#ose

[jisuto]

[gluesenkampart]

Lighthouse illustration for a ttrpg book I'm working on.

[vintagerpg]

How do you avoid the curse of RPG doom invoked when you put a number 1 on your cover? You release volume 2 at the same time! This is Adventure Anthology 2 (2024) and it is good. Again, cover by Frank Scacalossi, who is fast becoming my favorite OSR-ish artist. Again, four short scenarios for Old-School Essentials, each with a different creative team.

“Barrow of the Bone Blaggards” is written by Chance Dudinack and illustrated by Letty Wilson. Here we find a typical barrow infested with undead, but with a very untypical root cause. This is one of the funnier adventures I’ve encountered in a while.

“Shrine of the Oozing Serpent” is by Nate Treme and accompanied by Peter Pagano’s art. Here players investigate a long abandoned gnomish forge temple now inhabited by frog folk and…a grease dragon? I didn’t realize that dragons could be so…gross.

“Cathedral of the Crimson Death” reunites Diogo Nogueira and Justine Jones (previously of Halls of the Blood King). It isn’t a sequel, but it isn’t not a sequel either. Very similar vibes. Which I am good with. Give me more. Justine’s got an unbelievable death knight, an unbelievable evil bell, an unbelievable evil bishop. Her illustrations are worth the price of the whole book.

Finally, Brian Yaksha’s “The Ravener’s Ghat” rounds things out with illustrations by Sajan Rai. Rai gives Jones a real run for her money in the “Stu’s favorite art in this book” race. Explore a temple once lorded over by a rakshasa and now serves as its prison. A lot of cool stuff in this one, but my favorite is the falsehoods, which are little shadow creatures that form on sacred objects and then attack when disturbed, taking a form that mocks the object. So, like, a falsehood emerging from painting of devout monks might appear drunk and horny or similarly unholy. Overall, refreshingly dismissive of Western fantasy tropes.

[jollmaster]

What's Ose(and their relationship with Velvette) like?

Ose is one of Sitri's twin deity sons (as a goddess of fertility and sex, she's a mother of thousand youngs, but Ose and Haures are her favorites), a chaos and illusion deity who isn't very inclined to communicate with people due to a twisted sense of humor and perverted communication methods; he rarely takes apprentices and servants, and his castle, under the cover of an illusion, looks like a huge pit full of creatures and souls who have lost their minds, but still try to take care of each other

...ofc Velvette made right decision and made a deal with him only a year after her first death, desiring to stay powerful, young and beautiful forever

yep, he wears a wooden mask to hide real face

Ose was so delighted with her recklessness that he didn't even turn her into a mindless slave

he sees her as a student full of potential and even thinks that she can become one of Melinoë's faces in the fourth epoch, and no one else but him has the right to harm her

this, of course, doesn't negate the fact that Velvette is many times weaker than him and didn't immediately become a powerful witch (no deal with a deity from the local pantheon will be 100% profitable only for the petitioner), but she was surprisingly lucky

from time to time, he sends Velvette to attend his mother's sacred orgies

Velvette takes her own poisons and engages in group sex in an altered state of consciousness , but never with him

she always tests potions not only on her maids, but also on herself to make sure they are complete

Vox knows that Velvette is close to the deities, but somehow accepts this fact, because she's useful and strong

[mallenhall]

Made a little isometric map for the Appx N Jam on itch. A wizard has taken over a dwarven temple inside a mountain. He has carved the floors and walls into intricate circuit boards, filling the channels with melted down dwarven gold, creating a massive electronic machine powered by the unending lightning storm raging above the mountain. When complete, the Lectrolich will flip the switch that jump starts all of the dwarves in the temple’s crypts to create an undead army.

[franciscolemos]

I'm quite happy with the high-angle perspective of this dungeon looter.

[cassisweary]

How to get an adventuring party to go someplace?

The Point, The Push, The Offered Hand, and The Grab.

The Point

This is Rumor Tables, things the character's overhear in the tavern or talking to other travelers.

"There's something odd about the Old Mill."

"Some travelers came through, they didn't stay long before heading north."

The Point gives players a direction.

The Push

"You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here."

The party has gotten themselves into trouble and have become uninvited from their current location.

This gives the players movement, but not a direction.

If the party doesn't have anything giving them a direction when they are Pushed they may become disoriented and not know where to turn. For each Push give the party 3 Points, either to the same location or to 3 different ones.

The Offered Hand

This is your standard fantasy quest, the baron is hiring adventurers to clear the haunted castle. They mark the castle on your map and show you the chest of gold waiting for you when you get back. The Offered Hand is friendly, optional, and gives both direction and incentive for movement.

It may be cliche but there's a reason this has endured, it's straightforward.

The Grab

The villain has kidnapped a friendly NPC and taken them to the Evil Lair. Or maybe they have captured the party and are dragging them there in chains. The Grab is different than the Offered Hand because it's not optional, things are happening to the adventurers.

This is not subtle, but it is very direct.

If the Grab isn't forceful enough it can seem like an Offered Hand, if the adventurers don't care about the NPC who was taken they will view the rescue as an optional thing to pursue if they feel like it.

The Grab is best employed later in a campaign after players have worked their characters into the campaign and the setting.

Two Hands

These methods can be combined of course, Pushing the party while Pointing to a specific location for example.

Or a Pushed party being Offered a Hand when they have no idea where to go next.

These can get even less subtle: Burn the town to the ground and drag the party to the Necromancer's Dungeon, Push them then Grab them.

The king may Offer a Hand to rescue the princess from the dragon, but if the party blows it off they might find themselves Pushed from the kingdom entirely.

Have fun out there!