Off to the (Karmamare) Racetracks: GM Notes for Maximum Recursion Depth Module

This is the second in a series of posts attempting to turn my GM Notes from the last handful of sessions of my current Maximum Recursion Depth campaign into something like a functional module (see Doctor Lovesmenot's Halloween Party, as well as a recent batch of play reports). As I say in the last post, this is not meant to reflect either the content or overall quality of what will be published in the Kickstarter-backed MRD Book, this is more so for general reference/practice.

Unfortunately, these play report/module posts have been some of my least popular posts in a long time. Granted, this is all just a passion project and I'm going to post whatever I want, but it's still a shame, so probably I'll bank these kinds of posts for down the line, and in the coming weeks, I'll try to mix things up.

I posted this note in the last module as well, but to reiterate: I sometimes put these generic Karmic Attachment Opportunities, Save or Conflict events, or other "canned" stuff in my notes. That being said, if I'm being honest, I often see these as more like "backup". They're there for inspiration, or for if I can't think of anything better in the moment, or I need something to push things along. That being said, I usually try to defer to player action and elaborate on the spot with more interesting developments. I've retro-actively included some of those in this writeup, to varying degrees, but I'm not sure how well it really captures how things actually played out at the table. This is something I intend to pay particularly close attention to for the module that will be published in the Kickstarter-backed Book.

This module includes two leads, which involve NPCs who effectively join the team as companions. As I discuss in this post, I'm a believer in using NPCs to join the party not as GNPCs, but as Specialist assistants. If the players are confused or struggling to decide what to do, these companion NPCs can provide some information or suggestions. They also have special abilities or skills of their own, which the players can leverage. For instance, in Conflict, they could suggest a companion do something in particular, in lieu of taking an action for their character. I rarely have these NPCs acting autonomously in Conflict, usually it's assumed they're assisting in some capacity, but it only affects rolls or options if players invoke them specifically.

The Investigation

• The Client: Barry* O’Brien. A big trucker-looking cab driver, severely handicapped, carries himself meekly. Has a tin nose, giving his gruff voice a tinny-nasally quality, whistling like a mouse.
  
  
• Make a Karmic Attachment with O'Brien to accept this job and help him clear his debt, his gambling addiction, and/or his guilt over his son's death.
  
  
• The investigation: Has a gambling addiction, always falling for get-rich-quick schemes. Made a bad bet, lost a lot of money, and was going to have to give up his taxi and taxi medallion (and livelihood). Took his son with him on a ride, hopped up on meth and "cheddar" (the "study drug" dharmafinil), and got into a major accident, killing his son and totaling his car. His son was sentenced to be reincarnated as a pack mule, and he sees this as an unfair sentencing that should be placed on him when he dies instead.
  
  
• Barry O’Brien-Gonzalez (the son; not technically “Junior”) was sent to The Court of Those Who Bet on the Wrong Horse.
  
  
• This was a mistake on the part of the Judge Devil- not the least because this Court was actually decommissioned over a decade ago- unbeknownst to its archdevil.
  
  
• Junior is not there anyway, as he was intercepted by Pepper Pan and the Recess Rascals just as he arrived at the Court.

* I changed the name from the play report to avoid confusion with Rick Barrett.

Getting to the Court / Complications

• The entrance to the Court is Karmically Attached to O'Brien by way of the underground casino ring he used to play at. The underground casino changes locations regularly but O'Brien has a couple possible leads on the next location.
  
  
• O'Brien is on the run from the casino, and therefore no longer knows the exact location, but has contacts who he trusts in these locations who may know more (they all use codenames); Shining Ostrich, and Rock Dove & Wild Turkey.
  
  
  

On the Way to Following the leads

• The party is mugged (randomly roll for party member and item).
  
  
• The mugger is a Poltergeist child, one of the Recess Rascals. A pale child in a pirate outfit. Carries a stuffed giraffe that can elongate its neck into a thrashing, toothy whip.
  
  
• Will try to flee; can be intercepted either by a good plan, a NAT Save, or NAT chase conflict. 
  
  
• 10 HP, Nd6 in running stamina (outpace the team), Wd6 for the giraffe to whip up the environment and blindside strike somebody (obfuscate the team's line of sight).
  
  
• If defeated, will mumble something about the Recess Rascals, turn ethereal, and fly away, leaving behind the item, as well as a single-use Sachet of Nixie Dust. If not defeated, will laugh at the party and boast something about the Recess Rascals, and Karma Roll for the party member to see if the Recess Rascal accidentally drops the item.
  
  
• Nixie Dust: +1 NAT Saves and flight for 1d4 hours. Flight requires NAT Saves to maintain.

SIDBAR on The Leads: The leads play out very similarly and the party should only follow up on one or the other. If you end up running both, there is one climactic conflict for each lead, and only one of those should be followed up on, or you'll need to change up some stuff, but it should be modular after that point, meaning no need to radically change The Court if somehow the team does investigate both leads. That being said, you can always bank the other lead and plug it into a different Investigation.

Lead One: Shining Ostrich

• Shining Ostrich: Located in Parkchester Bronx in an apartment facing The Oval. An Eritrean immigrant who was once a famous Cat Burglar / Femme Fatale, until her throat cancer. She now speaks with an electrolarynx. Her grandson manages an Ethiopian hedge fund with Chinese connections, which has some kind of connection to the underground casino. Will accompany the party in her old sexy cat burglar costume, and she still wears it.
  
  
• Karmic Attachment Opportunity: Her grandson wants her to leave the neighborhood and move in with him in Westchester. She needs to prove to her grandson that she can live on her own (or be convinced to move).
  
  
• There have been some muggings around the Oval, she wants to take down the gangsters. 
  
  
• There are four of them, 5 HP each, three with knives (Nd6), one with a gun (Nd12, 8 WIS).
  
  
• Gun: A gun. They're really cheap and easy to get. Nd12 for violent conflict, but must roll WIS Save to use, and on fail, the wielder accidentally shoots themselves or an ally instead.
  
  
• Gun information will be in the Items list in the book.
  
  
• See SIDEBAR about guns in MRD in this post.
  
  
• The one with the gun is witty and clearly the leader (Pd6, the others Pd4), goes by Fox-Hare.
  
  
• The gangsters are just kids.
  
  
• Fox-Hare is on the honor roll and desperate for a scholarship for college, wants to study computer science.
  
  
• Karmic Attachment Opportunity to help the kid get out of crime and get into college.
  
  
• Fox-Hare has a DS (Digital Spirit) Friend*, Black-Sheep Shepherd, which appears in graphical form as a fox wearing the stretched skin of a Hare. He has had this DS Friend since his first electronic device as a child. 
  
  
• Black-Sheep Shepherd is the one who stoked his interest in computer science but also encourages some of his more impulsive decisions.
  
  
• Black-Sheep Shepherd will attempt to hack the party’s QuaosNet** social network accounts (or other accounts- everyone's got something), stealing their information (Wd6) or undermining their social media presence (Pd6). 
  
  
• Requires WIS Save to notice; or else they'll be slowly drained and not know how.
  
  
• If caught, will give up within 1d4 turns regardless of whether it is winning or losing and undo any long-term social or privacy damage (but not literal Damage dealt), as well as give the party a single-use Mantra of Adblock***.
  
  
• *More details on DS Friends will be in the book, but nothing you absolutely need to know.
  
  
• **QuaosNet is a social network in MRD, made my QuinceSoft, a tech company in the setting. It comes up in some things in the book, but nothing especially important.
  
  
• ***Mantra of Adblock: Wd10 in conflict against those who would try to sell you things, and immunity to PRO Damage from them. (This will be in the book)

Lead One Climactic Conflict

• Shining Ostrich's apartment complexes comes to life, sprouting little mechanical feet and mechanical appendages, attacks the party.
  
  
• 100 HP from outside, instant defeat if the team break into the complex and shut the fuse box.
  
  
• The team will be accosted by human-sized mini-apartment people wearing fedoras and trenchcoats.
  
  
• 5 HP each, Nd6 silenced micro-guns, Wd6 manipulating the environment against the party.
  
  
• Upper hallway windows are vulnerable if the team can reach them.
  
  
• Front windows are vulnerable if the party can get past the horde.
  
  
• Fire alarm / Sprinkler System in the building.
  
  
• Other tenants may help...

