tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35382560941042189822024-02-07T07:30:52.709-08:00Sword of Mass DestructionMostly half-baked RPG stuff and surreal fantasyCircas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-70013973452703434642022-03-07T02:37:00.001-08:002022-03-07T02:37:27.985-08:00Table of a Thousand Cults<p>I'm preparing a location for my next foray into actually getting players together. Kogo Hnennis, City of a Thousand Cults, City of a Thousand Rains. It's in a magical disaster zone which has two consequences. Firstly, every house in the city is covered in copper rain-pipes as they strive to collect potable water from the clouds. </p><p>Secondly, the city is home to a <b>thousand different cults</b>. Partly just the temperament of the people, partly because life in Kogo Hnennis *motivates* worship, penance, and beseechment.</p><p>So here's a <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RG-ojvEx7B9EGDInl8uubf0ulD0UGzs2/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112815495654052692771&rtpof=true&sd=true">table for a thousand cults</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLaPk374J2YnS9eHC74YlQ71uZlB9Y7JXxwwpFkoHCcgt8ISyXl9D9aIlPKrsUD5SF42OsZFabDaGB0M-wN7XPRHjVUE6MUJI62IVWzdZMAX3qIBpdt8DTlzGWTDQDtv-2d_KAF0xL9KbNqPIY7wVrUuG3gjGVi3WW2IOHOXBBhMONg_SaFvd9YidQrA=s1920" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1843" data-original-width="1920" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLaPk374J2YnS9eHC74YlQ71uZlB9Y7JXxwwpFkoHCcgt8ISyXl9D9aIlPKrsUD5SF42OsZFabDaGB0M-wN7XPRHjVUE6MUJI62IVWzdZMAX3qIBpdt8DTlzGWTDQDtv-2d_KAF0xL9KbNqPIY7wVrUuG3gjGVi3WW2IOHOXBBhMONg_SaFvd9YidQrA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;">"Cthulhu Cultists" by <a href="https://danielzrom.com/projects/rRPyGG">Daniel Zrom</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">It leads to fun names. Here's a couple.</p><p>Turning the street, you run into a procession of...</p><p>* the Syndicate of the Purging Slaughter</p><p>* the Seekers for the Chthonic Swarm</p><p>* the Followers of the Blind Judge</p><p>* the Association of the Black Blasphemy</p><p>* the Temple of the Rotting Star</p><p>* the Companions for the Son of Spring</p><p>* the Bleached Hunger Mystery</p><p>* the Sisterhood of the Silver Birth</p><p>* the Mystery of the Lance of the Clouds</p><p>* the Order against the Deep Stranger</p><p>* the Seekers for the Dwarf and Return</p><p>* the Warm Fish Group</p><p>* the Covenant for the Sun of Dragons</p><p>I can keep making these forever but I'll stop here.</p><p><b>**HOW TO**</b></p><p>Basically, you need a d20, a d6, a d8, and a d10.</p><p>The cult name is GROUP + OF THE + X + Y.</p><p>For GROUP, roll a d20.</p><p>For OF THE, roll a d6. "reverse" here means that instead of the normal word order, the name will be X + Y + GROUP.</p><p>For X, roll a d8 + d10. The d8 is the first digit, the d10 the second, with 10 meaning 0. Rolling a 5 and a 5 is 55, rolling a 5 and a 10 is 50. If an X entry is "(of [something])" it comes after Y in the name.</p><p>For Y, do the same with the d8 + d10.</p><p>Happy culting!</p>Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-83861276053722145402021-09-09T04:22:00.004-07:002021-09-09T04:46:31.605-07:00Some thoughts on law in fantasy settings<div>In this post I'm gonna tell you why you have to chop your player's hands off.</div><div><br /></div>So if you start up Skyrim, you're playing what is called "fantasy". There's a lot of shit here that does not pretend to be real. In fact that's why people play it. There's dragons and trolls and there's magical powers everywhere.<div>
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<div>
There's strange peoples and customs and histories.</div>
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I've written before that "religion" in fantasy kind of shows that we take some things that really are arbitrary - such as the concept of "religion" as being belief in gods - as universal.</div>
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I argue that our response to a fictional world shows that we have two kinds of normal. </div>
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The first is VISIBLE NORMALITY. This is the things we find normal but that we understand are arbitrary. For example, the clothing people wear in Skyrim is not something I'd ever wear, and the gods they worship are not gods I'd ever worship. My clothing is normal to me but I understand it is different for other people and *would* be different in an alternate, fictional world.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The second is INVISIBLE NORMALITY. This is things we find normal but we <b>do not even know could be different</b>. They are self-evident, taken-for-granted, hiding-in-plain-sight. So, understanding that fictional people in a fictional world would not worship Christ shows that we consider worshipping Christ a VISIBLE NORMALITY. But, the fact that all fictional religions revolve around worshipping gods shows that we think of "religion" as "worshipping gods" as INVISIBLE NORMALITY. We do not even realize that it does not have to be that way. We think that is universal, necessary. In Skyrim, I can play as a cat-person. But I cannot play as someone who is non-binary, for example. </div>
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These are things that are normal to me and that I *don't* understand are different for other people and *would* be different in an alternate, fictional world.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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Religion and gender in Skyrim shows that they are invisible normalities. When constructing the weird fantasy world, the creators just skipped over these because they did not see them, did not consider them candidates for potential difference or fantasy.</div>
<div>
<br /></div><div>Moving on to what I was actually thinking about: law.</div><div><br /></div>
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Consider now, if you will, the Whiterun Guard. And the Riften Guard. And the Solitude Guard.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I argue, dear reader, that "guards" in fantasy show how the police are an example of invisible normality. These guards function exactly like cops and seem not to have been subject to serious thought at all - they are transplanted wholesale from contemporary society. Of course there are cops. Cops are an inescapable part of reality. Skyrim has gravity, therefore it must have cops.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
But the cops have only existed for like 200 years. Before that, law enforcement was entirely different. The town watch, for example, was much more about *watching*. They kept an eye on things and would alert others if necessary. They did not perform arrests, AFAIK. In Medieval law, the cry "stop thief!" was not just a cool thing for people in cartoons to yell. If you did that, every single person in the community had a duty to stop the thief. There were no designated thief-catchers like we imagine the cops to be.</div><div><br /></div><div>In addition, people were sometimes put in groups of ten. If any of the ten broke the law, it was the responsibility of the other nine to take him to court.</div><div><br /></div><div>So law enforcement wasn't a profession. It was something everybody did. It was a very social type of phenomenon. Communities policed themselves.</div><div><br /></div><div>So why are all these fantasy settings crawling with "city guards" who are just modern day cops wearing armour? </div><div><br /></div><div>Where am I going with this? Well, obviously the intent here is to imagine more types of fantasy worlds.<br /><br />Punishment after and trial were different as well. Judges travelled around for serious cases and had their authority from the king, and courts were set up by local lords. So whereas policing is communal, trial can be top-down.</div><div><br /></div><div>Punishment, again, can be super small scale. Jail time did not exist. Prisons are modern. Sure, some castles had dungeons, but those weren't used for regular old punishment -- you had to be *really* unlucky to end up there. Punishment was either something physically painful or something terribly embarassing (or getting executed). Think about the stocks. The community is punishing you. There's a communal aspect both to the enforcement and punishment.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is al leading up for a few questions to ask yourself when designing what will happen when your players nick something.</div><div><br /></div><div>The thing is that there are no quick fixes here. Your law enforcement is related to your power structures and your law. There may be different laws enforced by different hierarchies. Take for example church law versus royal law. Or, different laws may apply to different people. In medieval Muslim societies such as in al-Andalus, Muslims were required to follow aspects of Islamic law that non-Muslims, though they lived under a Muslim state with a Muslim ruler, were not required to follow. But non-Muslims were required to pay a tax, for example.</div><div><br /></div><div>So ask yourself:</div><div>* who is making laws? The king? The city-state? The tribe? The church? The guild? Some people very very long ago?</div><div>* why are they making laws? Keeping order? Religious reasons? Enriching themselves? Maintaining their own power?</div><div>* who do their laws apply to? Everyone? Their subjects? Only women? Only men? Only guild members?</div><div>* what do laws forbid? Crimes against people? Crimes against authority? Crimes against sacred things or persons?<br />* who are law enforcement? The community itself? Or paid experts, or semi-expert volunteers? Or informal groups, militia-like? Do experts have special status? Do experts of different groups compete?</div><div>* what are the duties of law enforcement groups? Do they apprehend; are they the muscle? Do they notify the muscle? Are they mostly deterrent or actually supposed to catch criminals?</div><div>* who does law enforcement deliver a criminal to? Informal authority in the community? Or formal village- or city-level authority? Royal authority? Church or temple authority? Guild authority?</div><div>* what are trials like? Are they quick and dirty -- "everyone can tell that he did such and such..." or drawn-out affairs with ancient customs like right to trial by combat, etc? Who presides over trials? Mayor, priest, chief, judge, king? Are there maybe oracles or rituals in trials?</div><div>* where does the authority of the judge come from? Is it the informal authority of the well-known and respected community member? Is it divine authority? Is it the authority of the king? The authority of the ancestors? Is the judge a political figure, or perhaps someone out of political hierarchies, like a feared and loathed shamanic figure who lives out of town, and whose legal authority derives from being so distant from it himself?</div><div>* what are punishments like? Do they emphasize punishment, retribution, safety of the community, or rehabilitation? Depending on these, they can be physical punishments, payments to the aggrieved party, a right to the aggrieved party to punish the criminal themselves, punishments of embarrasment or a decrease in honour, incarceration, exile, slavery, execution. A nomadic society will have no prisons. A clan-based society may seek retribution on members of the criminal's clan, with the punishment designed to prevent that from happening.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is stuff you can't really do quick and dirty or roll out on a table, because it is so intertwined with whatever political system and cultural values you may already have for your setting. Even if you think you don't, you just have a basic fantasy setting -- there is always the king, the mayor, what have you, and if there is a king he is probably not absent in law. Either he is the judge or the authority of the judge comes from him, or something. Then again, maybe it would be super interesting to have a setting where there is a king, but all legal powers are derived from somewhere else and the king has nothing to do with them. Go wild, I say.</div><div><br /></div><div>One thing I ask of you. I don't want you to stop using 'city guards'. I do want you to think about why they're there.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>BUT </b>let's get to <b>GAMEPLAY.</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Of course it's fun to tinker out a world. But eventually people are gonna have to play in it. So what system is most fun to play? WELL. I'll tell you what isn't fun. Jail. Time skips are easily done but also kind of skirt against the fourth wall too much. It's abstract for your players. It doesn't mean anything. Maybe their skills decrease (like in the Elder Scrolls) but even that is just a number.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's an idea. What if the punishment for theft is having your hand chopped off. Yeah, your left hand. -5 DEX for life, bro. Oh sorry do you usually use a shield? Well, should have thought of that <i>before </i>stealing that necklace. Now that's punishment. That's something players definitely DON'T want.</div><div><br /></div><div>Basically, from a gameplay perspective I think good law punishment would be something that attacks the character sheet. Remove a limb. Limit their health. Cripple their inventory. Ban them from buying at shops in that city ever again. Cut out their tongue. Cripple their ability to play the game. </div><div><br /></div><div>This has three goals: firstly, it <i>really</i> makes them want to avoid punishment, either by not committing crimes (which ups immersion and decreases murderhoboism) <i>or </i>by having to plan elaborate escapes before sentence is carried out (which is fun). Secondly, if they do get punished and are now missing a hand / tongue / eye, then you have at least put a dent into the player journey into invulnerability, meaning you actually invest in their fun. And finally, they'll have to think creatively how to function without those bodyparts. Making players think creatively is fun. Shit you might even throw in a quest hook about getting a magical artificial hand. </div><div><br /></div><div>All SOOO much better than being put in jail.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sure, it's harsh. But that's the only language these players understand, dammit!</div>
Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-59743998852308468722020-02-12T08:31:00.001-08:002020-02-12T08:31:06.195-08:00A concept for skillsSo I run a heavily disfigured version of the GLOG. Running the GLOG is cool because it's simple and versatile.<br />
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But skills are not great in the GLOG.<br />
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In the GLOG pdf skills go from 1 to 6 and you roll 2d12 to test them, subtracting the lower from the higher. If the result is smaller or equal to your skill level, the thing happens.<br />
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This is not great because playing the GLOG is very improvisational.<br />
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If a player with no skill in horses says: I want to try to tame the wild horses, I might let them roll a d20 under their willpower (which is the same as charisma in my mess), maybe with a penalty because the horse is skittish and depending on how they describe their approach.<br />
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But if a player with a specific skill in horses in level 1 says, I say: ok roll your skill, <b>which means that in many, many cases, having a skill in level 1 is actually WORSE than not having that skill</b>, because the odds of a level 1 skill succeeding is 8%.<br />
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Part of the problem is that the GLOG says: you're adults, there's no skill list, just tell me what you want to be good at. It is improvisational. So if someone says: I want to try juggling this stuff, I can't skim down the list of skills to look up if "juggling" is in there and therefore required.<br />
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If I was more on my toes as an improviser, this perhaps wouldn't be a problem. But it is. A level 1 skill should be better than not having any skill, ever.<br />
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So here's my solution.<br />
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<b>SKILLS</b><br />
You can pick any skill you want.<br />
Your skill rank cannot exceed your level.<br />
You can have as much skills total as your intelligence / 2.<br />
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The skill you want starts out at rank 1. The maximum rank of a skill is 6.<br />
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When you want to use your skill, roll a d6. If you roll equal or lower than your skill rank, you succeed. Otherwise you fail.<br />
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<b>HOWEVER, any action that can be done by a skill check can also be performed by a (difficult) stat check. </b><br />
This means that anybody can try to pick a lock if they have the tools. It's a Dexterity check with a heavy -6 modifier. More, if the lock's intricate.<br />
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If you fail in your skill check, you can try the stat check. If you fail in the stat check, bad luck. <b>If you succeed in the stat check, you learn something and make a checkmark next to your skill.</b><br />
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(You can only learn something if you do this check in a real-life situation, not as a consequence-free training attempt).<br />
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When you have downtime in a city, roll a d6. If you roll higher than your skill rank, your skill improves by 1.<br />
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In this system:<br />
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<ul>
<li>a skill roll is never worse than an improvised stat roll</li>
<li>skills improve quickly</li>
<ul>
<li>because a skill failure is a prerequisite to improving it</li>
<li>and because the improvement odds go down as skill goes up</li>
</ul>
<li>a mastered skill always succeeds, but</li>
<li>skills take long to reach their max level</li>
<ul>
<li>because a skill failure is a prerequisite to improving it</li>
