Character Challenge 2026 - Catching Up - Otto's Ghosties

Ghostie armor is
technological, not magic

This collection of characters is all third-level characters with secret weapons. They are known to Otto, and he fears them with good reason. 

Of course, these characters were created for Old School Essentials, but I am going to link to a copy of Fiend Folio on Drivethru. It fits the vibe of these three characters and their creepy equipment. 

Thomas Reed, Third Level Human Thief

STR 11
INT 10
WIS 13
DEX 15
CON 12
CHA 14

HP 10
AC 7 Leather

GP: 7 SP: 100 CP: 100 EP: 0 PP: 0 Gems: a small diamond, 100 gps

Spells: None
Languages: Common

Equipment: 
Elven cloak
Ghostie dagger
Ghostie veil

Greta Southpaw, Third Level Fighter

STR 16
INT 12
WIS 11
DEX 14
CON 14
CHA 10

HP 22
AC 4 Chain and Shield

GP: 67 SP: 80 CP: 18 EP: 0 PP: 0 Gems: None

Spells: None
Languages: Common

Equipment
Ghostie chainmail
Ghostie longsword
Normal shield
Ghostie veil

Marrick Hollower, Third Level Fighter

STR 13
INT 10
WIS 11
DEX 12

CON 14
CHA 15

HP 27
AC 4 Chain and Shield

GP: 100 SP: 25 CP: 25 EP: 0 PP: 0 Gems: None

Spells: None
Languages: Common

Equipment
Ghostie chainmail
Ghostie axe
Ghostie shield
Ghostie veil

Previously, I mentioned Ghostie equipment. Rather than sketch out these characters, I will describe the Ghostie weapons and armor they have and how they use them. 

Ghostie equipment is high tech, not magical. All Ghostie equipment is old and battered. 

Ghostier armor and weapons have many strange properties. Ghostie equipment is always +1. However, it has many other properties that inspire terror in opponents. Creatures of animal intelligence must make a morale check when the equipment is around. Typically, they will flee rather than stay around to fight someone using Ghostie equipment. 

Let's start with the armor. 

Ghostie equipment cannot be directly sensed. It can only be seen out of the corner of the eye. Once out of sight, creatures forget they saw it. If worn and buttoned up for combat, it stops making any noise caused by movement. Distressingly, the wearer's voice and breathing are amplified. The wearer cannot stop this. If the wearer is motionless and quiet, there is a good chance (a save vs. paralyzation) that they will be mistaken for an empty suit of armor. AND forgotten when the creature looks away. 

Opponents should flee.

If someone asks the DM about this property, the DM should gaslight them: 

"Armor? I didn't say armor. Oh my god, an armored thing sneaking up on you - roll for initiative!" 

If you can manage to get a jolt out of players, do it a couple of times in a row. Don't let the PC's make any rolls except initiative. Do everything yourself. At the start of each round, use a script like this: 

"You're winded and lying on the ground. As you stand up, you can't remember how you came to be on the floor. It seems important. The room is empty except for scuff marks on the ground where you fought...  

"The armored thing is coming at you! You remember it hit you. Roll for initiative!" 

Lather, rinse, repeat. Eventually, this will get old, and you should stop. Assume the terror is weakened by exposure. Animals won't hang out for this type of abuse. After a while, the characters will figure out how to compensate for the forgetting and the terror. Any indirect spell or weapon can easily hit Ghostie armor, such as fireball, magic missile, vials of oil or acid, etc. 

Ghostie weapons are +1 to hit and damage. Since they can't be seen directly, the user gains a bonus of 1 to their AC. On to hit rolls, a natural 20 skips the damage roll. The strike will do weapon type's maximum damage ( and a +1) and forces a roll vs. poison. If this save failed, in 1d3 days, the character will begin to suffer from infection. This is caused by the debris and dirt that the weapon pushed into the wound. 

Ghostie weapons are also invisible to direct sight and are forgotten once out of sight, just like the armor. This creates a curious problem when they get dropped because they affect the owner as much as opponents. 

These three men have a sheet of Ghostie material that they cut up to use as a mask or veil. It is utterly terrifying because their faces are blank spaces, but it doesn't have the full effect of armor or weapons. 

The most common armor is plate and mail, followed by chainmail, and/or shields. There is no such thing as soft Ghostie armors. Weapons come in several types: hook-like daggers, axes, stilettos, and long swords. There are no Ghostie missile weapons, spears, hammers, or maces. 

Let me know what you think. 

Character Challenge 2026 - Catching Up - Pieces of 8

I liked creating Willy Pete and his Merry Gang, so this time I created 8 more characters as a group or party. Six characters are 1st level while the remaining two, Thrain and Elma, are second level. They are currently co-leaders. 

Oddly, the thief, Otto Grimm, pulled the party together. He is a bit perplexing, having low wisdom and modest intelligence with a gift for languages. He was able to fool the other party members into following him until the ideas and cash ran out. At that point, the most experienced characters took over. The Bollin Cay, the fighter decided to call the group "Pieces of 8" since they had 64 coppers, silvers, and gold. 

Let's sketch out this party, starting with the co-leaders, starting with Thrain and moving on to the elf, Elma. 

Thrain Ironfist, Second Level Dwarven Fighter

STR 15
INT 13
WIS 11
DEX 10
CON 14
CHA 10

HP 12

AC 4 (chain, shield)

GP: 8 SP: 8 CP: 8 EP: 0 PP: 0 Gems: None

Spells: None
Languages: Common, Dwarven

Equipment:

Battle axe

Backpack
7 torches
50’ rope
Iron rations
Pickaxe

Hatchet
Bedroll
Change of clothes 

Maybe Elma has a shield like this.

Elma Strider, Second Level Elf

STR 10
INT 13
WIS 12
DEX 14
CON 11
CHA 10

HP 9
AC 6 Leather, Shield

GP: 8 SP: 8 CP: 8 EP: 0 PP: 0 Gems: None

Spells: 
Languages: Common, Dwarven, Elven

Equipment:
Longsword
Hatchet
Bow and 24 arrows

Spellbook
Elevn cloak
Wineskin
Hatchet

Iron rations

Bedroll
Change of clothes 

You will note all the characters have a hatchet, rations, a bedroll, and a change of clothes. They are carrying everything they own on their backs. They do not have much. 

Elma and Thrain have hopes of either joining a crew heading to the Isle of Dread or becoming a guard troop for a caravan heading north. If they join a crew, they will have no need of a leader. If they join a caravan, they have decided Elma will lead. Thrain is currently the leader in the port town. 

