Kickstarter Launch and Learning

Yesterday the long awaited (by me anyway) kickstarter for Trilemma Adventures: Servants of Memory launched - Click HERE to back it!

With over 250 backers in the first day we blew past most monetary stretch goals in a few hours!

It was a thrilling ride and a real baptism of fire for me as my first kickstarter. I was overjoyed at the level of interest and then a bit of panic set in as I realised we were running out of cool extras for the backers.

It seems that myself and Michael, my partner in this, of Trilemma.com, underestimated the number of people that would want to add the Trilemma Adventures Compendium to their pledge, we had anticipated a good mix of PDF, Soft-cover and Hard-cover versions of the bestiary PDF and that few would also want the compendium.

Boy were we mistaken, and it has left us trying to work out what stretch goals we could put out to keep the campaign alive. I'm sure we will think of something cool. In the meantime if you want to follow along, join the kickstarter HERE

Excuses, excuses

I just wanted to drop in and give an update regarding my lack of updates.

My intention with the blog was to do a steady stream of conversions of classic monsters and update with other fun stuff. But after a good start things have slowed considerably mainly due to other commitments.

One of the main things that has taken my time is the ongoing development of the kickstarter book, Trilemma Adventures: Servants of Memory, that launches today. this has taken up much more time than expected, and it has also taken a lot of my brain power to keep re-working through it. I am hoping that as this launches properly it will then free me up to get back to writing on here.

I still aim to work through the classic creatures, and will commit to finishing up the Giant Spider by the end of the weekend. I will then move on to the other missing entries. I also have ideas for a few new spells and want to do some showcasing of other resources available to the Forbidden Lands community.

Anyway, thanks for your patience. Feel free to get in touch if you would like to contribute to the blog or if you have any ideas for what you would like to see me talk about.

Cheers

Craig

Giant Spider WIP

Giant Spider

The Giant Spider is a mainstay of fantasy fiction, with one of the most famous depictions being Shelob from Lord of the Rings, that very nearly ended the quest for our brave Hobbit. I am sure that some of that depiction will influence my design decisions.

For this beast I have had to change my online source for the 5E spider stats, go here to see what the beast looks like in the current version of D&D - 5E Giant Spider

I will again rely heavily on my conversion formulas found here as a spreadsheet - 5E to Fbl conversion guide.

STEP 1: STRENGTH - As ever the first question, Is it a Monster? Categorically Yes! So we use the HP multiplier to determine Forbidden Lands Strength. 4d10+4 = 4x1.25+Constitution Modifier of +1= 6, which is pretty low for something this legendary.  It also doesn't have any immunities or resistances, so the Strength isn't modified further.

STEP 2: AGILITY - Agility is easy, just convert the Spider's Dexterity of 16 to a Fbl Agility of 5, it is an agile critter.

STEP 3: WITS AND EMPATHY - It doesn't need Wits or Empathy as its only semi-intelligent.

STEP 4: SKILLS - This is the first monster to have skills listed. It has a Stealth of 7, in D&D this would be made up of a proficiency and its Dexterity Modifier. In my conversion document I have listed all of the 5E skills and their Fbl counterpart, Stealth converts to Stealth, just subtract the Dex Modifier as this will be added to the creatures Agility in play. 7-3=4, so Fbl Stealth = 4.

It also has Passive Perception which would use its Wisdom Modifier, so look up the Base Dice increase of the Wisdom Attribute of 11 to convert to WITS of 4.

STEP 5: MOVEMENT - Speed/30 = 30/30 = 1, if its climb speed was different I would add that as well but this ability will be covered as a special ability.

STEP 6: ARMOR RATING - Looking at the 5E armor ratings (and Formulas), this gives me a number of options. The Spider has a Natural Armor of 4, and this either includes all, some, or none of its Dex Modifier of 3, depending on how tough I think it is. Which would give me possible Armor Ratings of 1 (14-10-full Dex Modifier) or 2 (14-10-Max Dex modifier of 2), or 4 (14-10, no Dex modifier included). This is where I loook at the Armor ratings listed for monsters in the Legends and Adventurers booklet, and compare the options. My gut says 4 is too high, but 1 is too low, so let's go with 2 (equivalent to thick fur, or for the spider I would say thick hide).

STEP 7: TYPICAL GEAR - None.

STEP 8: IMMUNITIES, RESISTANCE AND VULNERABILITIES - None Listed

STEP 9: SPECIAL ABILITIES - The spider has a number of special abilities listed:

• Spider Climb. The spider can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

This is very straightforward, I would just remove the last section as its irrelevant.

• Web Sense. While in contact with a web, the spider knows the exact location of any other creature in contact with the same web.

Again, just use as written.  There might be a possibility for an adventurer to make a roll to avoid the webbing?

• Web Walker. The spider ignores movement restrictions caused by webbing.

