Title
For Gregory Fellis (Greg)
Giant Carnivorous Cave Salamander (Solitary, Large)
Bite (d8 damage 1 piercing) 16 HP
A giant eyeless albino salamander; this amphibian of the deep cavern lakes and rivers is always hoping for a meal.
Instinct: Bites
Lurks
Ambush
Overturn small boat
Title
Lamia (Solitary, Large, Magical, Intelligent, Hoarder)
Drains Blood (d12 damage) 16 HP, 2 armor
Reach
A vampiric half-serpent woman that often manages a band of lesser jackalware thralls. A human drained of blood by a lamia will arise three days after death as a jakalware thrall of a lamia unless the victim’s body is burnt or given a proper burial.
It’s fairly clear that the Lamia was a precursor figure to the well-recognized vampires and succubae of modern fantasy and horror literature.
In 1819, the English Romantic poet John Keats composed a poem simply titled “Lamia” that then influenced one of Edgar Allan Poe’s sonnets (“To Science”), which is all to say that there is something about this creature’s origin and character that has continued to capture popular attention over the course of several thousand years. It’s unfortunate that the Lamia’s role in blood-sucking and seducing men has been more or less usurped in popular culture and fantasy by the vampire and the succubus, but at the very least, her essence has survived in recognizable ways in those creatures to this day.
Instinct: Drain Blood
Uses illusion
Seduce and Drain
Summon Jackalware thralls
Jackalwere (Group, Small, Stealthy, Intelligent)
Jackalwere (Group, Small, Stealthy, Intelligent)
Weapon or bite (d8 damage) 6 HP, 0 armor
Close, Reach
These demonic jackals have three physical forms (jackal,jackal hybrid, human) they shift between and they often work for Lamia masters to capture slaves or caravans. Other than its size, its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.
Sleep Gaze
The jackalwere gazes at one creature it can see. The target must roll +Wisdom.
On a 10+ the player is now immune to a jakalware’s gaze.
On a 7-9 the player sees, briefly the jackalware’s true hybrid form.
On a 6 or less the player falls into a light sleep.
Instinct: Enslave and/or rob
Shapechanger
Sleep Gaze
Ambush
Entrance to Cynidicea, perphas?
Entrance to Cynidicea, perphas?
Looks like Jules Verne, DW Players have been right all along…
Looks like Jules Verne, DW Players have been right all along…
Long Before Trees Overtook the Land, Earth Was Covered by Giant Mushrooms
24 feet tall and three feet wide, these giant spires dotted the ancient landscape
By Colin Schultz
JULY 17, 2013
From around 420 to 350 million years ago, when land plants were still the relatively new kids on the evolutionary block and “the tallest trees stood just a few feet high,” giant spires of life poked from the Earth. “The ancient organism boasted trunks up to 24 feet (8 meters) high and as wide as three feet (one meter),” said National Geographic in 2007. With the help of a fossil dug up in Saudi Arabia scientists finally figured out what the giant creature was: a fungus. (We think.)
The towering fungus spires would have stood out against a landscape scarce of such giants, said New Scientist in 2007.
“A 6-metre fungus would be odd enough in the modern world, but at least we are used to trees quite a bit bigger,” says Boyce. “Plants at that time were a few feet tall, invertebrate animals were small, and there were no terrestrial vertebrates. This fossil would have been all the more striking in such a diminutive landscape.”
Fossils of the organisms, known as Prototaxites, had peppered the paleontological findings of the past century and a half, ever since they were first discovered by a Canadian in 1859. But despite the fossil records, no one could figure out what the heck these giant spires were. The University of Chicago:
For the next 130 years, debate raged. Some scientists called Prototaxites a lichen, others a fungus, and still others clung to the notion that it was some kind of tree. “The problem is that when you look up close at the anatomy, it’s evocative of a lot of different things, but it’s diagnostic of nothing,” says Boyce, an associate professor in geophysical sciences and the Committee on Evolutionary Biology. “And it’s so damn big that when whenever someone says it’ssomething, everyone else’s hackles get up: ‘How could you have a lichen 20 feet tall?’”
That all changed in 2007 when a study came out that concluded the spires were a fungus, like a gigantic early mushroom.
But not everyone was sold on the idea that Prototaxites was an early fungus. No one’s questioning the spires’ existence—people just have trouble trying to imagine that such a huge structure could be a fungus. Researchers trying to refute the fungus idea thought that Prototaxites spires were gigantic mats of liverworts that had somehow rolled up. But in a follow-up study, the scientists who had proposed the fungus idea doubled down on their claim. So science is messy, and despite more than a century of digging, we still don’t really know, for sure, what these huge spires that dominated the ancient Earth really were.
But even though the spire-like mushrooms of yore—or whatever they were—are long gone, don’t feel too bad for fungus kind. The largest organism on Earth, says ABC, is still a huge fungal mat, a single organism spread over 2,200 acres of forest in eastern Oregon.
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http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/files/2013/07/07_17_2013_prototaxites-e1374082301263.jpg
Revised.
Revised.
