Ecology Of The Bloody Arduin's Kill Kitten For Your Old School Campaigns

 "Sire, Master Lane is here from the university's Monsters & Curiosities department again" 
" Your excellence we need to speak about the recent incursion of the invasive species known as the Kill Kittens" 
"Are you serious?!"
"These creatures are legend and myth!" 
"No sire the Kill Kittens are not a legend or a myth but a deadly reality" 

Portrait of a gang of kill kittens sizing up it's prey. 

Kill Kittens are some of the most dark & dangerous species of mimic animals that has made it's way from Arduin's dimensional shores. The kill kittens are an ancient form of biological weapons system that has reproduced thousands of times over. The originators of this species of vicious mimic animal are lost to history. 
The kill kitten has two very advanced tactics in it's arsenal of tricks & traps behaviors. The animal is a dedicated pack hunter who prays on human sized prey with advanced nerotoxin cocktails as a part of the glands that surround it's fangs & claws. Secondly, the 'kill kittens' are fantastic mimics who imitate normal cats and kittens hijinks and behaviors. 
These monsters are incredibly cunning and resourceful hunters with common packs of five to sixteen easily taking down a full grown human male in less then 2 minutes. The neurotoxin cocktail is designed to cause insanity and beserk rages as the prey experiences extreme pain as the poison ravages thier nervous system. The prey is driven into a beserk rage for 1d4 days making the prey vulnerable to further attack. 
 

("Kill Kittens" art by Greg Espinoza used without permission. 

The rumor is that kill kittens were designed by the Elves during the Human/Elven wars thousands of years ago. These creatures bare the hallmarks of occult and magical tampering on a biological level. The Elven nations  deny any such wrong doing but there are the hallmarks of Elven biological chimeral weaponization techiques. These characteristics include the incredibly cute mimic behavior that marks these incredibly dangerous pack hunters. 
Other hallmarks includes the line of sight teleportation that these monsters use to pounce on thier prey seemingly from nowhere. This magically fueled hunting trick is especially good for taking nice juicy hobbits a favorite of the little monsters. These monsters have been found as far away as Barsoom however. 

The nature of kill kittens is completely artificial with thier poison glands in thier mouth and claws able to pump neotoxins deeply into prey after taking it down. This ensures the death of the prey. The kill kittens also have a highly advanced cunning minds akin to lions or tigers. Packs of kill kittens use advanced scouts as decoys which often mimic acting hurt or injured behaviors to attract kind hearted fools who become prey for the entire pack. The kill can feed a pack for almost a month making thier murderous behavior hard to detect. 
The claws of a kill kitten are almost iron hard made of a hollow chiten that regrows over time with use as they shed the outer sheath. The muscle structure of a kill kitten is more akin to a lion or dire cat species. They have bite force ten times that of a lion relative to thier size. 

The kill kitten is sentient but not intelligent in the usual sense. Thier minds are cruel and centered on hunting, torture, reproduction, and expansion of the species. These creatures are unnatural hunters with minds twisted to evil and cruelty. Again there is the fact that many consider that these tendencies are because of an artificial biological weapon origin. 
The kill kitten has come to be regarded as a monster of legend but this has allowed the monsters to expand dimensional beyond the shores of Arduin. And over the last  two hundred years thier numbers have increased to become a menace of horror & violence. 

Ecology Of The Bloody Arduin's Ibathene For Your Old School Campaigns

 "Sire, Master Lane is here from the university's Monsters & Curiosities department. " 
"Doctor Lane can you tell us what is eating our dragons and ruining my 20,000 acre game preserve?"
"The Ibathene, Sire!" 
"But that's only a legend, a myth?!" 
"No sire the Ibathene is our kingdom's reality!" 

There are monsters that even monsters of myth  and horrors of legend are afraid of. The Ibathene is one such creature that feeds on the the largest of prey dragons, wyverns, and even manticore. These creatures ran from 60 feet all the way up to ancient specimens that clock in at 120 feet.  These monsters are both hunters and ambush predators with a taste for any type of flesh that crosses it's sharp tooth maw. 

Many adventurers will go lifetimes without ever seeing the brilliant bright green scalelike armored carpace of the monster. Or having thier souls stared into by the single huge red alien eye on the 8 foot long stalk. Mere words can not describe how terrifying the  Ibathene is. 

