Dungeons + Dominion II: The Domain Game

Firstly: a salute to Evlyn M, an artist who was formerly a vibrant part of the online OSR community, but who has since withdrawn as a result of toxicity in the scene. Evlyn does some absolutely charming work, and we are made much poorer by her departure.

Secondly: a shoutout to Stuart Robertson, creator of the ubiquitous "OSR" logo, on taking a stand re: the usage (and misuse) of the logo.  I haven't spoken out as forthrightly about misuses of community position and power in our community as I should have, and I'm glad that I've got another good example here to try and live up to.

* * *

This post was inspired by a query on the /rpg subreddit, where someone asked for a simple way to generate a domain setup for his kids' game, and asked if it were possible to use the cardbuilder Dominion as a framework.

I've written about using Dominion as a setting generation element before, but I think that this new query is a way to set up an evolving domain framework without too much back-end work. It's pretty abstracted, but if you had to do something in a pinch I think this could work.

This post assumes a decent knowledge of the mechanics behind Dominion. If you're unfamiliar, it might read a bit gobbledygook to you (you can check out the rules from RGG here)

Martin Hoffman, Dominion

Setup

Play a 3- or 4-player game of Dominion. At the end, pick one of the decks to determine what resources the players' domain has - victory point cards mean territory, treasures mean fiscal resources on hand, and action cards mean buildings or resources within the fiefdom.

Feel free to abstract meanings from the cards present - having a Golem in the deck might mean that the domain has a construct or warforged present...or, drawing upon the the original Golem of Prague story, it might mean that the polity has a strong and unflagging defender.

Gameplay

Each month (or other 'domain turn'), the domain can expend resources to take on new projects and keep growing and improving. The victory point cards present at the end of the setup phase serve to increase the number of potential improvements and projects that a domain can seek to take on as a card draw from the randomizer deck for the next month - the players can choose what they want the fiefdom to try and construct/purchase (adding to the deck). They'll have to keep gathering gold and resources to get what they need for the fiefdom, though (unrelated to the money cards acquired in playing the setup game).

Resources acquired through standard play sessions (treasure, magical artifacts, alliances) wind up being translated into cards for the fiefdom deck. The game text doesn't matter too much - villages don't give you +2 Actions, +1 Card on the domain turn, but just symbolize that there's a village associated with the fiefdom that's significant in some way. You're using the deck to generate opportunities for randomization, NOT playing a game of Dominion anymore.

Example:

After playing an intro game of Dominion with three AI players, I win. My deck contains: 8 Estates, 4 Duchies, and 3 Provinces (Victory cards), 1 Cellar, 1 Village, 1 Remodel, 3 Markets, and 2 Mines (Action Cards).

Matthias Catrein, Dominion

Translating the Action cards into domain resources: well, the two mines are simple, as is the village. 3 Markets suggest strong mercantile connections (as would make sense with two extant mines). The tricky ones are Cellar and Remodel, which have no easy direct analog. I might render Cellar as a series of storage vaults untouched through the various ages by the previous domain-holders (strange new swag for the PCs?), and Remodel as the presence of a new builder who's able to start new construction projects right away.

Now I need to translate the Estates, Duchies, and Provinces into draws from the randomizer. Each Estate is worth a quarter of a card (round down), each Duchy is worth half a card, and each Province is worth a card. This gives us 7 randomly selected cards that the domain will be able to choose its next upgrade from.

The draw is: Shanty Town, Bridge, Mining Village, Spy, Masquerade, Caravan, and Laboratory.

Mining Village suggests that there's been expansion around the mines and they're going to be more productive; Shanty Town suggests that the largest settlement in the domain has expanded, Bridge suggests that roads and infrastructure are developed further. Spy would suggest either the creation of an espionage network, or just developing information on one of your neighbors. Masquerade might be hosting a major social event, Caravan a greater focus on inter-domain trading, and Laboratory the creation of a wizard's or alchemist's sanctum.

