Nod by Nod #8

Over at https://landofnod.blog/ you can find posts by John Stater called Dragon by Dragon where he reads through an issue of Dragon Magazine and gives his thoughts about it. I recently bought a big pile of NOD Magazine and thought I would return the favor and go through each issue similarly.

 

Nod #8 came out in April 2011 and details the region of Nod known as Mu-Pan, a land loosely based on Chinese and Japanese mythology.

It starts with a way to vary the fighter class to get some wuxia flavor. Just limit the benefit that armor can give you and take some special maneuvers. For example, if you limit the armor benefit to +8, you get only 1 special maneuver but if you limit the armor benefit to 0, you get 5 special maneuvers. There are 15 special maneuvers and range from deflecting missile attacks to mighty leaps to breaking objects in two. A nice, light touch to get some good flavor.

Next up is the wushen, which is a variant of the cleric class. It gets two special maneuvers, no limitations on weapons, a different spell list, and cannot wear armor. They are elemental priests and can cast fireballs and lightning bolts!

The bulk of the issue is taken up with describing Mu-Pan and its hexcrawl. Mu-Pan is the land of the dragons and was split into four kingdoms each led by dragons. Then the tiger people conquered them all and ruled for a while until they disappeared in the face of rebellion. Who knows what will happen now? More than 70 pages describe the different areas and the hexcrawl.

Then we get Monsters of Mu-Pan and Gods of Mu-Pan, all excellent additions. Interestingly, the gods are based off the stories of Lord Dunsany.

I enjoyed NOD #8 and want to read more. You can get the PDF of issue #8 at Lulu or in print at Lulu.

Nod by Nod #7

 Over at https://landofnod.blog/ you can find posts by John Stater called Dragon by Dragon where he reads through an issue of Dragon Magazine and gives his thoughts about it. I recently bought a big pile of NOD Magazine and thought I would return the favor and go through each issue similarly.

 

Nod #7 came out in February 2011 and begins with an article about Saint Valentinus and the Order of the Flowery Skull. It is a knightly order consisting of 12 knights (who are also bards) and also a grand master who all live in an abbey and are worshippers of St. Valentinus. The saint is given stats and a patron spell, Crown of Glory.

Next up is Antigoon, City of the Sun. It is located in Western Venatia (Nod #6) and has a Dutch republic theme with Germanic accents. The city is known for the arts and its scandalous aristocrats but they also have a sizable army and navy. A map with 51 locations is detailed.

We then get an article about fashion and how dressing well can give Charisma bonuses. Costs are given for many types of clothing and fabric too. 

Blackpoort, City of Thieves is next and it is also located in Western Venatia (Nod #6). It is a dirty city covered in soot and filled with thieves and the like. A map with 60 locations is detailed.

We then come to Pendemonium Part I which detailes the fallen angels Abigor (Grand Duke of Hell) and Adramelech (High Chancellor and President of Hell).

The crown jewel of Western Venatia (Nod #6) is Lyonesse, the Gleaming City. It is known for knights, ladies, chivalry, and feudalism. A map with 70 locations are detailed.

After that is The Cyclopeans, a new race for Pars Fortuna. They can read faces and peer into the future and also go into a battle fury. A cyclopean redoubt of 18 locations is detailed.

Lastly, Phanastes VI appears but again, with no RPG notes given.

The cities are the main draw here but the other articles give some good flavor to spice up your campaign world. Speaking of which, I just ran my 2nd session of a new campaign that I am basing in Nod. The PCs are starting in Eastern Venatia (Nod #4) and will most likely head west after dealing with a local bandit problem in the Viscouty of Xaphrei.

As always, I enjoyed NOD #7 and can't wait to read more. You can get the PDF of issue #7 at Lulu or in print at Lulu.

Nod By Nod - December 2010 (#6)

Over at https://landofnod.blog/ you can find posts by John Stater called Dragon by Dragon where he reads through an issue of Dragon Magazine and gives his thoughts about it. I recently bought a big pile of NOD Magazine and thought I would return the favor and go through each issue similarly.

It's Christmas in April! Back in December 2010, I first started roleplaying with my daughter who was 9 years old. She was a fan of the Warriors series of books about wild cats and there was a free diceless RPG you could download and play. Pretty cool game and the GM role rotated so she got to play and GM. We wouldn't discover OSR games for almost five years after that.

