often the exception and not the rule and when it happens it feels earned. In the last game I ran at the time of writing this, a player confidently declared "we can take this fight" and the party decided on that player's word alone to stay and fight. When things went sideways in 2 rounds, that player pulled out Divine Aid and pulled the entire party out of the fire. During fellowship she was awarded a full half of the table's fellowship, not just for making the call but making the call and making sure no one went down for her decision.

For people who aren't running DCC, like 5e for example, I recommend giving players "tokens" which are worth a small amount of experience like 10 or 30 and letting them award those instead. The way I do it only works for DCC because experience is in such relatively small numbers compared to many other systems. 

 

Judge's Helper:

Years ago, I played with a guy who awarded XP if you drew your character. I loved that, so I started doing it too. And over time, it grew into something more. Now I give out 1 XP per session for little things that contribute to the game, especially things that play to different players’ strengths. Not everyone is an artist. But maybe someone: 

• Sketched a map or a scene
• Tracked the party inventory
• Wrote an in-character journal or a recap
• Made a dumb meme that had us all laughing
• Jotted good notes in a Google Doc everyone can reference
• Penned a poem, haiku, or short fiction about a moment from the game

Anything that helps the game run better or feel deeper, that's what I’m looking for. This bonus isn’t required, and it’s small enough that no one can abuse it. The goal is to reward investment not perfection. It’s a soft nudge that says: “Thanks for bringing a little extra.” 

The real trick here is to stay flexible. If it’s something that helps the table or deepens a player’s immersion, even if I didn’t name it here, I try to recognize it. Because when players start contributing in their own voice, the game starts living beyond the table.

 

The B-Team Bonus:

This one’s short and simple. 

At my table, I like players to use just one character at a time. It keeps things cleaner, fewer moving parts, fewer split scenes, less paperwork. To make that easier (and a little more fun), I award what I call the B-Team Bonus.

Any character a player didn’t play that session gets XP equal to half the session number, rounded up.

It’s not a huge amount not enough for a back-pocket character to leapfrog a main one. But it tells a quiet story: those characters didn’t just sit around drinking. They were out doing something. Something small. Something we didn’t see. But something.

Because in a living world, the camera’s not the only thing moving.

The other benefit is peace of mind. If a character dies, the player isn’t staring at their backups thinking, “What’s the point? They’ll die the moment they hit the field.” The B-Team Bonus keeps the bench warm.

 

 Everything is an Encounter:

This one comes from Judge AMP over at Knights in the North. Be sure to check his house rules out because they are excellent! I use a lot of them at my table. 

The idea is simple, but it reshaped how I think about awarding XP:
Anything that costs the party something is an encounter.

If it burns time, HP, spells, gear, gold, risk, or narrative leverage: it’s an encounter.
Disarming a trap? Encounter.
Good haggling? Encounter.
Moral quandary? You guessed it - Encounter.

You don’t have to get granular about it. The goal isn’t to nickel-and-dime every torch burned or every copper spent. Just ask yourself: Did this scene cost the party something real? If it did, then treat it like an encounter when it comes time to hand out XP.

It encourages thoughtful play, and it helps reward moments that matter: even if no swords ever get drawn.

Setting Investment:

This last one’s a little harder to pin down, but it might be the most meaningful of all.

Setting Investment is when a player shows you, through their play, that they live in the world. Not just that their character knows the setting, but that they do.

It could be a decision made from some quiet bit of internal logic that even you hadn’t considered.
It could be a sharp understanding of politics or history that shows they’re really paying attention.
It could be a moment when they catch a subtle implication and act on it, completely in character.

When it happens, it’s not just rewarding them, it’s a reward for you, the Judge. It means your world matters.

I don’t give XP for this all the time. It’s rare. It should stay rare.
Usually it’s a small bonus, just a single XP,  given in the moment, or after the fact when I’m reviewing my notes. Sometimes another player will call it out, and I love when that happens.

Because when a player plays like they belong to the world, That’s when the world starts to feel real.

The Ash Specter

     Welcome to yet another monster posting! I'm back on the Monster Extractor and this time our monster comes from the Monster Extractor II! I know I talk about these a lot but I really find them to be an incredible leaping off point to create a new monster for my games. speaking of games, this monster is mentioned in my latest campaign diary and I thought to myself, Thursday's post feels a little lazy just dropping a campaign diary from the archive. So why not fill out a full entry on the ash specter and let others use it?

    The Ash Specter is a credible threat to a party who's lacking magical options or a cleric of some kind. It's smart enough to know to use it's possession on those who could kill it easily. don't let it's low hit points fool you, it's not going to spend a lot of it's time out in the open where it can be killed.

