Ominous Crypt of the Blood Moss
I am currently writing a short little adventure for Old School Essentials (and by extension any B/X D&D or old school fantasy game). It's called Ominous Crypt of the Blood Moss and features a nasty extradimensional fungus that is bound to make the PCs have a bad day...
Before I get into discussing some of this adventure, I want to briefly discuss why writing this has been important to me. I've written a couple of scenarios for Trail of Cthulhu and Call of Cthulhu, both of which have been relatively well received. Comments I've had back from running them at cons is that they are fun and people who have run them have had good feedback on them. And that's great! I love that people enjoy my work. But I haven't written anything for RPGs for a couple of years now, other than the stuff I spin out for my own groups. There are is one main reason for this - anxiety. I don't know where it's come from other than its been building over years since I finished my doctorate and didn't manage to get the academic position I thought I would be able to achieve. I know it has been influenced by stressful working conditions from a previous job that forced me to actually seek help for it. And I know that it keeps holding me back because my brain keeps telling me that my stuff isn't good enough and that no one is going to care about it. I guess that is one of the reasons why this blog is pretty sporadic!
Anyway, with lock down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I've been able to refocus a little bit on some of the long lost projects that have been placed quite firmly on the back burner in my mind. I took a couple of online courses, signed up for a voice acting course to improve my silly RPG voices (which I need to actually work on - pull your finger out, Freddie!), finished a mountain of war games scenery that was sitting around half finished, and started trying my hand at some writing again. My brain has really rebelled at that last one and it has been a real struggle to force something to the surface that I think is good enough to share. Today, I managed to write out the skeleton of an adventure, design the creature behind it, and map out the dungeon. Tomorrow I'm hoping to polish it up and start on laying it out. Hopefully, I'll be able to release it soon. I hope it is well received, but even if it isn't, I'm glad I've written it. Because it's a B/X adventure and it's the first one I've written since I was about 12. I had fun writing it and I look forward to playing it with my friends. I hope you'll enjoy playing it too.
In the meantime, here's a teaser of the intro fluff and the creature at the centre of it all...
They say Ursodiol the Mad was the greatest mind to have ever breached the great Cosmic Void; that he looked beyond the myriad stars and the blackest depths of the hells into the swirling magical protoplasmic morass that is the beginning and end of everything. When they found his corpse, so hideously changed was it that it drove those who saw it to madness and despair. Fearful, they entombed it in the crypt of his forbears and sealed it tight. But little did they know that Ursodiol brought back something with him from his cosmic journey. And it is hungry...
Blood Moss
Blood Moss is an extradimensional protoplasmic mycelial network of nanofibers that feeds off of consciousness and hungers for the experiences of sentient beings. While it can do little to defend itself directly, it's increased intelligence allows it to animate nearby objects and reanimate corpses for defence. It seeks to spread itself in search of intelligent creatures to absorb their memories and thus experience everything the world has to offer.
Blood Moss is divided into two types—nodes within the mycelial network and the creature's core node. For the purposes of game rules, these are treated as two separate entities:
Blood Moss – Node
AC No hit roll required, HD 2* (9hp), Att 1 x ensnaring tendrils (1d6 + mental absorption), THAC0 18 [+1], MV 60’ (20’), SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (2), ML 12, AL Neutral, XP 50
► Nodal creature: Each 10’ cube area counts as one “individual” node in the network.
► Immunity: Unharmed by all attacks except fire and acid (a burning torch does 1d4 damaged).
► Ensnaring tendrils: 50% chance on hit ensnaring individuals in its sticky mycelial network. Treat as Web spell. Further attacks automatically hit. Only one individual can be ensnared at a time.
► Mental absorption: Save versus death or become host to a new node through injected spores. Infected individuals lose 1d2 intelligence each day. Magic-users have a 25% chance of forgetting one random prepared spell. Once an individual’s intelligence reaches 0 they die and a new Blood Moss will grow from the corpse.
► Reanimate corpse:25% chance of reanimating any nearby corpse to defend it if attacked.
► Regeneration: Will regrow at the rate of one node every 3 Turns until Core node is destroyed.
Blood Moss – Core Node
AC No hit roll required, HD 5* (22hp), Att 1 x ensnaring tendrils (2d6 + mental absorption), THAC0 15 [+4], MV 60’ (20’), SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (3), ML 12, AL Neutral, XP 300
► Core node: once destroyed connected nodes wither to ash.
► Immunity: Unharmed by all attacks except fire and acid (a burning torch does 1d4 damaged).
► Ensnaring tendrils: 50% chance on hit ensnaring individuals in its sticky mycelial network. Treat as Web spell. Further attacks automatically hit. Up to two individuals can be ensnared at once.
► Mental absorption: Save versus death or become host to a new node through injected spores. Infected individuals lose 1d2 intelligence each day. Magic-users have a 25% chance of forgetting one random prepared spell. Once an individual’s intelligence reaches 0 they die and a new Blood Moss will grow from the corpse.
► Reanimate corpse:25% chance of reanimating any nearby corpse to defend it if attacked.