P.A./Sci-Fi Random Inspiration Generator

    I Love random generators. As a GM I have found over the years that making use of various generators can really take my imagination and my games into some fun directions that I wouldn't have otherwise gone in.  Over the holidays I was reading a a gaming blog post (sorry I honestly don't remember which one) about suggesting going through your Sci Fi book collection and randomly opening to a page, taking the first word that jumps out at you on that page and jot it down.  Then after you have a nice list to work with voila a Random Inspiration Generator is born!  

     So I did just that I grabbed a stack of my Sci-Fi (many P.A. related) books and the below list was created. Unfortunately in a cleaning binge, I put the books back up on the shelves before I wrote down which ones I used. * Doh*, I know I used Hiero's Journey, a random Deathlands book, Ensign Flandry and several others. I think it was 6-7 books in all.  Some of the words may initially seem bland, but don't be surprised they can spark some unexpected creativity when you are stuck for an adventure theme, or suggestion for an NPC or contents of a vault chamber!    

P.A./Sci-Fi Random Inspiration Generator

 1 Wrinkled

2 Other

3 Tangled

4 Monsters

5 Starless

6 Rust

7 Rustling

8 Run

9 Corroded

10 Survivors

11 Ruined

12 Howl

13 Cache

14 Map

15 Scorching'

16 Fury

17 Boss

18 Outpost

19 Empty

20 Family

21 Artifact

22 Engine

23 Dark

24 Underground

25 Vanish

26 Poison

27 Traitors

28 Cautious

29 Worn

30 Flicker

31 Sand

32 Abandoned

33 Attack

34 Shunted

35 Deep

36 Scent

37 Stolen

38 Strange

39 Watching

40 Violent

41 Power

42 Love

43 Blessing

44 Silent

45 Lured

46 Desert

47 Brute

48 Distant

49 Death

50 Harm

51 Shredded

52 Old

53 Bones

54 Acid

55 Attack

56 Resupply

57 Kick-Ass

58 Awesome

59 Road

60 Traders

61 Hollow

62 Repair

63 Ally

64 Tomorrow

65 Painful

66 Smoke

67 Beacon

68 Sun

69 Irradiated

70 Mutation

71 Secure

72 Claws

73 Teeth

74 Terrors

75 Blaze

76 Glass

77 Carnivores

78 Slime

79 Concealed

80 Feared

81 Books

82 Guards

83 Pipe

84 Wounded

85 Dissolve

86 Strike

87 Marauder

88 Frozen

89 Metal

90 Screech

91 Cover

92 Vanished

93 Masks

94 Territory

95 Profane

96 Stuck

97 Deathtrap

98 Rocks

99 Charts

100 Exterminate

     

 So lets see if this idea generator works...

Testing it out, I have no preconceived notions...  First question how many rolls on the table do I make?

I'll roll a d6 to determine that... I get a "6" ...so six rolls.

First I roll "84 - Wounded" - so someone or something is wounded...interesting..

Roll 2 is " 87 - Marauder" - seems we are dealing with a wounded marauder encounter...

Roll 3 is "8 - Run" - A wounded marauder on the run? wonder why they are on the run?  Are the local authorities after them??  Lets keep rolling...

Roll 4 is " 42- Love" - Ok now we are definitely getting a theme here, a wounded marauder on the run, and love is involved? They fall in love with the wrong person?...lets do our next roll...

Roll 5 is "27-Traitors" - So I'm starting to see a Romeo and Juliet type of scenario here. A Marauder falls in love with someone from outside their group, this person is maybe part of a group that the marauders prey upon or is their beloved part of the local Establishment/Authority?, are viewed as Traitors by both sides perhaps?  One last roll to go...

Roll 6 is "93 - Masks"- At this point I'm thinking we are dealing with a couple of lovers on the run, one is wounded, one is a Marauder and the other is not, they are considered traitors by both sides and while on the run are hiding out under some sort of covert/masked means.  Maybe pretending to be someone other than who they really are...