Bollin Cay, First Level Human Fighter

STR 14
INT 13
WIS 10
DEX 12
CON 13
CHA 11

HP 7
AC 5 Chainmail

GP: 8 SP: 8 CP: 8 EP: 0 PP: 0 Gems: None

Spells: 
Languages: Common, Elven

Equipment: 
Spear +1
Long Bow and 24 arrows
Short Sword

Hammer
Lantern

Flask of oil
Tinderbox 
Lyre
Hatchet

Iron rations

Bedroll
Change of clothes

Nissa the Quick, First Level Halfling

STR 15
INT 10
WIS 11
DEX 16
CON 12
CHA 13

HP 5
AC 6 Leather and shield

GP: 8 SP: 8 CP: 8 EP: 0 PP: 0 Gems: None

Spells: None
Languages: Common, Halfling

Short sword

Silver dagger
Sling

Backpack

Lockpicks 
Greatcloak
Flask of oil

2 sacks
Tinderbox 
Hatchet

Iron rations

Bedroll
Change of clothes 

Alvin, First Level Cleric

STR 12
INT 10
WIS 15
DEX 11
CON 13
CHA 11

HP 6
AC 5 Chainmail

GP: 8 SP: 8 CP: 8 EP: 0 PP: 0 Gems: None

Spells: Clerical
Languages: Common

Equipment:

Holy Water Sprinkler (1d8) 
Sling +1 30 bullets

Backpack
Holy symbol
Holy water
Prayer book
Music book
Drum
Tinderbox 
Hatchet

Iron rations

Bedroll
Change of clothes 

Alvin, Cay, and Nissa make up the heart of the party. They all have an interest in music. They are also the only ones with magic weapons. They are the first to gather firewood and set camp, and the last to leave the camp after cleaning up the dishes. 

They perform whenever the rest of the party lets them. In town, they have busked the party a free drink or ten. They really aren't that bad... at singing. 

They can handle dishes and starting fires, but the three of them are abysmal cooks and worse at hunting. Even picking berries and fruit doesn't go well for them unless under the guidance of someone else. They are the happy little band. 

Morcant the Pale, First Level Magic-User

STR 12
INT 16
WIS 12
DEX 11
CON 10
CHA 9

HP 4
AC 9 Robes

GP: 8 SP: 8 CP: 8 EP: 0 PP: 0 Gems: None

Spells: Light, Locate Object
Languages: Common

Equipment:

Staff
Knife

Backpack
Bronze torc
Spellbook
7 books, ink & quill
Tinderbox 
Hatchet

Iron rations
Small tent
Hammer and tent spikes

Bedroll
Change of clothes 

Lovers under a tree

Dawn'wen Star, First Level Elf

STR 10
INT 15
WIS 10
DEX 14
CON 11
CHA 12

HP 5
AC 7 Leather

GP: 8 SP: 8 CP: 8 EP: 0 PP: 0 Gems: None

Spells: Detect Magic, Light
Languages: Common, Elven, Dwarven

Equipment:

Rapier
Bow and 24 arrows
Dagger
Sling

Backpack
Silver torc
Tinderbox 
Hatchet

Iron rations

Bedroll
Change of clothes 

Dawn'wen and Morcant the Pale are the team's unlikely couple. Both are soft-spoken, often quiet but friendly when they get speaking. The two barely speak to each other, but are great friends. They are the only ones who sleep in a tent. Dawn'wen hunts with her bow, and Morcant cleans and cooks what she provides. 

Both wear expensive torcs of matching designs. The rest of the party suspects these are bands of ownership and believe they are escaped slaves. The rest of the party would never dream of asking. The torcs and the couple occasionally attract ill-attention. Such attention is usually handled by Otto Grimm. 

Otto Grimm First Level Thief

STR 13
INT 12
WIS 6
DEX 17
CON 11
CHA 13

HP 6
AC 7 (leather)

GP: 8 SP: 8 CP: 8 EP: 0 PP: 0 Gems: None

Spells: None
Languages: Common, Elven, Halfling, Orc, Goblin, and several others.

Equipment:

A pair of stiletto's
Mithril long sword
Sling
Wire garrot

Lockpicks
Lock grease
Chalk
Vial of acid 
Holy Water
Tinderbox 
Hatchet

Iron rations

Bedroll
Change of clothes 

Otto is a gregarious man of little wisdom. He talks a great game, but when the rubber hits the road, he comes up short all of the time. No one is exactly sure how this moron knows so many languages, but he is great at them. 

In combat, he is extremely wily and dangerous, packing more weapons than anyone else. He has a fine Mithril sword that, by all accounts, should be magical. The party has tested it several times, and it has a distinct lack of magic. 

Dawn'wen Star has a theory about Otto. He is an assassin, one who has been cursed to be good and lawful. Thrain believes her more than anyone else, because he has seen the results of Otto's hand when anybody bothers the young couple.  

Well, let me know what you think of this crazy crew of characters. 

I'll end today with the overt commercial: 

I use Necrotic Gnome's Old-School Essentials, but picked up the boxed sets from a Kickstarter. You can approximate this with two titles: The Referee's Tome and The Player's Tome. Or you could taste test it with the Basic Rules. These are free.

Since I mentioned in two posts, here is a link to Isle of Dread on DriveThruRPG. 

Character Challenge 2026 - Catching Up - Mugwar

Here is a character I reverse-engineered: Mugwar, the Man of Mystery. 

A few years back, I made an impulse purchase of the Dungeon Masters Adventure Log (Link to Noble Knights). I know this is an item I always wanted, but never had. When I saw it at Noble Knight Games, I had to have it. 

The prior owner wrote in it... as they should. Nowadays, I can just scan and Photoshop a new book for myself, but there is a lot of value to me in a pre-loved book. 

Of course, these aren't full-character sheets, but I can guess what they might have looked like. Rangers have minimum stats, and the prior owner kindly wrote some bonuses to AC and attacks. I can also tell this was AD&D e1, but they also had Unearthed Arcana because they had a Caviler in the party. 

One oddity, and I don't find it too odd, is that they had a Halfling in the party. I do the same thing, mixing and matching B/X and AD&D. 

It appears that Mugwar survived approximately 8 modules. He leveled up from 1 to 9. He has used many different weapons and many different types of armor. 

