Piles of Downloaded Files... #3: more treasures from the Unsorted folder

I’m reviving my old series, Piles of Downloaded Files, in which I delve into the bottomless Unsorted folder of RPG-related PDFs. See the previous installments under this tag. 

 

Micromaiden Spirit Grid by Evlyn Moreau

It is a two-sided pamphlet dungeon, with Evlyn’s trademark art. One side has the map of the dungeon, which is a complex semi-anthropomorphic computer circuit. Each node gets a title and one or two keywords (for function/condition), e.g. Cyber Maintenance Unit [In Use] [Possessed] or Sensation Module [Patched] [Cyber Fauna].

It is evocative, but definitely a toolbox. I feel you need to get into a specific mindset to be able to fit all this together – but then it can provide a super interesting game world. I’d love it if someone made a computer game with the art from this pamphlet. A top-down dungeon crawler of some sorts.

Link: https://evlyn.itch.io/micromaiden-spirit-grid

 

Salo’s Glory by Glynn Owen Barrass

I used to subscribe to the Stygian Fox Patreon. This was one of their monthly adventures, back in 2020. It’s a Call of Cthulhu 7e scenario… IN SPACE! A megacorp sends an exploratory vessel outside the Solar System. The scenario goes for that sci-fi horror vibe that you get in the Alien franchise, like in the comics. Hell, it has stats for power loader exoskeletons! It also comes with quite good floorplans for the space ships and shuttles – definitely a reusable resource for any sci-fi game.

The adventure is written in the usual CoC style: lots of text, not skimming-friendly. But overall, it feels like a solid offering for CoC/Mothership/Alien RPGs.

Link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/309908/salo-s-glory-a-sci-fi-call-of-cthulhu-scenario-set-in-interstellar-space

 

Bonus mystery entry!

“original-colony.pdf” is a single-page file. It’s labeled “Original Drawing of the Ant Colony”. And it has a side-view section map of an ant colony. Pretty good map, I gotta say!

Reverse image search leads to a Something Awful topic I cannot access.

However, next to this file in my folder, I have:

Percent in Lair: Ant, giant by Justine Rogers / Angrymog Games

Turns out, the colony map was made for this project. This is a 10-page-long brainstorm on Giant ant colonies in fantasy adventure games. It contains the aforementioned map. Adventure hooks – why are we delving into an ant colony? And all kinds of Giant ant variants. Weird ecosystems, fungi, psychic ants, gem-encrusted ants… This is actually not bad!

Link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/150281/percent-in-lair-ant-giant

You are on time... IN SPACE! [LotFP/Spelljammer]

Recently the LotFP campaign I play in moved into space and morphed into this weird Spelljammer thing. So I was tasked with coming up with new tables for on-time players, late players, carousing, etc... So far I have a little table of six bonuses reliable players can get:

1. Your latent psionic powers awaken! For this session only, you gain Carcosan psionic powers. You gain access to 1d4 random powers (roll 1d8: 1 – Clairaudience, 2 – Clairvoyance, 3 – ESP, 4 – Mental Blast, 5 – Mind Control, 6 – Precognition, 7 – Telekinesis, 8 – Telepathy; see Carcosa p. 19-21). The total number of uses is determined by your character level. Once used up, the powers are gone.
2. You sprout a new organ! Roll 1d6: 1 – hard prismatic skin growth on your forehead, 2 – fleshy tentacle from your chest (connected to your heart), 3 – third eye, 4 – extended nervous system in the shape of dark braided hair, 5 – third (or extra) arm that cannot really grab anything, 6 – the organs on your face merge into a single sensory organ. Regardless of shape, the organ grants a 6-in-6 Languages skill. At the end of the session, the organ dries off or the body returns to its original shape. All languages acquired this way are lost with the organ.
3. Your body absorbs and stores phlogiston. The transformed phlogiston grants 1d3 uses of a random spell, only usable in this session. Roll 1d6 for the spell: 1 – Shield, 2 – Ray of Enfeeblement, 3 – Mirror Image, 4 – Levitate, 5 – Faerie Fire, 6 – Light.
4. Exotica Erotica! Okay, okay, nothing naughty here… But for some reason, NPCs that are not the same species as your character are better disposed towards you (treat as Charisma 18 for Reaction rolls, etc.).
5. Time distorts around you. You foresee what others are about to do. The first time you roll initiative, roll it with 4d6, then 3d6, then 2d6, then with the regular 1d6 as the effect slowly diminishes. This doesn’t carry over to the next session.
6. You gain the ability to reflect missile attacks! Any missile attack that is directed at you but doesn’t score a hit against your AC is reflected back at the attacker. Roll a flat d20 against the AC of the attacker. Attacks that hit your AC do damage as usual.
   Hazards or effects that require a save against Wands or Rays or Devices are reversed if you successfully save (and in this case the source of the effect must save. If this is inapplicable (e.g. the source is a machine), the chance of hitting the source instead is 3-in-6).