GRIMLITE - Birthing a Horror

I've just split GRIMLITE into two documents. The first is the booklet-sized rulebook, complete with faction rosters and campaign rules, and the other is just the Horrors/Scenes that can be printed separately and mix-and-matched together. 

The selfish reason for this is because I'm sick of reprinting the whole thing whenever I add a new Horror/Scene, but I also just want to write a lot more of them. I'm aiming for 36 of each, doubling what's in there right now, but I've no idea if this is realistic.

They're straightforward enough to write, but I want each of them to feel unique. Each should break a rule somewhere, or do something that makes them stand clearly apart from the others. I have a big notes document where I scribble down these ideas, with Horrors usually starting as a quirk of how they'll play, with the flavour moulded around this concept.

So let's do now now, because apparently I need to write 18 more.

Looking down my list of concepts there are three that I'd like to work on:

1. Horror that attacks only through its Minions, never itself.
2. Horror that uses its Nexuses like 3 stages of a boss encounter, with a colossal "Final Form".
3. Horror that has Nexuses as giant limbs reaching up through the ground, its body only emerging when all three are destroyed

Let's go with number 3, which for now I'm calling the Voidweed.

For any given Horror we need to think about:

• Deployment
• Stats
• Minions
• Nexuses
• Nexus Effects (I should give these a proper name like I did for "Responses")
• Responses
• Rewards
• Solo/Coop Changes if needed

Deployment

So if the Voidweed is be interacting firstly through its grasping limbs, the core of the beast is hidden away underground. Let's call it the Bloom, as we want this to be evocative, but also broad enough to allow a range of modelling options. I'm imagining some sort of fleshy rose-headed monstrosity, like something from a grimdark Little Shop of Horrors. 

But for deployment this is nice and simple. Keep the Horror off the board to begin with.

Stats

If we're using the Nexuses as the straight up fighting ability of the creature, I feel like the Bloom should be a little weirder and more indirect. Maybe they have some weird scent or spore effect. 

We'll give it Tough, as I imagine this thing being wrapped in briars and thorns, so hard to fight in melee. The guideline for Horror attacks is around 6 damage potential, so we'll give it some T3x2 thorns, but its real power will lie in its special power.

Some of this can be added into the Reactions table, but I like giving this sort of Horror a power that triggers at the end of the player turn. If you're not careful it can be high-maintenance, especially if you had multiple on the board at once, but the Horror is already a focal point of any battle. They're allowed to call for a bit more attention. It's nice knowing that you're only ever going to have one of these to deal with, and in this case the Bloom isn't even going to show up until later in the battle, so let's make something weird.

Enraging Scent: When this Horror successfully Saves against all Damage from an attack, the attacker must immediately make a Free Attack against their nearest visible Ally.

Don't think I've done something that triggers on a successful Save like this. 

Of course it's unfair, but the key here is that you can think your way around it. Put your attackers into positions where they can't attack an ally, or at least put a disposable grunt next to them to take the hit. It's tricky, but Horrors aren't meant to be easy. 

Minions

Strictly speaking, not ever Horror needs these, especially if the Minion's role is being fulfilled elsewhere such as the multi-Horrors (Weird Hunters, Twin Leapers) or those that weaponise their Nexuses like this one (also Eliminator Drone).

I think Minions help a lot with avoiding the Horror just getting rushed, but I want the Nexuses to be the main focus. Let's just put something really simple in here, a weak grunt protecting each Nexus.

Not every element of the Horror needs to be fancy. Keep the main thing the main thing. 

Nexuses

So this is the meat of this Horror. It's easy to just make the Nexuses act like a minion, but the concept here was that these are three limbs of a larger being, sprouting out from the ground all over the battlefield.

To begin with, I'm thinking that we'll use the Response table exclusively for these. It won't give any extra fanciness to the Bloom (it won't be around for most of the battle) or the Minions (they're not a focus here). 

Best of all, we know that these limbs will never be on the board at the same time as the Bloom, so we don't have to worry about their complexities rubbing up on each other. 

So let's make them nimble as a contrast to the Tough Bloom, forcing the Warbands to get up close and personal with it. We'll also give them the ability to burrow around the board and entangle or throw their enemies around. 

