Macros for running Delian Tomb in roll20

Delian Tomb has a bunch of little issues that I am shocked weren't playtested out, so you might as well make it easier on yourself if you are the director and use these (if you run games online). 

 If you want to see what they look like, you can either check out my Bluesky or just plug them in. But they will work best if you have a token with a nameplate selected. 

My other Roll20 tips: 

• Color-code the monster groupings in ROYGBIV order to help you keep track with the colored dots. 
• Enumerate the minis within a grouping with a right-click>advanced command to further organize and give them specific names for the macros. 
• Set all the macros to token action. When you click a token they will all be at your fingertips.
• Copy any PDF stuff you may have for a room into a Roll20 note and change the headers to actual headers with the editing tools; you can drag headers to the map and it will make little map pins for you.

🧙‍♂️ Bugbear Channeler

/w gm &{template:default} {{name=🧙‍♂️ Bugbear Channeler}} {{💥 Shadow Drag [R8 | 2 Targets | Grounded; pulled path is diff terrain]=1️⃣ 7 dmg; pull 2 | 2️⃣ 10 dmg; pull 3 | 3️⃣ 13 dmg; pull 4}} {{🔥 Blistering Element [Area 3 Burst | Choose: Acid, Cold, Corruption, Fire, Poison]=1️⃣ 2 dmg; M<0 bleeding | 2️⃣ 3 dmg; M<1 bleeding | 3️⃣ 4 dmg; M<2 bleeding}} {{🌀 Twist Shape [5 Malice | R5 | Shapechanged: Slowed + Fire Weakness 10]=1️⃣ 5 corruption; P<0 slowed | 2️⃣ 8 corruption; P<1 shapechanged | 3️⃣ 11 corruption; P<2 shapechanged}} {{✋ Throw [Maneuver | M1 | Req: Grabbed]=Vertical push up to 3 | Allies take no force dmg}} {{🤼 Catcher [Free Trig | M1 | Sz 1 force moved or willingly moves in M1]=Target grabbed}} {{👤 Shadow Veil [Trig Action | R5 | Ally in R5 takes dmg]=Target wrapped in shadow: Halve dmg | Immune to strikes until start of next turn}}
@{selected|token_name} roll: [[2d10cs>11cf>11 + 2]]

🗡️ Goblin Warrior

/w gm &{template:default} {{name=🗡️ Goblin Warrior}} {{⚡ Spear Charge [Charge | Melee 1]=1️⃣ 3 dmg | 2️⃣ 4 dmg | 3️⃣ 5 dmg}} {{🩸 Bury the Point [2 Malice | Melee 1]=1️⃣ 5 dmg; M<0 bleeding | 2️⃣ 6 dmg; M<1 bleeding | 3️⃣ 7 dmg; M<2 bleeding}} {{💨 Crafty [Passive]=Doesn't provoke opportunity attacks by moving}}
@{selected|token_name} roll: [[2d10cs>11cf>11 + 2]]

🏹 Goblin Sniper

/w gm &{template:default} {{name=🏹 Goblin Sniper (Minion Artillery)}} {{🎯 Bow [R10 | 1 Target/Minion | Edge if no move action | +5 Ranged dist w/ Captain]=1️⃣ 2 dmg | 2️⃣ 4 dmg | 3️⃣ 5 dmg}} {{💨 Crafty [Passive]=Doesn't provoke opportunity attacks by moving}}
@{selected|token_name} roll: [[2d10cs>11cf>11 + 2]]

🪓 Goblin Spinecleaver

/w gm &{template:default} {{name=🪓 Goblin Spinecleaver (Minion Brute)}} {{🪓 Axe [Melee 1 | 1 Target/Minion | +1 dmg w/ Captain]=1️⃣ 2 dmg; push 1 | 2️⃣ 4 dmg; push 3 | 3️⃣ 5 dmg; push 4}} {{💨 Crafty [Passive]=Doesn't provoke opportunity attacks by moving}}
@{selected|token_name} roll: [[2d10cs>11cf>11 + 2]]