     Lets take these ideas just a bit further... Starting with the Marauder....who are they?  

For me a great resource for additional ideas is Pinterest.. I have several collections of different images I have saved over the years, filed under different boards.   Looking around I quickly find one that jumps out at me!

I know this is a cosplay image of Jack from Mass Effect (image by Sabi Noir) but it really inspires me with some ideas.. So I'm thinking the Marauder is a female.  Now I need a name.... how about Jax or Jaxs? I like the sound of that...My google fu finds a few more cosplay images of this character..

This is the cosplay actress Anna Moleva

     Great I like this, so what about her beloved?  I think this person will be a member of the "Authorities" Going through my Pinterest boards, I find the below image.  He looks like he has been through some rough times, ragged uniform, some possible injuries and a cornered look in his eyes. So lets tweak the above narrative a bit, the Marauder isn't the one that is injured, instead it is this guy. Maybe he is some sort of scout or pilot? He could have crashed on the planet and/or been captured by the Marauders. Jaxs and he are on the run and he is injured. Maybe she helped him escape? Due to his injuries, he can't travel far without frequents rests?

     I could keep going with this, work on his background some more, he needs a good name, but I think the list has proved it can work with some imagination.  When used with a campaign, I'd plug in my campaign factions and regions to flesh things out more.  This took a bit more of a Sci Fi direction than gritty P.A., but with some tweaks the above could readily work in P.A. Campaign. For a Gamma World Type Campaign Jaxs could be a member of the Knights of Genetic Purity or Red Death, her lover could be from a Hi Tech Enclave of Restorationists or Maybe he is a member of the KGP and she is a member of the Friends of Entropy. Lots of options.  

     Working this into a campaign the party could stumble upon these two hiding out in some ruin or under disguise in a village or town, or the party could be hired by rival factions/Cryptic Alliances to hunt down and kill/capture these two...lots of possibilities. Maybe he has valuable information on secret vaults or tech? I may have to revisit these concepts again in another post.

Have a great weekend!

Good Gaming-B.B.

 

Chuck Norris Scenario Generator (Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland)

 Hope everyone is doing well!

I've enjoyed getting back to posting again on my blog after a long hiatus.  I appreciate everyone for dropping by and the comments.  One thing I have noticed after my recent posts, it seems one of the more popular recent posts I did was about Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland. In that recent post all I really did was mention Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland, so I figured I needed a bit more Neon Lords content on the ole blog. With that in mind today is a bit of a "cheat post".  I originally posted this material way back in October of 2017. Wow, what a different world that was from today... 

     Anyways, I thought my old Chuck Norris Scenario Generator would be perfect to use with your Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland Campaigns. It captures that 80s vibe that I love so much, yeah I'm old enough to have solid memories of the 80's. So here it is again for your viewing pleasure!

Chuck Norris Scenario Generator

Locations- Roll a d4 for the number of key adventure locations then a d20 for specific locations (keep duplicates!).

1 Jungle

2 Ruins

3 Casino

4 Wasteland

5 Desert

6 Warehouse

7 Houseboat

8 Run-Down House (in the middle of nowhere)

9 Dojo

10 Bar

11 Diner (that overcharges outsiders)

12 Restaurant (Chinese!)

13 Wrecking Yard

14 Prison Camp

15 Terrorist Training Camp

16 Guerilla Base

17 Back Alleys

18 The Institute (Mental Hospital + so much more!)

19 Abandoned Theater

20 Abandoned House

Missions (roll a d6 for the central mission of the scenario, ACTION is the key concept of the scenario!)

1 Rescue POW's

2 Quest for lost Treasure

3 Defeat Foe (roll on the foes table)

4 Save Old Teammates

5 Save Hostages

6 Save the Damsel in Distress

Foes roll a d30 (what do you mean you don't have one!?!)

