Underworld Lore #4 Now Available

Click to go get your copy!

Issue 4 of Underworld Lore is now available. Greg has done a fantastic job assembling and compiling a lot of interesting material into an 84-page extravaganza that has to be seen to be believed. While you're there, be sure to get all three of the previous issues as well; Underworld Lore is a great resource and lot of fun to read. Be sure to leave a few encouraging words at Gorgonmilk's blog. He puts a ton of work into each issue and he probably wouldn't mind hearing from readers who enjoy and appreciate his efforts.

Six Golemic Chassis from Wermspittle

Golemic Chassis (n.)
A physical framework designed to be a conveyance for an incorporeal being (or group of such beings) as well as a means for them to interact directly with the material world. Often powered by a magnetic engine. Some chassis are created as a means of defense, posted at the gates of certain ghost-cities or deposited in some treasure-filled vault not found on any extant map of the Underworld.

Gorgonmilk

---

1. Miss Penzer's Pre-eminent Pummeler (Mk IV). Posters proclaiming the pugilistic prowess of Miss Penzer's singular golemic fighter can still be found plastered across the fences, boarded-up storefronts and walls along the Low Streets. The little lady threw a mean punch and was undisputed champion right up until the night the Pruztians rolled in and shot anyone who 'resisted.'
   

   ---

   Pummeler Four (unique) [Huge, Golemic Chassis; 500hp, AC 1, Damage: 3d4 with a 30% chance of an immediate follow-up for 2d4.] The old magnetic engines in each limb require some maintenance, but a competent mechanic could have this old hulk moving again in a few hours. The control pod is unusually small, having originally been designed for a young girl. Inspecting the pod will reveal a small cache of old documents, including the schematics for all five Pummeler models, Miss Penzer's diary, several hundred marks in no longer valid banknotes, and a small zinn-plated box containing an opal...

   ---

2. Ruggio's Colossus. Twice the height of a typical Franzikaner-style iron golem, Ruggio's Colossus was once the pride and joy of the ringleader of a world-renowned travelling circus. Half of the circus made it through the tunnel before the airships bombed the rails into a twisted mess. Ruggio and the other half of his performers were trapped in Wermspittle. Ruggio did not survive the subsequent Occupation. His troupe staked-out a makeshift camp-site within the Burned Over District. You can always find their camp's location by spotting the rusting colossus draped in Red Weeds. On rainy evenings you can sometimes hear the ghost of old Ruggio singing morose Ylashian folksongs from within the colossus. The echoes from within the chassis-shell aren't so bad, but the guy still can't carry a tune, even in undeath. It can really make the dogs howl.
   

   ---

   Ruggio's Colossus (unique) [Very Tall Golemic-Chassis; 260hp, AC 4, Damage: 1d8.] The old Colossus will require a great deal of work to get it running again. The collector-array is corroded into blue grit and the internal muscle-cables need to be re-strung. The ghost is unlikely to permit any such tampering, however.

   ---

3. Executioner Three. A hated and feared part of the Pruztian Retaliation Korps active during the First Occupation, Executioner Three was hijacked by the Resistance who wrapped it with heavy chains and then sunk it beneath one of the waste-water ponds full of Spectral Brine and worse. It has remained submerged and forgotten for decades. Until now...
   

   ---

   Executioner Three (unique) [Massive Imperial Pruztian Golemic Chassis; 650hp, AC 2, Damage: 3d6/3d6.] Blackened by its long submersion in the strange chemistry of a waste-water pond, this golemic chassis has changed. It knows regret for what it was forced to do during the Occupation, leading some to speculate that it may be haunted. A lingering, palpable sadness radiates from it in a 90' radius. Those mediums that have attempted to make contact have been assaulted brutally, so it is assumed that the coterie of geists lodged within it are not interested in discussing things, such as why they prowl the Western Section of the Outer Wall every night.

   ---

4. Borridan's Tiger Fighter. Everyone knows that Borridan was killed by Pidro Peeto. The golemic chassis was recovered, hosed down and stored in a warehouse for the last twenty-seven years. Now Borridan's son has managed to arrange for the funding and support necessary to refurbish his father's chassis, and he intends to make some much-needed improvements to the thing. He hopes to use it to hunt down and kill the tiger that slaughtered his father all those years ago.
   

   ---

   Tiger Fighter Prototype (unique) [Huge, Golemic Chassis; 300hp, AC 3, Damage: 2d6/2d6.] The prototype is missing one arm and the control pod in the chest cavity has been thoroughly slashed and torn to shreds. It has also been sitting in a warehouse for nearly thirty years where it has sustained water damage from a leaky roof and a pair of dodos has raised a dozen clutches of eggs in the nest they've built inside the thing. Borridan's spirit is so deeply imprinted upon it that no one else can use it and his son may have to abandon the thing and start over from scratch. The spirit is also quite insane...

