Bearded Rats JRPG Background: Smuggler

 

Smuggler Image generated by Craiyon.com

5. Smuggler

• You smuggle things, rare things, valuable things. The Wizard, at some point in your career, made something for you. He didn’t want money as payment though, he wanted you to do something for him.


• You owe the Wizard, but for what? You have a Token Item.

• You gain the Shadow Jack trait at Rank 1 and some Contraband.

Why do you owe the Wizard?

1. He enchanted your cloak so that it’s able to hold a lot more things than it should be able to hold. The things also do not show up if someone else is searching for them. You gain a Cloak of Many Pockets.

2. He made a cloak that makes you invisible. It’s alive though, and needs to be fed gold coins to do its job. You gain Obscuritas, the Cloak of Invisibility (Rank 1), both as an object and a companion, at rank 1.

3. He made you 10 Coins of Bribery, that will make any bribery attempt payed for with these coins magically succeed, provided the recipients possess intelligence.

4. He gave you a Crystal Dowsing Rod, which makes you able to look for items or people you want to find just by thinking of them. It will point in the right direction. With training you can refine the process.

5. He gave you a new face which, besides hiding your old one, has a very charming smile. You gain Smile of Innocence (Rank 1)

6. He trained you in hypnotism, making you able to hypnotize people and animals. You gain Hypnotist (Rank 1).

What contraband are you carrying right now?

1. Expensive Wine, in a wooden crate that carries 6 bottles.

2. A box full of Forged Documents that only need names and signatures to be filled in.

3. A crate of Star Metal, harvested from a fallen meteor. It behaves strangely.

4. 10 Magical Wands, developed by the king’s own mages.

5. A stolen Spell Book. You cannot read it. It has a menacing aura.

6. A Reliquary supposedly holding what remains of the hand of a powerful mage, long dead. It gives you nightmares.

Bearded Rats JRPG Background: Gambler

 

Gambler Illustration generated by Craiyon.com

4. Gambler

• You are a gambler, but you gambled with the wrong person and lost a bet. What did you know the guy was a Wizard! Now you are here, paying it off. 

• Losing a bet with the Crystal Wizard means you were confident enough by previous successes. You gain a Prize.

• You gain the Finger Smith trait at Rank 1 and a Pair of Lucky Dice.

What prize did you gain and who did you piss off with that?

1. You won a very expensive bottle of wine from the Innkeeper in a town of choice. 
You have a bad reputation with said Innkeeper. Bad Reputation: Innkeeper (Rank 1)

2. You won a special weapon from a warrior. You decided to keep using it. Detail it with the GM. Name the warrior. They obviously don’t like you anymore. Bad Reputation: Warrior (Rank 1)

3. You won the keys to a house in the city. It’s your property now. You haven’t seen it yet, since it’s from the same night that you lost to the Wizard. Bad Reputation: Previous Owners (Rank 1)

4. You won a strange animal. The animal seems to have little desire to listen to you though. Bad Reputation: Strange Animal (Rank 1)

5. You won a magical piece of clothing from a dark stranger. Wether this stranger is mad about it or not you cannot gauge, but they have taken an interest in you and might show up from time to time. Contact: Dark Stranger (Rank 1).

6. You died once, but managed to gamble with Death themself and win it back, for now. They might want to arrange things in such a way that surviving becomes difficult for you. Bad Reputation: Death Personified (Rank 1). You gain the trait Grave Walker at Rank 1.

Bearded Rats JRPG Background: Homunculus

One of the possible Homunculi, as depicted by Crayon.com

 3. Homunculus

• You were not born, but rather are a creation made by the Wizard. Wether or not you look human or not, there will always be at least one part of you that gives you away as inhuman.

• Because you are a servant of the Crystal Wizard you gain the Crystal Rose, a brooch that shows your allegiance with him.

• You have a Special Talent linked to your Form.

What is inhuman about you? What is your Special Talent?

