Meet the Iconics: Ozaka

Adachi Kaede

Female Kumojin Earth Shugenja, Clan Scion, Samurai Caste
Born to the Adachi family, you spent your childhood studying the earth kami. By your gempukku, you had spent more time in the mountain and its kami. You left your mother’s web to travel and seek a greater understanding, seeking to learn and keep the kami at peace. Earning vast riches and fame will attract worthy males and show up your sisters.

Akane

Female Kitsune Geisha (bard), Maiko, Heimin
You spent your youth training in the arts of the geisha, from a maiko you became a geisha but found the sedentary lifestyle too constraining. The road is filled with excitedment and sources of inspiration: from secret love affairs to spectacular sites. One day, maybe you will settle down and train others, maybe.

Chikako

Female Akai-oni Bushi (fighter), Duelist trainee, Heimin
As a child, you left your parents to follow a master swordsman to learn the tricks of his trade. Over the years, he used you as a servant: forcing you to prepare meals, and throwing all sort of things at you: food, plates, and tools. You hate him wanting to learn sword play.
Then one day you began to swat away the bowl, dodging food, and blocking the tools. He never sparred with you but one day you left his side having learned everything he had to teach. You have been selling your skills as a warrior or a duelist ever since.
You enjoy battleas it makes you feel alive.

Matsui Uchimoro

Male Kyojin Sohei (paladin), Yojimbo, Samurai Caste
Born to a samurai family, you trained to cover your family’s backs and keep everyone safe. Shortly before your gempukku, you discovered faith in Hachiman, the Lord of Swords, and entered a monastery where the harsh regimen appealed to you. Now you travel the land to test your skills and hunting down yokai of all sorts.

Noritsuke

Male Tengu Shinobi (rogue), Ninja-trained, Eta
Born to the lowest caste of society, you joined a ninja family and trained with them, learning skills that allowed you to thrive under the very nose of the rich and powerful. You pass yourself off as a servant and obey commands given to you while in public. Behind close doors, you are free to do as you please.

Sugawara Inu

Male Human Fire Wujen (Wizard), Magistrate, Samurai Caste
From a minor family, you grew to become an investigator for your lord. Your fascination and affinity with the fire kami led you to find ways to use their power to assist you in your work. Since then, you have been looking to expand your knowledge and understanding of the kami.

People of Ozaka

I 3d-printed many miniatures and these are some for Ozaka.

The purple ninja was someone I thought would be an interesting iconic but I changed my mind and went with a different character.

The blue guy is an alternative Kyojin. Kyojin are one of the descendant race of Oni and humans: they are large, blue, and brutish.

The monkey is a sarujin, the monkey-people. They are the same as the babiru from the Akhamet Player's Guide. Although stat-wise they are identical, their fluff expands, making them Ozakan.

The human fire shugenja is an alternate mini I have been using for one of the iconics.

Nailed the Ozaka Iconic format. YES!

Well I finally arrived at a format that I like and that really looks cool and does not clash with various elements on the page. After playing with the logo and the sword, this one does it for me. I really like it.

These new iconics, along with the Ozaka sidekicks are available in the FOE Campaign Toolkits and in a variety of bundles.

I will be posting more "Gencon News" as the con approaches. Until then, I will run back to my troll cave and try and finish writing everything I committed to before time runs out.

[Release] Drow of the Demonweb on DM's Guild

One of the many things to come out of the Chaos Tide Campaign was the creation of a lot of material. A Lot. Enough to fill a 200 plus page book.

And that was only the setting.

Now next year, WotC will republish Planescape but I hold little illusion that what they will produce will be as underwhelming as their latest offerings: Dragonlance and Spelljammer. Not wanting to wait, I created my own material based on those classic 1e and 2e versions.

This book is one that contains such material, most of which was used during the campaign with a number of additional characters I never got to use.

I posted many pictures of the Demonweb on Facebook, with the extraordinary locations I used. The creatures in this book increase the variety of drow and drow-related creatures available to the GM.

For the Demonweb or your regular campaign.

The book contains a wealth of material to create drow-themed encounters.
- Nine new monsters, including unique characters, new demons, and demonic spiders
- Eight new magic items, with their own history
- Eleven locations in the Demonweb
- Over forty NPCs: some drow allies, some prisoners, some merchants, some slaves.