Afterward a portal opens up in The Oval leading to the Court of Those Who Bet on the Wrong Horse. The apartment complex was sent after the party because Junior is missing and the archdevil of the Court believes the party is responsible.

Lead Two: Rock Dove and Wild Turkey

• Rock Dove and Wild Turkey: A vigilante duo and romantic partners who primarily fight to protect foreign sex workers in Flushing Queens, but also do other work to protect immigrants. 
  
  
• Rock Dove is Taiwanese-American and immigrated to Flushing at a young age. 
  
  
• Wild Turkey is Hong Kongese and immigrated to America a few years ago. He now lives in Little Fuzhou.
  
  
• The duo have a reluctant partnership with the underground casino, which they occasionally turn to for information on illegal underground activities.
  
  
• Karmic Attachment Opportunity: A Russian oligarch is staying in Little Fuzhou to meet with a Chinese business partner, and later an infamous New York real estate Crimelord. The duo intends to go after him and needs help breaking into his hotel room.
  
  
• The oligarch is protected by four Orange Goblins, private security of the infamous NY Crimelord.
  
  
• They are known for their suicide tactics and willingness to cause collateral damage, particularly if it would violate the morals of the would-be attackers. 
  
  
• 5 HP each, Nd6 claws, 2Nd6 suicide bomb.
  
  
• Trained to weaponize reason and morality against opposition (Wd8 psycho-ethical assault, -2 related WIS Saves against them, immune to WIS Damage), but vulnerable to those who exhibit alpha behavior (+2 related PRO or NAT Saves against them).
  
  
• The oligarch is not currently in his room. He intentionally relocated, asking his secretary Yana Yasak, to wait for him. 
  
  
• He intends to frame her for an illegal real estate deal with the NYC Crimelord that the IRS is about to uncover, and she needs to be in that room during a certain time window for the frame job to hold up in court.
  
  
• Karmic Attachment Opportunity: She realizes something strange was going on from some discrepancies in the paperwork and needs help to escape the hotel and be witnessed by the hotel staff before the critical time period, so she has an alibi.
  
  
• Yana is blind and Karmically Attached to a Seeing Eye Devil-Dog.
  
  
• It looks like the New York City sewer mutant offspring of a Chinese Lion Dog.
  
  
• It protects her from critical harm but is only minimally under her control, and he often snaps at her or forces her into work she doesn’t want to accept.
  
  
• The Devil-Dog will not let the party interfere.
  
  
• 10 HP, Nd6 Bite, Pd6 howl of dominance.
  
  
• Can be convinced (WIS) to recognize the party as friendly to Yana's long term interests. If convinced, will spit out a Devil in the Sheets Credit.
  
  
• Devil in the Sheets Credit: One credit to hire a succubus/incubus for their services for 1d4+1 hours.
  
  
• This is currently in the book, but I'm considering taking it out. This item just seems like it will cause needless discomfort for some people, even if principally I'm not opposed to these kinds of things and am pro-sex work. If I kept it, I think I'd want to elaborate on what it entails and try to avoid making it anything obnoxious. For the sake of disclosure, I had originally intended for Yana to be a sex worker but decided against it because it just felt too exploitative and uncomfortable in the way I had originally designed it, and ultimately I think the revised version of this module is more interesting.

Lead Two Climactic Conflict

NOTE that as written this is nearly identical to the Lead One Climax. If the party investigate both leads, choose one, or find a way to combine them.

• The buildings along the street will come alive, sprouting mechanical appendages from both sides to trap the party within.
  
  
• 100 HP from outside, instant defeat if the team can break into one of the buildings and shut the fuse box. 
  
  
• Will be accosted by human-sized mini-city people wearing fedoras and trenchcoats.
  
  
• 5 HP each, Nd6 silenced micro-guns, Wd6 manipulating the environment against the party.
  
  
• Highrise windows are vulnerable if the team can reach them.
  
  
• First-floor windows are vulnerable if the party can get past the horde.
  
  
• Fire alarm / Sprinkler System in the buildings.
  
  
• Hotel staff, other customers, or people from other businesses along the street may help...

Afterward a portal opens up within a Chinese-style archway leading to the Court of Those Who Bet on the Wrong Horse. The apartment complex was sent after the party because Junior is missing and the archdevil of the Court believes the party is responsible.

The Court of Those Who Bet on the Wrong Horse

Looks like a massive version of the chain sports bar Wrongside Racetrax, the kind of place where people go to eat too much cheap food, drink too much domestic beer or sugary cocktails, watch sports, and place illegal bets. The bar is overstaffed with bored and anxious devils, and mostly empty of customers. The scattered, remaining poltergeists continue to make bets and continue to lose, but seem largely unaffected by their unsurmountable growing debts.

• Hooters: The attractive, big-eyed, avian-humanoid waitress and hostess devils. Overly excited to seat and serve the party. Will start bringing over food and drink they didn’t order, most of it covered in dust and mold. Will give canned lines about the sports teams and urge the party to place bets. They’ll grow increasingly forceful if the party tries to leave, and will not provide any useful information unless the party starts making bets.
  
  
• The bets are a Karmic Attachment Opportunities, and there is only a 1 in 6 chance of winning (WIS Save to learn the odds). 
  
  
• Each bet attaches the player to a Karmamare.
  
  
• Winning the bet grants a Gift Shop token and auto-resolves the Attachment. Failure leaves an open attachment to the Karmamare.
  
  
• Hooter Stats: 5 HP, Wd8 ability to entice the party and force their guard down (karmic-related, otherwise could arguably also be NAT for willpower).
  
  
• Another table of schlubby Poltergeists are being egged on by Hooters and will taunt the party into betting (PRO Save/Conflict, 3 HP each).
  
  
• If things get too hot with the Hooters, Barsabbas the arch-devil will call them off.

Karmamare Generator

You can make up your own names, but here are some suggestions on a d10:

1. FauxJack
   
   
2. Skycookie
   
   
3. Maverick Queen
   
   
4. Drunk Driver
   
   
5. Traffic Jammer
   
   
6. Late Bloomer
   
   
7. Colt Magnum Suicide
   
   
8. Bronco Rogers
   
   
9. Buck Danger
   
   
10. Daymare

I used the SS&SS Monster Generator as a point of reference, but you can make your own. I intentionally leave the abilities rules-light and no stats, but you could make this more involved if you want, particularly for the Karmamare Race.

1. Hummingbird-like, superspeed, OCD.
   
   
2. Comprised of simple shapes, hallucinogenic, vulnerable to points.
   
   
3. Comprised of nanotube fibers, dampens WIS, very stupid.
   
   
4. Algae swamp monster. Absorbs NAT, gambling addict.
   
   
5. Chimeric (Shark, Moose, Wolf, Oyster). Existentially terrifying, but also afraid of itself.
   
   
6. Corpulent, rolls rather than runs, unstoppable as long as it wears its bib.
   
   
7. Undead / taxidermied with human parts. Can use its human hands to hold things. Gets distracted by True Beauty.
   
   
8. Has a crab-like shell. Is nigh-invulnerable, but is pregnant and ready to burst at any moment...
   
   
9. Made of hard-light and able to levitate. One of the other Karmamare's hates its guts...
   
   
10. Floating ouroboros horse that can consume and reproduce itself if injured. Vulnerable if head separated from back-end.

Barsabbas: The bartender and also archdevil of the Court, who looks like the love child of Chow Yun Fat and Ted Dansen in a white/gold-black/blue suit.

• True form is like Jersey Devil / Blue Mustang / Horse Face Devil.
  
  
• He will try to play it cool, but it is clear that he is underpowered. He is not aware that his Court has been decommissioned, and thinks outside forces must be plotting against him, explaining why he has so few poltergeists left.
  
  
• No stats necessary; He's weakened, but he's still an arch-devil...
  
  
• He believes the party is working for Pepper Pan and the Recess Rascals, who intercepted Junior.
  
  
• Karmic Attachment Opportunity: If Barsabbas can be convinced that the party isn’t working with Pepper Pan, they can make an attachment to defeat her.
  
  
• He wants Junior returned to him- not given a better sentence.
  
  
• If the party learns beforehand and tells him that he’s been decommissioned, that also changes the equation...
  
  
• Barsabbas will not allow the team to escape unless they make a Karmamare Race bet (they'll ride Karmamares, the Jockey Devil will race on Barsabbas' behalf).
  
  
• Even if they've come to friendly terms, it is his Devil-nature.
  
