Monster Monday: Vortlup

Note that this Monster Monday entry contains spoilers for the Clark Ashton Smith story "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis."  If you haven't read that story, I cannot recommend it highly enough.  It is one of Smith's best works - some would say the best - and it along with "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros," "The Tomb-Spawn," "The Weaver in the Vault," and several others are very adaptable to D&D.

Vortlup
No. Appearing: 1d6 (4d6)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120’*
Armor Class:  7 [12] <14>
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: see below
Damage: 1d6 (automatic)
Save: F2
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: XX
XP: 47

Vortlups are a horrid race of fungus-things that brought doom to a Martian civilization that was born and died millennia before the Martians known to the Uzites.  These malevolent creatures made their way to Earth on Martian ships in the time after the Deluge, and they have remained here ever since.

These fungal-horrors appear as small sheets of night-black moss.  They move in a manner similar to that of an inchworm - folding unfolding rapidly and at an unnatural speed.  They are capable of crawling across walls and ceilings just as easily as the ground, and indeed they prefer to do so, though those that have just fed must stick to the ground and move at half-movement.  

The vortlup attacks by dropping on its victim, making an attack roll to see if it lands on the victim’s head.  If it does so, it will deal automatic damage each round until the victim is slain.  This is how the creature feeds, growing bloated and filling with blood, hair, and the gelatinous residue of melted bones.  Creatures slain in this manner immediately come under the control of the vortlup, which uses them for their own nefarious purposes.  Such bodies are only usable by the creature for 3d6 days, after which point the body is too decayed to be propelled in any fashion.  Vortlups will typically remain on the victim until another passes by.

Killing the vortlup will cause its grip to slacken and its cowl-like body to slump to the floor.

Creatures that manage to survive being attacked by a vortlup must make a saving throw or become the victim of a poison used by the vortlups.  This poison infects the brain and causes the victim to perform whatever actions the vortlups desires.  It takes effect regardless of whether or not the vortlups is still alive.  This is the same chemical that vortlups use to pilot the bodies of the dead.

An ancient Martian chronicle states that the vortlups were originally created by a race known only as the Necromantic Ones.  The precise nature of these beings is unknown, but they seem to have survived from the dim antiquity during which the solar system was born.  While perhaps more common on Mars, Necromantic Ones are believed to exist on Earth as well, and the vortlups chief goal seems to be their reawakening.  To accomplish this, they lead their victims to strange vaults in order to perform rituals best left to the referee’s imagination.

What Uz is Not

I've been seeing quite a bit of excitement about Uz on G+* and since I'm going to be be running a game of it soon, I thought I should try to give a clearer picture of what it is like.  In one of the threads, Richard mentioned that it might be useful to talk about what a Science Fantasy setting isn't in order to get across what it is and how it's different from others.  I certainly agree with this sentiment, so here are some of the things that Uz is not.

• Uz is not Sword & Planet.  To be honest, I don't really know what Sword & Planet is. While I am inspired by some of Roy Krenkel's art, I haven't read much of ERB's stuff.  My only familiarity with Barsoom comes from the recent John Carter film, and the only thing I've ever read that could be considered Sword & Planet was Amulric by REH.  If you're expecting Tharks, you will be sorely disappointed.
• Uz is not Moebius.  I have a lot of respect for Moebius and enjoy his art a great deal, it just doesn't have anything to do with how I conceive of Uz.  Reynold Brown, Virgil Finlay, and Roy Krenkel are the artists that inspire Uz.  Oh, also Mark Schultz, but mostly just his work on the first Del Rey collection of Conan.
• Uz is not Heavy Metal Magazine.  This is one of those things that is often brought up in conjunction with Science Fantasy. While I've seen the move - which also did not influence Uz - I haven't ever read an issue of the magazine.  
• Uz is not He-Man or Thundarr or any cartoon.  I have almost zero experience with He-Man, and while I like Thundarr it was not what I had in mind in the short days between drawing this map and running the first session.**
• Uz is not "80s" or "70s."  I was born in 1988 and so I missed most of the 80s experience that seems to be such a big part of the OSR.  Most of my young mind was subjected to things from the 50s and 60s, which is when my parents grew up.  I was raised on a steady diet of Saucer Men, Godzilla, and Hammer Horror.  However, I would hesitate too associate Uz with a decade after 2900 BCE.
• Uz is not Carcosa.  Now, I like Carcosa and I actually used it quite a bit when I ran Uz recently - primarily its technology generators and some of the monsters.  However, Carcosa has no decadent city-states with jade-domed temples.  Uz is decadence and decay, not a brutal struggle for survival.

I hope this helps you get a better handle on my Uz setting.  If you would like me to clarify any of these points, let me know.

One last note:  I do not dislike any of these things.  You'll notice that the overwhelming theme is one of ignorance.  I don't include them because I haven't read or seen much of them.

*Comparatively speaking for one of my campaigns.

**The inception of Uz went something like this: I tried to draw a section of a big, Jakalla-style underworld map.  I then asked my wife "what does this map go to?" and she said "how bout some kind of Biblical thing?"    I then remembered that that two days or so prior I had already made a desert-y map, so I just put it in one of the cities.

The Reptoid: A Character Option for Swords & Wizardry

The Reptoid
Reptoids are a race of extraterrestrials that attempted to conquer Earth in the distant past.  They hail from the planet Repton, which humans once knew as Planet 12.  Most Reptoids encountered in the Desert of Demons are degenerate shadows of their former selves, living as hunter gatherers and roaming those lands which humans find most inhospitable.  Some still attempt to dominate humankind and return to the stars.  The options below are provided for the latter type.