Master Lane waited for the audtorium to die down as the murmers of fear from brave men & fainting of the ladies. The 60 foot creature had been captured near Redford Commons. The ancient artifact 'Calming Field' generators held and the giant batteries augmented the fields. 
" Ladies & gentlemen, I present to you the  Ibathene or dragon killer are found throughout the prime material planes & is now infecting our lands. "How do 'dragon killers find thier way to our shores?" They follow the dragons of course!"
"These horrors follow the planar migration routes of  dragonkind and the paths of great magicial enchantment." 

"Young  Ibathene are drawn to places of great magic along the planar routes with the wyverns that act as scavengers with  Ibathene acting as the dragon's predators"
"Young  Ibathene appear to be juvinale wyverns until thier first shedding and then the eyes are drawn together as the eye stalk comes into place" 
"Deer, elk, horses, small herds of sheep, & the occasional human family provide the  Ibathene with the much needed protein that it needs to grow" 
'The body of a  Ibathene is like a tuning fork alive with the senses that allow the horror to hunt'. 'It can sense vibrations up to one hundred and twenty feet away & hear a dragon's heartbeat close to a mile and a half away in total darkness'. 
" The main weapon is it's tongue which has a series of serrated edges like peusdo teeth on it capable of sherreding flesh from bone in moments. The tongue's real power is the fact that it a constrition weapon of incredible power" "When not in use the tongue is wrapped around the lower brain of the beast' " And once the beast has it's prey it is drawn into those powerful jaws capable of cutting through bone easily" 
" Ibathene armored skin is capable of taking on hydra acid and dragon's fire easily with minimum damage. Because the beast's pain receptors and nerves are not in it's primary brain! That's right because of it's bulk the beast has a secondary brain that helps process and move the horror! And this also includes a tail capable of smashing through an old growth tree!"
"The monster is primarily an ambush predator concealing itself in the undergrowth of the land. And then using it's  tongue and bulk to draw in prey. This is not it's only hunting option as the  Ibathene also sometimes actively hunts prey down attacking with a combination of tongue, tail,  and sheer bulk." 
'The powerful stomach acids of  the  Ibathene are capable of disolving steel easily and are worth two to three thousand gold pieces to the right alchemist. Almost every part of the monster is useful for some form of enchant. The fact that the  Ibathene are so dangerous has made them exceptionally plentiful in some regions!" 

" Ibathene have a primary diet of thunder lizards and the like with giant wyvern, hydras, and dragons being only occasionally seen making the deep wilderness of our lands it's natural habitat" 
" The Ibathene has been speculated to have originally been native to the planet Barsoom with the waning of magic having been the primary motivator for planar migrations" 
" The beast found it's dragonic prey niche about 6 million years ago which is relatively young in dragon's terms. This marks the beast as one of the main enemies of dragon kind. And hence the standing bounty of 10,000 gold reward for any confirmed kill from the council of dragons" 
"Ibathene are essentially roving monsterous locusts with these horrors going on destructive rampages eating everything within a 50 mile radius then moving on. 'These times of destruction"  bring out every monster hunter from even far away lands. Special shaped explosive alchemist's bombs fed to the  Ibathene are often the solution to killing these horrors. Disposal of the corpse requires the alchemist's guild's help. This can be quite expensive and costly" 
" And this ladies and gentlemen brings us to our own 'time of destruction' with the Ibathene massing for a massive feed and then mating frenzy.  These beasts lay 1d6 eggs which can sit for hundreds of years only to hatch unexpectedly with 6 of the young horrors consuming each other with only the strongest remaining" 
" Inconclusion the Ibathene is an exceptionally dangerous alien horror that should be hunted and killed wherever found!" 

Free Mars Resource For Your Old School Science Fantasy Campaign - Barsoom! From Heavy Metal Magazine By Richard A Lupoff

 

  This is not the article's artwork but its a favorite classic Amazing stories cover featuring one of my
favorite Burroughs stories

Grab It Over
HERE

With the Warriors of the Red Planet retroclone due any day now I need a fast way to reintroduce Barsoom to a few jaded old school friends. Some of these folks had never read the Edgar Rice Burroughs classics of Barsoom!  I didn't want to get into a whole lot of hassle but how to give the highlights and put my players in the spirit of the books?
Heavy Metal Magazine had exactly what I needed with this article about Edgar Rice Burroughs and Barsoom. All of the highlights are touched on and there's some excellent old school artwork by Clyde Caldwell in the article as well.
According to the Internet Archive :
Article about author Edgar Rice Burroughs, published in September 1982 issue of Heavy Metal magazine. Illustrated by Clyde Caldwell.
 All of the quick highlights of Barsoom are touched on and the artwork covers most of the major characters, creatures, and Martian races. All in all its not a bad introduction to ERB's Barsoomian adventures and it's a quick read as well. So I thought I'd share with you folks. 
This post is for entertainment and educational  purposes only and no violation of the author nor the artist's trade marks or copy rights is being implied here.
Thank you. 

