Tallinn - Interesting walled city

So these pix from Tallinn a walled city of Estonia. Once seven non Christian kings were invited for talks and murdered by Christians. Then there was a northern crusade to christianise people who had gold and land. Mostly occupied by foreigners (they liked Swedish conquerors best of all). Being tiny between Russia and Germany has had problems. Now enjoying 20+ years independence. My dad got away in war and wound up in Adelaide Australia. He was disappointed on arrival that the colonial-style pith helmet he bought in Suez was not required to keep you safe from crocodiles we don't have here. 

Was amazing walking around cobble streets with murderholes in arches everywhere and tiny graveyards in streets fenced with some oaks. Lots of these tiny old graveyards had what looked like megalithic structures. Some of the last such stones were erected in Europe. My Japanese friend thought it looked like a magical fairytale kingdom and found some weird things in rural museums that reminded them of home. Was a RPG game where you get to be Christians invading Estonia I found it hard to read or enjoy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallinn_Old_Town

Most Important Oldschool element? Plus Dolphin Secrets

 When i stopped playing d&d after as the second edition brown and green series in early 90s. I found the art and design less interesting and some of the writing bombing and by ppl not much older than me. I mostly played TSR marvel superheroes and Runequest3 as a mostly non gloranthan fantasy or history campaign. I was also getting into real history from gaming in 80s and was reading lots of the classics like Heroditus. I found TSR doing lots of history theme stuff I guess I liked but after a while of every setting plundering and mashing history, I got a bit tired of it and felt i could just read history books. 

So 12 years ago i got back into d&d and started this while i was sick lots and from requests. So I just wrote my own retroclone of cyclopedia + ad&d85 + some 3rd ed stuff I liked. The no1 thing that got me wanting to play old d&d the most vs RQ was the size of the statblocks in adventures. It took ages to stat up stuff in RQ with hot locations and strike ranks and some maths after rolling stats and even using average and recycling Monster Colloseum and published books. A game I played in the GM had a stack of paper bigger than a phonebook on statblocks (bigger than a real of standard paper). We had to do lots of prep. So old d&d got me back for the basic stat blocks. I can play most old-style games even Dungeoncrawl classics and all kinds of clone games from these simple statblocks.

Mostly they are ok to translate on the fly ad hoc. I find it harder for translating into later D&D which players often have more HP and damage output from lots of abilities. I sometimes when players over 10th Lv often use d&d5 and pathfinder and some OPEN GAME LICENSE splatbooks for more powerful versions of monsters. I find some of these products have huge blocks. I like the more concentrated animals and human enemy statblocks in many cases for being direct and compact. 

I recently bought a monster Comp book I'm gonna take ages to read as its like 4 inches thick. It has some great detail not unlike my own monster format with example scenario ideas. The Mutant Epoch RPG has a mutation table specific to many species. Stormbringer made it clear magic monsters of chaos are less often a consistent species. Any creature could be mutated but it also recommended making unique monsters more often. I like the idea of half all monsters being unique or variants and a surprise.

So what makes this simple stat block so good?

AC
HD
Mov
Att

From these, you play most creatures in a published product. Lots of the AD&D monster info I seldom used. The second ed was good in some ways but the longer monster descriptions added more lore instead of the tiny ones in Basic d&d or the 1st Monster Manual. This can be good sometimes but can also make it feel harder to have your own monster lore when everything about Mindflayers and Beholders is mapped out. Lots of this lore has been changed and will change again. I quite like Wikipedia descriptions, especially for goblinoids and faerie folk. 

I especially like BECMI uses asterisks on monster stat blocks to indicate how many magic plusses + are required to hit them. Some *** after HD to indicate power of extra abilities and are considered more difficult is a simple challenge rating system. I like special abilities bullet-pointed or listed. The AD&D monster cards were better laid out than the monster manual for statblocks, Having all the powers of a fire devil in a list instead of a block of test is more usable. Obviously more powerful weird monsters need own larger statblocks. Animals can easily be put on a table - invertebrates, birds, ungulates, plants, dinosaurs, marine animals (fish & whales no separate page for dolphins please with text from a children's encyclopedia and no cool fantasy lore). 

I did like the stat blocks in Gamma World 2nd ed that let you roll monster stats and had good basic info and format and size too. Ive used in my weird D&D games fine. Stats for creatures can get awkward in a system that is made to describe humanoids to assign horses strength. Or maybe quadrupeds get better encumbrance? Barrowmaze and works in that series have pretty good statblocks and art and I believe that are doing a monster manual or a PDF at least. I think the folder system of 2nd ed was a failure and made some monsters lumped together so you couldn't find them alphabetically and some grouped together well. Some stuff was pure fluff to fit on pages for the format.  One great flaw of the AD&D monster manual 2 and FF was to include a few naff monsters but not barrier peaks androids and robots. Where would we be now? It would have changed the game so much if weird science fantasy was built in at that time more. I like 2nd ed tried to consider species info and not just their millitary heirachy for wargames. But this lore had problems and narrowed campaign scope and originality more.

Other attributes I like are Morale which I also use for discipline to see if goons and mooks obey orders or guard properly. Or make sure they don't abuse prisoners or all run away looking for treasure or booze. Generally, I improvise this from how confident I want an enemy to be. Some things walking home might not be committed but if it thinks you are menacing its child it might be fearless or berserk. Undead are mostly fearless but possibly smarter ones might fear sunlight, the onset of dawn or even clerical powers that could threaten their mission. In the case of the many monsters id make higher HD subtypes and higher morale. You can always have a charismatic boss with a command radius to rally those with failed morale. 

So I have used a simple stat block myself for fancy monsters including variant abilities and scenario seeds like those below. I am considering some extra info about habitat, prey and companion species. I chose Dolphins because everyone knows I hate monster books with a whole page on dolphins and crap non dank lore.

