Role Playing Games

Coyote

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© Daniel S. Wall, April 7, 2026.

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“‘Do not open the basket!’ Lady Spider warned.

…and Coyote opened the basket.”

– Hosteen Nez, Medicine Man

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This character has the appearance of a large coyote. Few would describe him as an actual deity, but his actions have consequences rivaling those of the most powerful deities. So, it might be best to regard him as a god after all. Despite his size, Coyote never has any trouble hiding from others. Coyote is always up to no good, but his antics often have positive consequences that no-one could have expected (least of all Coyote himself).

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Religion: Coyote has few worshippers, but in parts of the Turtle Islands those engaged in cunning or concerned about the cunning of others will often pay respects to him.

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Domains: Coyotes, Irony, Trickery.

Symbol: A Coyote.

Favored Offerings: Food. (Offerings to coyote are customarily made by tossing small portions of meat just outside a campsite or home-site.)

Moggy Toad

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© Daniel S. Wall, April 7, 2026.

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“Mogusthloed,”- Map-Meat Hammergren, Dwarven Hero.

“Tis almost correct, but your lips must be more rounded on the final vowel.” –Nariae Dveng, Sage.

“Mogusthoed,” – Map-Meat

“Tis a bit too nasal on the first vowel.” – Nariae

“Mogusthloed,” – Map-Meat

“Tis still a bit nasal, but there is also the silence that should come toward the end…” – Nariae

“What is it that others call you creatures?” – Map-Meat

“Let us stay focused…” – Nariae

“Mogusthloed” – Map-Meat

“Please remember to round your lips…” – Nariae

“I did round my lips!” – Map-Meat

“My apologies. I did not notice, but may I suggest that you round them more.” – Nariae

“Maybe, I should use it in a sentence?” – Map-Meat

“Tis an excellent idea.” – Nariae

“Mogusthloed is an idiotic name,” – Map-Meat

“I…” – Nariae

“Mogusthlodie-type creatures make my axe-hand all anxious.” – Map-Meat

“Tis funny, what you say, but it is still…” – Nariae

“Mogus-Bogus, target for my damned axe, …dammit!” – Map Meat

“Reflecting on your question from a moment ago, I think perhaps ‘Moggy-Toad’ will do just fine.” – Nariae

“Do I still need to round my damn lips? – Map-Meat

“Only if you want to.” – Nariae

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Illustration by David Michael Wright

Appearing as small, awkward looking, and oddly colored humanoids, Moggy Toads are often mistaken for gremlins (or anthropomorphic toads). Appearances aside, however, there is little in common between a Moggy Toad and a Gremlin. No-one has ever met a Moggy Toad who engaged in frivolous pranks as gremlins do. In their own way these slow-moving and seemingly innocuous creatures can be quite dangerous.

Moggy Toads prefer to live in remote swamps and other riparian settings. They are reluctant to engage in sociable activities, and still more reluctant to engage in violent activities. If pressed, however, a Moggy Toad can be quite dangerous. This is particularly true if she has the space to get away from potential melee attackers and focus on using her own abilities. Moggy Toads wield great spiritual powers, a fact which a wise character would keep in mind.

Moggy Toads are occasionally inquisitive enough to leave their homelands and explore the rest of the world. With rare exceptions, this is a temporary phase, and few Moggy Toads would ever do so without planning to return home to the pace and quiet of the remote swamps.

Ligen

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© Daniel S. Wall, April 7, 2026.

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“To the great and noble Sage, Hadin Kes,

As of the writing of this letter, your emissaries are enjoying the hospitality of my residence. As they have conveyed to me your wishes to learn more of my people and to establish long term connections between your kingdom and our own, I thought I should take the time to answer your questions directly. I will entrust the contents of this letter to your envoys and bid them farewell tomorrow morning. We here have no wish to keep such faithful and worthy servants from their master any longer than necessary. I shall try my best to answer all of your questions about my people and speed your trusty servants back home to you with what gifts we can manage to serve as humble tokens of our goodwill.