OSR Thoughts on ' A Princess of Mars' By Edgar Rice Burroughs

 Edgar Rice Burroughs is a writer whose been with me as a kid since the day I was born. There wasn't a day that went by when his books weren't in my room. So I have no real idea when I read  'A Princess of Mars'. To say that Barsoom is an important fictional place within my younger years goes without saying. What is it that draws me back into Burroughs Mars?! The love story of John Carter, the alien vistas, the violence or the sword play, ERB's writing style or is something more?! 

What is it that draws me back across the dead sea bottoms or the mist haunted ruined palaces of the former rulers & kings. The fierce multi limbed Green Martains capableof violence that rivals their Red men counterparts. The Green Martians remain a favorite alien race; "The Green Martians are 15 feet tall, Burroughs wrote, adding from John Carter's observation of newly hatched children,

They seemed mostly head, with little scrawny bodies, long necks and six legs, or, as I afterward learned, two legs and two arms, with an intermediary pair of limbs which could be used at will either as arms or legs. Their eyes were set at the extreme sides of their heads a trifle above the center and protruded in such a manner that they could be directed either forward or back and also independently of each other, thus permitting this queer animal to look in any direction, or in two directions at once, without the necessity of turning the head.

The ears, which were slightly above the eyes and closer together, were small, cup-shaped antennae, protruding not more than an inch on these young specimens. Their noses were but longitudinal slits in the center of their faces, midway between their mouths and ears.

There was no hair on their bodies, which were of a very light yellowish-green color....

They are nomadic, warlike, and barbaric; do not form families; have discarded concepts of friendship and affection (presumably in the name of survival); and enjoy torture. Their social structure is communal and rigidly hierarchical, with various levels of chiefs. The highest rank is the all-powerful Jeddak, who reaches this position through combat. They are tribal, and war among one another."

So what is it that makes me once again fall back to the works of ERB?! The fact that even though I know each & every chapter of 'A Princess of Mars', the ancient world of Barsoom is like coming home to a corner of my imagination that I know so well. ERB wrote for the common man & his works are entertainment for the common folks. And it's this point where I think that like Gary Gygax & David Lance Arneson's rpg creation that there's originality within Edgar Rice Burroughs's works &   creations. Originality that draws me back again to Burroughs Mars again & again. 

Ecology Of The Bloody,Bloody, Arduin Octorilla For Your Old School Campaigns - Updated

 'There are strange and dangerous predators among the stars my friends and the octorilla is a fine example of an invasive and dangerous species of monster from the dimensional nexuses and gateways of Arduin'

'Behold the octorilla gentlemen, one the most dangerous and heinous of the mutant pseudo gorillaoids out in the wilds of the planes. But where did they come from and why do their numbers seemingly increase every year? And are such creatures naturally prone to violence and depravity when other species of gorillas are not?"  Marcus Flavous The Elder waited for the collective terrorized  sigh of the crowd to die down. As the  tentacles of the monster whipped the sides of the cage but the force field easily held its place. The royal xeno-biologist had made that mistake and had extra nuclear batteries in place to give the force field generator the required power. His party of loyal friends paid with their lives in the swamp world of Eldrad III. The force cage moisturized the horrid monsters and the filmy slime of the thing's tentacles left a smear down the side of the containment cage.


Marcus held his cybernetic hands up for silence in the great hall. 'There is no need for alarm my friends this speicimen was captured at great expense for the royal zoo of Atlantica.' 'Now we may proceed, the Octogrilla is a predator of enormous appetite and consumes at least twice his weight per week.' 'The monster seems an unholy combination of great ape and an octopoid life form. In point of fact these horrors are not simply carnivores but omnivores of the highest caliber' 

'These monsters are incredibly strong and are capable of splitting metal, wood, bone, and flesh with easy with their powerful tentacle attacks'  He indicated an array of broken and twisted samples on the table before him. There was a large glass jar with some sort of twisting slime covered muck inside of it held in place by a powerful metal screw top. Marcus regarded it for a moment seemingly locked in a distant and unpleasant memory of some past horror with the monsters. 

