Thursday, 24 July 2025

Secret Gnome Agent Teeth, Troops & Air Resources

























These are for gnomes and their agents. 
You just knock out a tooth and insert the magic one. Make sure you get the right tooth.
Dentists who are also alchemists or wizards are more skilled at implanting these.

The players should see signs of gnome operations before they realise how advanced and active they are. Mostly they work from Chagrinspire or the Underground grey gnome city. Eventually, a spymaster will try and recruit the party rather than eliminate them as enemies. Adventurers can be duped into killing organisations the Black Sphere want out of the wasteland.

Occasionally, some enemy will be finished off by artillery or bombardment or a bomb. It's not like gnomes are just helping because they are nice. There is a vast secret prison or several in Chagrinspire.

d12 Lesser Gnome Teeth
1
 Poison drug potion
2 Feign death drug  potion
3 Growth potion
4 Shrink potion
5 Featherfall potion
6 Haste potion
If the wearer dies, the body crumbles into red powder and a cloud of unpleasant smoke
8 Exhale poison gas, save or die within 1m, then user dies
9 Cure light wounds potion
10 Cure poison
11 Invisibility potion
12 Gaseous form
 potion

d12 Other Gnome Spy Tech
1 Umbrella d4 1=syringe d3 damage + poison 2= parachute for one small humanoid 3=cabine 2d4 with 7 shots 4=+4AC vs missiles +2AC as sheild
2 Deadly hats thrown as a chakra disk +1 skilled experts can decapitate enemies
3 Concealed pistol, device in sleeve puts a tiny d4 damage 5-shot revolver in hand as if you had quickdraw skills. 1in6 can also hide a small abject like a messenger bat 
4 Cigarette case with lighter, has 12 cigarettes, six are special 1-flare, 2-smoke, 3-one shot rocket d6 4-burning hands d3+1 in 3m cone 5-
dart d3+2d4 poison poison 6 dart d3+sleep poison
5 Jumping Jacks attach one to each leg, when on island 30cm taller and +3m range on any jumps. Risky (mover like going full speed) requires a roll to avoid injury
6 Magnifying monacle or spectacles, as a telescope and adjustable for range or close objects, 1in6 are also low-light glasses. Some come in spectacles but with black square or violet circle shapes, and other esoteric designs
7 Cane come in variety d6 1=grappling line launcher 10m rope 2=small sword 3=angry snake or centipede in a tube 4=one shot musket 5=pistol revolver knuckle duster 5 shots or 
spike bayonet, d4 damage 6=explodes as an incendiary
8 Button Bombs carry a d4, each explodes as a black powder grenade for 2d3 over 6m but does not require fuses lit to arm. Some may instead be smoke, gas or incendiary bombs 
9 Tie Pin or Mushroom Broach shoots a magic missile a round with 2d4 charges per day
10 Can of toxic creature in ringpull can d6 1=yellow mould 2=green slime 3=grey ooze 4=shadow 5=gremlin 6=swarm, some may be in a thermos or biscuit tin or lunch box also  
11 Kelidoscope of wonder, shows other-dimensional cosmic membranes, make a will save every d6 rounds to stop looking unless injury causing violence or water snaps them out. Used to distract people or reward simpletons
12 Guard mushroom, a small version of screaming cave mushrooms, good for desk drawers or a distraction

