Nevermet Press's Blog, page 29

The City State of Corwyn Full Color Map

Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom, our new 4E D&D adventure setting, features several excellent maps, including a regional map of the The City State of Corwyn. Now – being a small press our books have a B&W interior, but we still want to deliver full color to you whenever possible. So, as part of our commitment to our fans we're going to be offering these maps in full color.

Today, I present to you The City State of Corwyn. The original post and inspiration for Corwyn was written last year, and then we greatly expanded on it in the book. Enjoy!

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Click to preview.

For a look at all the maps, and a preview of some of the interior pages of Brothet Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom, click here.

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Arcane Background: Occultism – Preview (Savage Worlds)

Below is an example, and and early draft example mind you, of what we are working on for the Dead Queens of Morvena adventure setting for Savage Worlds. We're looking for feedback from Savage Worlds gamers about this setting. Is that you? Then check this out and let us know what you think in the comments below! Answer me this: would you use this?

Macha Curses the Men of Ulster (Eleanor Hull, The Boys' Cuchulai, 1906)

Arcane Background (Occultism)

Requirements: Smarts d8

Arcane Skills: Hex Magic (Smarts) and Ritual Magic (Smarts)

Starting Power Points: 10

Starting Powers: 3

Occultism uses a combination of ancient rituals and obscure hexes to weave magic that can have powerful and long lasting effects. This is the magic of studied sage and wizards, and clever charlatans and bards. The distinction between the two main aspects of Occultism, rituals & hexes lies in mainly in the method of casting. Thus, there is a distinct spellcasting skill for each. Characters receive a d4 skill die in both Ritual Magic and Hex Magic when first gaining this edge but must raise each skill separately thereafter.

Ritual Magic

Rituals are procedural in nature. They take more time to cast, require a spell book, and usually require additional components beyond the spellcaster's incantations and gestures. Rituals also generally leave a lingering magical "halo", called a nimbus, on the things they affect. Each caster's nimbus is unique too, making it possible (but not easy) to discover who cast the ritual long after it was completed with spells like Detect Arcana.

Ritual Magic is the required skill wizards use to cast rituals. Each ritual requires that the caster must know the ritual, have their spell book on hand, and use the material components listed in the ritual's trappings. The skill roll to cast a ritual is made at the end of the casting time, but the power points and the material components are used at the beginning of the ritual.

Ritual Drain: If a critical failure is rolled for the Ritual Magic roll, then the power point cost of the ritual is doubled what is listed in SWEX. If this results in draining all the caster's power points to zero or below, then the caster is shaken and the excess power points are treated as physical damage that can result in additional wounds, or worse.

Spell List (Rituals): Armor, Barrier, Beast Friend, Boost/Lower Trait, Deflection, Detect/Conceal Arcana, Dispel, Environmental Protection, Greater Healing, Healing, Light, Puppet, Shape Change, Speak Language, Teleport, Zombie.

Casting Rituals

The casting time of a ritual is based on power point cost of the spell and the caster's Ritual Magic skill die. For each ritual, divide the power point cost by the caster's Ritual Magic skill die type and round up, then multiply that number by the power point cost and the Rank tier of the spell. The result is the number of rounds required to cast the spell

For example: Tycard the Invincible has a skill of Ritual Magic d8. He wants to cast an Armor Ritual that lasts 8 combat rounds. Simple: it costs him 7 power points and takes him 7 rounds to cast the ritual.[1] Later that day, he wants to cast another Armor ritual that lasts 18 rounds. This would cost him 17 power points and takes just over 5 minutes to cast (51 rounds).[2]

In another example, the witch Myrna has Ritual Magic d10. Her friend is in dire need of healing, so she decides to cast Greater Healing (a 3rd tier, or Veteran level, spell). The cost of the ritual is 10 power points but it takes her 3 minutes to cast.[3]

Hex Magic

Hexes are incantations or gestures that take effect immediately and rarely last more than a few minutes. They require no components, and the caster must only have a single hand free and the ability to speak clearly to cast them. Only the most powerful hexes leave behind a caster's nimbus, making these spells a favorite among casters with questionable ethics.

Hex Magic is the required skill used to cast hexes. If either die rolls a 1 on the skill roll, then a Hex Mishap has occurred.