Mugwar Ninth Level Ranger

Strength: 18/76
Intelligence: 13 
Wisdom: 14
Dexterity: 16
Constitution: 15
Charisma: 9

Hit Points: 61
Armor Class: Various

GP: 0  SP: 0  CP: 0 EP: 0   PP: 0 Gems: None  

Spells: Unknown
Languages: Common

Equipment: 
+1 Broadsword

Usually, I start with the commercial. Today, it's at the end.

I use Necrotic Gnome's Old-School Essentials, but picked up the boxed sets from a Kickstarter. You can approximate this by purchasing two titles: The Referee's Tome and The Player's Tome. Or you could taste test it with the Basic Rules. These are free.

Out of Order in the Court!

I keep mentioning how I want to run X2 - Castle Amber as a solo adventure because the characters in my last solo adventure lost all of their gold and equipment. This state disallowed X2 - Isle of Dread. No cash for a ship. This also creates a couple of side issues. 

First, the Bills are in the playoffs. Second, the party is too small. Third, I have a bunch of laser crafts to finish. And suppose that someone should do the dishes and laundry. 

Ok. Laundry and Dishes are done. 

I'm back to the main issue at hand. 

I need more characters. So I rolled up a few to reach the 36 levels needed for X2. I'll describe a few of them after the list, because I stole their names from good books. 

Yes, this is turning into an Amazon Ad. 

• Merry the Halfling, Paladin, 4th level
• (Ana) Khouri, Post Human, Fighter, 4th level
• Lance, Human, Fighter, 1st level
• Alexei, Elf, Bard, 2nd level
• Pizzaballa, Elf, Cleric, 2nd level
• Nodonn, Human, Fighter, 4th level

I stole the following names from books: Merry is from The Lord of the Rings, Ana Khouri is from Revelation Space, and Nodonn Battlemaster is from the Many-Colored Land Series. Pizzaballa was stolen from a real person: He is a Cardinal at the Vatican. I find that hilarious. 

Let's start with Merry. In every edition of D&D that I own, Halflings are not allowed to be paladins. In 3.5 and beyond, it is possible. The reason I allow Halfling Paladins is, according to LotR lore, by any imaginable measure, Merry, Pippin, and Sam all became powerful heroes and leaders. Technically, they do not remotely match a D&D Paladin except in name, but I allow it. Here is a link to the books. This is a link to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The next two links are also Amazon ads.  

Nodonn Battlemaster is a lord from the book The Nonborn King, a part of the Many-Coloured Land Series. He is an alien, but I cast him as a human. His people, the Tanu, are the prototype for Elves. 

The last character I stole is the most interesting, in my opinion. My campaign world is post-apocalyptic, so Ana Khouri is stolen from a series of science fiction novels, Revelation Space. She has travelled to the stars before returning home to Earth. She is thousands of years old, thanks to high-tech rejuvenations and time dilation. She has been many things: spacer to soldier, mother, and assassin. 

With that background in place, she should have all kinds of superpowers. I decided against that. She does have some special abilities: She has infravision and vision like a starlight scope. She has machines in her blood that make her immune to two very particular spells: slow and haste. This is because she has been engineered for long life. She also receives the maximum number of HP per level. 

Mechanically, she started life having 18s in every stat, but as she ages and becomes more removed from the high-tech society that did this to her, all of her stats are falling. She appears typical for a human fighter of this epoch. Her highest stat is a 17 in Dex. She is agile like a dancer, but not inhumanly so. 

Having described these new characters, I can list off the remaining characters from my B2 sessions: 

• Solvo, Elf, 3rd level
• Thomas, Cleric, 3rd level
• Jude (aka Punch), Knight, 2nd level
• Rety, Thief, 3rd level
• Dorian, Cleric, 3rd level
• Sybil, MU, 4th level
• Belaphon (aka Bel), MU, 3rd level

In reading over the module, there are no particular items the player characters need. I have decided that the party has 6 healing potions. The old party will keep all of the items they used to have, but have accidentally misplaced the Eyes of the Eagle. They lost those, like I do with my glasses, 3 times a day. 

The new party members will have magical main weapons, but they lack other magic items. Two of them have an elven chain, which is AC 4 due to the craftsmanship, not magic.  

The only magic item I had my eye on was a Staff of Healing. But it felt unnecessary as the party has 3 clerics and a paladin, plus those 6 healing potions. Castle Amber has a lot of nooks and crannies to hide in for healing. A magical healing device is pointless. 

The next challenge will come soon enough. I need to plan a dinner for 13 people at Chateau d' Amberville. I shall consult with my family. 

One of the issues with this meal plan is how time-consuming it is. Each and every character is being offered 10 items, for a grand total of 130 choices, and 36 of them don't mean anything. It's like going to Panera Bread on Hangover Day. The line is long and grumpy. I need to find a way to streamline this. What I had in mind doesn't seem very good. I will get back to you once I finish this deadly meal plan. 

The DM's Rubric - X2 Castle Amber as an Example

In my last post, I said that X2 Castle Amber made me a better DM, but I did not fully explain why.

What makes a good DM and good players is understanding the assignment. There is a reason that meme exists. Most role-playing games give players and referees specific roles, often resolved through specific die rolls. Understanding which choices matter, which rolls apply, and what the consequences are is critical to fun and successful play.

I used to be a teacher, and one of the hardest lessons to learn was how to create a good rubric.

X2 Castle Amber made me a better Dungeon Master because it forced me to understand the difference between player agency and railroading, and how inconsistent expectations around choices and die rolls undermine good play. In teaching terms, Castle Amber shows what happens when a game’s rubric changes without warning. Learning to recognize that made me a better DM in every game I now run.

A rubric, as I like to define it, is this:

“A scoring guide that clearly defines the criteria, expectations, and levels of achievement for an assignment.”

In role-playing games, this means understanding how different roles and different die rolls are meant to work. When those expectations are clear and consistent, play improves.

I have touched on learning before. The White Box Set teaches gameplay through tangible examples. My five-star review of the 2000 Dungeons and Dragons movie is about how not to run a campaign (or a movie). My earlier X2 post describes a real learning experience at the table.

The first thing a DM needs to learn is what is and is not a railroad.

In my Keep on the Borderlands series, I ran the same end scenario three times. I prepared over one hundred monsters for a large fight. Two runs ended in total party kills. One did not. The difference was player agency. In the successful session, the players did the unexpected. I did not force them into a fight simply because I had prepared one. 

Players do not know or care what the DM prepared. If they show agency, they should not be pushed into a predetermined outcome. The thief might back away. The wizard might find a clever solution. The cleric might use magic. The fighter might decide the fight is not worth the cost. That is not avoiding play. That is play.