Reptoid Racial Abilities
Character Advancement: Reptoids must choose at the beginning of each adventure whether they will be masquerading as a human or showing their true form.  While wearing their human-suit, Reptoids advance as a Fighter and use the Fighter advancement chart to determine their abilities.  Reptoids in human guise may only advance as far as 4th level.  Reptoids who are not wearing their human-suits advance as Priests and may reach as high as 8th level.  Reptoids never mutate as a result of advancing a level and draw their spells from the list available to priests of Apollo.

Weapon/Armor Restrictions:  When not wearing a human-suit, Reptoids are bound by the weapons and armor restrictions of the Priest class.  Their exist certain technologically advanced armors designed by the Reptoids themselves, and Reptoids may wear these without any penalty.

Ancient Enemies: Reptoids loathe Martians and all their works.  As such, they gain a +1 to to hit rolls against Martian opponents.

Keen Detection: Due to their superior senses, which are far in excess of those of puny humans, they gain a +1 to search rolls.

Languages: Reptoids characters begin play knowing the Reptoid, Martian, and Uzite languages.

Note: This character type is currently unavailable in my Uz campaign.  In the event that some members of the group make friends with a group of Reptoids, future characters will be able to be members of this race.

What Uz is Like

Uz
Precis: Clark Ashton Smith, H P Lovecraft, and Erich von Daniken rewrite the Old Testament and the Epic of Gilgamesh.  The Ancient Near East meets 50s sci fi and Ufology.

Conspectus: A dying Earth covered in decadent, Bronze Age city-states; weird alien gods that use their hideously mutated priests as conduits for psychic powers; squat, domed temples made of solid jade; high tech weapons left by Antediluvian civilization, and ancient aliens; primitive Reptoid bands roaming the desert on giant lizards; irradiated wastes ruled by the Devils of Steel; underworlds of great antiquity lying just beneath the surface of massive cities; morlocks, mu-tants, and martians, oh my!; horrible vats used to create new forms of unnatural life; Dagazar I, King of Uz; Uz, the First City of Men; Almodad, the Jewel of the Desert; Phut, the City of the Sea God; New Jerah, the City of the Warrior Women; Gether, the City of Slaves; the ruined city of Old Jerah with its vast necropolis; Necromantic Ones sealed in ancient vaults

Taste, Sound, Image: Dolma, Hawkwind's "Spiral Galaxy 28948," Reynold Brown's poster art

The Priest Take II

This past weekend, I ran a session of Uz instead of my normal Nightwick Abbey game.  I only allowed two character types: fighting-men and priests.  Fighting-men function more or less like their counterparts in the White Box, but priests are not like clerics.  

The rules I'm currently using for these spell-casters are presented below.  The spell list and mutation table are for a priest of Mot, also known as He Who Pulls into His Gullet or He Who is Not Worshiped.

Priests
Priests are the religious leaders of Uzite society.  They traffic with the extraterrestrial intelligences that returned to Earth after the Deluge, and their performing of certain rites for these entities grants them psychic abilities that humans call spells.

Priest Advancement Table

XP	Level	Hit Dice	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throw
0	1	1	+0	14
2,501	2	2	+0	13
5,001	3	3	+0	12
10,001	4	3+1	+1	11
20,001	5	4	+1	10
40,001	6	5	+2	9
80,001	7	6	+2	8
160,001	8	6+1	+3	7
320,001	9	7	+3	6
640,001	10	8	+4	5

Priest Class Abilities
Weapon and Armor Restrictions: Priests can only use the weapons of sacrifice - daggers, maces, and strangling chords - as well as the strange weapons of the Antediluvian races.  They may only wear light armor and a helmet, being untrained in the proper use of heavier armor and shields.

Spell Casting: Priests are able to cast spells a number of times per day defined on the chart below. To may select which spells they will cast from a list associated with their particular deity.

Level	I	II	III	IV	V
1	1	--	--	--	--
2	2	--	--	--	--
3	2	1	--	--	--
4	2	2	--	--	--
5	2	2	1	--	--
6	2	2	2	--	--
7	3	2	2	1	--
8	3	3	2	2	--
9	3	3	3	2	1
10	3	3	3	3	2

Transfiguration: Beginning one level after the priest begins casting spells, and continuing every level thereafter, the priest must roll on a table associated with their god to see what changes channeling alien energies has wrought on their bodies.

Example Spell list:

Mot

Level 1
1 - Cause Light Wounds
2 - Darkness
3 - Putrefy Food and Drink
4 - Sleep

Level 2
1 - Curse
2 - Hold Person
3 - Darkness, Continual
4 - Invisiblity

Level 3
1 - Cause Disease
2 - Darkvision
3 - Invisibility (10’ Radius)
4 - Detect Thoughts (ESP)

Level 4*
1 - Cause Serious Wounds
2 - Animate Dead

Level 5*
1 - Commune
2 - Insect Plague

Example Mutation Table

Mot Mutations

Roll	Mutation
1	Hands twist into hideous claws.  Gain natural attack dealing 1d6 damage.
2	Grow a hideous snout.  Now have a 2 in 6 chance to smell something behind a door.
3	Skin becomes leathery and covered in coarse hair.  AC increased by 1.
4	Limbs elongate strangely, forcing you to adopt a strange, ape-like gait.  Base movement reduced to 90’, and cannot hold something in both hands and walk at the same time.
5	A small reflective lens develops in your eye.  Gain darkvision 60’.
6	Gain a horrible craving for human flesh.  Your body will reject all other food.

*Level 4 and Level 5 still need a few spells to flesh them out, but I don't think anyone is going to be able to cast those for a while.

Nightwick Abbey Play Report

It's been a while since we had one of these, but I assure you that the game has been chugging along.

More Songs About Wizards

Before anyone says "what about...?" check the first post and note that neither of these is supposed to be comprehensive, though I like suggestions anyway.