  
• Not all players have to race, they can investigate the Court such as to find clues as to what's going on, or to look for an alternative exit.
  
  
• Barsabbas will give each PC a Gift Shop Token beforehand if they agree to the race.
  
  
• If a PC had not already made an open Karmic Attachment with a Karmamare, they will do so as a condition of the race.

Gift Shop

The number in parentheses is the cost in gift shop tokens.

• Quince-Tini 2 Go: (1) A Quince-tini in a bottle. For 1d4 hours, -2 WIS, +2 PRO.
  
  
• Wrongside Racetrax T-Shirt: (1) Makes you Basic.
  
  
• Wrongside Racetrax Novelty Poker Chip: (2) Automatically win one bet. Automatically lose the next bet.
  
  
• Quince-enero Hotsauce: (2) 3d6 drops. Each drop grants one conical (AoE) blast of Promethean Fire (Wd10, but Wd4 to self).
  
  
• Wrongside Racetrax Gift Card: (1) Can be used to open a portal to The Court of Those Who Bet on the Wrong Horse 1d4+2 times.

The Racetrack

Jockey Devil: At first appears as a cyber-tech centaur (cyborg armor over jockey attached to Karmamare), but its true form is half humanoid, half karmamare, half RACETRACK.

• The Jockey Devil will not reveal its true form until right before the race starts.
  
  
• The racetrack ring bends, twists, stretches, compresses, contorts to its movements.
  
  
• The karmamares are attached to meridians along the track and cannot escape unless they win in a race against the Jockey Devil.
  
  
• Up to 3 laps for the race.
  
  
• 50 HP: Whittle down before the end of three rounds to reflect either disabling the Jockey Devil, or finishing all three laps before the end of the de facto time limit.
  
  
• Each turn gain a Mario Kart style item, lasts one turn (1d6):
  
  
• Switch (1): Spank yourself to swap places with another Karmamare.
  
  
• Fixed Bet (2): One Karmamare will take a fall / do something to your benefit.
  
  
• Dark Horse (3): Like being covered with a sheen of galaxies. Can perform one extraordinary feat (or gain bonus to Save).
  
  
• Devil Dog (4): Devil Dogs usually used to keep the Karmamares on track, but can be used to trip one up on the track instead.
  
  
• Supershoes (5): Stepping into the shoes gives your Karmamare an Iron Man-like power armor (Rocket leap, laser attacks).
  
  
• Blinkers (6): Gives the Karmamare cosmic awareness (provides some unique insight or WIS Save bonus).

SIDEBAR: On the whole, I think this went well, although in retrospect I wish I had designed it more concretely. On the one hand, I like leaving these things mechanically flexible because in the moment things often play out differently than you expect, but still, sometimes really cool ideas come out when you over-design, even if you don't stick to it too rigidly. If I were to include this in a published module, I would expand on it, probably with a caveat about encouraging GMs to alter it to their needs or preferences.

Weird Sheep & Wonderful Sorcerers: Sheep and Sorcery Appreciation

This is an appreciation post for Michael Kennedy at Sheep and Sorcery. Mike is an old G+ friend, and I believe one of the first and also the longest-running member of my Phantasmos discord game group. He played in my LotFP SHIELDBREAKER campaign, my FASERIP superhero crossover one-shot, and was also a co-player in z_bill's Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells campaign and Dan's Danscape campaign. He also has several really awesome settings, discussion posts, and other cool features on his blog, and this post is going to grab bits and pieces and hopefully make something cool out of it.

********************

We begin within a ship frozen in time. The generation ship was on a voyage Into the Weird Blue Yonder, when it was assaulted by none other than the Spectacular Space Kraken. Fearing the demise of their entire civilization, the Arch-Pope Father Fyodor Karamazov encoded a spell into the numerological ship computer, sending a tachyonic temporal force missile backwards in time, the velocity of the missile pulling the ship against time itself, such that while time operates normally within the ship, it appears frozen outside the ship. Karamazov has cybernetically integrated himself into the ship and taken on the title of God Emperor, and has maintained this ship stuck in time for countless generations. The general entropy and dynamical shifts of languages and cultures over time, along with the occasional inter-dimensional portal opened by the God Emperor himself, has led to all sorts of new developments of monsters and inhumans throughout the ship, such as the F-Men, The Red Sons, and the Martian Vampires.

In his inter-dimensional, multiversal travels, the God Emperor has made few friends, and many enemies, against which the peoples of the ship must contend. One such enemy is an ascendant wizard, an incorporeal lich borne from the nightmares of a slumbering frost wyrm. His minions from across the multiverse assault the ship every 100 years, attempting to harness the God Emperor's powers to perform a ritual to separate the wizard's essence from the frost wyrm's dream before it awakens (which incidentally is projected to occur just after the next assault...).

Most of the old gods were long ago forgotten, even Father Fyodor Karamazov himself condemned the old gods when he declared himself God Emperor. There is only one other faith that rivals the faith of the God Emperor, The Church of the Smiling God.

There are two members of the Court of the Smiling God who are best positioned to become the next Hungry Avatar. The first is Princess Porcina, a small but perfect girl. For her overall size, she is perfectly proportioned and in every way is the most beautiful woman that any man has ever laid eyes upon. She is, however, fragile as glass and rides about in an egg of transparent gemstone and golden wire supported and moved by four animated golden lion legs. She is guarded by a Unicorn in adamantium armor laced with platinum whose horn shimmers with the light of day. Autumn leaves appear in its wake and falsehoods cannot be spoken in its presence.

The second is Duchess Lioness. Her hair is layers of crimson feathers and she has horns which curl upwards from her head. Her canines are sharp and she has talons on her hands and feet. She is followed by her zoo of horrifically hybridized people. Half her manservant's face is that of a glaring chimp as is one of his arms. Her ladies in waiting are ladies with swan necks and bodies with human legs. Many children run to the Zoo with the promise of freedom, only to find themselves in such forms. They are happier this way. Everyone knows what it means when a chimp smiles, after all...

As is often the case, the two most prominent candidates for the holiest role of this happy church, are not themselves true believers. In fact, both of them profit handsomely off of the church, and their businesses are at odds with each other. They are not above sabotage, which has made the political machinations of the church a perilous game.

Despite their differences, they have made a temporary truce, in a bid to overthrow the God Emperor, even as the final invasion of the Ascendant Wizard nears...

Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells Automatic Character Generator

As part of my continuing series of content for the awesome, OSR-esque, rules-light tabletop RPG Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells, here is an automatic character generator!

If this makes you interested in SS&SS, or you were already interested in SS&SS, I would encourage you to check out my SS&SS Automatic Monster Generator, an automated version of the monster generator available in the Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells Addendum (with one additional monster nature of my own design).

You can also check out my Micro-Setting post The Glass Desert, a setting built around10 monsters created using the aforementioned SS&SS automatic monster generator.

I'd also like to thank Angus Warman, whose OSR character generators I used as a point of reference for this character generator.

This cool demon-dragon on the cover of SS&SS gives you a sense of this awesome game!

Generate Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells Character
NOTE1: For level > 1, the chosen attribute for the improvement roll is a random attribute less than 18 that is not either of the primary attributes
NOTE2: Coinage (in silver) is multiplied by level
NOTE3: For random archetype, the archetype is chosen based on the highest of the average of the primary attributes, e.g. if the average of physique and agility is higher than the average of agility and intellect or intellect and willpower, the archetype will be assigned to Warrior, since physique and agility are the primary attributes for Warrior. If there is a tie, an archetype is randomly selected from the tied averages.

Choose a level (or leave blank for random) 
-- Level -- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Random

Choose an archetype (or leave blank for random)
-- Archetype -- Warrior Specialist Magic User Random

The Glass Desert: 10 Monsters using the SS&SS automatic monster generator

NOTE: Given by big update, I think I'm going to move to a bi-weekly (every other week, not twice weekly!) schedule. Hopefully this way I can queue up enough posts before the shit hits the fan that things will be seamless, and once things are less hectic for me I can switch to a weekly schedule or semi-weekly schedule, hopefully without any dead spots.

I had originally intended for this to just be a table of monsters generated using the SS&SS Automatic Monster Generator, with Weird & Wonderful flourishes. However, as I was coming up with the monsters, I incidentally started running with a micro-setting through-line for these monsters, the Glass Desert. This is actually the Quenduin Desert of my Phantasmos setting, but I think it could totally work as a standalone setting with post-post-apocalyptic science fantasy and sword and sorcery elements akin to Conan, Barsoom, and Dark Sun, which I think is in-line with the SS&SS aesthetic.