1. You used to be a cat, hunting vermin for the Wizard. The wizard upgraded your intelligence and gave you a more human appearance, though he left your cat-like senses, your claws and teeth all intact. You are a Vermin Hunter (Rank 1) and a Humanoid Cat (Rank 1).


2. You used to be the powerful spirit of a lake, a fairy prince(ss), praised as a god by local humans. The Wizard caught you and stripped you of your power, forcing you to clean the Crystal Tower. You are an Urn-Trapped Lake Spirit (Rank 1) and have a Spell Slot with access to the magic lists for Elemental Water (Rank as Lake Spirit) and Cleaning (Rank 1). 
Your Magic Urn gives you Armor 8, but you have no (visible, usable) hands to use weapons or shields with and you can’t wear any other armor unless you find a way to escape the urn.

3. You used to be a porcelain doll, until the Crystal Wizard brought you to life to entertain his guest. You are an Animated Doll (Rank 1) and an Entertainer (Rank 1).

4. You used to be an owl, then the Wizard changed you into a more humanoid form. You kept your size, your wings, your feathers, your head and your talons, but gained humanoid arms. You are an Owl Creature (Rank 1) and Shadow Jack (Rank 1).

5. You used to be an ox, until the Wizard transformed you into a person with the strength of an ox. The only reminder that you were once an ox, is your tail. You still have the strength of an ox, but now the body of a human and all the perks that come with that. Grateful for this, you work for the Wizard in any capacity that needs your great strength, mainly menial labor. You are an Ox-tailed Human (Rank 1) with Inhuman Strength (Rank 1).
 Additionally you switch you highest ability score with STR and if it was not yet 2, it is now.

6. You used to be a plant, which the Wizard choose for its medicinal properties. The wizard gave you legs and intelligence, channeling your healing properties into a small capacity for magic, which makes you able to use your healing properties whenever your magic allows. You are a Humanoid Plant (Rank 1) with a Spell Slot and access to the spell lists Plant (Rank 1) and Healing (Rank 1).

Bearded Rats JRPG Background: Burglar

 

Burglar image generated by Craiyon.com

2. Burglar

• You spent your time breaking into houses, that is, until you tried to break into a wizard tower, you fool. At least now you just need to do this job and you are free of imprisonment by the Wizard.

• Because you are a prisoner of the Crystal Wizard, you are equipped with a Magical Collar that will harm you if you try to just run away.

• You gain the Finger Smith trait at Rank 1 and always have Lock Picks on you.

How do you usually get into buildings?

1. Rooftop access: You gain the Roof Runner trait at Rank 1, and have a Grappling Hook. 

2. Explosives: You gain a Bomb.


3. Disguising: You gain a Specific Disguise.

4. Sneaking: You gain a Dark Cloak and the Shadow Jack trait at Rank 1


5. Preparation: You gain a Notebook and a Pen to write down all your observations to plan.


6. Bribes: You gain a Pouch of Coin.

Bearded Rats JRPG Background: Artifact Hunter

Since the Bearded Rats idea is me tinkering with a newer idea for me, I do not want to apply it to my current game, but to another campaign I would want to play. I'm still quite in love with the JRPG esthetic, so I'm thinking wether or not that's possible.

JRPG style things without levels and ranks feels a bit weird. I want to keep some type of leveling or ranking, but still have the improvement happen in-fiction. I might have to re-write some of the rules for that, especially if traits like Briarborn or Shadowjack become ranked. I'm thinking of the ranks becoming modifiers to the danger rolls, rather than having advantage on said rolls.

Anyway, I present you with the Artifact Hunter!

Artifact Hunter art provided by https://www.craiyon.com

1. Artifact Hunter

• You spend your time in old ruins and abandoned places, hunting for artifacts. 
Sometimes people hire you to do this. This time the Crystal Wizard hired you to retrieve a specific one. You have an Artifact Hunter reputation at Rank 1

• Because you are hired, you gain a Pouch of Coins, with the promise of another one on job completion.

• You gain the Finger Smith trait at Rank 1 and an Artifact that you have kept for yourself.