First, as I understand it, your knowledge of my Kindred is based largely upon rumor. When you read this, I hope you will count the rumors of our existence as confirmed. Yes, we do indeed exist. I further hope that you will not burden yourselves and your loyal servants with any further efforts on our behalf.. The road betwixt our lands can be quite dangerous, and I detest to hear that innocent lives have been placed at hazard without good cause. Please my friend, I pray that you will find my answers sufficient and rest knowing that you do indeed have a friend this side of the mountains, even if that friend is a distant presence. Though I may never look upon your face, I shall imagine you smiling when you read this. I pray once again that you will be content to do the same.

Now, as to your first question, it is indeed true that our Kindred bears not two but four genders. I must impress upon you that we do not merely have 2 additional genders, the extras being added as it were to the male and female which I suspect you have imagined us to possess. Rather, we have four distinct genders, each of which has been named for the seasons of the year. I myself am an ‘Autumn’. I have tried many times to explain the differences between each gender to your servants. It seems they find it a difficult concept. Though the evidence is plainly visible in the face and hands of each Ligén as well as our behavior. Sadly, your emissaries have proven themselves unable to master the difference between us. It is no fault of their own; our nature simply does not fit into the world in which they themselves live.

I must tell you that I find several of your questions regarding this matter to be quite indiscrete. Your representatives have also been quite rude on this point, albeit perhaps unintentionally so, but I am sorry to say that we grow tired of their curiosity. It is enough to know that all four genders of Ligén are essential to the act of procreation, and that all four parents play an equal role in the raising of any progeny resulting from this act. Please, we do not wish to know more about the happenings of your own sky-tables, I ask that you leave our personal affairs to us.

Regarding matters of commerce, I can assure you that we are quite self-sufficient for our own part, and that there are no resources with which we are sufficiently blessed to enjoy surplus for trade. I shall extend to you a few gifts, which I fear that you will find quite common enough for your own kingdom. Sadly, there is little to be gained from extended trade amongst our people.

As much distance as lies between us in this world – as much distance as will always lie between us in this world – I shall consider you just quite close to me in my spirit. I pray only that you will accept this and consider that it is enough.”

– K’endil Gnaine, Elder of the Ligén.

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Postscript: It is really not very important, but in the interests of truthfulness, I thought I should tell you that the letter ‘l’ of your alphabet does not precisely match the sound which begins the name of our people, the Ligén. To make the sound properly, one places his tongue against the roof of the mouth just behind the teeth (much as you would when making the ‘l’ sound), but instead of setting the vocal cords to work on the matter you simply force air about both sides of the tongue, hissing as it were while keeping the tongue in that position. I have instructed your servants on the matter, and they have proven themselves capable of making the sound properly.”

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Ligén are a mysterious kindred, tending to settle in remote parts of the world. They appear to be androgynous humanoids with strange conical heads and almond shaped eyes. They possess no hair. Their skin tone comes in four different hues. The pupils of a Ligén range in color from silver to bronze, the latter being thought particularly attractive among the Ligén themselves.

There are indeed four genders among this kindred, each named after a different season. While no-one outside this Kindred has ever grasped the physical differences between the genders of the Ligén, each enjoys somewhat different powers. Ligén marry for life and dwell together in a common home. Children appear in small broods (3d8-2), and Ligén consciously space the births of their children 3-11 years apart.

Questions about all marital affairs among the Ligén have been met with cross words and little in the way of answers.

A typical residence for the Ligén will consist of 4 square rooms all adjacent to one another. A circular room occupies the center of the house, as if carving a small corner our of each of the squares. This common area is separated from the rest of each room by a thin layer of curtains. Each of the four rooms empties directly out into a larger common area surrounding their outside walls, offering access to each of the squares within by means of two separate curtained doorways. The outer wall of the dwelling is thus a circle containing the four square rooms which themselves contain a circle in the center. Four separate doors will be located along the outside wall of a Ligen home, each positioned roughly adjacent to one of the four inside squares. This is fourse the most basic schema common to every Ligen household. With minor variations, one can expect this of pretty much every Ligen household.