1-3 Enemy Soldiers

4 Savages

5-6 Guerrilla Forces

7-8 Terrorists

9 Genetically Altered Sociopath

10-11 Assassins

12-14 Drug Gang (roll on the Drug Gang Table)

15 Mexican Bandits

16 Gang of Horse Thieves

17-18 Crime Syndicate

19-20 Gangsters

21-22 Martial Artists

23-Crooked Cops

24 Ninjas

25 Crazed Serial Killer

26 Cultists Religious Zealots

27 Supernatural Being

28 Militants

29 Hit Men

30 Neo-Nazis

Drug Gang Table (roll a d6)

1 Drug Runners

2 Asian Drug Gang

3 Gang of Iranian Drug Dealers

4 South American Drug Cartel

5-6 Vicious Drug Gang

Potential Friends & Allies (roll a d12)

1 Prowler Robot

2 Pet Wolf

3 Loyal Canine Sidekick

4-5 Ex-Army Buddy

6 Sympathetic Priest

7 Old Mercenary Friend

8 Missionary

9 Inscrutable Woman of Mystery

10 Holy Man

11 Martial Artist

12 Friend on the Force (Cop)

  

Additional Story Elements

1-4 Illegal Drugs!

5-7 Illegal Weapons

8 Treasure Map

9 Cobra Venom

10 Cursed Scepter (optionally roll a d8+1 for the number of pieces)

11-12 Potential Romantic Interest

So making some random rolls let's see what we get..

2 Locations, rolled a 17 for a Back Alley and a 3 for a Casino..so this will be an urban adventure

The Key mission is a 3... to defeat a Foe..rolling to determine the foe I rolled an 11...Assassins!

For potential friends and allies I rolled a7 for an Old Mercenary Friend...

under additional story elements I got a 9 Cobra Venom!!  Cause you know Chuck Norris was once bitten by a Cobra and five excruciating days later the cobra died!  : )

Anyway this looks like assassins are working out of the Casino, killing targets in back alleys across the city. Our player(s) are brought in to deal with the issue, an old mercenary buddy provides some intel on the location and may even help with the final fight. But then in the final battle it is learned the master assassin is a master of Cobra Venom Style Martial Arts! Will our heroes prevail!!  : )

Vaults of Vaarn #3

Time to post about Vaults of Vaarn issue #3

 

To date, Vaults of Vaarn consists of three zines. Although more issues are said to be in the works.  

Here's the official blurb about this issue:

"Vaults of Vaarn returns for a third issue of science-fantasy RPG content, providing further support for referees who wish to set their game in the blue deserts at the very end of time. Issue three focuses on the Vaarnish Interior, the endless sand-sea that intimidates even the hardy souls who live in the dry and dangerous badlands. 

No accurate map has ever been drawn of the Vaarnish Interior: the territory seems to defy rational organisation. This is a place without borders, the horizon between blue sand and blue sky no longer a stark dividing line but rather a molten membrane that swims and drifts woozily in the sun’s wine-red heat, the land making and remaking itself just as a lizard sheds its skin. The blue sands retreat from the wind, revealing structures that have lain dry and deathless and undisturbed for aeons, and then those same restless dunes shroud the ruins once again, before a living soul can name them. This is a country vast and blue, as deep with secrets as the ocean and twice as capricious. 

Included in Issue 3:

• Information on three of the cultures that exist in the deepest of Vaarn's deserts: the nomadic Faa, the raucous Cacklemaw, and the motile crystal scholars of the Lithic Lyceum. 
• Playable ancestries for each of these cultures, allowing you to embody a Faa nomad, Cacklemaw exile, or Lithling scholar at your gaming table. 
• Travel procedures, a dynamic weather generator, and an extensive regional map generator, allowing you to create huge areas of the desert for your players to explore.
• More than twenty random tables, allowing referees to quickly create desert ruins, settlements, anomalies, underground vaults, holy sites, Vaarnish graves,  Cacklemaw dens, Hegemony outposts, Faa nomad campsites, and more. 
• New science-fantasy monsters to stalk the wastes, including the Argent Shepherd, the Lambent Lynx, the Quill Spider, and the majestic Vaarnish Sandworm.
• Four new vehicles and a selection of powerful and mysterious exotica."