Many thanks to Robert Rendell!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7cav44145d9VG9PYXVpYy1tTHM/view?usp=sharing
Adapted for Dungeon World from the TSR Classic Basic D&D Module B4: The Lost City by Tom Moldvay.
Adapted for Dungeon World from the TSR Classic Basic D&D Module B4: The Lost City by Tom Moldvay. Dedicated to his memory.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7cav44145d9VG9PYXVpYy1tTHM/view?usp=sharing
To continue my B4 “Lost City” Dungeon World adapt posts for a project I’m having fun with that will go “somewhere”…
To continue my B4 “Lost City” Dungeon World adapt posts for a project I’m having fun with that will go “somewhere” and become “something”. I thought my fellow Tavernites might be interested in the story that I think most likely inspired the late, great Tom Moldvay(Thomas Steven Moldvay, Nov. 5, 1948 – March 9, 2007)to write B4 and which is posted free at Project Gutenberg and might continue to inspire Dungeon World GMs.
Zargon Cultist (Solitary, Organized, Intelligent)
Zargon Cultist (Solitary, Organized, Intelligent)
Dagger (d4 damage) 5 HP
Close
Cultist dedicated to the worship of Zargon in the underground city.
Instinct: Sacrifice Innocents to Zargon
Worship Zargon
Summon goblin slaves
Commune with Zargon
(Source: Classic D&D Module B4: The Lost City)
Title
Cynidicean (Horde, Devious, Intelligent)
Short Sword (d4 damage) 3 HP, 0 armor
Close
Cynidiceans are a special type of normal humans who live in the underground Lost City. They have pale skin, white hair, large eyes, and infravision. They wear colorful masks, bright clothing, and carry short swords. They spend most of their time living in strange dream worlds.
Instinct: Act in a bizarre fashion
Live in a dream world
Unpredictable actions
Be Insane
Example Cynidicean Encounters:
One character in a wolf mask is encountered. This Cynidicean believes he is a werewolf. When he sees the party, he will drop to all fours, howl, sniff, circle, and generally behave like a wolf. He may try to bite if approached too closely. He thinks he cannot be harmed, and will only be afraid of magic or silver weapons.
Three characters approach the party, dressed in dark robes and devil masks. They carry incense burners. These Cynidiceans think they are powerful clerics.They see the party as demons and will try to drive them off with loud cries and foul-smelling smoke. The leader’s name is Brother Theodeus.
One Cynidicean dressed in bright green robes and a bird mask approaches the party She will walk slowly up to one party member, hand him or her a small pouch, smile, and walk on. She will not notice any attempt the party makes to talk to her.The pouch contains a strange powder that smells like cloves.The powder has no special properties at all.
This group of five Cynidiceans is dressed in brightly colored robes and masks with human faces. They will think the party is the same band of barbarian raiders who looted the city centuries ago. They will flee in panic as the party approaches.
Six Cynidiceans in striped robes and camel masks zig-zag slowly down the hall in single file. They are trying to avoid the invisible snakes on the floor. They will try to show the party the invisible snakes and warn the party to walk around the snakes. Th ere a re, of course, no snakes.
This party of four w ear insect masks, carry large clay jars, and hum like bees. They will stop and ask the party to drink from the jars. Everyone who does has 1-4 points of damage cured, as these jars contain honey from the lair of killer bees. If the Cynidicens are attack ed, or if someone tries to drink twice the Cynidiceans will smash the jars and attack berserkly.
This party of four wears animal masks: Hawk, Fish, Cat, and Fox (these are also the character’s names. They are carrying a stretch er with a gourd on it. These characters are rushing their “sick friend” (the gourd: Dog) to a cleric. If the party has a cleric, the Cynidiceans w ill insist that the cleric cure their friend.
This group of six in bright yellow robes and human masks will stop and stare at the party. They will “recognize” a party member as the King or Queen of Cynidicea. They will follow the character, sing songs of praise, and wait on the character hand and foot. In general, they will smother the character with attention. However, they will not fight for their King or Queen.They are more likely to grab the character and try to rush him or her to safety. Their spokesman is Policrates the Herald.
A group of four Cynidiceans in feathered robes and bird masks approach. On seeing the party, the Cynidiceans will “fly” (run) forward, flapping their arms and squawking. They will invite the party to fly along and will lead them on a merry chase. If the party refuses to join the Cynidiceans, the Cynidiceans will insult the party as poor creatures who cannot fly (“Thou land-bound slugs!”), circle three times, and “fly” away. If attacked, the Cynidiceans will “fly” away.
A group of six Cynidiceans with their bodies painted black and wearing vulture masks walk quietly toward the party. They carry long wooden boards, but seem friendly and normal.They will follow the party, waiting for something to be killed. When it is, they will rush over and start building a coffin to fit the body. When they are done, they will demand a 10 coin payment.They will attack if they are not paid.
These five Cynidiceans think are an adventuring party. They will think the player characters are some kind of monster (GM determine) and act accordingly.
(Source: Classic D&D Module B4: The Lost City)
