Oddifying the Barrowmaze - Part 2 - Area 1 Encounters
The Forbidden Antechamber of the Barrowmaze is mostly classic stuff.
"1 - Skeletons (d6)
2 - Zombies (d6)
3 - Tomb Robbers (2d4+4)
4 - Giant Rats (2d6)
5 - Mongrelmen (d6)
6 - Ravenous Dead (d4)
7 - Stirges (d6)
8 - Huecuva (d3)
9 - Sapphire Skeletons (d6)
10 - Fire Beetles (d8)
11 - Dungeon Dressing (roll on a table)
12 - Referee's Choice"
So Barrowmaze is mostly about undead. While I love them on paper, in practice, they can be the most boring thing ever if you don't have some way to make them interesting beyond being, well, undead.
Here are the things I've found out that can make undeads a more interesting foe so far:
I - Overwhelming Numbers
In Jennell Jaquays' Caverns of Thracia, you can find a large number of undead foes in some rooms. That is terrifying. I remember that first time playing Dark Souls, going to the graveyard near the central hub and getting chased by skeletons that were way too powerful for my low-level character, and as a kid, the awe and fear inspired by the undead army in The Black Cauldron.
Sure, a zombie or two is easily dispatched, but if a dozen of them suddenly burst out of a bricked-up wall behind you, the crawl instantly turns into a chase. Now you have to use your head and can't just go and hit each one other the head until it goes back to sleep.
II - Speech
Undeads that talk are scary because that betrays some alien intelligence, some unholy attack against nature. So some of my undead should talk. Zombies want brains but named ones will repeat their last words again and again (lots of undead henchmen and a few undead PCs in the Barrowmaze at the moment). Skeletons will cackle madly and probably taunt the players because I find skeletons extremely silly. My players already faced "civilized" ghouls with excellent manners and a Hollow Cleric (Huecuva) that spoke of future revenge to the PC who struck the death blow, so to speak.
III - Special Effects
This I really owe to Brian Harbron at The Scones Alone blog with his excellent post on the effects of Critical Damage inflicted by monsters, and also to Chris McDowall's advice on adding special effects to match certain results on the damage rolls for Into the Odd, say, "whip d4, steal weapon on a 4".
Undead are, by their very nature, weird. We might be jaded by overexposition to zombies in pop culture and show/games, but nothing says your undead have to behave "as expected": in one of the Barrows the party explored yesterday, there was a Wight. Quick confession: I know nothing about Wights except what they look like according to the Monster Manual and their OD&D stats. So I decided they were semi-intangible beastly hunters that look like mummified humanoids with long hair and nails. When their claws reach you they go right through you and some strange "smoke" is torn out of your body, and it feels oh so very cold, like learning of a close relative's death, and eats away at your CHA directly. The party decided to flee after that one initial attack.
Working with that advice, here's the revised table:
1 - Skeletons (d6!) (! means the dice explodes on a six), until it stops rolling sixes)
Want to free your skeleton from your body. Will try to convince you to just let it go.
Crumble whenever they lose STR. If they save vs Critical Damage, get back up with full HP.
Color: bones rattling and cackling, mocking your lesser forms.
2 - Zombies (d6!5)
Want to eat your brains. Eating enough brains turn them into Ghasts.
Infect you with a magical virus on Critical Damage - you will turn by next morning unless the infected member is amputated as quickly as possible.
Color: hollow men, forever lost to the dark.
3 - Tomb Robbers (d6! up to 12)
Luck Roll: 1 Gone Native (Cannibals), 2-3 Stark Raving Mad, 4-5 Wary, 6 Friendly
Color: they are just like you. That is what makes them scary.
4 - Vermin (1-3 : that number, 4-6 : a swarm)
Treat as Detachment.
Color: the darkness crawls and creeps towards you.
5 - Mongrelmen (d6! up to 18)
Just run them as Skavens. On Critical Damage, steal your stuff and flee.
Color: it looks like the nightmare version of someone's unwanted son, ugly and ashamed.
6 - Ravenous Dead (2d6!)
These are blood-crazed zombies. I treat them as 28 Days Later-type Infected. Faster than you, unless they catch something to eat.
Color: first a scream, then many more, drawing closer. You can hear their hunger.
7 - Stirges (d6)
Falls down on you from above and drains you of your delicious body-water.
On Critical Damage, they drain Bonus (+d6) damage from your STR. At 0 you're an dried husk.
Color: you hear leather and claw against wind and stone. Something falls on your shoulder.
8 - Hollow Clerics (d6)
STR 15, CHA 0, 6hp
Frost Touch d8, Freezes the Soul on Critical Damage (character can't feel anything anymore).
Victims raise as Ghosts.
Color: they whisper-sing litanies backwards.
9 - Sapphire Skeletons (d6)
As Skeletons, but they don't need to save vs Critical Damage. Destroying the gem ends them.
Color: shining jewelry crowns their pale heads.
10 - Fireflies (1-3 a few 4-6 a swarm)
Ignites flames when startled. A swarm will cause a man's clothes and hair to combust.
Color: flying gleams chasing shadows.
11 - Dungeon Dressing
12 - Referee's Choice
Bonus - Civilized Ghouls
STR 15, 8hp - Want to be treated as the proper gentlemen they sincerely believe they are.
Also eat people, favoring putrefied meat.