I would also like to thank Kyana for providing some excellent monster writeups as well (with some editing by request), provided as BONUS material at the end!

While not quite how I imagine the Qlippoth Tree or the Glass Desert, Zdzislaw Beksinski's art has had a major impact on me over the years, and is definitely one inspiration for the Glass Desert. He also has a painting that is somewhat evocative of my Phantasmos Mythic Being Mother at the Gate, but that's for another time...

1. Jabbers
Monster's Nature: Beast
Form: Torso of one animal and legs of another.
Animal Parts: Alligator, Cockroach
Elements: Glass
Powers:
Extra Senses: The creature has an additional sense like thermal vision, sonar, E.S.P., aura vision, etc.
Weaknesses:
Aversion to some substance or object

Water-dwelling reptiles, mutated with chitinous exoskeletons over their cockroach-like legs. They lurk in the fetid bodies of water in the Glass Desert, the closest thing to oases in such a hostile terrain. They have the ability to sense any reflections within or just outside the circumference of their body of water; a useful ability in an environment of sun and glass. They are to the Jabberwocky as drakes are to dragons.

2. David
Monster's Nature: Mythological
Characteristic: Like a baroque statue or wearing baroque armor
Elements: Earth
Powers:
Immortal: The creature cannot die naturally and a condition must be met for the creature to be truly killed.
Weaknesses:
Vanity

Like a Greek statue of a perfectly sculpted humanoid in ornate, white and gold armor. It has the ability to summon blocks of stone and marble, and with a single tap sculpt the blocks into supernaturally functional items, objects, and even minions. It cannot be killed under normal circumstances; if its body is destroyed, it will immediately emerge from the closest block of stone or marble large enough for it to be sculpted from. However, it is vein, taking absolute pride in its sculptures. If challenged to a sculpting contest, it will almost always accept, even if it would be disadvantageous or time consuming for it to do so. Usually it plays for high stakes, assuming it cannot lose. If it loses an honest competition, it will honor its bet, but will experience suicidal despair afterwards, and will commit suicide unless its ego is sufficiently stroked.

3. [Varies]
Monster's Nature: Aberration
Form: Pyramid
Characteristic: Hundreds of mouths of different sizes and shapes cover the creature's body and spew a disgusting goo.
Elements: Magma
Powers:
Induce Rage: Targets within nearby range must make a willpower test or be driven into a rage, attacking anyone within close range in the most violent way they can for a number of rounds equal to the creature's HD.
Weaknesses:
Simply knowing its True Name makes it weak

A glowing hot, floating pyramid that spews bio-phlogisten. It's goo is both literally and metaphorically hot, burning and inducing rage in others. It's True Name is an unusual anomaly, being the same as whatever is the most common name in the setting. Although generally beyond mortal comprehension, the two aspects of its psychology shared with mortals are shame, and the impotent rage that comes with overcompensating for ones shame. If it's True Name is spoken, it will immediately apparate to another dimension, plane, or universe.

4. Copper-bugs
Monster's Nature: Technological
Form: Artificial animal form (Protozoa)
Material: Copper
Elements: Sand
Powers:
Regenerate: Regenerates a number of HP per round equal to its HD.
Reproduce Sound: Can imitate any sound heard in the last HD days.
Weaknesses:
Need to feed constantly

Techno-organic copper micro-machines, one of the first species to adapt to the glass desert. They are nearly impossible to kill given how quickly they regenerate, and can integrate the sand and glass dust into their distributed network of activity, barraging and choking invaders. The copper makes them conductive, which they use as an electrical defense, but also to transmit information and organize as a distributed network, and can perfectly digitally encode and reproduce any sound they've recently transduced. The indigenous peoples of the Glass Desert have developed a symbiotic relationship with some species of copper-bug, using them to develop simple electronics and communications networks. However, they require quite a bit of energy, especially for the largely barren Glass Desert, and as a result only the wealthiest and most successful peoples can maintain a copper-bug colony.

5. Qlippoth Tree
Monster's Nature: Magical
Trait: Tree branches grow from the creature's body.
Form: Living energy
Elements: Wood
Powers:
Disease: Causes grave and potentially deadly disease (referee may impose attribute damage, negative dice and loss of HP). Victims can make a willpower test to resist it.
Invoke Ally: Can summon a similar creature of the same amount of HD. A character can make a luck roll to avoid this effect.
Weaknesses:
Powerful enemy

A gigantic tree made of spiritual energy, covered in numerous branches like eldritch tentacles. The tree is an impossible organism drawing sustenance from extra-universal impossible light. It bears perfectly spherical fruit which hatch like eggs when they fall, producing subservient spirit-tree-men. If the fruit grow large enough, eventually they will root and grow into a new qlippoth tree. The fruit provides sustenance and the tree itself ample building materials, but causes terminal illnesses, all of which induce madness or depression, like syphilis. The eldest of the qlippoth trees wages a slow war with the eldest sephiroth tree just outside the glass desert.

* NOTE: The Qlippoth Tree could be seen as a variant of the Fey Wood and Qhuaos Quince from my Phantasmos campaign setting, which were already part of the Quenduin Desert, the Phantasmos-version of the Glass Desert.

6. Steeling Gazers
Monster's Nature: Technological
Form: Millions of nanobots
Material: Steel
Elements: Light, Steam
Powers:
Duplicate Appearance: Can assume the appearance of a touched target for up to HD days.
Turn to Stone: Victims that look into the creature's eyes must make a physique test or be turned to stone.
Weaknesses:
Fears its own reflection

These nanomachines do not feed, but seem to be an artifact of whatever glassed the Glass Desert. They are solar-powered and can harness solar energy offensively, but can also combust coal for steam-power if necessary. They often take the form of drifters. When they meet eye-to-eye with other drifters in the desert, they enter the eye through the optic nerve like light itself, converting the entire organism at the atomic level into inert material like glass or stone, and then take their form. It is unknown why they do this, nor why they only convert intelligent organic life facing them eye-to-eye. It is known that they fear their own reflection, as they seem to be compelled to convert anything they meet eye-to-eye, even if themselves, in their own reflection. For this reason, it is common for travelers to carry at least one shard of looking-glass from the Glass Desert itself. Even if one can avoid their stare, they are as strong as steel, and will become violent if their stare is avoided.

7. Aesthetobites
Monster's Nature: Humanoid
Appearance: Colorful skin (Purple)
Culture: To produce art is the greatest deed an individual can accomplish.
Elements: Rock, Mucus
Powers:
Animate Dead: Can animate up to 2 times its HD of undead minions. They last until killed again.
Psychic Attack: All enemies within nearby range must make a willpower test or suffer a damage die 1 step lower than normal and receive a negative die for all actions for HD rounds.
Weaknesses:
True beauty

Humanoids with skin like obsidian, capable of harnessing elemental magics of the minerals in the Glass Desert. They can produce a mucus-like substance capable of preserving organic tissue in obsidian, and can psychically reanimate these mummies to do their bidding. They believe in art and aesthetics at the expense of all else, and take much care in how they taxidermy and mummify their undead minions, often transforming them into exotic, beautiful, and horrifying chimeras. Although generally hostile to other living beings, seeing them as little more than raw materials, they will honor any individuals they believe have or can produce True Beauty.

8. Bony Chaos Fiends
Monster's Nature: Humanoid
Appearance: protruding bones
Culture: Transformation and constant change are essential to save Chaos from the tyranny of Order.
Elements: Acid, Fire
Powers:
Command animals: Can command a number of animals up to the creature's HD.
Scale Surfaces: Can move over walls, ceilings and other non-horizontal surfaces like a spider.
Weaknesses:
Hubris

Fiery, solar-powered humanoids covered in protruding bones. Much of the bone exoskeleton is relatively soft and spongy, more like the cell walls of plants, and has a greenish or purple hue from photosynthesizing agents. However, the hard protrusions, treated with natural acids that calcify them, are harder than normal bone, able to penetrate even iron armor. They use the solar energy to grow new protrusions over the span of days, and use natural acids to dissolve older protrusions. They believe in absolute chaos, and change their bony appearance regularly as a manifestation of this belief. They are also excellent climbers, using their protrusions as hooks, broken protrusions as picks, and even micro-protrusions as spider-like grips. They believe in their doctrine absolutely, and often to a fault. They see any intelligent lifeforms that do not believe in absolute chaos as profane, and will slaughter them without hesitation. While excellent improvisational tacticians, those who are systematic and can survive their onslaught may exploit their lack of order with good strategy. They also have one other ability; they develop a special acid, stored in broken off protrusions which, when struck into unintelligent animals, hijacks their nervous system and slaves them to the bony chaos fiend. They become quite angry when called out for this act of control over nature, given their chaotic doctrine.