Hex Mishap: If the Hex Magic die rolled a 1, then a Hex Mishap occurs. Roll on the Hex Mishap table below. If a critical failure was rolled ("snake-eyes"), then the Hex Mishap roll suffers a -4 penalty. This is usually a bad thing, but with all the strange words and complex gestures associated with casting hexes, sometimes one hex's failure becomes another hex's success.

Spell List (Hexes): Armor, Beast Friend, Blast, Bolt, Boost/Lower Trait, Burrow, Burst, Deflection, Dispel, Elemental Manipulation, Entangle, Fear, Fly, Invisibility, Obscure, Light, Puppet, Quickness, Speed, Stun, Telekinesis, Teleport.

Hex Mishaps

Roll 2d4 plus the character's Hex Magic die on the table below whenever a Hex Mishap occurs.

Die Roll

Mishap

2 or less

The spell backfires horribly. The spell targets an unintended target determined at random and its effects are doubled. The caster suffers damage equal to the power point cost of the spell and is shaken.

3 – 4

The spell backfires and targets an unintended target at random. The caster is shaken.

5 – 7

The spell misfires and targets an unintended target.

8 – 12

The spell fizzles and fails.

13 – 15

The spell fizzles, but the power point cost is halved.

16 – 17

The spell fails quietly but the power point cost is zero.

18

The spell misfires, and costs the caster no power points. The GM chooses another spell from the caster's available spells at random. This second spell targets at random and costs zero power points.

7 power points ÷ d8 = 0.875 ≈ 1 x 7 x 1 = 7 rounds
17 power points ÷ d8 = 2.125 ≈ 3 x 17 x 1= 51 rounds or 5m 6s
10 power points ÷ d10 = 1 x 10 x 3 = 30 rounds or 3 minutes

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20% OFF All Our Books – Today Only

Sometimes I wish Lulu would give us a little more warning, but they sprung this on us anyway. Today is Veterans day, and Lulu.com is running a 1 – day sale for ALL Lulu publishers (like us). So, if you have been on the fence about picking up one of our books – or haven't grab our latest super excellent 4E D&D adventure – then help support our efforts today by plunking down a few bucks and save yourself some yourself. Simply enter "VETSDAY305″ at check out and it will apply to your entire order up to $100!

Enter "VETSDAY305" at checkout and get 20% off

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The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker: Part I

Most fantasy settings include something so fundamental that many people miss it and its ramifications. That is that the extraordinary has always been a part of the setting. Therefore, the unusual should influence even the most "ordinary" aspects of a setting. A series of three articles will describe "mundane" shops – the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker – each touched by the fantastic and each shop may add some flavor to your game. This article describes the butcher shop while other articles in this series will describe the baker and candlestick maker shops.

Rudkus's Fantastical Meats & More

A charming young man operates this butcher shop, which buys and sells both mundane and fantastical meats.

What People Know

A character knows the following information about Rudkus Meats with a successful Streetwise skill check.

DC 14: One of several butcher shops in the city, Rudkus Meats provides decent cuts at good prices.

DC 16: Upton Rudkus, who owns and operates the shop, is good at his job and a proud member of the city's butchers' guild. A deeply ethical butcher, he is prone to go on and on about how much the guilds do for "the little guy."

DC 18: The butcher hires adventures to procure rare and exotic meats for sale in his shop, such as cuts of wyverns and hydras.

DC 20: Rudkus is something of a lothario, giving a discount in sales (or good purchase prices) to women. This has made a number of husbands jealous, potentially murderously so.

The Butcher's Shop

Located close to a large market in the city's commercial district, a two-story brick affair houses Rudkus Meats. The meticulously clean shop and workplace are on the ground floor and Rudkus's private residence is on the second floor.

A friendly man, Rudkus himself (half-elf male, 6th level Ranger, Good) will be selling or purchasing meat, butchering a carcass or cleaning the shop during a business day. He keeps a list of prices for the purchase and sale of meats posted on a wall in the shop.

Rudkus purchases (usually for half its sale price), and sells meats from a wide variety of sources.