 You can get it HERE as a pay what you want!!

So with that said, let me say I love this issue! It is loaded with random tables allowing you to create your own unique and interesting version of Vaarn.  I got one of those massive notepads, you know the ones you use when doing a big presentation? well back when we did big presentations in front of a group, and before Power Point? Ok , showing my age... Anyways, following the steps in Zine #3 I rolled up a fun area for a party of adventurers to explore, I may post the map area I worked up down the road.  It has Campaign spoilers on it, so want to keep some things a mystery for when I get to run this game.

Zine Issue #1  gives basic rules of the game, basic character types and some cool random tables to get you started

Zine Issue #2 is a urban themed issue (based around Gnomon the big trade hub city of the setting) with random urban themed tables to help you flesh out the setting

Zine Issue #3 takes things to the next level and allows you to go wild randomly rolling up your own region of Vaarn!  Good Stuff!

Even if the author doesn't produce anymore Vaarn Content, there is enough in these three issues to have a full campaign. However, he has more planned, so can't wait to see what's next!  

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and is safe and healthy!

Good Gaming- B.B.

Vaults of Vaarn #2

 My second blog post regarding the Vaults of Vaarn zine. My first post can be found HERE

Here is the official blurb about issue #2

"When a traveller is adrift in the blue dunes of Vaarn’s desert, he dreams of a city. When the camel’s hump sways beneath him, he dreams of a cushioned alcove in a tavern, with learned conversation and hookah smoke coiling languidly in the air; when Vaarn’s red sun beats upon his head he dreams of cool avenues shaded by demure and welcoming lemon trees. Oppressed by his loneliness, the traveller dreams of a city where the crowds embrace him and strangers greet him as brother; when he swills the last dregs of water around blistered gums he dreams of a a fountain in a public courtyard, where the daughters of the neighbourhood arrive to draw water and eye a handsome stranger.

Gnomon, the city of shaded markets, at first appears to be this dream made solid. There are taverns with cushioned alcoves, as the traveller sought; also he will find learned conversation and hookah smoke, wide avenues flanked by lemon trees, public fountains and smiling maidens and strangers who greet him as brother. There are many sights in Gnomon, sights beyond the traveller’s dreams: glittering mezzanine gardens and parades of masked hierophants, guild halls where cone-hatted clerks ponder their ledgers of debt, babbling souks where the merchants mutter their bargains like mantras and even memories may be bought for the right price. Truly this was what he sought in a city. 

So bewitched is our traveller, he scarcely notices that the merchants’ smiles do not reach their eyes, that the women who wave from passion-house windows have faces brittle as porcelain, that each stranger calling him brother has an accomplice reaching into his pocket. It is only as he leaves under cover of darkness, with a head ringing from cheap wine and a purse empty as his stomach, that the traveller begins to curse Gnomon, the undreamed-of city, the gilded trap."

     If you want to run your game in or around Gnomon, then this zine is right up your alley (pun intended)! It has a nice assortment of random tables to help you flesh out the city on the fly. My players are always going off in a different direction than what I had expected and having some random tables to determine what they bump into is most helpful. This issue has tables for such things as street hassles, mercenaries, merchants, trade cartels (Gnomon is a trade hub), urban shrines (all kinds of strange religions exist in Vaarn), pit fighters, gangs, taverns and more! 

Here's the link for the pay what you want version of Issue #2

 

Vaults of Vaarn

     For me personally the roots of RPG gaming are firmly in the realm of Post Apocalyptic (P.A.) RPGs.  Specifically Gamma World, my online handle "Brutorz Bill" is named after my first Gamma World character.  I've been a fan of P.A. Gaming ever since I found first edition Gamma World at the Mall (remember those?) back in 1979! While we played a ton of D&D, we always came back to Gamma World. Always enjoyed GMing Gamma World and many of the P.A. RPGs that followed.  The early days of this blog were heavily focused on the OSR game Mutant Future, had a blast running that one, with friends and even at a few local Cons. I have a stack of P.A. RPG's.  Gamma World (many editions), Mutant Future, The Mutant Epoch, Rifts (Original Rifts was more P.A. than in later supplements), Other Dust and a whole hoard of independent P.A. RPG's.  Even my recent Hyperborea RPG interests have a bit of P.A. in them.  Whew, I'm rambling...so what's the point of this blog post?