Some might (reasonably) suggest that the things listed are all things that a domain should be able to do anyway - why should mercantile expansion be limited by drawing a single card? Well, if you're looking for a very light overhead system, then that's just the random event that's available to you. If you want something that allows for a bit more player agency in the domain turns, then make these random events a bit more powerful -- the caravans here might be higher payoff, or reaching out to farther destinations, or the like.

This Sword Here At My Side Don't Act The Way It Should: Magical Weapon PCs

Way back when, Mikah and Wilhelm Person asked for rules which allowed players to play magical weapons. Here's my stab at this. The rules are unplaytested, fiddly and require a good bit of work on the part of the GM to prepare a weapon suitable to the campaign setting. That said, I think that the approach has promise to it. 

"And it howls! It howls like Hell!"
Michael Whelan

Magical weapons and artifacts as player characters (henceforth "Weapons") do not have physical stats, just mental ones. Choose one mental stat (Int, Wis, Cha) to be rolled on 4d6 drop lowest; the other two to be rolled on 3d6. Weapons remain pretty static as "characters," and don't gain abilities through experience. Instead, they gain them through gaining influence over their owners.

Influence: This replaces the ego system as outlined in B/X. A Weapon, even one aligned with its owner, is going to be continually striving to dominate them and exert their influence.

The Weapon and its owner operate on an influence track, proceeding from the owner utterly dominating the Weapon's will to vice versa. However, the Weapon's greatest powers can only come forth when it is able to dominate its owner. To gain that ultimate ability, an owner must give way to their Weapon.

Once a day, after a Weapon draws blood from a foe or one of its powers is used, either the Weapon or its owner may force an Influence check. During an Influence check, the owner and the Weapon spend 1 round locked in mental conflict; the owner loses their Dex bonus and fails all saves in that round. Both the Weapon and its owner add up their mental stat modifiers (Int + Wis + Cha) and add 1d20. The higher total shifts one level on the Influence Track.

Owner Utterly Dominates: Tier II powers available 3x/day, Tier I powers available at will. Weapon rolls an additional 1d8 on influence checks.
Owner Dominates: Tier II powers available 1x/day, Tier I powers available 3x/day. Weapon rolls an additional 1d6 on influence checks.
Owner Weakly Dominates: Tier I powers available 1x/day. Weapon rolls an additional 1d4 on Influence checks.
Balance: Only base power available.
Weapon Weakly Dominates: Tier I powers available 3x/day. Weapon can cast suggestion on wielder 3x/day; owner may save to avoid. Owner rolls an additional 1d6 on Influence checks.
Weapon Dominates: Tier II powers available 3x/day, Tier I powers available at will. Weapon can cast suggestion on owner at will; owner may save to avoid. Owner rolls an additional 1d4 on influence checks.
Weapon Utterly Dominates: Tier III powers available 1x/day; Tier II powers available 3x/day, Tier I powers available at will. Owner is charmed by the Weapon; no save available (but can still call for Influence checks).


A Weapon's purpose and powers should be predetermined by the GM, but its alignment and outlook on life should be determined by the player.

Dragon's Curse, John Howe

Túrin: "Hail Gurthang! No lord or loyalty dost thou know, save the hand that wieldeth thee. From no blood wilt thou shrink. Wilt thou therefore take Túrin Turambar, wilt thou slay me swiftly?"

Gurthang: "Yea, I will drink thy blood gladly, that so I may forget the blood of Beleg my master, and the blood of Brandir slain unjustly. I will slay thee swiftly."

- Tolkien, Silmarillion







Powers: Each Weapon is going to have a different set of powers. One sample set is given below. Base Powers should be designed with the knowledge that they are going to be continually active; you might look here for a list of 3.x feats that might be a decent starting point for a Base Power, or here for a list of unique magical weapons. Tier powers can be spell-like abilities, or something custom designed as well.