The dice for optional abilities can be rolled through or chosen. Usually one per 3HD or some other limit helps. I give elites and bosses extra skills and HD 

The lore dumps can have untrue beliefs and should sound like fabulous medieval bestiaries not children's encyclopedias or 1970s animal fact cards collected in weekly parts. Thus the fiendishly nice dolphins here. I guess id like to do these statblocks for my game monster splatbook if i did one. What do ppl think of my Elfmaids & Octopi monster descriptions?
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Dolphin
Neutral Good Intelligent Marine Mammal

AC+5 HD 1-3 d8 Mov 1 Swim 36 Att Unarmed butt or tail slap or body slam d6 (2d4 if 3HD)
Perform a charge in a straight line for 6 Mov +1 hit and double damage
Up close in combat can use its body or tail. On land, AC is +3 Mov is 1
Can perform 6m acrobatic leaps, teamwork and has underwater sonar

Eat fish. Known as the Good Fish for aiding sailors, guiding ships and helping fisherfolk.
Some are ridden by sea elves and marine spirits and faerie folk. Hostile to sharks and various other marine predators due to ancient enmities from long ago. Dolphins have a hereditary nobility who are vassals of the lord of the ocean. Many lands prohibit harming them if they are friendly. In other lands, people hunt them to eat. Other people go fishing with dolphins who work and get a share too. Most fishfolk think dolphins are not proper fish as they breathe air and have nipples like a human. Fishlore says dolphins are disgusting mammal newcomers like whales to the sea and they all once walked on land and had hair thus they feel kindred to hideous walking worms that are humans. Most are blue, grey or white but some exotic ones in many rainbow colours especially magical ones.
_____________________________________________________________

1in4 Nuetral alignment and indifferent to non-dolphin affairs and wary of strangers and humans
1in4 Evil alignment for drowning sailors, ruining nets and chasing away fish, is a cultist and possibly serves hell or a sea demon. Some called devil dolphins or demon dolphins
1in4 +1 HD +1 AC veteran dolphin
1in4 human intellect and understands local sailor and coastal languages

1in4 Allies of humans or some marine humanoids who protect and avenge them

1in6 can lay hands by touch 2hp per HD a day they can use to heal by touch as a spell
1in6 can cast curse once per week on enemies or a clan can cast a more powerful ancient curse once a month on a ship, crew or bloodline
1in6 sonic attack 2d6 damage 2 range circle, dolphins are immune, one use per HD per day
1in6 allied with local sea elves or fairies who ride them and play with them as friends
1in6 is really a reptilian Ichthyosaurs or fish lizard and may bite as an unarmed attack and are kindly and helpful to lizard folk and humanoid reptilian peoples otherwise nuetral

1in8 gain an extra attack (bonus attack cant also be a charge attack)
1in8 extra fast Swim 48
1in8 telepathic with other dolphins

1in8 huge dolphin has +1HD +1 AC and any human size beast hit must save or knocked 3m prone 
1in8 speak undersea common and learn other languages of sea or land

1in10 telekinesis with 3d6 STR and 10 range per HD
1in10 telepathy at will by sight but once per day send long-range message to the same plane
1in10 ESP at will can read minds mostly used to understand others better
1in10 horn or antlers or tusk causes extra d4 damage on base unarmed damage
1in10 faerie dolphins are from undersea faerieland and can teleport 1km twice a day. Sense magical seas that overlap with the mortal world and portals, more colourful and human intelligence. Understand marine elvish and faerie languages

1in12 armoured +2AC with a +2 damage saw fin that is used to damage boats better
1in12 magicians have a spell per HD per day
1in12 ridden by a d3 marine pixies from the undersea fairy kingdom
1in12 if at least 6 gather can once per week summon an 8HD water elemental

1in20 shapeshifts into human form for an hour per HD per day or is a changeling dolphin spirit folk but doesn't like to be seen changing by humans, very pretty
1in20 can locate ancestral portals to a plane of elemental water to explore or adventure
1in20 can fly in the air as in water
1in20 magician has d4+2 level in a spell casting class

_____________________________________________________________

d12 Dolphin Adventures
1 A friendly dolphin has alerted locals to a shipwreck in progress and gathers help while sharks and wreckers try to finish off survivors
2 A wicked dolphin has driven off a friendly dolphin and needs to be gotten rid of so the good one comes back
3 Locals warn a shapeshifting dolphin has been surfacing as a human and making indecent and lecherous offers and promises
4 Sea elves offer to let you ride their dolphins to help recover a magic pearl from an octopus cave
5 Wicked marine murder hobos trying to kill friendly dolphins with clubs for meat
6 Pink dolphins with crystals in their foreheads have been seen battling vampire stingrays underwater
7 Dolphins chase a strange naked man from the sea who wants help recovering a treasure from the dolphins
8 A sea nymph in a chariot pulled by six dolphins has been kidnapping fisherfolk
9 A shipwreck on a reef is surrounded by sharks but if you could befriend a pod of dolphins they might help you reach it in return for fish
10 Local dolphins are under attack from an evil mutant chaos dolphin with tentacles that shoots bone darts from its nose
11 A wicked dolphin vampire has been murdering people around the sea and waterways and most recently was seen adopting a human form
12 Locals have seen a naked youth riding a dolphin and are curious if it is some feral child raised by fish or some magical creature luring mortals to their peril
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Let me know if this isn't the best RPG fantasy dolphin statblock ever

Some Undead Variants Two

So some more of these which is kinda a feature in my dream monster book would be mutations and scenario threads for every monster.

d12 Wightification

1 Elder warrior chief with a d4 throwable stone weapons and +1 spear cursed to any other wielder makes them have bloodlust and try to massacre all unconscious foes or prisoners. May have prehistoric huge beast companions 

2 Ancient warriors with bronze weapons and armour +1 AC carry a horn that attracts local lesser HD undead to its service, has a spear and a shortsword and dagger. Some may even have undead horses and chariots

3 War fierce barbarian berserker wights who once a fight starts are +2 hit and damage and fight when up to -10 HP (they don't lose HP from bloodless and Mov is halved). Some have even raided from the sea in unatural sunken ships

4 Dark warriors served a dark evil spirit long ago chasing magic trinkets and chosen ones. All are armed with swords +1 +2 vs good, for non evil users swords carry berserker curse. Wounds made with these require magical healing as natural healing won't recover this damage. May have undead hounds and horses or pterodactyl mounts

