New Torchbearer Conflict: Guard or Infiltrate

When trying to sneak past a heavily guarded area or prevent intruders from breaching the defenses of a location use the rules.

Skills and Abilities for Disposition

Intent: Infiltrate/Guard
Roll: Scout
Add to Rank: Health

Conflict Ability and Skills Used by Action

Attack: Scout
Defend: Scout
Feint: Criminal
Maneuver: Criminal

New Magician/Elf Spell: Mystic Ward

MYSTIC WARD
Second Circle Magician/Elf Spell

Many adventurers have met their doom at the cruel hands of the elements. Mystic Ward insulates characters against the effects of hot and cold, allowing adventurers to travel places they would otherwise be unable to survive.

Supplies: a bit of ash
Lore Master Ob to Learn: 3
Scholar Ob to Scribe Scroll: 3
Scholar Ob to scribe into traveling spell book: 3

Factors

Against Environment: hottest/coldest day of the year, hostile climate, extreme conditions (a sudden ice age/the heat from a volcanic eruption), supernatural/magical elements.

Elemental Resistance (Conflict Only): +1D, +1s, +1 Might

Breadth: One person, two people, party of adventurers

Duration: one turn, two turns, phase

Effects

Characters under the protection of Mystic Ward can ignore the factors, conditions, and twists that would normally result from extreme heat or cold. Upon casting, the Mage must declare which element they are warding off, hot or cold. Alternatively, they can use it to gain an advantage during a conflict.

Torchbearer: 100 Nature Descriptors

Building a good monster starts with defining their Nature. While the book has plenty of examples, I wanted to provide a more comprehensive list. The below is the start, but I'm looking for suggestions, particularly for some of the thinner letters (I'm looking at you: Q). 

Purposeful Nature: For monsters that serve a particular purpose or where you simply want a little more flavor, combine the below with specific people places or things. Guarding the Three-Eyed Devil, Devouring the Stars, Collecting Bones, etc. 

A

Ambushing
Avenging
Assaulting

B

Burrowing
Burning
Blinding
Banishing
Biting
Burying

C

Calculating
Creeping
Collecting
Calling
Cloning
Crushing
Coveting
Commanding
Cursing
Cheating

D

Draining
Devouring
Disguising
Digging
Defiling
Destroying
Decaying

E

Eating
Enslaving
Escaping

F

Freezing
Flying
Feasting

G

Guarding
Grinding
Grappling

H

Hypnotizing
Haunting
Hiding
Hoarding
Hunting

I

Impaling
Infecting

J

Jumping
Joking

K

Killing

L

Lying
Lurking
Legerdemain

M

Mutating
Marauding
Multiplying
Murdering

N

Nesting

O

P

Polymorphing
Punishing
Pursuing
Punching
Poisoning
Pulling
Planeshifting

Q

R

Riddling
Rusting
Raiding
Running
Rotting
Rending
Raising
Returning

S

Strangling
Shambling
Scheming
Spawning
Slaying
Swarming
Serving
Summoning
Shapeshifting
Swimming
Spilling Blood
Scrying

T

Teleporting
Tracking
Torturing
Terrorizing
Trapping
Throwing
Thrashing
Tunneling

U

Uprooting
Unlocking

V

Vanishing
Vanquishing

W

Warping
Watching
Wandering
Whispering
Worshipping

X

Y

Z

Zealous

Barrowmaze Complete

Introduction:

A couple years ago, I began a journey. It started at my dining-room table with some good friends, a bag of polyhedral dice, and a bottle of Mountain Dew. I created a fantasy adventure campaign that centered around a mysterious swamp dotted with barrow mounds and standing stones. A vast dungeon existed beneath the mounds. It teemed with undead and burial crypts filled with precious treasures. We had a lot of fun and I wondered if other people might be interested in Barrowmaze.

Not really knowing much about PDF publishing, I brought my home-game notes together and that became the basis of Barrowmaze I (published under the Open Gaming License and compatible with Labyrinth Lord and other classic fantasy role-playing games). However, there was still another half of the map yet to stock, so I ran a successful campaign for Barrowmaze II on Indiegogo that included former TSR artist Jim Holloway and brought another artist, the awesome Trevor Hammond, out of retirement. Because I love old school RPG art and gamer swag, I ran another successful campaign on Indiegogo to create some fun Barrowmaze Tees with the tag line "Get Rich or Die Tryin" which pretty much sums up the experience of the dungeon :)

Through the support of the old school gaming community, Barrrowmaze I was listed in the Top 10 on RPGnow for months and finished in Second Place for the prestigious Three Castles Game Award for RPG Design at the North Texas RPGcon last June. 

Although Barrowmaze has my name on the cover, I view the adventure as a communal expression -- it speaks to the type of game we want to play, the style of game we want to forward, and that the roots of our hobby are important and worth preserving for future gamers.

The Plan: Barrowmaze Complete

Barrowmaze I and II need to be combined into one definitive volume: Barrowmaze Complete. This new book will include all the material from the two previous books plus the new material outlined below under New Material.

Interested? Make the jump here. 

Golden Geek Awards

Board Game Geek's Annual Golden Geek Awards are under way and, while nominations are closed, you can still cast your vote for the finalists. Since Torchbearer didn't make the cut, I'm hoping Fate Core takes game of the year but I have a feeling Numenaea will be the winner. Either way, get out there and vote!

Burning Dead: Prologue

The prophecies were wrong. There was no great flood, no cataclysmic fire to sort out the sinners from the devout. The earth didn't split open and swallow our cities. All of that might have been better than what happened. It certainly would have been quicker.

All that is known is the world changed seven years ago. People began getting sick. It started like most illnesses, with a cough. Then the infected became hungry. The sounds and colors of the world faded and finally, once their bodies succumbed, they rose from the dead and began hunting for their next meal.

At first, people tried to cure The Sick. Nothing worked, not medicine, prayer, or exorcism. People remembered stories of wicked sorcerers raising the dead to do their bidding. They put anyone accused of witchcraft to the sword. Still, The Sickness kept spreading. Towns disappeared followed by entire countries, too.

Those who didn't flee or become infected adapted to this new life. They formed tribal communities that wandered the Deadlands, as the old country is now called, living each day on the brink of annihilation. Some hunted the dead for sport and still, others became mercenaries.

You work for the The Black Arrow mercenary company, based out of the coastal city of Stoneraft. While the rest of the world has gone to shit, you've managed to do alright. Your mug of ale has stayed full, your bed warm, and whenever you grow weary a new job always seems to fall into your lap. Speaking of which, the boss has some work for you.

A few days ago, a letter arrived from one of Bishop Oran's aides in the city of Westfall. The walls were breached weeks ago. Everyone has either fled or joined the hordes of walking dead that now crawl the streets. Food stores are running low, and it's only a matter of time. . .Bishop Oran should have listened, but he is a stubborn man.

You must travel to Westfall and rescue the bishop, as well as any remaining aides.