I want to talk about a fun RPG that I have discovered called Vaults of Vaarn!

Here is a blurb about it,

"The sun is dying and the wreckage of countless eons litters the parched wastes of Vaarn, the desolate country that common folk call the blue ruin. It is said that these sky-coloured sands hide the graves of the Autarchs; have swallowed the buried arcologies in which the true seed of humankind was preserved through the Great Collapse; conceal forgotten crypts of memory, decaying crystalline lattices of ancient ego-engines upon which the dusk-blue dunes encroach without pity. From the New Hegemony to the south come drifters and dreamers, desecraters of the tech-tombs that lie sunken beneath the azure wastes. Light-years overhead, aurum-hulled craft ply their tender routes between the spheres, and miles below a pilgrim’s feet, strange wombs are kindled once more with life undreamed of.

These are the hinterlands, where humanity’s great works have fallen to everlasting decay, where machine and animal and fungus think to crown themselves our equal. The phthalo-sands, where newbeasts hunt proudly with boots upon their hind paws and chromepriests chant unending binary devotions to their nameless synthetic god. Only the desperate or the mad would seek to make a life here, to roam the blue desert in search of the secret VAULTS OF VAARN."

Very cool setting, that evokes Dune (we just got the new movie on DVD, but still love the 80's film), Gamma World, a bit of Numenera with a Mobius vibe to tie it all up in an amazing package. 

Currently Vaults of Vaarn consists of three zine sized books.  More are in the works per the author.

Issue #1 Includes: 

• Full rules for play, based on the light, easy-to-learn Knave system.
• Five player ancestries with detailed character generation tables. Play as a haughty true-kin, a mutated cacogen, a mechanical synth, a feral newbeast, or a fungal mycomorph.
• Twisted mutations, psychic gifts, and cybernetic implants to further augment your character.
• 120 Exotica, the strange and valuable far-future relics that can be discovered in the vaults beneath Vaarn.
• A bestiary of 28 ferocious science-fantasy monsters that lurk in the blue wastes.
• Nine pages of content generation tables that allow a referee to spark ideas for their own vision of Vaarn. Generate desert ruins, NPCs, trading caravans, nomadic clans, arcology domes, esoteric drugs, forgotten gods, and more.
  

You can get the PDF for free HERE and it is pay what you want!!! What a deal!

The creator's blog is HERE with more about the setting, game and session logs from his home games. 

I'll be posting more about this one!

Zonn Vai The Corpse-Master

     Going back to the pulp covers for this one.  Weird Tales, from back in 1929.  Once again, I'm just basing this off of ideas from the cover, not from the actual story within.

     This cover is just creepy as heck.  The seated man, to me is a foul Necromancer, he lives a life of luxury, at least compared to those around him, using his powers over the dead to support his greedy, gluttonous lifestyle.  So now to work this into Hyperborea.  I know at some point my players will be in Khromarium.  When running urban based adventures, I like to have a lot of different options for the characters to follow up on.To me it just makes sense, especially in a large urban environment, for there to be lots of different leads and plot hooks available. The players won't follow up on all of them, these player choices will lead to other events unrolling as a result of the character's actions or in-actions. I like to have the player's characters decisions have an impact on the campaign. 

     So back to the necromancer in the image...he needs a name, fortunately AS&SH has a great PDF to generate names appropriate to the Hyperborea setting. People can play however, they like, but for me genre appropriate names are important to me for my campaign immersion experience. Mr. Boopers the Barbarian is a no go for me. I don't see this guy as an Ixian, no to me he looks like a commoner (mixed blood) that has used his magical abilities to advance himself.  So rolling on the name generator for commoner names I get Zonn Vai...I like it Zonn Vai the Corpse Master!  Creepy villainous character! 