On Critical Damage, they throw you away effortlessly for dramatic effect.
Color: they smile at you with lip-less mouths, revealing wolves' teeth.
"1 - Skeletons (d6)
2 - Zombies (d6)
3 - Tomb Robbers (2d4+4)
4 - Giant Rats (2d6)
5 - Mongrelmen (d6)
6 - Ravenous Dead (d4)
7 - Stirges (d6)
8 - Huecuva (d3)
9 - Sapphire Skeletons (d6)
10 - Fire Beetles (d8)
11 - Dungeon Dressing (roll on a table)
12 - Referee's Choice"
So Barrowmaze is mostly about undead. While I love them on paper, in practice, they can be the most boring thing ever if you don't have some way to make them interesting beyond being, well, undead.
Here are the things I've found out that can make undeads a more interesting foe so far:
I - Overwhelming Numbers
In Jennell Jaquays' Caverns of Thracia, you can find a large number of undead foes in some rooms. That is terrifying. I remember that first time playing Dark Souls, going to the graveyard near the central hub and getting chased by skeletons that were way too powerful for my low-level character, and as a kid, the awe and fear inspired by the undead army in The Black Cauldron.
Sure, a zombie or two is easily dispatched, but if a dozen of them suddenly burst out of a bricked-up wall behind you, the crawl instantly turns into a chase. Now you have to use your head and can't just go and hit each one other the head until it goes back to sleep.
II - Speech
Undeads that talk are scary because that betrays some alien intelligence, some unholy attack against nature. So some of my undead should talk. Zombies want brains but named ones will repeat their last words again and again (lots of undead henchmen and a few undead PCs in the Barrowmaze at the moment). Skeletons will cackle madly and probably taunt the players because I find skeletons extremely silly. My players already faced "civilized" ghouls with excellent manners and a Hollow Cleric (Huecuva) that spoke of future revenge to the PC who struck the death blow, so to speak.
III - Special Effects
This I really owe to Brian Harbron at The Scones Alone blog with his excellent post on the effects of Critical Damage inflicted by monsters, and also to Chris McDowall's advice on adding special effects to match certain results on the damage rolls for Into the Odd, say, "whip d4, steal weapon on a 4".
Undead are, by their very nature, weird. We might be jaded by overexposition to zombies in pop culture and show/games, but nothing says your undead have to behave "as expected": in one of the Barrows the party explored yesterday, there was a Wight. Quick confession: I know nothing about Wights except what they look like according to the Monster Manual and their OD&D stats. So I decided they were semi-intangible beastly hunters that look like mummified humanoids with long hair and nails. When their claws reach you they go right through you and some strange "smoke" is torn out of your body, and it feels oh so very cold, like learning of a close relative's death, and eats away at your CHA directly. The party decided to flee after that one initial attack.
Working with that advice, here's the revised table:
1 - Skeletons (d6!) (! means the dice explodes on a six), until it stops rolling sixes)
Want to free your skeleton from your body. Will try to convince you to just let it go.
Crumble whenever they lose STR. If they save vs Critical Damage, get back up with full HP.
Color: bones rattling and cackling, mocking your lesser forms.
2 - Zombies (d6!5)
Want to eat your brains. Eating enough brains turn them into Ghasts.
Infect you with a magical virus on Critical Damage - you will turn by next morning unless the infected member is amputated as quickly as possible.
Color: hollow men, forever lost to the dark.
3 - Tomb Robbers (d6! up to 12)
Luck Roll: 1 Gone Native (Cannibals), 2-3 Stark Raving Mad, 4-5 Wary, 6 Friendly
Color: they are just like you. That is what makes them scary.
4 - Vermin (1-3 : that number, 4-6 : a swarm)
Treat as Detachment.
Color: the darkness crawls and creeps towards you.
5 - Mongrelmen (d6! up to 18)
Just run them as Skavens. On Critical Damage, steal your stuff and flee.
Color: it looks like the nightmare version of someone's unwanted son, ugly and ashamed.
6 - Ravenous Dead (2d6!)
These are blood-crazed zombies. I treat them as 28 Days Later-type Infected. Faster than you, unless they catch something to eat.
Color: first a scream, then many more, drawing closer. You can hear their hunger.
7 - Stirges (d6)
Falls down on you from above and drains you of your delicious body-water.
On Critical Damage, they drain Bonus (+d6) damage from your STR. At 0 you're an dried husk.
Color: you hear leather and claw against wind and stone. Something falls on your shoulder.
8 - Hollow Clerics (d6)
STR 15, CHA 0, 6hp
Frost Touch d8, Freezes the Soul on Critical Damage (character can't feel anything anymore).
Victims raise as Ghosts.
Color: they whisper-sing litanies backwards.
9 - Sapphire Skeletons (d6)
As Skeletons, but they don't need to save vs Critical Damage. Destroying the gem ends them.
Color: shining jewelry crowns their pale heads.
10 - Fireflies (1-3 a few 4-6 a swarm)
Ignites flames when startled. A swarm will cause a man's clothes and hair to combust.
Color: flying gleams chasing shadows.
11 - Dungeon Dressing
12 - Referee's Choice
Bonus - Civilized Ghouls
Also eat people, favoring putrefied meat.
On Critical Damage, they throw you away effortlessly for dramatic effect.
Color: they smile at you with lip-less mouths, revealing wolves' teeth.
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