5 Knight carry a sword +2 to hit +5 damage, also +2 AC superior armour. Prefer to drain fallen foes or cowards, often exhibit codes of honour and archaic codes of combat. Prefer to fight worthy noble foes with sword combat. May ride a horse and have lesser undead squires and even use a lance

6 Bog can swim in water or even viscous muck, use ambush and may even grapple a victim and drag them under, they may also try choking or even use a noose or rope or net. They were sacrificed by druids long ago

7 Reaper wear black robes and carry a 2d6 scythe but are slow to strike like a zombie. Have been seen with mount and in other lands they may have other weapons like a two-handed executioners sword or axe, or a length of rope or a spiked club. They may act as executioners of wicked or enact vengeance or guard tombs  

8 Doom has a gaze attack as a spell causing fear to a target in 60 foot once a round as well as its use its touch or weapon in the same round. It enjoys hunting prey and can track hoping victims will flee to where there are more people. Many are dressed as hunters and may even use a normal spear or javelins or a bow as it closes on a target or to herd them. When it finally sucks out the life of prey it evokes its supernatural master

10 Shadow its touch also drains a d4 strength like a shadow and three times a day it can teleport through a shadow to another known one. Bright light lakes them blind and they prefer darkness or at least twilight or night. A candle or torch will ward them back a lamp or some spells spells or a bonfire will keep them outside a 30 foot circle

11 Witch these angry women were hunted and killed. They will have a spell per HD per day they can select of the same spell type (divine and arcane etc). Many have an imp (or other planar spirits) familiar in animal form. Can fly at their normal ground speed using a broom or cauldron or beast like a huge goat. Can carry passengers but reduces speed +1 halves speed, +2-4 quarter speed. There are also male warlocks mostly the same except they have separate orders or serve women coven as hunters of monsters and cult enemies

12 Pyre burned in cremation and can change from undead warrior to a burning flame pouring out smoke. Immune to fire. Will use a weapon that acts as a flamebrand in its hands. Uses a sword attack and a touch attack. Any within a 20 foot circle needs a save or lose 1hp from hot choking smoke. Sparks emit when struck by weapons and may ignite flammables. Will use fire as weapon of terror or distraction and hide in the fire to ambush confused people

d12 Spiritification

1 Corpsejack fragments of own body or possibly a ritual victim's remains are used as an anchor to this world which could be found and destroyed to release it. Some want to be released but for those that want to hang on they may animate their body as a corporeal undead of lesser HD for a round per spirit HD per day. Some can animate body and also act as a spirit or the body can defend itself if attacked while spirit is away and it will know

2 Tree is the spirits anchor and even in daylight is aware of activity around it. May produce an illusion form to pretend to be human briefly

3 Water body is the spirits anchor like a pond or creek or well or riverbank. It may manifest a body from water and muck resembling something human briefly

4 Treasure is a valuable item or object coveted by nobles and rich and usually magical is the spirits anchor. If damaged spirit may be banished

5 Idol acts as spirits anchor to this place which it may animate briefly and watch the world

6 Artwork acts as spirits anchor to this world and inside is an illusory world where the lonely spirit dwells. May produce an illusion form to pretend to be human briefly

7 Tomb spirit guards a holy or unholy place and may possibly not be evil but still wrathful. Cannot be turned in the holy or unholy zone it defends and as long as the location remains blessed the spirit can reform next full moon

8 Diabolic spirit sold soul to hell and now serves devils. Has a pet imp that it sends on missions to aid it and informs hell of every move

9 Shade is imbued with the power of darkness, nightmares and the underworld. May summon HD of shadows up to the shades HD each day. May visit dreams of people that interest it 

10  Bodyjack is able to possess a mortal beast or person and use it as it pleases until exorcised or abandoned. Strongly desires host bodies but eventually, the spirits fell powers like life-draining and ageing take their toll and kill them. A loved one or friend may aid the victim to break free with a charisma roll. Hosts with less HD are easier to control longer but might die faster for some spirits

11 Master is able to place a poltergeist per level in the area it haunts or guards or live in which can act as traps or alarms and security. A destroyed poltergeist requires the master to murder a new victim in the desired location without draining their soul

12 Cold blow freezing wind and air that can clear gas or fog. Anyone on 10 foot per HD in a 30-degree cone will take a HP per HD and be hidden in a white freezing opaque mist for a d4 rounds. Can use breath once per day and wall of wind once per day and blow smaller gusts and breezes at will

Spirits cover a wide range of spirits, phantoms, ghosts, spectres, spectral minions, shades, shadows, wraiths, ghosts and other things that go woo with sheets

d12 Vampirism
1 Servitor has only half HD and to level draining ability, can tolerate but dislike dim light of dawn or sunset. Serve their full vampire masters 

2 Vermin hideously emaciated with ratlike features, can turn into a swarm of rats or summon them instead of other animals. Hide in the darkness both coveting beauty and destroying it so no one can have it

3 Serpentine worship a subterranean serpent god who grants their power, turns into snakes and summons them instead of other animals and has paralytic psychedelic vision-inducing venom. Often ally with serpent folk and other wicked snake creatures

4 Lycan former werewolves killed in human form and made into vampires. No bat form or flight but use wolf form or any in-between shape it pleases at will. Devours fresh flesh, especially hearts and livers and lungs of the living

5 Penangelang by day lives among normal but by night the head and viscera float away to feed on victims then return to live among humans by day

6 Locust made by the lords of famine, can summon locust swarms that can devour crops or any organic material like rope or wood. Sheds to change shape to human and can change to and from human in a day

7 Sea marine based able to summon barracuda and transforms into a giant squid or octopus to attack ships and whales

8 Cranial has swollen veint bald head and drinks cranial fluid instead of blood. Drain a d4 INT per round on a helpless victim until zero when they die. If still alive recover 1 point per month. The points they drain boost their own intellect but drops one per day requiring more. Some also drain knowledge and even their HD in spell levels  

9 Siren prefers to steal charisma and especially enjoys the company of bards they can feed off and use to meet important people. Drain d4 CHA point each lasts about a day and the victim takes a month to recover each point so they often move on and don't have a set home as other vampires. They also learn a bardic song and spells this way and have a spell stored per HD. They can renew or change them by draining a new victim. Can live in daylight as a human but at night they gain supernatural powers. 