'These monsters feed on anything or anyone that they can get their tentacles on' 'They use a combination of powerful and intelligent eyes, ultra sensitive hearing, and sense organs that line the entire body of the monsters just below the fur,skin, and back of the tentacles'  'We estimate that the prey can be felt with fifty feet of the beast before the eyes ever lay sight of it. This gives these predators superior hunting skills'. 'And they are relentless sometimes tracking prey for fifty miles or more' 

"They dwell in both fresh water and salt water equally well. The Octorilla first subdues its prey with a series of powerful attacks by the tentacles and then wraps its prey in these tentacles constricting the victim. Only then is the powerful acidic ooze that the monster creates released upon the prey enabling the horrors predigest the poor fool for later consummation.' 'These tactic's are also one of the reasons why little treasure and relics are found within the bowels of the lairs of these beasts.'  

"The Octogrilla is amphibious as well and capable of dwelling in a wide variety of environments and is considered an invasive species by many planetary authorities' 'For they are found in alien rain forests, hot jungle worlds, and other plant based ecological environments often near alien building ruins. Often this is right next to a large body of water as a river or a lake."" But why esteemed lords and ladies?!"  "Because my friends they have always been there"  A great murmurer rode its way through the crowd as  lords and lady scientists from across the empire began to question. Marcus held up his hands again. 

'My friends the reason why the Octorilla continues to flourish as an interstellar invasive species is very simple. The monster simply put is us.' 'I will have silence and you will listen to my findings!'

'We all know that throughout Earth's history there have been incursions by alien super scientists' 'These alien interlopers settled via time warp upon the Martian landscape. Starting in the pre dawn era of early mankind they began to mutate the DNA of early man, seeding the Earth with several strains of mutating viruses. These viruses were charged with certain types of mystical and very dangerous magick energies. A similar process was done upon Mars as well in its prehistoric era as well.' 'The results of these experiments upon early Martian kind were the creation of several species and strains of tool using, multiple -armed semi intelligent monsteroid creatures. The Great White Apes of Barsoom and Mars have appeared numerous times and are still a menace to any adventurers doing time prospecting'
'In 1841 a series of murders occurred in old Earth this was done by what was wrongly assumed to be a trained great ape. Time diving revealed a completely different story'
'It was in fact a mutated man which exhibited mutations similar to those found in the octorilla. Namely the immunity to paralysis,radiation, and toxicity from minerals such as lead or uranium.' 'These mutations were the result of rapid specialized Khoas virus overwriting of existing genetic code and forced mutational physical and mental changes' 'The type of change that we see with magical or super science tampering in native Earthlings' 'You know that this has been going on for centuries my brothers and sisters, it is only now that we have reached the stars that the evidence is overwhelming to you all!'



" There are further connections between the Martians of the 1898 invasion of Old Earth and the Octorilla.


The Octorilla can sustain itself upon only a few kills a month and slow down it's metabolism going into a fugue or hibernative state an adaption shared by many of the gorilla like mutant monsters that have plagued mankind throughout its history and prehistory. The Octorilla has many of the characteristics of the invasive Martian species tentacles, blood lust, extra senses adapted for hunting prey in swampy conditions, and a capacity for variations of mutated species. They kill by constriction and the slow dissolving of prey as well as feeding upon the blood of their prey. There is evidence that some variation of these monsters may have been seen within the various crystal eggs that were used by the Martian invaders more proof right over HERE

'Octorillas  are  be able to supplement its diet with plants, including fruit, roots, tubers, as well as insects, small animals and pretty much anything that might look like it can be eaten between meals. There have been incidents of other varieties of these monsters being found as well.' One of which is right over HERE.

In point of fact there have been several varieties of these monsters recovered from the interior of the Inner Earth from several Derro eco-vaults with evidence of Invasive  Martian technology intact. These showed several species of  mutated gorilloid monsters in various states of specialized mutations keyed for their environments  

Mutated Gorilloid  Monsters

           

Num. Enc: 2-5

Align: Chaotic Evil 

Move: 180' (60') swimming, swinging and climbing

AC: 3

HD: 7

Attacks: 2 claws  or 1 bite 

D/Att: 1d10/1d10/1d8

Save: F7

Morale: 10

Hoard Class: C 

XP: 1,400
There is strong evidence that super science processes and magickal arcane rites and secrets that continue to produce these monsters have circulated among cults, wizards, and other dubious super scientists of evil intent have been used for centuries. This is trend that shall continue my friends 

In conclusion the octorilla species will continue to be a plague upon us all, some of us have paid the price for this continuing problem of invasive magick from outside our normal space time continuum and the legacy of Arduin will haunt us for decades to come.