9. Qlippoth Claymore
Monster's Nature: Magical
Trait: Translucent body.
Form: Living weapon
Elements: Poison, Wood
Powers:
Ethereal Form: Can assume an ethereal form, becoming immune to physical attacks and can enter hard to reach places.
Create Barrier: Creates a barrier to hinder or stop movement. Barriers can also inflict damage with thorns or blades. To overcome a barrier, characters will need to make a physique or agility test.
Weaknesses:
Addiction

A powerful translucent claymore sword of qlippoth wood carved from the first branch of the eldest Qlippoth Tree. It cuts as hard and sharp as Damascus steel but is as light as air. Its cut induces disease and madness similar to the Qlippoth Tree itself. The weakest Qlippoth Trees or Qlippoth Fruit in the area will be subservient to the wielder, while the more powerful, or those under direct sway of the eldest Qlippoth Tree, will try to avoid the wielder at all costs. The blade is keyed to the wielder, and will be ethereal and untouchable to anyone else unless the wielder is killed. The blade can also harness the power of impossible light to create damaging hard-light barriers. As a blade of impossible light, it induces an epistemological distortion of self and perception, and it is easy to become addicted to the feeling of power and lack of self-awareness that comes with impossible light.

*BONUS: Qlippoth Claymore stats using the Weapon Hack 2.0

Base Form: Heavy (1d8 damage, two-handed)
Total Cost: 6
0 Cost Qualities:
Plant: Made of or contains elements of plant life or is a living plant (excludes normal Wood).
1 Cost Qualities:
Bonded: Weapon only usable by owner, cannot be removed from person without consent.
Concealable: Can be hidden from view.
Elemental (Wood): Has properties related to wood/plants (e.g. benefits to gardening, nature traversal).
Magical: Has general magical properties.
Poisonous: Can cause poisoning.
Unique Appearance: May be a well known item or associated with a well-known person or faction.

10. Mobius
Monster's Nature: Daemonic
Characteristic: Incredibly filthy
Elements: Magma, Diamond
Powers:
Time Travel: The creature can travel to the past or the future of its location.
Drain Magic: Up to HD targets within nearby range become unable to cast spells if they fail a willpower test. This lasts for HD turns.
Repulsion: Makes it hard for creatures of a certain type (referee's discretion) to approach. Characters can resist with a willpower test.
Weaknesses:
Obsession

A true diamond-in-the-rough. A daemon of molten diamond birthed from the event that glassed the Glass Desert. It is a vaguely humanoid, vaguely bestial chimera, covered in dead copper-bugs and other small dead things and slime molds. Only its glistening diamond eyes and the glowing-hot lines around them belie its unfulfilled beauty. It feeds off the radiation and magical energies of the Glass Desert, and produces an impossible-light radiation field around itself, repelling impossible organisms and impossible substances. It is trapped in a mobius time loop starting from the moment the Glass Desert was glassed, up to some synchronous event in the past, future, or adjacently in multi-dimensional hyper-time. It is obsessed with breaking from the loop, but has yet to meet an organism with sufficient knowledge and domain over hyper-time that is not hostile, and can be communicated with. It is mostly mortal-like in intelligence and cognition, except for its innate understanding of hyper-time, and as a result would make for an excellent ally or font of knowledge to any who can help it with its obsession. However, it has no tolerance for anyone who gets in its way.

* NOTE: Hyper-time as described here is basically the Paraverse in my Phantasmos campaign setting.

Kyana BONUS!

Monster's Nature: Magical
Trait: The creature levitates just above ground, having a supernatural lightness.
Form: Giant eye with bloody veins
Elements: Ashes, Mucus, Steam, Air, Earth
Powers: 

Spread Shadows: An aura of shadows extends up to nearby range, blocking the vision of anyone within this space. 

Weaknesses: Addiction

Giants are bigger than any man and the magic of giants is bigger than any mortal magic. It pumps through their blood, it courses through their hearts, it looks at you from their eyes. When a giant dies some parts of them don't fully die the way the mortals do. An eye tears itself free and soars, its nerves and veins trailing like a macabre peacock tail. The gift of foresight for which so many giants are known for is still here, but death inverts its meaning: in the presence of the eye all kinds of vision becomes obscure, and all knowledge becomes occult. Words erode from the books, eyesight darkens, memory clouds, clairvoyant and prophetic visions perceive at best lacunae about everything that is in vicinity of the eye. Surrounded by darkness, both literal and metaphorical, the eye hunts for arcane blood. Sometimes a bold sorcerer seeks such eye to bind it as a familiar or weapon, but wherever the eye exists the air turns to hot ashen steam, and earth seeps with mucus not unlike the putrid liquid from decomposing corpse which makes such familiar obvious after a while.

It is because the binds of giant magic is stronger than of any mortal sorcery, and the giant is never fully separated from their eye, and just like their magic the giant never truly dies but sleeps instead in death dream to one day reawaken.

Monster's Nature: Daemonic
Characteristic: Morbid obesity
Elements: Mucus, Blood, Glass, Light, Lightning
Powers: 

Turn to Stone: victims that look into the creature's eyes must make a physique test or be turned to stone.
Dominate: can dominate the mind of a number of creatures equal to its HD. Victims can resist with a willpower test.
Weaknesses: Aversion to some substance or object

At first you see something like a huge pigskin sack, packed to the point of bursting with some unseen angular things that push and press against the leather, forming odd bumps. The pigskin sack is disgusting but, like a car crash, there is a certain gravity in its appearance, the one that binds your interest and makes its harder to look away. If you do manage to look away very quickly the danger will never come to be, and the sack remains nothing more than a disturbing image in a mind, as the the creature doesn't come to being unless observed. The blood of sorcerers, the one that obscuring eye so longs for, will protect you, as long it is out of veins and smeared all over your own skin, as the creature will fade from the field of view peacefully and simply wait for another victim.

If you keep staring a couple of seconds later you'll notice the dripping red-foamed slime, full of tiny, hot-white sparks – thin, vein-like rivulets of slime are seeping from wounds left by shards of stained glass that pierce the sack at oddest angles, as if the church window exploded into it. Then tiny lightnings that dance between these shards. Then you notice the maw, full of blunt, crushing and all too big teeth, and then the eyes, and then the you'd see nothing, as brief pain envelops you and you turn to stone.

Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells Mythological Characteristics

This post includes a table for Mythological Characteristics for my Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells Automatic Monster Generator, which is an automated version of the monster generator found in the SS&SS Addendum. It's a fun, rules-light, OSR-style system and I would recommend you check it out!

The generator in the book listed "Mythological" as one of the natures, but it's not actually in the book! This is my attempt to fill that gap by coming up with my own "Mythological Characteristics". This table has also been added to the automatic generator so follow that link if you want to make mythological monsters!

d20	Mythological Characteristics
1	Angelic wings and halo
2	Aura of light
3	Ichor-tinted skin (blue blood)
4	Like a baroque statue or wearing baroque armor
5	Unusual skin (1d4: 1 - Metallic; 2 - Pastel; 3 - Stone or marble; 4 - Iridescent) - skin type may indicate resistance to certain types of damage
6	Wears or is encircled by holy beads or stones
7	Wears, wields, or is made of advanced-looking magi-tech
8	Melodic voice
9	Produce sounds like a masterwork instrument
10	Wears, is encircled by, or is made of holy flowers
11	Has a pack of spirit animals or is a spirit animal
12	Carries many books or tablets of a holy or legal nature
13	Fey-like butterfly wings, pointed ears, large eyes, and sparkles
14	Like an expressionist painting come to life
15	The platonic form of beauty
16	Rides on or is surrounded by clouds
17	Summons and surfs on shooting stars
18	Is a living planet, star, or other celestial body
19	Is a living dimension
20	Is unassuming (roll another nature, appears as that)

Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells Automatic Monster Generator

I'm currently playing in a science fantasy game run by z_bill and we're using this cool, OSR-like system called Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells (hereafter referred to as SS&SS). The SS&SS Addendum includes a cool monster generator, and this is an automatized version of that generator. Both books are available for PWYW so I hope they don't mind me making this available publicly, but if not I'll pull it down. Hopefully people find this useful and it draws attention to this cool game. I may create a follow-up to this if it's well received, but for now it's a mostly straight translation of the generator from the book, which I would strongly encourage you to buy! If this post encourages you to check out the game, please comment below!

