Ostensible Cat

I'm actively working on the second issue of Delve!  Unlike the first issue which was primarily an adventure, the second issue will be more or less segmented into articles more like a traditional zine.  The primary focus of issue two is the Town of Duschapel Downs.  Though there are other other articles and rules supplements for old school games.  Here's a my arquebus rules that I've been tinkering with.  These rules are hereby designated Open Gaming Content so feel free to use them if you want: Black Powder Firearms Rules:   Arquebus Part of the challenge of firearms in fantasy settings is that they could quickly overpower other combat options.   Quite often, many game masters completely forgo such weapons.     And there is the oft used rule that gun powder is inert on most fantasy worlds.   This can prove a bit troublesome for folks that want to emulate games set beyond the early and middle medieval period.   To that end, I’m setting forth the following rules for

So today marks the thrird birthday of the Blog Ostensible Cat.  It is sure a fun ride and great to connect with you fine folks out there.  I don have to come clean on something though.  Folks have asked how we accomplish all of our creative endavours around here.  Well, this horrific scene reveals the truth behind the conditions here at Team Bingham HQ: In all seriousness (well, OK in partial seriousness) I went to the Post Office today to find out what shipping on Delve! would be.  I think the final price for you folks Stateside is gonna be $5 with shipping.  That's 35 pages of game content and art (actual 44 pages but there are 9 pages of non-game stuff like cover and OGL, etc).  For you folks in the UK and elsewhere, I still need to swing by the Italian Post Office and check the prices.  I still am working on the PDF so I can sell Delve! on RPGNow.  That should be forthcoming.  So what's left then?  I'm going to get myself a new laser printer in the next couple of

Yes, I have been productive, but I'm realizing the full extent of my ambition for Delve and the amount of work that requires.  One of the central features of Delve! is an adventure.  For the first outing, I'm introducing Calmos Vectos Mori, the Pustulent Lord - a Plague Magus.  With that, I've developed a few new spells in the new school of arcane magic Pathognomancy.  Instead of continually making excuses, I decided to make an actual content post.  Here's one of the new Pathognomancy spells, Arthritic Word: Arthritic Word Arcane Pathognomancy Level:   Magic User 3 Range:   5 ft/level Duration: 1 round/level Area of Effect:   One person Components:   V, S, M Casting Time:   4 Segments Saving Throw:   Half This spell causes the victim to be subject to crippling pain in all joints for one round per caster level (1d10 points of damager per round per caster level).   If reduced to 0 hit points, the victim will be rendered unconscious but will not die

Here's another creature that I'm working on for Isle of Maedsid. This one has its inspiration in Moorcock's work to add a bit of Swords and Sorcery feel to Maedsid. I've got an idea sort of similar to Keep on the Borderlands with a few different races that are fighting some running battles inside Maedsid. Anyway, as per all my creatures, the Kulakir is designated Open Game Content. Name: Kulakir No. Enc: 3d4 Alignment: Chaotic Movement: 60’ (20’) Armor Class: 7 Hit Dice: 5 Attacks: 2 Damage: 1d8, 1d8 (or by weapon type) Save: F5 Morale: 9 Hoard Class: XVII Description: Kulakir are a degenerate bestial race that was once common but went extinct with the rise of man (or so it is believed). Kulakir are a horrific combination of both baboon and raptor. They possess the savage visage of a baboon with a crest of feathers resembling a fish eagle. They possess the hands of a primate and the great, gouging talons of a bird of prey. A

Wow, it's been a while since I last did the weekly creature feature! This time, I've got a new critter that will be making an appearance in my Sea of O'Sr Adventure the Isles of Maedsid. Maedsid will have a both very earthly Celtic/Dark Ages/IronAge/Bronze Age component to it and a more unearthly feel to it. The Isles of Maedsid were ages ago untethered from the fabric of the material plane. Over time, this has caused some dimensional degredation and the Isles have experienced ecroachment of entities from beyond the material plane. The Lethenex is one such creature. I plan on using many non-standard creatures in Isle of Maedsid. In fact, I'm going to try and use only monsters of my own devising so that the adventure has its own consistency and feel. Some of the critters that I expect to be making an appearance are the Alitae , the Arepyiai , the Six Mouthed Goo Monster , the Black Dog , and the Dead Man's Chest amongst others. As with all of my weekly crea