A brood of children will live and sleep within the walls of the outer circle. Parents in a Ligén household take turns cooking for the whole family (often with the assistance of their mates or older children). A fireplace is located in the wall separating each of the four sleeping quarters from the common area to the outside.

Only the most trusted outsiders have ever been invited into the homes of a Ligén, and then only to eat and chat. Overnight guests are always lodged in the community town hall, which always has a few well-kept bedrooms set aside for that purpose. It is commonly supposed that a guest in one Ligén home is a guest to the entire community. As one may imagine, this custom also makes it easier to keep an eye on such outsiders.

On rare occasions, Ligén will travel about other regions, usually in pursuit of knowledge or magical power. Ligén are often the first to learn of any major threat to an entire region, and they will often take the initiative to inform others and provide assistance in meeting such dangers.

Ligén make good spell casters for the obvious reason that each is inherently capable of using a single school of magic. Ligén are also relatively good in close quarters combat. Unfortunately, the Kindred is also known for its clumsiness. Whether casting spells or fighting in melee, Ligén seem to fail spectacularly with an unusual frequency.

 

Hrega

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© Daniel S. Wall, April 6, 2026.

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“It is true that Hrega women may find common ground with anyone or anything they meet. It is also true that their men find cause for opposition in all creatures. And as much pleasure as one may find in the graces of Hrega women, one will find the same degree of displeasure in the presence of Hrega men.”

– Mawlin Caern, Scout

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By all accounts Hrega woman appear quite beautiful. They are tall and thin, with exceptionally long fingers. Hrega women have no hair on their bodies, nor on their heads. The skin of a Hrega woman changes colors to reflect her mood (cool tones for calm and warm for excitement, …bright red for anger). As Hrega women are quick to adapt to those around them, the color of a female Hrega’s skin may often reflect the general mood of her companions quite well. Hrega women have no control over this, nor does this feature of her skin have any clear purpose.

Hrega men are significantly shorter than the women of their Kindred, with short strong fingers and sharp facial features. Hrega men are also completely devoid of body hair and their skin color changes to reflect their moods just those of Hrega women. In contrast to Hrega women, though, Hrega men typically fall into a mood quite the opposite of those around them. Hrega men, are not anymore likely to be cruel or evil than humans, but they do find cause for conflict quite easily. Whether this will be a matter for words or fists, or even swords, depends on the Hrega.

With both men and women, a bright red skin tone betrays a clear sense of opposition or even a desire to engage in violence. Strands of reddish hue appear whenever a Hrega attempts to lie, whereas strands of orange appear when simply shading the truth, the brighter the more egregious the deception. Any Hrega attempting to help another for unselfish reasons will develop extreme highlights of pure white on the surface of their skin. Any that are familiar with this Kindred will know the meaning of these signs.

It is of course no surprise that Hrega men and Women typically occupy different shades of the color spectrum. Each is capable of reflecting all the known colors, but their moods lead them to manifest differet hues most of the time.

Courtship among the Hrega is a rather clumsy affair as the Hrega men are so contrarian by nature. Hrega do not marry, and children are raised by their mothers with their maternal uncles providing the support and assistance one might normally expect of a husband. Hrega men are not known for their nurturing qualities, regardless of their relationship to a given child.

Whatever the gender, Hrega make interesting companions. Both genders of this Kindred tend to be very direct and honest in dealing with others. Deception is not much of an option for them, as others can literally see deception in their faces, Hrega women are well known for their capacity to aid others while the men can do immense damage in all forms of combat. Not surprisingly, the former tend to become mages specializing in healing and support spells whereas the latter typically become melee fighters.