Note that some of the text refers to mechanics specific to SS&SS, but most of it can be easily converted to OSR or other systems. For instance, positive/negative die just means roll twice and take the better/worse result.

Frank Frazetta is the king of Sword & Sorcery Art

Generate Creature

Note that I have removed amalgam options and certain other options from the autogenerator for the time being but they are in the below tables. Additionally, the book lists a 'Mythological' Nature but I'm not finding it in the book, either because I'm going crazy 0.o or they forgot to include it or forgot to remove it, so I have added my own set of Mythological Characteristics.

Number of Elements:
Number of Additional Powers:
Number of Weaknesses:

d12	Monster's Nature
1	Humanoid
2	Beast
3	Plant
4	Prehistoric
5	Undead
6	Magical
7	Technological
8	Alien
9	Aberration
10	Mythological
11	Daemonic
12	Amalgamation (mix 1d3+1 natures)

d20	Humanoid Appearance
1	Elongated limbs (can make melee attacks to opponents within nearby range)
2	Giant head
3	Shortened limbs (slow movement)
4	Elastic limbs (can make melee attacks to opponents within nearby range)
5	Extra pair of arms (can act one more time per round)
6	Extra pair of legs (can move twice per round)
7	Extra heads (receives a positive die to mental actions)
8	Scaly skin (-1d of damage reduction)
9	Colorful skin (1d8: 1 - Yellow; 2 - Orange; 3 - Red; 4 - Purple; 5 - Blue; 6 - Emerald; 7 - Gray; 8 - Transparent) - Color may indicate resistance to certain types of damage
10	Without body hair
11	With flashy hair or fur
12	Small body (positive die to hide)
13	Large body (positive die to physical actions)
14	No distinction between genders (or without genders)
15	Skeletal body
16	Corpulent body
17	protruding bones
18	extra eyes (positive die on perception tests)
19	Eyeless (augmented senses)
20	Traits of other nature (roll again on the monster's nature table, ignoring the humanoid result)

d20	Humanoid Culture
1	Praises brute strength above all else and dominates inferior races.
2	The search for knowledge moves this race through the cosmos.
3	Carnal pleasures are all that matters.
4	The search for spiritual growth is the most noble quest of an individual.
5	Hoards riches at any cost, even taking it from weaker races.
6	To reproduce and spread to all corners of the cosmos.
7	Dominate intellectually all other cultures.
8	To produce art is the greatest deed an individual can accomplish.
9	Technological development is the most noble cause to pursue.
10	Sorcery is a stain that must be cleaned from the world.
11	The accumulation of magical power is the only way to secure our superiority.
12	To bring our god to this world is our main task.
13	To remain isolated from other races is our main safety guarantee.
14	Hunt the most powerful beast to prove your worth.
15	Never suppress your primal instincts as savagery is the purest state of being.
16	The quest for the promised land is the main task of our people.
17	To obey all the wishes and desires of the Queen-Mother, whatever they may be.
18	Only by the end of the world as we know it we can build a better one.
19	Life has no meaning and is empty, nothing and no one can alter this truth.
20	Transformation and constant change are essential to save Chaos from the tyranny of Order.

d12	Bestial Form
1	Torso of one animal and legs of another.
2	Head of an animal, limbs of another and the body of a third.
3	Multiple animal heads with the body of another.
4	Humanoid body with an animal head.
5	Body of an animal, tail of another and wings of a third.
6	Headless animal with many mouths of second animal around their (changed from he) body.
7	Winged head of an animal
8	Body of an animal and extra arms of another.
9	Animal body with a humanoid head.
10	Animal with 2 torsos of different animals and no lower body.
11	Humanoid torso and lower body of an animal.
12	Animal mixed with other creature (roll to determine the second Monster's Nature).

d100	Animals
1	Bee
2	Jellyfish
3	Eagle
4	Spider
5	Baboon
6	Whale
7	Cockroach
8	Beetle
9	Goat
10	Buffalo
11	Hound
12	Crab
13	Chameleon
14	Horse
15	Snake
16	Owl
17	Crocodile
18	Dromedary
19	Elephant
20	Scorpion
21	Squirrel
22	Starfish
23	Falcon
24	Seal
25	Ant
26	Rooster
27	Ferret
28	Grasshopper
29	Goose
30	Heron
31	Cat
32	Giraffe
33	Dolphin
34	Gorilla
35	Raccoon
36	Hyena
37	Hippopotamus
38	Iguana
39	Alligator
40	Jaguar
41	Boar
42	Boa Constrictor
43	Centipede
44	Caterpillar
45	Gecko
46	Lizard
47	Lobster
48	Lion
49	Leopard
50	Snail
51	Dragonfly
52	Wolf
53	Worm
54	Squid
55	Monkey
56	Moth
57	Earthworm
58	Bat
59	Fly
60	Adder
61	Oyster
62	Urchin
63	Sheep
64	Panther
65	Duck
66	Peacock
67	Swordfish
68	Penguin
69	Piranha
70	Octopus
71	Pigeon
72	Pig
73	Hedgehog
74	Sloth
75	Protozoan
76	Lynx
77	Fox
78	Frog
79	Rat
80	Deer
81	Rhinoceros
82	Nightingale
83	Salamander
84	Manta Ray
85	Serpent
86	Anteater
87	Turtle
88	Armadillo
89	Badger
90	Tiger
91	Mole
92	Bull
93	Shark
94	Bear
95	Vulture
96	Moose
97	Mule
98	Maggot
99	Wasp
100	Zebra

d12	Plant Form
1	Mushroom
2	Mold
3	Vines
4	Grass
5	Roots
6	Tree
7	Flower
8	Fruit
9	Shrubbery
10	Leaf
11	Algae
12	Amalgam between Plant Form and other Monster's Nature

d12	Plant Attacks
1	Sharp thorns
2	Bladed leaves
3	Poisonous spores
4	Crushing branches
5	Strangling roots
6	Explosive fruits
7	Blood sucking roots
8	Acid sap
9	Scorching pollen
10	Inserting a seed inside a victim's heart
11	Scorching sun ray reflected by flowers
12	Hypnotic perfume

d8	Prehistoric Characteristics
1	Reptilian
2	Gigantic with small head
3	Protruding bones
4	Highly muscular with small brain
5	Unicellular
6	Protruding teeth and claws
7	Amphibious
8	Reinforced carapace

d10	Undead Form
1	Incorporeal, appearing as it was when alive
2	Incorporeal, cadaverous appearance
3	Incorporeal, gaunt appearance
4	Incorporeal, foggy or deformed appearance
5	Shadow
6	As alive, with cold skin and white eyes
7	Appearance as the moment it died, wounds still bleeding
8	Appearance as a rotting corpse
9	A floating head with incorporeal body
10	Skeletal

d12	Feeds Upon
1	Blood
2	Flesh
3	Brains
4	Vitality
5	Will to live
6	Dreams
7	Memories
8	Anger
9	Fear
10	Beauty
11	Eyes
12	Time left to live

d12	Magical Traits
1	Static energy radiates from the creature, lightly shocking whoever comes close.
2	The creature levitates just above ground, having a supernatural lightness.
3	The creature's head or body hair is always under the influence of elements (on fire, wet, blown by the wind, full of dirt).
4	The creature's skin emanates a soft glow.
5	The creature's eyes reflects the soul of whoever gazes at it.
6	Little energy crystals are scattered throughout the creature's body.
7	The creature's skin changes color according to its humor.
8	Translucent body.
9	Small energy spheres orbit around the creature.
10	The creature appears different for every person who looks at it.
11	Strange runes and symbols cover the creature's body.
12	Tree branches grow from the creature's body.