10 Ice wizened ancients who drain heat and life by touch. Wary of fire and vulnerable to being stabbed by holy water icicles and only take minimum damage from edged or piercing weapons on their frozen ice hard corpses. Can transform into various winter and arctic animals or fish

11 New Blood are aristocratic and desire power and status, they use vampire guilds and clans. Most are vain, spoiled brats and bullies and insist they are cool when they are creeps and bullies who wish to flaunt their power but limited by their code about hiding from mortals 

12 Old Blood are so old, bothering to act like humans is an effort and a bore (1 hour per HD). Their real forms are hideous naked winged nightmares that radiate fear in a 20 feet radius. The oldest remember the first generation of humans. Thankfully most sleep for decades feed and sleep for thousands of years. Many have levels in spell casting as per their HD and other often unique demonic powers and transformations

d12 Corporeal Undead Oddballs & Quirks

1 Infested with fungus which attempts to take control for a fungus hivemind using undead as drones. One will grow antlers that release spores and signify it as the colony master. If it dies another grows horns
2 Infested with moss, lichen, algae, roots and living creatures. Now is a humanoid marsh elemental and no longer connected to the negaverse and not subject to turning or spells targeting undead. Affected by plant or fungus magic
3 Disgusting bloated rotting corpse infused with disease and body is home to by a d4 obnoxious possibly intelligent corpse-eating groglins AC+3 HD d4 Mov 9 Att bite d3 who defend their home and food source. They may come out to eat other gore and take it home to repair their damaged host a d3hp after ten minutes of work with spare corpses. After any injuries from these save or contract a non-magical disease usually -2 all rolls for a d4 days or worse
4 So hungry for corpses it will even kill and eat lesser undead to get what it craves, starts off slow and subtle cullings then massacres. Will be aggressive and protect food even seizing it in combat and fleeing. Kind of goes along with general orders most of the time blending in 
5 Growing unnaturally huge and larger appetite and food aggression vs own kind. Gain several HD, possibly morbidly obese or tall or ogrish in proportions
6 Wants to be near people and spy on them which people find creepy and get alarmed. Has actual memories of what happens around it. Increasingly takes its own initiative and is more interested in prisoners it can talk to than murder or eating people 
7 Bone spikes and spurs on the body look painful and any unarmed or animal attacks on undead infancy a d4 damage on the attacker
8 Craves drugs, alcohol and vice but it can't really enjoy them mostly which makes them frustrated. Mostly obedient but if left alone will have parties and mimic human rivalry. A pirate necromancer preferred these for his skeleton crew. The more fun undead
9 Screams and moans frequently, mutters, swears at enemies and is incapable of silence 
10 Bestial characteristics like an abhuman beast hybrid folk, +2HP per HD, minimum d4 unarmed attack and possibly other abilities depending on species
11 Shapeshift into a monstrous animal form possibly good for travel

12 As long as on unholy ground regenerate 1hp per round

d12 Smart Undead Oddballs & Quirks

1 Has occasional streaks of independence from master and urge to destroy them

2 Falls in love or obsessed with some lover or revenge for some past lover

3 Craves flesh and delights in devouring living people but animals will do

4 Desires human blood, to be covered in it and bath in it, its like a euphoric drug

5 Gives superiors unwanted advice and tips, talks quite a bit

6 Takes delight in spying on and scaring people, somehow feeds from fear 

7 Revenge against enemies or anyone in the way is the only purpose

8 Obsessed with an occult mystery, lost treasure or historic secret to uncover

9 Cruel and sadistic and will play with victims instead of murdering them efficiently

10 Has memories of some past wrong it seeks to repair and alignment shifts

11 Receives dreams from a great hidden evil power

12 Seeks remains to resurrect or a corporeal form it can possess

When your dumb spirits and undead animations start thinking to much it's obedience is no longer reliable. There is a real danger they will go of on adventures and even become more powerful and even resent their creator once old business is done. A few undead even became sort of heroes and changed teams.

d12 Stuff Undead Don't Like
1 Holy Symbols 1hp damage to any touch, flesh burns and smokes
3 Salt handful causes 1hp damage, bucket brine d4, a circle or line requires a save to cross if fails takes a d4 damage
3 Running Water is difficult to cross requiring a save and taking d4 damage if fail, a mortal can assist them crossing water in a crate or wrapped in cloth, the sea is very difficult without help
4 Silver or Iron many types vulnerable only to magic weapons include either of these metals
5 Sunlight 1hp damage per round
6 Light -2 in dim light and -4 in bright light to hit, avoid the light as best it can
7 Flowers and certain rare herbs can form a barrier undead save to cross and take d4 damage if fail. If someone else moves the barrier they can cross fine

8 Holding holy symbols of the old faith like a live snake, mistletoe, an egg or pinecone. Various symbols of life used by nature worshipers regionally

9 Certain types of holy wood like rowan, ash or oak may cause damage as if a magic weapon is required to hit certain supernatural beings and a barrier like a door or window shutter of them cant be touched

10 Holy water usually a bottle does 2d4 or can be splashed over a 10 foot area for a d4, unholy water heals undead and evil priests carry them to heal their undead

11 Sound of a cockerel or morning church bells indicating sunrise is near, will make many hesitate and check they can get under cover or just flee

12 Fire harms most undead and some are more vulnerable, its a bit hard to use and not burn down your youse or in melee

Maybe undead need morale after all poor things with so many flaws

did find these during research

https://www.dragonoak.com/Magical-Wood-Properties.html

https://treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/trees-plants-animals/trees/rowan/rowan-mythology-and-folklore/#:~:text=In%20the%20British%20Isles%20the,or%20pentagram%20opposite%20its%20stalk.

Towers of Bologna, Italy.....Proof wizards are real

12th/13th century Bologna, Italy was full of wizard towers. Lots didn't last and there are many images of them toppling and leaning on each other. Seems like a perfect gaming wizard city. I did enjoy the Glantri setting book for basic d&d and would easily transplant it here or use it next door for that other wizard city. Frankly, if you apply ancient astronaut theory logic this city clearly proves wizards are real. Great historically inspiring snippet and proof of wizards secretly in control of everything obviously.

