Description

Known as skógrnaðr “forest serpent” by locals, the Orkvren are a barbaric tribal race of reptilian-like creatures who’s origins are clouded in secrecy. They are thought to be the result of dark magic’s gone wrong, producing a cross breed of Lizardman and Orc, with the cunning and tribal instincts of both these species. Whether this being true or not has never been disproved.

Orkvren are savage of mind and of battle and raid the countryside in the least domesticated areas. They are devilish humanoids that thrive through scavenging, ambushing, fishing and foraging.
Adult Orkvren stand between 6 ½ to 7 feet in height, weighing anywhere from 180 to 250 pounds. Skin tones range from light green to yellowish brown and their skin have small contusions of all sorts and sizes. Their tails are equally marred and have hard leatherlike scales abound averaging 3 to 5 feet long. Males are nearly impossible to distinguish from females without close inspection. Orkvren usually clad themselves in tribal garb including bones, strings, paint, furs and feathers and various other barbaric ornaments. Orkvren speak their own language as well as Lizardman and Orcish..

Combat

When in combat, Orkvren fight fiercely and without mercy, yet are unstructured in their attacks and simply engage their enemies with a death to all mentality. If they out number their opponents, they will tend toward frontal assaults and swarm attacks, while if outnumbered or simply outclassed they will ambush or encompass their enemies. If defending their tribe or village, usually snares, pitfalls, sudden and decisive ambushes are all favored tactics. A lone Orkvren will fight just as savagely in melee combat as their counterpart lizard men, but do not wary or become distracted by food (such as slain opponents) and or simple treasures, they tend to act more like their orcish brethren and wait until combat is over to bask in the glory of victory. Orkvren are not interested in slaves and unlike Lizardmen, they will simply kill every living thing which stand before them.

For every 8 Orkvren encountered, there will be a tribal leader with maximum of 50 hit points and a 50% chance for a shaman with 4 Hit Dice and the abilities of a 4th-level druid. If the Orkvren’s tribal village is encountered, each tribe will also have a chieftain leader of 8 Hit Dice, with two or more lesser chieftain with 5 Hit Dice, and up to 4 shaman or shaman warriors (see Ankhur classes) of either 4 or 5 Hit Dice. Any extremely large village with usually have a grand shaman of 7 Hit Dice and will function to that of a 7th level druid.

Orkvren Society

Orkvren are typically found in dark, dank jungles and places that best hide their civilizations from any outsiders. A Orkvren tribe rarely hosts more then 80 individuals, including all shaman, women-folk, shaman warriors and leaders. Unlike Lizardmen, Orkvren rarely make a pact with another Orkvren tribe and will attack and defend against such adversaries in much the same fashion as any other invader. Orkvren are omnivorous, but prefer raw meat to most other foods, especially fresh meat or those they have just slain in battle. Often the corpses of the fallen are taken back to their lair where the Orkvren devour the dead and drench themselves in their victims blood.

Characteristics

Orkvren have few natural enemies and tend to ward of any more powerful creatures quite easily with their bountiful fires, loud noises and erratic ceremonies. They prey on whomever pass within their lands and will often raid small nearby cities. Orkvren give birth like that of their Orcish cousins, but breed at a much slower rate, more closely to that of humans, sometimes even a longer gestation period is required. Orkvren meat and skin is simply inedible, having hard scales and crustaceans across their bodies and a nasty odor to boot. One could only do their best to not vomit from the stench.

Written and designed by Cole Austin, All artwork is copyright © by the original artist, 2010

While the below recipe was made indoors; it can easily be cooked out on an open camp fire.

Cast Iron Skillet Elk Burgers

Ingredients:

3/4 lb ground Elk meat
1/4 lb lean ground beef
1 cup diced tomatoes
1/4 tsp each sea salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder and chili powder
3 Tbsp butter
1 medium red onion, cut into slivers
1 large green bell pepper, cut into slivers

Preparation:

In a medium bowl, mix together the Elk, ground beef, tomatoes and seasonings. Form 4 patties which will be one inch thick.