• Base Power: True Striking - The Weapon's player makes attack rolls instead of the owner. The weapon strikes as a fighter of the owner's level; if the owner is a fighter subclass, it applies its normal bonuses; if the owner is a fighter specifically, it applies its normal bonuses +1. Example: Talon, a sword +2 with True Striking, will strike as a 5th level fighter without any bonus to hit in the hands of a 5th level thief, as a 3rd level fighter with a +2 bonus to hit in the hands of a 3rd level ranger, and a 1st level fighter with a +3 bonus to hit in the hands of a 1st level fighter. (The owner's strength bonus continues to apply in all circumstances.) In all circumstances, it will deal normal damage.  
• Tier I Power: Blade of Light - the Weapon may carve through any non-magical substance for 1 round/owner level. It can cut through an enchanted substance with a successful Strength check by the owner on 4d6. During this time, the Weapon glows in a badass manner and gains a 1d4 bonus to damage. After the Blade of Light power expires, the Weapon goes dormant for 1 turn per round that this power was active, and loses all bonuses to hit/damage/powers. It can still communicate with the owner, though. 
• Tier II Power: Detach owner's shadow to function as the spell wizard eye. 
• Tier III Power: Any being slain with the Weapon can be animated as an undead of equal HD, or 5 HD at minimum. Such a being would retain all spells and spell-like abilities, but would not be able to re-memorize or regenerate such. 

I would be remiss if I didn't include a tip of the hat to Neal Stidham's Parenthesis Press, and his nanogame Runeblade. I read it a few years back and it's stuck with me.

"Worms upon a Piece of Wood" - Arabian Nights Seas, Joesky Credit #3

When the Muslims took possession of Egypt, 'Umar b. al-Khattab wrote to 'Amr b. al-As and asked him to describe the sea to him. 'Amr replied: 'The sea is a great creature upon which weak creatures ride - like worms upon a piece of wood.'

-Ibn Khaldun, the Muqaddimah, Trans. Franz Rosenthal, Ed. N.J. Dawood. Princeton Classic Edition, 2005, p. 209.

Anthony, blogging over at Straits of Anian, asked me way back when for some saltbox components: ocean encounters and a weird island generator. Here's what we got.


Note: As I've written before, I normally try to eschew Arabian Nights influence, but Sindbad's voyages are so crucial and fundamental to my visions of a saltbox in this context that I can't get away from them. (Wait, does that make Sindbad the Old Man of the Sea? Damn you, mixed metaphors!) The bulk of these entries are a lot more gonzo and fairy-tale than the stuff I'm running, and most wouldn't fit into my conception of Legacy of the Bieth. I'm going to need to figure out what oceanic, corsair-like, and piratical components are in LotB itself. I know that there are totally corsairs, and the sea vast terrible and terrifying, but not too much beyond that. 

Ocean Encounters

Deep Dweller: roll a d6. 1-2 idling along minding its own business; 3-4 hunting your ship; 5-6 fleeing something else (reroll on this table)

Ship of the Marids
"Flaming Scimitar" from Dreadfleet
Painted by Centerpiece Miniatures

1   Kraken - Deep Dweller.
2   TO BE REVISED
3   Dendan - a giant fish capable of swallowing ships in a single convulsive gulp. Deep Dweller.
4   Ship of the Marids - Overly ornate and florid pleasure vessel being propelled by air elementals or djinn blowing at the sails. Will likely have a utterly decadent prince(ss) of the Marid on board, leisurely sailing along, willing to gamble with mortals (or demand that they suffer to provide entertainment).
5   Black Mountain  - this ominous peak off in the distance inexorably drags ships towards it. As they approach, the iron fittings and nails of the ship begin to tear out of the wood (along with anything else that might be on board, like most weapons) and surge towards the mountain, while the ships break apart and sink. Legend has it that a brass man on a brass horse sits atop the peak of the mountain, and about his neck hangs the tablet which causes the mountain to continue its reign of destruction.
6   Ship in Distress - Unexpected rocks, treacherous seas, attacks from below...something nasty has hit this ship. Roll 1d4 to see who's in trouble: 1 Local islanders, 2 Merchant vessel 3 Foreign dignitary 4 Corsair
7   Local Islanders - trade, supplies, local news. If you feel like, roll on the Weird Island Generator below to see whether these guys are coming from someplace weird.