 The Ash Specter 

Black Emperor Campaign Diary Chapter 12 & 13

Session 12:

The party realizes they are going to need steel, otherwise they are going to be sending peasants with little more than tools and clothes to fight for them. They are reminded of a small mining outpost south of their home village, its a gamble as its a military outpost as well.

Taking the gamble the party sends Homlet, Determined, and Ilanth to the outpost, with the vast majority of their pine knights. When they arrive the guards seem to be a little shaken by the superior force but the commander, a human named “Gunt” advises that this is a well positioned outpost and they wont be taking it by force. He invites the party and only the party to come in under a white flag to negotiate terms of surrender. Commander Gunt may be one of the emperor’s men but his first loyalty is to his own men. He tells the party that he could probably give them a lot of trouble while the imperial army makes its way out here but he thinks he would lose a lot of good men, he agrees to surrender his fort under the condition that he is given control of the fort and the party purchases the iron from him, at a reasonable rate of course. The party, decides this is better than going to battle and losing time and agrees, finding that Gunt is well liked by his troops and a decent man, though no one here will talk about what they did to get sent to such a backwater post with no chance of advancement.

The party realizes with the iron, they will need fuel, they consider cutting down the forest, lord of the rings style, before settling on trying to secure a place known as “the dead wood” to take the dead trees for fuel. It seem the dead wood has this name for a reason as all the trees the party finds are long dead and there is an ash hanging over this place. They find a small village, the source of this evil, and explore. They are attacked by a horrible creature known as an ash specter! It takes turns possessing them and forcing them to attack one another before finally they are able to use holy power to dispel this thing and find its remains, salting them and laying it to rest. 

With the dead wood secured the preparations for war can begin, forges are lit and iron is smelted. The party gathers again in the druid’s circle to plan their next move.

Session 13:

To gather intel Colossal, Squawk, and Prodigious the goblin all travel to the waystation on the main road to search for wanted posters of themselves, hoping to send a party into the capital to gain intel and return the armor to clan Buryn. They find that the wanted posters are wildly inaccurate and they realize that the only reports of their appearances are from their frienenemy, Jagh-Deesh. 

The party trades out a few members and sends Homlet, Atreyu, Colossal, and Jar to investigate the capital. Deathrattle revealed himself in the city, ambushing the party with a collection of dire corbies in an alleyway. The party responds quickly, engaging with the corbies in the street. Homlet reaches into the swirling chaos of magic and draws out a color spray to distract the creatures. Unfortunately the unpredictable and dangerous magic used by Homlet kills seven people, causing the guards to be summoned. Colossal tells the party to cheese it and she will handle the guards.

When the guards arrive Colossal cries her eyes out and blames the corbies for the death of the townspeople. The minotaur guard assumes she is a child and she makes no efforts to dispel this. He takes her back to the guard post in order to help her locate her parents. At the guard post a goblin guard takes charge, dismissing the minotaur to return to patrol. He tells Colossal that he knows she’s not a kid and offers her his wineskin and fungal cigar, a gesture to calm her down. Colossal takes the wine and explains the situation and that she lives outside the capital but nearby. The guard shrugs and tells her that this could be the story but he smells wine on her breath and she could be the killer. He tells her that he’s looking for a donation to the guard in order to let this situation slide. Colossal agrees and takes the guard out of town, but not before he can inform one other guard to look for her if he doesn’t come back. Colossal leads the guard around the slums until a rain of rocks kills and eventually buries the guard. It seems a local kobold gang, known as the Black Backs, have come to Colossal’s aid, mostly because they wanted to kill a guard who was in their territory alone. Colossal works out a deal with them to get back into the city and deal with the guard who is supposed to look for her. Its a difficult negotiation but the kobolds talk her down from the large sum of ten gold to the larger sum of six.

Inside the city, Atreyu, Homlet, and Jar make their way to the Buryn clanhold. After Atreyu explains their reason for being there and the minotaur are taken aback by the gesture. The trio are taken into the hold and given rooms and told they will have to wait for the elders to meet with them. After a few hours Atreyu is summoned to the elder’s chamber where he meets Cormac, Sorcha, and Dagdah the elders of clan Buryn. Atreyu presents the armor and weapon of the fallen Minotaur knight and when asked what he would take as a reward he asks for his companions to be given hospitality in the hold, a courtesy they would already be extending, and a simple map of the area around Four Oaks. Additionally they offer the fallen knight’s shield to Atreyu, a great honor among minotaur. When he is dismissed Atreyu decides it is best to wait for Colossal to show up at the hold. 

Eventually Colossal does show up at the hold and is re-united with the party and decided to bunk with Jar in order to study this strange new type of ooze she has created. 