<li>and because the improvement odds go down as skill goes up</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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Say your lockpick skill is 5. You have a 1-in-6 chance of failing to pick the lock. Then you have a random chance of succeeding the stat check. Then you have a 1-in-6 chance of improving your lockpick skill.</div>
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The chance of failing and then improving:</div>
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From 1 to 2 = 68%</div>
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From 2 to 3 = 44%</div>
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From 3 to 4 = 25%</div>
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From 4 to 5 = 11%</div>
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From 5 to 6 = 2% </div>
Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-71293152522153975362020-02-08T17:14:00.000-08:002020-02-09T03:14:11.707-08:00Tomb of the Serpent Kings write up 2Due to life events of myself and some of my players, we couldn't continue our <a href="https://swordofmassdestruction.blogspot.com/2019/02/tomb-of-serpent-kings-write-up-1.html">playthrough of Tomb of the Serpent Kings</a> until now.<br />
<br />
Almost a year later.<br />
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Terrible.<br />
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Anyway.<br />
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This time I was a little less prepared - I had had less time to go over all the rooms and add "authenticating detail" and stuff. I was tired as well and I missed some things. But overall went well.<br />
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THE CHASM<br />
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After camping at the edge of the chasm (I chose not to throw a random encounter their way since that would be punishing them from a decision from a year ago, and everybody knows your dog doesn't learn shit if you punish it now for chewing on your shoes five hours ago), the adventurers made their way to the right.<br />
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When they came to 22: Stone Door, they recognized that there was likely a trap. (I had recapped the previous session with them). Nobody agreed quite what kind of trap this would be. One Stoneling thief used her species' ability to talk with stone to talk to the door. The door described what room was behind it, but did not know if it was trapped (after all, it wasn't the door but the bar that was trapped, and the trap would destroy the door. Game idea: a friendly sentient door that has dreams and aspirations but that will be obliterated upon opening, knows it, and begs the players not to do it.). They looked at the ceiling, which they concluded probably contained a hammer just like the previous one. They did the same thing as before: people lifting it from the side so that they would not be hit by any swinging hammer. There was some suspicion that something else entirely would happen that would hit EXACTLY from the sides.<br />
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When they lifted the bar of the hinges, there was a click and a short interval of silence before the entire door exploded into debris and dust sailing straight into the chasm.<br />
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Several of the new RPG players expressed delight at how vivid they saw all the occurences here. Feels good man.<br />
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They went in.<br />
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23: CEREMONIAL ROOM<br />
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They try to see if the wall hangings show something or if there is something behind them. Nothing. They take the gold leaf scraps.<br />
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Here they hear the rattling of the basilisk's chain. They found it pretty disconcerting. They found it hard to decide which path to take so mom used a light spell to illuminate the two hallways. They saw one of the petrified snakemen in the guarded hall which spooked them, but they went there anyway.<br />
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31: GUARDED HALL<br />
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The wizards examined the statues and could figure out that while they weren't under a spell to bring them to life or anything, they weren't ordinary statues. One of them said: "maybe they're turned into stone". The goblin player used his racial biting ability to gnaw a hole in both their heads so if they came to life they wouldn't surprise them. This took a while and in that time a bat flew past them.<br />
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32: SUMMONING ROOM<br />
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As they pushed open the door, the succubus started shouting for help. Some players were immediately suspicious whereas others wanted to help. Questioning the succubus through the door, they were suspicious about her claim to have been kidnapped by fungus gnomes (I went with gnomes because goblins are an intelligent, playable race in this set-up). The players hadn't actually seen any of those and thought that seemed like a poor lie.<br />
Still some players really wanted to help and the curiosity of the suspicious players won out.<br />
They spent some time clearing the rubble and in the time they did that, they were found by... a party of fungus gnomes. Surprised faces all around.<br />
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One of the players immediately wanted to become their king. One of the goblins ran off and came back a while later with the crown. So far, no one has asked what happened to the old king. Only my dad, who wasn't even playing, said: "Yeah he's dead of course", but nobody payed him any attention.<br />
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The gnomes said they hadn't kidnapped any woman, and that they never went into that room. They did not want to enter it, they said.<br />
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Players, of course, enter it. Goblin woman, innocent, shackled, asks for help. One player (not thinking) approaches. Shackle vanishes. She thanks him, says that actually she just needed him to step over that circle there. She gets closer. What do you do? Uhhh. She gets closer still, what do you do? I say: hey now... She tries to kiss you, what do you do? Uhh, I take a step back. She's <i>really insistent</i>, what do you do? Fuck it, I'll kiss her.<br />
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He survived but aged nine years.<br />
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Succubus grew big horns, tail, and wings, and flew off, winking at the kissed player.<br />
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Writing this I mishandled it in a couple of ways. She didn't try to isolate anyone, dropped the botanist act as soon has her binding was broken, and all in all wasn't as interesting as she could have been. But shit I was so tired running this.<br />
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33: SHRINE ALCOVE<br />
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The fungus gnomes had run off when the succubus left so the players carried on without them.<br />
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They pushed the statue the wrong way first; they all got gassed. Then they pushed it the other way (from a distance with a pole) and the gold came out.<br />
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One crow person character, in line with his motivation to hoard shiny things, ran after the shiny coins into the<br />
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35: BLADE TRAP AREA<br />
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He got hit for only one HP the first time and dodged the second time. After the second time I gave him a hint (get out) by saying that the entire wooden mechanism in the ceiling was starting to shudder and groan. He got the hint and tried to leave, but got hit by the swinging blade on the way back. It reduced him to -4 HP so I made him roll on a death and dismemberment table I got from somewhere (I think I got it from Arnold Kemp's GLOG but he wasn't the author. Should look it up.) and he got a massive slice; gonna be a thick scar, but he'll live.<br />
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THEN the whole thing crashed onto him. He had some lucky rolls however and rolling again on the death and dismemberment table, he managed to evade most of the chaos but got hit in the face by a massive bouncing piece of rubble that shattered a part of his beak (broken bone), bleeding, et cetera. The other players immediately got him out and gave him first aid. The nose part of his beak is still broken and dented and will give massive troubles if he is hit with it in combat later, but he can soldier on for now.<br />
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They decide to have a little break next to the rubble, eat some rations, get some HP up. As they eat, a fist-sized spider crawls past them. My mom refuses to eat any further.<br />
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34: PRIEST REST AREA<br />
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They take the eggs. The wizards figure out what their deal is and one of my players immediately cuts his hand open and is disappointed when the egg "only" becomes warm. They still take them.<br />
Then they went to the<br />
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38: BASILISK HALL<br />
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They were immediately fascinated with the basilisk hall. They wanted to go in and examine those weird statues again.<br />
When they did so, one of the wizards was still carrying the lantern she had cast a strong "light" spell on, so they could see much further into the hall than they otherwise would have. This meant that they actually glimpsed the basilisk in the distance. It's huge crocodilian head sliding out from behind a distant pillar peered at them. They all felt the sense of pressure of its gaze.<br />
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The immediately decided to leg it, with the basilisk in pursuit. They were so close to the end of the hall that I let them escape without a roll.<br />
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They were absolutely determined to cross the hall, did not want to take the other path. They wanted to know if it ended there or if there was more.<br />
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One brave player went in, thinking to stealth it (they had seen the visor and knew its vision was not great). But the sniffing sounds of the basilisk made him reconsider and he came back.<br />
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Then, the stoneling player had a bright idea: she was made of stone and therefore <i>smelt</i> of stone!<br />
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However, she would have to go without a torch because that would certainly draw the basilisk's attention.<br />
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I invented some darkness rules and I said: in total darkness you can only see one square around you, so to know what there is at the end of the hall, you need to actually go there and touch it.<br />
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I was reluctant to have her do actual stealth rolls, because this was a weird kind of stealth. It wasn't so much being hidden (as it was total darkness), it was being <i>silent</i>, but more than that: <i>being silent in total darkness while traversing a room covered in rubble</i>. That sounded like a Dexterity roll for me.<br />
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She moved from pillar to pillar, deftly stepping beyond the stones. I invented some rules for "random chance that the restless basilisk stumbles upon you" with a d8, an 8 being a direct run-in. I rolled a 7. I described how the feet padded towards her and how the huge bulk of the basilisk shifted just past her in the darkness. I rolled again to see if the tail brushed her, which would have been cool, but it just slided past her.<br />
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She was at the fourth pillar when people began to seriously question the wisdom of this idea.<br />
The wizard cast light on one of the ranger's arrows and he shot it through the hall, straight into the hallway beyond (which I liked a lot). The reveal that the hall <i>didn't</i> end changed priorities. The logic was: either the stoneling would have to come back (dangerous) OR everyone would have to cross (dangerous).<br />
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Because they were treating the basilisk very much as a monster, I described another basilisk noise and instead of a hiss or growl or sniffing I made something half in-between a dog-like yawn or a cat-like purr. This totally made them reconsider the basilisk. One player said: maybe the stone eggs are the basilisk's eggs.<br />
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Another said: I'll go in and offer an egg, and so he did.<br />
<br />
He got the basilisk's attention alright. I was quite happy with this creative approach and since the basilisk's hunting method consists of stalking and striking, I decided it would not be immediately aggressive, but be confused and guarded in the face of such open approach. This was not prey but challenge.<br />
<br />
It came out from behind a pillar, cautiously, growling, all its spines erect. It roared at him and he had to save against fear.<br />
<br />
Here I wasn't quite sure what would happen. Because the basilisk was not attacking and also actually looked at the egg, I did not have this player petrify (although I did have him feel the pressure). Then one of the rangers asked if he, as a ranger, an animal lover, could tell anything about the beast.<br />
<br />
I said: it's hungry, it's on the hunt because it is hungry.<br />
<br />
One player was so delighted by this news that she immediately threw a ration at the beast.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately this was the stoneling player who was still in the hall <i>behind</i> the basilisk.<br />
<br />
The sudden surprise of another intruder behind it made the basilisk aggressive. It swept around and roared at the stoneling. She resisted the fear, but she did not resist the petrifying gaze. She could not move. All players decided now was the time for action.<br />
<br />
They took <i>a pretty long time</i> thinking things over whereas this was actually combat but they did have some interesting ideas.<br />
<br />
Eventually the wizard cast a shield over the basilisk, trapping it, so that they could pass.<br />
<br />
Writing this down, I realize I rolled initiative too late into this encounter. But I'm kind of happy about it. When you say "roll intiative", you say "get ready for battle". But with an animal things are more uncertain and unpredictable. So I'm happy I did it so late.<br />
<br />
What I'm <i>not </i>happy about is that in doing so I basically gave the wizard free initiative, meaning that everybody started with a head start over the basilisk.<br />
<br />
The players started running. I didn't know how to resolve this because whereas a chase is usually solved by rolling two Movement stats against each other, this time one of the chasing parties was trapped under a shield. Perhaps I ought to have let it bash against the shield as a reaction to the players running past? I just took the Movement number as the amount of meters you can run in a full sprint (seems a bit large now).<br />
<br />
The basilisk, in its turn, tried to charge the player it had petrified and rammed into the shield, shattering the first layer.<br />
<br />
(The way my shield spell works is: it's got two "layers"; the first breaks at any blow, the second has HP equal to the sum of the spell dice used to cast it. This is more of a mechanical thing than an aesthetic thing: I just want a shield to be able to withstand <i>at least</i> one impact no matter how much damage it might inflict.)<br />
<br />
This player was no longer being petrified because the shield blocked magic. She could run to safety.<br />
The other players made it past as well as the basilisk swiped at the shield, shattering it. It could not overtake them, however, and as they ran into the hallway to avoid its gaze petrifying them from the hall, it was forced to retreat into the hall.<br />
<br />
42: CYLINDER DOOR<br />
<br />
They remembered the cylinder trap! They got the gold idol & stuff first, then the gnome warrens, then they got completionist and wanted to know what was on the <i>other</i> side and got stabbed by spear traps.<br />
<br />
Some people were too disgusted to go into the warrens. But it was that or go back to the basilisk I guess so they went in. They dregged the guano for the shiny stuff. Then they went into<br />
<br />
48: GOBLIN SPAWNING PIT<br />
<br />
They realized it was something special and one player said that they used the halberd they found in the upper levels to pierce one of the sacks. I said that it ripped open and that a bunch of gross fluid and a half-formed fungus gnome came sliding out of it. Everybody was grossed out, it was great.<br />
<br />
They left and went to<br />
<br />
49: GOBLIN THRONE ROOM<br />
<br />
Here were 40 gnomes fucking about. They cheered to receive their new king. They found the backscratcher and realized it was from the fountain. They also payed close attention to the mention of the "real crown".<br />
<br />
The gnomes offered their king a tour of his domain. He agreed. So they led them across the other rooms, including the secret entrance to the basilisk chamber, which made them go "ahhhhh".<br />
<br />
In the gnome farms, they decided to dredge the whole thing and they were very happy to find THE CROWN OF THE SERPENT KINGS. The stoneling player said I PUT IT ON but managed to withstand its effects. A wizard also took some dungeon cucumber but did not use it.<br />
<br />
Explaining that the guard goblin pushes skeleton jellies away threw them off because they had not yet encountered one or even realized... what it was. (Yes there is a skeleton jellie in a hallway they passed and yes it should have come there way but this is my lack of super deep preparation showing for this time).<br />
<br />
From here they went to<br />
<br />
28: DOMED HALL<br />
<br />