I guess every wizard at 10th Lv will nab a 10 000gp beginners tower then work on more impossible fabulous multi-planar towers at ten stories. One prob I had with a recent wizard tower book was the towers only had a few stories and seemed more like wizard townhouses which are less exciting and less powerful.

"Between the 12th and the 13th century, Bologna was a city full of towers. Almost all the towers were tall (the highest being 97m), defensive stone towers. Besides the towers, there are still some fortified gateways (torresotti) that correspond to the gates of the 12th-century city wall (Mura dei torresotti or Cerchia dei Mille), which itself has been almost completely destroyed. The reasons for the construction of so many towers are not clear. One hypothesis is that the richest families used them for offensive/defensive purposes during the period of the Investiture Controversy."

"Fewer than twenty towers can still be seen in today's Bologna. Among the remaining ones are the Azzoguidi Tower, also called Altabella (with a height of 61 m), the Prendiparte Tower, called Coronata (60 m), the Scappi Tower (39 m), Uguzzoni Tower (32 m), Guidozagni Tower, Galluzzi Tower, and the famous Two Towers: the Asinelli Tower (97 m) and the Garisenda Tower (48 m)."

Many were repurposed from the military (wizards) and turned into storage or residence or prisons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towers_of_Bologna

Some Undead Variants One

Zombie types for my post apoc games

http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2020/01/necrovirus-and-you.html

Petty Undead
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2016/02/d100-petty-undead.html

Zombie Jobs Pre Modern & Modern
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2022/09/d100-ye-olde-zombee-job-tables.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2022/09/zombies-need-jobs-too.html

Common Undead Varients
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2017/09/pimp-my-skeleton.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2017/04/pimp-my-zombie-lotfp-spell.html
I might Update These as entries in my monster book. I will start assigning extra HD to undead-like levels just like you do with humanoid elites. A Boss skeleton and his bodyguards sound cool. Wizard skeletons should have been in D&D always and not just in Bone Hill as a throwaway monster in the dungeon they didn't even give a proper stat block and missed being in later monster books.

http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2015/09/d100-petty-ghosts-and-hauntings.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2021/09/are-undead-inherently-evil.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2013/08/d100-hauntings-and-recap-of-last-year.html

So I did a SF/Modern era zombie type table and notes on my necrovirus. I thought recently for my fantasy could be more common types. I did eventually find my above d100 variant zombies and undead but I need quick and common variants. Sometimes d12 range for common variants works better and paints a picture of stuff happening.

Possibly when creating undead you could sacrifice total HD to gain some of these

d12 Skeletal Variations
1 Scatter Bones can assemble or disassemble themselves and form a pile. Fake destruction or ambush well. Pretending to recover from destruction can be intimidating

2 Warrior Bones Functional scraps of armour and or shield +d3 AC

3 Ammo Bones Uses missile weapon possibly d3 javelins or bow or sling

4 Clamber Bones climbing ability half move up any stone or non-polished surface, don't take falling damage and may ambush by dropping or entering upper story windows

5 Bone Brothers are created by the same spell or source all minds linked within 12, enough to come to each other's aid and work in a highly coordinated manner

6 Witch Bones intelligent and malicious skeleton of a cultist bound to an evil otherworldly power. The skeleton acts as a spy and agent of the power and is resistant to normal undead control. It will pretend to obey without taking unnecessary risks. Its master may take an interest and send agents, cultists, or lesser demons to investigate. It requires magic weapons to hit. Mostly you find one among other skeletons and do not know it. The longer they exist the more HD they gain and develop additional spell-like powers

7 Iron Bones take minimum damage from piercing or cutting weapons, axes half, full for blunt

8 Burning bones inflict 1hp to anyone within sword reach per round from heat, skeletons are immune to fire (could be alternate elemental types). Long weapons are safe if you have room but if it can hit you in melee you also get burned 

9 Undying Bones recovers 1HP per day lost in moonlight or unholy places, reanimate if defeated but not destroyed by fire or treated with drops of holy water or other destruction

10 Bone Scavenger - After a battle may scavenge bones from the battlefield as first aid to heal a d3, sometimes skeletons will kill and strip the weakest one if they need it. Using bones from fresh corpse looks revolting and bones may have varying ages and condition

11 Broken One -If destroyed a part of the skeleton is now a petty undead body part AC3 HDd4 Mov6 Att d3, creates one per HD of original

12  Magi Skeleton has eyeballs and intelligence and is a spell caster, some have hair, may wear robes and weird hats, and use staff or dagger in melee. Some cast one cantrip with as many uses as they require instead of knowing proper spell casting or many have a spell per HD

d12 Zombified

1 Fresh can still pass as a human but body language is limited and has normal initiative rolls. This is a temporary condition as body decays for only a d4 days

2 Spore first time hit per day all in 10 foot area save or take d4 from toxic fungus

3 Withered +2 AC from dried skin, normal initiative and move, if hit with flame must save or ignited for d4 damage per round until ash

4 Spirit has part of the original person's soul that can see what happens and can do nothing about it, some try to speak and beg for destruction or warn opponents. Its spirit if spoken to will be grateful and as informative as can be

5 Brine can swim and see in water as on land, smell like pickled fish within the same room

6 Putrid has a vile stench, if within 10 feet save each round or vomit and helpless prone for  d3 rounds, this effect can only affect any person once per day 

7 Flystruck has a cloud of confusing flies 10 feet around that causes enemies to -2 save and can trigger morale checks with animals or followers

8 Moaner enemies in 30 foot have -1 Hit and Save rolls from eldrich utterances

9 Warrior Bones Functional scraps of armour and or shield +d3 AC

10 Cannibal Corpse if eats a freshly dead creature recover a d6 HP once per day

11 Gorebag if killed it bursts with putrid gas and fragments, all in 10-foot area take d4 (even zombies) and save vs poison. If failed they have a disease that stops natural healing requiring magic to recover from