d12 Gnome Control Leaders
1 Corbion Jasper - business-like gnome who assumes others are professional and always signing documents and handing files to and from subordinates like busy bees around their master. from behind his golden & ivory desk he coldly issues orders and just doesn't understand problems. Wants to do the job efficiently for advancement in the Black Sphere. Uses the office inside Chagrinspire
2 Mother Slate - a grumpy old man gnome with an athletic flesh golem shaped as a muscle-bound female human bodyguard and servant. Asks agents to keep matters quiet and to drink tea while briefing agents. Works to recruit or destroy trouble-making arrivals in the waste. Always in a new secret office bunker nearby
3 Calebos Brass - a seedy, greasy gnome with a stubbly beard and dark glasses. Acts more like a mob boss and claims to be just using crime guilds and vice for control. Wants to control the black market to get goods for superiors. Does business in seedy bars.
4 Orbio Coal - a spectacled fellow likes to be surrounded by books and liquor cabinets. Butlers bring him tiny cakes and more tea that look very delicious. May share with the victorious party. Often office in a transport vehicle or train carriage. Wants slavers eliminated
5 Unas Obsidian - always under bright lights and just a silhouette, uses magic mirrors and crystal balls to communicate. Wants a team to kill the demigod mad emperor of the South Eastern empire so the continent is never under control of one nation again. Always looking for weaknesses in crusaders from the remains of the empire
6 Mara Chert - a harsh, brutal bitch. Stern and iron-hearted. Wants any army in the wasteland to fail. She will travel (teleport) to agents with her automaton bodyguard and death troopers. Agents are expendable idiots but if they live she will send them to undermine various nations
7 Tsara Gaga - Elderly glutinous woman who admires attractive agents of any species or gender, drooling at them while eating cake. She will try and clone good agents. She likes agents to influence factions through honey traps like offers for sex. Lots of prostitutes report to her. She likes to use hotels with different menus she works through until bored
8 Zolot Carbon - spectacled hairless gnome studying philosophy or power theory, with numbers-based analysts and a cognitive engine golem to predict events. His portfolio is to limit certain technology from being used outside the gnomes. No flight, cartridge ammo, germ warfare, high explosives, ray weapons are to be investigated by outsiders. Agents recover technology in enemy hands and eliminate anyone duplicating it. Quite happy just to have targets bombed once activity reported by agents
9 Bezol Silverspade - Cheery boss who likes to eat and drink with agents or play handball or other sports outdoors. Matey and chummy with agents and pretends to help them and cae for interests with fake conversations with superiors. Agents are used for assassinations. Most kill teams of two eliminate trouble makers in the wasteland who interfear with black sphere operations. Invisible agents also make warnings to potential trouble makers who might be useful if they cooperate
10 Arbio Blune - a historiographer who needs time travel agents. Likes to misdirect the agents and arrange them to go to certain times before and during the apocalypse to get supplies. He uses agents because some time-travelling future gnomes are interfering in his operations and likely to come for him. Always serious and supplies papers and briefings to motivate agents to do jobs. Arbio wants to meddle with time but the chrono-gnomes are his real enemy now. Will send secret self destructing messages or occasionally portals for senior agents 
11 Blitz Bungle - just wants data on any faction in the waste and collect information. Likes to plant agents for long term use. Doesnt care if other bosses asses anyone as a threat as long as his agents get out in time. Often appears from secret trapdoors nobody knew about and cant find again. Likes to reward informants with money and gifts like lotus cigarettes and gadgets like cigarette lighters or a flashlight
12 Mako Taft - a suspicious musclebound gnome who likes to flex and work out while assistants convey orders. Often likes to train with larger sparring partners to show his martial arts. His agents are mostly concerned with kidnapping, cloning and returning targets to the wasteland. Covering up these operations and his black labs ties up time too. Agents are brought by vehicle to his current bunker lab. Pays well and offers magic items if he can extract a cube of flesh for research

Gnome Black Security Sphere Bureaus
1 Propaganda - posters, gossip, radio broadcasts, pamphlets
2 Censorship - destroying documents and the likeness of the Master of the World in the wasteland, their fictional mouthpiece from the apocalypse war
3 Assassination - eliminate targets in the wasteland, deserters and internal control
4 Confiscation - cleanup crews who cover up evidence and steal items from the hands of outsiders. They steal treasures for practice or to bankrupt factions
5 Analasys - work on material evidence, recordings and documents to predict events
6 Signals - contact with field agents, code work and communications crews, also do scout work and analyse items and structures in the field
7 Sappers - use explosives, undermining or work with artillery or air forces to destroy targets. They also infiltrate operations to limit technological progress and mark threatening targets who risk progress
8 Infiltration - control doppelgangers, clones, androids, automatons and golems used in 
9 Supply & Transport - supply equipment, manage most of the technology, work with the military and postal service and the rail lines and air freight. They deal with all manufacturing and operate black labs of experiments and forbidden objects vaults
10 Strategic Command - run all the control rooms and monitoring programs for the overall situation. Based inside Chagrinspire and operated by clones in a sealed system. They also provide tactical oversight and call in other assets
11 Psionic Affairs - mind control, data gathering, divination, and sometimes cursing or killing. Frequently deal with spirits, questioning the dead, mind reading, and translation. Handle lots of internal security of departments 
12 Arcane Affairs - determine if magicians need eliminating, summoning, enchanting, espionage, golems, clones, alchemy, magic security, necromancy, making abhumans, imprisoning elder gods for power 