Here they were attracted to the iron door of the treasure room. A wizard did two attempts at an Open spell, one of which critically failed, with the quicksilver jet of the spell exploding onto the door and splashing her robe in silvery dregs.<br />
<br />
Our stoneling thief managed to crack it open.<br />
<br />
29: TREASURE ROOM<br />
<br />
Here I must confess my failure. Again lack of preparation, I was forced to INVENT a treasure. So I made some shit up about piles of gold and a massive golden kris-dagger (with as of yet unspecified magical effects). I think it made an impact (wow piles of gold and treasure) <i>but</i> it feels like a missed opportunity to add in some truly crazy shit. There's always next time.<br />
<br />
Lack of inventory space was becoming a problem!!!<br />
<br />
Although I had not prepared the village they set out from, I said: you can just go back to the village and we'll deal with that in a very global way.<br />
<br />
They sold a looooot of shit. The wizards both bought a wizard's staff on the market (I think it might be funny to have them break at some point - never buy an alleged wizard's staff on some small-time market!), the thief bought a <i>mysterious package</i> and the crow with the smashed beak went to a healer.<br />
<br />
At this point everybody was pretty burned out so we called it a day.<br />
<br />
One interesting thing. When they looted the treasure, one player asked: "What kind of treasure did I pick up???"<br />
I, having improvised already 5 different types of treasure there, said: "It's just a 10gp treasure."<br />
She said, "no but <i>what</i> is it?"<br />
I said, "Uh... It's an elaborately shaped perfume holder with a long golden snout"<br />
<br />
It was funny. On our first session I added so much nonsense filler to every room, writing them all out in a kind of short-note style. I added fake grave goods to the fake graves, I added glowing algae to one room. I sometimes felt it was a lot of distracting filler, but the players never felt that way. But *now* they did sometimes feel as if it was not really real.<br />
<br />
It wasn't like I was telling them how it was, but that I was kind of making it up. Which was true. In the first session, people were ever so slightly more <i>immersed</i>. They totally believed everything. Now, somewhat less - especially at this point. It's time-consuming, but not really a lot of work. If you imagine the room you're making easily gameable short-notes from - something like<br />
<br />
17 | Tomb of Xisor the Green<br />
<b>Stench!</b> -> roll CON or vomit<br />
Rich wall-carving -> a great king on the right, a thousand tiny slaves on the left. Snakemen hieroglyphs<br />
<b>Coffin</b> -> black stains dripping from the lid -> stench -> <b>Black Ooze! HD 8 etc...</b><br />
<br />
I stole this organization from some blog, I forgot which (sorry! It was over a year ago).<br />
<br />
It works because it is easy: all the things that are immediately noticable are on the left. The arrows pointing right per thing indicates what happens when the players examine it or fuck about with it. This makes describing a room a matter of going from top to bottom, meaning you can easily throw in "huge cobwebs", "still water, it stinks", "wall hanging shows a battle scene against the ancient golden elves", "the skeleton has a baked clay seal with inscriptions on it on its head". I found that my players LOVE that shit.<br />
<br />
In literature, they call this <i>authenticating detail</i>. It's the kind of detail that has no critical plot relevance, but it's the kind of detail that gives the whole thing believability. It <i>has </i>to be real. It authenticates it.<br />
<br />
I didn't have any of that this time. It's hard to come up with authenticating detail on the spot.<br />
<br />
It is very easy to do it when preparing such a layout as above. It basically writes itself. But you have to sit down and write it.<br />
<br />
I'm definitely doing that for the final few rooms. I'm going to make Xiximanter the great finale of this dungeon crawl and he and his quarters will get some loving, loving authenticating detail.Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-38957501887072713572020-01-29T08:31:00.000-08:002020-01-29T10:12:34.551-08:00Rethinking clerics and religion, part 2<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The main thing I don’t like about clerics is that they are the only ones who can invoke the gods. I mean, this is also kind of setting-related, and a matter of personal preference, but for me; I don’t like it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Circassa, the gods, powers, and nameless structure of reality the different peoples believe in are relevant to everyone.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">One solution to this is to remove clerics entirely and allow every character to call upon their gods, powers, et cetera. I don’t really like this solution. Rather, I’d like all characters to be able to call upon their gods, with clerics having a few special abilities in doing so. This post will be dived into two parts; religion - rules; religion for all classes; the cleric.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">This system has the following effects:</span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Engagement with the gods is an optional part of the game for all characters for certain bonuses at the cost of certain rules.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A form of prayer-healing that can be performed by anyone and gets a bonus from the cleric just being nearby, to prevent the cleric from being the heal-monkey.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Clerical magic is entirely different from wizard magic. Clerical magic is a form of prayer in which the player asks for something to occur, the outcome of which is determined by a d6 roll modified by certain things (the player’s favour with that god, whether the prayer is related to the god’s portfolio…). If this wish is within the realm of possibility, the DM decides how the god will answer.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's probably overly complicated. I might try to simplify it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">NOT PLAYTESTED AT ALL, PROCEED AT OWN RISK</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 1: Religion - Rules</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">All players start with one to three connections with a deity. Usually, these will be:</span></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">the patron deity of your class or (pre-adventuring) profession</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">the patron deity of your city or homeland</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">a family / cultural deity</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Deity”, here, can also mean an impersonal reality or force, akin to the Hindu Dharma, the Egyptian Maat, or the Tao of Taoism. See the end of this post.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because I think a lot of what makes for compelling, mysterious gods is the absence of knowledge, I’d suggest keeping your players in the dark on these numbers and rolls. Normally I’m all for letting the players roll and be in charge, but I think the mechanics of deities benefit from obscurity.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">FAVOUR</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">This religion system introduces a new stat called Favour. This Favour differs per deity per player. It represents how likely the god is to help you. You can only track the Favour of up to three different gods. If you have a connection to two gods, your maximum favour for each is 2. If you have a connection to three gods, your maximum favour for each is 1.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are a cleric, your maximum favour is 4 for one god, 2 for two others.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The lowest amount of favour you can have is -4. But only positive Favour (that is, above 0) can be used for prayers et cetera.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you wish to stop tracking your Favour with one god, all gods, or wish to switch to another, just tell the DM.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">TABOOS AND EDICTS</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Favour goes down when you violate a deities’ Taboos and goes up when you act in accordance to their Edicts. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If a player violates one of the Taboos, roll a d6. On 4-6, their favour is reduced by 1.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, take your deities, give them names, territories (I interpret this as the area the god’s power works in; usually this will be “everywhere”), their portfolio’s (<a href="https://swordofmassdestruction.blogspot.com/2020/01/rethinking-clerics-and-religion-part-1.html">already decided</a>), and holy sites. Then, going by their portfolio’s, give them Taboo’s (acts antithetical to their spheres) and Edicts (behaviour in line with their spheres).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, for the cattle goddess I made in the previous post:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Name: Hentenao</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Type: Deity</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Culture: All Salori peoples (known as Hentahrahn by the nomadic Ura branch)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Territory: everywhere</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Portfolio: Cattle, fertility, cattle disease, good marriages</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>By association: Faithfulness (in love, in business (cattle trading))</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Symbols, images, statues: A cow, a woman with a cow head, two horns/a half moon/a half-circle.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Holy site: Home shrines for many farmers, temples and shrines in many cities, villages, great temple in Ennem Salor.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Taboos</b></span></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Theft</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cheating (in love or otherwise)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Animal cruelty (outside of food production or sacrifice)</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Edicts</b></span></span></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Honesty</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Faithfulness</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">HOW TO GAIN FAVOUR</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are multiple ways of gaining Favour.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">EDICTS</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Favour can be gained by acting in accordance to your god’s Edicts. Edicts should be treated like <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxVHEMMjLlZ4ZnJyWnlSNEc3LW8">Convictions</a>. As Convictions are there to inspire roleplaying in an interesting way beyond alignment, so are Edicts. You won’t get a plus 1 Favour with the cattle goddess for every cow you pat on the head. You gain Favour for following an Edict when it is gameplay wise not optimal. In other words, you only gain Favour when you follow an Edict at the expense of “<a href="http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2016/05/building-houses-for-murderhoboes.html">murderhobo</a>” gameplay.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">VOWS</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can make a vow to your god at any time. Write your vow on your character sheet. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">As long as you maintain the vow, your Favour cannot be reduced to 0, always remaining at 1. If you break the vow, your favour is reduced by -2. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A vow can be related to your deity’s portfolio, but it doesn’t have to. Think about it as a sacrifice of effort. A vow of silence, a vow of going barefeet, a vow of poverty, a vow of never killing... A vow that will work for almost all personal deities is a promise of sacrifice should the god grant you favour. If you fail to actually perform this sacrifice upon return to civilization, your favour is reduced by -2 and you have a 1-in-6 chance of being Cursed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">SACRIFICES</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can sacrifice to your god at any time. If you don’t want to design specific sacrificial customs for your deity, assume that a sacrifice is food, money, flowers, and incense, sacrificed by burning.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are three levels of sacrifices: improvised, simple, and lavish. The levels relate to the value of the things sacrificed, and the amount of Favour gained. Offering a sacrifice at your deity’s central holy site gives an additional +1 favour.</span></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Improvised sacrifice</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Site required: improvised / portable altar</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cost: 1 gp</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Favour gained: 1</span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Simple sacrifice</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Site required: local holy site (shrine, temple, grove)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cost: 5 gp</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Favour gained: 2</span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lavish sacrifice</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Site required: big holy site (city temple)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cost: 20 gp</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Favour gained: 3</span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">HOLY SITES</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most personal deities have holy sites: shrines, temples, and one central holy site. These are important for sacrifices to be effective. They also give a +1 bonus to the success rolls of prayers performed there. However, shed blood or break one of the deity’s Taboo’s on the holy site, and you will lose -3 favour and be Cursed instantly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 2 - Religion for all classes</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">These are religious “abilities” any player can perform.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">PRAY FOR HELP</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">At any time, players can pray to one of their deities for help. They can only do this once a day, but don’t tell them. If a player prays for something, roll a d6. If the result is equal to or less than their Favour with that deity, it succeeds, and their Favour is reduced by 1. If the prayer is related to that deity’s portfolio, add a +1 to the dice threshold.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prayer is limited in two important ways:</span></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The players must require help. The prayer mechanic cannot be used frivolously.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is not divine intervention, nor wish granting, nor a miracle. Rather, a succesful prayer is an invitation for you, the DM, to start thinking about a way to give your players a helping hand. An answered prayer should be indistinguishable from happy coincidence.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Examples:</span></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, if a player prays to get out of a cave unharmed, maybe add a -2 to the amount of enemies in the next encounter.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If a player prays to get out of a cave they’re stuck in, give them a tiny bit of help: perhaps they find a partially scrawled map two rooms over, or perhaps they can feel fresh air rushing by in the next passage.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If a player purposefully prays for something impossible, like to turn into a dragon, or for the big bad lich to keel over dead, you can roll a dice, but just do nothing. If they keep doing stuff like that, cast the god’s Curse on them. </span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">THE HAND OF GOD</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once a day, you can invoke your deity’s power for any combat roll. Roleplay your battle cry of shouting their names, perhaps. The DM rolls a d6. If the result is equal to or less than their Favour, the roll succeeds, consuming the Favour. You can add +3 to the combat damage or spell effectiveness. If the deity’s portfolio is related to the combat action (battle, archery, magic, trickery), add an additional +2.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">SAY YOUR PRAYERS</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can pray for the healing of your teammates as much as you like during any fight. You must touch them to heal them. Roll a d6. If the roll is lower than your favour + their highest favour (for any god) + the party’s cleric’s favour (to maximum of +2), they are healed for 1d6. This consumes 1 Favour of the person healed. You can choose to add more d6, but for every d6 added, you consume 1 of your own Favour.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">CURSES</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Curses are a negative type of divine action. Curses are cast by the deity, not by people. The best people can do is invoke them. Curses can only be invoked on characters with a favour below 1 by characters with a favour above 1. A requirement for curses to be invoked is that it be cast in response to a deep, personal wrong. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Curses can be cast by anyone, including that farmer whose house the PC’s just set on fire.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">To call down a curse, roll a d6. You roll against the others Favour, - 2. So if their Favour is -2 and yours is 3, you must roll below 5 - 2 = 3. This means that only a curse by a maximally favoured cleric versus a maximally despised criminal has a 100% success rate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You cannot decide which curse will be cast.