You can get it on DM's Guild. It has also been added to the Avernus Product Bundle at 50% of with many other planar-themed products.

Chaos Tide Rising - Part 4

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Demonweb (Abyss)

The Demonweb is the 66th layer of the Abyss, a plane of chaotic evil.

Traveling on a straight path without any curves, with most drow greeting them with "Welcome to my parlour."

Finding a resting spot in the Demonweb turned out to be rather difficult, as one encounter followed the other, draining resources after resources. Seeing their nervous gazes as they wondered when I would finally relent.

I did not relent.

I made them pay for invading the Spider Queen's domain.

Another place they refuse to go back to.

The base of House Tekenafin

The base of House Tekenafin

Frost Giants in the Demonweb

Lair of the demon Arachneus

Ecklavarda's Enclave... so many drow

SHARKENBEARS!!!!

Outlands

The Outlands were known as the Concordant Opposition, is a plane of neutrality as the center of the Great Wheel.

The Outlands were little more than a traveling in-between. The PCs did not spend much time here. It was a way to allow them to travel from one Gate Town to another. But they didn't like most of my cities.

One important event was the battle at the town of Glorium just outside the plane of Ysgard where they fought multiple attacks by Frost and Fire giants with their winter wolves.

Frost Giant Raiders attack an Outlands settlement

The battle of Glorium

Chaos Tide Rising - Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4

Arborea

Arborea is the planed of chaos and good, it is the home of the Elven and Greek Pantheons. This was perhaps the nicest of all the places the PCs could go. The finale of the campaign took place here, where the PCs faced a large force of slaadi.

Here, the PCs fought the ancient black dragon Mavrosko.

Mavrosko revealed!

Slaadi force appear

Slaadi force appear!

Avernus (Nine Hells)

Arvenus is the first layer of the Nine Hells, a plane of lawful evil.

A massive blue poppy field that can be turned into a vile mind-drug and have to escape a massive demonic invasion.

The PCs were invited here by an Erinyes general named Ralamiel who wanted to make a deal with them. She made great deal by trading the souls of not one but TWO PCs!

Demons in the fields of blue poppies.

Vrocks performing the dance of ruin. The dance of ruin was a staple of the vrocks in 3.x, and I thought giving them back this power would create a unique encounter.

Azzagrat (Abyss)

The Azzagrat is the 45-47th layers of the Abyss, a plane of chaotic evil.

The capital of Grazz't's domain of Zelatar where horrors and casual abuse is ever-present. As a writer, I love Azzagrat. Everything is a mockery of what they are. It is just vile and disgusting, where the appropriate cohabits with the unacceptable. Right is wrong and wrong is right. Good is bad. And evil is good.

Add Graz'zt to it and you know my favorite Dark Prince of them all!

Battle in the Demonic orphanage

Chaos Tide Rising - Part 2

Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4

Game Play

After a few stumbles and some turnover, a solid group emerged that explored the many nooks of this Planescape campaign. Ah life...

The campaign starts a few months after the Battle of Pikemaster at the climax of Having completed Witches of Pikemaster and the Baron once again calls upon adventurers to address new problems plaguing his barony. The four Merchant Houses in town all had caravans disappear.

After investigating a few sites near Pikemaster, the PCs discovered two items that sent them their way: a strange flesh key and a ball of obsidian. When those two items joined, away they went to the outer planes, starting with Limbo.

From Limbo, the party discovered there was a Chaos Tide rising. This tide rises every few centuries, bringing horrible effects: the Times of Trouble on Faerun, the Five-Day Eclipse in Akhamet, the Gigantomachy in Olympia, etc... In short, whenever this happens the repurcussions are massive and dangerous.

The most fun I had was to introduce my party to these classic locations where the world around them sought to destroy, corrupt, kill, and those are just the best possible outcomes. With high-level characters, you need to do

Limbo

Limbo is the plane of pure, raw chaos. Home of the slaadi and githzerai.

Having to concentrate to keep the plane from crushing you was fun to run, forcing the players to fight against their environment. Literally. If they don't concentrate, Limbo swallows them in its Primal Soup, which deals them damage EACH ROUND.