I would add this into the Spider Climb ability above.

STEP 10: CONVERT ATTACKS - The Spider has the following attacks listed:

• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: (1d8 + 3) piercing damage plus (2d8)poison damage. The target must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw, taking the poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. If the poison damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, the target is stable but poisoned for 1 hour, even after regaining hit points, and is paralyzed while poisoned in this way.

This one is based off the creatures Strength, so look at the conversion guide for the Base Dice increase in-line with its 5E Strength Attribute of 14, which gives an Base Dice increase of 2, for a total of seven Base Dice and Weapon Damage 1 (as it does less than 20 average damage). In 5E this does piercing damage but it makes sense to have this as a slash wound in Fbl, as a bite can remove limbs like a sword cut. Range is ARM'S LENGTH as it is within 5ft.

This attack also has a paralysing poison included. The potency is devised by taking the saving throw and subtracting 10, to leave a Potency of 1. This seems really low, so I might need to revise my conversion formula to how I work it for Fear attacks, which is saving throw halved?

• Web (Recharge 5-6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 30/60 ft., one creature. The target is restrained by webbing As an action, the restrained target can make a DC 12 Strength check, bursting the webbing on a success. The webbing can also be attacked and destroyed (AC 10; hp 5; vulnerability to fire damage; immunity to bludgeoning, poison, and psychic damage).

The Web attack can only be used once every 5 or 6 rounds and ends in the victim being GRAPPLED. The initial attack is based off of the creatures Dexterity, so look across from its DEX of 16 to see what its Base Dice increase is, in this case it’s 2, increasing the attack to seven Base Dice. Range is SHORT and the Webbing has a STRENGTH of 6 ( which is half the STR save of 12).

STEP 11: ATTACK DESCRIPTIONS - The attack descriptions are pretty straight forward. The Bite is quite brutal and obviously has a poison attack. The description of the Web attack will include its innate stickyness.

STEP 12: NEW ATTACKS - This is where it gets interesting as I asked for some feedback on possible attacks and ended up getting quite a few suggestions, so I decided to write them all up and then you can choose which four you would like to add in to make up the six. I have grouped some together to cover a certain creature that harasses halflings.

STEP 13: FINISHING TOUCHES - Not much to add now, this was quite straight forward, it’s just a shame it took so long for me to complete.

Year Zero Bestiary Kickstarter

Over the past few weeks I have been a bit preoccupied, and my work on the Giant Spider has sadly remained unfinished, hopefully I will get back to my conversions soon.

But as many of you know I have been working alongside other contributors to develop a fantasy bestiary for the Trilemma Adventures Compendium (available here)! The work on this is now and on 4th August we will be launching the kickstarter for this Year Zero Engine edition! To follow along and make sure you are notified of the launch please click here.

RUST MONSTER

This is the second in my series of conversions of classic D&D monsters.  The Rust Monster is interesting as thematically it seems to fit well with Forbidden Lands, and it is less about inflicting damage on players but more about being a nuisance by degrading weapons and armour.

As usual I have a WIP post that can be found here - Rust Monster WIP

The Rust Monster

Towards the end of the Fourth Alder War Zygopher was becoming desperate, performing many strange and powerful experiments to get any advantage. This hideous hybrid creature was the outcome of one foul experiment, created from combining the essence of insectoids and something else that has never been fully identified.  The creature was engineered for sole purpose of sniffing out Dwarven mines and their treasures littered across the Forbidden Lands as the Dwarves retreated from Zygophers forces.  Zygopher had planned to re-purpose any metal found, or excavated, as the base material to create new weapons and armour for his forces in the war against Alderland.  Unfortunately for Zygopher the rushed experiments failed.
     Instead of just locating metals for its master, the creatures also needed to consume metal for nourishment, and did so with unrestrained enthusiasm.  Although the Order of the Rust Brothers hailed this new creation as potent symbol of their God, and named them Rust Monsters, Zygopher was furious and attempted to cull the ravenous beast before their diet caused mayhem for his troops.  This was one of the few times that the Rust Brothers actively disobeyed Zygopher, releasing these newly created creatures into the wilderness.  They continue to cause disruption to this day, often found feeding in long abandoned mines or dungeons. There are rumours that temples to the god Rust keep these creatures in wooden pens as sacred animals, the rusty chainmail worn by the Rust brothers being “blessed” (slightly touched) by the beast when ordained. Some Rust Brothers even have the creatures as pets, although keeping them contained and fed is a challenge welcomed by few.

ATTRIBUTES

STRENGTH 6, AGILITY 4

MOVEMENT: 2

ARMOR RATING: 4 (natural armor)

IRON SCENT: The Rust Monster can pinpoint, by scent, the location of ferrous metal within SHORT range of it. The Rust Monster will always target the tastiest food source within range, ignoring all others unless attacked. To determine the metal rating of each adventurer combine the Gear Bonus or Armor Rating of all metal weapons, armor or equipment.  Add to this total a value for each coin: gold adds 2, silver adds 1 and copper coins add .5, treasure adds an amount equal to its coin value halved (as treasure has value in its presentation as well as materials).