8   Foreign Voyager - Some folks from way the hell elsewhere. Visiting dignitary? Crazy random traveler? 

9   Corsairs - Yeaaah they probably want your stuff. Deep Dwellers, reroll 1s.
10 Spinning Djinn Whirlpool - This djinn is spinning in place, generating a giant whirlpool about himself (or herself). Why? Any way to reason with them?
11 Uncanny Storm - Maybe it's a giant roiling thundercloud in an otherwise-clear sky. Maybe it's crackling fluorescent pink lightning striking down and turning the water to ice. Maybe it's just some St. Elmo's Fire that's bobbing throughout the ship and making friends with the crew.

Skeletal Serpent
(Serpent d'ocean, by Huang Yong Ping)

12 Skeletal Serpent - A giant sea serpent comes slithering out on the waves - skeletal, possessed of a horrible intelligence, red gleam in its eyes - offers awful bargains and knowledge from the black realms of the sea.
13 Shoal of Talking Fish - Deep Dweller, but 3-4 they're hunting your ship to ask the PCs a favor. Maybe they're spellcasters.
14 TO BE REVISED
15 Cloud of Hate - As per Fritz Leiber. This deep white fog possesses those with an overwhelming capacity for hate and turns them into ravenous killing machines. In dire straits, it will form tentacles and a giant eye and strike out directly at those who oppose it, taking up the weapons of its former ravenous killing machines.  It is an avatar of HATE, and a lucky strike that severs its connection to its worshipers will prevent it from forming again for a year and a day.
16 Ghost Ship - a ghostly apparition of a ship that sails just above the waves. No visible crew, no recognized markings.  roll a d6. 1-2) ignores nearby ships, 3-4 )moves to "ram" nearest target, 5-6) targets nearest ship and attempts to superimpose itself on the unfortunate vessel.

Dreugh Concept Art
Morrowind

17 Dreugh Swarm - a swarm of these half-octopi, half-humanoid awful creatures. Deep Dwellers. Can survive outside of the water, so may in fact clamber onto your ship and try to drown your crew.
18 Roc - roll 1d6; 1-3 has prey already, 4-6 is looking for something new, big, and tasty.
19 Wereshark - roll a d6: 1 seeking a particular target; 2 seeking to feed; 3 trying to raid the PCs' ship; 4 spying on the PCs; 5 ; 6 Vietnamese-New Hampshire elven wereshark.
20 Tortoise Island - It's got some snazzy resource on its shell (diamonds! Rare woods! Fresh water...?), but the tortoise is about to dive, or is likely to dive if you start picking up the resources.

Weird Island Generator

First, roll 1d4 to see what's weird about this island. 

1 Inhabitants

2 Environment

3 Monsters

4 Reroll twice, ignore 4.

"Pointy Hats"
By Fredrik Rahmqvist

Inhabitants

1 Island is populated by giant talking versions of a regular animal (birds, horses, etc). Ruled over by a monarch of that species (a phoenix or simurgh for the birds, a Houyhnhnm for horses, etc.) who is able to speak, arch, sneering and dismissive of humanity. Cut a careful line between the fairy-tale nature and the physical, animal nature of the ruler; emphasize its physicality and power. 