The artifact in question:

1. A Large Revolver, and the ability to supply it with regular ammunition. 


Ranged, 1 Hand. 

+1 attack if using two hands to stabilize. 


Special ammunition can be found/made.


2. A barely functional Robot Body (rank 1). Can walk and hold items. 

Armor 8, HP 1


Can be upgraded in several ways, if the correct pieces are found or made.


3. A Ruined Airship (rank 1), not functional yet, but with time and effort, you are certain that you can get it to work. Currently stationed and disguised as a regular ship in the closest harbor.


4. A Giant Robot Head, useless on its own, but if powered it should be able to talk and see. If given a body it should be a frightful thing indeed. Currently stashed in your house/workshop, wherever that is.


5. A Jetpack, giving the ability to fly. You gain the Pilot trait at Rank 1


6. Special Goggles, giving you Night Vision. Different types of these exist.

The Dreamlands: TYRANT - The King of All Snakes

 

Last of the Dreamland's most notable inhabitants, for now. I'm dreaming up more about what kinds of hermits could be living in there, but noting concrete yet. Not entirely thrilled with the layout, but it's good enough for now. The HP and attacks are all dependent on the heads according to rules for a Hydra, so I tried to make that trackable, but it feels cluttered and taking up too much space. I might revisit this.

The Dreamlands: The Dreamwoods General

 

This is the general information about the Dreamwoods. Perhaps Slumberwoods would be a better idea so as not to be to repetitive. In any case, these are the general things to know about it. Arborix, being a special thing, has been detailed before, and The King of Snakes is currently in the making, getting at least a page itself. The green box will hopefully at one point be substituted by illustrations of Yip-Yip Birds or forest gnomes, but yeah, this is it for now for this region. I might at one point dream up a guide for the colours of dreams and running a forest gnome village or something, but for now I'm taking my dreams to the King of Snakes. Should you want to submit some ideas, feel free to pitch in with what other kind of magic/abilities the forest gnomes could have.

The more I am dreaming up these things, the more I find that OSE might not be the best system to run this in this whimsical, dreamlike way, and that perhaps TROIKA! or RISUS might do better. But for now, for making this world, I will keep doing the OSE thing, as it makes me learn and understand the system more.

The Dreamlands: Arborix - King of the Forest

 

The people who have been following along my dreaming and drawing of the Dreamlands that I started to share recently are already somewhat familiar with Arborix, the Forest Dragon in Hex 15. Seeing their popularity on the NSR discord and on the Cauldron, I decided to finish them up well enough to share even here. Some things have changed from the previous version and I've attempted to make them some custom made spells. Seeing as the spells are mainly for them I'm not really worrying about it but once people play in this world they might want to get the opportunity to learn magic from Arborix and then I'll need to figure out some stuff about what level these spells would be. (Since these would be pretty fun to have as spells) I will accept guidance on this here. Anyway. The next people I've been dreaming more about (and who have changed a bit since the hex-map) are the bee-shepherds from hex 1. People wanted to learn about the Yip-Yip Birds as well, and that will come up soon to I think. Whatever comes next here will come next. For now enjoy this dragon. Feel free to ask questions, but I won't promise to give answers to them. I hope the resolution is enough to read. (It gets bigger when you click on the picture)

The Dreamlands - Designing a hex of hexes using OSE

So, life has been hectic and I haven't blogged a lot. I still commute to work though, using the train and walking some distances. As such I've started to dream up a fantasy world using mainly the wilderness encounter tables from Old School Essentials. It's both escapism and learning the GM side of the game and deepening my understanding of how these things work.

I had tried these things before, but always got way to ambitious in my scope, so the projects fell to the side, having learned from them, but not finishing them in the least. This might be another one of these, or it might be the one. I don't know. For now it's just an escapism thing that I'm willing to share with the world.

