The Winter Queen's Handmaiden

The Fox God has many terrible children, but his daughter, the Winter Queen, is perhaps the least unfriendly to mankind, She rules an icy realm near the roots of the Tree of Life and the spirits of the lost and tormented dwell there. Her Handmaidens protect that realm. The are creatures of great beauty but show the signs of death. Their eyes bleed tears and their hands end in nails that drip a deadly venom. They feast on the bodies of those who intrude on the Winter Queen's realm. The voice of a Handmaiden is a song that can charm man or woman, beast or monster and they will have a following of such charmed creatures about them always.

Coins

I like to use props as a DM and I was a bit dismayed by the coin weights in 1e AD&D so I used USA coins instead so that players could get a tactile sense of the numbers on paper that represent treasure.

Copper Piece = Half-Dollar = 2/ounce = 32/pound
Silver Piece = Quarter = 5/ounce = 80/pound
Electrum Piece = Nickle = 5/ounce = 80/pound
Gold Piece = Penny = 10/ounce = 160/pound
Platinum Piece = Dime = 10/ounce = 160/pound

So if you find 2,000 coppers you have lug over 60lbs of coins with you which has a value of 10 gold. The equivalent gold pieces weigh 1 ounce and take up the room of 10 pennies. 

I have found that rather being a fiddly way of dealing with coins it brings a sense of reality to the game. The player's get a sense of the coins, the feel, the weight, even a better idea of what jewelry and ornaments might be worth lugging out of a dungeon. Finding a goblet or crown of solid gold that might weigh a pound or two can be reasoned out in the weight of coin not just notes on paper. Higher level player characters begin to loathe the sight of copper and even lower level characters need to work out how to transport the stuff in quantity.

As a side note I also use alternate currencies especially spices. Saffron, I believe, was worth up ten times its weight in gold during the middle-ages. There was a time when Salt was a currency and one which you could use in the most rural hamlet or greatest urban center. A farmer might not want to sell his mule for gold but spices and other trade goods would certainly interest him.

Lone Wolf Bk1 AD&D Conversion Part 1 - The Watchtower

The adventure begins with 4 first level characters, students from the Kai Monastery, sent to bring fresh supplies and take their turn at watch. The tower is about ten miles distant from the Monastery toward the South-East.

The tower is on a hill about 80ft above the surrounding forest. The woodlands are thick and wild with only hunting and animal trails nearby and the wagon road that leads back to the monastery. There is a roadway some distance away that follows the valley floor and heads from Toran to the North to Holmgaard to the South with a branch leading toward the Kai Monastery but it is hidden by the tall trees of the forest.

What can be seen from the roof, which is 60feet high, are the towers of the Kai Monastery, some open fields to the west where crops are grown, cattle raised and small farms scattered about, and the tops of trees for the most part to the North, East and South. The tower is used as a fire watch for the most part and sometimes a waystation for hunters and rangers, especially during the winter.

1. The interior of the tower has a large hearth against one wall and a smaller iron stove more frequently used against another. There are wide benches used for beds or storage against the walls and two long tables with benches in the center of the room. A trapdoor leads to a root cellar and small opening near the hearth is a well that goes down a spring beneath the hill.

The stairs lead to the top floor where the watchers sleep and keep emergency supplies and signaling equipment. A short set of stairs leads to the roof which slightly curved so that water will roll down into gutters along the side and collect in rain barrels below.

2. The stables are large enough to hold a dozen horses and contain a small forge and anvil.

It from this rooftop that the Player Character see a dark cloud envelope the Kai Monastery.

If they make their way to the monastery they find the swirling black cloud to be impenetrable.                      

Gamma World Pic 1

Returning to Lone Wolf AD&D conversion

My apologies for my long absence from this project. Hopefully 2017 will prove to be more productive.

The Kraan are one of the first monsters encountered in the Lone Wolf series.

They are described as leather-winged flying creatures and in game terms as having a combat skill of 16 and an endurance of 25. A very powerful foe right out of the gate.

One of the main problems with a conversion between the AD&D system and the LW gamebooks is the skill-based system and relative uniformity of the monster strengths as compared with the level experience system and incremental increase in strength and power of both characters and monsters in the AD&D system.

The Kraan are perfect example. If they are to be encountered as monsters to be fought directly from the very first then they must be represented as creatures of relatively low HD. For a game beginning with 1st level PCs then it is my belief a Kraan of no more than 2HD should be encountered. A party of 4 1st level PCs will be challenged to defeat a 2HD Kraan with 2 attacks bite 1d4/ claw 1d6 AC7 but completely overwhelmed by a more powerful, larger version that can act as a mount for enemy NPCs.