RUST METAL: Any nonmagical weapon made of metal that hits the Rust Monster corrodes. After dealing damage, the weapon permanently loses a Gear Bonus, the weapon can never be repaired to its full Gear Bonus. Ammunition made of metal that hits the Rust Monster is destroyed after dealing damage.

MONSTER ATTACKS

D6	ATTACK
1	BITE ATTACK! The Rust Monster reacts violently to defend itself from its last attacker, or the closest adventurer, taking a snapping bite with its sharp mandibles Make an attack with six Base Dice and Weapon Damage 1 (blunt force). If the attack hits, the victim must make a MOVE roll or be knocked prone.
2	ANTENNAE SWIPE! The Rust Monsters corrosive antennae stretch out, searching for the nearest source of metal to consume.  Make an attack using four Base Dice.  If the attack hits, each  ⚔️ will reduce the Gear Bonus/Armor Rating of the metallic weapon/armor/equipment by 1. This attack can be parried but the Gear Bonus or Shield Rating will be reduced by up to the original number of ⚔️ rolled, unless a non-metal weapon/shield is used.
3	TAIL BASH! The Rust Monsters large bony tail flicks out, striking the adventurer with the highest metal content within NEAR range.  Make an attack using five Base Dice and Weapon Damage 1 (blunt force). If the attack hits and the victim is wearing metal armor, the Armor Rating is reduced by the number of ⚔️ rolled. This attack can be parried but the Gear Bonus or Shield Rating will be reduced by the original number of ⚔️ rolled, unless a non-metal weapon is used.
4	RUSH THROUGH! The Rust Monster barrels into the nearest adventurer within NEAR range, searching for nourishment.  Make an attack using five Base Dice and Weapon Damage 1 (blunt force).  If the attack hits, the victim is knocked prone. If the victim has the highest metal content that the Rust Monster can detect (see Rust Scent above), they will pin their victim and attempt to feed from them next round, the victim is considered GRAPPLED. If the victim is not the tastiest snack, the Rust Monster will move on to a new victim next round.
5	DISARMING BITE! The Rust Monster attempts to grab the most succulent weapon within NEAR range, targeting the adventurer holding the weapon with the current highest Gear Bonus.  Make an attack using six Base Dice, if the attack hits the creatures mandibles grab onto the weapon reducing Gear Bonus equal to the number of ⚔️ rolled. The weapon will then be pulled from the adventurers grip by using four Base Dice.  The victim may roll MIGHT to oppose this, each ⚔️ rolled will eliminate one ⚔️ from the Rust Monster's roll, this does not cost an action.
6	FEEDING FRENZY! The Rust Monster takes advantage of the overabundance of food within reach, using both its antennae and tail to lick at all adventures within ARM'S LENGTH, tasting any and all metal armor and weapons.  Make each attack using three Base Dice. If any attack hits, each  ⚔️ will reduce the Gear Bonus/Armor Rating of the metallic weapon/armor/equipment by 1. Each attack can be parried but the Gear Bonus or Shield Rating will be reduced by up to the original number of ⚔️ rolled, unless a non-metal weapon/shield is used.

Making the Rust Monster - WIP

The Rust Monster

Over the next few days I will type up my work converting the D&D rust monster. I will start by looking at the 5E stat block, found here - 5E SRD - Rust Monster

I will again rely heavily on my conversion formulas found here as a spreadsheet - 5E to Fbl conversion guide.

STEP 1: STRENGTH - As always the first question: Is it a monster? Well, it has MONSTER! as part of its name so definitely a monster. This means we use the Rust Monsters HD to determine its Fbl Strength. Because of this we also need to look for any immunities or resistances as this will affect the conversion multiplier. No immunities so 5D8 +5 converts to 5 * 1 (as a D8 hit has a conversion multiplier of 1) + 1 (the creatures Constitution Modifier) Giving a total of 6, which is quite low for a monster but this critter has additional protection with its rust ability, so it should be fine.

STEP 2: AGILITY - Agility is pretty straight forward, take the creatures Dexterity score and plug into my conversion table. 12 converts to 4.

STEP 3: WITS AND EMPATHY - Its a monster, and its 5E Int, Wis and Cha are too low to worry about, so lets skip this.

STEP 4: SKILLS - No skills listed, so we can move on.

STEP 5: MOVEMENT - 60ft / 30 = 2, its quicker than an average human, as it should be.

STEP 6: ARMOR RATING - The Rust Monsters AC is 14, subtract 10 gives us 4. This is the point where 5E head scratching comes in, as the armor rating could be modified by the creatures Dex modifier of +1, or it might not be, depending on how the AC is calculated. As we want the Rust monster to be a bit of a threat, lets just keep the full 4.