2 Culture has one of the Seven Deadly Sins (plus bonus) as a core virtue. Roll 1d8: 

1. Sloth: Megacephalic petty sorcerers carried about on litters by lobotomized slaves.
2. Pride: Societal status determined by individualized duels of some sort; visitors are of course at bottom of hierarchy until they duel.
3. Avarice: Corsairs who loot and pillage from the neighboring islands. They do not sow. You have only what you can take, and you're always in a race to keep taking. 
4. Wrath: Curious and horrendous custom of torturing all who come to their island.
5. Lust: The island has some strange feature inhibiting traffic, and the inhabitants of the island are all desperate to leave (terminal boredom? despotic or murderous overlord?), and will do anything to put together an escape plan; this "anything" is likely to sabotage the PCs. Think an island full of amoral versions of Number Six (McGoohan, not Helfer). 
6. Vanity: Solipsistic and dubious about the idea that anything could exist outside their island. 
7. Envy: The islanders will latch on to all facets of the PCs and try to mimic their mannerisms and culture. They won't want to let the PCs leave, because they're starved for new ideas.
8. Gluttony: Population is ludicrously obese. I'm not talking anything that's within the realm of normal human weights.* I'm talking Fatties obese, Jabba the Hutt obese. Possibly using mass as a measure of social ranking. Possibly being fattened up as food / incubators / survival mechanism for something weird that happens on the island. 

3 Inhabitants are very welcoming to outsiders, but have strange customs which wind up causing pain. Sinbad encountered this with the islanders who insisted he marry one of them, but then revealed that if one spouse dies, the other is buried alive with them. Some other examples might be ritual sacrifice 

4 Inhabitants are laboring under a major curse. Roll 1d6: 1) During the days their lower halves turn to blocks of marble 2) They forget the events of the previous day at the stroke of midnight 3) They are all vertically bisected (but still able to live and function and speak, just really sad and awkward and hopping around on one leg) 4) All inhabitants of the island have been turned into some small animals, which can speak and lament their fate. 5) The oracular talking bird that guides them continually lies, sending them further into misrule. 6) The inhabitants are obsessing over a zahir that is trapping their thoughts and gradually erasing the island from reality itself. 

5 The ruler of these islanders is a decapitated head, placed in a bowl containing vital essences to keep the head alive. The ruler seeks to acquire a new body by some means fair or foul. 

6 They're cannibals. To be expected, since frickin' half the Arabian Nights stories mentioning sea voyages have this come up - to say nothing of Odysseus's voyages, and Polyphemus. 

Edmund Dulac

Environment 
1 Perfectly symmetrical island. When structures are built on one side facsimiles will appear on the other. Same for the remains of any sapient being. Every day that a facsimile is separated from the island, roll a d6; on a 3+ the facsimile disappears. 

2 Island suspended in the middle of a whirlpool by vast pillars of rock, making transit to and from the island incredibly perilous. 

3 Sunken, inverted step pyramid filled with water in the center of the island. There are paths of open air mimicking the passages within a normal pyramid, and it is possible to explore the pyramid, walking on the strangely high-surface-tension water; however, treading too heavily, bearing too much weight, or piercing the surface of the water may cause the passages to start leaking and filling up. (The corridors will will unflood and the surface tension reform within 24 hours if broken.)

4 Island is a biome that does not normally appear in the climate (tundra, perhaps?). Optionally, the island is actually a gate to another location; if you lose sight of the shoreline or objects there, you wind up shifting fully to the location being gated to. (Lose sight of the shoreline in Madagascar, and you wind up in Siberia...)

5 One cave has historically been used for dark necromancies. As it is approached, people take on the nature of an undead equal to their HD/level (so a level 1 wizard will have the benefits and penalties of being a skeleton and a wizard; a 5 HD cyclops will become a wraith-cyclops, etc.). Have some undead stats handy, and try to have some unusual undead available so that transformations aren't all the standard platitudes. As affected individuals leave the area, they return to normal. 

6 The underground palace of a djinn princess (or prince) is located on the island, and is said to contain a pathway to the City of Brass itself. But no sign of movement has come from the palace in quite some time...

Monsters 

1 Coven of necromancers with giant undead servitors

2 Flock of monstrous avians (harpies, perytons, etc.)

3 Demon-possessed large animals (think the Lions of Tsavo but worse and all demonic) committed to terrorizing the locals. No interest in rulership or gross consumption, but to cause pervasive terror. Or they're waiting for something, killers even more horrendous than the animal that they now ride... 