The octorilla has been taken from the Arduin Eternal Bestiary and Treasures book available right HERE. All ecology & supposition is by me and the items and monsters belong to respective owners. 

Free Mars Resource For Your Old School Science Fantasy Campaign - Barsoom! From Heavy Metal Magazine By Richard A Lupoff

  This is not the article's artwork but its a favorite
classic Amazing stories cover featuring one of my
favorite Burroughs stories

Grab It Over
HERE

With the Warriors of the Red Planet retroclone due any day now I need a fast way to reintroduce Barsoom to a few jaded old school friends. Some of these folks had never read the Edgar Rice Burroughs classics of Barsoom!  I didn't want to get into a whole lot of hassle but how to give the highlights and put my players in the spirit of the books?
Heavy Metal Magazine had exactly what I needed with this article about Edgar Rice Burroughs and Barsoom. All of the highlights are touched on and there's some excellent old school artwork by Clyde Caldwell in the article as well.
According to the Internet Archive :
Article about author Edgar Rice Burroughs, published in September 1982 issue of Heavy Metal magazine. Illustrated by Clyde Caldwell.
 All of the quick highlights of Barsoom are touched on and the artwork covers most of the major characters, creatures, and Martian races. All in all its not a bad introduction to ERB's Barsoomian adventures and it's a quick read as well. So I thought I'd share with you folks. 
This post is for entertainment and educational  purposes only and no violation of the author nor the artist's trade marks or copy rights is being implied here.
Thank you. 

Arduin,Barsoom,& Tegel Manor - Deadly Campaign Connections In My Castles & Crusades Game

Deodanth concept art by Greg Espinosa for the Arduin Monster Cards,1977
Nothing exists in isolation & I haven't canceled a game in months but today because of work I've had to. We're very busy & its getting to be a bit much for me. So I went ahead & last night after taking on so much sewing machine repair work. But there's an Arduin side came up in my Tegel Manor campaign notes! Arduin itself is a world of planar doors & there's been lots of campaign interaction between Greyhawk, Arduin, & Tegel Manor going back years in our games. The dimensional wandering Tegel Manor spreads its evil across the planes subtly. The Rumps infiltrating & investing in many ventures & their corruption turns up in the most surprising places.



That's right there's a blood feud between my bard player's PC & a group of deodanth bounty hunters going back to 2019.  The bard has a death wish & wants revenge on these after the bounty hunters were hired by certain powers of Cha'alt black pyramid. Yes there's a horde of bounty hunters roaming the planes with the PC's wanted posters in their back pockets. 


Then in my wanderings across the internet I stumbled across this video which brought home using certain aspects of Arduin. This a brief but concise video of many of the Arduin products of yesteryear.

But how does one go about using Arduin with Castles & Crusades?! This is a Swords & Wizardry homage to the original Arduin & its free! Completely  compatible with Swords & Wizardry, fast, its free, & its very easy to use!

For the Castles & Crusades crowd that wants to use a Deodanth hit squad I recommend the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition states over at the Underworld Cleaning Service blog from 2012. 
Now with the original Judge's Guild  Tegel Manor there's another lesser know Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom book  aspect to JG's Tegel Manor. There's a group of Green Martian Warriors that were roaming & fighting in the original random encounter charts!


So someplace on the Manor grounds there's a planar  portal Barsoom & I as the dungeon master have been taking full advantage over the years to slip in the occasional Warriors of the Red Planet rpg monster. But this isn't the only Mars I've slipped in under the player's noses. There's a bit more Barsoom with a group of NPC adventurers whose make up is straight outta of Jason Vey's conversion of Doc's OD&D Mars material.  All of these remind me of the classic Frazetta covers from my youth.


This same gateway opens onto the Mars of Empire of the Petal Throne's Rpg via Brett Slocum's Warriors of The Lost Planet free Warriors of the Red Planet Add on campaign book. 



This is my homage to my uncle's Empire of the Petal Throne rpg campaign that we played in '84 through '91. All of these elements are cross compatible with the science fictional/science fantasy elements found in the Castle Keeper's Guide. 



Now what does this have to do with lich lord The Duke De Lamont & his connection's to the Prussian's special projects division?! How will the players react to all of this via their PC's?! I'm gonna have to wait till next week to find out! There's a ton of stuff happening & my players are down with all of it. 

