It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted an update. This is mainly because of the upheaval that is GenCon (which was, as usual, a blast), but also the aftermath.

This year, unlike previous visits, we decided to bring the kids along for their first experience with the “Best Four Days in Gaming.” To save on travel costs (airfare for five is way more than for two), we drove from our home in Bangor, Maine all the way to Indianapolis (and back). That’s twenty hours of travel each way. It’s a bit draining, especially on the return trip when we’re coping with post-con fatigue.

On top of that, we got back to find that our oldest cat had developed a series illness while we were away, and we made the difficult choice to put him down last Wednesday (after getting home late Tuesday). That threw the rest of that week into a tizzy, putting a firm boot on the post-convention buzz I usually bring home.

I was sick this past Tuesday, most likely the fatigue and such  had been dealing with finally caught up with me… long story short, the last few weeks have been a roller coaster. I’ll see what I can do to put together a more comprehensive convention wrap-up for a future post, but I’m knocking this out late Thursday so that something goes live tomorrow.

I will be holding office hours tonight, September 1, starting at 9pm Eastern, in our official Discord server. I’ll answer questions, chat about stuff, and generally be available for an hour or so. I plan to hold these on the first Friday of every month, so mark your calendars!

Work continues on the Companion. Morgan and I had a development meeting at GenCon to lay out some plans for the future, and there are one or two other announcements that I’ll save for another time. I’m going to wrap this up for tonight, but I do want to share something with you that I may have gotten entirely too much enjoyment from.

I talked about masks in a previous post. As part of the custom scenario I wrote up for GenCon this year, I wanted to play with them a bit. The main thrust of the plot involves the PCs trying to escape the city of Jerris, and part of that takes them through Jerris’s undercity, where much of the tainted ash that blows in from the Wastes eventually ends up. That kind of concentrated magical stuff is bound to have an effect. Since I called this section the “requisite sewer level” in my original outline for the scenario, what better way to play with masks than to make magically twisted sewer crocodiles?

For your enjoyment, here they are.

Jerris Sewer Crocodile Young (Masks: Small, Noxious, Aberrant)

Novice (Circle 3)

  • Dex 9, Str 7, Tou 7, Per 5, Wil 7, Cha 1
  • Init 9, Phys Def 11, Myst Def 5, Soc Def 5, Physt Arm 7, Myst Arm 3
  • Uncon 36, Death 43. Wound 10, Knockdown 11, Recovery 2
  • Actions 1, Attack 14 (Bite, Damage 14)

Powers:

  • Ambush (5): When attacking from Surprise, the crocodile gains +5 to Initiative, Attack, and Damage.
  • Awareness (8)
  • Fury (2): Instead of suffering penalties, the crocodile gains +1 bonus for each Wound up to 2.
  • Poison (8): Damaging [Onset 1 round, Interval 5/1 round]
  • Willful (2): Talents and abilities to dominate, control, or tame the creature require 2 extra successes.
  • Semi-Aquatic: Crocodiles can hold their breath for 30 minutes before drowning.
  • Stealthy Stride (12)

Maneuvers:

  • Death Roll: The crocodile may spend 2 extra successes from its bite to inflict Grab and Bite and drag the target underwater, inflicting an additional Step 7 damage with no armor reduction.
  • Defang: An opponent may spend extra successes from an attack test to reduce the Poison Step by 2 per success. If the attack deals a Wound, the crocodile cannot use poison until the damage is healed.
  • Enrage: An opponent may spend extra successes to inflict a -1 penalty to Attack Step and Physical Defense per success spent until the end of the next round.
  • Grab and Bite: The crocodile may spend an extra success from an attack test to automatically grapple the target, inflicting bite damage each subsequent round with no need for an attack roll.
  • Inject Poison: The crocodile may spend an extra success from an attack test to inflict its poison ability on the target.
  • Provoke: An opponent may spend two extra successes from an attack test to force the crocodile to attack them with its next set of attacks. Only the most recent use of this maneuver applies.
  • Pry Loose: An opponent may spend extra successes from an attack test to immediately grant a grappled target an escape attempt with a +2 bonus per success spent.

The young are about five to six feet in length, with pale scales and luminous blue eyes. Their limbs are twisted and misshapen, but despite this they can move fairly quickly. On each side of their snout, fleshy sacs hang down, colored a sickly bluish-green.

Jerris Sewer Crocodile Mama (Masks: Huge, Gruesome)

Journeyman (Circle 5)

  • Dex 6, Str 10, Tou 11, Per 3, Wil 8, Cha 1
  • Init 6, Phys Def 12, Myst Def 9, Social Def 8, Phys Arm 9, Myst Arm 3
  • Uncon 58, Death 69, Wound 15, Knockdown 14, Recovery 3
  • Actions 2, Attack 16 (Bite, Damage 22), 20 (Tail, Damage 18)

Powers:

  • As the young, but remove Poison.
  • Resist Pain (2): The crocodile ignores penalties from the first two Wounds.

Maneuvers:

  • As the young, but remove Defang and Inject Poison.
  • Overrun: The crocodile may spend an extra success from an attack test to force a target with a lower Strength Step to make a Knockdown test against the results of the attack test.
  • Tail Sweep: The crocodile may spend an additional successes from a tail attack to throw opponents with a lower Strength Step. Each success throws the target 2 yards, and the target suffers damage as if they fell that distance.

Mama crocodile resembles the young in coloration, with the same kind of twisted limbs, but is about twenty feet long. Fortunately, she isn’t poisonous, and lacks the fleshy cheek sacs the smaller crocodiles have.

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