4 Colony of ghuls - erudite, urbane, eaters of the dead, and running out of consumable corpses. 

5 Sorcerer keeping the populace in thrall through use of charm spells to set up a secret police. No, everything's fine here in this little island village, how are you? 

6 Conclave of giants being held at the center of the island. Think a cross between Tolkien's Entmoot and a high-value drug deal, only with forty or fifty participants, all of whom are ready to resort to violence. 

* Don't be a dick and mock actual fat people if this entry comes up.

Influences: Clark Ashton Smith, esp. Island of the Torturers and Quest of the Gazolba
Jorge Luis Borges.
The Thousand and One Nights.

Joesky Credit #2: How to Kill Elves

Chris "Sun Lord" Kutalik wanted a table on How to Kill Elves, and requested something d100 based.

Had enough of this lady
running around in the woods?
"Elf Warden" by Jon Hodgson

DAMMIT CHRIS.

But here's what I got, just for you.

*************

You have found some elves! And you have decided that you want to kill them. Why? Heck if I know. But you need some assistance. Perhaps a random table will help you figure out How To Kill Elves!

Roll a d100:

1-10 Elves are tied to their trees, so the best thing to do is chop down their forests tree by tree. Don't wear any armor while you're doing this - your courage will scare them off and they won't bother you.

11-20 Inform the elves that you want to hold a pre-killing conference to organize their slaughter. Show up solo, to show them that you're not afraid of their sneaky elven ways. To prevent elven intelligence from finding out your plans, tell your family and associates that you're going on a long trip, and are not sure when you will return.

21-30 Elves are short of stature, like children. Drive them into the forest and abandon them there; they'll surely perish, just like the kids do in those fairy tales.

31-40 Elves claim to have "powerful magic" - show them how real magic-users do things! Hit them with a sleep spell, to show them how weak they are before you kill them. Cast this on a group, to make sure that you can kill the greatest number.

41-50 To truly strike terror into the hearts of elves, find their most powerful champions and charm them into slaughtering the elven population. They will be horrified when their protectors turn against them!

51-60 Lead an expedition to destroy their hidden strongholds in the forest. Take plenty of wagons for supplies, and make sure your troops are all as heavily armored as possible. Discipline is important; be sure to keep to your tight formations while moving through the woods, and wear bright colors to keep up morale.

61-70 Ally yourself with some traditional foes of the elves. Perhaps orcs or trolls! Best to meet with them to coordinate your efforts. Go alone so that they know you don't have any hostile intentions towards them. It is also customary to bathe in a tangy marinade of mustard and lemon juice prior to the meeting. Make sure to inform them of your compliance with this important facet of their culture once you arrive. (A little pepper might not go amiss either.)

71-80 Launch a night raid against the elven settlements you've found, and take them by surprise. Don't let your troops use any torches, you don't want to give away your position.

81-90 The forests are said to have powerful nature spirits that you might be able to use against the elves. Wander around in the forests loudly calling out for these spirits. (It's only polite to let them know why you're seeking them out.)

91-100 Challenge the elves to an archery duel. The winner gets to kill the loser afterwards. Shoot first to unnerve them and throw them off their game. You won't need more than a single arrow.

The PEFRC hopes that this table on How to Kill Elves will be useful for the next time you decide to randomly attack a group of innocent elves. Good Luck!

(c) 2013, Pan-Elven Foreign Relations Committee

Joesky Credit #1, 1a: Tundra Encounter Table, with Bonus Golf

A little while ago on G+, I opened the floor to some Joesky Tax style assignments. The first one is from Rey, blogging over at Bum Rush the Titan. He wanted an encounter table for the tundra, so here's what I got.

"Tundra," by Matthew

Rey! I don't know how you do your encounter tables. Here are twenty entries on a flat scale; reorganize this for probabilities as you see fit if you use a d8+d12 method or whatever.