   ---

5. Brazen Hellion. It was meant to strike fear into the Pruztians. A volunteer operator, Mazrik Caldron, took the thing into the Baffles to test it out and the chassis returned without him. It has stood beside the Eastern Keep along the Inner Ramparts ever since. Everyone knows it isn't haunted. That was tested and confirmed a dozen times over. But no one has ever been able to explain how the thing made it back without an operator...
   

   ---

   Brazen Hellion (unique) [Huge, Golemic-Chassis; 260hp, AC 2, Damage: 3d4/3d4.] Weathered, pitted and heavily rusted, this golemic chassis remains right where it stopped upon its return from the Baffles. It has been maintained and kept clear of weeds and such by the Yellow Hawks who have watched over the thing in anticipation of its master's return. A small group of invalids, cashiered out from the unit, have remained behind to tend to the chassis despite everything else that is going on.

   ---

6. Diver Two. The Sewer Militia has been busy adapting a specialized golemic chassis suited to operating in the dark, frigid waters of the Underground Reservoirs beneath Wermspittle. If this model survives its test-run, they are planning to build a few more...
   

   ---

   Diver Two (unique) [Huge, Golemic-Chassis; 220hp, AC 1, Damage: 2d6/2d6/2d6/2d6.] The bottom assembly was derived from a salvaged Tripod, the lower sections of the three limbs having been fitted with retracting fin-panels. There is a water-tight sphere at the center of the thing that can hold an operator and two riders. The whole thing has been heavily reinforced and armored in anticipation of whatever it might run into down there...whatever it was that claimed Diver One...

   ---

Another form of Golemic Chassis was featured in our recent post Six Lions in Wermspittle.
Entry #2, Ridolphe, is a Golem Chassis animated by a soul-bound opal...

One of the Open Community Projects being hosted by Gorgonmilk for Underworld Lore is a series featuring Golemic Chassis. We thought that we'd offer a few examples from Wermspittle. What kind of Golemic Chassis do you have running around in your game? This community project is still open to contributions from interested parties...

---

Underworld Lore, Issue #2

Issue Two of Underworld Lore has arrived, or rather it arrived a little while ago, but we've been busy, so we're getting caught-up today. Three Petty Gods, a d30 Table of Poxes, and more await you within the free pages of this community-inspired zine. If you haven't clicked over and downloaded your free copy yet, go do it now!

Underworld Lore, Issue #1

Click over to Gorgonmilk's blog and download a Free copy of Underworld Lore.
You'll be glad you did. The mushrooms in particular are quite tasty...

Petty Gods and Our Imminent PDF

I've been caught-up in getting the Space-Age Sorcery PDF done, so I've fallen behind on making posts here at the blog. Ever since I saw that Gorgonmilk had taken up the reins and was hard at work getting Petty Gods revived, revised and released, I have intended to contribute something to the effort. I missed the boat the first time around and I certainly don't want to miss out this time around. Jody has completed her proofreading and editing chores, so now I'm in the final stages of making all the corrections and revisions and all that fun stuff. We limited this free pdf to 26 pages of content, with a front and back cover (you don't have to print those if you don't want to), featuring a weird miscellany of spells with a few handy random tables that can be adapted or plugged into any number of games, campaigns or settings. Think Lovecraftian Space Opera, or Skeletor facing-off against Darklon in a post apocalyptic Amber-shadow of Arduin or Skaith, or something like that. But with shoggoths. Everything is better with shoggoths; Irving is pretty adamant about that. Ahem. In any case we're formatting the Space-Age Sorcery pdf using Swords & Wizardry, mostly because it's pretty easy to convert and/or adapt stuff from that over to any other OSR-style RPG like say Humanspace Empires,  Mutant Future or some unholy mash-up of Metamorphosis Alpha,  Hulks & Horrors Realms of Crawling Chaos and X-Plorers or Bandits and Battlecruisers, or whatever old school Sci-Fantasy/Space Opera game(s) you prefer. Heck, it wouldn't take much effort to port these spells over to Rogue Space or Stars Without Number. You could also use these spells for special NPCs or monsters, or build a whole post apocalyptic campaign where Thundarr-like wizards have used these spells to devastate dozens of worlds...

So, once we have Space-Age Sorcery out there as a free pdf, I'm hoping to have some time to write-up a Petty God or two. Then it's on to the Worldboats pdf and the expanded and even weirder Space-Age Sorcery sourcebook/supplement that we're hoping to make available in print because Brutorz Bill asked for it. Irving was pretty insistent that we do this as well.

EDIT: Serious OMG! Moment--Over the course of the last week or so, Grogonmilk has managed to elevate the Petty Gods project from a simple revival of a stalled-out community effort to a truly amazing (and effective!) rallying cry for old school gamers everywhere. And he has somehow managed to get Michael Moorcock to join in the fun! Wow! Way to go Gorgonmilk! This is the most mind-blowingly exciting OSR project ever...which just goes to show how much can really happen in a week. Incredible, simple incredible.

Go Check It Out!