Fuller Murdoch wasn’t born with that name. In a sense, he wasn’t born at all, actually. though you probably shouldn’t try to convince his parents of that. Fuller, you see, is a warforged, but one in an unusual predicament. In addition to his warforged personality, he also has the mind of a former comrade-in-arms permanently trapped in his head.

Alton Murdoch and Fuller were soldiers in the Cormean army whose unit had been all but destroyed. Stranded deep behind enemy lines, the two were the only ones left, and had vital information. It took all their talent and ability, but they eventually managed to make it back to friendly territory, only to be ambushed as they were escorted to the capitol.

Alton prefers not to talk much about exactly how it happened, saying only that some “peculiar circumstances” allowed his life to be saved by being transplanted into Fuller. In thanks for making the sacrifice, Alton adopted Fuller’s name as his own. Fuller and Alton share control of the body equally.

After debriefing, they were judged no longer fit for duty and honorably discharged. With nowhere of his own to go, Fuller did not resist when Alton wanted to return to Kettlebrook.

It was slow and hard at first to win people over, even Alton’s family, but over the years Fuller’s become fully integrated into the small town. The tireless and resilient warforged body is excellent for working fields and performing other farm work, and every evening they entertain the local children with stories or war and heroics.

Encounters with the Warforged Lifeboat

Given the sleepy agrarian community he resides in, both Fuller’s race and his combat prowess should prove quite a surprise. Depending on the circumstances, he could be friend or enemy to the PCs.

Fuller seeks help from the PCs, as he worries about Alton. Lately he’s felt as if Alton’s grip is loosening, and fears that he might be fading away. The reverse could be intriguing as well, Alton worried that he’s fully supplanting Fuller and not wanting his old friend to fade away.

Something odd happened in the city of Ling’hurak one day: reapers started dying. The hive never reacted to the metatons’ destructions, at least not in any way visible to the squatters living there, but a reaper’s unmoving shell is a bizarre and unforgettable sight in the city.

The culprit is a peculiar reaper designated 12-8-x, though he prefers Marek. Marek is unusual in that he doesn’t actually belong to the hive– at least, not this hive. Cut off from the hive, he must steal other reapers’ power sources to sustain himself.

Marek is stuck– voluntarily– in a time loop. Even he’s not sure how many times he’s been through it; part of the loop involves overwriting his memory. He could have been through dozens of times or billions. He’s not even sure where he’s originally from; by all logic, he simply shouldn’t even exist. But exist he does, and it is his goal to make his existence count.

His ultimate goal is simple: to help protect, arm, and inform those who can destroy the motori when the time portal reopens and they return to Ling’hurak. He hasn’t yet been successful, but each time he gets a bit closer. He carries with him a spare core, into which he programs specific information and instructions to help guide him in his next loop.

Only the most important information is stored in the core. As a sentient being, if he were to maintain the same continuous memory throughout all of his time loops he’d quite literally go insane. Much of his knowledge is based on triggering events. For example, a particular chance encounter introduces him to his charges (the PCs, of course).

Shortly after meeting the PCs, Marek believes the housewarming protocol is about to be enacted. He hurriedly rushes them out of the city so that they might escape the reapers’ slaughter.

Eventually, when the city re-opens, Marek helps smuggle the PCs inside. He informs them of how to destroy the time portal and stop any further motori reinforcements; however, before they can do that, they must help him jump back in time. This will require resetting the portal to just a few weeks prior and swapping out Marek’s core with the spare he’s been programming from this time loop. Heading back in time at the last possible moment, he’ll never know if the PCs were able to defeat the motori or not.

It sits like a massive red boil on the landscape; a huge, red dome visible from miles away. Malus Mundi, commonly known as The City of Devils.

Malus Mundi is quite literally a little bit of hell on Earth. At its heart lies a gate to hell, and infernal creatures come and go freely, allowing them to enter our world. Thankfully, they cannot stray too far. While any mortal creature can pass through the red veil of the dome with no more difficulty than passing through a light curtain, the denizens of hell find it more solid than any wall ever built.

It is usually not advised for mortals to enter Malus Mundi, though they usually need not fear wanton slaughter. The fact that they can leave and return freely makes any mortal foolhardy enough to enter quite valuable to the wretched creatures within. Some mortals even have established permanent residences within the dome, though that requires the protection of a truly powerful devil to ensure that no “accidents” happen.

Encounters in The City of Devils

A farmer’s son, discontent with a rural lifestyle and seeing no alternatives, has ventured to Malus Mundi to forge a partnership with a devil. The PCs must stop him.

The PCs manage to earn the attention of two devils, who offer them jobs. Not accepting is not an option the devils offer; unfortunately, the two are rivals and working for either also earns the other’s ire.

Click here for more information or to download

Here’s my Monster Maker, designed to help you create your custom monsters and easily format them in an attractive and authentic stat block.

While cleaning out his attic, a clerk named Arnett Quimby finds a large mirror. He decides to donate it to the city hall, placing it in the reception area. What he doesn’t know is that the mirror is home to a fae trickster which feeds on jealousy and love. It randomly chooses people who look into the mirror, and gives them visions of their one true love.