1   Herd Animal
2   Wolfpack
3   Frost Giant
4   Sabertooth Tiger
5   Mammoth
6   Remorhaz (Polar Wurm)
7   Berserkers/Nomads
8   Arctic Owlbear
9   Frost Walkers
10 Neanderthals
11 Forest Spirits
12 Nehwon Behemoth
13 Invisible Manta Fliers
14 Ice Gnomes
15 Snow Trolls
16 [To Be Replaced]
17 Frost Elves
18 White Sybil
19 Yeti Cultists
20 Lost Caravan

Winter Wanderers - 1-2 patrolling, 3-4 hunting for (roll again), 5-6 fleeing from (roll again)

Herd Animal - Pick some apropos animal - reindeer, caribou, giant white axebeaks... 50% chance grazing, 50% chance fleeing from... (roll again)
Wolfpack - Can be a regular wolfpack. Can be a pack of winter wolves. If you're feeling gonzo, have it be a shapeshifter which turns into a wolfpack, a la the D'ivers from the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Have the lead animal of the pack be a nine-headed beast while you're at it.
Frost Giant - Winter Wanderer. 

"Saving the Best for Last," Daniel Horne

Sabertooth Tiger - 25% chance the pet of a Winter Wanderer group.
Mammoth - 50 % chance grazing, 50% chance fleeing from (roll again)
Remorhaz - these things always seemed really goofy but they're going to make it onto this list goddammit! Big-ass polar worm, vents heat out through its spines. Make sure that you're using the diTerlizzi-illustrated remorhaz, no other will do.
Berserkers/Nomads - Winter Wanderers. Don't have to be Norse!
Arctic Owlbear - components from Arctic Owls and Polar Bears. White, makes no sound, deadlier than usual.
Frost Walkers - giant-ass skeletons, as per "Saving the Best for Last" over there to the right. Have old weapons, some chilling or draining powers. Can maybe turn into snowdrifts and then reform, if you're feeling in a particularly T'lan Imass mood.
Neanderthals - in a local cave complex? Frozen in a block of ice?
Forest Spirits - those assholes who try and lure you down forbidden paths, or draw your friends away...you know the type.

"Nehwon Behemoth," TSR

Nehwon Behemoth - the four-legged killer whale. Faster than it looks. About as hungry as it looks.
Invisible Manta Fliers - another Nehwon inspired entry. 25% chance they've got an invisible rider on them. Will attack large groups. Have red glowing jewels for eyes, but are otherwise invisible. If they've got a rider, think of an invisible Melnibonean but with 100% less elf.

Ice Gnomes - Not the pointy-hatted guys. They look more like the pech, but with axes and a grim abiding hate for intruders. Winter Wanderers.

Snow Trolls - What it says on the tin.

[To Be Replaced] - Oh it's her. Wonder what crazy shit she's up to in the tundra.

Frost Elves - probably assholes. And this is me saying that; I like elves! Winter Wanderers.

White Sybil - either the prophetess like in Clark Ashton Smith stories, or like Atali in The Frost-Giant's Daughter. Point is, regal proud lady shows up, does mystic mysterious stuff. 

Yeti Cultists - 50% trying to summon/worship a yeti, 50% they summoned it already and are dancing around a fire worshipping it.

Lost Caravan - Wagons? Sleighs? (If sleighs, totally have them have tossed a kid out to save the rest like those old stories.) Is anyone still alive? If so, are they being pursued, or are they just completely lost? 

****************************************

The second item is from Ferret, who doesn't have a gaming blog and is a bum. He asked me "how to handle that situation where your PCs suddenly need to play golf."

Old Took's great-grand-uncle Bullroarer...was so huge (for a hobbit) that he could ride a horse. He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of The Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfimbul's head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit hole, and in this way the battle was won and the game of Golf invented at the same moment. -- JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit

Stat each hole as a creature of n HD. Par value is 2n. Players make attack rolls to defeat the hole; golf club deals 1d6 'damage.' Apply both Strength and Dex modifiers to attack and damage rolls. Halflings may add a +1 bonus, as they have ancestral memories of creating the game.