1d20 Random Martian Super Science Finds & Relics Table For Warriors of the Red Planet Second Edition & Your Old School Campaigns

In the far and remote corners of Mars there are still ancient secrets and caches of mysterious relics that await your PC's. They're power borders on magick and world bending power, they drive men mad and deep into the Martian interior in search of the aura of power that surrounds such objects.



There is a twenty percent chance of these objects carrying a minor curse or weird magical effect upon them that has come down from the ancient ones.

1d20 Random Martian Super Science Finds & Relics Table

1. Azgbagororogli Bakong's Folly - This device was created by a minor Martian noble who was fused in a teleporation accident with his father. The resulting mad genius created a device that bends space and time allowing 1d8 temporal illusion of the owner to be created but there is a 30% chance each time this device is used that a temporal doppleganger will be left behind to try and murder the owner. The effect lasts for 2d6 rounds. The illusions can be commanded to do a wide variety of minor acts within 20 feet of the owner.
2. Fauroliaula's Sword - This sword was formed from the crystalline heart of an ancient warrior of Order, the sword hates a evil and chaos and will try to take over the owner. It acts a +2 weapon but there are those who think the thing is actually a part of an ancient war mechanism left over from a long forgotten Martian war.
3. Glarg Kabantul's Statue - This weird technological organic statue is a combination of advanced elemental technologies and sorcerous power. The statue holds the mental matrix of a long dead mentalist and has 1d6 random mentalist powers when found. But after 1d6 days of the owner using it, the evil spirit of the thing will try to possess the owner and return his evil to Mars.
4. Lirg Maurug's circlet - This piece of jewelry allows the owner to phase walls as per the ghostly power but it only works for 1d6 times and then the circlet will swallow the soul of its owner to power its next cycle of abilities.
5. Nglaurcala's crown - This crown allows the owner to see into 2d6 nearby dimensions and affect the inhabitants of those. Used in the past this crown could according to legend and myth open inter dimensional gateways allowing the horrors and weird things to attack Nglaurcala's enemies. He was a powerful sorcerer of the Black Gate.
6. Otutur's Device - Is a device of power capable of holding the powers of the Outer Darkness at bay. These things will not come within a twenty foot radius circle of the owner and will take 1d6 points of damage per round to their temporary being. But the device must be fed 1d8 pints of blood per day or it will cease operation and may even act as a lurer for these beings.
7. Rguing Saronimercher - Is a statue of a minor Martian noble whose father had him preserved as a guardian and warrior for all eternity in Mar's ancient past. This statue will create an electrical field capable of frying a small army of men within a sixty yard radius of its activation. The key word is written on the fore head of the statue which will do 1d8 +2 points of damage to all within its field of operation as it taps into the ancient Martian dimensional poles. The key word can be spoken from over a mile away and the statue will activate. Ancient scrolls say that the statue murders those of evil who use it for horrid acts.
8. Llotlot - This is a six legged ancient Martian animal preserved in the flesh and with weird cybernetic machinery within its hide. Upon activation this thing will seek out ancient treasures and relics from nearby vaults and hidden Martian lairs. This thing is much sought after by wizards and the like
9. Migol-hoteho's Dagger - This ancient key like device is used to activate certain forbidden technologies and ancient relics. These are detailed in the Hy Ra scrolls of power and mystery.
10. Naub's Horror - This is an ancient device used for assassination and terror by the Order of The Crimson Death. The horror upon activation flies to its target which has been telepathically programmed into the small mechanical looking insect life form & poisons the target. The target must save vs death or die immediately but that not the final insult. The device collects DNA, and other genetic information which the owner can use to grow a replacement of the target and under the owner's control.
11. Noat's Breath - This relic of war is used to create a cloud kill effect within a seven mile radius of its activation by remote telepathic command. It will have 1d8 charges within it when found.
12. Photatach's Reliquary- This ancient coffin like device is used to create exacting life like cybernetic parts and organs for its owner healing 1d20 points of damage. But there are those who say that the ancient god thing owns the minds, souls, and bodies of those who use this device. 
13. Sabo-bhaqusth- This ancient Martian device is actually a telepathic resonator and creates a sense of god like well being and false sense of religious like well being. It is said to have been a relic of war and those who worshiped this false idol were brought under the telepathic control of its owner. Details of its operation remain lost to history and legend at best. It can create a charm spell within a 3 mile radius of its operation.
14. Siq-arabot's Ray - This relic creates a ray that can both heal the mind, and soul of foul demonic energies but the owner's aura is vulnerable to the powers of darkness for 1d8 days after receiving treatment. Seven mentalists must be brought in to guard those being treated with this device.
15. Migol-hoteho's Worm - Is a relic of ancient times that swallows a victim and unless a save vs death is made the victim is turned into a cybernetic warrior of incredible destructive power. But rulers have thought at this device could be used to create armies of these warriors not so. The warrior created by the worm serves the device's twisted programming and hidden agenda. Warriors fight as 4th level fighting men and have radium weaponry built into hidden caches.
16. El'hactuteiqu's Wonderful Navigation Device - This relic allows one to teleport across incredible distances including 1d8 light years of interstellar distance but the device's minor abilities allow one to to peer into hidden nearby worlds and scry into hidden regions of Mars. There is a 20% chance each time this is done of activating the teleportation powers. These devices are sometimes hidden in remote caches of the Martian underworld.
17. Hathaigggh's Memory - This device is actually the stripped mind and soul of several ancient black wizards and allows one to access to remote and forbidden secrets of black magick that swims in the unknown soul places of the Martian underworld. There is a forty percent chance that when these wizards are consulted that a demonic life form or worse is summoned. They are a dangerous, evil, and fickle lot of murderous horrors at best in the memory. They can use 1d6 black gate spells per day and spread their corruption within a 20 foot radius.
18. Iqu-eit - This ancient robotic like device is actually a medical robot of incredible skill capable of healing wounds to both body and mind. These bots are sought after but very rare because of their abilities, they have the ability of a cure heavy wounds spell six times per day. Evil scientists are known to reprogram them for very dangerous purposes including the creation of certain forbidden cybernetic technologies.
19. Liquthotl - A remote flying sorcerous basket ball sized eye like devices used in summoning rites, the will blast targets for 1d8+1 points of damage and a wizard is only one who might be able to sooth them with a charm spell to telepathically reprogram them. They can under the right circumstances and rituals be used to summon a major demon or other outer worldly essence.
20. Zha-goth- Foul and dangerous relics of war capable of being used to open forbidden dimensions, these watch sized devices can open hidden Martian dimensional seals and gates four times per day. They are forbidden left overs from ancient times and many Martian cities will instantly slay those who have such devices.