It also fills them with a deep obsession, leading them to go to extreme lengths to win their love’s affections. A few days after the mirror is installed, people all over town are going insane. Friends and siblings fight and sometimes even kill each other due to the madness.

Doing some investigation, the PCs might find out that Arnett’s uncle was killed when he was a boy in a duel for a maid’s honor, and his grandfather killed a man to win over his grandmother. Shattering the mirror will release the fae, which must then be killed or bargained with to release everyone from its glamour.

As the PCs explore a kobold warren, they encounter a long, thin hallway barely wide enough for a dwarf to fit through. Dark seams run along both walls a few feet off the ground, roughly at waste height.

When the PCs are about halfway through the hallway, a kobold on the far end activates the trap. Buzzsaws begin emerging from the seams long the wall, cutting at the characters. At the same time, more kobolds spring from hiding at both ends of the hallway and charge them. The blades are set just high enough so that they go over the heads of the kobolds.

I’m pleased to announce my latest creation, Power Tracker!

Power Tracker is designed for players of Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition. As the name implies, it’s a utility to help you keep track of your powers, including what they do and what you’ve already used!

Click the image above to download.

While I’m at it, let me pimp some of my other creations:

4e Monster Math Cruncher, which takes all the tedium out of making monsters!

4e Random Encounter Generator, which generators random encounters for your 4e games.

DiceChucker, a powerful dice-rolling program.

MicroDie, a dice-rolling program focused on a small footprint and being unobtrusive. Stays on top of other windows and you can control it from any window using the number pad.

The PCs are tasked with investigating a rash of disappearances in and around a small town called Beetleburg. Families in the outlying farms have been disappearing without any signs of struggle. It started a few days ago, and each day more and more are disappearing.

Baron Obarof, the lord of the area, is not terribly concerned about the welfare of his missing subjects. In fact, as tax day is fast approaching, he suspects that the worthless worms are hiding so that they can avoid his collectors. To show them the folly of their plans, he intends to reclaim and redistribute any farmsteads which don’t pay in full on tax day. Oberaf nonchalantly explains that anyone who disappears and then miraculously reappears will be put to death for tax evasion.

The truth is that the Gray Wolves, a secret militia dedicated to the eradication of evil and defense of the innocent, has been sequestering the families in hidden save havens. They are preparing to overthrow Baron Obarof for his gross negligence, greed, and contempt towards his subjects. They do not know how long the coup will take, and want to ensure that Obarof can’t harm the innocents in retaliation to the Wolves’ actions.

A fellow by the name SteveD has posted a list of 30 snaggable Buffy the Vampire Slayer plots based on Elvis Songs. He’s also got 34 Firefly plots based on John Elton songs, but Firefly sucks. *ducks*

Joking!

A little…

Yax’s got a great article on how to play the bad guy good. Speaking of Villains, Critical Hits also has up a groovy post on some villain archetypes and the pros and cons of each.

Ben Robbins’s has some guidelines on codifying rivalries and the applications they can have in your game.

Amagi Games is a new… game company? blog? I’m not really sure what to call it, to be honest. But it touts new stuff at least once a week, and it’s already got some cool things up there. They’ve got some “gambits,” which are crunchy systems which can be plugged into most games with little difficulty, and some full roleplaying systems as well. Broken Places is a cool little system for writing up a community which has been besieged from the inside.

When he was mortal, it is said Kenuchi was the greatest swordsman alive. He reportedly never lost a fight, but even harder to believe he never killed anyone. Kenuchi believed that defeat was the most important lesson to be learned in swordplay, and to kill your opponent is to rob them of such valuable knowledge.

Kenuchi’s swordsmanship attained such perfection that he actually transcended mortality, becoming a god. His followers run the gamut from strictly-regimented soldiers to chaotic barbarians. Some follow his tenets more closely than others. Kenuchi’s priests are almost entirely composed of duelists who have dedicated themselves to mastering their chosen weapon. A number of craftsmen also follow Kenuchi, less interested in his skill at swords than his dedication to his chosen discipline.

Kenuchi’s charge is given by the Five Doctrines of the Sword:

1. Never refuse a challenge. If you believe you will win a fight, it is your duty to teach your opponent so that he may improve his own skills. If you believe you will lose, then embrace the opportunity for learning.
2. Seek out challenges. If you always stick to what you’re sure you can do, you will stagnate.
3. Fight fairly. Do not hold back, for doing so would only deprive your opponent.
4. Do not fear death. The path of the warrior is the path of death. It is not a goal, either to be attained or visited upon others, but it nonetheless is the inevitable outcome.
5. Do not kill needlessly. The true test of skill for a warrior is the judgment, ability and restraint to turn a killing blow into an incapacitating blow.

The second and fifth doctrines are the most sacred to followers of the Sword Saint. It’s worth noting that the third doctrine is not intended to forbid “dirty tricks;” indeed, they are as important to have in your arsenal as any of your other skills. Rather, the third doctrine commands that you fight to win and that you respect your opponent.

The third doctrine is, however, more literally adhered to by Kenuchi’s non-martial followers. Related to the first and second Doctrines, they feel it is important not to sabotage the crafts of one’s competition. Success in the marketplace should be attained on your own merits, not by devaluing the work of others.

Kenuchi’s holy symbol is a simple sword, and he is also associated with owls and ants.