🧟 Zombie

/w gm &{template:default} {{name=🧟 Zombie}} {{🥩 Clobber and Clutch [Melee 1 | Grabbed target takes 2 corruption dmg at start of turn (5+ dmg requires Find a Cure)]=1️⃣ 4 dmg | 2️⃣ 6 dmg | 3️⃣ 7 dmg; grabbed}} {{💨 Zombie Dust [3 Malice | Maneuver | Area 2 Burst | Effect: Zombie falls prone]=1️⃣ 2 corruption | 2️⃣ 3 corruption; M<1 weakened | 3️⃣ 4 corruption; M<2 dazed}} {{🛡️ Endless Knight [Passive]=1st time reduced to 0 HP by non-fire/holy dmg (and body not destroyed) -> set to 10 HP & fall prone}}
@{selected|token_name} roll: [[2d10cs>11cf>11 + 2]]

💀 Skeleton

/w gm &{template:default} {{name=💀 Skeleton}} {{🦴 Bone Shards [Melee 1 or R10 | Target takes 2 dmg 1st time they willingly move before skeleton's next turn]=1️⃣ 4 dmg | 2️⃣ 6 dmg | 3️⃣ 7 dmg}} {{💥 Bone Spur [2 Malice | Maneuver | Area 1 Burst | Target takes a bane on next strike]=1️⃣ 1 dmg; M<0 bleeding | 2️⃣ 2 dmg; M<1 bleeding | 3️⃣ 3 dmg; M<2 bleeding}} {{🛡️ Arise [Passive]=1st time reduced to 0 HP by non-fire/holy dmg (and body not destroyed) -> set to 1 HP & fall prone}}
@{selected|token_name} roll: [[2d10cs>11cf>11 + 2]]

 

 

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Custom Magic Card Bookmarklet

I don't run any MTG blogs, but I need to share my silly javascript with someone, so you D&D nerds get this. Stick it to Wizards by making yourself proxies! They ruined and saved the elf-games hobby!

If you'd like to make a homebrew or proxy magic card, just type some junk into whatever pops up when you click here.

That's a bookmarklet, so you can drag the link to your bookmarks toolbar an let it live with you forever. Note it is probably best to make a card after opening a new/blank tab, and your work will be lost if you click the card, so screenshot it!

I usually use the Firefox screenshot tool and then edit in Microdick Paint after that to add excellent art.

☀️💧💀🔥🌲
If you want a version with fancy mana and tap symbols, I made that too. It's this one. I kinda like the barebones version though.  

 

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Add A Fucked Up God To Your Campaign

Worshipers symbolically 
killing an effigy of 
a saint of killers

That title is an exhortation. 

NSFW, and trigger warning for bad things.

I was thinking about how some good old fashioned evil deities make a campaign setting sing. I also want to recommend the old version of Judges Guild's Unknown Gods (the recent version is shit). 

Vasterolompos, God of Serial Killers
Fanes to Vasterolompos are rare, almost always found exclusively in the underworld. More common is to run across a forgotten shrine in the wilderness. Vast started as a hearth deity, or so scholars say, but at some point became a god of revenge or murder and eventually methodical homicide. 

Worshipers, madmen all, each have their calling cards, rules, and modus operandi. One might only kill on Woodsdays. Another might only kill women, and keep their severed hands as trophies, a third may entice men into assaulting her before cutting their throats mid-coitus. Messed up shit. Have your lines and veils and x-cards sorted for these things. 

One thing the killers usually seem to do is burn an amber candle near the killing-site to honor their god and gain its blessings (which may include henchmen, special abilities, or monstrous forms). 

The king's highway-riders have several outstanding warrants for killers that are still at large.

They say that Vast whispers to potential worshipers, and entices them to study his scattered lore.

Ug, I have to go take a shower now. 

 

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The Hardest D&D Chess Room (it’s not)

I thought this room would be easy to figure out, but it really zapped the PCs, and two died in the room. Now that’s a good puzzle. 