The trio begin the trip up to Four Oaks, having spent only a few days in the capital. As they get close to Four Oaks they encounter a strange wizard on the back of a giant scorpion who quickly becomes offended and flies off.

Powder Walker

    "It does not hunt. It does not hate. It walks. And behind it, the world dies screaming." -Anonymous survivor

    The Powder Walker is a monster I made with some friends after making some baseline stuff on the Monster Extractor III. It started as just a big monster but eventually turned into a whole walking ecological disaster.

    My suggestion for use with this is to use it for a series of escalating encounters. Powderlings show up and seem to be nothing more than strange monsters that fight in packs. As the players follow the trail back to the source they start to find remnants of eggs and ruins, allowing them to pick up the trail of the Powder Walker itself. as they draw closer to it, the source they would start to encounter swarms, even having a chance to save a few villagers and towns people who survived the attack from the walker (maybe even pick them up as retainers who want revenge). Finally the players could get their first glimpse of the Powder walker itself, the towering threat and hopefully do some planning to bring this thing down

     The Powder Walker could be a little mini arc or adventure in a larger campaign, something that has to be dealt with or is used to eat up precious time when other matters are pressing (or to give the judge a little more time to plan out material)

 

The Powder Walker

The Lingering Hour

 

The Lingering Hour

The Lingering Hour was created by the wizard Orran Thale, a fringe figure in the schools of traditional magical study during the height of the empire. Obsessed with time, Orran researched every obscure theory he could find. He believed the speed and precision of lightning might stretch time's boundaries, or that sheer luck could warp perception, making a moment last longer.

His theories were put to the test when war found him. Caught in a conflict with a local lord turned necromancer, Orran joined the imperial defense and brought his newly-forged staff to bear. His exact timing and uncanny fortune earned him a minor fame among the troops he marched with.

But Orran fell in that war, and the staff was shattered.

Years later, The Lingering Hour appeared again, this time in the hands of another, halfway across the world. It brought similar fortune and similar ruin. Once again, it was broken.

This seems to be the pattern. Each bearer is blessed, then broken. The staff always returns, and so do the questions. Is it truly Orran's creation? Does it bind its wielders to a doomed cycle? Or is the tale just a trick of timing and luck?

 

• +1 to Corruption rolls (Cedar wood body)

• Self-repair: Reassembles after 1 week if pieces are left connected and untouched (Living Steel core)

• +1 to Lightning spells (Brass inlays throughout)

• Double Luck spend, 1/week (Runes of halfling origin, encoded with belief, not magic)

• +1 AC vs Undead (Torn banners from necromancer's fallen armies, wrapped around the grip)

• Attunement: Spend 1 month studying arcane texts on time, lightning, and luck

• Omen: While held, wielder always knows the exact time and date

 

Minotaur Class

    A long time ago a ran a game to build a setting for my players to play in someday. During this game I had them choose various fantasy races and tell me about them as though I knew nothing about them. This is the game that became the foundation for Hodas. 

    One of my players chose Minotaur as their people. they painted a picture of noble warriors who formed clans with strong beliefs about hospitality and a deep cultural identity tied to helping others rise to the same station they themselves stood at. 

    I present the Minotaur class. They are built like a warrior, but lean heavily into using two handed weapons to carve out their own niche. They have powerful builds that two handed weapons take advantage of, allowing them to fight as though they have at least 16 strength, additionally they use a d20 for initiative when fighting with a two handed weapon instead of the d16, really driving home that these strong noble warriors should be bringing the biggest piece of steel they can to a fight.

 

Minotaur Class 

The Retriever

 This one was rolled up by some friends a long time ago. I can barely remember what we discussed as we made it. Loved creating our own little weird dogs in the setting. Just another entry from “Monsters of Hodas”

 

The Retriever 

Distracting Undulation: Level 1 Canticle of Bottle

 In the Last campaign the party created a god by accident. They poured an ooze on a divine relic hoping to destroy it and keep it out of the hands of pirates worse than themselves. The result was the ooze gaining sentience, like any gemheart ooze in Hodas, and due to the nature of the gem inside it becoming a new god. As my players and I work together to create a full write-up for it to reflect the write-ups in DCC RPG Annual we’re coming up with his canticles and i thought it might be fun to share them here! Here is Bottle’s level 1 canticle, Distracting Undulation!

 

Distracting Undulation: Level 1 Canticle of Bottle 

Black Emperor Campaign Diary vol 10 & 11

 

Session 10:

The party had fully united at the druid grove, taking time to rest and recover themselves after a long and difficult trip. They finally came to understand the cryptic message about the gibberling horn, they blow the horn three times which finally kills all of the gibberling still in the forest and surrounding areas.