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Curses cannot be removed magically. Only by appeasing the god (raise your favour to maximum) or the party who invoked the curse can it be removed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I suggest you make up a number of curses for your deity’s portfolio. This is work, so I’ll probably make a general “divine curses” table later. For my Hentenao, though:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cow head</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You have the head of a cow. You can speak, but your Charisma is halved, and people will treat you like a freak. You must eat grass for one hour everyday or suffer a -1 max HP reduction per day. (It isn’t very nutricious).</span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cattle hatred</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cattle, if it sees you, will go crazy in an attempt to attack you.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Infertility</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You are infertile. Not just biologically, but spiritually. Any incoming XP is halved. Every day, you misplace 5 coins of the most valuable coins you have. Nothing you do quite succeeds.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cattle disease</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You are cursed with a cattle disease. Your tongue becomes purple and swells up, boils rise out of your face. Any cattle you come near to will catch the disease and die. They’ll run you out of town if they don’t kill you.</span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h2 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 3 - GLOG Class: Cleric</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cleric</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Starting equipment: robes, pilgrim’s walking staff (+1 CONS, 1d6 damage, 2-handed), deity’s amulet</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your maximum Favour is equal to your amount of Cleric templates.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A: Dedicated, Of the Cloth, Investiture</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">B: Prayerful, Oracle, The Power Compels You</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">C: We’re on a mission from god, Consecrate</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">D: Miracle worker</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">DEDICATED</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a cleric, you have dedicated yourself to one deity. You probably recognize other gods as real and often beneficial, but your god is the only one you need. You can only track your Favour with one god, but you get a +1 on any skill check related to that god’s portfolio.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">OF THE CLOTH</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You gain +1 Defense and +2 HP for every template in Cleric you possess, provided you wear no armour.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If your chosen deity has battle / war in their portfolio, you gain +1 Attack for every template in Cleric you possess, but only if you wear armor.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">INVESTITURE</span></span></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Given a medium to work with and an hour, you can carve an amulet or statuette of your deity. This amulet confers +1 Favour to whomever wears it for one day. You already have one. Brandishing the amulet gives you a 1d6 chance to repel creatures with harmful intent, effectively causing them Fear.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">PRAYERFUL</span></span></h4>
<div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Your prayers are more potent than those of laymen. </span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your prayers need not be born of dire need to be answered.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can pray as often as you like, not once daily.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whereas the prayer of a layman may be answered in small ways, indistinguishable from chance, your prayers can be answered within the realms of what would be possible with a basic magic spell.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You do not need to speak aloud to pray. But if you roleplay your prayer, you get +1 on your prayer roll.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You may take half an hour daily to contemplate. Roll a d6. On a 1-3, your Favour is restored by 1.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">ORACLES</span></span></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can ask your deity for a vision of any time. Gods do not speak in words. The wise way is to ask for guidance in a dream. Roll a d6. This consumes Favour.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Say we ask: where can we find the girl abducted by pirates?</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">d6 Under your Favour</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A clear vision dream</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A small flower blooms, caged in driftwood. The waves of the sea flow between trees, you hear the call of swamp birds and you smell the rotting bog. (In a camp in the swamps)</span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">d6 On your Favour</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A confusing vision dream</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You hear the ocean and the creaking of wood, the wind rustling in the trees, frightened breathing and the smell of alcohol. (The ocean? Or the forest?)</span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">d6 Above your Favour</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">An ordinary dream</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The king has given you the keys of the city for cleaning up his room.</span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can of course go to an oracle and ask them to do it. Pro’s: it’s always the clearest, doesn’t cost you favour. cons: it’s expensive and you’ll likely have to go to the central holy site.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If time sensitive you can also ask for a vision in waking life; you’ll need to focus and prepare for a few minutes. This vision works if you roll Under Favour or On Favour, but on On Favour you must make a save or suffer a seizure and lose 1 Wisdom. The voice of the gods is hard to bear.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">THE POWER COMPELS YOU</span></span></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can banish hostile beings with your amulet. Roll Wisdom + Favour. Treat this as a Fear mechanic. If used on magically animated beings such as undead, or on incorporeal spirits, has a 1d6 chance of instantly dispelling 1d6 of them. Costs 1 Favour.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">WE’RE ON A MISSION FROM GOD</span></span></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’ve received a vision in which your god gives you a quest. It requires some interpretation (in other words, let players in on deciding the quest). From now on, you can overrule charisma or intimidation checks by saying “we’re on a mission from [deity]” once daily. Roll a d6 under your Favour to succeed. Complete your divine quest, and you will receive a permanent +1 to your prayer rolls.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">CONSECRATE</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Using your amulet and one substance from your deity’s shrine (water, sand, oil), you can consecrate objects and area’s. Consecrated objects are slightly more effective in whatever they do. Weapons or armour get a +1 to their stats when consecrated; +2 if used against evil magical beings. Consecrated area’s cannot be crossed by evil magical beings and have a 1d6 chance of repelling creatures of ill intent in general.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">MIRACLE</span></span></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A miracle is an act of god, a shift in reality.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A miracle can only be asked for once in-between lavish sacrifices or retreats to holy sites. Roll one d6 for all your Favour points. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If the total is above 9, the miracle occurs. (Depending on how crazy the request is, the DM can up this roll by up to 5.) Your favour is reset to 1. If the DM says the roll is more difficult than 9 and you decide to go along with it, any double numbers rolled means that your maximum Favour is permanently lowered by 1.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If the total is below 9, the request is treated as an answered prayer. This consumes 1 favour.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A miracle can also occur spontaneously, when a cleric or the party is near death. This costs nothing but can occur only once, ever.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A miracle is extremely powerful magic. But there are limits. A fist-rule about miracles is that they should be *occurences*. A cleric can’t ask to be miraculously immortal, unless he ask it for just one day. A second rule about miracles is that they can’t effect an area larger than a city.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">APPENDIX - IMPERSONAL FORCES</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">For impersonal forces comparable to the Tao, the Dharma, or the Maat, create Taboos and Edicts just the same.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can still have holy sites as well as sacrifices, but see these as a way to balance your position within the Tao/Dharma/Maat.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Instead of “favour”, the cleric of the impersonal force has “attunement”. Attunement can only go up to 2, but it is not expended by prayer or other uses.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Instead of “prayer”, the cleric of the impersonal force tries to meditate and contemplate to more clearly allow the impersonal force to flow through her, to become closer to it. In doing so, a solution offers itself. In other words, the DM offers a way to solve the problem in response to the meditation.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The cleric of the impersonal force loses attunement if they lose their calm. If the cleric does act and roleplay calmness in their actions, they get a bonus to their stat rolls equal to their attunement.</span></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-55796909648977768152020-01-27T02:31:00.001-08:002020-01-27T02:59:50.277-08:00Rethinking clerics and religion, part 1This was to be a post about clerics and religion, but it turned out I had much to say on religion in the first place. Clerics will come later on.<br />
<h2>
Theoretical stuff</h2>
This may surprise you, but in daily life I'm doing my master in religious studies.<br />
<br />
Now, the most surprising thing to come out of religious studies in the past decade or so is the discovery that "religion" actually doesn't exist. It cannot be defined.<br />
<br />
Certainly the things, places, people, and acts that we call "religious" exist. But there's nothing that connects them all that can clearly be called "religious".<br />
<br />
Religion, for example, isn't "belief in a deity" -- Buddhism doesn't make that cut. Even if some types of Buddhism do, those deities are so irrelevant it seems misleading to make that the criterium. It also isn't "worship", because what does worship even mean? It also isn't "ritual behaviour", because state ritual is something we don't call religion. It also isn't "emotional or ritual ecstacy", because then we would need to include music performances.<br />
<br />
The concept of "religion" as we use it today has its roots in Christian belief and in colonialism. Before the colonial era, "religion" could not be pluralized. It always meant Christianity. The pluralization of "religion" into "religions" and the universalization of the concept -- the notion that all peoples have "a religion" is actually a way of mapping a Christian view of the world onto non-Christian peoples. For more info on this read The Invention of World Religions by Tomoko Masuzawa.<br />
<br />
In other words, "religion" *actually* means "kind of like Christianity but something else". Christianity is the model of all things called religion. But Christianity may very well be extremely weird, a historical outlier, not something universal (I think this is the case).<br />
<br />
Despite my society (and yours probably) being highly secularized, the concepts we use to think our way around the world - such as good and evil, but also this category of "religion" - are lifted wholesale from post-Enlightenment Christian thinking.<br />
<br />
We really do believe there is such a thing as "religion" and that it has primarily to do with faith in Gods. But what is faith? I *believe* there might be some beers in the fridge. I *believe* I'm gonna wake up again tomorrow. But those aren't the kind of beliefs we're talking about. Religious faith is belief that is strongly and proudly affirmed.<br />
<br />
Except for a large part of humanity, that isn't true. In many types of African and Asian ancestor cults for example, the ancestors aren't an article of faith, or supernatural. (The supernatural is another post-Enlightenment Christian idea.) The ancestors are just *there*. They believe they are real. But this belief is on par with the belief that there may be beers in the fridge. It isn't an emphasized kind of belief like faith.<br />
<br />
In light of this, our fantasy religion needs reworking.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGcUNe79HgE7OoM1zqVGuWSkJYorZh0yuMyRaBzNJFxZA6eB7hYZpiVoY5sG7BKOq3QezhOrn54gljSNeh4uhDYknzErUsHkqjk7Rg2mhp7fVwG0ytl4eUh2KXq2wa9nzFXlxhGEGzF08L/s1600/2047.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGcUNe79HgE7OoM1zqVGuWSkJYorZh0yuMyRaBzNJFxZA6eB7hYZpiVoY5sG7BKOq3QezhOrn54gljSNeh4uhDYknzErUsHkqjk7Rg2mhp7fVwG0ytl4eUh2KXq2wa9nzFXlxhGEGzF08L/s1600/2047.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cross has been used as an apotropaic symbol <br />
in almost all Christian contexts.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2>
<br />Religion in fantasy</h2>
<div>
Granddad Tolkien never wrote much about religion in Middle-Earth, which is odd considering that he was a devout Catholic. Faramir and his boys do some praying to the "Lords of the West" before dinner and one time Sauron got an entire civilization to worship Satan but that is about it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
D&D type religion seems largely based on pre-Christian Mediterranean religion. As in, polytheism. (Also polytheism and monotheism is one of those fucky terms. I mean in what way exactly is Christianity polytheism if you've got three gods who are one AND EVEN if we want to overlook that one you've got a whole bunch of angels, saints, and demons. Just because a deity is evil and dangerous doesn't mean it isn't a deity!)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But I kind of suspect D&D doesn't really understand what Roman and Greek polytheism was really about. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If we look at how religion is treated in D&D we see again a very Christian focus on *belief*, on intellectual things. Who is this god, what is their sphere (which always makes sense), and what is their symbol. Ok, so now we know some things, okay. And all these gods have organized cults and temples and priests and attendants. All these gods are real and all these gods can be supplicated to.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But its too neat. Look at actual polytheistic history. In the time the early Old Testament stories were written, deities had a very strong ethnic/national character. Sure, your god is real. But my god can beat up your god! But the reality of this god also implied that if you were in *that* god's land, you would have to sacrifice to him/her for good fortune and safety in those parts.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Pliny the Elder describes that Rome had a Temple of Fever, a Temple of Bereavement, and an Altar of Bad Luck, where you could come to supplicate these forces and keep them away.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Shiva, one of the most powerful and awe-inspiring Hindu deities, is also a dangerous and unpredictable madman. He's covered in the ash of cremated bodies, and his name, meaning "the auspicious one", is actually more a desire than a description, an attempt to supplicate him. Back in the Vedic times, the distant past of what would come to be known as Hinduism, Shiva was called Rudra, "the screamer", and rituals to him consisted of throwing a gift into the woods in the hope he'd stay away.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Similarly, Jorg Rupke in his book Pantheon writes that early Roman and Greek religion didn't have clear conceptions of the gods as *people*. Rather, they had a *ritual infrastructure*, rituals they could use or resort to in order to address certain problems. Many of these rituals included gifts of objects or statues or animals - but to *whom* this gift was, wasn't clear in the early days. To some unseen, mysterious power that lived at that spot. Then came the naming. Then came the images and statues.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This kind of weirdness isn't caught by the neat, clearly identifiable gods of D&D.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlaelGUI96oIG7cwNEvj7E5ZaDZ5f9h-BA3QlzOliuHU1EkwM6nBziNX568u6d1GXKKUjE-kXRmzd6ergqxUMuxnB7wkPvcOCXdSuZK1EIGbp9UQ74qoiLB1vcmjJzq1Fmr_th9T9Xk2JB/s1600/Shiva-en-Parvati.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlaelGUI96oIG7cwNEvj7E5ZaDZ5f9h-BA3QlzOliuHU1EkwM6nBziNX568u6d1GXKKUjE-kXRmzd6ergqxUMuxnB7wkPvcOCXdSuZK1EIGbp9UQ74qoiLB1vcmjJzq1Fmr_th9T9Xk2JB/s1600/Shiva-en-Parvati.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shiva and his wife Parvati as one</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2>
<br />Doing religion reverse</h2>
<div>
What if, coming up with the religious world of our settings - and by extension the "clerics" of our settings - we don't start with the gods at all? What if we start with acts - with rituals? What if rather we start with what people *need* here? What are they likely to develop and use their *ritual infrastructure* for?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Step 1: What do they need?</h4>