Nexus Effects

Because the Nexuses are looking relatively complex I think we should keep this simple. Let's use it to spur the minions into action, responding as their precious vines are chopped down. 

Responses

I was previously thinking we'd use this purely for the Vines, but I think it would be good to keep this quite simple, seeing as both the Horror and Nexuses have ended up being somewhat mechanically fancy. 

Maybe we'll use this to represent the smaller vines that are presumably sprouting up around the battlefield and making life difficult for everybody, alongside some simple effects on the Vines.

Rewards

Sometimes these just write themselves. I like to draw on the abilities of the Horror/Nexus/Minions as well as the themes of the battle, so here we're clearly thinking some sort of plant theme. 

I'll go with the classics, trimmed-down versions of the special abilities of each of the Horror/Nexus and a reformed version of the Minion for hire (nice way to reuse those miniatures!).

Solo/Coop Changes

Here I'm not so much worried about tuning the difficulty, but taking into the account that the player(s) will be unopposed outside of the Horror, which sometimes creates weird situations where objectives are either completely without challenge or impossible. For some Horrors I'll throw in some extra Minions if I think the lack of an enemy warband will make things too easy to manage. You want things to feel a bit out of control.

So for this Horror I don't think we need any changes. There's enough going on here with the Minions and Nexuses all running around. 

Here's the finished monstrosity.

HORROR: VOIDWEED

Crawling and climbing into our world from somewhere much darker.

Deployment

Keep the Horror off the board to begin with.

Voidweed Bloom (Tough 3+)

Lashing Thorns (T3x2)

Enraging Scent: When this Horror successfully Saves against all Damage from an attack, the attacker must immediately make a Free Attack against their nearest visible Ally.

Minions

Deploy a Thornguard next to each Nexus.

Thornguard (Nimble 5+)

Eternal pruners of the Voidweed.

Pruning Blades (T1x2)

Nexuses

The choking limbs of the being below.

Deploy 3 Vines evenly around the board. They can be fought like a normal unit and are Destroyed when Taken Out. 

Voidweed Vine (Nimble 4+)

Choke (T1x4 - Uses this attack against Downed enemies only)

Hurling Grasp (T1x2 - Treat any Shock result that benefits the Target as Thrown instead. Uses this attack against Standing enemies only)

Burrower: Ignores a single piece of terrain when moving.

Creeper: When the Vine rolls a non-beneficial Shock Table result it treats it as Crawl instead.

Nexus Effects

1. All Thornguard make a free Move and Attack.
2. All Thornguard make a free Move toward the remaining Vine.
3. All Thornguard become Fierce. Deploy the Bloom in the centre of the board.

Response

1. All Downed warband members take 1 damage as vines entangle them.
2. Each Vine lunges out with a snaking vine (R1x3).
3. Any unit touching a Vine takes 1 damage. 
4. All Vines move toward the centre of the table.
5. All Downed Vines make a free Move.
6. All Vines make a Free Recovery.

Rewards

1. Penitent Thornguard (Fierce, Nimble 5+) [Max 3, 4pts]
   Pruning Blades (T1x2)
2. Creeper Cloak: When you roll a non-beneficial Shock Table result, treat it as Crawl instead [Max 1, 2pts]
3. Enragement Bomb: [T1xSpecial - Use per battle. If the target is hit they make an immediate Free Attack against their closest visible Ally [Max 1, 2pts]

More Scary Vanilla Monsters

By popular demand, more vanilla D&D monsters get the scary treatment.

Ogres join the ranks of "things that want to eat you", but are much more sophisticated. They have elaborate methods for slaughtering their prey, often leaving them alive for the first few courses. They refuse to waste a scrap of meat or bone and practically everything they own is made from a part of some unfortunate victim.

Hobgoblins are invaders from a distant continent. Next to their colossal empire the known world is a minor continent. Their technology is always slightly ahead of humans. When we had bows, they had crossbows. When we had muskets they had Gatling guns. Their ships are ironclad and their military strategies incredibly cunning.

Owlbears are the Jason Voorhees of the animal kingdom. They stalk the woods at night, killing anyone that disturbs their peace. They're far tougher than they seem, but will play dead or flee when a fight is going against them. If this happens they will obsessively track their opponents and attack when their quarry is weakest. With extremely acute scent and vision it's near impossible to lose an Owlbear that's following you.