STEP 7: TYPICAL GEAR - Rust Monsters don't generally carry items, so we can skip ahead.

STEP 8: IMMUNITIES, RESISTANCE AND VULNERABILITIES - Nothing listed for any of these, which means it will take damage from all attacks but anyone using metal weapons is in for a surprise (unless they are old school D&D players, then they should not be surprised at all).

STEP 9: SPECIAL ABILITIES - The Rust Monster has two special abilities -

• Iron Scent: The rust monster can pinpoint, by scent, the location of ferrous metal within 30 feet of it. 

This is pretty easy to translate, just change 30ft to SHORT range, this is a bit longer as its up to 25m but that should be fine. I might add a description about how it would choose a target amongst a group of adventurers.

• Rust Metal: Any nonmagical weapon made of metal that hits the rust monster corrodes. After dealing damage, the weapon takes a permanent and cumulative -1 penalty to damage rolls. If its penalty drops to -5, the weapon is destroyed. Nonmagical ammunition made of metal that hits the rust monster is destroyed after dealing damage. 

This one is a bit trickier due to how weapons work in Fbl. My instinct is to make this immediately reduce Gear Dice but there is a little bit of me (probably my left eye) that wants me to only reduce Gear Dice if a 1 is rolled when attacking. For now I will go with my initial thought. I will add that the weapon also cannot be repaired to recover this lost Gear Dice.

STEP 10: CONVERT ATTACKS - The Rust Monster has two actions listed that can be converted to attacks. I will work through this tomorrow.

• Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) piercing damage. 

This one is easy to convert. The range is ARM’S LENGTH because of its 5ft reach. Cross reference the creatures Strength attribute of 13 with the conversion table to find the Base Dice increase, in this case it’s 3, and add this to the +3 to hit. The creature rolls six Base Dice to bite, and as it’s damage average is less than 20 it does Weapon Damage 1 in Fbl. Although it states piercing damage, in Fbl bites are usually slash wounds. The reason for this I think is that a bite has the ability to severe limbs, but a stab would only pierce a specific hit location.

• Antennae: The rust monster corrodes a nonmagical ferrous metal object it can see within 5 feet of it. If the object isn’t being worn or carried, the touch destroys a 1-foot cube of it. If the object is being worn or carried by a creature, the creature can make a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw to avoid the rust monster’s touch. If the object touched is either metal armor or a metal shield being worn or carried, its takes a permanent and cumulative -1 penalty to the AC it offers. Armor reduced to an AC of 10 or a shield that drops to a +0 bonus is destroyed. If the object touched is a held metal weapon, it rusts as described in the Rust Metal trait

This one is slightly more complicated as it’s not written up as an attack in the 5E version. Usually for something like Poison or Disease I make the strength of it it equal to saving throw DC -10, and I think this fits to show how accurate the attack is. But rolling one dice for an attack is pretty pointless in Fbl, so I will add in the creatures adjusted Strength as well (as above). This gives a total of four Base Dice for the attack. The damage is something special that I need to think about, it probably causes 1 point of Gear Dice damage per success for whatever object it attacks, armor or weapon. I would also think this attack can be parried but that just specifically damages the weapon.

STEP 11: ATTACK DESCRIPTIONS - This is where your imagination comes in, try to make the attacks sound interesting. For the bite I think it would have mandibles, due to being insectoid. The antennae attack is going to be a frenetic rubbing type of attack.

STEP 12: NEW ATTACKS - The first thing to decide here is how many attacks should it have? Animals or small creatures can have just a couple of attacks that are described in the main stat block, large creatures always have six but my rule of thumb is that monsters with less than 8 Strength have three attacks, modelling the Stone Raven from the Bitter Reach. This is just a general guideline and depends on how creative I can be with the attacks, if I can come up with six I will use six. For the Rust Monster I had two immediate ideas.

• The Rust Monsters tail is said to also corrode but I think that does it by hitting the target, I would say it is somewhere between the bite and Antennae attacks in regards to base dice, so let’s put it at five Base Dice and Weapon Damage 1 (blunt force) due to the way it can club its target. It also looks quite long, so let’s increase the range to NEAR. It will also corrode like the antennae.

• I did think the Rust Monster would barrel through anyone not carrying metal to get to a target it could feed off, with the ability to knock the target prone as well whilst knocking them aside. Let’s call this RUSH ATTACK! until I can come up with something better, it has the same attack chance and damage as the bite but as (blunt force), the target also needs to make a MOVE roll or end up prone.

• Maybe a disarm attack versus anyone brandishing a metallic weapon, same base dice as the tail but it grabs the weapon and the victim must make a MIGHT roll or the weapon is pulled from their grip, the rust monster will then stop and devour the weapon.