Even the oasis of peace are not. I portrayed the Githzerai more like they were initially presented in the original Fiend Folio from 1981. In that book, they are isolationists and slavers. To consider them allies is potentially risky because they are not a force for good.

The slaadi were an ever-present threat throughout the campaign. I printed so many of them, creating a massive force of them. So. Many. Slaad. If I have one regret is that I did not include a faction of slaad willing to deal with the PCs. I presented them as monsters who did not think much for themselves.

The players hated limbo and wanted to leave it as soon as they could, never to return unless forced.

Chaos Tide Rising - Part 1

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

The Plan and the Constraints

Having completed Witches of Pikemaster, I was left with more story ideas and material to write a sequel. A sequel for high-level characters that would take the PCs through the many of the outer planes. There have been a few campaign set in the outer planes, such as the Planescape setting. While most are fine, none feel great. Adventures? Yes, they are many but there are not many campaigns.

So I had this idea for a campaign and I wrote up over 180 pages of material for it. It included dungeons, wilderness areas, NPCs, unique monsters, and a lot of planar information.

What I wanted to do was:
- Create a campaign that would have the PCs travel through the planes for a common goal.
- Have each plane be its own chapter, with unique challenges created by the environment or the inhabitants. The PCs may travel between one plane and the other, slowly advancing each plot. Basically, create a Planescape version of The Masks of Nyarlathotep.
- Serve as an introduction to many planes I knew (most of) my players never visited.
- The planes should each be their own environment, not just a copy of the Prime Material with angels or demons. The plane itself should be an obstacle or at least a concern when adventuring there.

That was the initial plan. I gathered the party for this.

Factions

The campaign had MANY factions involved. Many in fact. So many that I had to trim down the numbers to avoid creating a complete mess. Here are some of the major factions and how they got involved.

- Slaad The campaign really started with the "birth" of Gooz, a slaad of an unknown type. Throughout the campaign, the slaad were violent opponents. I added a new type of slaad, the brown (or mud) slaad, inspired by a 3.5 monster. Instead of hostile powerhouses, mud slaadi are weak and pathetic, dealing retributive damage when struck.

- Demons of Graz'zt Many demons in the service of Graz'zt are trying to stop/ control/ understand what is happening. They served as both enemies and occasional enemies of convenience.

- Devils A faction of devils managed to get their hands on one of the mcguffins and they wanted to turn it over to the PCs. However, they would not merely give it over, they had to get something out of it. They served as allies of convenience.

- Drow The drow also sought to understand what is happening. However, they are divided in many factions that work at cross-purpose and limiting their overall effectiveness. They were dangerous defending their holdings, but did not do much outside the Demonweb.

- Elves The elves were, for the most part, completely ineffective overall. They felt something was wrong but did not organize well. They were a friendly but

- Giants The giants of Ysgard, led by Uthgar-Loki, were one of the most active factions of the campaign, traveling the planes looking for something that was stolen from them. (Yes, it was the mcguffin the devils took from them.) The frost giants in particular were active, with the other giants being less interested in participating in the hunt. They served as direct opponents.

- Githyanki The githyanki appeared late in the campaign as a force trying to take control of the situation. With their typical tactics of killing everyone first... They were another faction of opponents.

- Githzerai The githzerai appeared early on. Their interest in the plot was cautious. The PCs did not stay long in Limbo for me to really involve them. I planned to use them as untrustworthy allies, friends with an agenda.

- Vikings The vikings were a faction that began as straight opponents but after a while, the PCs befriended them and used them to travel the planes.

[Kinda Book Review] Essential Spider-man vol3

Back to Marvel comic, with Essential Spider-man.

There is no surprise that Spider-man is the leading and best character from Marvel Comics. Not only is the main character, Peter Parker, relatable, but the cast of characters he has around him as interesting: Gwen, MJ, Harry, Flash, Aunt May, and even JJJ. The dynamics between them adds something to the stories.

Throughout this book, Peter is broke. He needs to find money for his rent or Aunt May. Being Spider-man is more of a hassle as it constantly makes him miss appointments and rendez-vous.

This book was definitely interesting. With major villains appearing, but especially Doc Ock and the Lizard.

I don't really have much to say about this one. It was enjoyable to read.

I'll settle for a score of 3/5. It was good but not great. There is nothing that really stands out, no major character changes or revelations.