Sunday, August 10, 2014

Sorry, no posts for a few days due to a death in the family.

"The roads I travel I must leave,
For I've turned the final bend.
Weep not empty tears, but grieve
As the road comes to an end
."

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Gumberoo

 QuasarDragon Games first OSR adventure, PO-1: The Stolen Child, should be available within a couple of weeks or so, barring unforeseen disaster. It will be available at DriveThruRPG and RPGNow, most likely as a pay what you want item.  In the meantime, here's a rather silly monster for any OSR game systems.


Bear, Gumberoo
Frequency:                Very rare
No. Encountered:      1
Size:                            Medium
Move:                          120 ft
Armor Class:            7
Hit Dice:                     3+3
Attacks:                     3
Damage:                     1d3/1d3/1d6
Special Attacks:        Hugs: 2d3
Special Defenses:     See below
Magic Resistance:    Standard
Lair Probability:        80%
Treasure:                    None
Intelligence:              Animal
Alignment:                 Neutral
Level/XP:                    4/215+3/hp.
Source:                        North American Folklore.


"What a strange creature it was. When I first saw it, I thought it my be a deformed bear, or one that was horribly scarred. That was soon disproved when poor Arteoss decided to chase it off with his slingshot; it seems unlikely that he'll ever regain use of that eye. Who'd have believed that the stone would bounce of the damned beast and rebound straight back at Arteoss." - from The Journals of Eurylochos the Traveler.

Gumberoos are a strange species of bear that inhabits coastal forests. They look much like an obese, mostly hairless black bear, with bushy eyebrows and scraggly chin hairs. Aggressive beasts, gumberoos will attack almost anything when it is away from its lair, not from maliciousness but because it has an exceptional appetite.

Gumberoos are immune to all non-magical weapons which bounce off its hide and invariably rebound toward the attacker. This innate magical ability causes the attacker, such as a player character, to effectively attack themselves. (Whatever number the player rolled to attack the gumberoo is used on the attack against themselves.  Strength and other bonuses do apply.)  For each attack, magical weapons have a 25% chance of rebounding, as do magic missiles (roll for each missile). Because of this ability, gumberoos have no fear and will charge anything that looks edible. 

This creature has one fatal weakness, though it is often dangerous to exploit. If a gumberoo is damaged by fire for more than one point, it explodes in a flaming inferno, exactly as if a fireball cast at eighth level had detonated where it was standing. 

Gumberoos spend most of their time sleeping at the base of burned out trees, typically cedar trees.  The rest of the time they are out hunting or following other biological urges. They are voracious eaters and can eat prey larger than themselves, sometimes stretching to to ridiculous proportions to consume it all.

Original art by Coert DuBois
 
All monster statistics are Open Game Content, including, but not limited to, the stat block from “frequency” through “source.” All references to spells, and other preexisting open game content referred to in the text is Open Game Content.