Anyway, back to Nod #6. It's a big one - 133 pages! It starts off with Holiday Magic, two pages of  magical items associated with December holidays and also a spell (Chimney Charm) and a writeup of Saint Nick as a demigod.

We then get Gods of the Motherlands, eight pages of a pantheon "based on a mash-up of Greek and Roman myth with the medieval church." It's the standard Nod format for god descriptions except that most gods now have a holy day listed too.

The featured hexcrawl is next: Western Venetia. It is a mix of forests, hills, mountains, swamps, and sea coast with a little bit of everything for adventuring. It's 103 pages long and could keep a campaign running just by itself for a very long time.

Level 3 of Pleasure Palace of Izrigul is next. This level of the adventure started in Nod #4 and continued in Nod #5 is seven pages of a theater putting on a play for Izrigul complete with wandering emotion encounters. It looks very interesting and I would love to give this a try.

The Traveler is a strange class. They are traveling through the world in a dream state and must focus on an object to impose their will on this world. It's just two pages and it opens up so much weirdness for a campaign.

Finally, Phantastes, Part 5 is presented. Unfortunately, there are no RPG notes given.

You can get Nod #6 for free at https://landofnod.blog/nod/ or you can get it in print from Lulu at https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/john-stater/nod-6/paperback/product-1qzgen5v.html.

Nod by Nod - October 2010 (#5)

Over at https://landofnod.blog/ you can find posts by John Stater called Dragon by Dragon where he reads through an issue of Dragon Magazine and gives his thoughts about it. I recently bought a big pile of NOD Magazine and thought I would return the favor and go through each issue similarly.

NOD #5 is 83 pages with a striking cover of Death taking a knight. It begins with Eat, Drink, and Be Scary! which is 6 pages detailing about 25 different kinds of vampires from many different mythologies. An example would be the Tlahuelpuchi, which are not undead but cursed from birth to feed on blood once per month. They take the form of a vulture at night when they go to hunt but resume their normal form when they enter a house. They usually live with their families who hide them so they do not also become cursed. 

After that is Medieval Mining which gives us the basics of actual mining techniques in 2 pages and then goes on for 13 more pages detailing the many stones and metals which are mined: the ore it comes from, what it looks like, types of rock the ore is associated with, the methods of mining (and smelting), its uses, and its general value. Very useful stuff if you want adventures investigating a mine!

My favorite class to play in D&D is an illusionist. I love being able to use illusions in creative ways in order to solve problems. Here, The Illusionist takes 8 pages, most of which are spells. This version does not prepare spells but uses spell points instead. they gets 2 spell points at 1st level and each spell level costs 1 point. All of the illusionist's 1st level spells are new  and then there is a mixture of old new spells all the way up to level 9 spells. (Only the new spells are detailed in NOD #5. The rest are in Swords & Wizardry.) I have not played this version of the illusionist but it looks like great fun and I would love to try it out.

Next is the feature article, Ibis - City of Sorcerers, which is a city-state dominated by magic users. The theme given is "ancient Egypt in Renaissance costume". It is a huge city, detailed like NOD's hexcrawls, going for 25 pages. There is even a Court of Spirits, where on moonlit nights, you might experience Fairyland effects.

The second level of the dungeon The Pleasure Palace of Izrigul, introduced last issue is next. There are 8 pages where the cultists "play in their weird, profane wonderland." All I will say is that there is a Wine Elemental.

We then get a preview of John Stater's Mystery Men! RPG, and he shows the basic conceit of scaling up the D&D attributes and using experience points to buy levels and superpowers to make D&D a superhero RPG. To get powers, he recommends just using spells and this formula to determine the experience point value: spell level x caster level x 100. Many sample characters are given to show what can be done using this system. I have played the 2nd edition of the Mystery Men RPG and it works quite well. I recommend it.

Finally, there is part 4 of Phantastes. There are only two RPG notes this time: one about Fairy Shadow and one about the Fairy Palace. Both are cool concepts for use in any game that uses Fairyland.

NOD Magazine continues to be quality material. You can get the PDF of issue #5 at Lulu or in print at Lulu.