The party is told by Greycloak, the head of the druid order, that someone is here to speak with them. They are lead to a pond and find that inside the pond is a reflection calling itself the architect tells them he’s been watching their progress and offers them a portion of his power if they are willing to take the mirror shard that Deathrattle draws his power from. Homlet the ooze and Colossal the goblin both agree. Colossal takes The Architect as her patron and Homlet agrees to become an agent of The Architect, stating his patron is the Primordial Ooze.

Seeing additional allies the party travels to the village of Lenovo and meets another adventuring party who overthrew their mayor quietly. The troup here consists of: J the human warrior, bottle the ooze, Yay Yip the kobold, Casa & Pollux twin furies, Avery a human thief, and Gloryhammer the minotaur. The party of Lenovo welcomes the party of Homlet. Our intrepid heroes look for an ooze in the area, hoping for Homlet himself to make peaceful contact with an ooze. They encounter a strange construct underground, it seems like some kind of builder, they learn that this is a broken construct that is here to build dungeons under the world. 

Colossal, Homlet and Atreyu find a shine seeker in the wilderness and follow it back to a shine hoarder. Homlet attempts to make peaceful contact with it and is absorbed into it. After some fear and almost losing Homlet inside the shine hoarder Homlet comes out changed. He has some of the traits of the shine seekers now.

Session 11:

The party gathers again at the druid’s circle, reporting that the adventurers from Lenovo can be counted on when the conflict comes. While this report is made Colossal decided she is going to take a perfect diamond worth four hundred gold and introduce it to her ooze, seeing if this will create a unique gemheart ooze. It does and the ooze it creates as a result is aligned to Law, unable to reach into the chaos of magic and draw out any spell, instead giving this ooze a fixed list of spells. This ooze calls itself “Jar”.

Before leaving again for another nearby village the party of Lugh to arrive in the circle. When he arrives and gives his scouting reports the party sends Sunai the human jockey, Determined the goblin, and Homlet to the village of inwun to try and find more rebels.

In Inwun they meet with a small party including a Fury known as Pluto. Pluto tells the party that there is a whistle that can animate scarecrows on the plateau nearby, if they get this whistle for him then he will use it to create an army for them. Following the lead, they head into the plateau and find a lonely farmstead. They are attacked by a number of scarecrows. They overcome the scarecrows after a few close calls and ultimately locate the whistle, stopping the remaining ones from attacking. As they flee the farmstead they are greeted by an army of crows. A large one in a crown asks for the whistle, advising that it’s power should not be in the hands of mortals. The party decides to hand over the whistle, deciding that they don’t trust pluto with this power. Their reward is a powerful magical shovel known as “The Dirt Devil”.

Aether cat

 A while back i generated this monster with my friends using some cards and tables to come up with it’s different themes. I’ve been sitting on this one for a while and finally got to use it in my most recent campaign, the players found it in a minotaur clanhold hunting the mogs that had taken over the place. They befriended it and it assisted them in dealing with the mog king. 

 

AEthercat 

Spell Drinker Class

 

You are a warrior cursed by dark magics to always hunger for their touch once more. You drink in the magic of mages and items around you, empowering yourself to greater heights. This curse is not without drawbacks - the hunger pushes you to seek out new sources against your better judgement, cursing you to a life of dangerous adventure fated to face off against magic most foul. Despite your thirst, you won’t bargain for power with demons or other nefarious entities; these sources cannot be trusted and you know it is better to kill them and drink in their dark essence.

This Class came about when I saw This post on reddit, User Eatencheetos had this amazing idea for a warrior that absorbs spells from the enemy to increase their deed die and take corruptions from casters. I thought it was a REALLY cool idea so i spent some time thinking about how i would make a class to do something similar to his great idea and finally committed it to paper!

 

Spell Drinker Class 

Black Emperor Campaign Diary vol 8 & 9

 

Session 8:

The Party splits, Cindergrip the goliath berserker, Atreyu the minotaur, and Jacob Ironsides the construct, and Squawk the kobold are all sent north, looking for the tomb.

As they travel north they cross the main road leading out to the coast and encounter the bulk of the army, for some reason marching east across the continent to reach the coast. The party camps among the troops and strikes up a friendly conversation with them. They break bread and share booze with the troops and learn that they are being moved to the coast to look for some kind of weapon and that most of the troops aren’t happy about this.

The following morning the party leaves the army behind at the waystation and continues north. Along the roads they see a armored figure falling from the sky. Shortly after they are almost run down by a horse fleeing in terror. They fail to stop the horse but find they are able to locate the body, a minotaur knight of the famed clan Beryn. As they discuss the dead minotaur they are attacked by a flight of Wyverns, coming to claim the meal they killed. After a struggle the PCs kill one of the Wyverns but send the rest fleeing as Ilanth channels the power of her god to turn the beasts.