The rules of D&D chess

1. There is a chessboard of black and white tiles, each big enough for a human/demihuman to occupy.
2. There are a bunch of floating eyes, distributed randomly, and occupying certain spots (no rhyme or reason to which color each eye floats above). If you make an illegal move, the nearest one zaps you for d6 dmg. Continue illegal moves and get zapped anew with each square you progress.
3. If an eye-zap misses you, the attack will be rerolled against anyone sharing your square or anyone behind you, till the zap reaches a wall or strikes a player. Eyes can’t hurt each other. The zaps go in a straight line.
4. The first color you step onto matters if you are of a certain “class.” If you move onto the wrong color afterwards, you get zapped, and your color becomes whatever you end up on.
5. I had the classes be: 
1. cleric=bishop
2. dwarf=short king
3. elf=queen
4. warriors and most pets/familiars not being carried=knight
5. wizard or actual bird=rook
6. hobbit or zero level=pawn
6. You have to move how your chess piece would move. If a cleric cum bishop moves orthogonally, they are going to get zapped. The eyes are fast, so if you try to run for the exit in a straight line as a bishop, you are going to get zapped each time you step on or jump over a tile during your illegal move; you might get shot a whole bunch of times.
7. Ending or spending any part of your move on the same square as a fellow PC is illegal, even for those weirdly-moving knights. Some creative jumping/checks may be in order.
8. You can attack an eye, as long as you make a legal move that ends in the attack thrust. So a dwarf/king cutting an eye in the next square over would be illegal, but if a dwarf/king charges into that contiguous square while striking, and they end their move there because that’s how a king moves, they will not be zapped. Each eye has one HP, but they are unharmed by illegal moves. If a cleric/bishop were to shoot an eye in a diagonally placed space, I’d say that is illegal because they are attacking before moving. The eye would survive, and the rule-breaker would get zapped. That would count as a turn from the rule-breaker too.
9. If you don’t alternate turns with the other PC players, you get zapped. For instance, a warrior/knight moving in an L shape and then moving again would be a zappable offence. A wizard/rook moving a square orthogonally, looking around for a second, and then going one more square in the same direction would not incur a zap. But when a player says they are done, their turn ends. If they say something like, “I’m going to go again.” they have just announced that they love being zapped.
10. The room is defeated if all the eyes are killed. The eyes don’t take turns, just to be clear. They zap whenever they can, and it is not a move or a turn; they are not in the game in that sense. But if all the eyes are dead, there is no one to punish poor play. The room might be a Zelda type room where all the enemies need to be defeated in order to reveal a treasure or open a secret door.
11. The room is also defeated if the PCs make it to an exit, but one of them might have to step back in because a single PC in the room might need someone to alternate turns with. Any surviving eyes will be waiting if anyone comes back to the room in an illegal manner.

And that’s it. If you want a slightly easier version of the room, you could have little piece-denoting hats appear on the PCs as they step on the board. You could also put little judge-wigs on the eyes to emphasize that they are rules-judges, not players in the game.

In our game, the PCs were lowered down into the middle of the board from above via the dungeon entrance, and I made a point of asking what color tile they landed on. We only had 4 PCs, and they all chose a different tile. After that, they kept taking double moves and it was a bloodbath. There was one exit to the north, and they just had to make it there to be safe.

At one point I let them make INT checks to get a hint: “games have turns, pieces, consequences, and legal moves.”

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What if we Nimble-ified DCCRPG

Nimble has some good rules for interesting, speedy combat. It's still a skirmish-game that requires minis, but so is DCC, on paper.

Attacks:

• Melee or Ranged: Choose a target and roll damage (whatever damage the weapon has listed)+STR/AGL mod. If you roll a 1, you miss. 
• If it rolls its max, roll a DCC crit on your class table or add in an extra damage die (your choice) that can explode, but not crit.
• Crits ignore enemy armor, if any (some monsters have soak/armor of 5 and others of 10). 
• If your weapon happens to roll multiple dice, the leftmost one is the main damage die when a rule checks for one. 
• Warriors and Dwarves also roll a deed die along with their weapon damage die or dice. If it rolls a 3 or higher, they may declare a deed. 
• If the deed die and the  main damage die both roll max result, you have done a mighty crit. I happen to have a book with those. If you don't you can just roll a crit and add the deed die's result.
• Warriors and Dwarves fumble if their deed die and main damage die both roll a 1. If a non-warrior/dwarf misses, they have to roll at or under a 1 or their Luck mod, whichever is higher, on an armor-based fumble die to avoid fumbling.
• If a ranged attack misses, skip fumble stuff and deal 1d4 dmg to a random ally in the way, if any are there, with a 1 being a miss.  
• Thieves that ambush/catch foes unaware automatically crit as long as they don't miss. 

