Lusus Naturae

I am happy to announce that Lusus Naturae, the spiritual successor to the Teratic Tome, is now crowdfunding on Kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rafaelchandler/lusus-naturae-a-gruesome-old-school-bestiary

Lusus Naturae ("freaks of nature") is a hardcover compendium of horrific monsters for old-school role-playing games, and it will feature face-melting artwork by +Gennifer Bone.

I would be most grateful if you could help spread the word.

\m/
-- Rafael

#lususnaturae #teamscaphism

Lacerations of the Slain Priestess

When our world was struck by the cosmic phenomenon known as the Blastbeat, everything changed. Distorted mutants walk the streets, and dragons soar through blood-red skies.

The fanatical evangelists who now run our country have created an army of robotic drones who police us with cyber-technology, like shining gears in the proverbial machine. Corporate surveillance satellites monitor our every move.

There's only one thing that can save us: Metalheads. Born in the aftermath of the blastbeat, Metalheads are wandering murderhobos armed with strange weapons and magic, defending people against censorship, pollution, racism, nuclear war, and a theocracy built by religious zealots who want to impose their conformist views on the world.

From Devil's Island to the Quarters For the Criminally Insane, from the Belly of the Beast to the Sanitarium, Metalheads crawl through 21st-century dungeons (office buildings and strip malls) in search of glory, treasure, and violence.

Lacerations of the Slain Priestess is a reskin of Lamentations of the Flame Princess. It uses dice. It goes well with beer.

Written by Rafael Chandler. Illustrated by Claudia Cangini, Cliff Roth, Gennifer Bone, Metalhead, and Will Towles. Scheduled for release around Easter 2014.

World of the Lost

I'm working on a new adventure for Lamentations of the Flame Princess. It's called World of the Lost, and it's going to be fun!

Central Africa, 1551. The metalworkers of Awka rise in prominence, even as the Kingdom of Nri declines. Every year, the Awka who dwell in the shadow of the Great Plateau deliver their tribute to the gods that dwell there.

To acquire this treasure for themselves, the adventurers must face great beasts like the gbahali, mokele-mbembe, and the kholomodumo. Then they must brave a dungeon where memory is an illusion and time is a weapon. No sane person would ever attempt this. But a thousand years of tribute paid in silver... Obviously worth it!

World of the Lost is an adventure for characters levels 1-4, featuring wilderness adventure, dungeoneering, new spells, new magic items, and very old monsters. The module is accompanied by an MP3 soundtrack that provides the Referee with necessary information during play.

The only way to get a print copy of my upcoming 48-page adventure is to back the new indiegogo campaign from Lamentations of the Flame Princess!

New Approach to LotFP Saves

My LotFP saving throw houserules:

There are three kinds of saving throws: Reflex, Resistance, and Refusal.

Reflex saves require you to take physical action against a physical threat or attack of some kind (breath weapon, falling from a great height).

Resistance saves require you to withstand toxins and disesase (such as poisons or plagues)

Refusal saves allow you to withstand illusions and magic and trickery.

Each saving throw is against a difficulty. Difficulty ranges from 12 to 20, and you roll over it just like a "to-hit" roll against ascending armor class. A breath weapon attack would have a difficulty of 12 is some minor-league 2 hit dice creature, and a difficulty of 20 is for an ancient black dragon.

You roll your d20 and try to equal or beat the difficulty. In each case, you add any bonuses for high attributes.

• For a Reflex save, you add any Dexterity and/or Intelligence bonuses to your roll.
• For a Resistances save, add Strength and/or Constitution.
• For Refusal, add Wisdom and/or Charisma.

For example, a character with a Strength of 13 and a Dexterity of 16 must dodge falling boulders. The Referee says that the difficulty is 15. The player rolls a d20 and hopes for a 15 or higher. The roll is a 13. However, because of the high Strength and Dexterity scores, we add 3 to the roll, making it a 16. Saved! The character dodges out of the way.