• To be honest I’m now struggling a bit for the last attack, any thoughts? It could use its tail to swipe at all adventurers within NEAR range, maybe?

STEP 13: FINISHING TOUCHES - I think it is pretty much done now but I think adding something to the description to fit it in with the setting would be good, I will see what I can do.

I will post up next week.

Making the Golem - WIP

Making the Golem

Here is my WIP for the Forbidden Lands Golem

So for the Golem I am going to start with the stats for the classic Clay Golem and convert everything over to a Forbidden Lands format.

To do this conversion I will rely heavily on my conversion guidelines found here - 5E to Fbl conversion guide

So let’s start with the 5E stats, found here - Clay Golem - 5E SRD

STEP 1: STRENGTH - Is it a monster or kin? (This helps us to decide how we determine the Strength attribute). Easy answer, it’s a frickin Golem, so monster.

To convert STRENGTH first find the monsters HD, in this case the Golems hit dice are 14D10+56. Ignore the +56 for now. Using the guidelines fine the conversion formula......don’t worry I will wait......

Ok, if the monster has a hit dice measured in D10s, you normally take the number of dice and multiply by 1.25, but as this creature has DAMAGE IMMUNITY to non-magical weapons and MAGIC RESISTANCE you decrease this Multiplier by .75 (to .5 for anyone not wanting to do the math). 14*.5= 7 (with monsters always round up), plus their 5E CONSTITUTION modifier (+4) which gives a final STRENGTH of 11.

This seems ok as its between a Minotaur and a Troll but it also can't be harmed by normal attacks and Magic gets reduced.

STEP 2: AGILITY - This is pretty straight forward, find the 5E DEXTERITY score on the Attribute table and move left to the Fbl attribute column. This number is the creatures AGILITY. The Golems DEXTERITY of 9 becomes a Fbl AGILITY of 3.

STEP 3: WITS and EMPATHY - If the monster is intelligent we would use an average of 5E INTELLIGENCE and WISDOM for Fbl WITS and an average of 5E WISDOM and CHARISMA for Fbl EMPATHY. But as it’s a Golem we skip this step.

STEP 4: SKILLS - This one is easy as the Golem has no skills listed, so nothing to convert here. If as part of its senses it had a Perception of over 10 I would consider adding this as its Scout skill. But in this case it has low Perception, so let's move on.

STEP 5: MOVEMENT - This is a quick bit of math, Fbl MOVEMENT = 5E SPEED / 30 (rounded up). If it had several SPEED scores listed I would convert all of these and list the mode (for instance fly or swim).

STEP 6: ARMOR RATING - I'm UK based so a little part of me dies inside everytime I type Armour in US English, but that's how it is in the book. Anyway, working out how ARMOR CLASS in 5E is calculated is a little tricky, as sometimes in includes the DEX bonus and sometimes it doesn't, and for monsters I think the AC is pretty much made up. For the Golem it is straight forward. It's AC is 14 but I am assuming this has been reduced by its -1 DEX MODIFIER. To get its Fbl ARMOR RATING, take the AC - DEX Modifier - 10. Which gives an ARMOR RATING of 5.

STEP 7: TYPICAL GEAR - The Golem doesn't have any, simples.

STEP 8: IMNUNITIES, RESISTANCE AND VULNERABILITIES - We have already checked for DAMAGE or MAGIC IMMUNITIES/RESISTANCE but we also need to check for CONDITION IMMUNITIES/RESISTANCE or VULNERABILITIES. The Golem has IMMUNITY to non-magical attacks (Fbl doesn't have adamantine so I skip that part), this has already reduced its STRENGTH score to compensate but we need to write it next to its ARMOR RATING. 

The CONDITION IMMUNITIES are pretty standard for a Fbl Monster so don't need to be called out.

STEP 9: SPECIAL ABILITIES - In this step I have a look at the 5E stat block for any cool things that are listed, that would not convert to an attack. I can immediately see ACID ABSORBTION, BERSERK, IMMUTABLE FORM, MAGIC RESITANCE and MAGIC WEAPONS. List these separately for now, either keep the name as-is for fan stuff or rewrite to avoid using 5E terms. This where we have to start to get creative to keep the essence of the ability but translate to Fbl terms.

• Lets start with ACID ABSORBTION - This is quite straight forward as it converts damage to health, which is easy to mimic with Fbl mechanics.
• Next up is BERSERK - This is a fun thing, I would say it can activate after the Golem looses over half its Strength. The effects can also become an attack, wording to be written later.has a similar trigger to the Gray Bear's FERAL RAGE
• IMMUTABLE FORM - Easy to copy as-is.
• MAGIC RESISTANCE - This is something that appears for a number of 5E monsters, but thankfully Fbl already has something similar with the Ogre's MAGIC RESILIENCE ability (pg 61 Gamemaster Guide), consider it stolen. WARNING - It is powerful, so use sparingly.
• MAGIC WEAPONS: Another straight forward one, just change weapon attack to physical attacks.