From the DM’s perspective, this should be a success. The players are engaged. It's a consequence of having great players, not a failure to anticipate what is needed or desired. 

Yes, it is frustrating to prepare material that does not get used. Too bad. That is part of the job. Having those monsters ready does not mean they must appear exactly as planned. Presenting the same material in a different way is not railroading.

If the party disguises themselves as enemies and talks their way into the leader’s tent, only a few of those creatures might ever be used and probably not in a fight. If they encounter the group of 100 creatures in smaller pieces and defeat them through magic, logic, or trickery, that is also not a railroad. In each case, the party made meaningful choices despite what the DM planned. 

De-escalating a railroad situation is not railroading.

X2 Castle Amber works differently. It presents a series of changing criteria and expectations. It uses alternating rubrics, and structurally it is a railroad. The players are trapped and pushed from scenario to scenario like a movie. The fun comes from recognizing the railroad and finding the exits. The module describes only one exit, but players are savvy and smart. They might come up with 3 exits. 

This only works if the players are competitive and willing to play that kind of game. If they are not, the DM should not run it. The same warning applies to “you wake up in a prison,” “the king summons you,” or even “you meet in a tavern.” Any of these can become a railroad if handled poorly.

At this point, you are getting spoilers for a 44-year-old module. I don't feel bad, but if you don't own this, perhaps you should stop reading here and buy it at DriveThruRPG.  

Consider the boxing match in X2. It is a straightforward sequence of attack rolls with the option to quit. The rules are clear and the odds are fair. The very next encounter, the dining room, is completely different. Survival depends on a chain of choices and saving throws. A saving throw is not the same as a combat roll.

An attack roll rarely kills a character outright. A saving throw often represents a single moment of survival or death. In the dining room, players are given chances to avoid those saves, but they are not told that those choices matter. The consequences are not clear. If the DM presents this poorly, the players may never realize they had a choice at all.

From a teaching perspective, combat is a series of connected decisions that lead to random outcomes. Each result feeds into the next choice. The character has agency.

Dice are uncertainty. Don't roll them
if everyone is certain. 

A saving throw is one roll with no follow-up. X2 makes this worse by mixing saves that grant benefits on failure, events with no rolls at all, and standard save-or-die effects. The rules change from scene to scene. When players face many such challenges in a row, survival becomes unlikely, not because of poor decisions, but because of constant uncertainty.

This reminds me of another lesson about rubrics.

In school, passing is often set at sixty-five percent. That may not sound impressive, but context matters. On a spelling test of seven to twelve words, that threshold makes sense. It balances difficulty, memory limits, but not the fairness. 

Problems arise when teachers scale assessments without adjusting expectations. A twenty-word spelling test with a ninety-five percent passing requirement allows only one mistake. That is unreasonable. It also confuses failure with consequence.

I remember having to write misspelled words ten times each. That was not failure. It was reinforcement. I was not retested, but I learned the words. That is a consequence, and it is good teaching.

The passing bar stays at sixty-five percent because some people have advantages. Some know spelling rules. Some do not. Knowing when to apply “I before E” is like knowing what the Deck of Many Things is before drawing from it. The situation is stacked whether you realize it or not, and there is nothing hard and fast about applying rules of thumb. "I before E" is often wrong and a Deck of Many Things is usually a deal from the bottom. 

In role-playing games, failure and consequence are often treated as the same thing. In real life, they are not. Surviving Castle Amber’s infamous meal, where the rules and consequences change from roll to roll, is hard. It can work, but only if players understand the choices they are making.

I have already scripted out the meal and the boxing match to conform to how I should have done the meal years ago and to match how I really handled the boxing match. One is what I wished I had done and the other will be a retelling of a good experience. I hope you roll with the creative drama. There will be spoilers warnings on the dramatic turn in my posts. And hopefully some sage advice. 

To survive Castle Amber and enjoy it, both the DM and the players need agency at the table. Once you understand what choices are available, you can make decisions that lead to success as a player, a character, and a DM.

I hope you will follow my future series on Castle Amber. I will be running it solo so I can explain the choices I make from both sides of the DM screen.

And now for the overt commercial: 

I use Necrotic Gnome's Old-School Essentials but picked up the boxed sets from a Kickstarter. You can approximate this with two titles: 

The Referee's Tome and The Player's Tome. 

I hope that I can replace my original D&D books someday. 

You can get the Basic PDF from DriveThruRPG, and they offer both The Expert Book and B2 as print-on-demand. I cannot tell you how nuts that makes me. Why offer parts 2 and 3 as POD but not part one? Pull it together, WotC. You do crazy stuff. 

And for that matter, if they had the BECMI titles in POD, I'd own those, too. But alas, WotC. 

Returning to the Party

I used the OSE rule set for my last solo campaign run. You can get a copy from DriveThruRPG. This is the super bundle; you can actually pick and choose from various titles rather than purchase the whole bundle.  

I plan on taking the party to the Isle of Dread; however, I need to reboot the group. 

In the last session for the Keep on the Borderlands, the party lost several characters: Lefty and Slammer, Celia, and Dorin, plus several other unnamed NPCs. Additionally, some of the characters have changed wildly. 

Punch now uses his real name, Jude, and has become dedicated to the priests at the Keep. I imagine this is a tiny religious group based in the kingdom to the west of the Keep. Jude is now adventuring to become a fine and proper knight, with lordly guidance. In this case, he is seeking a religiously minded lord. While this might sound more like a Paladin's quest, it makes sense in the context of how he became a Knight in the wilderness.  

Sybil took an evil, murderous turn. She has returned west with the party to seek out her family and get herself back. Rety has joined her. Sybil's father is a magic user and adventurer, and her mother is a ranger. The two women hope to find some solace from the wise and experienced parental units. Rety isn't traveling with Sybil for support, but for self-healing. At the family home, Rety spends her days on a small boat on the family pond, trying to find some way to pick up her life after the disaster in the Caves of Chaos. She lost many friends and blames herself. 

The rest of the party: Dorian, Thomas, Belaphon, and Solvo took the same path as Sybil, Jude, and Rety. The tables have turned, and they now follow Simon the Drover and his two daughters. They have been making ends meet by performing guard duties for various shipments and caravans, but the work is very boring. 

On the positive side, Hender and Sonny have tagged along, and the party is vaguely amused by Sonny's attempt at a relationship with one of the drover girls. He has no idea what he is doing, which pleases Bela and Liz to no end. They haven't had this much positive attention before. Simon is less enthusiastic about Sonny's misadventures with his daughters, but remains aloof. It's a lot like watching a puppy learn how to socialize. Or house broken. Or something like that. 