On medium-high heat, melt butter in skillet and put in the onion and bell peppers slivers. Place the patties on top of the vegetables. Cook for 12 minutes on one side, lift up burger, mix vegetables up underneath and flip uncooked side of burger down on vegetables. Do this for each burger and continue to cook for another 12 minutes each. This will allow the vegetables and the meat to caramelize, and the meat will be cooked well, but still juicy.

Remove to plate and let rest 5 minutes before putting on buns. Serve with lettuce, cheese and condiments if desired.

Makes 4 burgers.

~ Lady Winter Wolf ~

Copyright Gavin-Hargest

==STATISTICS==

”’CLIMATE/TERRAIN”’: dark caves or severely overgrown forests

”’FREQUENCY”’: rare

”’ORGANIZATION”’: alone

”’ACTIVITY CYCLE”’: night

”’DIET”’: no need for feeding

”’INTELLIGENCE”’: 18

”’TREASURE”’: 2 black gems worth a lot

”’ALIGNMENT”’: CE

”’NO. APPEARING”’: 1

”’ARMOR CLASS”’: 3

”’MOVEMENT”’: 12

”’HIT DICE”’: 8 +8

”’THAC0”’: 14

”’NO. OF ATTACKS”’: 2

”’DAMAGE/ATTACK”’: 2d4 +2

”’SPECIAL ATTACKS”’: fog mind, mist blast, shadow arena

”’SPECIAL DEFENSES”’: +1 weapons to hit

”’MAGIC RESISTANCE”’: 15 %

”’SIZE”’: 4-5 feet high (M)

”’MORALE”’: around 15, ie pretty high

”’XP VALUE”’: 5000

==Appearance==

From the darkness you see some fog flowing in your direction. Suddenly it materializes into the form of a humanoid. It’s all black, even in the brightest light, and its pitch black eyes stare at you.

The mind fogger is a black mist. It has the upper body of a human. Meaning the mist is more tightly packed and forms the general shape of a body a head and arms. It has 2 pitch black gems as eyes. If the mind fogger is killed, these gems fall on the ground as the mist disperses. These are worth between 250 and 750 gold, 250+ d1000/2.

==Combat==

The mind fogger prefers not to fight himself. His strength lies not in its combat prowess. He prefers using minions for his defense and his evil activities. He has a very special method of gaining minions. He usually chooses a village near his dark hideout. As he cannot show himself in the light, he will travel there at night. Once there he will search for a sleeping victim and make his way to the bedroom. His ability to slip through the smallest of spaces make it fairly easy for him to go unnoticed, as well as the fact that he is practically invisible in the shadow unless thoroughly searched for. Once he makes it to a victim, he will use his special ability. He will hover over the victim and emit black rays from his eyes into the victims’ eyes, thus bestowing the curse of the mind fog. A victim must save vs. spell or be affected. If the save is successful, the mind fogger will flee and will be unable to undertake any such action for two days.

When however a victim doesn’t make its save, the curse will take effect slowly. The morning after, the victim will notice little. He’ll just be a bit groggy and more likely to forget things then usual. It will appear as if the victim hasn’t slept very well and is simply tired. In the days after that the victim will start to forget more and more about his life and himself. The victim loses 1 point of Intelligence every day after being affected. It will be as if he can no longer access the information in his head. It is still there, but for some reason he cannot see it clearly. This is how the ‘fogging’ starts. After a number of days equal to his intelligence score, he will have forgotten all about himself and the mind fogger now has full control over him. The day before this happens, the mind fogger will take over. He will let the victim go out into the village or city and have him declare that he is going to leave town for whichever reason, and that he will not return. That night the victim will go away taking all his belongings and travel to the mind foggers’ lair. From that point on, he is a fog zombie. A fog zombie looks the same as the person did in his normal life, with the exception of having dark black eyes. Fog zombies serve the mind fogger, because it is able to place thoughts in their minds, and only letting the fog clear when he wants the zombie to remember something. Fog zombies will appear to act out of free will, knowing all about their skills, their name and those bits of their former life if the mind fogger allows them to remember. They are therefore also just as skilled as they were in their former life. The mind fogger also enhances their combat abilities, increasing their str, dex and con by 2 points. This turns fog zombies into medium to very dangerous opponents. Experience for fog zombies is the same as the experience for the victim in normal life but x1.5.