So, I made a hex of 19 hexes itself, since I think that's how it works in OSE. One big hex fits four small hexes (I think 24 miles is the big one, 6 is the small one). As such some of these hexes are actually hexes crossing the border into the next big hex (I think 1, 3, 8, 12, 17 & 19). But once again. Keeping it small, not worrying about that now.

Liking how the Black Hack (2e) did hex-map randomization, I took that as a start and set 1-3 on a d6 as grassland, 4-5 as another randomly rolled type of land (1d8 and each is a terrain type other than settled and city) and 6 as special, meaning that it would be out of the normal rules. If grassland was rolled on 4-5 with the second roll it would become special too. I think that was how I did it.

Then I rolled one encounter on the Random Wilderness Encounter Tables for each hex and started interpreting things. Asking myself questions, interpreting results, moving things around to where it seemed more reasonable. For example I rolled a small Roc for the grassland in 9, but wondered where it would nest. The only hills hex rolled is hex 6 so I ruled that the nest is there, but it's hunting grounds cover multiple hexes, up till 9, making it be a reasonable encounter in this place. Sometimes my imagination started to run on it's own and I added things here and there to fit to the inspiration goals/guides I set for myself.

Anyway. The main part is now done, so I am sharing it. Now the idea is to work on the different parts on it, detailing things slowly and dreaming things up a bit more. Who knows what will happen.

Character from Image: An Example

So I've hinted at a possible example of starting with an image and discovering your character from there in my previous post. I've found myself with a spare moment in which I can try and do that.

The following image (by Eoghan Kerrigan: https://www.deviantart.com/eoghankerrigan/ ) is one has stuck with me for a few years now. So let's see what we can do. We will use RISUS since it's nice and simple. Fate could work as well, as would, I suppose, GURPS.

picture by Eoghan Kerrigan.

We see a character in a coat covered by sheets of ... something with pictures, or symbols, or runes or something. We know we want to play a JRPG type game, where creativity in interpretation is encouraged. A lot of characters in JRPG's are 'turned to eleven' or 'out there' in character design. This will be a fantastical hero. 

Other than that there's some fashionable armour plating on his or her shoes and hat. and there's a clipboard or notepad of some kind that they are holding.

The general idea I get is that of some kind of inventor or engineer, what with the stylish hat that kind of looks like the hats those engines drivers on trains often have and the notepad to take notes on how things are going or to check some charts. Something steampunk flavored.

The coat with all the sigils seems more arcane. Magical engineers are definitely a Final Fantasy trope. They also seem to be wearing glasses, which usually indicates being one of the smart type of characters.

The red hair kind of looks like fire or flames. Which again fits the steampunk vibe, as do the heavy gloves. We can still go quite a lot of directions with this. So lets try to define some stuff.

Junior Magitech Engine Driver (4)

Starting out, fresh out of Magical engineering school, this character roams the lands looking for a place of employment, or as a traveling Engine Fixer. Ah! This gives me a very JRPG type of idea (also, I'm stealing it from TriGun, which has the same idea, more or less). 

Every Big City is built around an Engine. The Engine is a Magical device that powers the entire city. The knowledge of how to create them has been lost, but Magitech Engine Drivers are trained to travel from city to city and check up on the Engines and make repairs. They know how to keep the sigils and wards on the engines up do date and can repair them is needed. They also have a big hammer with which they can whack things back in place or whack monsters out of the tubes of the Engines. They have a coat with protective sigils that protects them from fire, steam and impact.

Yes, that seems about right. The GM can work with this. It counts as a Tale, more or less, so we get another die to work with (big cities have Engines. Engines are large enough to walk in have monster nests, Magitech Engine Drivers are a thing). This means we have used 4/11 dice. If we find a Hook in there somewhere we've got 12 dice to work with, so we can still do a lot. This alone is already enough to start the game with. We could fill in things as we go. But let's keep going.

We could focus on the magical side as well, or we could focus on the engineer part. (We can even do both) Or we can focus on other things, like what they do between jobs. Do they have another source of income, or a hobby?