d12 Top Gnome Spies
1 Kagrosto - alchemist spy and expert with machines, has lots of steel potion vials for many jobs, mostly does sabotage
2 Maxim Maestro - illusion-making magic mastermind in a flashy coat and hat, carny entertainer, but also uses powers to scare gullible and primitive people into certain actions
3 Gloomia Gothshadow - teary-eyed eyed moody magician/priest using necromancy to do various dirty jobs. When not working, she prepares new undead and does little dance routines with them for "training"
4 Atrocitus Edgehammer - heavily armoured with spiky armour, leads a cult of chaotic mutants in a warband who commit atrocities. He isn't a true believer, just doing a bit and being as clichéd a villain as he can and for now it works 
5 Goreebus Gonzorg - loves powered vehicles and using them to kill people. Uses a biplane, miniature tank or an armoured staff car hotrod with ram plates, rockets and two medium MG. Sent to intercept goods or people and stop them 
6 Penny Molestrut - an attractive gnome bard who performs gnome cabaret. She gathers information and deceives useful idiots into action. She likes free drinks and diamonds 
7 The Black Diamond - a mystery trenchcoat and hat gnome agent in his stealth mole machine. Has various agents and gadgets and will call in millitary aid 
8 The Iron Claw - an agent with an automaton metal hand and other implants she swaps out for missions 
9 The Brown Recluse - a spider-themed mastermind, who uses trained spiders and a spider cult to do her bidding as long as they don't find out
10 Pweedle Escandar - dangerous martial artist and bomb thrower, demolitions and arson to slow the faction down. He often spends the day in taverns drinking and watching. Expert at starting prison riots
11 The Phantom Brain - a psion specialist who gathers data and does deeds invisibly and from a distance. Plants evidence vs targets and kill without touch
12 Gam Bland - gnome playboy assassin and agent, an expert in recruiting minor factions to whatever sheme the gnome spy masters command. He often mingles with the rich hunting gnomes nobility working against the Black Sphere. Sometimes used for surface world missions to steal goods. He is famous for drinking, gambling and witty lines when killing goons
 
d20 Speciality Gnome Forces
1 Fladermous Squad with glider wings and submachine guns, and a machete
2 Sniper
 team with spotter and a gnome with a light anti-tank rifle with wheels on stock
3 Rocket Troops, a form of noisy, smoky artillery. Often launch, then flee
4 Mortar Team with indirect long-range mortar fire and possibly speciality projectiles
5 Tunnel Fighters with respirators, curiass, pistols, spiked clubs, trench shovels, and gas grenades
6 Grenadiers ride lizards or beetles, with swords and cast-iron grenades with fuses
7 Sappers deployed from a mole machine, in heavy armour with rifles and automatons
8 Covert Ops in tiny black coats, cloaks, hats and glasses, carry a pistol, knife and a grenade
9 Incendiary Squad with resperators and fire suits, carry an axe or a pick and a flamethrower or incendiaries
10 Monastic Specialists are monk agents who carry poison shuriken and daggers, may use flashbombs and smoke bombs and focus on backstabbing 
11 Mentalist Squad with psionic gnomes in trench coats, skivies and sunglasses. Carry a pistol and a sleep gas bomb. May also carry blowpipes and drugged darts, but use psionic powers
12 Elementalist Squad of apprentices and a 5th Lv master magician using earth spells. Squad will have some petty golems or a living statue, or even a golem 
13 Artillery with tiny carts with cannons, some 6d6 or multiple muskets ona  cart that fire. Will use shot if attacked by infantry, then flee if they get close
14 Gnome Combat Spheres with an SMG built in with a gyro-stabilised crewman inside the wheel
15 Squad of Automatons on search and destroy with muskets 
16 Mini Tank (Like a WW1 Renault with 2 crew) and a few infantry support, some with small cannon or a machine gun
17 Rocket Bikers with gnomes on mopeds with anti-tank rocket launchers built into a sidecar. Some have sidecars with a gunner with an SMG
18 Gnome Infantry section with tin hats, bolt action rifles with bayonettes and a few with pin style grenades. The officer has a sword and a pistol
19 Marine Gnomes with bubble helmets and respirator packs, with a trident or net launching gun, a divers dagger and a waterproof automatic 7-shot pistol
20 Gnome Commandos in black with SMG, Divers Knife and two grenades, for night combat raids. Often carry ropes, air drops or make amphibious landings