The first issue I have in setting up X1 - Isle of Dread is that the party has no ship. They also have very few funds. In fact, Simon, Bela, and Liz are the only people with any significant funds, as Rety was paying them a lot. The adventuring party could sell of some of their goods to make up the funds and supplies they lost. Rety did leave several thousand gold back at the Keep, but that leaves them dozens of thousands short to purchase a ship. 

I am tinkering with OSR Solo to brainstorm ideas. There is a lot of meta going on here, as I run down things that seem reasonable, but after reflection are somewhat unworkable. I'll let you know how that goes. 

One choice that I have solidified is that Hender, Sonny, Liz, Bela, and Simon will be on that ship, but as NPCs that won't adventure much. That leaves the core group of Jude, Dorian, Thomas, Belaphon, Solvo, and Sybil. They will need new friends to adventure with. These new adventurers will not be the remnants of the NPC party they met in the Caves of Chaos. They are done as adventurers and have set up shop in the Keep. Maybe they will come back someday. 

I really haven't been using figures for this project, but I have to tell you, a collection of plastic dinosaurs sounds great right about now. Here is a link to a good-sized set on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

I hope you join me for this new adventure coming in December or, more likely, January 2026. 

The Cloak of Wonderous Items

The Wizard Dallehm is a long-dead character in my campaigns. But he was the owner of many magic items and the inventor of several spell ideas. He did not live long enough to create new items or spells.  

Besides the famous crown, Dallehm also owned the Cloak of Wondrous Items. One of the Cloaks is in the possession of Sybil, and is a copy of one her father owns. How Sybil's father came by it is unknown. 

The Cloak of Wonderous Items is similar to a Robe of Useful Items, but with the ability to return non-living, non-burning items back to the cloak for later use. This is done by covering the item with the cloak or brushing the cloak over the item. 

New items cannot be added. Nothing that comes from the cloak is lit or on fire. Burning items must be extinguished before being returned. 

I stole this idea from the Many Colored Lands series. One of the characters has an outfit festooned with tiny pockets with components to assemble devices that are not otherwise allowed where the owner is going. The implication is that searching a cloak is tedious and would only turn up items that are allowed because the individual components are benign. It's the combining of items that makes them useful and dangerous. 

The cloak always has 2 of the following: 

• A pair of daggers, one silver and one cold iron, 
• A 12-foot tent pole, 
• 8 iron spikes,
• 1 large wooden stake, 
• A torches,
• A tinderbox, 
• A waterskin, full, 
• A mallet, 
• A hatchet
• 1 shirt, 1 pair of pants, and boots, all sized to the owner. These are neatly folded in one package.

There are 3d6 other items found on this random generation table: 

01-04    A pair of war dogs. 
05-08    A riding horse, with saddle and bags.
09-15    A bottle of wine or brandy with four wooden cups
16-22    A rowboat with anchor and oars. Holds 8 people. 
23-30    Logs and tinder, suitable for a campfire lasting all night in the coldest winter. 
31-44    A wicker mantlet. It's a siege shield with wheels and is usable by anyone. 
45-51    100 feet of rope.
52-59    A trestle table with two benches, and bowls of bread and water for 8 people. 
60-68    A rack with 6 crystal vials. 2 are holy water, two are oil, and 2 contain a powerful acid. 
69-75    A round shield, not usable by the Magic-User.
76-83    A lantern full of oil, unlit. 
84-90    A potion of healing with 8 doses. Returns 1d4+1 hp per dose. 
91-94    An 8-man tent, unassembled. It has its own spikes, mallet, and tent poles. 
95-00    A pig on a spit, ready for roasting. Serves 3d12 people. 

Alternatively, you may simply choose to have every item available once. 

The healing potions are unique and can't be returned. The same for the oil, acid, and holy water vials in the rack. The horse and war dogs also cannot be returned to the cloak. They are permanent and genuinely love the cloak's owner. 

Returning the table, waterskins, wine and brandy bottles, and roasting spit, emptied, will regenerate the food and liquids 24 hours later. Returning torch nubs or empty lanterns will regenerate the tinder, oil, wicks, and torches in 12 hours. 

Broken or lost mundane items may be replaced with an exact substitute. Characters may not replace items with substitutes if they still have the original item. 

The owner of the cloak always knows the properties of the various liquids. They will never mistake a vial of acid for a healing potion or holy water. 

This cloak is limited to Magic-Users and Illusionists; however, anyone can use the items. 

You may wish to add the following details to the items:  

• The tent is labeled, "Camp Crystal Lake, NJ". 
• The table is bright green and stamped with the words: "Property of Erie County Public Works". 
• The rowboat has a number on it and the name: "Sandusky, OH". 
• The vial rack is labeled: "Fr. G. Sarducci". 
• The brandy is labeled "Thunderball" and the wine is branded "Dom Pérignon, 1955". 
• As with all tents, no magic in the world can restore lost parts even if returned to the cloak. The rope, pole, mallet, and spikes are all intended to work with the provided tent. 
• The rope must be neatly wrapped before returning. Be kind, rewind. 
• The round shield has a white star with blue and red stripes. 

Stat'ing Up Sybil

I have decided that Sybil is the new Magic-User to join the party. In this post, I generated her stats using the OSE NPC Generator. As I promised, I would be flipping her stats to put that 7 in Wisdom. This is to slightly counteract the ring of 4 wishes. She isn't wise to be devious. 

As I did for all other randomly generated characters, I rerolled any stat of 11 or under. If I were able to beat the original score, it would be increased. If I did not beat that score, it stayed the same. Here is what I got: 

STR: 11 (unchanged, I rolled lower.)
INT: 13 (no reroll)
WIS:  7 (unchanged, as I decided I wanted this score.)
DEX: 14 (was 7)
CON: 10 (was 9)
CHR: 13 (was 9)

That seemed fair. She is quick and quick-witted, and good with people, but perhaps naive. 

As the ring of 4 wishes, which is completely ridiculous on the surface for a second-level character, I used OSR Solo to adjudicate the wishes. This is modified by my general rules of thumb for wishes in my campaign. 

In the generic, rings of wishes are much more limited in their ability to suborn wishes, at the same time as being mechanically resistant to harming anyone. Magic rings don't have agency. 

If I deem a wish to be out of bounds, a magic ring gets physically hot. It will not operate for a time, at least for that person. I decide how long and for whom. It does not waste a wish because the last wish causes the ring to stop being magic. Magic rings have enough agency not to destroy themselves needlessly. I also have a tradition that all rings of wishes are white gold and transform into lead rings when expended. Click the link to see a scenario where that happens. 