Magic, the final boss of hacking DCC:

• Outside of offensive spells, magic works as per DCC RAW. 
• For offensive--specifically, damage dealing--spells, the wizard looks up the maximum successful result equal to their level (with failure results being a level 0) and each tier of success being one level). They can attempt to cast that result offensively by rolling any damage dice for it. 
• If the left-most one rolls a 1, the mage has missed and has to pass a DC 10+spell level check or it is also a fumble.
• Spell burn can be done before a spell is cast to raise the possible result, but a 1 is still a miss and possible fumble (fumbles mean one point of the spellburn is permanent). 

Things that cost an action (you get three actions back at the end of your turn):

• Attacking (any attacks or offensive spells done after the first will have a -1d, cumulative).
• Casting a spell.
• Spellburn. 
• Running up to speed feet (you move 5 less feet for each time you have already moved this turn) and doing a minor action such as opening a door or dropping a weapon.
• Making a check to ask the judge a question. 
• Climbing ten feet or your speed, whichever is less.
• Performing an ability check (some checks may take multiple actions, such as lockpicking). 
• Making a check to perform a feint or action that will assist someone (they roll with a size +1d die) or hinder someone (they roll with a size -1d die). 

Things that cost a reaction (each reaction takes up one of the three action points you get at the end of your turn, making you start your real turn bereft of them): 

• Rolling your armor "fumble" die as damage soak. 
• Taking a hit for an adjacent or orthographic ally (you can can then use the above reaction too if you have a reaction to spend).
• Uleashing a readied action. 
• Casting a counterspell.  

First round initiative is just as per Nimble, but two-handed weapons only roll a d16 and Warriors get their imitative bonus. 

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How did I do? Should I just leave spells as per DCC RAW? I kinda hate how fiddling with them is impossible, LOL. 

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Economic Woes Implied by DCCRPG

Photo text: The money and hoes will flow freely.

I have been thinking about the economy implied by item prices in DCC. I think I have a good guideline to what can be bought where, based not only on cost in coin but in man-hours and resources in a world where a peasant gets a few gold a year.

Type	Pop	Max Item Value	Crafting Capability
Thorp/Hamlet 🛖	20~80	3 gp	Daggers, Torches, Rations, Clubs, Staves, Slings, Chalk, Candles, Sacks, 10' Poles
Village 🏡	80~400	10 gp	Spears, Short swords, Shields, Maces, Handaxes, Padded Armor, Grappling Hooks, Waterskins, Oil
Small Town 🏡	400~2,000	50 gp	Longswords, Longbows, Studded Leather, Battleaxes, Warhammers, Hide Armor, Small Hammers, Iron Spikes
Large City 🏙️	5,000+	500+ gp	Chainmail, Crossbows, Polearms, Mirrors, Lanterns, Thieves' Tools, Holy Symbols/Water, Scale Mail
Capital 🏰	10,000+	1,200+ gp	Full Plate, Banded Mail, Barding, Sages-for-hire, Warhorses, Two-handed Swords, Glassware

Checking the Page 432 MEN AND MAGICIANS section, I see bandits are listed with scimitars and javelins. Maybe they need a village nearby to be in "business"; scimitars are kinda resource-heavy, like long-swords, they take a long time to make, something a village smith probably just doesn't have due to working on plows, nails, and horseshoes all day. Also, I image a lot of weapons bandits do have are heirlooms from when their folks were mercenaries of the last generation's wars. Maybe they have enslaved their own smith too.

Consider the lowly mirror. You need some specialists like glaziers to make what most would consider a vanity item. Maybe in a town you could get by with polished bronze, and the better quality mirrors would be in large cities with nobles or the capital. So though it is priced about the same as longsword, I put it in the Large City category.