Nod by Nod - September 2010 (#4)

Over at https://landofnod.blog/ you can find posts by John Stater called Dragon by Dragon where he reads through an issue of Dragon Magazine and gives his thoughts about it. I recently bought a big pile of NOD Magazine and thought I would return the favor and go through each issue similarly.

NOD #4 is 106 pages and is almost entirely the hexcrawl. It begins with the Medieval Bestiary which is 10 pages of strange creatures from European folklore. My favorite is the Panthera, which is a feline the size of a leopard that can create a cloud of perfume that acts as a charm spell.

Eastern Venatia is the feature article, a 75 page hexcrawl that also talks about the larger area that includes this hexcrawl and the ones in NOD #1-3. 

The next two articles are adventures, more detail for two of the hexes detailed in Eastern Venatia. The first is The Pleasure Palace of Izrigul, a seven level dungeon that only has the first level detailed in this issue. The second is The Ruins of Timulus, which is a complete 8-page adventure for mid-level adventurers.

Next is Gods of the Golden Sea, which has the same format as the previous articles on gods. This one is based on the mythologies of the eastern Mediterranean. 

Lastly, we get Phantastes, Part 3. The game notes talk about the nature of Fairyland and shadows. 

NOD Magazine continues to be quality material. You can get the PDF of issue #4 at Lulu or in print at Lulu.

Nod by Nod - July 2010 (#3)

Over at https://landofnod.blog/ you can find posts by John Stater called Dragon by Dragon where he reads through an issue of Dragon Magazine and gives his thoughts about it. I recently bought a big pile of NOD Magazine and thought I would return the favor and go through each issue similarly.

NOD #3 is 123 pages and starts with Beastmen of Nabu. You may recall that NOD #1 had an article on beastmen but that was a generic race for gnoles, orcs, ogres, hobgoblins, etc. This article is for specific beastmen that can be used as races or classes. There are very many of them in this article's 16 pages!

• Goat people are great climbers, can see spirits, and can cast spells. (There are 24 new spells included in this issue!) 
• Monkey people are fast climbers, acrobats, great at picking pockets and magic tricks, and are masters at low comedy and vulgar insults. They also go berserk when brought down to 5 or fewer hit points. 
• Bear people are master brewers and wrestlers. Their mead can heal light wounds. 
• Falcon people are quick, can spring around and use whirling death during combat. 
• Lion people have a mighty roar that can cause fear in creatures with less hit dice. They also have a charge attack and can command animals. 
• Cat people have keen hearing, are light-footed, and have an evasion power. They can also cast a small number of spells. 
• Sheep people have a defensive stance, can ignore 1 point of damage, and have trap sense. 
• Onager people are fearless, stubborn, charioteers. 
• Horse people can command more henchmen, have better horses, and are better in mounted combat. 
• Fox people have great perception, can move silently, and know herblore and a few spells. 
• Night raven people are great at thievery and can prepare body parts to make them foci for casting spells. 
• Camel people sings desert psalms that can ward away animals and the undead also know 2 more languages than normal.
• Swine people are great dungeon delvers who have a nose for gold and can decipher ancient texts.

The next article is Gods of Nabu which covers Egyptian gods. This is the same format as Gods of Nod: Ophir in NOD #1 and describes 37 gods in 10 pages.

The Nabu Wastes is the feature article, a hexcrawl covering in 80 pages the eastern portion of the map in NOD #1. It is an Egypt-like land with dragon men, ant man, giraffe centaurs, along with the beastmen covered in the first article. There are also quite a few ancient tombs to explore.

Next is The Elementalist, a class that commands the elemental spirits to do their bidding. In effect, they can cast certain spells by performing a ritual and having an elemental spirit perform the spell. There are 12 new spells included.

Then there is The Druids of Nod, which gives us the druid class and 26 new spells.

Lastly, we get Phantastes, Part 2, which like in Part 1 found in NOD #2, we get some game notes. This one has notes on fairy food, Sir Percival, and the Alder maidens (tree spirits). 

I enjoyed NOD Magazine #3. You can get the PDF of issue #3 at Lulu or in print at Lulu.

Kung Fu Classics v0.3

I've made some major revisions to Kung Fu Classics. Please take a look and let me know what you think!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vFi5wqLUXQA3qGXeYTKKgTRZNeeYOgMD?usp=sharing