'Down & Out In Golonor' A Warriors Of The Red Planet Rpg Actual Play Event Part II 'Into The Lost Temple Of Thuris'

 Our brave party of adventurers managed to penetrate the interior of the Great Swamp and fought off two plant monsters and made their way onto the path to the ruined temple of Thuris. The ruins were supposedly abandoned. This event was continued from last week's game. 

 The party in this past week's Warriors of the Read Planet second edition game managed to penetrate the temple of Thuris after dealing with a few red men cultists in the swamps  and they heard the echoing chanting from below in the temple. The passages downwards were slick with swamp mud and blue rime. The inner temple walls and tunnels were covered in swamp Rathvine and the stuff gave the party some nasty turns until they began burning and freezing it with some rays from their party's scientists. Two tunnel turns later they came face to face with a 4th level panth warrior who gave them some trouble. They managed to dispatch him before the alarm could be raised. Falazgl Elvated  Animal Wolf warrior managed to get in a throat shot with his short sword ending the issue.

Inglandurgodo The Ripper one of the party's scoundrels went to work on a nearby temple door. He almost bought it against a Sassam wizard's familiar. The party came face to face with a wizard and his familiar. So it was all hands on deck for this fight. Grenades and lots of running ensued as one of the PC's was fried and trapped. We shall miss Zs'nal Elevated Insect Fighting Man 2nd level played by Robbie and speak of his deeds around the campfire. As guards came running to the scene of the fire and magick fight. The PC's high tailed it out of the room but not before grabbing some treasure and hid fast behind some fallen masonry. They came straight into a hidden room and the scoundrels check for traps and weird mechanisms.


The party ended up in a room full of decomposed bodies of warriors with harnesses and weapons;when the first of the skeletal panths rose from the ersonite table the mayhem began. There were way too many of them to deal with effectively. They party became bogged down in this necrotic laboratory. Chalimmabel Of The Open Mind 3rd level mentalist let loose telekinetically with flying debris and caused a bit of damage among the undead horrors ranks. But they just kept coming! Will our heroes survive? What the hell is wrong with the Temple of Thuris?! What is the Gugot-zakrsh Loghagn-stau A Hither tribal merchant and mentalist of some renown's connection to this place and what have our heroes gotten themselves into?


This adventure will be continued next week as the weird atmosphere and terrible circumstances seem to close in our heroes! Who will survive? What dread powers are at work in the deep jungle temple? Tune in next week!