<div>
This will determine your group's *ritual needs*. Broadly, this can be spliced up into these questions. Go through every question and note down the words in CAPS that apply to your group.</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>How do they eat?</li>
<ol>
<li>Do they farm rice or grain or other crops? -> CROPS</li>
<ol>
<li>Do they depend on rain? -> RAIN</li>
<li>Do they depend on the river? -> RIVER</li>
<li>Are there crop diseases? -> CROP DISEASE</li>
</ol>
<li>Do they farm cattle?</li>
<ol>
<li>Are there predators eating the cattle? -> PREDATORS, CATTLE</li>
<li>Is the cattle fertile enough? -> FERTILITY OF CATTLE, CATTLE</li>
<li>Are there cattle diseases? -> CATTLE DISEASE</li>
</ol>
<li>Do they hunt? -> HUNTING, PREY, PREDATOR, WEAPON TECHNOLOGY, SAFETY IN WILDERNESS</li>
<li>Do they raid others? -> BATTLE, WAR</li>
<ol>
<li>On foot, by animal, by ship? -> WAR ANIMALS, SHIPS, WEATHER</li>
<li>What weapons do they use? -> WEAPON TECHNOLOGY, WEAPON STRENGTH</li>
<li>How do they feel about the other's gods? -> CONQUEST OF OTHER GOD</li>
</ol>
</ol>
<li>How do they live with each other?</li>
<ol>
<li>Do they have a king or chief? -> AUTHORITY, OBEDIENCE</li>
<ol>
<li>Does the king demand huge respect? -> ROYALTY</li>
<li>What gives him this power? -> ORDER OF THE WORLD, WISDOM, WAR...</li>
</ol>
<li>Are they sedentary or nomadic?</li>
<ol>
<li>If sedentary; see most of question 1</li>
<ol>
<li>Are they a city-state -> CITY, WALLS, PROTECTION, TRADE, STRANGERS</li>
<li>Are they a state -> GOVERNMENT, STATE, LAW</li>
</ol>
<li>If nomadic -> PACK ANIMALS</li>
<ol>
<li>Are they dependent on oaths and honour in maintaining good relationships with other groups? -> OATHS, HONOUR, FRIENDSHIP, STRANGERS</li>
<li>Are different clans in essence different nations? -> THE CLAN, ANCESTORS</li>
</ol>
</ol>
<li>Is it important to have many children? -> FERTILITY, MENSTRUATION, SEX, PREGNANCY, BIRTH</li>
<ol>
<li>What tends to kill young children? -> CHILD DISEASE, PREDATORS, LOCAL CLIMATE, FAMINE, WAR, SPOILED FOOD</li>
<li>Polygamy or monogamy -> MANY WIVES / HUSBANDS, GOOD WIFE / HUSBAND, CHEATING, GOOD MARRIAGE</li>
<li>Matrilineal or patrilineal? -> MOTHER, FATHER, ANCESTOR, ACCEPTANCE INTO FAMILY</li>
</ol>
<li>What determines social status?</li>
<ol>
<li>Honour in battle -> HONOUR, WAR, NOBLE DEATH IN BATTLE</li>
<li>Place in feudal/caste structure -> ORDER OF SOCIETY, CASTE, BIRTH</li>
<li>Learning and wisdom -> KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM, SCHOOLING, OLD AGE</li>
<li>Wealth and money -> MARKET FORCES, MONEY, SUCCESS IN BUSINESS</li>
</ol>
</ol>
<li>How do they live with the world?</li>
<ol>
<li>Are there earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, natural disasters, monsoons? -> GOING AWAY OF NATURAL DISASTER / WATER / FIRE, ORDER OF THE WORLD</li>
<li>Are there forests, plains, deserts, mountains? -> SAFE PASSAGE THROUGH FOREST / PLAINS / DESERTS / MOUNTAINS, PREDATORS</li>
<li>What are animals to them? </li>
<ol>
<li>Dumb machines? -> SUPERIORITY OF HUMANITY</li>
<li>Dangers? -> DANGERS OF WILD ANIMAL</li>
<li>Mysterious other beings? -> MYSTERIOUS LOCAL ANIMAL</li>
</ol>
</ol>
</ol>
</div>
<h4>
Step 2: What do they do?</h4>
Now take all the things you wrote down and consider which of the following rituals should address which *ritual needs*.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Big, collective rituals</li>
<ol>
<li>These are rituals that concern things that are of paramount importance to the community at large. Feast days.</li>
</ol>
<li>Big, individual rituals</li>
<ol>
<li>These are rituals that concern things that are of paramount importance to a person or his family.</li>
</ol>
<li>Small individual rituals</li>
<ol>
<li>These are rituals that concern every-day things or that are done in reaction to something and can't have a big response.</li>
</ol>
</ol>
<div>
<h4>
Step 3: How do they do it?</h4>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Anything can be made ritual. A sacrifice is a ritual gift-giving. Ritual hunts are also a big thing. Perhaps oaths are a big thing in your society. Ritual war, ritual battle. Perhaps they mortify themselves, fasting or going away into the wilderness for a while. Feast days in which the normal structure of society is suspended in lieu of the theme of the ritual need. (Sex, for example).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Go crazy. If you have no inspiration:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Take the theme of your ritual need. Now put the word "ritual" in front of it. Now think about it. For some ritual needs it will make sense to have big collective (BC), big individual (BI), and small individual (SI) rituals; for others only big collective ones will make sense.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
RITUAL [X] will in many cases already make sense, like "ritual hunt", "ritual war", "ritual fertility", "ritual law". But in many others you may be at a loss. Then a quick way of making something intelligible is to consider 2 big points: mimesis and exchange.</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Ritual through:</li>
<ol>
<li>mimesis</li>
<ol>
<li>Ritual for [x] by imitating [x]. <i>Ritual for cattle by imitating cattle.</i></li>
</ol>
<li>exchange</li>
<ol>
<li>Ritual for [x] by exchanging [x]. <i>Ritual for cattle by sacrificing cattle.</i></li>
<li>Ritual for [x] by exchanging [y]. <i>Ritual for cattle by sacrificing crops.</i></li>
</ol>
</ol>
</ol>
<div>
Now you might think: "wait, but this can't work for all. Ritual for child disease by imitating child disease?" So in ancient Roman religion you could sacrifice to Fever so it would stay away; similarly in medieval Europe people would donate a small silver imitation of the organ or limb that was cured after prayer/sacrifice (in thanks, after the fact). But in certain Native American cultures, if a baby was sick, you could hold a mock funeral for the baby, in order to trick the disease into thinking the child was dead. So imitating the death of a child can prevent the death of a child. This also has a bit of exchange in it, since you exchange a doll or fake child for your real child.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Depending on the ritual need, you might have these on individual and/or collective scale.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here are some examples.</div>
<div>
<br />
RITUAL RAIN -> </div>
<div>
B C: The women of the village gather buckets of water from the well and go around the fields splashing them with their hands, singing songs that call the rain down.</div>
<div>
B I: If a farmer is worried about the rain, he may sacrifice some crops or cattle as gift to the rain if it will come.</div>
<div>
S I: If a farmer is worried about the rain, he may call down the rain through the same songs.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
RITUAL CATTLE -> </div>
<div>
B C: Cattle is sacrificed. Cattle must be given so that cattle will continue to be given to you. BUT ALSO: A ritual dance in which the men of the village imitate the fights of cattle in the mating season. </div>
<div>
B I: A farmer may draw a glyph saying "WOLF" on his cattle to keep the wolves away.</div>
<div>
S I: The cattle looks sick! The farmer puts some earleaf herbs through their feed, since these leaves look like the ears of cows and is thought to be beneficial to them.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
RITUAL SUCCESS IN BUSINESS </div>
<div>
I throw some money into the sea so that the ship carrying all my trade goods will not be swallowed by the sea.</div>
<div>
Here's a cow for you, wilderness, keep the predators away!</div>
<div>
Here one man dresses up as a wolf and is defeated in a ritualized dance-battle by the young warriors.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Big and collective rituals are probably calendar feasts that occur every year.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Keep in mind that people do these things *because they work* either *actually* or because they are *effective in addressing those worries*. So people do them not out of doctrine or belief, but because they are effective. So people will do the rituals that they think are effective, perhaps because someone else did it - their neighbours, their enemies, traders from away...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF1e6TCiYKhco_bwcuJsA0uvnJE1BRr-xPrPv1bRMe5StPVdBRTIK6CMhLzitaGFivF1juhzHalPKeiIskHtlPasbHWbTf82HTt4cMvEK6hkoEyAi31Jh68IkrOS8cQKDsr-4xjAKmZwTi/s1600/Maasai_dance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="1600" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF1e6TCiYKhco_bwcuJsA0uvnJE1BRr-xPrPv1bRMe5StPVdBRTIK6CMhLzitaGFivF1juhzHalPKeiIskHtlPasbHWbTf82HTt4cMvEK6hkoEyAi31Jh68IkrOS8cQKDsr-4xjAKmZwTi/s320/Maasai_dance.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Maasai dance was originally part of a celebration for killing a lion</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h4>
<br />Step 4: Where do they do it?</h4>
<br />
<div>
This is dependent on *ritual infrastructure* and is probably decided by people imitating other people. Big collective rituals are likely to take place on some sort of central square. Especially in terms of EXCHANGE people will probably go to a specific place, likely associated with the power to be the receiving end of the exchange. The sea, the mountain, the forest, a weird-looking hill, a strange rock. This is where your temples will be.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
<b>Step 5: Who do they think is behind it?</b></h4>
<div>
Now you have a ritual need, a ritual, and a place where the ritual is done. Now it is possible that the forces behind the ritual are understood not as beings with a mind, but as some sort of hidden world order, like the Hindu Dharma or the Egyptian Maat. In a clan-based society, the ritual need of clan identity and success may very well be mapped onto the dead ancestors (not technically gods, but for all intents and purposes, yes). Perhaps these dead ancestors and local mysterious animal are mapped onto each other: bam, totemism. "Our ancestor is the owl".</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But if these forces are understood as beings with a mind - THESE ARE GODS.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But be sure you know what a god is. The Norse and Egyptian gods were very much mortal and could be killed. In fact the Ancient Egyptian word for god is the same as the word for soul of a deceased person. It's fine if you want to go with "immortal beings who govern certain aspects of the world" that's fine, but keep in mind that all those things could be changed for your gods.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What do these gods do? Is the same ritual place perhaps used for different rituals? This is how you get real, muddy gods, not the thought-out, overly systemic gods of D&D. Treat the ritual needs addressed at this place as the portfolio of the god residing there.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Cheat it a little. Throw in a ritual need that is unconnected to the rest. Athena is goddess of wisdom... but also war, after all. Don't be afraid to give the gods paradoxical forces as well. You would go to the same place for cattle-ensuring rituals, but also to address cattle diseases. So the goddess of cattle might well also be the goddess of cattle disease.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So in keeping with all the cattle things we've been doing, my group might have a goddess of cattle, fertility, cattle disease, and auspicious marriages.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But also keep in mind that this goddess may well be *just* a goddess. It is a mistake to believe that every god has to be the god OF something. Thor is the "god of thunder", but what is Odin the god of? Nothing specifically, or rather: so much that it can't be easily said. He is the god of wisdom, cunning, trickery, the dead, war, the gallows, runes, magic. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I already said that you should not be scared to give the gods paradoxical forces. But the gods can also be paradoxical in that they can be positive and negative at the same time. Shiva, like I said, is one of the most revered gods in Hinduism, but is also a dangerous madman. The same can be said for Odin. Odin's magic (seidhr) is even something that was considered feminine in this society, something that only an unmanly or homosexual man would engage with, strongly frowned upon for men. Yet Odin practices it and is perhaps the most important god. The gods are always far beyond the laws and attitudes of the society that worships them.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Then name 'em and stuff. Keep in mind that the name is pasted onto a mysterious force that is supplicated there, so there will be many different names, many titles.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Sd9Sh5_tb7Z36STQMmjXduGyhA6Uhu-FOhlPGS5s1mEGMxanRn7LLnYQk2NyOAtNF2jV5W25LFHkY9JblPh5ZH7OCQUDLblzzjG3wUU_MgFqG5DzQNUcZHKMBLcREHKxpysctagZYST4/s1600/ancient-egyptian-gods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="501" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Sd9Sh5_tb7Z36STQMmjXduGyhA6Uhu-FOhlPGS5s1mEGMxanRn7LLnYQk2NyOAtNF2jV5W25LFHkY9JblPh5ZH7OCQUDLblzzjG3wUU_MgFqG5DzQNUcZHKMBLcREHKxpysctagZYST4/s320/ancient-egyptian-gods.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h4>
Step 6: Do some association work.</h4>
<div>
Now comes the weird stuff. Say your society has a real problem with snakes. Snakes are very dangerous, but also kind of sacred because of their power (to kill, scare, transfix). The people believe that snakes live forever because every month they shed their skin. What else sheds its skin every month? The moon. What also happens every month? Menstruation. Now you have the framework for a lunar snake deity associated with (snakes and the moon of course) fertility, sex, and (in a male-dominated society, perhaps) the secrets of women.<br />
<br />
That's a bloody weird god. But it is good weird. It has texture. I believe it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So with your WIP deities (cattle, fertility, cattle disease, auspicious marriages), go back through your ritual needs and see what else could be mapped onto this deity. But live in *their* world. They don't understand microbial biology, gravity, or why some babies are stillborn. Interpret those things through the lens of association with your deities, but also the world they live in: the moon, the mountains, thunder. Perhaps the deity is a cow. Perhaps the deity is the mother of the great mountains to the south. This way she could be associated with the South in general, and people might offer her prayers or touch her amulets every time they travel to the South. Perhaps she is the sun, and the stars are drops of the milk of her udders.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you live in a tent, your god also lives in a tent. A very big one, made out of clouds perhaps.</div>
<div>
If family is most important in your society, then your gods are a family (or families). Perhaps they are YOUR family! (Ancestor worship)</div>
<div>
If the king is most important in your society, then the gods have a king.</div>
<div>
If government is most important in your society, then the gods have a government.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h4>
<b>Step 7: A new ritual need</b></h4>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now you have a new ritual need: communicate with the god(s). Is this done through sacrifice? Prayer? Are there statues or images of her? Perhaps you sacrifice those, giving them to her? Perhaps you must abstain from touching cattle for a week before invoking her? Do people wear amulets invoking her power?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Perhaps... you can get someone else to do all this difficult business <i>for</i> you. Voilá, the ritual expert is born. Call him shaman, priest, medicine man, godspeaker, oracle, sacred virgin; you now have to some extent organized religion.</div>
<h4>
Step 6: Iteration, and decide how far you want to develop this. </h4>
<div>
Both in terms of pantheon and institutions you can stop anywhere you like.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Perhaps the gods are still nameless and mysterious. Perhaps anyone can engage with them as well as any other.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But if the pantheon develops onward; how does it react to foreign gods? The gods of other peoples? Are they both understood to be real, will people forever speak of two families of gods? Are they incorporated into it? Or do they forever remain foreign demons?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Does it remain many gods for many needs? Or do a couple of gods become so important that the others have more or less vanished except from the local theater - the god of the village, the god of this tree. How are their ritual needs subsumed into the other deities? ("War" was important in Medieval Europe, but the Christian God is hardly a god associated with war. So saint Michael the Archangel assumed the ritual need for war, and could be prayed to for battle.) Has perhaps *just one* become so important, thus laying the groundwork for monotheism?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Who has access to the gods? The ritual place develops because ordinary people imitate each other, but perhaps authority will develop. Is it the spontaneous authority of the knowledgeable and old? This is likely at first. Authority that derives from ritual knowledge. Your child has broken his leg? My dear, you must do such and such.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But perhaps authority becomes structured and institutionalized. Perhaps there are priesthoods, perhaps there is dedication to one specific deity. Perhaps such dedication is also expected of those who come for the ritual. You cannot serve two masters, one might say.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is really a matter of taste. And there is much more than might be done. Perhaps the king is a god. Perhaps there is one god in many forms. Perhaps there are monastery orders dedicated to all gods, or to the god-above-god.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But that is all extra stuff, stuff that you can come up with because it's cool. This whole post was more about rethinking the basics of religion; letting the gods be born organically out of ritual and association, not pre-determining them as having sensible and intellectually determined portfolios.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I hope it's useful.</div>
Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-70602607631103591192019-02-21T01:41:00.003-08:002019-02-21T02:09:02.677-08:00Let me pitch something<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPIPBAIDf6aeexUDLaWBlmTPVhdMO65z2MiKjKplvzX5Mj8I2wxOdLLLog6hjb0cvqbSLqnI4XDeg3mdN-yDdjVwmMOkEs9OeaihgbKbpbZbjJjwdph5hAdbGoq0PI3EjBSo2pdVror5J8/s1600/82b4c3747afae85c703a833758106a60--the-edge-steampunk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPIPBAIDf6aeexUDLaWBlmTPVhdMO65z2MiKjKplvzX5Mj8I2wxOdLLLog6hjb0cvqbSLqnI4XDeg3mdN-yDdjVwmMOkEs9OeaihgbKbpbZbjJjwdph5hAdbGoq0PI3EjBSo2pdVror5J8/s1600/82b4c3747afae85c703a833758106a60--the-edge-steampunk.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By Chris Riddell</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here goes:<br />
<br />
A setting guide and ruleset for sky ship operation and combat; to work in accordance with any adventuring ruleset you desire.<br />
<br />
Adventure, obsession, madness, and death.<br />
<br />
Think Moby Dick, Sunless Sea, and The Edge Chronicles.<br />
<br />
Think Veins of the Earth but sky instead of rock; agoraphobia and horror vacui instead of claustrophobia.<br />
<span style="font-family: "eb garamond"; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "eb garamond"; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The players are crewing a sky ship, a rickety death trap with a thousand essential mechanisms each of which can and will go wrong. This hunk of junk is the only thing standing between these brave or insane souls and the Long Drop.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "eb garamond"; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "eb garamond"; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They explore </span><span style="font-family: "eb garamond"; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">an impossible archipelago of broken rocks. Mountains and islands, forested and wild, slowly drifting in the wind, skirting the yawning void of the upper air: t</span><span style="font-family: "eb garamond"; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">he Mountains Untethered. Above; the Verge, too close to the stars, where the air and reality itself are too thin, below, the Murk, where the only sky is the darkness of millions of tonnes of rock, where ramshackle towns squat in darkness in which washed-up and has-beens drink themselves to death, and where listless scavengers paddle the Murk Sea for the wreckage of those who made the Long Drop.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "eb garamond"; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "eb garamond"; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Mountains are a region uncharted and unchartable, filled with creatures strange and people yet stranger - certainly the natives and creatures of this odd land are bizarre, but perhaps moreso are the ones who come here voluntarily.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "eb garamond"; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "eb garamond"; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cloudpiercers they are called: idealist settlers building utopia, discontent colonists hatching secession, treasure-hunters seeking their fortune, merchants want trade routs and to fatten their wallets, pirates slit throats and loot bodies, stormhunters and galechasers hunt in the shrieking air, flotillas of desperate men and the navy of empire - all fighting it out in the open skies</span><span style="font-family: "eb garamond"; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "eb garamond"; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "eb garamond"; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wild-eyed and manic to a man, they brave the abyss below and the void above for their particular obsession, their private insane drive - but all of them desire to make a mark on the maddeningly empty air before they too go to their Long Drop.</span><br />
<br />
<br />Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-72515800048654793602019-02-18T16:57:00.002-08:002019-02-18T16:57:27.216-08:00Name ChangeI changed the blog name. It's now Sword of Mass Destruction.<br />
<br />
It used to be Pammachon Sword.<br />
<br />
The Pammachon Sword is something from Caráxe that blew up the Northern Invader. That land now lies on the bottom of the Searing Deep.<br />
<br />
It was a Sword of Mass Destruction.<br />
<br />
Well, then just say that, you idiot! At least that's got some punch to it.Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-32445760002355904892019-02-18T15:14:00.003-08:002019-02-18T15:16:12.757-08:00What if magic items can't be identified?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_U4VdDf5fdAi5g8fzJ_gtrV7ZSFoguXonP4AVX2DLLUJtiTVa4N8Vljz19E7Cad3z0bnd1n96Mcbj08j0js5PKiq_7MhXuRzzsGhuBvq4mEzJbvF2MkITLOCLC4hLRKZX4aOOES7tc3-a/s1600/mike-vivisector-hand-of-glory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="514" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_U4VdDf5fdAi5g8fzJ_gtrV7ZSFoguXonP4AVX2DLLUJtiTVa4N8Vljz19E7Cad3z0bnd1n96Mcbj08j0js5PKiq_7MhXuRzzsGhuBvq4mEzJbvF2MkITLOCLC4hLRKZX4aOOES7tc3-a/s400/mike-vivisector-hand-of-glory.jpg" width="307" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By <a href="https://mikevivisector.artstation.com/">Mike Vivisector</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>The setup</b><br />
<br />
Many OSR systems don't have perception rolls.<br />
<br />
"Figure it out yourself!" they say, after telling you to get of their lawn. "Just say where you look or what you're touching, and I'll tell you if you find anything!"<br />
<br />
Now, I think this is a good system. A perception roll is a boring way to resolve searching. It removes agency from the player and makes something that <i>could </i>make the situation very tactile and real into something abstract and gamey.<br />
<br />
The logical end point of the perception roll is a game in which player input is completely superfluous and stats determine everything. And that isn't fun. So, some say, no perception rolls.<br />
<br />
So, given that many people think that way, why do we still roll arcane knowledge or intelligence to identify magic items?<br />
<br />
<b>The problem</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"This is a mysterious ring; ancient, covered in runes."</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I want to examine it, see if it's magic." </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"After spending some minutes sniffing, touching, and examining the thing, you can safely say it exudes an aura of magic. It makes your hairs stand on end. Sparks jump between the metal and your fingers."</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I want to figure out what kind." </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Okay, roll an intelligence check."</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Made it." </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Yeah it's a ring that gives you +3 to lockpicking."</i></blockquote>
<br />
That's boring. Yes, also because I used a boring magic item in that example. But not only is it boring, it is soooo gamey.<br />
<br />
An aside:<br />
DnD uses numbers because it wants to quantify and make concrete certain variables. But just as "16 Strength" doesn't <i>mean</i> anything in the world of the fiction, so do the numbers on magic not mean anything. Or the words <i>fire damage</i>.<br />
<br />
Numbers are an unelegant crutch; a necessary evil. They should be avoided in descriptive language if possible.<i> They break the fiction.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>A solution</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
When running the Tomb of the Serpent Kings, my players tried on the Ring of Eyesight that makes a player's eye go hard as glass and pop out of his socket, and the ring which turns a finger into a two-pronged poison dagger. They loved it and were horrified at the same time. They laughed and were fascinated and audibly disgusted.<br />
<br />
They also figured out some magic effects by running intelligence checks. They went "oh, that's cool I guess."<br />
<br />
Don't allow your players to identify magic items. Yeah, not even wizards. Let them detect if it is magical. Then, if they succeed what would otherwise be an identifying roll, let them find out only how the magic works. Is it an ongoing power? Or is it a power that can be released? Is it an on-target magic? A self spell? Or a latent power, like a buff? Tell them what they perceive, so that they at least have some notion of how to <i>activate </i>the power. Using an unknown power is fun; clicking all the pixels in order to find the one that lets you proceed isn't.<br />
<br />
Then tell them the associations they pick up: "You can tell that it's something to do with throwing." "You think the magic has something to do with food." "You think the magic is dangerous." "You feel an immense sorrow", "You smell burning". Roll a 1d6 for associations. There's a 1 in 6 chance the associations are totally wrong.<br />
<br />
Then, let them find out the effects by <b>experimentation</b>. Because that's fun and unpredictable. Furthermore, it keeps magic strange and potentially dangerous.<br />
<br />
<i>And</i> it saves you form saying the words "it gives a d6 bonus" or something equally magic-breaking. Just tell them, when they use it, to roll an extra d6. Don't tell them why. Don't break the magic. Remove the extra die when they remove the magic item. But never acknowledge that the object is responsible for the d6. That makes it knowable, concrete, gamey. As long as you never name the effects in concrete, numbery ways, it might still have other secrets to reveal and as such, it might remain mysterious.<br />
<br />
I will be playtesting this idea.Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-31144212002834424812019-02-18T08:22:00.002-08:002019-02-18T08:23:14.236-08:0021 Minor Spirits your players might run intoSpirits live everywhere.<br />
<br />
They're not like spells. Spells are from another realm, scintillating with power; these things were just born in the mud and the dirt and the trash. They arise out of the structures of their place the way human minds arise out of the structure of the brain.<br />
<br />
Spirits are magical and mysterious. Most of them come out at night, and they possess an odd ability to go unnoticed even when taking shape. They vanish if spooked or attacked, and might leave you with curses. They probably can talk, but just don't.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3zK4BS_TikPataGjU4L6HvXyYiUNhc26eFg4Y6kkSK09o_phKrnFh4lB76qP5_WQVX4OJAChcwTJ1gGk-hWPDKopIGm3WLA3iDC4461ZJP9XW6SkZei4IDACkH8jvNMoeR69wU-RY2ND/s1600/52bd714995812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="720" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3zK4BS_TikPataGjU4L6HvXyYiUNhc26eFg4Y6kkSK09o_phKrnFh4lB76qP5_WQVX4OJAChcwTJ1gGk-hWPDKopIGm3WLA3iDC4461ZJP9XW6SkZei4IDACkH8jvNMoeR69wU-RY2ND/s320/52bd714995812.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">A bridge spirit hiding in the water. By Theodor Kittelsen.</td></tr>
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<div>
<b>SPIRIT HP 1 Def 0 Movement 13 (but can vanish at will) Attack 0 Intelligence 10 Reaction 10 Morale 0.</b> Cannot be hurt by physical weaponry. If a spirit is destroyed with magic, it simply reforms in 1d6 days unless it is driven away by dispelling, or if the place it is bound to is destroyed.</div>
<br />
They're like gods, but really puny. Each well spirit is THE well spirit, if you catch my drift. They're both less and more than individuals. They're less in that they are more like natural things, such as rainbows or earthquakes or trees, but more in that they are multiple fragments of the *concept* of the thing they are bound to, such as home. They aren't just a creature tied to a place or object. They *are* the very notion of "home" themselves.<br />
<br />
All of them are shapeshifters and not bound to a physical form, but one shape is the default one, their "chosen" shape. But they might as well be that passerby that asked you that really strange question.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family: "Times New Roman"; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; orphans: 2; padding: 6px; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0VsHMLsmqIFnpL-JFlunGhyphenhyphen4jLvhOuMP8bKkm7IwuwIporwwpUJ4vh67zoP-iOJkNR-l6Pqpoeu_cxCgpuDLBHxHB-sLODQalmYraBsZl4wxg0gvL27e-2Oj-97ElUZh1MV0oBifYh7Yz/s1600/Kreacher_WB_F5_KreacherIllustration_V3_Illust_080615_Port.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0VsHMLsmqIFnpL-JFlunGhyphenhyphen4jLvhOuMP8bKkm7IwuwIporwwpUJ4vh67zoP-iOJkNR-l6Pqpoeu_cxCgpuDLBHxHB-sLODQalmYraBsZl4wxg0gvL27e-2Oj-97ElUZh1MV0oBifYh7Yz/s1600/Kreacher_WB_F5_KreacherIllustration_V3_Illust_080615_Port.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">A spirit of dead alleys</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><br /></b>
<b>d12 Village & City Spirits</b><br />
<ol>
<li><b>Spirit of dead alleys</b>. Appears as a small and emaciated goblin, nutbrown skin. It searches through trash in order to make a nest for itself. </li>
<ol>
<li>You can gain its favour by leaving something soft for its nest; if you do, the dead alley might not be so dead at all. </li>
<li>If you offend it, it curses you with No Sense of Direction. The party is twice as likely to get lost.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Hearth Spirits</b>. Tiny beings alternately aflame or made from soot; some look like little women in dress and cloak, others like formless blobs with eyes and mouths, others like salamanders. They live in and around hearths and braziers. People leave out food and milk for them.</li>
<ol>
<li>You can gain its favour by feeding the fire or making loud noises of satisfaction from the welcome heat; if you do, rolls to ignite light sources or set enemies on fire will always succeed for 1d6 days.</li>
<li>If you offend it, it will curse you with Clumsiness Around Fire. What's that smell? It's the end of your cloak in the fire.</li>
</ol>
<div>
</div>
<li><b>Spirit of trash</b>. A small, transparent formless being with huge, luminous eyes. It is born in trash heaps.</li>
<ol>
<li>If you gain its favour, perhaps you'll find something worthwhile in the trash...</li>
<li>Offend it, and it curses you with Trash Attractive. Somehow you always get splashed on, dumped on, and find yourself tripping to go face-down in mud and trash.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Spirit of bridges</b>. A blue, frog-like figure with long black limbs and red pin-pricks of eyes between strands of black hair that clings to the underside of bridges or sits, not invisibly, just <i>ignored</i>, next to them. They can be the size of frogs or the size of trolls, depending on the bridge. Still they have this odd ability not to be noticed. Often there are shrines to this one, shaped like ugly frogs as well.</li>
<ol>
<li>Gain its favour, and no ill will towards you can cross this bridge. They'll trip and fall; possibly into the water.</li>
<li>Offend it, and you will run into continuous bad luck attempting to cross this bridge.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Spirit of rooftops</b>. A cloaked, hooded figure, knee-high. Pale luminous eyes under the hood. At night, they slip into windows to steal your dreams with small scythes made of a strange metal (which is why you forget them). Found on rooftops and inside chimneys and drainpipes by day. Hoots like an owl.</li>
<ol>
<li>Gain its favour, and its invisible assistence will help you with anything you attempt on the roofs. You'll also remember your dreams better.</li>
<li>Offend it, and you have a 50/50 chance of random roof tiles falling on you once a day.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Kitchen Spirit</b>. A shriveled mouse that walks on chicken legs, clothed in rags. They hide under tables, in corners, and near stoves. Chefs and innkeeps have small shrines to them. The kitchen spirit loves a clean kitchen and morsels of the food prepared there. </li>
<ol>
<li>Gain its favour, and your food will be free of all rot and poison in this establishment forever, outside for 1d6 days.</li>
<li>Offend it, and you've got a one in three chance to get food poisoning in the next three days. Also, any food you prepare has a 2 out of 6 chance of getting burned, being too watery, or otherwise being unsuccesful.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>House Spirit</b>. A cross between a rat and a squat, furred dwarf with the face of a bearded old man. Live in attics. People leave food and gifts to them, because they safeguard happiness and bar unwelcome visitors or ill luck from crossing the threshold.</li>
<ol>
<li>You can't gain its favour unless its your house.</li>
<li>If you desire to steal or hurt the house under the protection of a house spirit, your critical failure range is expanded by 5 while inside the house.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Spirits of Crossroads</b>. Almost never takes shape. It is this spirit that binds undead and murderers that are buried under the crossroads. If it takes shape, it appears as a small white-haired woman.</li>
<ol>
<li>Gain its favour, and it will expedite your travels. Any random combat encounter rolled near this crossroads becomes a track or spoor instead.</li>
<li>Offend the spirit, and any track or spoor rolled on this crossroads becomes a monster encounter instead. Also, if there's some kind of undead or criminal buried beneath the crossroads, the spirit will release it. It might take it a while to dig out, but it will follow you.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Well Spirits</b>. Old hags that live in wells. They mostly appear to small children and scare the crap out of them. This is all in good fun; they won't *seriously* harm children unless they go bad or become angry. Then the well will claim victims. Leave some food or gifts by the well at night to make sure that won't happen.</li>
<ol>
<li>Gain its favour, and water from this well will cause a Fear effect in unnatural creatures or undead who wish you harm.</li>