Then we have to consider how long it takes to even make a weapon. Do you have the cash to hunker down in the inn for all that time? Maybe you should just send the thief to steal swords from the garrison. I'm sure they're barely even guarded 😉

Or raid a tomb? The dead famously don't care if you take their stuff 💀

Item Category	Example Item	Estimated Time	But why tho
Simple Weapon	Club, Spear, Staff	d2 Days	Minimal metalwork; mostly shaping wood/iron head.
Martial Weapon	Mace, Handaxe, Dagger	d3+2 Days	Requires balanced forging and basic tempering.
Professional Blade	Longsword, Battleaxe	d2 Weeks	Complex heat-treating, grinding, and hilt-fitting.
Ranged Weapon	Longbow, Crossbow	d3+1 Weeks	Requires seasoned wood or complex mechanical parts.
Light Armor	Leather, Padded	1 Week	Tanning, stitching, and multiple layers of fabric.
Medium Armor	Scale, Chainmail	d3 Months	Drawing wire and riveting thousands of individual rings.
Heavy Armor	Banded, Full Plate	2d3 Months	Master-level metallurgy; custom-fitting plates to the wearer.

BTW, while we are on it, the smithy is not a bank and it cares for your captured orc swords--we shouldn't use orcs in DCC, but that is another post--mostly as scrap metal. Maybe the smithy would give you a trade or something for that pitted pig iron. The smith provides 50 iron spikes, a new crowbar, or fixes your armor. He’s trading his labor, not his hard to come by coins. 

And the coal? Have you ever thought about where coal and pig-iron come from? I have, for some reason. I watched a lot of Lindybege and Baldrick's Worst Jobs in History.

BTW, the bigger towns probably have the orc sword problem too, but is is more of a couple-millennia old vase problem. Who has the cash to pay for that? What I'm saying is it doesn't seem like there should be that many coins in monster treasure hoards, so the PCs will have to deal with carting around rare items and trading them for other items.

I'm thinking I can't beat the Shadowdark treasure tables for that. Yet.

One more thing. Upper level characters generated outside of the funnel seem loaded. 

Class	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3
Warrior	5d12	5d12 + 500	5d12 + 1,500
Wizard	3d10	3d10 + (2d4 x 100)	3d10 + (5d4 x 100)
Cleric	4d20	4d20 + 400	4d20 + 1,300
Thief	3d10	3d10 + (1d6 x 100)	3d10 + (3d6 x 100)
Elf	3d12	3d12 + 500	3d12 + 2,000
Halfling	3d20	3d20 + 250	3d20 + 1,500
Dwarf	5d12	5d12 + 700	5d12 + 2,000

Holy shit! It would seem they can buy and sell whole towns after a few levels. So I suggest you tell the player, "You have a budget of [roll] to buy gear. Spend it or lose it."

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A List of Draculas and Medusas

Medusa is a gorgon, but not in D&D. She’s a race. And there are male medusas?! Well okay, I find this sort of thing amusing, so I put it into a little RPG I’m crafting at the moment.

