You utalize your dead stealth to sneak and harm others.
Manifestation
roll 1d4: (1) You become a puff of air (2) You become near translusent as the color fades from your bones (3) You simply stop all those pesky movements your body was trained to do while you wre alive and just nearly become an object (4) You freeze and move so slowly ts hard to detect you.
1
Failure, ability may not be used againt that day and anyone attempting to detect you gains a +1d bonus
2-11
Lost. Failure
12-13
You gain a +1 bonus to sneak silently and +1 bonus to any demamage dealt to targets you are hidden to
14-17
You gain a +2 bonus to sneak silently and +2 bonus to any demamage dealt to targets you are hidden to
18-19
You gain a +3 bonus to sneak silently and +3 bonus to any demamage dealt to targets you are hidden to
20-23
You gain a +5 bonus to sneak silently and +5 bonus to any demamage dealt to targets you are hidden to
24-27
You gain a +6 bonus to sneak silently and +6 bonus to any demamage dealt to targets you are hidden to
28-29
You gain a +9 bonus to sneak silently and +9 bonus to any demamage dealt to targets you are hidden to
30-31
You gain a +10 bonus to sneak silently and +10 bonus to any demamage dealt to targets you are hidden to
32+
You gain a +12 bonus to sneak silently and +12 bonus to any demamage dealt to targets you are hidden to
It is hard to detect the undead since you can’t even hear them breath and they don’t even have a pulse. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to Stealth checks. In addition, if you do not move faster than 1/4 your speed, you can not be detected by tremorsense.
roll 1d4: (1) A wind blows and you blow away with it (2) You collapse into a pile of ash and blow along the ground. (3) you grab onto something and you flow as a dust into it (4)You simply fall apart at a molecular level and flow into a hole
1
Failure, ability may not be used againt that day and it takes two actions to pull yourself together
2-11
Lost. Failure
12-13
You blow away and can crawl through anything the size of a dog door
14-17
You blow away and can crawl through anything the size of a cat door
18-19
You blow away and can crawl through anything the size of a mouse hole
20-23
You blow away and can crawl through anything the size of a door jam
24-27
You blow away and can crawl through anything the size of a key hole
28-29
You blow away and can crawl through anything the size of credit card/keycard
30-31
You blow away and can crawl through anything the size of paper’s thickness
32+
You can crawl into any sized space even if only a few molecules can fit in
TL; DR– A solid implementation of a choose your adventure with combat. 85%
Basics– Choose your own insanity! Dagon is a necronomicon gamebook. These are a series of choose-your-own-adventures where you get to choose an action AND, like other games such as fighting fantasy, you may roll a d6 to determine combat. If you know the choose-your-own-adventure games from the 80s/90s you know the drill and may already be hooked!
Mechanics or Crunch– To determine if you will like this, ask yourself-”Do I like Choose-your own-adventure books with combat?” If you said yes and you also like Lovecraft, then this is right up your alley. This doesn’t reinvent the wheel of these games, but it doesn’t need to. You just choose your action and maybe have combat. It’s solid enough and fun. It might not be the most inventive for the base mechanic, but there are some stats you choose at the beginning and you have a solid time playing. 4.5/5
Theme or Fluff– Just like above, if you like Lovecraft and like choose your own adventures, then you will like this. This isn’t new ground. If you need some crazy new angle to Cthulhu, then you will not be happy. What is novel to this type of book is the Dreamlands. When you rest and when some crazy things happen, you have random visions that can make more crazy things happen as you drift off to another reality. It might not be the newest concept, but it still does the old standard story of the Lovecraft mythos well. 4.5/5
Execution– This is the most conflicted part of this book. The art is good. The flow is good. The story is good and easily readable. What isn’t great is the rules explanation and the hyperlinking. You jump around in the book, but on a PDF there are no hyperlinks. That’s bad in a basic RPG book, but worse in a book where I am going to have to repeatedly jump all over the place. Also, the explanation of rules is a bit off. Not mostly, but one very key thing is left out: dice. The game says use a die. Man, this is an rpg book aimed at nerds; it’s aimed at me with my Horrorclix Cthulhu staring back at me as I write this. If you say die, I literally have no idea what you are talking about. They mean D6. That’s not horrible for the normal person, but me with with over 100GB of RPGs and over 1000 board games in my basement spent 20 minutes trying to understand if they meant d20 to my crazy almost non-euclidean dice I bought at a crazy gaming convention that most people can’t remember for some reason. The things I am not happy with are not even close to stopping me from buying in, but it’s a small thing that escalates to larger things. 3.75/5
Summary– I like choose your own adventure games, I like simple combat in RPGs, and I like Lovecraft. This is a fun way to get new people into Lovecraft, a fun way to get literature nerds into RPGs, and a fun way to get people gaming. I like this product. It isn’t the newest story you will see under the sun or in a terrible old book full of secrets. But, like a classic hamburger from your amazing local diner, the classics are good and don’t need to be changed all the time. What isn’t great are some things I need in this style of product in 2023: hyperlinks and a bit more rules discussion. Tell me I need a d6 and give me a hyperlinked PDF, and I will love this thing nearly unconditionally. I am the geek this is aimed for, and I am glad to have gotten this. Check out the kickstarter now! 85%
Ok, looks like Im doing this! Time to make a skeleton PC. I want skeletons, vampires, and Zombies to popup and play! Thinking they will be like MCC mutants. What say you? Here is a skeleton power
Collapse
Type: Reactive
Range: N/A
Duration: instantaneous
Save: none
General
You are struck with a blow and collapse to minimize the damage
Manifestation
roll 1d4: (1) Teh blow knowcks you into a spray of bones (2) You collapse into a pile of musically tingeling bones with yoru skull on top. (3) Teh blow kocks out a support bone and you fall onto the attacker (4)You just fall flat onto your face and fall apart
1
Failure, ability may not be used againt that day, take 1d4 damage
2-11
Lost. Failure
12-13
You fall down, must spend an action to stand up, and you reduce the damage you took by 1d6
14-17
You fall down, must spend an action to stand up, and you reduce the damage you took by 1d8
18-19
You fall down, must spend an action to stand up, and you reduce the damage you took by 1d10
20-23
You fall down, must spend an action to stand up, and you reduce the damage you took by 1d12
24-27
You fall down, don’t need an action to stand up, and you reduce the damage you took by 1d14
28-29
You fall down, don’t need an action to stand up, and you reduce the damage you took by 1d16
30-31
You fall down, don’t need an action to stand up, and you reduce the damage you took by 5d4
32+
You fall down, but do not need an action to stand up, and you reduce the damage you take by 5d6
Your grip is a vice! When you deal damage via crushing grab deal bludgeoning damage equal to double your Strength modifier instead of just equal to your Strength modifier.
Prerequisites: Improved Combat Maneuver (grapple) Time to rally!
Benefit: When you have a target grabbed , you can spend a move action to rally yourself. You gain temporary hit points equal to half your level, rounded down, plus your Charisma modifier. You may gain this once per each enemy and these do not add to any other temporary hit points.
People don’t get away from you! When you do an action that would cause you to end a grab and the grabbed target is still within your reach, the grab does not end.
Throat Punch Games 