12 Plague Carrier if anyone they hit is killed they arise as a zombie. Anyone injured who fails a save and dies in the next d4 days arises as a zombie

d12 Ghoulified
1 Screamer howl that causes fear within 30 feet once per day

2 Hooved feet can leap 20 feet once per round and are covered in thick black shiny hair, very gleeful and dance on graves and blood makes them drunk

3 Marine move and see in water as on land and can leap 10 feet out of the water, often dressed in mariner clothing

4 Monk wear monk robes and as long as they are chanting they get +1 to hit and save and resist turning. They don't talk and may try and pass as humans from a distance. Some even carry scythes and spades and picks and tools instead of unarmed attacks to keep up the illusion briefly. Seem to act in a coordinated group mind. Often travel in processions and may even have a corpse wagon or cart

5 Crawling can leap 10 feet once per round and can spider climb at will

6 Cannibalis heals a d6 damage after eating a large meat meal and an hour's rest

7 Graveyard ghouls follow a master ghoul who can make areas unholy with a ritual per night and can undo the holy protections over the dead. Only one master can occupy the same area so multiple will fight while their minions watch and will serve the winner

8 Nightkin these are not evil, look human mostly and just want to live with their undead friends and eat carrion as the cycle of life and strife demands. They are tight nit groups like a cult or family. Will try and talk their -way out of fights but may fight over wanting to eat some corpses. May even trade grave goods for corpses. Occasionally some want to follow adventurers to clean up after them. Some have even married and hidden their monstrous true form. Sometimes humans help them or even hope to join them

9 Skinless these have no skin but know how to remove human skin they can wear for d4 days and hide among humans

10 Glowing phosphorescent from subterranean minerals and alchemical waste, produce light as a lamp and all living in the light must save once per round or lose 1HP (multiple fields don't have cumulative effects they just extend the overall area

11 Holy can cast a priest spell per HD and will create unholy zones or remove holy zones to create ghoul nests. Eating human flesh is part of rest requirement to use spalls daily

12 Shadow can turn invisible in darkness and be exposed in any good light source and have jet black skin. Have spent time in the dark nightmare realm and can cast sleep once per day

d12 Mummified

1 Bog preserved in a peat bog, immune to natural fire and non-flammable

2 Beast has an animal head and is more alert to sound, small and can track

3 Swarn vomit up a swarm once per day from the body usually bugs or rats

4 Salt fire resistant and surrounded by a 20-foot cloud of desiccating salts causing 1hp damage to living beings

5 Ice fire resistant and can three times a day breathe a 30-degree cone of icy mist 20 foot long

6 Tendril can make two bonus grappling attacks within 30 feet per round with bandages, will snatch victims then drag towards mummy touch requiring spending an action to make a strength roll to escape. If both strands grab one person they can't attack until they break free from at least one

7 Snake each blow with a cutting or piercing weapon releases a venomous 1HD snake from inside AV+3 HD1 Mov9 A d3+poison save or lose 1hp per round for a 2d4 rounds. Mummy often fills its home with them and leaves as traps.It may control one snake and use its eyes with concentration to employ it as a scout. Other evil beast cults might have similar animal powers

8 Changeling has a human form for one hour per HD of life force they drain from a dying creature. Some try and spend time among humans or get stolen treasure or look for lovers

9 Arcane was a wizard and has HD in spells memorised in some fragments in its soul, can teleport once per ten minutes to anywhere in its tomb and may have a sealed chamber

10 Holy was a priest and has HD in spells memorised in some fragments in its soul, is immune to turning or magic to command undead, and can command lesser undead with under half mummy HD or less. Will stock home with undead minions

11 Spirit glowing bandages and can become ethereal at will to pass walls or make escapes or hide its sarcophagus behind a wall with no normal entrance 

12 Jade immune to fire and magic but encrusted in 2d6 x 1000gp worth of jade pieces

d12 Dumb Undead Oddballs & Quirks

1 Distracted by food wants to eat bodies or vermin 

2 Dislikes fire and tries to avoid it or magical fire

3 Dislikes light and moans and limps and carries on

4 Occasionally resists bondage and returns to its burial place or home

5 Twitchy and its a bit annoying and creepy and can't stay still like most undead

6 Moans or screeches can stay silent once enemies detected

7 Mutters prayers and makes religious gestures and reverent before masters religious paraphernalia and will bow and prey on knees

8 Keeps trying to sleep preferably in their own resting place, another undead stand in line but this one takes a nap and takes a bit of noise to wake up maybe after a battle

9 Self-conscious about appearance and tries to improve clothing and tries to groom its decaying face and comb it's falling out hair. Will take clothes from other undead or corpses, may attack the best-dressed foes

10 Has a pet rat or beetle or another small critter, it may preen and feed its pet and try to speak

11 Chatty and won't shut up, some gibberish, some witty, some make bad jokes or puns or ask questions. Others have singular topics they bring up like herbal remedies, polearm classification, demonology or other trivia. Annoying to adventurers, evil high priests and necromancers 

12 Become self-aware through an evil spirit, has own desires and ambition though often just revenge. Will seek out dark powers 

Next Time Non-Corporeal and heaps more smarterer undead

Exciting litanies of failure update

I have about 21 posts in my drafts some have been there for years. Once it was only a few. Occasionally I purge some docs I doubt I will be excited about or become dated. Here is the current status of my draft box. A few Items are drafts for in-progress books. Going through them now I killed off two and might have a crack at finishing a few others. Interest from random internet ppl might influence this.

My to-do list still has hundreds of items but that's more forgivable. I might post a version of this and see what people might like to see me do.

Acid Mines of Neon Mountain draft which has all art and map and logo assets for a book. Some more writing but also stalled a bit over recent licensing dramas. Im doing a playtest soon and working on making part of the rule set open-source CC or something. Possibly call Fantasy Heart Breaker FRPG-TTG. So some progress and stalls.

Review of two games I promised for years which i quite like but find it difficult to express

Kosmosaurs tables I started and may finish and may publish somewhere. I ran the game a few weeks and had struggles scaling up risk vs experienced characters who add even a few extra dice to a situation they would struggle with earlier. I definitely enjoy the cartoon vibe but id probably use for 1-3 session games maybe a backup quick game when we cant get right mix of players in person.