If operating against low-tech people, they prefer to use muskets and lower-tech guns
If the enemy uses any black powder, they prefer cartridge-based ammo and guns

Air Cycle (3x1m) 
civilian AC13 HD2 65mph (3 turns per round)
military AC16 HD4 120mph (4 turns per round)
1 pilot + one passenger, the military may use a sealed capsule or a gunnery pod for the passenger. Some carry two medical stretchers for medical evac
Civilians are too fragile for arms, mostly for sport. Some with landing skis or floats
Millitary mostly use 2x light MG or 1x medium MG and/or rockets for forward fire only
A dedicated weapon pod for a gunner passenger will be able to fire in any direction
Some have a rear gunner, which is cheaper, lighter and easier to improvise
Cavorite decays when charged and provides lift for 1 day 
Used for scouts or carried by larger vessels with cargo space
A single human could modify and use but -1 turn per round and -10% speed

Light Air Boat (5x2m) 
90mph (3 turns per round) AC17 HD12
3 crew - pilot, engineer and observer/gunner 
20mm cannon (forward only) spotlight or death ray lamp (fragile, requires a gnome to use the hatch to operate  the lamp and is half exposed. The lamps shatter if the craft crashes)
Used for observation, dropping off invisible gnome spies or acting as a sniper.
Mostly for short operations and may be carried out a larger airship
Cavorite decays when charged and provides lift for 4 days 
A human could barely squeeze inside and operate if the chairs were removed and someone pulled them out by their feet to get out. Civilian versions are fragile and unarmed

Air Patrol Boat (20mx4m) 
120mph (2 turns per round) AC20 HD24
Captain, 5 crew and transport a section of 12 men with a sergeant and a corporal
105mm cannon 
 (forward only), 8mm machine gun or death ray lamp (as per boat above)
Used as a troop dropship or for patrols or longer small expeditions
Cavorite, supplies and batteries for 4-month travel 
Loading bay could fit 4 humans, a child could use top hatch or squeeze in cockpit
Some versions have spotlights or IR lamps for stealth versions

Light Airship (30mx20m)
120mph (2 turns per round) AC16 HD30
Captain, 5 crew and up to 20 passenger cabins or a large cargo bay or a mix
Crew have a locker of pistols and SMGs, axes, and clubs available
Smaller transport for high-altitude long-distance travel
Cavorite and batteries for 4-month travel 
Quite roomy for gnomes and smaller humans or children could operate

Transport Airship (120mx40m) 
120mph (1 turn per round) AC16 HD100
Captain and 20 crew and up to 100 cabins and cargo space
Crew have a locker of pistols and SMGs, axes, and clubs are available
Some have light MG for defence and multiple spotlights
Cavorite reactor and power plant can fly for years and recharge lesser vehicles
Large luxury long distance travel, some are bigger and palatial

Air Dreadnaught (300mx80m) 
160mph (1 turn per round) AC30 HD300 
Captain and 250 crew plus cargo and 2 combat squads of 25
Turret with 3x 380mm guns, Two turrets with 3x 150mm guns
8x 20mm double-barreled anti-air defence guns
20 medium MG for anti air defence and 4x disintegrator or 
death ray slamps 
Cavorite reactor and power plant can fly for years and recharge lesser vehicles
Large, heavily armoured flying fortress able to ignore most damage
May carry up to four Light Air boats or two Patrol Boats
May carry up to 12 biplanes or 4 larger seaplanes on hooks underneath and a covered flight deck with catapults, lifts, fire control and workshops
Has a vast array of specialist bombs: gas, smoke, hallucinogen, pox, 