Mage of Iron and Steam [3]

Finding interest in the magical side of engineering this character has developed his own type of magic that controls Iron and Steam, using it without the help of machines. Using this is dangerous though, and can only be done while pumping the cliche, or finding another complicated or dangerous way. For example, you can plug yourself into an Engine and us its power, with the danger of harming the thing that keeps the city going. Or you could build a device that can channel the powers, but that will take time and resources that in a straight up fight will probably be unavailable. Can be double pumped.

So we've used 7/11 dice. Let's move on to the next cliche.

Magi-Van Driver (2)

This character owns and drives a MagiTech powered van. A Steam-Powered Van basically. It's enough to hold the entire party if needed and the character knows how to drive it and to negotiates with the powers of steam and fire that are bound to it. This may explain the sigils on his coat as well, they can be the contracts made with the spirits that are put in the devices. Hook: The current vehicle has a spirit that is almost done with its contract. It is acting up, asking for favors and being stubborn as they know that there will be a request for a new contract soon.

This has us at 9/12, which means we've got three dice left. I usually like to have at least one cliche at 1 because that is funny. Failing is fun. However, we can make Mage of Iron and Steam a double pump cliche by doubling it's cost, and I think that for this character that's what we'll do.

And now al we need is a name suitable for this character and they are done. Also, probably have a better name for the Magi-Van, but since this is just an example this will have to do.

Let's name them ... something to do with steam power or engineers ... but in good JRPG style it has to be misinterpreted or completely missing the point. Let's say Watt for the power/enigneer thing, but give it a bit of a twist. Watto? Watson? Watson as a last name seems good. Let's make them a girl as well. Emily Watson. Done.

Good enough I think.

Character Design Ideas: Start with an image and build from there.

 Character Design Idea: Start with an image and build from there.

Some game systems give you a lot of control as a player over how your character is built. It often leads to wildly different characters that have little to do with each other. The freedom of say, RISUS, means that you have to somewhat explain what is good for this game and what is not. (although a chaotic game where everyone just makes a character without even a genre prompt and only after meet up might be fun as well. "Chtullu, Abraham Lincoln and Mowgli walk into a bar...")

One way I've done this is by providing images and let people pick one that will be their character (or at least an inspiration) and start from there. It also makes things go fast as you don't neccesarily need to fill in skills from the start. You can discover it through play.

You can hunt for pictures and make a Pinterest board for your game, or make other collections, but you could also find some artists on Deviantart or some of those sites who have put up entire collections of character designs. I have done exactly that, and want to share. Who knows, in follow up posts we might stat some of them out.

Boiled Leather And Rusty Armour - Mattias Adolfsson

Character Designs - The Etherignton Brothers

Character Designs - The Etherignton Brothers

JRPG Character Pt. 1 - Eoghan Kerrigan

JRPG Character Pt. 2 - Eoghan Kerrigan

Yokai - Naiiade

Braindump: JRPGs

 JRPG: Japanese RolePlaying Games

This usually mainly refers to computer games like Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior/Hero Quest, Grandia, etc. They all have several tropes that I like and have from tim
e to time been trying to emulate in our regular TableTop RPG system. Being immersed in Troika! as I've been, trying to meld it with Keep on the Borderlands, I think Troika! might be one of the best contenders to highlight the weird and whacky that these games often have. Player Characters are completely out there, as are the monsters/adversaries and the general story line is usually really weird as well.

Grand Mage by Eoghan Kerrigan: https://www.deviantart.com/eoghankerrigan

So yeah... I guess, be prepared to see an overhaul again on the work I already did on my Keep on the Borderlands work.

The main thing I like is how they take a concept without much context and create their own context for it. That and hilarious mistranslations and misconceptions and the melding of cultural concepts. I've been listening to a Flemish podcast about the history of these lands (specifically the house of Burgundy) and think I might use that as a starting point for my knights and the realm in which the Keep will be. It might mean having to do some research, but again, not too much, as the JRPG weirdness sauce needs for it to be misunderstood a bit and taken in a completely different direction.