Shownotes for Episode 56

Theme                                     Evan King - Enchiridion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8NkG3bhIxU

Welcome                                  148 Barovian Castle https://tabletopaudio.com/

Previously On                          Scott Buckley - Legionnaire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwW0vFUCzEM

Part 1                                       98 Lost Mine https://tabletopaudio.com/

Dramatis                                  RPG SOUNDS “Realization”

Some  FX:                                https://www.zapsplat.com

Monster Reboot (Minor spoilers if you have not listened up to & including ep 55)

 Ankhegs are cool, but the monster-as-written lacked a bit of depth and needed some tweaking so it would make sense in my game.  Below is my new (and I think improved) version of the classic monster.

Ankheg

 

They are giant, highly aggressive insects that burrow underground and can tunnel through rock.  They live in colonies with a single brood queen at the center.  There are three varieties of ankheg, and each is quite distinct from the other.

 

Workers: 

 

Workers do the digging, tending of eggs and preparation of food.  They also double as soldiers and so these ankhegs are big, many reaching 20’ long.  They have short antennae, huge mandibles, a multitude of hook-tipped legs and a thick chitinous armor of rusty reddish brown.

 

Habitat: Underground/Mountainous

Frequency: Rare

Organization: Brood

Diet: Omnivore

Intelligence: Non

Alignment: Neutral

No. Appearing: 1-8

Armor Class: 2

Hit Dice: 7-8

No. of Attacks: 1

Damage/Attack: *3-18

Special Attacks: None

Special Defenses: None

Size: H 20’ long

Morale: 9 (12 if protecting Queen)

 

*Note that the creature must make a successful to-hit each round of combat; there is no automatic damage/grapple.

Hunters: 

 

These ankhegs are smaller than the warriors, measuring 10-12 feet long.  Their only job is to hunt food for the rest colony.  Hunters burrow under the ground and lay in ambush.  They are yellow in colour for one, and their antennae are extremely long.  They have smaller mandibles than the workers, but compensate for this by having a stinger that can paralyze their prey the way carrion crawlers can do.  If the saving throw is failed, the paralysis will last 2-8 turns but can be cured by a Cure Light Wounds spell if one is available.  Hunters prefer not to kill their prey, instead paralyzing it and bringing it back to the rest of the colony still alive.  This way the kill will not go to rot.  Also, if it is large enough, the Queen might select it as a candidate for egg insertion.

 

Habitat: Underground/Mountainous

Frequency: Rare

Organization: Brood

Diet: Omnivore

Intelligence: Non

Alignment: Neutral

No. Appearing: 1-2

Armor Class: 4

Hit Dice: 3

No. of Attacks: 1

Damage/Attack: *2-12

Special Attacks: Paralyzing sting

Special Defenses: None

Size: L 10-12’ long

Morale: 9

 

 

The Queen:

 

The queen is the center of the colony.  She regulates population and can sense when the numbers of her colony have dropped and she needs to lay new eggs.  Most hives will have 1 queen, 2 hunters and 12 workers at full strength.

 

The queen is huge, fully forty feet long and twenty in diameter.  She is bulbous and pale white in colour. She resembles an enormous grub and does not have natural armor.  Although she is extremely large, she does not fight.   She does have a special defense however, and will use it if cornered.  She can spray acid in a cone 30’ long and 15’ wide at the end.  This attack causes 2d10 points of acid damage to any creature caught in the spray (save vs breath weapon for half) and can destroy armor, weapons and other materials it touches at the DM’s discretion.  The queen’s acid breath may only be used once per day.

 

Habitat: Underground/Mountainous

Frequency: Rare

Organization: Brood

Diet: Omnivore

Intelligence: Non

Alignment: Neutral

No. Appearing: 1

Armor Class: 8

Hit Dice: 4

No. of Attacks: 0

Damage/Attack: N/A

Special Attacks: Acid Spray

Special Defenses: None

Size: H 30’ long

Morale: 6

 

One Shot in the Dark Demo Game Map

 This is the gaming sheet/map I used in the demo of OSitD that aired today.  The game is much more fun if you doodle and scribble your way through it.

A Very Cool Virtual Harp

 Someone asked me how I made the recent dueling harps tune as performed by the hephlins Willa and Moll Sweetgrass.  I used this app here.

It's easy to use, sounds good, and best of all, you can strum across the strings to get that gliss, which adds realism, I think.