After the battle with the Wyverns the party decides to take the armor and equipment of the minotaur with them, Atrayu intends to return them to the clan later, as it is the right thing to do. They continue the journey north and arrive in a village called Groveton. 

Session 9:

The trio arrived in the village of Groveton, a small farming village that is more orchards than houses. They stop only briefly, resupplying and continuing into the pine barrens before sending Jacob, Illanth, and Atreyu into the mountains. 

In the pine barrens the party encounters strange mounted warriors. Green of armor and skin. Their proportions strange and elongated, their bodies and horses all one piece. The party attempts to communicate with these men of the pines and ultimately brokers a deal with them. these immortal warriors will have their curse removed by the druids, as long as they serve the party in their campaign. When the deal is struck they send the men of the pines to the druids to help them mop up the remaining gibberlings.

While moving through the pines the party hears the sounds of distant voices crying out the word “Doom” drawing closer. The party picks up their pace but the calls only draw closer still. Realizing they could die tired or fight the threat the party agrees to make its stand. They are confronted by strange and powerfully built twisted reflections of Kenku, creatures of kenku nightmares known as dire corbies. The party met the first wave of the dire Corby charge with only minor injuries and heard another coming in the distance. Discretion is the better part of valor it seems as they take the break in the assault to flee the pine barrens and meet the rest of the party at the base of the mountains. When they break  through the treeline the rest of the party is waiting for them. The re-united party too much of a threat for their pursuers who stop short of the tree line. As the party looks back at the horde of dire corbies in the trees a kenku shows himself, the emperor’s assassin Deathrattle. Deathrattle reflects the sun’s light using a mirror, shining it at the party before slinking back into the woods.

The party decides it would be best not to look for the weapon, fearing tipping off Deathrattle that Jagh-Deesh is a potential traitor they decide to travel along the mountains before turning south to return to the druid grove. During their trip along the mountains the party notices a massive dwarven face carved into the side of the mountain. They come to understand that this is the tomb of a dwarf known as Brund. The party decides they are not tomb robbers and turn south.

On their journey south they encounter a fellow rebellious spirit in a brigand and his band calling himself “Lugh”. They come to find that Lugh isn’t from the Black island, he’s an outsider who has come here to fight a good fight, gathering people around him to fight for a good cause. The party smells a potential ally and agrees to travel with Lugh back to his camp where he reveals he is not just here to be a hero, he is a piece of a god, a shadow that is diminished and he hopes through his heroic deeds he might take back his power as a god and return to the realm of the gods. The party notes that there is a chance for both of them to get what they want and ask him to join them in their rebellion. Lugh agrees and lends his fighting men to the party’s growing troop count.

Mentor Generator

 A while back I saw some tables in Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad that told you to pick up all the dice and roll them all at once then consult the tables. I loved this and wanted to do something similar. So here it is, my table to roll up a mentor for your character. Maybe this is who taught them the skills to move from level 0 to level 1. maybe your character even picked up some things from them outside the norm of your background or class selection!

 

Mentor Generator 

Campaign Diary vol 6 & 7

 

Session 6:

The party was ambushed at the bottom of the lift, as they exited they struggled against no less than three of the Murder Machines. Experimenting with the technology here they accidentally replaced Colossal’s Eyes with mechanical ones and killed Silverheart, turning his corpse into a new murder machine in a horrifying ritual that stripped him of his ability to feel and speak, leaving him with his mind intact but forever separating him from the sacred stone. Acastus, the fury expressed his supreme dislike for their mutilations of their bodies. A few more struggles and with much of the party being hypnotized into serving a long gone empire and being snapped out of it, they finally reached the end of the gauntlet. A testing chamber for a massive and powerful version of the Murder Machines. With surprisingly few losses the party overcomes this challenge and a portal in the back of the chamber flickers to life, responding to their need to return home, it opens a passage to the tower in Homlet, locking onto one of the portals there.

The party returned home and spent four days resting and recovering from the struggle in the mountain. 

Session 7:

After taking a few days to recover the party returned to the druid grove, offering the manual to make the constructed and the service of the Murder Machine, Silverheart. Seeking additional power to protect these people Stonesinger the goliath gives up his life to become a powerful guardian of the forest known as a Dru’Gar.

With the ritual complete the party is out of time, a horn is blown and the forest is assaulted by a massive horde of gibberlings. After hours of battle the party has met with Yolanna, a fae knight who has been fighting the invasion in another part of the forest.