I've made several attempts at full scale world building over the years but they've always pretty much just stayed at more or less skeletal frameworks with a few bits of of meat. I have a tendency to do a lot of what it type stuff and day dreaming. Today's Weekly Creature Feature (my, it has been much too long hasn't it?) is a remnant from one of my various worldbuilding projects. The Quork evolved out of one of these what ifs. I really have become much more of a humanocentric gamer over the years and demihuman races have just lost their appeal for me. I wanted to create a world where there are other sapient creatures but not necessarily "human" in their outlook. The Quork are somewhat along the lines of an elevated primate and are based on lemurs (mostly because I think lemurs are just cool). Instead of evloving vocal language for their primary means of communication, they have a complex vocal and olfactory language. This means that humans 1) might not

Note: The following magic item is designated open game content. The Jaundiced Eye is a magical pendant belonging to Viscount Wilven D’Ava (Also known as Wilven the Yellow). Viscount D’Ava was possessed of several predilections that have ostracized him from mainstream society. A self proclaimed seeker of knowledge and truth, Wilven firmly believed in the ends justifying the means. Wilven proved to be quite adept at the practice of magic and amassed a large variety of magical items to aid him in his quest for knowledge and power. The Eye of Joqua Ha Denaes (colloquially known as the Jaundiced Eye) is a large topaz set in white gold and worn as a pendant. The eye is roughly the size and shape of a human eye. It possesses many magical properties (both malevolent and benign). The pendant is strongly aligned with chaos and any being of a non-chaotic alignment must make a save versus magic or take 1d12 points of damage. Further, any non-chaotic being must make a successful save ve

Wow, two hundred posts. I did not mark the occasion when I reached 100 posts, but I feel that I should do so now. Why? Not because anything I've done, but because of the folks out there that continue to inspire me with their creativity and insight. There are several posts out there in blogland (and on message boards) about the history of the OSR, if the OSR is a movement, is the OSR dead, is the OSR viable, is the OSR crap, etc. Well, I don't know about all of that. I'm just happy that hobbyist gamers are continuing to put out some great stuff. I will say that while I'm deeply appreciative of the pioneers that came before; however, I also do not subscribe to the notion that I should be eternally beholden to what these folks did and worship the ground they walk on. They laid a fine groundwork and folks continue to build upon that groundwork to make new and interesting stuff. In the end, this is all about fun and thanks to the folks out there that are interested

This week's creature feature is once again inspired by folklore and legend.  There are many, many instances and reports of the Black Dog from around the world.  Often tied to a location or family, the Black Dog is often (but not always) an ill omen and portends bad luck or worse to befall those who encounter it.  Those familiar with stories such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes tale The Hound of the Baskervilles  will be familiar with the legend.  Also a decent reference can be found here .  As per all the Weekly Creature Features, the below text is designated Open Game Content per the OGL version 1.0a.  Any accompanying illustrations are not Open Game Conent and are sole property of me (Johnathan L Bingham) and may not be used without permission. Name:    Black Dog No. Enc:   1 Alignment:   Neutral Movement:    120’ (40’) Armor Class:   2 Hit Dice:   4 Attacks:   1 (touch, howl) Damage:   1d4 + special, special Save:   F3 Morale:   11 Hoard Class:   nil Descriptio

Here's some maps I'm doing for an introductory dungeon for my son Bear's character Lightning Bolt.  I've been battling a flu so I have not been nearly as active as I have wanted to be this past week.  I'm still in the process of keying the dungeon then I'll run Lightning Bolt and his party through the Warrens.  Feel free to use the maps if you so desire.  I'm designating then Open Game Content. Level 1 Level 2 Third Level

So, I actually managed to come up with a submission that I'm fairly pleased with for the Sea of O'sr old school adventure path. Here's a link to my Litenport Isle: Litenport. This is really my first time doing something other than an illustration for mass consumption so I think of it as a precursor to my other larger projects like Basalt Keep of Wilven the Yellow. I managed to be fairly productive despite being rather sick with the flu. I cranked out a few illustrations today that I'm pretty happy with. I'll do a post at some point detailing my creative process so you can see the steps I go through from inception to finished product. Let me know what you think of Litenport Isle.

This week is a collaborative effort between myself and my Six year old son Bear. The Six Mouthed Goo Monster is the first in what I hope to be many such collaborations. I mean, who else other than a six year old can come up with such bizzare and I must say pretty horrific monsters? The way our collaborations work is that Bear will draw up a monster, name it and tell me what it does. I'll then ellaborate as needed to make it a bit more workable in game terms and then translate it into stats. For the Six Mouthed Goo Monster, the guidance was that it is a horrible goo creature with six mouths and makes a scary scream at people and can change colors and bite people. Ready made myhtos type creature right there. As with all my Weekly Creature Features, the Text is Open Gaming Content. The accompanying artwork is not open gaming conent and is the sole property of myself and my son and may not be used without my expressed written permission. Name: Six Mouthed Goo Monster No. Enc: 1-8