STEP 10: CONVERT ATTACKS - Monsters in Fbl have either six or three attacks. My general rule is that if the monster has less than 8 Strength then its a nuisance, and not worth working up six full attacks, but I do make exceptions if my imagination comes up with more attacks.

The Golem has the following actions listed in the 5E stat block - 

• MULTIATTACK: this is just two slam attacks. This doesn't have its own attack bonus or damage so lets move on. we will come back to this in a bit.
• SLAM, which I always hate from 5E as a GM I do want to know what the actual attack is, so we will make something up later. The SLAM attack has a +8 attack bonus, this includes the golem's +5 STRENGTH bonus. To work out what this means for a Fbl attack we need to go back to the conversion spreadsheet and find the golem's strength attribute score in the relevent column then scroll along to find the BASE DICE INCREASE column, in this case a 5E strength of 20 gives a Base Dice increase of 1, add this to the +8 to give us nine Base Dice (notice the Fbl number formatting). As the Golem has multiattack as a standard action, this means its attack bonus is based on two attacks each round, to make this into a single attack increase the Base Dice by one to ten. The nine Base Dice can be used for the multiattack. For damage look at the HIT: average and refer to the document again. Anything that does 20 or less damage converts to Fbl Weapon Damage 1 (and clearly its blunt force). 5ft range gives us ARM'S LENGTH in fbl, standard monster attack range. The SLAM attack does have a bit about reducing hit point maximum but I think its a tough enough opponent as it is.
• HASTE: The recharge rules from 5E mean this fits really well as one of the six monster attacks. But it does sacrifice an action the turn it is used. I need to work on the mechanics for this in Fbl and then the description. It needs a better name. This one needs a bit of thought.
• BERSERK: This fits as an attack smoothly with just a few word edits. and changing the name to UNCONTROLLABLE, which might change again before I'm done.

STEP 11: ATTACK DESCRIPTIONS - This is the semi creative bit. I have to come up with descriptions for the monster attacks, and rename SLAM and MULTIATTACK to something cooler (if I can think of something that is).

STEP 12: NEW ATTACKS - This is sometimes the hardest bit as I need to think what other things the golem might do, either a direct attack or some other action. Most monsters in Fbl also have some sort of Fear attack, so I need to think about that. What I might do is have a look at other version of the golem from 4E or earlier to see if there is anything interesting.

• Some interesting things from 4E version - CLAY SMASH (standard; at-will) The clay golem makes two slam attacks, each against a different target. BERSERK ATTACK (immediate reaction, when the clay golem is damaged by an attack while bloodied; at-will) The golem makes a slam attack against a creature adjacent to it. Hasty Reaction A clay golem rolls initiative twice, taking the higher of the two results. Unstoppable (move; encounter) The clay golem moves 8 squares and can move through enemies’ spaces. Opportunity attacks against the golem triggered by this movement take a –10 penalty to damage rolls
• The Stone Golem has GOLEM RAMPAGE attack, which seems a fun title to borrow, instead of unstoppable.
• The 2E version mentions "lifting, throwing or smashing"

So lets change some names and see how this goes.

STEP 13: FINISHING TOUCHES - I need to tidy up a few things, and see how this version of the Golem fits with the Summon Golem spell, and then add a note about that.

From comparing both Summon Golem and Summon Elemental I think that to summon this specific Golem build needs a Power Level of at least six?

Also, I need to think about the issue of how to heal a Golem wound as most version say only magic can heal the damage - This is from the 3.5E and makes more sense than how its written in 5E - 

• CURSED WOUND (Ex): The damage a clay golem deals doesn’t heal naturally and resists healing spells. A character attempting to cast a conjuration (healing) spell on a creature damaged by a clay golem must succeed on a DC 26 caster level check, or the spell has no effect on the injured character.
• Similar thing from 3E - Wound (Ex): The damage a clay golem deals doesn’t heal naturally. Only a heal spell or a Healing spell of 6th level or higher can heal it.

STEP 14: TOO LONG - This is my longest ever post originally put on facebook, and I have realised that the blog I was thinking of doing is a much better place for a WIP like this, and here we are....

GOLEM, CLAY

This is the first of hopefully many posts where I convert old school monsters across to Forbidden Lands, to follow along visit New, Old, Monsters for Forbidden Lands.

I have split out my WIP post, so you can see how I came up with the conversion - Making the Golem - WIP

And here is my take on the classic D&D Golem -

GOLEM, CLAY

To summon a creature of this power and ability takes a master spell caster. First the summoner must either cast a Summon Golem spell with Power Level of at least 4, or find an otherwise dormant Golem. A Summon Elemental spell, also with Power Level 4 then needs to be cast to imbue the Golem form with an elemental spirit. This powerful creature remains under the casters control for one turn (15 minutes), as long as the caster stays within SHORT range and keeps the Golem in sight. The caster can maintain control by again casting the same Power Level of Summon Elemental spell. If the spell caster becomes BROKEN, the Golem gains a semblance of free-will.

