SAINT SEVURDAPOY'S ARROW

This is an arrow made of some sort of lightweight but strong metal. The name "Saint Sevurdapoy" is carved along the shaft.

• Feels icy cold -- almost painful -- to the touch.
• Counts as enchanted for purposes of immunity to normal weapons.
• Bursts into cold black and blue flame when fired.
• Flames do not start fires, but do provide dim blue light.
• Vanishes after use, but reappears at midnight. At the point it disappeared. I hope you remember where you shot it!
• No special effect versus red dragons.

13th Age:

• Standard bow damage +1d4 cold damage (+2d4 at Champion, +3d4 at Epic).
• Does 1d4 cold damage to the archer when fired.
• When hit, the target must make a normal (11+) save or one random magical effect or spell affecting them is suppressed until the next noon.

Quirk: Your manner is abrupt, brusque, and curt. To-the-point, one might say.

B/X:

• Standard bow damage +1d4 cold damage.
• Does 1d4 cold damage to the archer when fired.
• When hit, the target is affected as if Dispel Magic has been cast on them, with the archer's level standing in for casting level.

Fighting Fantasy:

• Standard bow damage + 1 cold damage.
• 2 STAMINA damage to archer when fired.
• AFF: When hit, the target is subject to Counter Spell; assume the archer has a Magic skill equal to her SKILL, modified by the STAMINA cost of the original spell.
• Troika: When hit, the target is subject to the Undo spell; roll versus the original casting, using the archer's SKILL.

CHOMPA

This small, scrappy shield -- almost a buckler -- is made from the stretched face of some hideous swamp-dwelling creature, and was created by an insane goblin wizard, or so the story goes.

• Growls and jabbers all the time, never forming coherent words, but making stealth pretty much impossible.
• The gob leads to an extra-dimensional space but everything there is consumed; this could be annoying or useful.
• Goblins recognise CHOMPA as an important cultural artefact, and will be predisposed to be at least neutral to the wielder.

13th Age:

• +4 Hit Points.
• On a natural attack roll of 8, CHOMPA bites a mêlée opponent for 1d4 damage per level.

Quirk: You are always peckish.

B/X:

• +1 Armour Class.
• On a natural attack roll of 8, CHOMPA bites a mêlée opponent for 1d4 damage.

Fighting Fantasy:

• +1 SKILL.
• On a natural attack roll of 8, CHOMPA bites a mêlée opponent for 1 STAMINA damage.

(I am inclined to restrict the extra damage to a roll of double 4 but this seems a bit churlish in comparison to the other systems, so you may allow it on any roll of 8, although that may be too far the other way.)

LIMB OF WOE

This is a withered severed leg with dirty bandages wrapped around the stump.

• Two-handed club.
• The wielder counts as unarmed for any relevant effects or purposes. For example, if they are a character that normally must fight bare-handed, or if they are casting a spell that requires touching a target. That sort of thing.
• The wielder also registers as undead to abilities or effects that detect or track the living dead.
• The knee joint gives it a wild, unpredictable swing.
• The LIMB OF WOE has a strong smell of something like old leather and pickling.
• Every morning at 2am, it twitches for two long, creepy hours.

13th Age:
+1; small, two-handed.
The wielder has a 1 point conflicted relationship with the Lich King, in addition to their other relationships. If they already have a negative or positive relationship with the Lich King, then things just got complicated!
Quirk: Tap your foot constantly.

B/X:
+1 to hit and damage.

Fighting Fantasy:
+1 SKILL and +1 to the club row on the damage table.

Mammon Returns

I was not expecting -- let alone intending -- to do this again so soon and it makes me feel a bit queasy, but here are some new things to buy if you have any money here in the middle of the month.

In the ancient past of 2011 I drew some pictures for JB's B/X Companion, a, um, companion volume to the classic Basic/Expert D&D rules. It was out of print for a long time -- only available as a pdf -- but there is now a limited number of physical copies back on sale.

More recent and available in pdf and print is Wormskin #6, which contains the adventure "The Baker's Dozen"; I drew the maps for the adventure and went over the top with lots of fiddly detail. Again.

Also recent and also available is Mike Evans' Death is the New Pink, an apocalypunk rpg based on the Into the Odd rules and influenced by Borderlands and Tank Girl. Mike is some sort of machine, pumping out a new project every other month, it seems. You can tell the pictures I drew for DitNP because they are the ones that aren't as good as the ones Jeremy Duncan drew. Gosh, he's good.

That's your lot for now. I've got some other bits and pieces in the works but they are nowhere near finished, so with any luck it will be a long time before you have to put up with another of these awful and desperate money-grabbing posts.

Adventures in Love

Blatant self promotion time!

Death Love Doom is almost the latest adventure from Lamentations of the Flame Princess; I say "almost" because another one was released in the past few days, but more on that another time. It is a graphic piece of work, with extreme descriptions of brutal violence and I was asked to draw the pictures; it's not the kind of thing I've done before and I don't know if I'd do it again, but it was an interesting experience. I would recommend reading the reviews and this blog post before you buy.

The Complete B/X Adventurer is a different beast. It's a rules supplement for Basic and Expert -- the "B/X" of the title -- Dungeons and Dragons, and a follow-up to The B/X Companion, and contains all sorts of new character classes, spells and other bits and bobs I don't understand as I don't play B/X D&D. I did some art for the latter, so I was happy to be asked back to provide some character drawings for this new volume; my favourite is the Acrobat.

Death Love Doom is available from the Lamentations of the Flame Princess online shop, although it is a limited edition and there are only about eighty copies left, so if you like brutal body horror then hurry! The Complete B/X Adventurer is available from the B/X Blackrazor blog.