Nod by Nod #7

 Over at https://landofnod.blog/ you can find posts by John Stater called Dragon by Dragon where he reads through an issue of Dragon Magazine and gives his thoughts about it. I recently bought a big pile of NOD Magazine and thought I would return the favor and go through each issue similarly.

 

Nod #7 came out in February 2011 and begins with an article about Saint Valentinus and the Order of the Flowery Skull. It is a knightly order consisting of 12 knights (who are also bards) and also a grand master who all live in an abbey and are worshippers of St. Valentinus. The saint is given stats and a patron spell, Crown of Glory.

Next up is Antigoon, City of the Sun. It is located in Western Venatia (Nod #6) and has a Dutch republic theme with Germanic accents. The city is known for the arts and its scandalous aristocrats but they also have a sizable army and navy. A map with 51 locations is detailed.

We then get an article about fashion and how dressing well can give Charisma bonuses. Costs are given for many types of clothing and fabric too. 

Blackpoort, City of Thieves is next and it is also located in Western Venatia (Nod #6). It is a dirty city covered in soot and filled with thieves and the like. A map with 60 locations is detailed.

We then come to Pendemonium Part I which detailes the fallen angels Abigor (Grand Duke of Hell) and Adramelech (High Chancellor and President of Hell).

The crown jewel of Western Venatia (Nod #6) is Lyonesse, the Gleaming City. It is known for knights, ladies, chivalry, and feudalism. A map with 70 locations are detailed.

After that is The Cyclopeans, a new race for Pars Fortuna. They can read faces and peer into the future and also go into a battle fury. A cyclopean redoubt of 18 locations is detailed.

Lastly, Phanastes VI appears but again, with no RPG notes given.

The cities are the main draw here but the other articles give some good flavor to spice up your campaign world. Speaking of which, I just ran my 2nd session of a new campaign that I am basing in Nod. The PCs are starting in Eastern Venatia (Nod #4) and will most likely head west after dealing with a local bandit problem in the Viscouty of Xaphrei.

As always, I enjoyed NOD #7 and can't wait to read more. You can get the PDF of issue #7 at Lulu or in print at Lulu.

Nod By Nod - December 2010 (#6)

Over at https://landofnod.blog/ you can find posts by John Stater called Dragon by Dragon where he reads through an issue of Dragon Magazine and gives his thoughts about it. I recently bought a big pile of NOD Magazine and thought I would return the favor and go through each issue similarly.

It's Christmas in April! Back in December 2010, I first started roleplaying with my daughter who was 9 years old. She was a fan of the Warriors series of books about wild cats and there was a free diceless RPG you could download and play. Pretty cool game and the GM role rotated so she got to play and GM. We wouldn't discover OSR games for almost five years after that.

Anyway, back to Nod #6. It's a big one - 133 pages! It starts off with Holiday Magic, two pages of  magical items associated with December holidays and also a spell (Chimney Charm) and a writeup of Saint Nick as a demigod.

We then get Gods of the Motherlands, eight pages of a pantheon "based on a mash-up of Greek and Roman myth with the medieval church." It's the standard Nod format for god descriptions except that most gods now have a holy day listed too.

The featured hexcrawl is next: Western Venetia. It is a mix of forests, hills, mountains, swamps, and sea coast with a little bit of everything for adventuring. It's 103 pages long and could keep a campaign running just by itself for a very long time.

Level 3 of Pleasure Palace of Izrigul is next. This level of the adventure started in Nod #4 and continued in Nod #5 is seven pages of a theater putting on a play for Izrigul complete with wandering emotion encounters. It looks very interesting and I would love to give this a try.

The Traveler is a strange class. They are traveling through the world in a dream state and must focus on an object to impose their will on this world. It's just two pages and it opens up so much weirdness for a campaign.

Finally, Phantastes, Part 5 is presented. Unfortunately, there are no RPG notes given.

You can get Nod #6 for free at https://landofnod.blog/nod/ or you can get it in print from Lulu at https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/john-stater/nod-6/paperback/product-1qzgen5v.html.