I have finally begun work on the illustrations for Vaults of Vaarn issue 4. I don't want to make any firm promises on how long this will take. I'm really rusty and realised that I've barely had a proper illustration schedule since I was doing stuff for the Deluxe Edition back in April 2022! So… Continue reading SKETCHBOOK: VoV #4 BESTIARY
Tag: Monster
PSYCHIC CREATURES
The bestiary at present doesn't give many examples of what a Vaarnish psychic actually looks like. Here is an attempt to rectify that error. Assume all of these creatures to be telepathic and conversant in Noospeech, although you may not like what some have to say. Psy-Owl Biological / Psychic Level 1 / Armour 14… Continue reading PSYCHIC CREATURES
FACTION: THE KRYPTEIA
Ostriel’s secret police and intelligence service. Masters of espionage, sabotage, and assassination. Always alert for threats (real or imagined) against the Queen. The Krypteia have spies and informants embedded everywhere: Ostriel, Sargattea, the wider Wall, and throughout Vaarn. Many of these informants have no idea who they really serve. The organisation’s upper echelon is a… Continue reading FACTION: THE KRYPTEIA
MONSTERS IN THE MACHINE 10: THE FINAL CHAPTER
We return for the last (for now) installment of Monsters in the Machine, a series where I riff back and forth with GPT-3 and create monsters for Vaarn based on the stat blocks the AI spits out. Our previous episode saw the AI plant the seeds for several new additions to the bestiary. Now I've… Continue reading MONSTERS IN THE MACHINE 10: THE FINAL CHAPTER
PETS AND STEEDS
Each PC may keep one pet. The equipment used to care for the pet takes up one item slot. The pet must consume one ration per day, although what this consists of is dependent upon the nature of the pet. Pets who are not fed for seven days will run away at the first chance… Continue reading PETS AND STEEDS
MONSTERS IN THE MACHINE 9
I’m back for a surprise ninth installment of Monsters in the Machine. To re-read our previous entry click here, or you can go back to the start and see how it all began. To quickly re-cap what’s going on, this is a series where I feed the GPT-3 AI entries from the Vaults of Vaarn bestiary and let it come up… Continue reading MONSTERS IN THE MACHINE 9
MIMICS
I run a bi-monthly feature on the Vaarn Patreon called Monster Monday, where patrons get the chance to vote on spark words, which I then use as inspiration for new Vaarn monsters. A recent vote resulted in a tie between the spark words 'echopraxia' and 'pareidolia'. These mean 'an involuntary imitation or repetition of someone… Continue reading MIMICS
PARIAHS OF VAARN #1 RELEASE
Pariahs of Vaarn is a full-colour bestiary zine, consisting of some of the longer creature entries I've been writing for the Patreon over the last few years. They don't fit very well with the shorter bestiary entries I use in the main zine series, so I've decided to give them their own occasional release. I really enjoy… Continue reading PARIAHS OF VAARN #1 RELEASE
COMPACT BESTIARY
The Vaarn bestiary has gotten quite sizable, and it's also scattered around various zines, books, blog posts, etc. The most reliable resource is of course the SRD, but some people like a PDF they can print out and refer to at the table. I've done a quick bit of consolidation and made an A4-sized, complete… Continue reading COMPACT BESTIARY
BEYOND HP DAMAGE
As Skerples and Arnold K have written, you should create threats that ‘attack every part of the character sheet.’ I think this is a solid concept to keep in mind when doing creature design, so I had a stab at it. None of these monsters deal direct HP damage, although they are far more dangerous… Continue reading BEYOND HP DAMAGE