Blank d100 this is where i get my d100 numbers from i cut and paste to other posts. Once had other stuff and accidentally destroyed it. A few time developed/carried some formatting bug and I've had to recreate a few times.

Two Exilon Drafts for the book in development I'm a bit lazy on.
It's also directed the campaign we are playing now at 11th Lv and about to run a wizard war empire campaign with tactical and strategic war and adventuring. Poor players, I give a diplomatic deadline but I then tempt them with cool dungeons that cost them meeting kings. I need a session of collecting my images on this in one place and setting up a book for the production. I think it would benefit from more content for the setting possibly priest and god mechanic. If I released it shortly Id probably end up writing and posting more after the fact. Book now could help me run the game.

An article on my increasingly unhappy with HP Lovecraft, Atlantis and Ancient aliens in games, comics and pulp fiction. Links in with some stuff on appropriation many people are grumpy about when I recommend not robbing indigenous people who are mostly worse off for this. Its overly long and serious and feels like a uni essay. Oddly Ive fought on how to dislike HPL "correctly" and been defriended over this even though we both agreed he was racist. Splits more to exactly how harmful and how can we use it now. Id argue HPL fandom is far worse than the writer and more of a problem. Lots of unpopular opinions here also. I had pretty much completed my Mythos collection and now considering purging some. I might need to re invent my take on this to play again.

Legend of the Magic sewer children My novel draft. Its about lives of orphans in Shadelport being aided by a hag to have glorious careers just to destroy a three thousand-year-old bridge. It's sort full of rambling side stories and footnotes in part like some Greek, Iraqi and Indian lit. 

My list of d100 topics

Elemental battle toads One of my silly things when I try to design some elemental occult nonsense for a game. This was a system of elemental toads which you could breed into combo toads with para-elemental powers. Super bloaty nonsense. Remember kids it's better to write game twaddle than believe you can make extraordinary claims about science and history and reality online.

Some tables I wrote for someone. I usually give Apple a 2-year freeze I won't use in a book myself if I lease a table out. I will put them in a future comp revision of my Folk book or Shadelport or Auldwood.

Some magic notes of basic types of magic id done years ago and notes for XOR magic and my failed meat elemental magic system that helped put XOr on hold. Monsters were another issue - needed more local ones. SOme alchemy notes. Here is a bit:

Death Wizards practise Vernichtungcraft or Necromancy
Bone Wizards practise Knochencraft or Ossimancy
Blood Wizards practise Blutcraft or Sanguinmancy
Flesh Wizard practise Flieschcraft or Carnomancy
Animus Wizards practise Lebencraft or Animancy

Bundle of notes on classes and subclass ideas 

76% of a d100 sexbot generator

Just deleted the post on domain play and being nicer to humanoids

75% global supervillains for modern, espionage and superheroes
actually, with all the tech billionaires around now i could probably finish this

Cards in RPG - rambling thing on my use for cards. Mostly i like them for dramatic story stuff in games like BRP that are pretty deadly. My superhero and D&D-clones don't really need this so much. Most games feel like an add on or gimmick or microtransaction

35% through a Cthulhu mythos occult auction filler table i ought to just finish with all my archaeology books in arm's length. Might put this and some other mythos stuff in a COC fan content book one day. Mostly the quality of their art and layout are a huge turn off. Sometimes I like well-produced stuff or find it overdeveloped. Just like Goldilocks.

Hell article about ed greenwoods Hell in Dragon and listing all the devil types and source. Part of a big project I got on hell. I got about 5/7ths through a book on hell. Possibly my brain in a different place now. Have a huge list of hell posts on my to do page and planned a book on an adventure through hell that could be replayed with minimal GM work.

Pile of SF setting notes. I'm writing some stuff for my cults in space SF stuff not sure where going or my game ability.

Weird Blogger Warning!

Blogger gave me this message:

"This post was put behind a warning for readers because it contains sensitive content as outlined in Bloggers"

But no idea about the post it refers to 2100 posts including this one.
I have no idea of the sin I committed.

If anyone sees such a warning please let me know what posts or if the whole blog has a warning.
Maybe too many innocents were harmed in a d100 table.

I quit google advertising over similar vague comments about 5000-word docs that might have had some vague content issue it found at random. At least FB gives me a vague deranged reason and mostly tells me the post it means. Sadly I'm currently in FB prison for threatening harm to Jesus on an atheist group in a hypothetical question response. At least Twitter suggests your phrases potentially make you sound a bit like an internet terrorist like a grammar recommendation which you can learn from. Rather than just autoflagelates you in an AI star chamber. When your dog dies you like to know why not just get a letter saying we took him he is dead now and cremated.

Wishing you all well and good luck in your efforts to be nicer.

Update: Blogger says it has deleted a post and i don't know which

Update: The blog was removed due to content but I found it was unpublished not deleted wo was in my drafts folder. It is a piece complaining about toys gendered for girls being pink and comments on toy sales at the time it was written. I can see maybe MRA or Incels might not like it. Will see - I have asked for a review. Quite a few years ago 2015. I suspect someone found it and made a complaint. Had 848 views and a few positive comments.

d12 Backgrounds for Broken Hill, Xor and my Space Colonial Settings

So based on the last post

Would love to hear from readers about stuff I should be doing here this year. 
Any old settings to revisit? 

These could also offer skill suggestions also for characters

Been writing a thing about space explorers looking for out of contact earlier colonies finding humans on odd planet not on records with archaic technology, strange design like for not humans, archaic earth languages and DNA that seem to predate possibility of space travel. Over generations of bad contact the colony is left alone on a quarentine colony and out of bounds to the more recent advanced colony. People mangage to not get into conflict with them. Some speculate an anti tech cult put all tech on colony ship and sent it into the sun or a colony module was destroyed in volcanic activity. No idea where its going and part of my cults in space stuff I guess.