Warriors of The Red Planet Second Edition Rpg System Unboxing & Commentary

 So today brought me a brand new gift from the other half The Warriors of The Red Planet Second Edition book from Lulu. The book has left me somewhat speechless, the author and artist did such a great job with the retroclone system. There's a lot happening here for your old school Mars role playing. The box was solid and no cracks or dents, the tracking went off without a hitch.

 Lulu packed the book up very nicely and the new book looks fantastic, the system has gone over a bit of a revision and there are are new PC options on the table along with expanded set of skills for the scoundrel class and plenty of tables for adventure generation. No longer are PC's bound to Mars either, this seems to be the first in an expanded range of interstellar and solar system adventures.

 The cover art reflects the old school OD&D homage right off the bat and there's plenty of self referencing going on in the book. The DM is really in control right out of the gate and there's a ton of old Mars action happening right between the pages. This book could be used as both source book and as rule book for your old school games and even though its a retroclone sort of it takes its own liberties and directions with the old school vibe straight out of the gate.

 As I said the packing job was up to Lulu's usual standards. I think I like the company's books a bit more then Drivethrurpg's and this is a personal opinion rather then fact. Another thing I think that the Pdf doesn't do the physical book half of the justice it deserves. The artwork, layout is gorgeous and very well done.

 The physical cover just pops and has such a vibrance as well as old school edge to it in my opinion.It just makes you want to actually play the damn game. 

 The print is clear and the binding is tight as hell which is nice and since this is my fourth or fifth book from Lulu I'm pretty damned stoked to have this piece of old school retroclone fun. Warriors of the Red Planet brings a nice fresh and upbeat sword and planet vibe to the table top scene.

 All of the familiar faces are there from Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Lovecraft circle including Albert Otis Kline but there's plenty of new material to bring a fresh Martian prospective to life on Mars. The speed of the system is as good as OD&D and  in some places far more clear.

 The racial choices and classes are really very nicely done bringing to life not only a sword and planet but any number of science fictional creations can be brought to life on your version of Mars. The ideas and reflections of the WoRP system are pretty endless and the idea is brought home in the DYI OD&D ethos of the system itself.

The rulebook is really very well done and I couldn't be more pleased on any number of levels. Knowing my passion for old school pulp roleplaying this game has been a God sent on any number of levels and now even more so. Everything here is crisp and very well done reflecting a simple and intuitive D&D style with echoes and touches from the authors making it their own. This marks a nice bench work in sword and planet systems.

 The back half of the book is the meat and bones of the Warriors of the Red Planet system for me. It is taken up by planetart dungeon and underworld design and its very well done. Much of this material could be used to create material and generate old school planetary dungeons for any number of old  school science fiction or fantasy systems.

 Tables and skills have been tightened, equipment expanded, material in WofRP edited & tightened up then dovetailed into other areas. The book does a good job of prepping up any number options for both high test science fiction and planetary romance adventures

 The central affair of this game book is generating the adventure and getting you the DM as well as your players onto the table and rolling some dice. The systems are tight, crisp, and exuberantly old school in both ethos and practice.

 Monsters are well laid out and there's lots of red man action as well as the usual exotic Martian horrors to make your PC's life a red hell on Mars or the solar system choice of yours a real adventure.

 The races of Mars are well represented and easily incorporated on any number of levels of old school adventure play. These races are high test and old school facets of the Edgar Rice Burroughs school and all of his imitators who came after them and they're perfect choices to get the players in the right frame of mind for a planetary romance or old school science fiction adventure romp.

 As I said the binding is very nice and the quality for this book is surprising on any number of levels.

 There are a ton of random tables to get the DM's juices flowing and ebbing with adventure design, there's enough material here for six to eight campaigns with a quick toss of the dice. Did I mention the artwork is spectacular

 There's lots of adventure design choices from weird science artifacts to fully blown horrors waiting in the wastelands to a ton of NPC tables all waiting for your adventurers. There's enough here to transport a ton of D&D or Sword and Wizardry characters into the deep end of the Martian pool.

 Oh I do love the air  ship to ship rules and artwork of Warriors of the Red Planet, it hearkens back to the OD&D wargaming roots while blazing its own trail against the back drop of the planetary tales of Mars.

 They're concise, intuitive and well done and they tie everything in the book together. The whole game is aimed at creating and running adventures on Mars and aboard, I'm really impressed with the other all system and care that went into this product. I have plans for the second edition of Warriors of the Red rpg system.