 

Vek

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© Daniel S. Wall, April 7, 2026

“A two legged manticore without wings? That’s what you think of me? Fair enough. Just so you realize, I can engage your shield man and still throw tail spikes at you. So, try not to get too creative with the creature comparisons.”

-Kessen Mir, Vek Scout.

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Vek by Earl Geier

It is a widely held view that these creatures are actually demons who know the way from hell to the hottest parts of the surface world. To some degree this is due to their appearance. Vek are essentially humanoids possessing a very rough textured skin, usually ranging from black to reddish brown in hue. All Vek sport at least one pair of horns atop their skulls, and some bear quite a few more than that. In place of fingernails these creatures have claws. Most importantly, Vek possess a tail, and from that tail, Vek typically grow a range of hard spikes made of dense bone. With the flick of its tail a Vek may launch a spike at short range. One could well excuse those on the receiving end of such an attack for thinking they have encountered a beast straight out of the depths of hell itself.

In fact, the Vek are merely a variety of wilding whose love of the desert rivals the elven love of trees and meadows. Vek often serve as scouts and long distance traders, and more often still, they provide mercenaries to those who can afford the service. Vek generally prefer to trade with civilized peoples, but in a pinch they may well resort to raiding.

Vek may use manufactured weapons or stick with their natural weapon abilities as they see fit. For purposes of game rules, their tail spikes are considered hand thrown missiles.

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Rules for playing Vek in Tunnels and Trolls (Delux Edition) can be found here. Rules for playing Vek in first edition, D&D can be found here.

Called Shots for First Edition D&D

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Introduction: I have fond memories of first edition D&D, but those memories do include a host of house rules. One aspect of the game that generated a lot of interest in house rules was the pace of combat. Without feats and other such innovations common to later editions of D&D, physical combat in first edition could be particularly stale as there just weren’t many ways to generate extra damage, even at high levels. Spell casters had options, of course, and specialty classes such as Thief or Ranger could generate extra physical damage under the right circumstances, but for basic fighter types, a fight with a big monster meant whittling them down slowly.

This is what had a lot of us experimenting with called shots. My own friends and I tried a lot of things, mostly variations on a penalty to hit roll in exchange for the possibility of a one-shot kill (or some comparable effect likely to take the intended victim out of the fight). Balancing the cost of the penalty against the benefit of a successful called shot was of course difficult. If the options for a called shot were too generous, even the biggest enemies went down with ease, and if the GM decided to turn that possibility on the players, then a TPK was just a few die rolls away. If the called shot option was too stingy, then you had to slog your way through even mediocre opponents, the game slowed down, and everything got tedious.

Really tedious!

In any event, what follows is the system I ended up with after a couple decades running first edition D&D. I really think this hit the sweet spot for my gaming group, but a lot depends on other factors in the game. We had a system for extra proficiencies, and we used special abilities and problems, both of which also contributed to slightly more dangerous player characters. In combination with those systems, our rules for called shots helped us to speed up the game and boost the power of physical attacks without completely obliterating the core system.

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Called Shots and the To-Hit Roll: At its core, the system calls for a simple penalty of -4 on the attack roll for any called shot. (If the call was hyper-specific, then GM could boost the penalty to -6 or even -8, but that was her call.) Along with that, a natural 2 becomes an automatic miss, although it does not become a critical fumble. If a called shot is successful in striking the target, the damage is treated as applying directly to a focused body-part. This can be called out (E.g. a head, a leg, a tail, or a player can just declare that they are taking a “Kill shot”). Either way the damage is now measured against 20% of the target’s total hit points (rounded high). If the damage equals that percentage or exceeds it, there is a chance, the called shot succeeds in destroying the body-part in question.

