a retrospective of my entire blog

I'm looking at my history of posts this last year and I am not surprised at my great lack of output. There was a great silence between April and December. A gulf of nothingness that might as well signal the death knell of this blog's longevity. Yet I also have 58 draft posts that just linger, unfinished and unedited, that I never look at. I am still writing, I just having nothing I feel like sharing.

I'm not sure if this is the best place to share my ideas. I long to post all of my ideas, whenever I have them, but I dither and waver and either don't write my idea down or when I do have inspiration to form my thoughts into words I simply hold onto the writing like a note, never glancing at it again.

This year has been shit!

I haven't been locked inside like 1/3rd of my countrymen, I've still been working every week, hoping for an errant day off where I can just lie in bed, rest, or play video games. 

My energy is at an all-time low. Despite this, I ran a few games this year. Freebooters on the Frontier, Mork Borg, and an Apocalypse World one-shot.

Nothing stuck.

I haven't played anything since October. Correction: I haven't GMed anything since October. I want to play something! I'm sick of being a GM, and I think I need to play a game, even if I don't think the GM is doing a good job, just to stoke the fire of my tabletop creativity. 

Being stuck with voice channels on Discord might also be a factor for my malaise, but with any luck, and an expeditious vaccination regimen, that might all change. Soon. In a few months.

 Happy new year! I hope it is.

the Fungal Creeps

 

Humanoids with radiant fungus growing out of their skin. The fungus doesn't take a single appearance, it can form as a mossy fur, tiny mushroom caps protruding through hair and from ears, slime molds dripping from mouths and fingernails, polypores lining the chest and legs. Those infected eventually turn violent and insane, if they haven't already been subsumed by the fungus.

They will eat anything, and when they encounter living creatures attack fearlessly until their prey is dead. While fungal creeps usually don't attack with weapons, their limbs have become terribly strong and capable of tearing living beings apart. In fact, letting a fungal creep tear off an arm to snack on it might be an effective strategy to distracting one.

Fungal creeps don't attack one another, and if a fungal creep infects someone (see below) while fighting them it will stop to find a new target.

Fungal creeps act alone, but occasionally can be found resting in groups (1d6).

Armor: as Chain, fungal creeps that were wearing armor don't use it effectively but are still difficult to hurt

Attack: two 1d8 clubbing attacks, if both attacks hit the same opponent they will grab (no save, STR check to escape) their victim and start biting (1d6 automatic hit every round until freed) and the victim must save against the infection (at disadvantage, rolling twice and taking the worst result)

Special: fungal creeps regenerate 8 hit points every round, fire damage won't regenerate back

Defense: every attack that is scored against a fungal creep causes the attacker to roll a saving throw against the fungal infection (vs Breath or CON)

Infection: infected characters don't feel different right away but within one day start growing fungus of some kind on their skin or from their orifices, after one day of infection the character can regenerate 1 hit point / round, after two days the character starts regenerating 2 hp/round, and so on. Once the character is regenerating a number of hit points equal to their hit dice, their brain has "died" to the fungus and they become a Fungal Creep. The infection is neither a disease or a curse and nothing short of a Restoration of the body will remove the fungus. However, a simple Blessing will prevent the fungus from growing stronger for one day.