The mind fogger will try to obtain as many guardians as he can. But if cornered, he is able to defend himself quite well. For one, his lair will usually be trapped and defended. The mind fogger is very smart and will make dangerous traps. Once encountered however, the mind fogger will raise his main defense, casting shadow arena. This fills the area with fog and forces a save vs. spell. If failed, the victim will find himself alone in a dark fogged area facing the mind fogger on his own. The faced opponent is a mind projection, an illusion, and will be able to deal physical damage as described above. The mind fogger will also be able to employ its mind blast ability. This consists of a ray of dark fog which, in a shadow arena, will deal 4d8 points of damage (save vs. spell for half damage). If the victim is able to defeat the mind fogger clone, the shadow arena disapears, revealing the real mind fogger (illusion damage will be healed), but if he loses, he will die in his mind and turn into a fog zombie.
If the initial save vs. spell (against the shadow arena spell) is successful, the mind fogger can be faced right away. In the real world, the mind fogger cannot cause impact damage. Only his mist blast ability is able to subtract 1d2 points of intelligence on a failed save. 0 Int turns one into a fog zombie. His special defense is that only magical weapons of +2 or more are able to harm him and he has minor magic resistance. His biggest and most important weakness is sunlight. Exposure to it disperses him and the mind fog inside the zombies mind in as little as 2 rounds.

==Habitat/Society==

His lair is a dark cave or a severely overgrown forest grove.

==Ecology==

He lives alone and has no need to feed. He lives for gathering minions and destroying life wherever possible. There is much speculation on how they evolved, but the general belief is that they consist of evil spirits that were given a certain shape by an evil mage or entity. High level mages will be able to explain that it takes a specific enchantment and 2 valuable black gems. After a few days of incantations, the spirit is able to take physical form as a mind fogger.

By Rblademaster

The Trolg

Jungle Trolg’s are nasty carnivores found only within dense tropical jungles or sometimes within murky forests. Almost all creatures will avoid direct confrontation with these immense monstrosities as they are unswerving in their mind set for death and chaos. The frame of a Trolg is sturdy and robust, boasting long, powerful arms showcased by sharp tipped fingers. Their mass legs are covered in moss, slime and other wetland ooze and end in large three toed feet. The Trolgs’ hide is thick, green, moss or dark gray in color and typically drenched in old matted flesh, slime and perhaps vines from within the Jungle. The Trolgs’ red eyes can see with 90′ infravision. Trolgs walk upright but hunch forward with drooping shoulders. When running their stride is uneven, yet powerful. Trolgs’ have low dexterity and rarely climb, but will when being badgered or tormented from above. Trolgs’ have poor hearing, but their keen sense of smell is second to none. Their large frames and powerful arms allow them to move through the jungle rather then around it as Trolgs prefer to ambush their prey. Trolgs have no language of their own, they only speak a guttural mishmash of giant, orc, and hobgoblin.

===Combat===

Trolgs prefer to attack with parts of trees they wield as clubs, doing 3d6+8 damage per hit scored. If and when they are disarmed or face an enemy unarmed they will use their massive fists to pound their enemies into oblivion. Their fists cause 1d6+8 damage each. Trolgs will often face their opponents head on in combat, yet will ambush them when possible. They are fearless, terrifying and unwilling to surrender in combat and will only flee from a fight if all is lost and defeat is inevitable.