Humans are the default so please feel welcome to replace human with tiny purple horse people or ninja aardvarks or whatever furry is cool this second your playing. Its up to you

d12 Broken Hill Early Years Backgrounds
1 Feral child living in the bush possibly with a gang of feral kids
2 Small families of farmers in waste are often attacked by gangs or paying them off
3 Small wasteland farming community with well-organised defences and trade
4 Gang child in settlement of wasteland maniacs where kids looked after each other
5 Ruin settlement living off ancient scrap and trade, kids played in the rubble
6 Huge fortified urban centres with awful ghettos and dangerous industry 
7 Isolated community hiding in a badly patched up worn ancient complex 
8 Functional bleak bunker complex or worn ancient tech operated as gruelling dystopia 

9 Pleasant bunker community unprepared for the surface worlds problems  
10 Utopian pleasure garden bunkers where drugged residents were occasionally taken away forever 

11 Habitat complex of ancient tech in space or under the sea 

12 Lived in the ancient world as a child and then frozen for centuries possibly for medical reasons or as a 

d12 Broken Hill Later Years Backgrounds
1 Lived with a nomadic road gang
2 Lived in the wilderness alongside tribal people
3 Worked as a labourer in dangerous industrial sweatshops or mines
4 Scavenged ruins living off and selling cool garbage from a hideout
5 Enslaved by and sold into service to the labour 
6 Forced into pit fighting and professional brawling 
7 Lived in a sleepy rural town or settlement which was pretty nice
8 Travelled with nomadic hippy clan putting on feats and shows with lots of drugs and parties
9 Trapped by an AI or androids in a complex and experimented on
10 Lived with gangs in the ruins fighting for turf and stealing food
11 Studied in an isolated bunker, science cult temple or a restored university settlement

12 Trapped in a failing underground bunker complex and trying to get out

d12 Xor Early Years Backgrounds
1 Budded fully formed youth from the very flesh or Xor, often from pool, cave or ground 
2 Nomadic family who travelled seasonally through subdermal flesh caverns
3 Formed as a clone in a village of clones (ancestor reproduce by budding?) 
4 Found as a baby and raised by some non-human species or monster as own
5 Delivered by a flying creature to your parents who performed a ritual to call it
6 Hatched out of an egg, pod, clam and found by common folk
7 Born from a species not normally associated with bipedalism and found by tribe 
8 Traded to non humans as a child and grew up among strange ways 

9 Magician changed your species and made you a human for wannabe parents  
10 Lived in a thriving ancient flesh citadel or cathedral cavern complex 

11 As a child your family cannibal cult found a gate to Xor a paradise of infinite meat

12 As child saw your universe devoured by Xor and somehow survived despite your poor preperation

d12 Xor Later Years Backgrounds

1 Lived with a nomadic tribe traveling the surface and in the subdermal worlds of Xor

2 Kept as slave labour and cattle by cannibalistic dwarvern morlocks in the deep
3 Found a secret wilderness cavern with good hunting but lonely. Who lived their before?
4 Village life in a good safe isolated location favoured by Xor 
5 Trade town crowded with people many strange and foriegn 
6 Lived in shanty town or district of a citidel full of vice and crime  
7 Lived in upper districts of a bone citadel overlooking the crowded lower zones 
8 Lived for a time is a utopian flesh citadel that cared for inhabitants but eventually resisted the narcotic effects and escaped 

9 Lived in shadow of a citadel of Xor managing the terrain and making it fruitful for the urban peoples. Mostly safer and treated better than urban poor. Produce strange flesh fruits for the elites not grown by the city interior
10 Adopted by nobility to replace losses and lived well 

11 Community overun with degenerate mutations turning people into protoplasmic monsters  
12 Beings antithetical to Xor from beyond invaded and killed your community d4 1=plague demons 2=chaos hoarde 3=alien mutants 4=undead

d12 Colonial Space Era Early Years Backgrounds

1 Isolated outer system habitat looking to leave Sol forever one day  

2 Gas giant orbital or lunar outpost or fuel refinery or a classified research habitat
3 Born in the belt on mining or industrial habitat, most resent Terra and its AI

4 Mars colonists engaged in generations of terraforming and tech innovation, own local AI declared independance

5 Luna colonists from one of the famous crater cities, own local AI declared independance

6 Terra still undergoing terraforming post limited nuclear exchange where AI managed to rebuild civilisation and send people into the stars. A council of AI operate government with an elected human consultation committee of over 3000 delegates  
7 Terran orbital in one of the stations or mega habitats or shipyards in space. Working on building a ring around the earth 
8 Inner planets habitats or orbitals or cloud cities from the hot zone 

9 Born on a old slow FTL generation ship intercepted by more recent patrol vessels and taken to join already operating colonies at their destinations from generations of faster ships 
10 Automated FTL colony ship intended to print human clones at the destination to accelerate faster without meat on board, intercepted by more modern ships and taken to operating colony 

11 From first generation of one way ship colonies who enjoyed long isolation from Earth and joined the commonwealth by the the first fleet of current FTL technology scouts and gunboats. More habitable but some local unique traits often developed during phases of terraforming 
12 From settlers of a later generation of high risk colony ships designed to carry dozens or even a hundred colony modules and stasis pods. Intended to system hop help set up colony and collect fuel for the next jump with reserves for a few extras. Contact is still being made with these colonies and they were often made of groups most hostile to AI controlled life on earth. Many had distinct identities based on old nationalism, religion or cults. Many went weirder and modified colonists to suit planets instead of terrforming

d12 Colonial Later Years Backgrounds

1 Outlaw clan in outer system hiding isolation

2 Lived in vice filled ghetto on crowded habitat
3 Got a working contract operating in system ships for transport and industry  

4 Spent decades in cryosleep on slow interstellar trip 
5 Student in higher education specialty 
6 Joined military and hunted illegal modified humanoids, rogue androids, defective AI or rebel habs and colonies 
7 Joined law and dealt with in system pirates and crime
8 Worked in new colonial and habitat construction on new world

9 Nice safe government admin job on a safe colony in system or interstellar 
10 Colony in violent civil war or violently resisting to join the Sol Commonwealth 

11 Agent of habitat, colony or specific planet or moon, often had a modest job far from home and reporting local activity
12 Recruited to report directly to one of the big AI back on Sol operating with some trade or government cover job