Castle Gargantua

taking a break from Sorrow in Haven for a bit. the new artwork is coming in (Scott Lemien) , which is fantastic, but I just can't start the editing process - need to spend some time looking at other things. So right now one of my players is running a 5e game for the group, but that is set to finish up shortly. Another is going to run a KULT game when he is back from a trip to Vietnam. In between, though, I I've prepped for a game of Castle Gargantua!

The Game System
I wrote up rules that I'm calling BXHD. They are basically BE(CMI) D&D with an adaptation of the Target 20 system. Human characters only - which means cleric, fighter, mage (I've always hated "magic-user"), & thief. Then to add some spice, I'm using a variation on the Random Character Advancement to allow for characters to have a bit of elf blood or be more barbarian than fighter. I'm 100% OK with a thief taking a ranger roll or a cleric picking up something from the barbarian table. Should be fun :)

I'm also a sucker and had to add in OVERCASTING. Mage and Cleric can cast a spell beyond their "safe" limit (spell slots), but failure has consequences. Magical Chaos in the case of the Mage, Atonement requirements in the case of Clerics.

... and the LUCK stat. CC is 3d6 in order ... then roll for Luck and you can swap it with another score. There might be a LUK check sometimes, but mostly characters can burn the score and get a +1d6 on their d20 rolls. Characters with a positive LUK modifier are "lucky" and those without are "unlucky" - that will start showing up immediately when random targets are assigned and whatnot.

The Castle
I took the random generators in the book and created some Tablesmith tables, then generated the whole damn castle, each region having 1d4+4 rooms. 20% of the rooms have descriptions pulled from my random dungeon generator instead of those in the book to add some spice, and i added a few other bits including a few restock rolls to make things faster later.  Generated rooms look like this:

Area 5-3: TUNNEL, Rectangular chamber (3x2) [STONE]   Furniture: Man-sized      Lighting: Dark   Enter from 1      Exit 1 (N): Iron door; room after corridor with several turns and doors   * Drizzling rain Restock: Monster: Valkyries Restock: Nothing Restock: Nothing Restock: Monster: Border patrol Restock: Nothing

Area 6-6: TOPIARY GARDEN, Circular chamber (radius 5) [LUST]   Furniture: Mixed      Lighting: Illuminated   Enter from 2      Exit 1 (W): Wooden door, painted; room after climbing several flights of stairs      Exit 2 (S): Wooden door, painted; room just behind exit   -- rotted Tatters lie bundled against a wall. Wode tattooed pigs pursue, nipping at heels   # Monster: Houris   # Loot: A sturdy copper collar with a chain worth 9cp Restock: Nothing Restock: Nothing Restock: Nothing Restock: Nothing Restock: Nothing

I wanted to include the option for classic D&D monsters too, so 50% of wandering monsters are the patrols from the book, which are awesome, and 50% are random D&D critters (basic and expert only). The D&D creates are generated with NO REGARD for character level because that is just more fun. They don't have to fight them - they just encounter them, maybe in the middle of something else. Sample from the generator:

Castle Guards x3   Made of: Rotting Flesh. The guards always attack last.   They can shoot black laser rays for 1d8 damage with their eyes in addition to their standard spear attack.   HD: (rabble), AC: 7, Spear: 1d6 (rabble scale)

Gargoyle x2 (Chaotic)   (B30) HD: 4 XP: 125 Treasure : C Mv: 90(F150) Morale: 11 Save: F8 AC: 5 Thac0: 16 Attacks & Damage : 2 clws (1d3), 1 bite (1d6), & 1 horn (1d4) * Can only be hit by magic or magic weapons * Not affected by Sleep or Charm

Bandit x1 ( Neutral)   (B25) HD: 1 XP: 10 Treasure : U(A) Mv: 90 Morale: 8 Save: T1 AC: 6 Thac0: 19 Attacks & Damage : 1 weapon

Castle Guards x4   Made of: Tin. The guards are considered to be wearing chain mail armor.   They ignore all creatures except undead.   HD: (rabble), AC: 7, Spear: 1d6

They list Thac0, but only because I couldn't be bothered to remove it from the generator as it was written ages ago. Same with the treasure - that isn't happening.

So ...

• I've pre-generated 2 Castle Gargantuas (one for a game I'm trying to run at the Granite Coast Brewing on their game night, the other for my home game).
• I generated a few pages of wandering monsters, to be used by either game
• I created a "quick view" of the monsters presented in CG for quick reference
• I have the game system written up/out and ready go
• Character sheets are ready

I'm super stoked to run this properly ... dipped my toes in a year or tow ago with a single session, but this is full prep madness. If anyone is interested in the tablesmith tables, let me know; i can set you up with everything.