After spending most of the day battling against the gibberlings the party thinks to cut off the head of this attack and attack the commander of this horde. Ilanth the human cleric, Acastus the Fury, and Homlet the Ooze try to sneak to the commander’s tent and confront him. They are discovered by the commander, a Minotaur called Jag-Deesh, who invited them into his tent to discuss with them, the laws of hospitality preventing him from harming them. After a discussion with him, the party finds that Jagh-Deesh is an honorable minotaur in a bad position. Committing to the death of the druids and fae simply because it was his duty and should he find a way to not commit the genocide, he would. The party demanded a duel of honor to get him to stop the genocide.

The following day the party met at a garden in a meadow to prepare for their duel with Jagh-Deesh. Their plan was a simple one, put forth their most powerful champion, the transformed Stonesinger and to cheat. They cast spells to strengthen the Dru’Gar and waited for the minotaur to arrive. Upon arrival Jagh-Deesh waited until the magic had worn off before entering the meadow for the duel, shaming the party for attempting to cheat. Ultimately Jagh-Deesh killed Stonesinger and made a decision. He told them of a powerful magical weapon in his father’s tomb near Four Oaks. He offered them a magic ring to protect them from the curse, realizing that these cowardly cheaters might be worthy of his father’s legacy. 

With the duel resolved and another friend dead, the party negotiated a ceasefire for the time being. Jagh-Deesh left them with a horn, which commanded the gibberlings, and a cryptic and not very helpful explanation on how the horn works. After he departed the party decided to hunt down the weapon they were told about and headed north into the mountains.

Demi-Elemental

 

You are a mortal who has been blessed with a bloodline connecting back to a pure elemental. Your bloodline has gifted you with great powers to both command the elements and fight using their power, using martial arts to draw out the fullest powers of your element.

I made this class for someone’s game, she used my world building rules to create a super interesting world and populate it with people. The demi-elementals were the people I put into the game so i wrote the race as a playable class.

In this you’ll find some spells that aren’t in the core rule book, they are available at Breaker Press Games (Print & PDF) in the book Sorcerous Rites of the Elements (PDF, Drive Thru RPG). Go check them out! I really can't say enough nice things about their work!

Alternatively there are a few spells in the Core Rules that could fill in, you could write your own, or hunt down others!

 Demi-Elemental

Bladed Viper

 Not long ago I posted a campaign diary and mentioned a monster called a bladed viper that the party fought. This monster was created a long time ago and I never really had an excuse to use it. Finally getting to use it I had a good time and want to share it with you!

 

Bladed Viper 

Vengeance Ram

 I love random tables, I love making things from tables and work-shopping them with friends. The Vengeance Ram is the product of the Monster Extractor I, a great tool to get the creative juices flowing and start building out a monster. 

Vengeance Ram 

Black Emperor Campaign Diary Vol 4 & 5

 

Session 4:

The party arrives in the strange fortress with unusually advanced construction methods and almost alien appearance. They camp for one night out in front of the only doorway they can find and through the night, haunting screams echo out from the slightly ajar steel doors. 

The party entered the dungeon and quickly found it was not as abandoned as they had thought, a disastrous encounter with a still active Murder Machine causes the death of Cedric, a human cleric. Following this encounter the party moves into the dungeon more carefully, taking care to avoid the powerful construct in the looping hallway they found the quarters of the staff who used to live here and liberated some ancient weapons. Deciding to dig through rubble, rather than risk the Murder Machine again, the party stumbled into a dragon’s lair! One by one the party fell before the dragon’s might until Colossal figured out the truth! As the dragon killed the last of the party they found that it was all an illusion. Leaving the fake dragon and the fake treasure behind the party advanced into a modern day office bullpen, which they promptly ransacked.

Session 5:

After looting the bullpen of all its possible valuables, a few strange devices, and what looked like a plan to shoot up the office place, the party advanced through a heavy and ornate door. In the managers office the party is ambushed by vegepygmies! After a difficult struggle the party gained the partial manual for creating constructed.

Deciding that the managers office did not contain the weapon they needed, the party took their chance in the hallway with the Murder Machine again. Unfortunately for them a battle on two fronts began as they encountered more vegepygmies in the water closets just as the Murder machine rounded the corner and began its attack. In the ensuing battle the party only lost Lightfoot, a goliath. Ultimately the struggle was rewarded by the Immovable Rod and the Horn of Valhalla. Making their way to the lift, the party defeated the security bots on the lift and found atop the mountain, sitting on the helipad, was an apache attack helicopter. This may be the weapon they came here for but after several hours studying the machine, they found no way to activate it and took the lift to the lowest level of the fortress. 