     If the spell caster does not keep in command of the Golem, it wanders away, exploring its environment with child-like fascination. The body of the Golem will turn into an inanimate statue after a Quarter Day, it is unknown what happens to the elemental spirit once this occurs.

ATTRIBUTES

STRENGTH 11, AGILITY 3

MOVEMENT: 1

ARMOR RATING: 5. Cannot be harmed by non-magical weapons or other physical injury.

ACID ABSORPTION: If the Golem is attacked by acid, any successes rolled in the attack do not cause damage but instead heal an equal number of the Golem's Strength.

BERSERK: Whenever the Golem starts a round with less than half its Strength, there is a 1 in 6 chance that as its action it will activate its GOLEM RAMPAGE! attack (see below).

MAGICAL CONSTRUCT: The Power Level of any spell cast against a Golem is automatically decreased by D6, due to the Golem's natural resistance to magic. The Golem is immune to any spell or effect that would alter its form.

CORRUPTED TOUCH: The Golem’s physical attacks count as magical, and can only be healed by magic.

MONSTER ATTACKS

D6	ATTACK
1	CLAY SMASH! The Golem moves surprisingly quickly, punching wildly at two adventurers within ARM'S LENGTH, or one unlucky adventurer if they are the only target within reach. Make both attacks with nine Base Dice and Weapon Damage 1 (blunt force).
2	CLAY PUNCH! The Golem strikes out with a large fist, striking the strongest adventurer at ARM'S LENGTH. Make an attack with ten Base Dice and Weapon Damage 1 (blunt force). If the attack hits, the victim must make a MOVE roll or be knocked prone.
3	HASTY REACTION! The Golem channels its internal power, releasing its built-up kinetic energy, making ungainly swift movements that confuse its enemies. The golem gains the ability to attempt to dodge all incoming attacks until after its next action, without falling prone. It also gains an additional slow action on its initiative in the next round.
4	EARTH RUMBLE! The Golem bangs its massive fists against its chest in an impressive display of dominance and aggression, sending out a cacophony of rumbling vibrations that terrify all living beings within SHORT range, all adventurers suffer a Fear attack using eight Base Dice.
5	GROUND QUAKE! The Golem smashes the ground with violent abandon, creating shockwaves in the earth, throwing up rocks and debris, and making the surrounding area unstable to walk on. Each adventurer within NEAR must make a MOVE roll or be thrown to the ground, they are also pelted with flying debris. Make each attack using seven Base Dice and Weapon Damage 1 (blunt force). The ground also becomes ROUGH terrain.
6	GOLEM RAMPAGE! The Golem goes berserk, moving to and attacking the nearest creature it can see. If no creature is near enough to move to and attack, the Golem attacks an object, with preference for an object smaller than itself. Make this attack using eight Base Dice and Weapon Damage 2 (blunt force). Once the Golem goes berserk, it continues to do so each round until it is destroyed or regains all its Strength. This attack can only become active after the Golem's Strength is reduced by half.

New, old, monsters for Forbidden Lands

New, old, Monsters for Forbidden Lands

A while back I put a poll up on FB - Old School Monster Poll and also asked questions on Reddit about what classic monsters people would like to see written up for Forbidden Lands RPG.  My original intention was to start writing these up weekly, but life got int he way. But bow I have a bit more time and new enthusiasm for this project.

I think D&D has a lot of interesting, weird and dangerous monsters to pit against adventuring parties.  Forbidden Lands has a good crop of monsters but has a finite list of monsters for the GM to fall back on. I am not aiming to recreate all of the Classic Monster Manual entries, but provide a good crop of monsters, creatures and critters to surprise your players.

Here is the art from the original AD&D Monster Manual -

Here are the monsters currently on my list, I will update this as I post up my versions.  If you would like to add to the votes, or suggest other monsters you would like to see then please drop me a comment below.

MONSTER

GOLEM converted to Fbl (37 votes)
RUST MONSTER converted to Fbl (20 votes)
GIANT SPIDER converted to Fbl (20 votes)
MIMIC converted to Fbl (18 votes)
GELATINOUS CUBE converted to Fbl (17 votes)
BULETTE/LANDSHARK (4 votes)
OTYUGH (4 votes)
OWLBEAR (2 votes)
ACTAEON (2 votes)
VAMPIRES (2 votes)
BEHOLDER (1 vote, from Reddit)
MIND FLAYER (1 vote from Reddit)
SHAMBLING MOUND (1 vote from Reddit)

There has been other work on creating and adapting monsters to Forbidden Lands.  This excellent Monster File by SpandexAndy on the forbidden Lands Forums has guidance for creating monsters and has a lot of creatures to just drop into your game.  The file can be found here - Monster File.  If you have your own monsters you would like me to feature drop me a message.

