Runequest Spirit: The Spirit of Lost in the Dark.

Lost in the Dark

In the most recent game session of Runequest, my group of heroes was escorting an Issaries merchant whose life was under threat by a pack of Baboons (the 6ft tall ones that talk). They had decided that they were going to travel throughout the night to get to Clearwine as quickly as possible. I already knew, as the GM, that the Baboons were not going to attack them on this trip. The Baboons had no idea that they had left and were traveling to Clearwine and by the time they did realize, they would not be able to catch up to the group. To make this journey more interesting I crafted a Spirit Encounter for the group to experience during the night's trip. 

One of the great things about Glorantha is that most things in that world have a solid spiritual connection. Disease in Glorantha is not caused by microscopic lifeforms, they are often caused by Spirits. When the wind blows it's not because of gases moving from high-pressure areas to low-pressure areas. It's because there are Wind Spirits that move to their own rules and myths. So I thought to myself - what if the reason why people become lost in the dar was also because of a spirit who plays upon the mind of the traveler, making them confused and making it difficult to recognize where they are traveling through. In Glorantha there are elemental Darkness spirits and much like any of the other Elemental spirits, there are various kinds that exist. So following that line of thought I used the rules in the Runequest Bestiary to create an unintelligent Elemental spirit for my players to contest against them. This encounter is a Thinking Problem more so than a Fight it Problem. 

Spirit of Lost in the Dark / The Wandering Darkness / Wayward Darkness

Traveling at night is stressful and often dangerous. When night replaces the day, darkness covers the land and the known world changes. Some places that seem pleasant in the light, turn into scary and uncomfortable places in the dark. The natural world can take on a frightening appearance and many creatures, both alive, dead, and spiritual use the cover of night to stalk the land for prey. Campfires and lamp lights only providing a margin of protection and comfort against what awaits in the dark. Traveling at night should be avoided because of the dangers that the darkness represents and veils from sight. 

Only Darkness creatures, such as Trolls, are afforded any comfort in darkness' presence. Trolls know and find comfort in Darkness having been born from it. Their gods exist in that darkness and trolls know darkness for all its shades and depths. So when humans become lost in the dark, trolls know that it isn't just because humans can't see through all the shades of darkness that exist and are confused by the dark beauty that Xentha paints the world in. They know that a Darkness spirit wanders the night making those who cannot see in the dark lose their way.

The spirit of Lost in the Dark is a type of unintelligent elemental spirit of darkness believed to have first appeared during the Great Darkness when Yelm's light chased the darkness and their children to the surface. This darkness spirit will follow any group it finds traveling in the dark, hovering in the air above them. The first sign that this spirit is following any traveler is that the night appears more murky, even during a full moon, and light sources will dim or even extinguish under its chilling influence - a common effect of Darkness Spirits. While traveling with this spirit above them, the travelers will become confused and confounded, finding navigating the dark path more difficult. The spirit will even use its few Spirit Magic Spells to further the traveler's misdirection and confusion. Often this spirit will lead travelers on to a path that leads to danger. It is believed that these spirits feed upon the fear and confusion generated by creatures lost in the dark, but others suggest that they are disordered spirits of darkness whose only purpose is to add disorder to the dark.

Type: Darkness Elemental Spirit

POW: 3D6+6; CHA: 3D6

Spirit Combat: POW x5

Move: 12 (fly)

Spirit Powers:

- Elemental Form

- Affect Environment: Darkness Aura makes the dark seem murkier and confusing within its 12 matter diameter. -30% to any form of navigation or perception check while within the affected area.

- Spirit Magic Spells: Befuddle, Conceal Item, Forget. 

- Darkness Elemental: Any fire, heat, or light source taken within this spirit (and weaker than it) is extinguished by its Darkness. Troll Darksense is not affected by a darkness elemental.

Hope you find this spirit useful. I might put a two-page adventure up on the Jonstown Compendium for this Darkness Spirit if time allows. I'll even make some illustrations so you can see what this spirit looks like with second sight.

Dungeon Pets

Dungeon Pets

My second offering for Zinequest 2 is a project that I have working towards for over a year now. It is an offshoot of my weekly monster drawings, but made up of Monster, you can train and take as pets in a D&D game.