Magical Staff - Roigar’s Spite

 

a while back I found a Magic Staff description generator from d10 Dimensions and I roll on it pretty often to create treasure ahead of time. The magic staff spell in the core rule book is pretty good but i feel like something of that power level should be rare, at least as rare as a magic sword. So to give wizards and other spellcasters a little something to treasure and enjoy and feel a little special.

Roigar’s Spite

Upon discovering a plot on his life, an apprentice mage stole from his master and fled to become a pirate instead. He made the staff by sticking on the bits he stole onto the driftwood. Ever since, he’s used it to terrorize the gentry of the land he abandoned whenever they venture onto the sea.

• Shaft: Magnolia Driftwood
• Core: Sapphire
• Binding: a single silver bolt and nut binds the staff
• Runes: Demonic Runes
• Odd physical feature: Build in mechanism for noise making
• Cosmetic mystical effect: glowing (1 color, equal to 1 candle)
• 137 centimeters 2.49 feet
• Rune of the Chameleon: Roll +1d on Sneak and Move silent checks
• Sapphire core: +1 to spell checks on spells involving air effects or mind effects (not including fear, anger despair or insanity, grants +1 to saves against this effect)
• Silver bolt: +1 damage to lightning based spells and effects
• Magnolia: +1 to social checks involving nobles (driftwood: +1d when those nobles are seafaring folk or ships captains)

Black Emperor Campaign diary, Vol 2 & 3

 

these are two somewhat short chapters so i’m lumping them together on this one

Session 2:

A year later most of the original mob has returned alive, no everyone was so lucky to find mentors and training out in the world. They have arrived just prior to the anniversary of the Mayor’s appointment. The Black Emperor arrives and seems to make no notice of the act of rebellion. He simply appoints a new mayor, Bator the blackhand, and leaves. Bator wastes no time, conjuring a great tower. His first act as mayor is to gather the townsfolk at the base of his tower and demand the children of the village be sent to his tower and brought into his protection. The town elder, Smelder, gathers the party and asks them to deal with the dark wizard.

The party gathers themselves and enters the wizards tower, moving through the surreal tower the party encounters a reception and waiting room, a room in the clouds, a chamber that opens to the planes of elements, and a chamber with strange portals.

Finally the party confronts the mad mage and his gargoyles on the roof, through a comical series of blunders, dropping bombs that skitter around the floor and cause a panic, and bonding Bator to one of the party’s patrons. After a life or death struggle atop the roof of the tower they triumph and free their town from oppression again.

Session 3:
From a nearby village, a pair of brothers, Mug and Asp, a warrior and a wizard, join the party, they have their own agenda, searching for Dryad wood. This, along with word from the capital that the druids of the nearby woods are subject to a purge, causes the party to venture into the woods in search of the druids to support them. After some struggles against the local creatures and strange groves the goblin Colossal, gains possession of the dagger, Eversharp by turning one of the local creatures, a bladed viper, into a dagger.

The party meets with the druids finally and agree to search the mountains for a weapon to help protect the druids. They leave almost immediately and stop by the town of Pernrith on the way to the mountains.

Inside the town of Pernrith they spend a week collecting themselves and gain a small following of Goliath, from Bronzefist’s clan. Other party members gather information on the status of the empire learning that there are whispers of their defiance through many of the small villages scattered around the empire. Having gathered themselves, supplies, and a few hirelings, Merchi a retired soldier, and Jupiter, a strange human who seems unusually arrogant; the party departs for the fortress in the mountains.

Magic Sword: The Tax Collector

 

Today we took a roll on the sword magic tables of DCC and this is what came out the other side.

The Tax Collector

+1 Blessed Lawful golden Long-sword

1 int

Made to spread wealth.

Detect anyone with more than 100gp in value on them within 500 ft

once per day you may select a space within 10ft and act as though you are in that space for 1 round.

+1 to hit and damage rolls against unholy targets  

in order to attune the bearer must steal from a wealthy noble and give the wealth to the poor.

The Tax Collector is an old relic of a long dead religion that preached a healthy redistribution of wealth among citizens to keep trade flowing. this was wildly unpopular among the ruling class and the faith was purged quickly. This sword was once held by the highest office within the faith but found its way into the hands of a noble who stole it during the burning of the church. naturally a golden sword attracted the attention of thieves which caused it to fall into the hands of a very successful bandit before infighting caused the sword to fall out of history

Black Emperor Campaign Diary vol 1.

 

A while back I ran a game in Hodas, the first official one, to kinda get the player’s feet wet in the setting they created for us. I’ll post the story of that game a 1-2 sessions at a time depending on length.

