I’ve been continuing running my ongoing Lumberlands (DriveThruRPG / itch.io) campaign using the Black Hack OSR rules set. It’s been fun getting deep into one system and world, after years of just running one-shots.
I’ve decided to post all the new details I’ve been adding to the fantasy lumberjack setting. The rules are Black Hack specific, but could easily be ported to other OSR games. Here’s my previous Lumberlands oddities post.
Spiritwood: Also known as Mana Oak. A tree in the oak family, prized for the magical power of its wood. The wood of this tree has a particular ability to soak up magical energies. The wood is considered ideal for the manufacture of magic wands, staffs, and any other wooden magical items, and fetches a high price in the outside world.
The trees have bright, white trunks, flecked with golden sparkles. Spiritwood trees are quite rare and are incredibly valuable. A small grove of Spiritwood, felled and sold, would be worth a fortune.
Unfortunately for any prospective fortune hunters, the magical nature of the Spiritwood attracts haints, spectres, and all manner of ghostly apparitions. Any area where Spiritwood trees grow are almost certainly haunted. Possessions & hauntings are common in these areas, and no one in their right mind would ever camp within a mile of a spiritwood grove. The veil between worlds is also thinner amongst Spiritwood trees, and extra-planar entities are far likelier to appear in these places.
Tinder Golem (Twig Dancer) – HD 4
Stab with Branch STR (1 Nearby) 3 dmg
Fiery Embrace DEX (1 Close) 4/8/16 dmg
A magically animated man-sized figure made of dry branches, weeds, and bark. There is a small smoldering fire in its chest cavity.
It can be commanded by its creator to guard an area or attack an enemy immediately. Once it begins its attack, the fire in the golem’s chest will spread and grow in intensity. On the second round, it can make an Fiery Embrace attack for 4 pts of damage After 3 rounds the flame grows, increasing the damage to 8 pts of damage. Finally, the golem is fully engulfed in flame and will do 16 pts of damage. After this, the golem collapses in on itself in a fiery heap.
Armour Dice cannot be used to negate damage dealt by the Fiery Embrace attack.
Tinder Golems are created with the Craft Twig Dancer spell.
Craft Twig Dancer – Level 6 arcane spell
Summons a Tinder Golem to perform one specific task. The wizard must create a man-sized figure out of flammable forest materials, and light a small flame in its chest.
The Muskinee River
Much of trade into and out of the Lumberlands takes place on the mighty Muskinee River. Logging comapnies use it to float lumber to the saw and paper mills far to the south. There are a good number of tributaries, many which have never been mapped. Some wizards maintain that some unexplored side rivers lead to other worlds, or even to the fabled city of the Squirrels.
River captains, braving the rapids and terrible creatures of the Muskinee, transport passengers and goods up and down the river to the camps, in their small, but sturdy Batteaux (river boats)
Boomhouses: Small cabins have been set up along the river at the locations most likely to see log jams. “Log Drivers” stationed here during log drives are assigned the task of breaking up log jams with brute strength and peavy hooks ( 2 handed, treat as large weapon).
There are many abandoned boomhouses along the river. Many are considered haunted after some tragedy befell a lumberjack or log driver who lived within. Sometimes strange creatures or hedge wizards use these structures as lairs.
The Widow’s Delight: A raging, treacherous section of the Muskinee river, all whitewater and jagged rocks. Only the most experienced (or foolish) river captains will try to brave this section of the river.
Players on a boat traveling the Window’s Delight who do not lash themselves to the boat must make 3 seperate DEX checks. Any player who fails two checks, will fall into the river.
Players who fall into the river will be battered against the rocks for 1d6 damage per round. There are two options for getting out; a STR roll to crawl onto a rock, or a DEX roll to swim out of the whitewater.
Polyhedral Nonsense 