 For my game conversion I'm using Kraan of varying ages. The youngest encountered are Spawn. They are 1HD flying creature with a single slashing attack of 1-2HP damage. They run to about 50lbs and are AC8. They are normally encountered in groups of 1d6+1

2-3HD Kraan are Young and are double the size of the Spawn. They are still too small to act as mounts and more solitary. 1d4 are the normal number encountered.

Young Adult Kraan are 4-5HD, AC5  with 3 attacks Bite 1d6 and Claw/Claw 1d8/1d8 and are more than twice the size of Kraan Young. These creatures are much larger than humans and are trained to be mounts, but are still not used as mounts for the Darklords but smaller Humans and Giaks will be found riding them.

The Cave of Delos K'y Part 1

Delos K'y, the Feral Druid, is a legend among the people of the Targent Valley. He is said to live in a cave somewhere among the hills in the far west of the borderlands surrounded and protected by the creatures of the wild and by traps and snares of his own devising. In game terms he is a 7th level Druid of considerable experience on the cusp of achieving greater power (level 8).

While not unfriendly Delos is said to be very uncommunicative and spends a good deal of his time in the form of an animal. (Hawk or Cave Bear are his most common forms).  Delos will aid individuals who approach him in a friendly manner. He demands no payment for his services in material form but instead collects 'favors' to be called in at a later date when he may be in need of aid himself. Most locals of the valley are on very friendly terms with the reclusive druid and some are followers of the 'Old Faith' ( a druidic belief system that reveres nature and balance over any form of deity). anyone causing harm to Delos can expect trouble from the locals and a number of fairly powerful friends that Delos has made in the past.

Delos a number of druidic magical items on him at all times. most notably a bone amulet that he wears in all forms that provides protection from fire and protection from lightning as per the druidic spells of the same name which he can activate twice per day as if he cast them himself' His boots are enchanted with a permanent Pass Without Trace spell. Around his waist he wears a small pouch which is a Minor Pouch of Holding. The Pouch weighs only as much as a copper coin and Delos can carry it even in Hawk form. It will carry 8 items (8 coins, 8 swords, 8 stones, etc...) of no more than 8ft in length with a maximum 1ft diameter (the maximum size that the lips of the Pouch can be stretched open).

Delos in human form will always wear his Necklace of Animal Summoning. There are seven wooden figures of animals on his Necklace. He can detach one per turn and cast it in front of him. The figure is consumed and the semi-translucent form of the depicted animal will appear to serve the druid for 10 game turns after which it disappears in a clap of thunder and flash of light that has a chance to stun anyone within 10ft for 1d4 rounds (-1 to hit/-1 AC) save versus magic to negate. Creatures summoned have all the physical attributes, benefits and limitations of the actual creature they represent but suffer no pain, have maximum HP and if slain disappear in the above mentioned clap of thunder and light.

End Part 1 

The Tree That None May Ever Know - Part 1

He dreamed of falling. At first it was a pit of darkness and only the streams of color that surrounded him as he fell were his companions. In their light he saw the outline of his hand, his arm, his legs stretched before him. He rushed downward but only the streaking colors told him that he moved. He felt no rushing wind, no air to breath or need for breath. He reached out and felt no wall or face of stone, no substance. His hands, his feet and legs, his body had a sense that was only the memory of flesh. In the darkness he burned and became a flame and when he struck the frozen lake he shattered the ice and turned the air to steam. 

The cracks in the ice ran from side to side in the lake and the great river Elvigar shuddered and split. The fire that was Ragnorvald burned upon the steaming ice and a great mist arose and a fog drifted across the banks as not had been seen in Niflheim since the days of creation.

In the chilling water the burning flame became flesh, became Ragnorvald and he swam to shore. The bank was rising as the ice became mist and then water. Ragnorvald was a terrible swimmer and swallowed mouthfuls of the rapidly cooling lake. He flung his hands out for the half-melted edge, pulling down clumps of sticking mud till he touched upon its frozen core. Shaking with the effort his newly formed muscles spasmed and his teeth chattered and chomped till he thought they would break while he lay naked on the shore.

"Cold, you certainly look," came a soft voice. 

The fire still lurked within Ragnorvald, was Ragnarvald, and the shivering and teeth chattering stopped. His muscles burned, and his skin burned with the fiery touch of cold. His bones felt as though they would crack as he straitened and gathered his legs beneath and pushed himself like the rising of the first tree onto his feet and up.

A wolf stood looking at him on the frozen shore and nearby was the frozen stoney edge of a mountain that rose higher than sight and all about, beside the steaming lake, was wasteland, ancient ice and a grey twilight that wrapped itself around Niflheim that did not see the sun.