     So Zonn Vai, likes to think of himself as a man of power and ability, but in actually he is just a petty, vile low level Necromancer, just high enough level to be able to animate the dead and terrorize the regular folk in his run down part of the city.  I can see him living in what was once an impressive mansion or structure for the wealthy, long abandoned by its original owners, Zonn Vai has set up his little "kingdom", demanding tribute from the locals.  The area is now a "bad neighborhood", which in Khromarium is the norm. 

     Zonn Vai can cross the character's path in a number of ways...he could initially be a patron. Maybe he has learned of the location of some secret crypt said to contain a magic relic or device in the dark passages below the city, he just needs a group of pawns..er adventurers to recover it for him...Looking at the picture of the young pale, zombie? girl maybe the party is contacted by a local merchant, the merchant's daughter died recently but before the funeral rites could be completed the body vanished.  Zonn Vai has animated her and has her in his lair. Can the party take on Zonn Vai and destroy him entirely, or will they just be able to recover the poor undead girl and allow her to be laid to appropriate rest? Kidnapping a zombie girl? That's an interesting challenge? Maybe a key condition of the Merchant father is that his daughter's body be undamaged/unharmed?  Take that Murder Hobos!

     The ragged slouching dagger wielding guy in the corner to me is a underling of some sort. By the large size of Zonn Vai he clearly doesn't do any physical labor himself, so having a underling to do the grave robbing, petty killing, etc..guess he needs a name as well....rolling on the tables again...I get Sarr...hmmm he is creeping about to me... So how about "Skulking Sarr".  

     Lots of gaming options from this one cover image, and it could even be used outside of Khromarium, Zonn Vai could have set himself up as the petty tyrant over a small town or larger village.  Although, I like the Khromarium connection better. There should be a lot of different personalities and conflicts around in a urban environment for the party to hear about, work for, interact with and come into conflict with...

     So that's my Hyperborea entry for this morning. I came up with this pretty quickly.  Just looked at a old pulp cover that caught my eye, a few random rolls here and there and I think I have an interesting villain to work with...I'll keep his stats to myself for now, never know if my players are reading the old blog!

     Hope everyone is safe and healthy out there during these difficult times.  

Good Gaming! - B.B.

Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland

 

Taking a break from my Hyperborea posts to mention a new book for my collection. The just arrived Kickstarter I backed; Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland!  Gonzo Wahoo Post Apocalyptic Gaming!

Can't wait to run this one!! Anyone who knows me knows that Gamma World is what got me into RPG's, sure D&D is cool, but I love me some PA Mutant Madness!  Will be posting more about this one, so stay tuned!! 

Frankenstein's Monster goes to Hyperborea

     Woke up this morning to see that we had a significant snow last night (for us anyway).  Which got me thinking about Hyperborea.  I then went through my image files of Classic Comic and Pulp Covers and came across this one from Classics Illustrated. My initial thought would be this has nothing to do with Hyperborea, then my eyes caught the dog sled in the background, registered the Monster was fleeing into the frigid icy wastes and I thought...wait a minute...of course!

Frankenstein's Monster wandered off into the frigid frozen lands of Earth...never to be seen again...

Because he ended up in Hyperborea!! 

So I opened up my newly arrived PDF of the Hyperborea Referee's Manual, (love the cover art on it/in it!!)

     At first I went looking for Flesh Golem stats... then I found what I was looking for in the Bestiary, under Automaton.  Flesh Automaton to be more specific! There is a full page art piece for the monster and yes it very much looks like the Frankenstein Monster to me! I'm not going to reprint the stat block here (get the book!!), I'd pretty much use the official stat block, as is, I mean the AD&D Flesh Golem was based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, after all, (you haven't read it?!  get to it!!) however, I would make one minor adjustment to the Flesh Automaton stats to represent the Frankenstein Monster... Mainly related to fire. I'd say in the face of a large fire (DM discretion) the Frankenstein Monster would have a morale of 9 instead of the normal Morale of 11. He would have the rudimentary intelligence mentioned to automaton's that are no longer controlled.  Otherwise you are good to go. 