I launched the Kickstarter today to see if I can get it in print. You can click on the Dungeon Pets name above, and it will take you to the Kickstart page. Some of what I am going to talk about here is repeated on the KS page.

Dungeon Pets is an RPG art zine full of strange and fantastic creatures that adventurers in a roleplaying game can take on as pets. These creatures are similar to animal companions but have no class or level restrictions in regards to who can be their owners. Just like a house cat or a dog, an adventurer can purchase these pets and, with time, train them for many different takes to make them valuable companions while out on an adventure.

What is a Dungeon Pet?

These strange and fantastic creatures that exist in a living fantasy world. They are not Monsters that attack villages and adventurers seeking gold, blood, or power. But are just cute critters that live in the world who are a bit more amazing than the typical cat or dog. 

One such pet is the Necro-Hamster. These undead critters make the best pets for those who often forget to feed or water other pets. Though many religious groups might frown upon their existence, these cute monsters only use their necromantic powers for the good of their owners.

Sample of the Books Layout:

The zine has few game mechanics. There are rules for training your pet, what kind of skills they can acquire, and rules on pet health. They do not have the standard 5e monster stats but instead are left open for easy conversion to other game systems, only using D&D terminology to help guide a Gamemaster in using these creatures in their games.

Pet Health.

Exploring the deadly regions with your owner can be dangerous. Below is an explanation of how a Dungeon Pets health works.  Every pet has two parts to their health; a select number of Heart Boxes and a Hit Die type, these range between D4 and D12, which are used in place of tracking Hit Points.

This idea comes from Matt Colville's Strongholds and Followers book, but in this case, I simplified the process by making it an HD roll instead of a CON Saving Throw.

Final Thoughts.

The Kickstarter will be going on for 2 weeks and will hopefully be as well-received as The Black Pyramid has been. I am looking forward to a full spring of proofreading and publishing. As the Kickstarter moves ticks long, I'll be making more posts talking about a few of the pets to give you an idea of what to expect from the zine.

The rise of the Batfolk

All art by me, Josh "Skull" Dixon

Batfolk

Another week and another new monster, but for this site, this will be my first post about a weekly monster drawing I made. So I think it's is great that a creature that turned out really well should mark this occasion. I would suck if the first Monster drawing post I had to make for this site was for a monster that I thought was less than what I was hoping for.

The Process

The way I create all my monster drawings usually follows the same process and the Batfolk monster is no different. almost every time I sit down to start drawing I don't have an idea in mind. I come to the board seeking something awesome and see where the session takes me. Some times it is good to let your mind wander and to express itself however it wants. this practice helps you generate ideas that you probably wouldn't have thought of and allows you to stretch and grow as an artist.
Most of the time, when I start, I begin by creating a silhouette. I use a Concept artist technique, where I just create a random shape and from there find the creature or person that the shape inspires me to make. I have many examples of this up on my Youtube Channel, which you can find a link to off to the side of this page. So check them out if you want to see how the random silhouette works in a timelapse video.
Once I find my inspiration, I break the silhouette down into shapes and build out the character from there. I don't stay strictly to the shape of the silhouette, I break out of it when needed, to create a strong character pose.
Once that is done I draw the final version of the creature in black ink and then color the whole thing, staying in a 3 color process for the whole thing. This is not that I only use three colors, but that at most there is a Base color, a Shade, and a Highlight (when needed).

My Thoughts on the Creature

As I draw I usually think about what this creature is, how it moves, what it eats, etc. This all helps me try and reflect this through the pose and some of the characteristics I choose to add tot he creature. So for the Batfolk, I knew I didn't want it to be a brainless creature. So I made it standing upright like a human and gave it clothing and tools. I wanted them to be scary looking, but I didn't want them to be a clique, so I gave them some of the colorings you see in fruit bats. The Orange chest hair for instance. I could have made them a flying race but I didn't want them to be like the Mna-bat from Batman. I imagine if any of their race does fly, maybe its the females. Maybe that's how you can tell them apart. I also thought it would be great if they were vampire hunters and so added Silver jewelry to this guy above. I also wanted to make his head huge just because I love the contrast between that and the rest of his body.

Anyway, hope you like the drawing. This is all thanks to my patron who encourage me to keep up with these drawings by supporting me on Patreon. As well as all you people who give me high fives and heart emojis when I post art on Social Media.
Until next time, Have a good weekend.