In keeping with that holiday spirit, the Sanctum Secorum is releasing another digest-sized, print-copy companion – available from a number of participating judges. Much like the GFA, those Judges have printed those companion issues out on their dime, as an extra bit of awesome for your Free RPG Day. We think that those folks deserve a round of applause.
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Sanctum Secorum #36 – The Book of Three
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The youth Taran lives at Caer Dallben with his guardians, the ancient enchanter Dallben and the farmer and retired soldier Coll . He is dissatisfied with his life, and longs to become a great hero like the High Prince Gwydion . Due to the threat posed by a warlord known as the Horned King, Taran is forbidden from leaving the farm and charged with the care of Hen Wen, the oracular white pig. When the pig escapes, Taran follows her into the forbidden forest. After a long, fruitless chase he is attacked by a host of horsemen galloping toward his home, led by the Horned King himself. He manages to escape, but drops, wounded, to the ground. He awakes to find his wound treated by none other than Gwydion, the crown prince in Prydain’s ruling House of Dôn (, who has been traveling to Caer Dallben to consult Hen Wen. Gwydion, determined to find the pig, takes Taran along with him. Guided by Gurgi , a hairy humanoid living in the forest, they reach the Horned King’s camp, and learn that his target will be Caer Dathyl , the home castle of the House of Dôn. Gwydion determines to warn the royal court, but the group is attacked before that can happen…
Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight we discuss the Book of Three, the first book in Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain series and pair it up with Beyond the Black Gate!
Bearmageddon: Tribearatops
The new Kickstarter for Bears Want to Kill You has already surpassed its funding requirement and is to its final 3 days (). One last stretch goal remains, a slipcase for the hardcover edition! If there is one thing that we DCC folks go crazy for, it is slipcases! Let’s try to make this happen!
Eisner Award winning Artist Ethan Nicolle is a friend of the show, and graciously allows us to use his artistic creations and stat up the mayhem inducing horrors for DCC. Just because he’s nice. Seriously. So let’s return that love and support his book of ursine mayhem!
So, we continue to build on our partnership with Axe Cop co-creator Ethan Nicolle in an effort to warn of the impending bearmageddon as well as bring nightmarish inspiration to your DCC table.
Tribearatops
“How to defeat them: There is a soft spot between the chest and belly that can be speared. Horns can be chained to a moving train. Also, feed it bombs.”
– Dickinson Killdeer, Dickinson Killdeer’s Guide to Bears of the Apocalypse
Created by the mad wizard Ethcolle, the tribearatops is an absolute horror of fur and scales. A force of utter devastation, the tribearatops rivals dragons for sheer destructive power. It is thus quite fortunate that the creature is also slow moving – as entire villages have been known to literally relocate their structures out of the monsters path.
Tribearatops: Init +0; Atk bite +6 melee (3d6), gore +8 melee (2d12 + poison), stomp +4 melee (3d10), or tail sweep +10 melee (1d16 + DC 20 Reflex or knocked prone); AC 35; HD 10d14; MV 20’; Act 2d24; SP dragon crits, long tail, maternal, poison, vulnerable spot (AC 18); SV Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +3; AL C.
Long tail: The tribearatops’ tail is long enough that, on a successful hit, additional targets within 5′ must make a Reflex save vs. 15 or also be struck prone.
Maternal: The normally slow moving creature enters a frenzy should its young be threatened, doubling both its Move and number of attacks.
Poison: Tribearatops horns are coated with naturally occurring Oxytocin. Merely coming into contact with the horn requires a DC 15 Fort save while being impaled by the horn increases the DC to 20. Failure results in the victim being overwhelmed by emotion and leaping onto the horn and killing themselves in sacrifice.
Vulnerable spot: There is a single vulnerable spot on the beast which may be successfully targeted with a precision shot Mighty Deed with a result of 6+.
Tribearatops (both art and concept) are the creation of Axe Cop co-creator Ethan Nicolle (@axecop) and is used with his kind permission. These, and a slew of other ursine horrors can be found in the pages of Bearmageddon as well as within Dickinson Killdeer’s Guide to Bears of the Apocalypse.
News: April Contest Winners
Our April contest theme was “Gonzo”, an anything goes sort of category. We were wholly unprepared for the amount of submissions that we would receive. Seriously, we will have content from the April entries popping up for a long time because…Wow! Several folks certainly wanted to be sure of a win and avalanche of content was the result (we should have contests more often). After being up all night, the drawing is finally done and soon I will enter the Prize Closet of Mysterytm to select our runner up’s prize.
As rolled at random, our winners are
1st Place – Daniel J Bishop’s The Altar of Woeful Consumption
* 1 copy of Super No. 1 Food Tower
* 1 sheet of pregen characters
2nd Place – Ian Shears’ Patron spell, Infernal Voice
* To be determined by the Prize Closet of Mysterytm
Look for these fantastic entries in upcoming Sanctum Secorum Companions!
Bearmageddon: Bear Crab
The new Kickstarter for Bears Want to Kill You has already surpassed its funding requirement and is in to stretch goal territory. Next up a fold out illustration and, after that, a slipcase for the hardcover edition. If there is one thing that we DCC folks go crazy for, it is slipcases! Let’s try to make this happen!
In the meantime, we continue to build on our partnership with Axe Cop co-creator Ethan Nicolle in an effort to warn of the impending bearmageddon as well as bring nightmarish inspiration to your DCC table.
Bear Crab
“The bear crab has been scientifically proven to give more nightmares than any other creature.”