d50 Monster	Description
1. Asterisks	Little guys, hardly bigger than hobbits, that have a rather viking thing going on. Winged helmets. Iron-hard fists. Shrewd and brave.
2. Babayagas	Hags that travel about in chicken-legged huts and flying cauldrons.
3. Behemoths	Big ass beasts made by the gods just to boast. Usually sleeping, but roused by iniquity.
4. Blackulas	Unlike draculas, blackulas retain their souls.
5. Cenncroithis	One-eyed columns that suck in unwary prey in to feast on. Worshiped by cultists and apemen.
6. Cerebuses	Three-headed hell dogs. Of course the heads breathe fire.
7. Charybdises	Sea sarlacs that can cause whirlpools thrice daily.
8. Choculas	Even browner than blackulas.
9. Circes	Witches that turn people they are offended by into animals.
10. Conans	Barbarians that desire to hear the lamentation of the women.
11. Cthulhus	Sea giants with octopus heads. Their mere presence causes madness.
12. Jeckylls	Mad alchemists that are addicted to PCP-serums that remove their inhibitions. Often carry æolipiles, smoke bombs, and cane-swords.
13. Draculas	Vampires that desire virgin blood.
14. DurinsBanes	Great big humanoids with whips and bat wings… or was it fire?
15. Fenrirs	Giant wolves.
16. Frankensteins	Walking dead created by mad magicians and jeckylls.
17. Elohim	Really arrogant storm gods that go around in robes and try to tell people what to do. Can polymorph into burning bushes and rapey animals.
18. Grendlemoms	Look like Angelina Jolie dipped in gold, but have natural high heals and tails. Diabolical mothers of demons such as grendles.
19. Headless Horsemen	Riders that keep their severed heads in hand, ready to throw at you.
20. Hydras	Water/swamp snakes gigantic in size and many-headed. Severing a head just makes two new ones grow.
21. Jerseydevils	Wyvern-devil hybirds that are birthed by ungrateful mothers, grendelmoms, circes, and babayagas.
22. Jörmungandrs	Great worms. Will swallow you whole.
23. Kingkongs	Garguantuan gorillas. Distracted by pretty women.
24. Koscheis	Wizards with tusks that galavant around on sleipnirs causing trouble. Each one must be killed in a unique way.
25. Ladons	Snakes with long bodies and many heads. Tend to guard magic trees.
26. Leatherfaces	Chainsaw wielding cannibals that wear their victims and feed on fear. Some have a cunning that allows them to masquerade as normal people, called buffalobills, but they can only keep up the act so long.
27. Leviathans	Huge sea serpents.
28. Loreleis	Undead river sirens. They think every man is their lost love.
29. Lucifers	Tempters that should be stuck in the seven hells, but often slip out because some foolish koschei summoned them.
30. Medusas	Lamias that have snakes for hair and stonifying gazes. They are great archers too.
31. Mothmen	Shadowy figures that stalk the woods. They can fly, and often use camouflage to imitate humanoids.
32. Mothras	Giants moths with web and sleep dust attacks. Seem to always have eggs somewhere, and their caterpillars avenge them.
33. MychaelMyers	Mad men whose minds are bereft of all save the most evil thoughts. Silent and patient stalkers.
34. Nessies	Lake monsters.
35. Pazuzus	Wind demons with Darth Vader voices.
36. Pinheads	A race of demons or angels that find pleasure in pain. Their head is riddled with nails, tacks, and needles.
37. Polyphemuses	One eyed giants. Love to eat sheep.
38. Renfields	Servants of undead, kept in their thrall. Can’t help but eat bugs.
39. Sarlacs	Giant ambush predators that grab people with their long tentacles and swallow them whole. The digestion is slow and painful.
40. Scyllases	At home in the sea, but will grow legs to come on the land like a mermaid. Only the legs are kinda, several wolves that fuse like a rat-king at the scyllases’ waists.
41. Sleipnirs	Many legged horses. Highly prized by gods and spirits as war mounts.
42. Slimers	Green ghosts that gunk up everything.
43. Smaugs	Big old lizards with wings and fire breath.
44. Staypufts	Seemingly joyful giants that have little regard for property damage.
45. Spocks	A logical race that prefer science to fights, but will often put down adventurers while prevaricating about the needs of the many. Watch out for their phasers.
46. Taloses	Bronze men that spring from the ash trees of wizards. Sometimes giants, sometimes speedsters, and sometimes winged.
47. Tee One Thousands	The ultimate golem, made from mercury that can harden and liquify at will. Ignore most physical damage; slowed by cold.
48. Tiamats	Horrid sea monsters that mate with anything and create more monsters.
49. Worfs	A race of warriors obsessed with fighting and honor. Hate their own kids for being weak. There are a surprising number of half-worfs out there that hate their dads back.
50. Zardozes	Giant flying stone heads. Followed by crowds of crazed cultists that the zadozes reward with guns and red outfits that are very revealing.

Now how about the RPG. It's a simple skills using RPG. It started as a x in 6 on a d6 skills check RPG--and still could be used that way--but it morphed into something else. It might need some inventory management rules, maybe armor options, and lacks the vancian spells. I'm working on it. 

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