d12	Magical Form
1	Sphere
2	Cube
3	Concentric rings
4	Giant eye with bloody veins
5	Living energy
6	Living fog
7	Constant changing geometric figure
8	Floating pyramid
9	Living weapon
10	Flying crystal
11	A horde of glass insects with collective intelligence
12	An amalgam of 1d4+1 Monster's Natures

d20	Technological Form
1	Artifical human form
2	Artifical animal form
3	Flying computer
4	Brain inside translucent sphere
5	Sphere with many monitors and mechanica arms
6	War tank
7	Wheeled vehicle
8	Flying saucer
9	Helicopter
10	Oven
11	Meat grinder
12	Rubik's cube
13	Bulldozer
14	Concrete mixer
15	Tripod
16	Monocycle
17	Millions of nanobots
18	Lamp
19	Telescope
20	Bundles of wires and cables

d12	Material
1	Plastic
2	Iron
3	Mercury
4	Steel
5	Wood
6	Glass fiber
7	Glass
8	Acrylic
9	Gold
10	Leather
11	Textile
12	Copper

d12	Technological Level (all B.C./A.D. changed to B.C.E./C.E.)
1	Stone age (prehistory and before)
2	Bronze age (3500 B.C.E.)
3	Iron age (1200 B.C.E.)
4	Middle ages (600 B.C.E.)
5	Age of discoveries (1450 C.E.)
6	Industrial revolution (1730 C.E.)
7	Mechanical age (1880 C.E.)
8	Nuclear age (1940 C.E.)
9	Digital age (1980 C.E.)
10	Microtechnology age (nanotechnology and other amazing advances)
11	Space age (space travel and colonization)
12	Time age (time travel)

d12	Means of Travel
1	Meteor
2	Black hole
3	Portal opened by sorcerer-king
4	Dimensional storm
5	Astral projection
6	Cavern complex with extra-planar connections
7	A bridge extending to another world
8	Magical ship sailing on cosmic currents
9	Winged creatures that ride the cosmos
10	Space ship
11	Teleporting device
12	Intersecting planet

d12	Specific Purposes
1	Harvest natural resources.
2	Colonize a new world.
3	Escape the destruction of their original world.
4	Search for ancestors that visited this world.
5	Dominate this new world.
6	Conduct scientific experiments.
7	Warn natives of an incoming doom.
8	Eat all that it can find.
9	To reproduce with another species.
10	Gather slaves for an important task.
11	To learn and collect information.
12	To prevent a catastrophic event they have foreseen.

d12	Aberrant Form
1	Amorphous
2	Oval
3	Sphere
4	Conical
5	Cylinder
6	Pyramid
7	Ring
8	Icosahedron
9	Bidimensional
10	Tetradimensional
11	Similar to another Monster's Nature
12	Mixture of 1d4+1 Monster's Nature

d12	Aberrant Characteristics
1	Hundreds of eyes of different types and sizes cover the creature's body.
2	Hundreds of mouths of different sizes and shapes cover the creature's body and spew a disgusting goo.
3	Body covered by irregular thorns that inject hallucinogenic poison.
4	Body covered with small lips that keep pronouncing alien poetry which drives listeners insane.
5	Several tentacles cover the creature's body.
6	Faces of several different beings in agonizing expressions cover the creature's body.
7	Bubbles expelling nauseous smells forms all over the creature's body.
8	Hundreds of clawed hands form and dissipate over the creature's body.
9	Hundreds of genitalia cover the creature's body.
10	The creature's body is covered with holes expelling feces.
11	Gelatinous and transparent body, exposing all the bizarre organs inside.
12	Roll 1d4 times.

d20	Daemonic Characteristics
1	Goat horns
2	Shadow body
3	Goat legs
4	Empty eye sockets
5	Flame eyes
6	Forked tail
7	Fangs
8	Bat wings
9	Skeletal wings
10	Blood covered body
11	Crawling with insects
12	Morbid obesity
13	Incredibly filthy
14	Mucus covering the body
15	Body covered with dark thorns
16	Crawling with serpents
17	Extremely beautiful
18	Horrendous
19	Guttural voice
20	Melodic voice

d20	Element
1	Earth
2	Water
3	Fire
4	Air
5	Rock
6	Magma
7	Ashes
8	Sand
9	Wood
10	Mud
11	Steam
12	Blood
13	Metal
14	Mucus
15	Acid
16	Poison
17	Lightning
18	Light
19	Glass
20	Diamond