Should a wish be granted by a creature, these rules of thumb go right out the window. Creatures do have agency and agendas. For example, a god or demon may desire to bring certain people back to life and may twist a badly worded wish to do as THEY desire. The key bit is that the wish is the expression of their power, which may benefit the PC's. 

Anyway, I already determined one wish was "A Magic Dog!" I made that wish #4. The wishes were: 

1. A copy of all of her father's adventuring equipment. 
2. A magic dagger or shortsword that is almost exactly like Sting from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Click the link to see Sting in action on YouTube. 
3. A doubling of Sybil's current powers and abilities. 
4. A Magic Frickin' Dog!

The first wish is pretty good; she wished for a copy of her father's items. That would prevent harming her father. If this were worded in other ways, it could cause her father to lose the use of his equipment or maybe cause Sybil to inherit his stuff after he dies. That second possibility could be useless if he has a long life, or worse, it causes his death, so she inherited his stuff. 

I hate it when a wish would cause a paradox. If her father were already dead, she would have his stuff through inheritance, so why would she wish for this? I try to avoid that at all costs with wishes. It's also a good reason not to hose PCs in with the worst possible outcomes of wishes. 

The second wish is meta. I would expect and accept this from a player character. Sting-like swords are cool and do exist in my campaign, so I'd let it go. 

The third wish is well-worded to prevent it from being meta while also being something I would expect from a PC. 

OSR Solo has a great likelihood table that goes beyond yes and no. You can click this link to buy a copy at DriveThruRPG. I personally like the physical books, but there is also a PDF for less.  

For the first wish, she rolled a 6. That is "yes and...". This is an excellent result and grants more than the equipment she knew about. She also has a copy of her father's spell book and magic robes. I decided there is a limitation on the spell book. It contains spells she doesn't know and can't read yet. 

I rolled a 4 for the second wish. That is a flat yes. She has a +1 dagger or small shortsword. It does 1d4+1 and glows in the presence of goblinoids and giant spiders. That is basically Sting in a nutshell. 

Were I dealing with a PC who made this wish, I would troll them. "Funny, your dad has a sword just like it. It's a shame you wished for his equipment but not his weapons." 

For the third wish, "double my power," I rolled a 3, which is "yes but..." There is a hindrance to this wish. This is really straightforward for this wish. She has doubled her power, from level 2 to level 4. BUT, she didn't gain the experience. She has all of the benefits and abilities of a 4th-level Magic-User in all ways, but won't gain any more power until she has the experience points to reach 5th level. Painful, but easily implementable. I don't like wishes that cause paperwork. 

Where she really won was in hit points, which are simply doubled. I give max hit points for the first level, and require a roll for higher levels, rerolling ones. Sybil has 16 hp as she rolled a 4 for her second level. The character generator shows a lower HP value, but I did reroll everyone else's hit points to drop ones and include max hit points at level 1.  

The Magic Dog is crazy and fun. I decided to ask a series of questions:

• Is it really magic? The result was "yes". 
• Is it a Blink Dog? "No". 
• Is it a Hell Hound? "No, and..." it is afraid of Hell Hounds. This choice of modifier is easy and natural. Everyone is afraid of Hell Hounds. 
• Can it talk? "Yes... but". If I did this to PC, I would again troll them by saying the dog speaks in a Scottish brogue... and only understands you if YOU speak in a Scottish brogue. This doesn't make sense in this context of a text-only experience, so I'll let that one go. At a table full of players, it would be funny.  

I stopped asking questions at 4. Four wishes allows for 4 questions. It looks good enough to me. 

In doing this exercise, I also determined something else about Sybil. She might be neutral as she sees Blink Dogs and Hell Hounds as attractive and useful. Her father also imparted some lore about his time adventuring and is encouraging of her. 

OSR Solo is really handy book for off-the-cuff items. 

The Court Wizard Dallehm

In my last post, I covered the Crown of Saunders. This is the history of that item. I like to codify these mysteries and histories so that Bards, Magic-Users, and Clerics can use their abilities and spells to dig into the world. I like it when the players and characters feel they are the source of knowledge rather than me doing a silly info dump.  

When characters use their abilities, I will summarize only the parts applicable to the nature of the characters' powers. Sometimes that is lore, or knowledge, or merely the result of casting a spell. 

The Crown of Saunders could always reverse alignments and provide immunity to charm. How it gained its other powers is summarized below. 

Dallehm was the last Court Wizard of Saunders. He thought he was tricky and came up with a plan to steal the throne from the rightful heir. Dallehm knew that the Crown of Saunders was magical, but couldn't figure out its properties. He enlisted the aid of Magarven the Drow to find out the exact magic of the item. 

Dallehm plotted to use Magic Jar, possessing the king and forcing him to abdicate in favor of himself. 

Problem one: Magarven was not just evil; he was untrustworthy. He didn't bother to do the research or spells to determine the nature of the Crown's power. Magarven fed Dallehm information to keep the flow of coins coming. The lies didn't stop until Dallehm's coins dried up. 

Problem two: The Crown is very powerfully cursed. 

Problem three: Interactions with Magarven are cursed. 

Feeling that he had the most excellent plan in place, Dallehm proceeded to fail spectacularly. 

When he attempted to Magic Jar the king, the crown acted. First, it flipped Dallehm's alignment. Then there was a violent confrontation between the Magic Jar and the Crown, ending when Magarven destroyed the Magic Jar "to save the King!" Having no place to go, Dallehm's soul found refuge in the Crown itself. He is now effectively immortal, but trapped in an inanimate object. Dallehm is the source of the other powers the Crown possesses. 

Magarven, being of a clerical bent, ensured that Dallehm's empty body passed away quickly and quietly. 

"I tried my best, but I don't know what evil befell the Court Magician. Perhaps if the Crown had a healer instead of a Magician, this tragedy could have been averted. If the king was so inclined, I would be happy to serve at his pleasure." 

Yeah, Magarven is that kind of evil. 

Dallehm soul's can converse directly with the king, and generally Dallehm likes to talk to the king. This is what provides the gift of languages and bonus to Charsma. Dallehm is completely independent of the king's mind, so he can make observations, provide translation and the ability to speak languages while the king is otherwise occuppied. 

Dallehm can cast any of the spells he knew at the moment he was trapped in the crown. He knows 3 spells for levels 1-3 and 2 fourth-level spells. As a 9th-level Magic-User, he should also have a single fifth-level spell, but I ommit this one because he never bothered to study after using Magic Jar. DMs should select these spells base on thier campaign. 