     I think this could make for a cool (pun intended) and interesting encounter in my Hyperborea Campaign.  Think of the players characters having a ship that comes across a Viking Longboat wrecked on the ice, the crew have been pummeled to death, beaten to bloody (now frozen) pulps.  And deep humanoid tracks lead off into the ice flows...do the characters follow?  I bet they won't expect Frankenstein's Monster!! 

     Another idea or even a connected one, depending on your campaign needs, is that the player's ship now wrecked on the ice, encounter a group of Esquimaux that are being terrorized by "something". The Esquimaux will help the PC's (maybe with supplies or materials to repair/free their ship) but first they need to have the PC's deal with the monster that is out there!   I'm thinking the Esquimaux know more than they are saying, maybe they found the Monster initially frozen in a block of ice.  In true Hyperborean fashion these Esquimaux are Kthulhu worshippers and sought to sacrifice this strange creature to their dark deity. In the process of the sacrifice they "thawed" him out, only to have the monster go berserk attack them and flee into the icy wilds.  Can the party trust these cultists?....

(By the way as an aside, if you have a bit of DM Burnout, or are just looking to get inspired, go to the Pulps! Just looking at the old covers gives me tons of ideas!!).

Hyperborean Great Ape for Simian Saturday

 Love that art!

I don't remember the 70's  Movie King Kong fight versus the giant snake looking this cool!

So this image got me to thinking about Hyperborea (AS&SH).  I went to my newly arrived Hyperborea Referee's Manual PDF for the latest edition of AS&SH and while the Bestiary does have a variety of apes, there aren't specific stats for a Giant Ape.  I remembered an old module from back in the day, Isle of the Ape.  But in looking at it that's an 18th level adventure. Yikes!  I've been gaming since '79 and have never DM'd or played in a game of that high of a level.  I don't want to recreate King Kong for my Hyperborea Campaign (just yet...), Kaiju is neat, but not what I'm looking for here... I'm thinking an ape of something more in line with the size of Classic Mighty Joe Young. Big, but not kaiju sized...

Which took me back to the awesome Hyperborea Referee's Manual.  Like I did with my recent write-up of the Pincer Tiger vs Crimson Maned Wolf why recreate the wheel when I can tweak and adapt what is already there.  So Hyperborea has the Mountain Ape, which is basically a reskinned ogre... they are up to 10' tall and can weigh 1000 pounds...ok now we are talking that is more the size range I am looking for... So adjusted the stats and a few other things, bring in the keen senses of the other Apes in the bestiary and voila...not perfect but gameable.

Hyperborean Great Ape

These rare, massive apes, resemble large gorillas, however, they are much larger and generally more intelligent than normal apes. Standing around 10' tall and weighing up to 1000 lbs.  They tend to be solitary, legend says in ages past Hyperboreans hunted the great beasts for sport, leading to their near extinction.  Some can still be found in lonely isolated lands and islands. They avoid civilized lands and humans, having a dim racial memory associating the smaller humans with danger and death.  Hyperborean Great Apes are generally not savage and chaotic creatures, there have been reports of them coming to the aid of injured or weaker creatures (although this tends to not be believed).  They are said to have shown an interest in human females, although the veracity of these tales is uncertain. 

Hyperborean Great Ape

#E 1 | AL N (a few NG) | SZ L | MV 40 DX 11 | AC 6 | HD 7 | #A  2/1 (pummel or hurled attack) D 1d10+3 (pummel) | SV 15 ML 10 | XP 200 | TC C| Special: Hurl Stone: Hurl a large stone or massive tree branch to a range of 60' for 1d10+3 hp damage. Acute senses: Chance to be surprised reduced by 1-in-6.

Happy Simian Saturday! 

Oh and the Hyperborea Referee's manual has perfect stats for the Giant Pythons! So the work there has already been done.