Session 1:
It all starts in the hamlet of Homlet. The Black Emperor has just killed the much loved mayor, Mayor Brayor, and appointed a dark wizard to oversee the village. This isn’t that abnormal, the Emperor comes once a year to kill the old mayor who is usually evil and replaced him with someone worse. Brayor was different, he was kind, he took care of his people. This newly appointed Mayor, Jayor almost immediately rounds up the town’s virgins to take them for sacrifice. This is the final straw for the villagers of Homlet who take their torches and pitchforks and storm the abandoned fortress on the edge of town that the mayor has retreated to.

Upon storming the fortress they find strange magical trinkets, beast men, and a monstrous leviathan. The party pushes past all this and confront the mayor who has already sacrificed much of the village people he kidnapped. The mayor throws himself into a burning pit with the sacrifices and emerges as a burning demigod. The villagers, with revenge in their hearts, strike down the newborn god as it is still forming and vulnerable and flee as his form struggles to remain intact, still taking at least one more of the villager’s with it in it’s death throes. 

The villager’s who killed the mayor and saw the demi-god realize they have been changed by this experience. They cannot simply return to their lives. Worse, the emperor will notice what they’ve done when the next year comes, like it or not, they have started something bigger than themselves, a rebellion. The surviving members of the mob agree to go their separate ways returning in a year to stand against the emperor.

Portal Guardian

 My wife and i started a project to make our own little bestiary for my setting so we started to roll on charts and tables and talk with our friends. The Portal guardian is one of these creatures. Funny little guys that wizards produce to protect the portals they leave lying around or just the entrance to their home.

 

Portal Guardian 

Moon Elf Class

 a while back a friend of mine was working on his own DCC setting and asked me to take a crack at something he called “Moon Elves” as a class. he wanted to see what i would do with the information that they were a sort of shape shifter who drew on that power to have different levels of transformations. He hated it and showed me his own version which I liked a lot more than my own. This is my version of it, i can’t share his as i didn’t write it, don’t have his permission, and he doesn’t have a blog or anything. I never finished this by adding the opening crawl because i don’t have his setting information and figured if he used this he could write it himself.

 

Moon Elf Class 

Beast Master Class

 

A while back one of my players expressed a desire to play something like the hound master from darkest dungeon. They wanted to have some kind of animal companion that wasn’t at the whim of the Judge to be killed off at any moment of spite that was the bulk of their features. So i thought about it for a long time and looked at the excellent rules for animal companions over at Knights in The north and was struck with inspiration! You can find their animal companion rules at this link: Animal Companions

Enough rambling! I present the Beast Master class for DCC! They gain access to deeds and extraordinary attacks through training their companion, they can do okay in the wilderness, and can in some small way communicate their intentions to animals of the same species as their companion

 

 Beast Master Class

The Concealed Garrison of the Undead Congregation

A quick dungeon that was created from a couple of name generating tables, The Concealed Garrison is a simple three room dungeon that can be slipped into almost any system and lets a Judge have something ready to go if they don’t have anything prepared. This dungeon is made with a party of 3rd to 4th level characters in mind.

The undead congregation was a collection of undead who gathered to worship a long forgotten sun god in a death cult. Heroes of old slew the cult’s heads and thought that was the end. Unfortunately a garrison of their followers has been revealed in recent excavations for a new village founding. You have been asked to clear them out and ensure the structure is safe for consecration. The structure is concealed in a hillside, an opening in a tree’s roots leads down.

 

 The Concealed Garrison of the Undead Congregation

 

 

 

 

 

Find something on this blog!

This is the master post for easily searching content on this Blog. It’s broken down by type of content and links to each item, hope this makes it easier on you! Some of these are links to my old home, over on Tumblr.

Classes:

Beast Master

Demi-Elemental

Kobold 

Minotaur 

Moon Elf

Ooze 

Spell Drinker

Monsters:

Aether cat

Ash Specter 

Bladed Viper

Echo Servant 

Falsemate 

Portal guardian

Powder Walker 

Retriever

Vengeance Ram

Magic Items: 

Magic Cloak: Vexilar's Mantle 

Magic Staff: Alder Circle 

Magic Staff: Roigar’s Spite

Magic Staff: The Lingering Hour 

Magic Sword: The Tax Collector

Magic Wheelock Rifle: The Wyrdcoil 

Black Emperor Campaign Diary:

Vol 1

Vol 2 & 3

Vol 4 & 5

Vol 6 & 7

Vol 8 & 9

Vol 10 & 11

Vol 12 & 13

Vol 14

Vol 15

Epilogue 

 

Crew of the Traitor Campaign Diary:

Vol 1

Spells:

Distracting Undulation (level 1 cleric canticle)

Tables and misc:

Mentor generator (table)

The Concealed Garrison of the Undead Congregation (adventure)

Alternative Experience rules (homebrew rules) 

Crystalline Zeppelin of the Legendary Coronet (adventure)