Chance of Success: The chance for success at this point is equal to twice the damage done on the attack or 5% per stage on the to-hit charts from the DM’s Guide, whichever gave the attacker a better chance of success. (Note that the highest stage of the to-hit chart for fighters would be 55%, and at least in our old games, the best fighters could generate damage in about the 20-30 point range on a single attack, thus making it a toss-up as to which chance worked best for a given attack.)

It is best for players using the option to write the percent chance of success based on the to-hit chart on the character sheet. This should enable a player to compare the chance using double damage versus the chance based on the to-hit chart quickly.

Successful Called Shots: Success generally meant death in the event of a “kill shot” or in the event of a specific called shot with lethal implications (e.g. a head, in most cases). Results such as decapitation which might be necessary to kill certain monsters could also be achieved in this manner (assuming the appropriate weapons). If a leg, an arm, a tail, or a wing had been the focus, it was generally considered severed or otherwise destroyed and the GM would apply whatever penalties seemed best to the maimed character as a result of the injury.

Failure: In the event that a called shot was not successful, the damage was scored normally against the target’s hit points.

Target-Based Limitations: Called shots were useless against any target that lacked meaningful anatomical vulnerabilities (e.g. an ooze, a zombie, or a ghost). Such creatures were simply not venerable to called shots.

Tactics-Based Limitations: Certain damage effects were not applied to called shots, or they were applied in unusual ways. Thieves and Assassins could either add their backstab multiplier to the damage of a called shot or apply it as a multiplier for a normal shot under the normal rules, but the player had to choose. (Most chose the latter.) Rangers add their giant-classed bonus to the damage, but leave it out for purposes of calculating the odds of success on the percentage die roll.

Special Weapon Proficiencies for First Edition D&D

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The first edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons doesn’t offer characters a lot of opportunities to improve damage done on physical attacks. This would be addressed through a variety of means in later editions, but players were addressing the issue through house rules from the beginning. What follows is one system for enabling a character to boost their combat skills through application of weapon proficiencies already present in first edition D&D.

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Core concept: Characters earn weapon proficiencies at the normal rate listed in the Player’s Handbook, and they follow the normal class limitations listed there as well, but they can use a new weapon proficiency to boost their skills with an existing weapon proficiency instead of taking up a new weapon.

Weapon specialization begins with a Basic Bonus. Once a player has gained a basic bonus, she can consider taking one of the other options for special proficiencies, but she must always have at least 1 basic bonus for every special proficiency she has taken.

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Basic Bonus: A Character simply takes applies standard +1 to hit and damage when attacking with a designated type of weapon.

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Damage Die Boost (special proficiency): A Character may boost the damage dice for a designated type of weapon. Doing so will usually raise the top end of the possible results, usually without raising the bottom end. A die 2 becomes a die 3, a die 3 becomes a die 4, a die 4 becomes a die 6, a die 6 becomes a die 8, a die 8 becomes a die 10, a die 10 becomes a die 12, and a die 12 (or 2d6 or 3d4) becomes 2d8, 2d8 becomes 3d6, and 3d6 becomes 2d10, 2d10 becomes 2d12.

Note that in most cases a straight +1 to hit and damage will be better than a damage die boost, but critical hits and backstabbing skills may boost the value of a higher top end damage a bit in favor of the damage die boost. Special Abilities may also change this calculation. It is up to the player to decide if and when the options favor the damage die boost.

Extra Melee Attacks (special proficiency): A Character may take half an extra melee attack with a designated type of melee weapon (i.e. one that applies every other round). This can be repeated twice, thus giving a character up to 1 extra attack per round with the designated type of weapon.

Extra Missile Attacks (special proficiency): A Character may boost the number of attacks for a designated type of missile weapon. This can be repeated to a maximum of 5 total missile attacks per round with the designated type of weapon. (Note missile weapons such as crossbows which require a complex reloading process cannot be boosted in this manner.)

Note: In the event that when a character boosts her attack rate with a weapon useful in both melee and missile attacks, she must choose between the rate of fire for missiles and the number of attacks taken in melee.