Liminal Ark

This week instead of working on my dungeon like I was supposed to I've cobbled together something a little weird. Here are a bunch of strange, scary, and cute doggos statted as BLB monsters you can use however you like. Some are probably good guards while others will perform well as special retainers if your players can train them to be good. Adaptation's are taken from the Cryptdigger's Guide and the Hunter's Guide to Monsters unless stated otherwise. Thanks for reading.  Temple Dog Made of stone with a lions face. Though a living creature can hold its breathe for long periods of time while on watch allowing it to become indistinguishable from its surroundings. It's bite causes paralysis and eventually turns one to stone.  Brawn: 1 Wit: 1 Will: 0 Vigour: 15  Armour: 9 Disguise, Petrifying Fangs* Stone Fangs (Hand) Special Adaptation: Petrifying Fangs . As Petrifying Gaze but its range is reduced to Melee. If the Temple Dog inflicts an injury with Stone Fangs can c...

This week we're doing something a little different. I just launched a podcast HERE that is going to become an audio component to this here blog. Going forward the Arkcast will become an extension of the blog posts or sometimes an entirely other thing depending on my wildly shifting moods. Now you can still read what amounts to show notes below but I'd really appreciate if you'd give the audio a listen and leave your feedback here or on Twitter. Now on to remakes.  Remakes and Dragons Remakes and remasters are common enough in our media that most of us have a dream property we'd love to see modernized in some way. Whether that is updated CGI or a less problematic narrative while keeping the core of what we enjoyed intact. However, tabletop RPG modules or adventures (Whatever you want to call them) are unique in that even though we're reading the same print of Keep on the Borderlands or Rime of the Frost Maiden our interpretations of that text and the game experience...

  Rather than another selection of bits and bobs for your Cryptdiggers this week I'd like to opine about the mess I just dragged myself into. That is of course  @pangalactic's  Random Adventure Jam over on Itch.io. The idea behind the jam is to use the Random Adventure Title Generator to get an evocative title and then make an adventure for your system of choice. At first, I had no plans to actually participate in the jam but I am such a sucker for online generators of all types I just had to see what it would give me.  One of the first rolls of the dice gave me the title "Hallowed Halls of the Reptile Gods" which seemed interesting enough until I was struck by a bolt of delightful nostalgia for an old adventure I ran for Pathfinder 2E that was my first experiment running a real dungeon of mostly my own making. "Mazebek's Tomb", as it is known in my hastily scrawled notes, was a large underground cistern that was the prison of an ancient crocodile river ...

Short one this week. Feel kind of tapped creatively due to some real life stressors but I wanted to put something down regardless.  NEW CONDITIONS First up are some conditions that often come up in my games which I just like to have written down since I use them so often. With the addition of cowboy guns and enemies that can wield them OK Corral style fire fights are inevitable so codifying the Cover move was done here as well.  Bleeding (Condition) The creature loses 1 Vigour at the start of their turn. If this damage brings them to 0 Vigour they die.  Paranoid (Condition) Observation checks have the Upper Hand. Grip checks are Against The Odds. Pinned (Condition) Must succeed at a Grip check or else can't move. NEW ACTION Take Cover (Move) Instead of moving to another Zone the Cryptdigger can move behind cover instead. Ranged attacks made against them while they are in cover are Against The Odds. NEW ADVANCEMENTS Hunker Down Advancement Martial / Technical While in Cove...

Behold! Here is a slew of Archetypes you can use to portray Weird West characters in Best Left Buried. Just like before most of this is untested but unlike before I'm fairly certain these are more powerful than the base archetypes so use your own best judgement if using them at your own table. I tried to take the Weird West tropes and modify them a bit to function in a dungeon crawl centric game rather than something more akin to Deadlands. I believe that they succeed for the most part but I'll keep tweaking as my game goes on.  Weird West Archetypes Gambler  Gamblers are hotshots, addicts, and thrill-seekers for whom the cards table was too tame to keep their interest. The only game worth playing now is down in the Crypt where the Monsters play for their lives. Bet The House  Gamblers know the odds always swing back around in their favor eventually. When making a check the Gambler can bet on the result of one of their dice before they roll, if they are correct add the nu...

Guns again? You betcha. This time they are all cursed. These weapons are made using the Cowboy Guns rules I made that can be found HERE Disclaimer: The first one is not actually a cowboy gun but it has the vibe.  Cursed Cowboy Guns Rickett's Rage Long Weapon Description : Bits of bone, shrapnel, and the bloody rusted bayonet have become fused with this rifle. The bolt is broken and the barrel filled with holes yet the blade thirsts all the same.  Active Trigger : Spend 1d3 Vigour to feed the bayonet with blood or deal damage to an enemy with the bayonet. Active Property: Shot of Malice . The weapon becomes Gunpowder Ranged and inflicts an injury regardless of the number rolled on the attack. After making an attack the weapon returns to normal.  Curse : Wits checks made to Escape are Impossible. Gain the Won't Back Down Affliction. Affliction Won't Back Down Character Flaw The Cryptdigger is a known hot head and constantly wants to challenge others to prove their own sup...

It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have. - Clint Eastwood Finally got to play more BLB and decided to make a few more injuries related to the Cowboy Guns thing from last week. Though this set is less fantasy I'll be making another one that is full magic bullet sort of stuff later on. In addition, I've made a few Afflictions rolling with the same theme.  Injuries  (D6) Inflicted by the Gun  Lead Poisoning: With head sweltering like a furnace and stomach doing loops the Cryptdigger can hardly keep anything down. The Cryptdigger must succeed at a Brawn check every time they eat, drink, or take Medicine else they vomit it back up losing 1d3 Vigour. Full O' Holes: Their body has survived many wounds and every scar too delicate to hold closed for long. They are always bleeding leaving trails, smudges, and smears of blood everywhere they go. They must pass a Wits check to not leave their mark on anything they touch...