<li>Offend it, and you have a 1-in-6 chance of falling in the well if you drain water from it. The hag down there looks like the lady from The Shining, so don't.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Spirits of Fields</b>. Like grass spirits, but domesticized. They look like tiny elfin women with flowing golden hair, hiding among the crops.</li>
<ol>
<li>Gain its favour, and they make harvest easier.</li>
<li>Offend it, and it will give you a heatstroke when you're out working in the field.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Spirit of Stables</b>. Look like babies composed of straw. They speak to the animals at night.</li>
<ol>
<li>Gain its favour, and horses will trust you quickly for 1d6 days.</li>
<li>Offend it, and animals will grow restless around you. Don't get kicked by a horse!</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Spirits of Ship Bilges</b>. Creepy, hunch-backed slippery beings who hide in the reeking bilge of ships. People might throw scraps down there.</li>
<ol>
<li>If friendly, the ship is less likely to run into storms. Boarding pirates all get penalties on their rolls.</li>
<li>If unfriendly, you're more likely to run aground or get lost.</li>
</ol>
</ol>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM_Rh5C2pX1kHWyFZLNqCNYXrvBPTxcw2tU2Ec4ybyiFR_dpm074NHjl0LB5jmyDwIuUPsdETk_y3SwQEhr473wKoEmCqjlULJ8pMdlQJjs4KV1dVAyDuOOqrnmyz0FMNaLNz2Q_GprPfN/s1600/Domovoi_Bilibin-758x568.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="758" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM_Rh5C2pX1kHWyFZLNqCNYXrvBPTxcw2tU2Ec4ybyiFR_dpm074NHjl0LB5jmyDwIuUPsdETk_y3SwQEhr473wKoEmCqjlULJ8pMdlQJjs4KV1dVAyDuOOqrnmyz0FMNaLNz2Q_GprPfN/s320/Domovoi_Bilibin-758x568.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A house spirit comes out at night</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br />
<b>d9 Wild Spirits</b></div>
<div>
<ol>
<li><b>River Spirits</b>. Look like emaciated and extremely hypothermic women with gray, wet hair. They can grant things, such as calm the stream to expedite your crossing, or bring something which has sunk to the bottom. The price for these things will often be a life; commonly yours.</li>
<li><b>Ground Spirits</b>. Tiny gnarled things that live in holes. They tend to steal things; food and shiny stuff.</li>
<li><b>Tree spirits</b>. Don't use if you've got dryads or something. Never take shape; the leaves are their tongues and the branches are their fingers. They are unpredictable and might aid or thwart you for motives unknown to any but themselves.</li>
<li><b>Spirits of Wind</b>. These are actually <a href="https://thepammachon.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-air-is-made-of-dragons.html">minor dragons</a>. </li>
<ol>
<li>Gaining a wind spirits favour makes it likely that the wind will be the right way for you to smell certain encounters for the next 1d6 days.</li>
<li>Offending it means that a sudden gust of wind will hinder you at the most inopportune time (like when you're trying to read a map, or make fire).</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Rock Spirits</b>. Large, land-mark boulders or standing stones will have a spirit. This spirit does not take shape. If you harm or annoy it (by moving the rock) it will start mischief (breaking your tools, starting avalanches).</li>
<li><b>Spirits of Still Water</b>. Rotting squat hags that dwell in dark pools. They wake up if you disturb the water and will try to drag you in, to be her companion in her lair. There's probably loot down there of those she drowned before.</li>
<li><b>Spirits of Grass</b>. See-through, almost formless bipeds that inhabit the tall grass. Quiet and helpful, they will guide people who lost their way (especially if there are tears of frustration or despair). But endanger the fields, and they will make your going tough and exhausting.</li>
<li><b>Spirits of Moonlight</b>. Look like tiny pale people dressed in lotus petals. They only come out during full moon and conjure illusions and make people insane.</li>
<li><b>Mist Spirits</b>. Ghostly women composed of fog that appear in the shreds of mist of dusk and dawn. They lead travellers astray into choking bogs and pools.</li>
</ol>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZmH7ncVaeJ7-Lhyphenhyphen28H-30tOpOEPIlN_66ZXPtSTneFSQjxKyhqQsg6eXw75ACWQoO-nH5AijMcpZxp_lt68d_ZPNsfoip9skF76o71eOKvMwpr_pHWl7lm82qicmJFHdyZ58OwID2Zv_S/s1600/kisspng-dragonology-the-complete-book-of-dragons-dragonol-5af55235152af7.2208141515260268050867.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZmH7ncVaeJ7-Lhyphenhyphen28H-30tOpOEPIlN_66ZXPtSTneFSQjxKyhqQsg6eXw75ACWQoO-nH5AijMcpZxp_lt68d_ZPNsfoip9skF76o71eOKvMwpr_pHWl7lm82qicmJFHdyZ58OwID2Zv_S/s320/kisspng-dragonology-the-complete-book-of-dragons-dragonol-5af55235152af7.2208141515260268050867.jpg" width="276" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A wind spirit (about the size of a banana).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
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Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-91969429385479562682019-02-17T13:51:00.002-08:002019-02-18T06:10:47.381-08:00Tomb of the Serpent Kings write-up 1So I've got a bit of a confession to make.<br />
<br />
I've never DM'ed before.<br />
<br />
I know!<br />
<br />
And I've only played Dungeons and Dragons for what must be less than 15 sessions, too. That was 5th edition, and the people I ways playing with cared about a lot of stuff I didn't care about (lots of combat and very little thinking or discovering). So what am I doing writing a blog? Well, in my defense, this blog is mostly for me; and secondly, you're in no way obligated to read.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I DM'ed <a href="https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2017/06/osr-tomb-of-serpent-kings-megapost.html">Tomb of the Serpent Kings</a> yesterday, for five players, four of which had never played a table-top RPG before. They were all friends and family - one of them was my mom.<br />
<br />
I thought this dungeon would absolutely destroy them.<br />
<br />
So far they're all fine.<br />
<br />
So yeah.<br />
<br />
I learned many things. I learned that a DM must keep track of *a lot* of things. I learned that you shouldn't go too easy on players. I learned much more. Here's a write-up.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
I was running a home-hacked version of the <a href="http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-glog.html">GLOG</a>, because I find it elegant and pretty simple to explain. Really, this whole exercise was done because I wanted to run the GLOG. It cuts out the tedious number-crunchery bullshit that bored me to tears in 5e and really allows you to dig into the meat of adventuring. However, being as streamlined as it is, you have to make a lot of *rulings*, and this is something you must get a feeling for. I made some judgment calls I really liked, some I despise looking back.<br />
<br />
Because time was pretty short and character creation took a long time (and because I had only prepared the dungeon), I just dropped my players off at the dungeon. I know that that's bad form, but hey, it was my first time, give me a break.<br />
<br />
So my players enter the dungeon. There's two wizards, a ranger, a thief, and an assassin. They are very careful and skittish - they open the first sarcophagus in the Guard Room from a distance by using Unseen Servant. They find it odd that they find a statue; when they try to lift it and look below, they discover that it is hollow. This discovery makes some of the players shudder.<br />
<br />
They break it from a distance with a sling and feel vindicated when I tell them of the white gas that hisses up out of it. I tell them they see something glitter among the wreckage. (Maybe I shouldn't have, but I really suffer from "Wanting to tell too much-itis") They move to the next room and do the same thing. In the room with the scholar-statue, I added some detail about still water, rotted (wooden, fake) grave goods and glowing algae. Same ritual.<br />
<br />
In the wizard tomb, they take the ring. A player takes the ring and asks what it looks like. I say there's a snake inscribed on it with a long forked tongue that circles around the silver. She's like ok I put it away. I'm thinking: no! PUT IT ON! Which I really shouldn't be thinking. Another player puts it on and everybody's horrified/amused by how her fingernail turn into a poisonous two-pronged dagger.<br />
<br />
The first real trap.<br />
<br />
I was worried that my players might die. You must understand, this was my idea. I talked them into this. I didn't want to have to say "you all die now". So I telegraphed the trap. I described how the the ceiling went up into the darkness (where the hammer lies hidden).<br />
<br />
They used a light spell to examine the ceiling. I told them they saw lines running through it in a square shape, attached to some sort of hinge above the door.<br />
<br />
They reasoned it was probably some sort of trap chute that would drop rocks or snakes on them. They all perfectly aligned out of the way and lifted up the bar.<br />
<br />
Here I made another mistake.<br />
<br />
I let two players lift up the bar. They could stand to the sides. I had them both make a strength check, but I think actually three players are necessary to lift it up. That would have made it more risky, and in my brain I went "I don't want my clueless wide-eyed players to be punished", which is obviously not the right way to deal with it.<br />
<br />
The hammer whizzed just by their faces and smashed the door to bits.<br />
<br />
The false tomb.<br />
<br />
Here I added that the skeletons are dormant unless light falls on a clay seal inscribed with a spell on the middle of the centre skeletons forehead. I like this because these skeletons are designed as a safety mechanism to guard the true tomb; this seal is like an alarm system that wakes up the guard-skeletons.<br />
<br />
They opened the two outer tombs first. Dead skeletons greet them. When they open up the middle sarcophagus and examine the seal, the writing on it flares up and the skeleton attacks. There's a round of combat; the skeleton gets some hits in. After the first round, the other two skeletons join in as well. The first skeleton is destroyed with a dagger. The second has several chunks bitten out of his skull by a goblin player clinging to his back in a succesful manouvre (racial bonus: sharp teeth). Note to self: there should have been a dexterity check to see if he stayed on the back!!! This skeleton dies when the ranger's dog tears off his leg. The last skeleton dies when a rock slung from a sling crashes straight through his skull and bounces around inside. Our wizard learned the spell "raise corpse" from the seal with a succesful intelligence check.<br />
<br />
The ranger's dog found the secret entrance underneath the statue; when sniffing he felt the cool air.<br />
<br />
In the hallway of statues I made another mistake. I told them "you see six statues; one of them is out of alignment". TMI-ites, again. So of course they found the room.<br />
<br />
In the atrium, I made some changes. Following Arnold K's idea that dungeons should contain something to experiment with, I removed the mummy hands from the pool, added fish bones, and added a sacrificial altar with a groove that led into the pool. They figured out the bit about the blood sacrifice and one of them made one; a blue light spread, and the fish bones began swimming again like live fish. They thought this was pretty weird and did nothing with it, even though I added a skeleton to the priest room thinking they would throw it in the pool and talk to it.<br />
<br />
The room with the statues freaked them out; they put caltrops and the rusty tools from the unfinished tomb in the hallway, so that if the statues came alive they would hear them coming.<br />
<br />
They went into the priest room and found the statue. My mom had opted for "strange languages" as a skill and rolled it when she tried to analyse the scrolls. I told her it contained chronicles of the tombs and the ravings of madmen; and that in the lower levels a demon, a succubus, had been summoned at one point with the name Baltoplat.<br />
<br />
They then went into the room with the Black Pudding. Again, out of desire to telegraph danger, I had them all roll constitution or puke, describing the horrid smell. I know this sounds lame, but my motivations were pure - these players didn't even know what a Black Pudding was or how/where to expect it. I even described black ooze dripping from the lid of the sarcophagus.<br />
<br />
They opened it anyway. I asked "are you sure?", which I shouldn't have. I was pretty sure they would die. The thing intimidated my players; many players ran out of range. They shot arrows at it from a distance; one threw her dagger. One player was hit and was forced to make a strength check, which he critically failed. I had him engulfed as well as dropping his weapon in the confusion. But the next turn on his strength check to see if he got out, he had a critical succes! So I told him he struggled free and managed to give the thing a hard kick in the process - roll a d6, and he rolled a freaking six! He asked if he could grab his weapon while he ran away. Now technically that would be an action. But I said: if you can roll dexterity, you can grab it off of the ground mid-run. Which he did, the dick!<br />
<br />
One of the witches used Prismatic Spray and blinded it. (I was like "Can this thing even be blinded? Probably" but now I'm not so sure.) Then another player threw a torch at him and also critically succeeded. I had it take fire damage and be set on fire. Looking back, the Black Pudding only got one succesful hit in before they killed it. I must have done something wrong, but the critical successes kind of threw me for a loop - I rewarded those with damage bonuses, but maybe I should have done something else.<br />
<br />
Anyway. From here they went to the tomb of Franzinbar. They were freaked out by the clattering. One of my players used her racial bonus to talk to one of the rocks in the collapse. The rock told her that for hundreds of years they'd been kept awake by this tiresome skeleton with an axe smashing against them. They decided to leave.<br />
<br />
Tomb of Xisor the Green: here I made another error. I described that the room was covered in webs and dust, moreso than the others; as if no one had been there in a long time. THAT'S A CONCLUSION. PLAYERS MUST MAKE THOSE.<br />
<br />
But in doing so I forgot to describe the glittering. A player went in and I thought "fuck I didn't describe the chest-high thing that's gonna kill him now". So I gave him a chance to dodge, which he did, the lucky bastard.<br />
<br />
Then they went down the stairs. A player triggered the trap and slid down into the spears; did not die. I, again being too soft, did not have the stone guardian activate until they stepped closer. They took a break and healed before they did.<br />
<br />
They rolled their initiatives incredibly high. My mom came up with the idea to use an illusion to lure it into the chasm. The others used combat manouvres to push it (which I might have let them do too easily). In his first action, the stone cobra guardian took a shield. Then they fucking pushed it into the chasm; I let it make a saving throw, which it failed.<br />
<br />
While I watched it tumble into the depths, having never made a single attack, I thought "maybe I should have let it make attacks as a reaction to being pushed".<br />
<br />
I feel really shitty about this fight. They did use lateral thinking, which is good, but I didn't put the fear of god into them. I let them push it too easily and too far; in fact I totally did manouvres wrong. I let them do the opposed attack rolls *BUT THEN DIDN'T DO THE OPPOSED STRENGTH/DEX RULES*. So basically I blew that whole fight, and they all got off scott free.<br />
<br />
They asked if they heard the stone guardian crash down into the chasm. I told them no. They heard nothing. They shivered.<br />
<br />
We ended the session here.<br />
<br />
Now they're all afraid of the big demon Baltoplat they know is down there somewhere. I don't think they're gonna recognize the gardener as her.<br />
<br />
So what did I learn?<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>DON'T GO EASY.</b> Everybody who told me not to go too easy was right. I was worried about scaring off the new, uncertain players with instanteneous death. But instead I have now made them think that everybody being fine is the normal.</li>
<li><b>READ THE RULES.</b> I misremembered combat manouvres and because I didn't look them up, an enormously challenging creature became a joke.</li>
<li><b>KEEP QUIET</b>. Don't tell the players ANYTHING that they wouldn't see at a glance. Only tell them more if they look for it. It's only discovery if *they* find it! That you *want* them to see it is not relevant for the game or for fun!</li>
<li><b>SERIOUSLY KEEP QUIET</b>. Don't ask people "are you sure?". You're not there to help them. You're there to be the dungeon. And the dungeon wants to kill them; or at least kill them if they make a wrong decision.</li>
<li><b>KEEP TRACK OF SHIT</b>. I kept track of time and had them track torches a couple of times; rations as well. But when they camped for a night in the unfinished tomb, I forgot to have the player wearing the fork-ring make a check to see if her finger fell off the next morning.</li>
</ul>
<div>
I'm 50% really content and 50% itching to do it better next time. My players told me they had a blast - including the totally fresh ones. They really appreciated the fact that your imagination is key and limit of the game. They loved the sense of mystery and the discoveries they made. It is very nice to allow people to have that kind of fun.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm really angry that I didn't take the TOSK pdf for what it was. I mean, the pool of resurrection and the magic seal detail to the skeletons, I liked how that stuff played out, but how I wanted to take the edge off the traps to save my delicate players - don't. Seriously, don't. Just let them kill themselves.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What will I be doing next time?</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>TRY TO KILL THE PLAYERS</b>. Not *really* kill them; but at least try not to *want* them to succeed. If they are stupid, they die. I mean, someone has to die. The behaviour they showed up until now - run into the room, open sarcophagus, rush down the stairs - has to be shown to be risky. They can't get too attached. I will not be allowing second chances again. In fact, I might have to add another deadly trap like the lighting trap in Xisor the Green's tomb. The spike traps will not cut it. Perhaps the second door/hammer trap... They will likely recognize it. So I would have to add another. Lethal. Avoidable. But not telegraphed. </li>