– Dickinson Killdeer, Dickinson Killdeer’s Guide to Bears of the Apocalypse
These crustaceans are ocean dwelling in nature and are dependent on salt water to survive. Magically constructed, bear crabs have no organs but their brains, hearts and gills. They are incredibly hard to kill and are considered by some to be immortal.
Bear crab: Init +2; Atk bite +6 melee (1d10) or claw +4 melee (3d5); AC 22; HD 8d10; MV 20’; Act 2d20; SP regeneration, immune to crits; SV Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +3; AL C.
Regeneration: The bear crab regenerates 5 hit points per round.
Bear crab (both art and concept) are the creation of Axe Cop co-creator Ethan Nicolle (@axecop) and is used with his kind permission. These, and a slew of other ursine horrors can be found in the pages of Bearmageddon as well as within Dickinson Killdeer’s Guide to Bears of the Apocalypse.
Sanctum Secorum #35 – Hundra
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Born in a tribe of fierce warrior women, Hundra has been raised to despise the influence of men. An archer, fighter and sword fighter, Hundra is superior to any male. Hundra finds her family slain and takes a vow of revenge until one day she meets her match.
Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight we discuss the 1983 film Hundra and pair it up with The Trolls of Mistwood!
Bearmageddon: Bear Bat
Celebrating the new Kickstarter for Bears Want to Kill You, we continue to build on our partnership with Axe Cop co-creator Ethan Nicolle in an effort to warn of the impending bearmageddon as well as bring nightmarish inspiration to your DCC table.
Bear bat
“The Nocturnal bear bat is known for its massive black leathery wings. Bear bats cannot see very well in light and have sensitive ears that can follow the echoes of their roars. The creatures sleep in large caves or hollowed out buildings while hanging upside down. They sleep in groups of ten or more.”
– Dickinson Killdeer, Dickinson Killdeer’s Guide to Bears of the Apocalypse
These fierce and feared creatures descend from the night sky on leathery wings to bring chaos and death in their wake. Even their cubs are known for their especial cruelty, carrying humans aloft only to drop them screaming earthward to their deaths. Frequently encountered in groups of ten or more (referred to as “devastations”) these creatures are reputed to have been magically engineered by a mad wizard determined to commit suicide in the most horrific manner imaginable. If the legend is true, it appears that he succeeded.
Bear bat: Init +3; Atk bite +4 melee (1d14 + poison) or grab +2 melee (1d10 + grab); AC 15; HD 8d8; MV 40’ or fly 60’; Act 1d20; SP breath weapon, poison; SV Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +3; AL C.
Breath weapon: These arcane horrors produce chloroform, which coats their teeth. Once per round a bear bat may exhale at a target within 5′. The victim must make a DC 10 Fort save or be groggy for 1d3 rounds and suffer a -1d penalty to all actions.
Grab: Victims grabbed by the bear bat must succeed in a DC 18 Strength check to break free. While the victim is held, the bear bat automatically hits with its bite attacks.
Poison: Victims bitten by the bear bat must succeed in a DC 15 Fort save or be knocked unconscious for 2d6 rounds and, after waking, continue to be groggy for an additional 1d3 turns.
Bear bat (both art and concept) are the creation of Axe Cop co-creator Ethan Nicolle (@axecop) and is used with his kind permission. These, and a slew of other ursine horrors can be found in the pages of Bearmageddon as well as within Dickinson Killdeer’s Guide to Bears of the Apocalypse.
Sanctum Secorum #34 – The Face in the Frost
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Prospero, a tall, skinny misfit of a wizard, lives in the South Kingdom—a patchwork of feuding duchies and small manors, all loosely loyal to one figurehead king. Along with his necromancer friend Roger Bacon, who has been on a quest to find a mysterious book, Prospero must flee his home to escape ominous pursuers. Thus begins an adventure that will lead him to a grove where his old rival, Melichus, is falsely rumored to be buried and to a less-than-hospitable inn in the town of Five Dials—and ultimately into a dangerous battle with origins in a magical glass paperweight.
Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight we look at a work by John Bellairs, The Face in the Frost and match it up with Michael Curtis’ Emirikol was Framed!
News: March Contest Winners!
As rolled at random, our winners are
1st Place – Anton Wilsbach’s Illumination
* 1 copy of Super No. 1 Food Tower
* 1 sheet of pregen characters
2nd Place – Ian Shears’ Sunbolt
* 1 copy of DAW 373 The Keeper’s Price by Marion Zimmer Bradley and the Friends of Darkover
Honorable Mention – Christopher Lee’s Drain Vitality
* 1 copy of Ghost Ships, Gales & Forgotten Tales (straight from Bob Brinkman’s maritime research library)
Look for these fantastic entries in the next Sanctum Secorum Companion!
Sanctum Secorum #33 – The Powder of Hyperborea
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Get the free Sanctum Secorum #33 Companion HERE!
Retired master-thief Satampra, Zerios of Uzuldaroum recounts an adventure from days gone by when he and his two companions (Vixeela and the dubious magician/alchemist Veezi Phenquor) endeavored to rob the temple of the moon god Leniqua, and steal away with the Thirty-Nine girdles of virginity by means of stealth, cunning, and a little bit of hyperborean chemistry. Originally published in the Saturn Science Fiction & Fantasy, it is the last of Clark’s Hyperborea cycle.
Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight we look at a work by Clark Ashton Smith, The Powder of Hyperborea and match it up with Edgar Johnson’s delightful Street Kids of Ur-Hadad.