Trolgs can also use their club as a projectile, throwing them with great accuracy. A tree club, when hurled, causes 2d6+8 damage to its target when struck. Trolgs can also bend down, drive their hands into the earth and throw large dirt chunks at their enemies causing 2d4+8 damage when desired.

A trolg also produces a natural slime which exudes onto the ground wherever it may wander. While fighting a Trolg in close quarters combat, any creature within a 5′ radius suffers a -2 to hit due to slippery or sticky footing surface.

===Trolg Society===

Trolgs live in dense, forested jungles far from any typical societies. They make their homes within abandoned caves, or massive tree trunks in which they tear large holes or simply burrow under to gain shelter. They rarely make quarters with other Trolgs, with the exception of a mate during mating season. Trolgs will often kill their mates for possession of their young, such battles make for intense struggles and the immediate areas are often destroyed in their entirety. Trolg caves are damp, dark and foreboding. Trolgs do not cook, or care for human comforts and live in a similar fashion to that of Trolls.

===Characteristics===

Trolgs tend to be territorial, but have been known to travel hundreds of miles in search of food and/or new cave locations. Trolgs are savage, do not show any emotions and care for nothing other then their young.

A 2E conversion of the Jungle Trolg can be found here;

http://www.padnd.com/ankhur/jungle_trolg.php

First I’m posting a recipe for making candied bacon which can be used for decorating baked goods or just eaten on its own for a snack. It is sweet! Next will be a recipe that is primarily for cupcakes, but can be baked into a cake also.

Candied Bacon

Ingredients:
1 lb regular bacon
½ cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Preparation:
In a large nonstick skillet, on high heat, cook the bacon until it is browned, but still flexible; drain on paper towels.

Drain grease from skillet, set heat on low; place bacon, in one layer, into skillet. First sprinkle sugar over the bacon, then the vanilla and finally the cinnamon. Let the bacon cook for 10 minutes before turning over and let cook an additional 5 minutes.

Remove the bacon to a wire rack (paper towels under the rack to catch drippings) and let it air cool for 30 minutes before snacking on, or using for garnish on baked goods.

Alternative: instead of ground cinnamon, use ½ Tbsp of ground chipotle powder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups sugar
6 egg yolks
1 cup milk
½ lb regular uncooked bacon, chopped

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350F; line muffin tins with paper liners.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and powder, cocoa powder and salt; set aside.

In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Mix in half the dry ingredients with half the milk; when well incorporated, repeat with remaining dry ingredients and milk.

Add in the bacon and mix well with spoon, not mixer. Fill each paper liner 2/3 with the batter; bake for 20-25 minutes; check for doneness by inserting toothpick in center; cupcakes are done if it comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool before removing from tins and frosting.

Makes 16 cupcakes.

Alternative: divide batter in half between 2-8 inch cake pans which were sprayed with nonstick baking spray. Bake time will be the same as for the cupcakes.

Topping: Vanilla frosting works best with a garnish of candied bacon.

…can’t forget the frosting!!!

Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients:
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp cold milk

Preparation:
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy; add in extract and milk, continue to beat until smooth and spreadable.

Makes enough for 12 – 16 cupcakes depending upon how much is spread on each cupcake. To make enough to cover the top, sides and in-between 2-8 inch cakes, double the recipe.

~ Lady Winter Wolf ~

One recipe that I came up with centered around the beef brisket. Being winter, I just wasn’t in the mood to get the smoker and grill up and working, but wanted brisket for dinner. The trusty crock pot came to the rescue; not only did it cook a brisket perfectly, but made the most awesome gravy to go with it. As a side dish, I baked up a batch of what is called here in Utah, “Funeral Potatoes”. Why that name? I was informed that it’s a dish that appears at most after funeral gatherings, so hence the name.

So here are my two recipes and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed with either one.

Crock Pot Beef Brisket and Gravy

Ingredients:

4-5 lb beef brisket, trimmed of fat
½ cup all purpose rub
1 (10.5 oz) can French onion soup plus ½ can water
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilies – mild
1 ½ Tbsp minced garlic
4 Tbsp flour

Preparation:

Thoroughly coat, and massage in, all sides of brisket with rub; place in airtight plastic container or bag and refrigerate overnight.