Gelatinous Cubes are already terrifying in life. In death their structure collapses to flood their surroundings with a mix of paralysing toxin and burning acid. Anyone that succumbs to both of these fluids will lie very still while they slowly melt.

Odd Encounters - Black Shell

Black Shell
2hp, Armour 3.
Immobile and unable to attack as normal.
When reduced to 0hp the shell is broken and the creature within is released with immediate hostility.
The shell at first appears to be a glass-like cocoon. The writhing creature inside is only faintly visible in the darkness. Anyone that touches the cocoon attracts the creature's attention and is subject to its gaze as described below.

Creature Within
STR 14, DEX 10, WIL 12, 7hp, Armour 1.
A black, chitinous humanoid that strikes for 1d6+1 damage.
Its gaze can be targeted at one individual each turn, in addition to attacking. The target must pass a WIL Save or fall to the ground, paralysed until they have a Short Rest. If they are left alone with the creature while paralysed it will begin to regurgitate a viscous slime over their body, which soon hardens into their own Black Shell. By the next morning they are a Creature Within and trapped until the shell is broken.

Why Into the Odd is a Horror Game

Into the Odd is now officially "A Survival Horror Roleplaying Game". What qualifies it to carry that subtitle? There are those that would argue even regular D&D is a horror game, making some excellent points, but what about my variant?

Deceptive Normality
The setting of Into the Odd is filled with normality. Sure, there are revolutions, plagues and cruel factory-masters, but this is all very mundane stuff. The Odd is out there to be found, but most of civilization is similar to our own world, even the cities that are built on crashed spaceships. Wars are fought by men with guns, not armoured knights or battle wizards. Factories mass produce goods and companies and politicians share power, with monarchs being no more than figureheads. This is an early-modern world we can relate to, not a medieval fantasy.


The Known but Incomprehensible
Beside the relatively mundane happenings of an industrial world are things nobody understands. Grouping Arcana under one name is deceptive, as the game clearly dictates that they should break the rules. You can use an Arcanum and talk to scholars about them but nobody really understands them or knows a way to bypass the risks of using them. Similarly, everybody has a theory on the Astrals, but there are no solid answers. They could be aliens, divine beings, demons, advanced terrestrial beings or pure mythology.

Unfair Enemies
Referees are told to create monsters that break the rules and function in a vastly different way to normal characters. Most importantly, don't think of monsters as opponents to act as a fair fight to the characters. An encounter with a monster doesn't have to mean combat and in many cases it should be actively avoided. I hope to lead by example on this one with the seven example monsters provided in the game.

The Dust Hag, Beckoning Shadow and Thing of Glowing Smoke are immune to normal weapons. The Abbysal Turtle is so huge that small arms are going to have very little effect, requiring Arcana or at least siege weapons. The Dead Echo can only be fought in darkness or a reflection and the Strange Hunter has a disintegration gun that exceeds any earthly weapon. The remaining underdog monster, the Ebon Crawler, can be fought simply enough but if it pins you down it'll dislocate its limbs, slither down your throat and hibernate in your corpse. Needless to say I want to encourage a sense of fear when it comes to monsters the characters will encounter.

Creeping, Inevitable Death
Not quite inevitable, there's no fun in that, but the threat is inevitable. If you fight for long enough you will have to start making saves to avoid Critical Damage, and that's always bad news. Attacks cause damage automatically, unless your armour reduces it to zero, so your Hitpoints are always a limited resource. They recover with a moment's rest, of course, but there isn't a standard method to recover them in combat. Watch them drip away as your character gets tired and starts to lose confidence. Do you want to stay around until you're at 0hp and need to roll a dread Save?

Disposable Cast
An alarming title, perhaps not as bad as it might sound. This effect comes from a combination of the Company system, where characters of Expert level either become members of a Company or found their own. This is the game's nod to the Domains of old and gives them a bank of resources, including characters. As the character proficiency curve is much flattened from traditional D&D it's a very viable option to send another member of your Company on an expedition in your place. If your main character does die, there are a bank of new characters waiting in the wings to take over their legacy.