Monster Meat

Level

Creature

Sale Price (lpd)

Purchase Price (lpd)

0

Basic Animals*

5 sp

2 sp

1

Macetail Behemoth

14 gp

7 gp

1

Owlbear

16 gp

8 gp

1

Bulette

18 gp

9 gp

2

Wyvern

20 gp

10 gp

2

Fen Hydra

24 gp

12 gp

*Basic animals include cow, dog, fish, goat, horse, pig, sheep and wild game, such as bear, deer, moose and rabbit.

Macetail Behemoth Mincemeat Level 1

Consuming this fatty meat temporarily grants increased physical force.

Monster Meat 14 gp

Power (Consumable * Natural) Standard Action. Eat this meat and gain +1 to melee attacks until the end of the encounter.

Owlbear Cube Steak Level 1

Eating this oily meat briefly grants improved physical durability.

Monster Meat 16 gp

Power (Consumable * Natural) Standard Action. Eat this meat and gain +1 to Fortitude saving throws until the end of the encounter.

Bulette Sausage Level 1

Consuming this dry meat temporarily grants a special and acute sense.

Monster Meat 18 gp

Power (Consumable * Natural) Standard Action. Eat this meat and gain tremor sense until the end of the encounter. The character can perceive creatures and objects within range and in contact with the ground or another shared surface (such as a web or water) as if it has line of sight, without needing to make a Perception check.

Wyvern Steak Level 2

Eating this learn meat briefly grants durability special resistant to harm and damage.

Monster Meat 20 gp

Power (Consumable * Natural) Eat this meat and gain +2 to saving throws against poison until the end of the encounter

Fen Hydra Chops Level 2

Consuming this gamey-flavored meat temporarily makes one more nimble.

Monster Meat 24 gp

Power (Consumable * Natural) Eat this meat and gain +2 to melee Reflex saving throws until the end of the encounter

Butcher's Work

Harvesting meat from any creature is a skill challenge, requiring one success per 10-pounds of meat successfully harvested while a failure means 10-pounds of meat is lost. It is usually possible to Take 10 when butchering a carcass. Unless somehow preserved fresh meat will spoil in two days.

The type of the creature determines the particular skill required for harvesting meat from its carcass.

Type

Skill

Natural

Nature

Aberrant

Dungeoneering

Elemental, Fey and Shadow

Arcana

Immortal

Religion

The level of the creature determines the DC for harvesting meat from its carcass.

Monster Level

Harvesting DC

01-10

15

11-20

20

21-30

25

The size of the creature determines the maximum amount of harvestable meat.

Creature Size

Pounds Meat Harvestable

Small

10

Medium

50

Large

250

Huge

1,250

Gargantuan

6,250

Example: A fen hydra (large size creature) possesses 250-pounds of potentially harvestable meat. Butchering the carcass would require a Nature skill check (natural beast), at DC 15 (level 12) and 25 successful checks would be required to harvest all the meat.

Adventure Hooks

Hunting: Rudkus hires the (low level) PCs procure wyvern meat and return it while it is still edible.
Anthropophagy: Rudkus is a thoroughly ethical man by the standards of his profession. He suspects another butcher to be guilty of selling the meat of sentient creatures (humans, elves, orcs, etc.) which is illegal in the city and Rudkus asks the PCs to investigate.

The Hidden Kingdom Released! (4E D&D)

We are very happy to announce that our first print offering, Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom, is now available! The Hidden Kingdom is 110-page 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure setting for 5th level characters. Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom will be available in retail stores in January, but you don't have to wait!

ISBN: 978-0-557-67589-0
PRINT $14.99
eBook/PDF $9.99

Fans on Facebook and followers of our blog can order direct starting today! Plus, as an exclusive bonus to our fans, if you order Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom before November 30th, 2010 – we'll send you a copy of the PDF eBook for FREE! All you have to do is…

Order Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom in PRINT.
Snap a picture of the book – in your yard, in your hand, with your dice… whereever! The crazier the better!
Upload your picture of Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom to our Facebook fan page.

That's it! Everyone who does this by November 30th will get an email with an exclusive link to a free copy of the PDF. But… it get's better! The person who takes the most laughable snapshot of our book will also get a free copy of either Open Game Table Volume 1 or 2 (their choice) in PRINT for free! Snap!

What is Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom? Check out the back cover of the book and find out!

Now go get your game and roll some dice!

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