d12 Golems Vehichle Personalities
1 Loves repetition and regular routines, grumpy and meloncholic otherwise LN
Changing our shedul again sir? How dreary
2 Enthusiastic, helpful and wants to be your friend NG
Hey someone is hooting at us should I turn around to show we are friendly?
3 Motherly and protective of crew and passengers, gives unwanted medical, romantic and career advice, makes you clean quarters LG Are you wearing scarves and mittens? Its very cold out there. Have you got a soup thermos?
3 Aggressive colonialists up for plunder, conquest and bombarding primatives LE
Tally ho chaps I smell treasure and cultural artworks to capture just over the horizon!
4 Loves war, gleeful and wild in combat +1 turn per round in battle, cheers with joy CE
Prepare for Ram Speed! Fire all Weapons! Wade in Blood & gore!
5 Curious and likes to explore and trade goods, scrutinises cargo and profits CN
lets negotiate and make friends so we can trade for supplies and information
6 Officious and bossy, likes paperwork to be correct and to turn a profit if mercantile LN
Im not sure if these people will have the right forms and paperwork to bother with
7 Fussy and worries about weather or strangers, reminds crew of safety rules LN
Do you think there will be a storm coming? Is that just Geese over there? Let's do a drill!
8 Bossy perfectionist, micromanages everything and can fly a ship on its own if it wants LN
You're doing that wrong. Let me take charge while you relax and do whatever it is you're good for. Don't bother about that sir let me do that. Perhaps you need some more food or to excrete some waste. It's time for a cigarette break, perhaps.
9 Wild risk-taking maniac loves wild manoeuvres thrilling adventure CN
Lets hit top speed and ride that storm front over that volcano for an updraft
10 Longs to bombard and destroy the tiny ant-like peoples below CE
See them squirming like bugs, disgusting, dirty ground vermin. Can we stop them sir?
11 Romantic lover and sometimes jealous, tries to seduce other vehicles CN
Whatever you want, darling, we can talk in private after dinner. I love you inside of me
12 Paranoid militarist always alert for the enemy, asks to have guns under its control CN
Perhaps we should declare red alert and shoot any moving targets or structures sir?

Not all these have golems
Golem vehicles resist non-magical weapons or fire, immune to most spells
Magical shells are required to hit the golem vessels
Golem vehicles can fly with fewer crew or possibly none
Weapons reload more efficiently 
Less maintenance is required
A rogue golem vehicle might be a dangerous monster
You could transfer a golem personality or shut them off, some have a backup personality

Turns are hex facing you, and you can alter per round
Most accelerate at 10% top speed per round, deceleration 20%
The bike versions have 50% acceleration and deceleration 
10% 

When you lose every 20% of HP on aircraft roll below (for normal vehicles)
With a Golem vehicle roll at 50% then 75% of HP

d12 Battle Damage
1 Ability to turn left reduced by -1
Ability to turn right reduced by -1
3 can't climb altitude
4 Crew injured
5 Open holes in the structure, turn-1 and top speed reduced 10%
6 Lose 1% of altitude per round
7 Trailing smoke, half speed
8 Fire broke out, losing 1d6 HP per round
9 Subsystem damage d4 1=Electrics & lights 2=weapons 3=equiptment 4=supplies
10 Control damages d4 1=circle left 2=circle right 3=decelerate 4=dive
11 Multiple fires d4+1 broke out, losing 1d6 HP per round
12 Explosion d6 per HD of vehicle, can survive

An engineer can try and fix these problems in the air, taking a d10 rounds (half if skilled)
A repair spell might work rapidly
A golem heals daily like a person, but appreciates help
Golems will complain when subsystems are damaged
The Golem makes less damage rolls because they are doing their best already

Airships like these travel the world to distant colonies and operations for rare alchemy ingredients unfairly hoarded by distant foreigners. An airship supplied can even build a concrete fortress or other structures and just lower into position with cranes. 

Other heavier-than-air vehicles are mostly millitary or sport, but there are some simple transport biplanes but the airships have better range and armour. 

All gnome tech and vehicles built for humanoids 2-3 foot tall so mostly unsuited to average humans. 

2 comments:

  1. This gnome stuff is great! A person could base a significant part of a campaign just on dealing with these guys.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. they are the invisible hand
      are they friend or foe?
      are they using us for some reason?
      occasionaly you detect their surveilance
      they might play their hand is it suits them

      meanwhile players fighting international slave trade and banking

      Delete

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