Friday 5 March 2010

Law and Monsters

I've been thinking this past week about trying to construct a post about conservatist legal theorists like Anthony Kronman and Michael Oakeshott and how their writings pertain to the Old School Renaissance, especially in regard to Oakeshott's thoughts on Rationalism. Haven't quite had time yet. In lieu of all that intellectual wankery, some forged monsters:

Switch Ghoul

Not true ghouls but the product of a warped magical experiment, a switch ghoul consists of two corpses stitched together, back to back, so that there is no front and back, just two fronts. In battle, if one 'side' is killed or wounded, the entire body can simply switch around and continue fighting; both sides are treated as separate entities for the purposes of damage.

AC: 6
HD: 2* (x2)
Move: 90' (30')
Attacks: 2 claws, 1 bite
Damage: 1d3/1d3/1d6
No. App: 2d8
Save As: F2
Morale: 9
Treasure: B
Intelligence: 3
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 25


Lead Monkey

A golem made entirely out of lead fashioned into the shape of a monkey, this creature is so heavy and dense that the damage it causes with its swinging fists is far greater than its size would suggest. Its movements are of immense power and weighty strength. Three times per day it can breathe poisonous gas, the equivalent of a cloudkill spell, to which it is itself immune.

Inside each Lead Monkey is an alchemical core of gold which gives the creature its power.

AC: 0
HD: 8**
Move: 120' (40')
Attacks: 2 claws, 1 bite
Damage: 1d10/1d10/1d10
No. App: 1d12
Save As: F6
Morale: 12
Treasure: None (though each contains a gold core worth 500 gps)
Intelligence: 0
Alignment: Neutral
XP: 1750


Bubble Wraith

Bubble wraiths are undead spirits of humanoids who have lost their lives in rapids, whirlpools or rivers. On certain occasions when the flow of water is strong, they gain a semi-coalescent form from the mist and spray. They are not evil, and their thoughts are characterised by despair and loneliness. Sometimes they will ask bypassers to give them information, or fulfill a quest, in return for knowledge of goings-on throughout the waterways they inhabit.

HD: 4*
Move: Swim 150' (50')
Attacks: 2 fist
Damage: 1d6/1d6, wight level drain
No. App: 1
Save As: F4
Morale: 8
Treasure: None
Intelligence: 9
Alignment: Neutral
XP: 125

3 comments:

  1. Were you going to write that Oakeshott's idea that you can't apply idealistic notions in just any context that comes along is the exact opposite of the Old School philosophy that pretty much anybody can take Gary's idealistic idea of how open-ended a game should be and run with it? 'Cause that's what I was gonna write.

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  2. No, I was going to write about Oakeshott's ideas on the importance of practical knowledge vs. technical knowledge, which seems to sum up the issue pretty well. Of course Oakeshott uses that to riff on the dangers of rationalism and idealism in politics and how it all ends up with Hitler. I wouldn't quite go that far re: WOTC.

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  3. I dig the Switch Ghoul and Lead Monkey...although I think I'll change it from a monkey to a puppet.

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