Set 6 qt crock pot on low; spray inside with nonstick cooking spray. Place soup, water, tomatoes and garlic in crock pot; whisk in flour until incorporated well. Immerse brisket into liquid, cover and cook for 8 hours.

Remove brisket to rest before slicing. Set crock pot to high; using an immersion blender in the crock pot, or placing liquid into stand blender, puree tomatoes and onions. Let pureed liquid cook for 15 minutes to thicken. Serve over sliced brisket; also good for a gravy over mashed potatoes and/or biscuits.

Makes 8-10 servings.

…and…

Funeral Potatoes – It’s a Utah thing

Ingredients:

7 medium potatoes (Yukon Gold or Russet)
½ cup butter, plus 8 additional ½ Tbsp pieces
1 can Cream of Chicken soup, family size
½ can milk
1/3 cup onion, minced
1 ½ cups cheddar cheese, grated
1 pint sour cream
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
Corn flakes
*optional: real bacon bits

Preparation:

Boil potatoes, skin on, till fork tender (slightly firm); let cook, peel off skin and grate.
In a large saucepan, combine cup of butter, soup and milk, on medium heat, till hot; do not bring to boil. Whish in onion, cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper till smooth.

In a 9 x 13 baking dish (spray with non-stick spray), layer potatoes then sauce (there will be 3 layers of each). Top with an even layer of corn flakes; dot with the 8-1/2 Tbsp of butter. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate overnight.

Next day, preheat oven to 350F. Bake, covered with foil, for 45 minutes; uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes. Let rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Note: if you don’t have corn flakes on hand or just want something different, put a layer of shredded sharp cheddar cheese on top instead.

~ Lady Winter Wolf ~

Welcome to PADnD.com’s new blog site. As before, Jenara and Lady Winter Wolf head up this operation, but we are looking for more talented D&D bloggers. So if you have extensive D&D wisdom or have a large amount of general D&D knowledge, game experience or just want to contribute to this site in general… please contact us on the main site at http://www.padnd.com and let us know who you are and what you want to do for us.

Enjoy the new site everyone!

(I’m no intellectual, I don’t reference tons of source material like others, these are my thoughts, they are biased towards 2e and probably always will be.)

Back in the old days of 1e and even 2e where Non-Weapon Proficiencies were optional, you had to research the things you wanted to do, to know something about making a sword or lighting a fire for example. That’s a lovely idea, I have never tried it, so maybe it works, hell it would encourage role playing if nothing else, you’d actually have to describe what you wanted to do.

I like Proficiencies or even skills which I am learning slowly, knowing what your PC’s can do is handy, if you try blindfighting in the dark without the blindfighting proficiency (been there, done that), then be prepared for the consequences.

Back in the late 90′s, when the old guard of RPG designers handed the baton over to the new members, they put their mark on things. They decided to try to fix the game, to repair the flaws they found, granted the 2e rules weren’t quite right, so they went ahead and tried to fix it.

It all started with the Players Options, the idea of modifying your character to such an extent you can do anything, rolling became the thing to do…

Then we get 3e and its successors, they have defined the skill rules, making everything all nice and controlled. Only, what they did, (in my view) was get us hooked on rolling everything, every action is slowly becoming defined by the rules.

Why should you Role Play trying to obtain some info when all you need to do is roll a dice to get the outcome? For example, why bother trying to obtain information when all you need to do is roll a negotiation check? Now I get it that many people add bonuses for Roleplaying, these are added to the roll and actually rewards roleplaying.

Now I’m not saying I think the whole game should be diceless, everyone likes to know their characters have skills, we all want to know our PC’s excel at something, be it sword fighting, or tracking, even baking a nice loaf of bread, but is rolling for everything really required?

What do you think? Are we obsessed with Rolling Dice?