Shownotes for Episode 55

Theme                                     Evan King - Enchiridion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8NkG3bhIxU

Welcome                                  148 Barovian Castle https://tabletopaudio.com/

Previously On                          Scott Buckley - Legionnaire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwW0vFUCzEM

Part 1                                       98 Lost Mine https://tabletopaudio.com/

Combat                                    RPG SOUNDS “The Boss is Here”

Some  FX:                                https://www.zapsplat.com

5 More Movies that Have Inspired the Show

 Back in June, I posted about 5 films that have inspired scenes from the show.  Well, here's 5 more, in no particular order, that have inspired the making of TOTM.

This scene from Clash of the Titans (the good one) gave me the idea to have Gruenmawg listening where Barrok Ironskin slagged him off, saying the deity was nothing more than a shadow.  Of course, the gods have a sense of irony, and Ironskin's punishment fit the crime.

 

This scene from The Shining needs no introduction, being one of the most iconic scenes in cinema.  Barrok at the Throne Room door comes from this image.  I even named the dish they are eating after the director.  "The Koobrik is delicious."

I love the animations of Ray Harryhausen (who did loads of work on Clash of the Titans, too, of course).  Their imperfect look is what makes them feel so distinct.  That, and the sound design.  I knew what the Gaxarn Living Statues would sound like the moment I decided to put them in the Vault.  This scene is from Jason and the Argonauts, which is still an excellent watch, to this day.

The film, Empty Man (not Hollow Man as I originally wrote - thanks, SecretShopKeep!), is one that many people passed on.  It's not a perfect film, but it's better than most of the genre and has some very cool moments.  One is a scene depicting this bridge - which is a real place (though there's plenty of movie magic going on to super-charge it in the film's depiction of it) in Bhutan.  I lifted the basic idea of the Bridge of the Wind from this movie.

Finally, the film version of Romeo & Juliet directed by Zeffirelli is near perfect.  In the middle of the play, there's a song by a young boy.  There's a similar scene in Polanski's Macbeth.  Having Ursulath sing for everyone in the throne room in Duervar came from these 2 films. This is neither here nor there, but how perfect is Olivia Hussey as Juliet?

A little natural inspiration

 I was going to post this right after publishing ep 53 but held off, thinking it might be considered a very minor spoiler.  I think it's safe enough to post up now.  There's a scene in ep 53 where the descriptive narrative is drawn from this photo.  It's a place that actually exists.  I've never been there... have any of you? 

The Fairy Pools of Scotland:

Episode 54 Character Inventory Update

HARL

Blacknail’s Mentzium Plate mail +2, battleaxe, belt pouch (14gp, 34sp, 88cp), elven waterskin. A whetstone. A leather sack. Iron rations +2, bedroll, 800gp in various rubies.

UMURA

Leather boots, layered tunic and leggings, goblin belt pouch (empty) waterskin, silver dagger, shoulderbag (quill, inkpot, hooded lantern, tinderbox, 2 flasks oil, 2 doses of Raphinfel’s serum, ‘angel’ recipe notes, “A Treatise on Theoretical Extra Planar Realities.”, Dermund’s spellbook, her spellbook), Silver necklace with sapphire worth 500gp. A spool of strong thread with both a needle and a fish hook. Owl of Thressendia. Ring of prot +1 (now AC=8) Iron rations+2, bedroll

GYRIOS

Chainmail, Sov’s +1 mace, backpack, Kagan’s old half-helm, waterskin, good quality beltpouch(2 flasks of oil), good traveling boots, 1 gold holy-symbol-coin, silver shield with engraving, backpack (16 candles, A leather sack, a flint & steel,),  boots, belt pouch Iron rations+2, bedroll, Mithridaticum Elixir (1 vial/1dose). 51gp in mixed coins.

ARADINE

Waterskin, short sword, gold-hilted elven long sword, dagger, short bow and quiver, thieves tools, goblin belt pouch (empty), 50’ rope, Bracers of Defense AC 6. (22 gp, 163sp and 195 cp). 6 expertly made, white-fletched arrows. 17 arrows and a leather quiver. Iron rations+2, whetstone, bedroll

Retainers:

Simple equipment suitable for a journey and for their respective class plus MINE RATIONS.

Shownotes for Episode 54

Theme                                     Evan King - Enchiridion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8NkG3bhIxU

Welcome                                 148 Barovian Castle https://tabletopaudio.com/

Previously On                          Scott Buckley - Legionnaire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwW0vFUCzEM

Dramatis                                  RPG SOUNDS “Realization”

Some  FX:                                https://www.zapsplat.com