d100	Powers
1	Acid Attack: Acid deals a die of damage 1 step below normal for the creature's HD for HD rounds.
2	Acid Blood: When an attacker inflicts damage in close range to the creature they must make an agility test or suffer a damage die 1 step below the normal for the creature's HD.
3	Cause Blindness: Blinds a target for 1d4 rounds per HD. The target receives 2 negative dice for any action that relies on vision.
4	Imprison: The creature imprisons a target in a viscous substance, requiring the victim to make a physique test to escape.
5	Earthquake: Causes an earthquake up to far range, collapsing building and causing other damage. Creatures in the area must make an agility test or are knocked to the floor.
6	Tunneling: Can move through solid earth as normal.
7	Destroy Metal: Metal objects that touch the creature's body are damaged and become useless. When an attacker hits the creature, they must make a luck roll to see if their weapon is ruined.
8	Destroy Wood: Wooden objects are destoyed if they come into contact with the creature's skin. When an attacker hits the creature, they must make a luck roll to see if their weapon is ruined.
9	Lacerate: After the attack, the target receives a negative die to all physical actions for HD rounds.
10	Corrode Minerals: Rocks and other minerals can be dissolved by the creature, allowing it to pass through walls.
11	Animate Object: Gives a life to inanimate objects, transforming them into monsters under the creature's command. The creature can animate a number of objects equal to its HD.
12	Suffocation: Drains the air from its victims' lungs.
13	Repulsion: Makes it hard for creatures of a certain type (referee's discretion) to approach. Characters can resist with a willpower test.
14	Bleeding: In addition to normal damage, this attack causes bleeding, making the target lose a damage die 1 step below normal for the creature's HD per round until the wound is treated.
15	Necrosis: This attack causes necrosis and the victim loses 1 point of physique or agility per day until a cure is found.
16	Disease: Causes grave and potentially deadly disease (referee may impose attribute damage, negative dice and loss of HP). Victims can make a willpower test to resist it.
17	Incubation: An egg or seed is inserted inside the target and it will generate another monster in a set amount of time, leading to the victim's death.
18	Drain Attribute: Victim loses 1d4 points of a specific attribute. The target can usually resist with an appropriate attribute test.
19	Power vortex: Summons an energy storm that affects all creatures in nearby range who suffer a damage die 1 step lower than normal, unless they make an agility test for half damage. The storm lasts for HD rounds.
20	Confusion: Makes victim confused and disoriented, receiving a negative die to all actions for a number of rounds determined by the creature's damage die.
21	Freezing Attack: In addition to normal damage, targets must make physique tests or are frozen, imprisoned and incapable of moving for HD rounds.
22	Command plants or animals: Can command a number of plants or animals up to the creature's HD.
23	Curse: Curses a victim who can resist with a willpower test. The referee will come up with the curse effect (which can have mechanical and narrative effects). Additionally, the target's luck die is lowered by 1 step until the curse is broken.
24	Create Barrier: Creates a barrier to hinder or stop movement. Barriers can also inflict damage with thorns or blades. To overcome a barrier, characters will need to make a physique or agility test.
25	Instant Death: Kills target instantly unless it passes an appropriate attribute test.
26	Slow Death: Target acquires a malady that kills them slowly. They suffer a damage die or loss of attribute points daily and cannot heal this unless a cure is found.
27	Drain Life: Causes a damage die 1 step lower than normal but the creature regains the same amount of HP.
28	Dimensional Confinement: Imprisons a target in an extra-planar space. The victim can only be freed by killing the creautre.
29	Multidimensional: The creature exists in multiple plans, hopping from one to another in the blink of an eye, Every time the creature is hit, the attacker makes a luck roll to determine if the creature did not hop to another dimension the moment it was being hit, avoiding damage.
30	Drain Memories: Target loses memories, making it harder to remember information. A luck roll is made to determine if a particular subject or spell was forgotten. One memory is forgotten per attack. This effect is permanent.
31	Electric Damage: When hitting a target with this ability, creatures within close range must make a luck roll or suffer a damage die 1 step below normal.
32	Electric Creature: Electricity runs through the creature's body and those carrying metal objects that touch it must make a luck roll or take a damage die 1 step below normal.
33	Magnetic Field: Weapons and armor made of metal that make contact with the creature can becomes tuck unless the attacker makes a physique test.
34	Scare: Forces targets that see the creature to make a willpower test or suffer a negative die on all tests against it.
35	Dominate: Can dominate the mind of a number of creatures equal to its HD. Victims can resist with a willpower test.
36	Induce Rage: Targets within nearby range must make a willpower test or be driven into a rage, attackig anyone within close range in the most violent way they can for a number of rounds equal to the creature's HD.
37	Cause Apathy: Causes apathy in up to HD targets (who can resist with a willpower test). Those afffected must make a willpower test to act each round.
38	Cause Ecstacy: The creature's touch causes ecstasy, paralyzing victims with pleasure for HD rounds, unless they pass a physique test.
39	Sleep: Can put to sleep all opponents within nearby range. Targets can resist with a physique test.
40	Incendiary Attack: This attack can set a target on fire, causing the same amount of damage on the following rounds unless the victim makes an agility test to dampen the flames.
41	Flaming Body: Anyone within close range receives a damage die 2 steps below normal for the creature's HD.
42	Explosion: Causes an explosion that deals 1d6 points of damage per HD to anyone within close range. An agility test can reduce this damage to half.
43	Hallucination: Alters the target's perception, making him believe in things that are not there. Targets can resist with an intellect test. This lasts for HD turns.
44	Project Illusion: Affects an area up to far range, creating an illusion that affects all senses. Can be resisted with a willpower test.
45	Freezing Aura: Affects an area up to nearby range, dropping thee temperature to a level below freezing. Targets need to make a physique test to avoid being frozen into place.
46	Crush: Target is crushed by the creature and can make a physique test per round to escape or suffer a damage die 1 step lower than normal.
47	Immobilize: Targets within nearby range must make an appropriate attribute test or cannot move for 1d4 rounds per creature's HD.
48	Induce Insanity: A target up to far range must make an intellect test or acquire a madness relating to the creature. To cure himself, the character will need a number of years equal to the creature's HD.
49	Cause Stupidity: Affects on target per creature's HD if they fail an intellect test. The affected become stupid and unlearned, incapable of taking intelligent actions, remembering languages and spells. This usually lasts for HD hours.
50	Spread Shadows: An aura of shadows extends up to nearby range, blocking the vision of anyone within this space.
51	Shadow Step: The creature can travel through shadows, covering great or small distances.
52	Ethereal Form: Can assume an ethereal form, becoming immune to physical attacks and can enter hard to reach places.
53	Augmented Senses: The creature has sharp senses, sensing slight changes in its surroundings. Character's receive a negative die when trying to deceive it.
54	Extra Senses: The creature has an additional sense like thermal vision, sonar, E.S.P., aura vision, etc.
55	Multiple Attacks: Can make additional attacks per round up to their total number of HD.
56	Bad Luck: Double the chances of random encounters for up to HD creatures who fail a willpower test for HD days.
57	Drain Magic: Up to HD targets within nearby range become unable to cast spells if they fail a willpower test. This lasts for HD turns.
58	Telekinesis: The creature can move objects or beings (physique test to resist) with its mind and can make attacks with this power.
59	Steal Memories: Steal the memories of up to HD targets, becoming able to assume their personalities. Can be resisted with a willpower test.
60	Duplicate Appearance: Can assume the appearance of a touched target for up to HD days.
61	Fly: The creature can move through the air with freedom, avoiding obstacles and hazards.
62	Scale Surfaces: Can move over walls, ceilings and other non-horizontal surfaces like a spider.
63	Amphibious: Can live and act freely on land and water.
64	Impair Movement: A target up to nearby range needs twice as much effort and actions to move unless they pass an appropriate attribute test. This lasts for HD turns.
65	Open Portal: Open portals to other places and planes that can last for up to HD turns.
66	Poison: The creature's attack is poisoned with a substance with an intensity equal to its HD.
67	Animate Dead: Can animate up to 2 times its HD of undead minions. They last until killed again.
68	Enlarge or Reduce: The creature can increase or decrease its size, improving or reducing its HD and damage die 1 step. Some creatures can use this power on other targets. Can resist with a physique test. Lasts for HD turns.
69	Reproduce Sound: Can imitate any sound heard in the last HD days.
70	Sonic Attack: Can emit a specific frequency capable of damaging living beings and/or structures within nearby range/ Those who fail an agility test suffer the normal damage for the creature's HD. Success indicates half damage.
71	Spell Casting: Can cast spells as a Magic User. Treat as having a willpower of 10 + HD and knowing a number of spells equal to its HD.
72	Regenerate: Regenerates a number of HP per round equal to its HD.
73	Cause Deformity: A target touched by the creature is deformed unless it passes a physique test. The deformity can have various effects, from social rejection to attribute damage.
74	Animal Form: Can assume up to HD different animal forms.
75	Energy Ray: The creature can fire an energy ray that does 1d6 points of damage per HD to a terget up to far range that fails an agility test.
76	Reinforced Carapace: Grants damage reduction of -1d or -2d on the dice chain.
77	Invisibility or Camouflage: The creature can become invisible or can use camouflage, requiring an intellect test with a negative die to be detected.
78	Immunity to Mundane Attacks: The creature can only be harmed by magical attacks and weapons.
79	Magical Immunity: The creature is immune to magical attacks and weapons.
80	Variable Immunity: The creature is immune to a certain type of attack (fire, metal weapons, electricity, etc.).
81	Magical Resistance: Receives a positive die to resist magical effects.
82	Divide: The creature can divide itself into several copies, splitting its total HD between them. The copies keep all other stats normally and attack as if having its total HD.
83	Reflect Attacks: Can reflect a number of attacks per round equal to its HD. The creature makes an attack against the attribute used in the original one to hit the target.
84	Invoke Ally: Can summon a similar creature of the same amount of HD. A character can make a luck roll to avoid this effect.
85	Immortal: The creature cannot die naturally and a condition must be met for the creature to be truly killed.
86	Teleport: The creature is capable of moving through space with just its thoughts, changing locations instantly. This can be used a number of times equal to its HD per day.
87	Thorns: The creature has thorns over its body, making everyone within close range make an agility test to avoid taking HD points of damage. Some of these creatures can expel these thorns up to nearby range, causing normal damage according to its HD.
88	Read Minds: Can read the minds of everyone within far range, making it impossible to surprise this creature in combat. Additionally, it receives a positive die in its attacks and imposes a negative die on attacks against it.
89	Absorption: Can absorb the energy of a specific type of attack (kinetic energy, magic, fire), transforming the potential damage into healing.
90	Swallow: On a critical hit (or by taking the target to its mouth with another attack), the creature swallows the victim, who will suffer the normal damage of the monster per round automatically. The target can escape if he inflicts the number of HD the creature has in damage in a single attack.
91	Disintegrate: Can disintegrate matter within far range with a ray up to HD times per day. If used as an attack, the ray kills any creature who fails an agility test. Those who succeed suffer 2d6 points of damage per HD.
92	Duplicate: Can generate up to HD illusory copies of itself. Copies can be distinguished with an intellect test.
93	Improved Damage: The normal damage of the creatures HD is increased by 1 step on the HD table.
94	Psychic Attack: All enemies within nearby range must make a willpower test or suffer a damage die 1 step lower than normal and receive a negative die for all actions for HD rounds.
95	Silence: A point affecting an area with nearby range has all the sound silenced. This lasts for up to HD rounds.
96	Turn to Stone: Victims that look into the creature's eyes must make a physique test or be turned to stone.
97	Create Matter: Generates matter of a specific type (wood, stone, gold, crystal) of a volume equal to a cubic foot per HD per day.
98	Time Travel: The creature can travel to the past or the future of its location.
99	Foresee Future: The creature can see into the future up to HD decades.
100	Combine two abilities into one.

d20	Monster's Weakness
1	Vanity
2	Stupidity
3	Vulnerable special part
4	Can't distance itself from a specific place
5	Need to feed constantly
6	Life depends on a specific item
7	Vulnerable to certain type of attack
8	Aversion to some substance or object
9	Methodic compulsion
10	Honor code
11	Circumstantial weakness
12	Powerful enemy
13	Addiction
14	Obsession
15	Vulnerability in another dimension
16	Simply knowing its True Name makes it weak
17	Weakness after a ritual
18	Fears its own reflection
19	Hubris
20	True beauty