There are two final powers Dallehm provides. When the king engages in dancing, singing, riding, or swimming, Dallehm experiences a fusion with the king. Dallehm feels like he has a body again. He amplifies the king's natural abilities but does not replace them. 

There is one last power the crown conveys to the king. When the king is subjected to telepathy or mind reading, the results are unique, to say the least. Since someone using these abilities on the king does not know there is a second mind in play, they perseve the king's inner thoughts and voice as very cold, as if he is not entirely human. The description I use for this is: "You can sense the king's thoughts, but not his voice. His thoughts are like the sound of words made by silence and absense." 

This last tidbit isn't a power of the crown, it is just my way as DM to get into the heads of the players and make them lery of mind reading and such.  

A Simple Crown for Saunders

I was always fascinated with the artifacts in the DMG, but there was always a problem with them. They were written for someone else's campaign, plus they were essentially cursed. And often world-breaking. 

I often make up artifact-level magic items for my campaign. In general, they are more of a McGuffin of limited utility rather than The Ring of Power. I really suggest using the artifacts in the DMG as a guide rather than items to be selected. 

The Crown of Saunders is one such item. The Kingdom of Saunders is a tiny place. Its main claim to fame is that the wisdom of the kings has allowed it to remain stable for centuries. This is the power of the Crown, the actual crown worn by the king. 

Saunders' main problem is that its princes usually fall prey to the men around the king, the type of men who always gravitate to power. Every prince has always been remembered as a horrible little prick, who, upon ascending the throne and donning the crown, suddenly had a change of heart and became wise and kind. 

This is the Crown's doing. It has the following magic: 

Reverse Alignment (once in a lifetime),
Immunity to Charm,
Allows the spell ability of a 9th-level Magic-User, 
Confers on the owner the ability to sing, swim, ride horses, and dance exceptionally well. 
Confers the ability to speak and understand many languages. 
Confers a +1 to Charisma, up to 19.  

The first 3 powers require the wearing of the crown. If someone other than the king wears the crown, they will experience the alignment reversal, but not gain any of the other abilities. Those are reserved for the king. 

The DM should make up a list of spells for the crown as if a Magic-User were getting ready for travel, not combat. These can be cast once per day, but only if the crown is worn. These extra spells require no study or a spell book. Should the king actually be a Magic-User, that person can cast their own spells or one of the ones the crown "knows", but they cannot exceed the casting limits of a 9th-level caster. They don't get to cast extra spells. The Magic-User is required to study if they wish to cast a spell from their own spell book as per normal. 

The next three powers are conferred to the proper owner of the crown, not someone wearing it or holding it. It is impractical to wear the crown all the time, especially when dancing or horseback riding. The Kings of Saunders can perform all of these tasks ridiculously well, but I will leave the actual bonus up to you. I will note that drownings and riding accidents never happen to the Kings of Saunders; it's like they are Olympic-level athletes. Hubris is still possible, but unlikely. 

DMs should select up to 3 languages for the Crown to confer to the King, based on your campaign setting. In my setting, these are "evil" languages that a King typically wouldn't study due to the stigma. 

Several wily kings have historically used the alignment-reversing power of the crown to "pardon" a politically motivated criminal by placing the crown on their head. This will force the alignment change, turning an evil or chaotic person into a lawful or good citizen. It greatly reduces the likelihood of reprisals and problems for the king.  The utility of this is dubious, as the reverse of neutral is still neutral, and so is reversing the alignment of someone who is acting out of logic or belief. On many occasions, this trick of "pardoning" has actually caused more problems for the king than it solves. 

So, here you have it. A very neat and powerful item that could, but doesn't have to be game-breaking. I will have a second historical post as to how this Crown was created. It is unusual because the Crown's gambit of powers are also unusual. 

The Travelling Box

File under things I have done and should have done. Way back in 2020, I posted about a game by GDW called Striker. I assured myself that I would read and review it. That didn't happen. What really happened was I stuck the box in a drawer and moved it to the garage. 

That was a win because when the house burned a year later, I found a desk full of game books in the garage, which did not burn. 

Fast forward four years. 

I still haven't read this one, but I should. 

One of the problems with old games is that the cardboard boxes often fall apart, regardless of whether they are exposed to fire or not. This box is ok, but in a few years, it won't be. I cannot tell you how many games I have without boxes. This cramps my style of reading and reviewing things. 

However, I now have a laser cutter, which is also contributing to my lack of reading and reviewing. Funny how hobbies battle with each other. Here is my grand plan: Make boxes for games. 

This box is designed to fit the small booklet games that were so popular decades ago. The exterior dimensions are 6 1/4" (15.8 cm) x 9 1/4" (23.5 cm) x 1 3/4" (4.5 cm). The bottom panel has reinforcing teeth, and the lid has a backplate to prevent flex. 

This is a prototype, but once I have the design down, I plan to sell them on my website. I need to tweak the design a little. As you can see, it is a tiny bit too small for the modern hardback books that are common today.

I also had a friend ask if I could felt the interior, to prevent rattling. That means I need to make the box a smidgen larger. And learn how to apply the felt. Once I am 100% with my dimensions, I'll see how good my painting and staining skills are after all these years. 

These boxes have lift-off lids, which I like, but I will probably design two with wooden hinges and a fourth with metal. I need to set a clear goal and stop fidgeting with the design like I did in the picture to the left.  

I hope to have these for sale on Ko-Fi by September 1st. In these few weeks, I need to get a lot done. 

A 3 Way Hook

It's Tuesday night and I am painting some Battlemechs. I like to listen to books or TV when painting. I have this funny trait that the thing I am listening to is the opposite of what I am painting.  For example, when painting mecha, I listen to fantasy books. 

While waiting for a basecoat to dry, I got wrapped up in Terry Brooks' Wizard at Large. This is the third book in the Landover series. Questor Thews, Wizard at Large, attempts to transform his friend Abernathy back into a human. It seemed like the right thing to do because he was the one who turned the Scribe into a Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier. 

Things go sideways, and hilarity and terror ensue. This is one of my favorite series because it incorporates 80s sensibilities into a fantasy story. Oddly, the series makes some nods to the 80s and 90s but doesn't dive in too deep. There is an odd simplicity to the stories that somehow dodges the passage of time and advances in technology that would normally break a portal fantasy story. 