CONVERSION GUIDELINES

A while back I worked up some conversion guidelines for converting 5E Monsters to Forbidden Lands, I will be using this as I work through the conversions.  Here is the file - 5E to Forbidden Lands Conversion Guidelines - I will work this up as a post over the coming weeks.

And here is a quick converter (also created by SpandexAndy), using my conversion guidelines.  I might work this up to cover monster attacks as well but that will take some working out. - To use it you will need to save a local copy - 5E to Fbl Conversion Spreadsheet.

QUICK AND DIRTY MONSTERS

For quick and dirty monsters I created this random monster generator - fl-monster-generator. It uses the monster creation rules in the Legends and Adventurers pamphlet with a few additional attacks to make it more varied.

Trilemma Adventures Bestiary

Trilemma Adventures Bestiary

In my previous post I mentioned the Trilemma Adventure Compendium, available here - Trilemma-Adventures-Compendium-Volume-I. This post will go into more detail about how the Forbidden Lands version of the Bestiary came about.

What is the Trilemma Adventures Bestiary?

This is a long story, so I will try to keep it brief. In May 2019 Michael Prescott of www.trilemma.com ran a kickstarter to publish a compendium of his monthly adventures that have been published on his blog blog.trilemma.com. Michael has been working away at these adventures for quite a few years and was inundated with support, garnering 2,248 backers (unfortunately I wasn't one of them due to the shipping cost of the hardback book to the UK, sorry Michael).

Stretch Goals during the campaign were for Bestiaries of the creatures and beasties that appeared in the adventure compendium, there were individual stretch goals for 5E, Dungeon World and OSR, these stretch goals were smashed like all other stretch goals for the campaign.

Michael could have just done a black and white, quick reference document to fulfill the stretch goals but as well as finishing layout of the Deluxe Compendium, Michael set about commissioning stats, drawing new art and commissioning new cover art.  These bestiaries are moving forward, with the 5E PDF version now up for sale - Trilemma-Adventures-Bestiary-5e.

Ok, so where does the Forbidden Lands Version come from?

Well, I was aware of Trilemma, and the kickstarter, but thats as far as it went. Until late 2019 a post popped up on the Forbidden Lands FB group asking if anyone would be interested on working on a Forbidden Lands bestiary for this book.  I responded in the positive and then actually got in touch with Michael to start the conversation.  Life got in the way and the instigator unfortunately dropped out of the project.

In the meantime I had been working on a few things myself:

• A Forbidden Lands Monster Generator
• A Forbidden Lands Session Generator
• Guidelines for converting 5E to Fbl - 5E to Fbl converter

So I had learnt the intricacies of monster design, and how to convert across monsters between two RPG systems.

As I knew Michael was working on the 5E version of the bestiary I asked for an advance copy that he kindly supplied. I then spent a couple of months using my formulas to roughly convert all the entries.

So, is it just you then?

Definitely not.  As the project moved forward I contacted a few people who had created other things for Forbidden Lands to see if they wanted to work with me on this mammoth project, I also asked for volunteers that previously showed an interest in helping out.

In the end there were four of us working on the project, my good friend Doug Ruff, and two people new to me; Reilly Heijkoop-Logan and Simon Bokvist. We all worked on any entries that took our interest, I also took on the project manager role, and OCD taskmaster. I also have a few additional people looking through the entries and highlighting anything that doesn't work or needs further explanation. They have been really good at calling things out and helping to tighten things up, so thanks to them (you know who you are).

Is Fria Ligan OK with this?

Sure, Michael got in touch with Tomas from Fria Ligan and we have worked something out,  They are kindly giving permission for us to produce the book, as long as they get to see it before it is launched.

What's in the book?

The book contains over 110 (I can't be precise as the number keeps changing) entries of monsters, creatures and humanoids (or Kin in Forbidden Lands speak), and will also include a few artifacts (or oddities in Trilemma speak). It has a load of new art, a new cover and should be pretty awesome once complete.

When is it out?

The Forbidden Lands is going to be the last of the four bestiaries published as Michael rightly wants to complete his kickstarter stretch goals before moving on to do layout of this additional product.  The 5E version has recently been released, next up is the OSR (or B/X) version, the Dungeon Worls version.  My estimate is that the Forbidden Lands version will probably be ready sometime in July, but if Michael has time and I stop tinkering it might be ready a smidge sooner.

How can we get our hands on this?

The intention is to have both a PDF and POD (print on demand) versions up on https://www.drivethrurpg.com/.

How can I be notified?

If you want to be notified about the launch of the Forbidden Lands version or any of the other versions, either subscribe to this blog or better yet subscribe to the Trilemma newsletter by visiting the website.