This gave me a great idea for a D&D hook. Locate Object is a bunk spell; the range is far too short. If this spell were useful, they would get down on their hands and knees and do it the hard way instead of magic. Invariably, if something is far away, the characters look for a sage or high-level Wizard to help. Or a Cleric with Commune.

So here goes the three-way hook. The scenario is that the party needs an item to fulfill an objective. They don't know where it is, so they hire a scribe or Wizard to do the job. The characters assume they will be given some trivia about the object and a direction to go to recover the item. 

Wrong!

The sage or Wizard does give them that information on how to find the object but decides to toot his or her horn by pulling out a scrying globe or magic mirror to show the characters exactly what the item looks like and its immediate environs. Pleased, the characters thank the sage profusely. 

And then it happens. 

The sage drops their magic item, and it shatters. In the discharge of failing magic, the sage disappears and the item itself appears at the feet of the characters. 

Surprise! 

Now, here are the three hooks: 

A) The characters feel obligated to bring the sage back home. 
B) The characters take the item and leave, forgetting about the sage. The enraged sage escapes on their own and hunts the characters down.
C) The owner of the item brings the sage home, searching for his or her stolen possession.  

The beauty of this is that the triple hook is, in no way are you pushing the players to pick a course of action. They'll do it themselves by word and deed. Also, it doesn't tie up the DM too much. The forces against the players can have many motivations and goals, so it doesn't turn into a targeted TPK. You can play it for laughs, for growth, for horror, all based on what you discover your players like. 

Imagine the look on your player's faces when they discover the sage doesn't want to go home because they accidentally found the love of their life. Or what if they ran home just days ahead of a demon horde? What if the sage stumbles home and into the party just in time to save them from themselves? 

That is so much fun. 

Happy Accident - Fiend Folio times 2!

I made a point of getting Nathan physical copies of the D&D 5e rules. He has two different groups that play and it would be dumb if they couldn't do that due to an internet outage, lost computer, or other silly problem. 

Mechanically, 5e is very different than AD&D or any version of B/X but the lore remains largely the same. Drow are Drow, Goblins are Goblins, and so on. Sure some people would like to change that for everyone but once you put an idea out there, good luck changing it. 

Wayback in 2019, I had a campaign where elves and humans were hostile to one another. I couldn't sell it and no one bought it. 

Once an idea is out there, forget about changing it. 

Anyway, I mentioned to Nathan my world's main antagonist is a Drow named Magarven. You can read all about him here. 

Nathan was put back by the mention of Drow. He thought they were new to 5e. Nope. I grabbed my copy of Fiend Folio. His jaw dropped.

"Is that a Githyanki?!?" 

Hell, yeah it is. 

That was the last I saw or thought about my copy of Fiend Folio. Somehow, that struck me funny. I forgot I even had a copy and ordered one POD from DriveThruRPG. Of course, when it arrived, Nathan tried to return my copy. 

I took some pictures and made him pick one. 

The POD copy is a soft cover, but don't let that put you off. The pages are solid and crisp, the print is excellent and the binding is nice. It is a tiny bit smaller than the original, making it a standard-size book. The price for POD was also amazing, far less than the $20 I paid for the original copy back in the day. 

I hope you can tell from the images, the POD's paper is somewhat thicker and the black is very solid. The thicker paper is nicer from the get-go. The softer black ink in the original is likely due to the age. Even though I bought my hardcover 2-3 years ago, it was printed in 1981. No book will hold up over 40+ years.

Anyway, I thought I would share this title as it keeps bringing joy to new and old players. 

#MonsterMonday - POP-001 Preview

I am on call this week, so I have prepared a couple of posts in advance. I won't be playing this week, so hopefully I can catch you up with the playtest progress. 

This is #MonsterMonday. 

I have 10 main monsters and creatures selected for this adventure. Several are unique. The first monster the character encounters is the Guardians. Here is a preview. 

Iron Temple Guardian

18’ tall iron statues with massive crowns. 

AC: 4, HD: 9 (41 HP) Att: 1x fist 1d6 or 1x kick 1d8 or 2x ensnare or 2x push. THAC0: 12, MV 90’. SV: D8 W9 P:10, B10, S12, ML:12, AL: Neutral, XP: 3,000 NA: 1d4, TT: 2x 500 GPS diamonds (the eyes). 

Guardians are more determined than aggressive. They are usually set to guard an area such as the temple grounds, hence the name. These creatures are larger and more versatile than Iron Golems, but lighter and lankier. They can guard, pursue, or attack as commanded. 

Mundane damage immunity: Requires silver or magical weapons to damage. Blunt and non-metal weapons will bounce. Sharp metal weapons will be absorbed and heal the Guardian for HP equal to the maximum possible damage for that weapon.

Energy Immunity: Immune to fire and cold.

Healed by fire: Each HP of fire damage restores one HP. 

Energy vulnerability: If struck with fire and cold in the same round, they heal as per above but then take thermal shock damage. Thermal shock damage is equal to the maximum possible damage from the cold attack.

Mind Jolt: Scrying or mind reading will be ineffective as they don’t have minds. The caster must save vs. Paralysis or be stunned for the attempt. 

Bonus XP: If a player role-plays a bouncing weapon, give them 50 XP each time. 100, if it is truly funny. 

They pursue at half-normal speed and only use pushing or ensnaring attacks unless attacked, in which case they switch to kicking and punching. They will only punch or kick armed and aggressive attackers. If they flank a target, they switch to ensnaring and pushing again. 

Ensnared creatures are carried by the Guardian. This causes no damage and up to 2 characters can be ensnared. The target(s) can wiggle out of the Guadian’s grip on a successful DEX check or after three rounds of trying. The escaping victim can either slide to the ground or ride on the Guardian’s back or crown. Riding characters won’t be attacked once they escape unless they attack the Guadian again. Up to 3 people can ride the Guardian’s back and one more in the Crown. Typically they are not controllable, but wiley characters can direct them by making reasonable suggestions. 

If an ensnared or riding character successfully attacks the Guardian, they will be dropped and kicked (2d6 falling damage, plus a kick attack).  

Pushing moves a target 6 feet in the direction of the Guadian’s choice and does no damage. 

If an Iron Temple Guadian is destroyed by thermal shock, the parts can be gathered up and placed in a fire to restore the creature. This takes all day and the fire must be kept lit for it to work. This will place the Guadian under the fire-keeper’s command. If many people tend the fire, the last one to add fuel will be in command.  

POP-001 is meant for OSE. You can pick up a copy of Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome and Advanced Fantasy Referee's Tome at DriveThruRPG.