<li><b>KEEP ORGANIZED NOTES</b>. On HP, on usage dies, on who is in front, and where, et cetera...</li>
</ul>
</div>
Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-45680834806640655382019-02-07T08:09:00.000-08:002019-02-07T08:09:37.727-08:00I Loathe Elves<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<br />
Elves are just the worst.<br />
<br />
And I'm not blaming the big grandad here. Tolkien's elves are not "elves" as trope. In Tolkien's world,<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://middle-earth.xenite.org/do-tolkiens-elves-have-pointy-ears/">elves don't have pointy ears</a></li>
<li>elves and humans are apparently of same appearance; people and elves get mixed up (eyes and voice might give it away)</li>
<li>elves don't have alien-level tech. They wear mail like everybody else.</li>
<li>elves and humans are not really different <i>species </i>as much as they are different <i>spiritualities</i>, or something. You can see this in Elrond and his brother both being half-human, half-elf; and they get to pick which they want to be.</li>
</ul>
<div>
So there's a lot with Tolkien's elves that's less elvish than the trope they codified.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Everything I loathe about elves is a later invention - that sterile, boring, emotionless, <i>technically </i>superior and <i>more skilled</i> but in motivation still exceedingly human. It's a regular person, but more capable. Not wiser. That's mary sue. They're a nation of mary sues. Now if they had a totally different system of value or way of experiencing life - that would be interesting, right??? But no. They're people but better in everything <i>except where it counts</i>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This has been reacted to by people like Scrap Princess and Arnold K of Goblin Punch. Their elves are terrifying <i>because</i> they are physically superior to humans but mentally and spiritually in no way wiser or more enlightened. They're scary; they're psycho's because of their superiority.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Of course elves are also storystelling shorthand. Elves are elegant; bam, done. Are brabbo's elegant? I don't know, because I have no frame of reference. That's an important point, but <i>I LOATHE ELVES.</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So there's no elves in Circassa. There's goblins - they're good guys now - there's orcs. There's fairies and spirits. No elves. The ancient rulers of Tel Ammon might have been elves. The scary kind. The imperial kind. The superior kind. The psycho kind.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But playable elves and half-elves? No. Cause an actual elf would not go adventuring. It would sit around moping and meditating on a higher plane of spiritual development, or it would be a terrifiying force of conquest. It would not adventure. Takes me out of every game.</div>
Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-49323317474632676202019-02-07T06:32:00.001-08:002019-02-07T06:46:54.356-08:00The Bladeless Blade of Kammorachû<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
TL;DR: It's a blade that works as a spell. Any spell.<br />
<br />
In the north the legends of the ancient kingdom of Tel Ammon are still whispered rather than spoken aloud, and never at night. Their enormous ruins, tombs, and broken statues still dot the north, and the darkness pooling in those tombs and in the shadows of those ruins is unquiet.<br />
<br />
Still more is whispered of the Ammon mage Kammorachû, a bitter and black-hearted man, who deep in his cavernous lair beneath the city of Akh-Ammon forged the <i>Bladeless Blade</i>.<br />
<br />
The Bladeless Blade, has, as the name tells, no blade; it is hilt only. Just a hilt. Useless. But for the gifted, those in the know, the Bladeless Blade is also a <i>cage</i>. It can capture spirits. It can capture spells.<br />
<br />
When Kammorachû wielded it in battle against the southern birdmen the blade sizzled and thundered; some spells of water and lightning where intertwined there. It soaked and electrocuted the enemy simultaneously.<br />
When the foul mage wielded it during the Ammon Kinstrife it sputtered and flared like oily flame. Fire and grease was on it.<i> </i>It set the enemy in flame as if they had been drenched in lamp oil.<br />
When he cut off the head of the leader of the third slave rebellion, he had no spell on the blade at all. It is said that the Bladeless Blade caught the soul of the slave leader; sucked it right out of his heart, and <i>used it as blade</i> and that afterwards, the invisible blade screamed in anguish as it cut down its former comrades.<br />
He wielded it with a spell of Cutting against the mountain hordes. Its blade was invisible but cut through sword, armour, and flesh as if it was nothing.<br />
<br />
Rumour has it the dark one, Kammorachû, assassinated his own king and usurped the throne with the Bladeless Blade, using some vile curse set in the blade. He cut the king by stealth; the blade was mere hilt, after all, and easy to conceal. The curse could not be seen, nor did the king feel anything when he was cut; but it bit deep, and worked its way inside the king for 50 years, while Kammorachû waited patiently, till at last he died of some sudden illness - which the race of Ammon does not suffer. The Fifty Year Sword it is also called because of this. Deep its bite can be, but slow the blood to run...<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<br />
Yeah it's a hilt you can put a spell on and I mean <i>any</i> spell. This is gonna fuck your game up.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
As a mage, you can invest at most two spells into the Bladeless Blade. You do this by succesfully casting the spell/s on the Blade. You cannot cast these spells from memory or from spellbook anymore; these spells are on the Blade now.<br />
<br />
You must invest spell dice into the Bladeless Blade; at least one, for the blade to work; a maximum of two. If you invest two spell dice or two spells, <b>the Bladeless Blade must be wielded with two hands.</b><br />
<br />
When you cut someone with the Bladeless Blade, you roll for Attack as if with a melee weapon.<br />
<br />
This has obvious advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, you've got a bad ass flaming sword now. It also frees up a spell slot! And, the Blade can be used indefinitely as a sword. However, the Blade <i>really</i> has its spell effects, and should be treated with caution lest you accidentally burn your robe (you can't sheathe it). And you've lost one to two spell dice, nerfing your utility as a wizard.<br />
<br />
Ok, so how does it really work?<br />
<br />
<b>Some numbers:</b><br />
<br />
The Bladeless Blade <b>without</b> a spell deals no damage. However, if the foe has less than 20% of it's HP left, it must make a save. If it fails this, the Bladeless Blade cuts as if through butter, and the foe's soul is installed as blade. With a soul as blade, the Bladeless Blade functions like a normal sword; 1d6 + STR damage.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
The Bladeless Blade <b>with</b> a spell deals 1d3 + Str damage, as well as the spell you invested on it - should this include damage, this damage is done 1d4 or 1d8 damage; depending on the spell dice.<br />
<br />
So a Bladeless Blade with a Fireball spell on it for 1 dice does 1d3 + Str + 1d4 fire damage, as well as set the enemy on fire (and look fucking metal).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHleKtdIQ_Js-vfa44Zbgqkt0NNtaxSDkuCy5c6RrRRxUA7f-F3tAPWK899JrV8QfrTpM3gpz_69dXDXp5fJHJVqGXWX5oRpqdJ8Xx8n7qMLf8zetbosKQ5pCS45EOPzabxy27uHFK5ij/s1600/fire_sword_vs_fire_sword_by_mattthesamurai.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="438" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHleKtdIQ_Js-vfa44Zbgqkt0NNtaxSDkuCy5c6RrRRxUA7f-F3tAPWK899JrV8QfrTpM3gpz_69dXDXp5fJHJVqGXWX5oRpqdJ8Xx8n7qMLf8zetbosKQ5pCS45EOPzabxy27uHFK5ij/s320/fire_sword_vs_fire_sword_by_mattthesamurai.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/md-arts/art/Fire-Sword-VS-Fire-Sword-127411188">MD-arts</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Now, a Bladeless Blade invested with Fireball and Grease will splash a foe in flammable oil <i>and</i> set him on fire! 1d3 + Str + Grease (no damage) 1d4 Fire damage (DOUBLED because of Grease!) Furthermore, the next rounds of being on fire will also do double damage.<br />
<br />
If you invest the Bladeless Blade with Gust of Wind it will do 1d3 + Str + 1d4 damage and the enemy must save or be fucking blown away, like when Sauron is whipping the Last Alliance in the prologue of Fellowship. Throw a Fireball spell on it, and its a wind of flame.<br />
<br />
It's a little bit overpowered, but only slightly moreso than a regular sword. The experiments though, hooo the experiments.<br />
<br />
What if the Bladeless Blade is invested with Knock? Or Lock? It will certainly open doors, but does it Open enemy anatomy; i.e., split them with gore? Or do they open their stomach and puke? What if its invested with Light, or Darkness? What about Unseen Servant? Or Mount? What about Comprehend Languages? The Mount Blade, does it turn people into horses? The Light blade, does it do damage to vampires or other evil creatures?<br />
<br />
What if I use both Mount and Fireball? Does it turn people into flaming horses? What about if I use Comprehend Languages and Gust of Wind? Will I be able to make a whole group of enemies understand me? <i>What about Comprehend Languages and Knock??? What about</i> et cetera et cetera.<br />
<br />
This is so broken it's probably not playable. If you remove the two-spells-at-the-same-time thing, it should work easy though.<br />
<br />
Yet there's some really interesting room for player experimentation here, if the DM feels up to it.<br />
<br />Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-83081726187014188202019-02-07T03:54:00.000-08:002019-02-07T03:55:05.396-08:00New mage class: Earthsea MageI often dislike magic systems in games. It's often sterile, boring, or a very specific solution to a very specific problem.<br />
<br />
Very rarely does it feel like magic truly connects to the fabric of the universe, to the very nature of existence.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBVgVqMy4tfCnqqH53AmkBVDh3tFlhN4VUo8zE8VEnD6TEPR97oy2X32oObzVDMJGeejzPfeIzaocwoT3jdi9jO8TL7d01eQZJjFRuQHzkJk_iAH_NGCfEp1eO1nlcptsKspCdgaX9hTCF/s1600/Earthsea_Robbins_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBVgVqMy4tfCnqqH53AmkBVDh3tFlhN4VUo8zE8VEnD6TEPR97oy2X32oObzVDMJGeejzPfeIzaocwoT3jdi9jO8TL7d01eQZJjFRuQHzkJk_iAH_NGCfEp1eO1nlcptsKspCdgaX9hTCF/s1600/Earthsea_Robbins_01.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By Tim Robbins</td></tr>
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<br />
It <b>does</b> feel like that in Ursula le Guin's <i>A Wizard of Earthsea</i>.<br />
<br />
So I built a GLOG class of this type of magic.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1opHARUeZGsyznyfmdtOm6YiEseayIync">Get ya pdf here</a></div>
Summary:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>It's very wonky. There's <b>only 4 spells</b> and 1 unique ability. Yeah, you heard me. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>It's <b>subtle. </b>There's no explosions here. Rather, there's a deep and subtle manipulation of almost anything.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The spells are: <b>Call, Command, Summon, Change</b>. That's it; but you can use them on almost anything. Much will be up to the DM.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>You can only enchant something if you have the <b>True Name</b> of said anything. Finding out the True Name is an unique, once-a-day-ability.</li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNDmiUwfbvyl5iM9aIx9hHv-El6QUDEYbXrLV2jB9V5wJUgaFUyRjMsKrmfeqjOTTEkxzLBYdaxQg_LDcLciUS-jIuqV3rNjmizF3kDV8nXNCgbFLVM2MJvK2t77ZHRiFSNPVfCID5drG-/s1600/ruth-robbins_illustration_the-open-sea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="652" data-original-width="558" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNDmiUwfbvyl5iM9aIx9hHv-El6QUDEYbXrLV2jB9V5wJUgaFUyRjMsKrmfeqjOTTEkxzLBYdaxQg_LDcLciUS-jIuqV3rNjmizF3kDV8nXNCgbFLVM2MJvK2t77ZHRiFSNPVfCID5drG-/s320/ruth-robbins_illustration_the-open-sea.jpg" width="273" /></a></div>
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Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-5643884200731648682019-02-06T03:54:00.001-08:002019-02-07T04:56:01.322-08:00d20 Escaped SpellsWe all know that spells are actually spirits from another dimension that a wizard traps in his brain.<br />
<br />
But we usually don't bother with the implications of that. He always meets them in books, doesn't he? He *could* meet them face-to-face, right there in the dungeon. Wild Spells. Escaped Spells. Spirits, for all intents and purposes.<br />
<br />
Roll on this table for a random spell encounter. Or use it when your player's spells gain sentience.<br />
Here they are.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5rDtNQnONF8mmJzK7j4AMHk36m_RA-y1NUV2r-gV3KBFg2dtsW0ak4eXl_Qb-KG9Ps8AX5j9fU2aou2AQhmzFgHeRlziNAt23XVnBos89qRe4GlN9P7FWDzGxiwmE8ILYWgZKaCsf_kO/s1600/dcyyr1a-f03b365e-d476-4b3f-9490-32e64c82d1e4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5rDtNQnONF8mmJzK7j4AMHk36m_RA-y1NUV2r-gV3KBFg2dtsW0ak4eXl_Qb-KG9Ps8AX5j9fU2aou2AQhmzFgHeRlziNAt23XVnBos89qRe4GlN9P7FWDzGxiwmE8ILYWgZKaCsf_kO/s320/dcyyr1a-f03b365e-d476-4b3f-9490-32e64c82d1e4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/apofiss">Apofiss</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><br />
<ol>
<li><b>Meln</b>. A small, pink candlelight floating without a candle. Will strike up a conversation. </li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: hey heeey, my man! </li>
<li>Speaks: like a ridiculously disarming friend with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLKbb_tF64Q">this voice</a> who hasn't seen you in a long time. </li>
<li>Wants: everyone to get along. </li>
<li>Spell: <i><a href="http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-glog-wizards.html">Charm Person</a>.</i> <i>The person regards you as a good friend and ignores the obvious spell you just cast on them. If you invest at least 4 dice into this spell, the duration becomes permanent.</i></li>
</ol>
<ol>
</ol>
<li><b>Tutatat</b>. Looks like any of the perfectly normal d3 following: 1. a red apple 2. a fresh fish (1 out of 6 odds it's swimming through the air) 3 a silver spoon. Ideally players take it with them before they realize it's a spirit. </li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: very, very shy. Will be embarrassed if the players figure out what it is. </li>
<li>Voice: like a 4 year old girl, including the child-like cadence. </li>
<li>Wants: to hide and to be hidden! </li>
<li>Spell: <i><a href="http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-glog-wizards.html">Disguise</a>.</i></li>
</ol>
<li><b>Sashaan</b>. An upside down green-stained copper mask wreathed in blue flame. </li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: seemingly harmless, but will express alarming interest in cutting tools and facial injuries. </li>
<li>Voice: hoarse and after a while kind of creepy. </li>
<li>Wants: to replace and become a face. All human corpses in the dungeon are missing their faces. </li>
<li>Spell: <i><a href="http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-glog-wizards.html">Death Mask</a></i></li>
</ol>
<li><b>Xoixoi</b>. A floating eyeball in a reddish vortex. If it spots you it will scream and scream and scream until you can calm it down (CHA check). This may attract enemies, for which it will apologize.</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: skittish and anxiety-riddled. </li>
<li>Voice: high and hysterical. </li>
<li>Wants: for everyone to DON'T SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT, CHRIST. </li>
<li>Spell: <i>Alarm. Becomes a floating eyeball for [sum] / 2 hours; if it sees an intruder it will scream; you’ll hear it at any distance.<a name='more'></a></i></li>
</ol>
<li><b>Skeltwit</b>. Invisible, but makes a humming noise, will probably smack straight into your face and apologize. </li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: here to do a job, ma'am. Yes ma'am. Of course ma'am. </li>
<li>Voice: Monotone, businesslike, assuring. Can only speak in variations of "Yes, ma'am" and "Yes, sir."</li>
<li>Wants: to protect something. Is probably guarding someone or something; maybe the treasure, maybe something worthless. Try talking it out of doing so.</li>
<li>Spell: <i>Shield. Becomes an invisible shield around yourself or something within range that will block anything; magic or physical, but [sum] / 2 hits as hard or harder than a sword blow will break the shield with a hollow ringing like a giant bell.</i></li>
</ol>
<li><b>Borrobollo</b>. A disgusting glob of grease shaped roughly like a fat floating baby. </li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: disgusting lazy slob.</li>
<li>Voice: squelching, bubbling voice, like it's coming through a mouth full of custard. Sounds drunk.</li>
<li>Wants: to eat fatty foods.</li>
<li>Spell: <i>Grease. </i><i>Becomes a splash of grease that makes a 1 square meter or one object ultra-slippery for [sum] hours.</i></li>
</ol>
<li><b>Minnie</b>. A horse skull in a glowing undulating silvery goop.</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: fun-loving, exuberant, enthousiastic, unbreakably naive.</li>
<li>Voice: a plucky young woman.</li>
<li>Wants: to experience new things.</li>
<li>Spell: <i>Mount. </i><i>Becomes a glob of spit that if you spit it will grow into a riding horse for [sum] hours.</i></li>
</ol>
<li><b>Hufelt</b>. Two cat's eyes floating luxuriantly and effortly through the air in a cloud of fog. From further away it looks like a terrifyingly floaty being is hidden in the fog, until you notice that it IS the fog's eyes.</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: tired, bored, arrogant.</li>
<li>Voice: none.</li>
<li>Wants: a place to relax.</li>
<li>Spell: <i>Obscuring Mist. Becomes fog that surrounds you; nobody can see a thing.</i></li>
</ol>
<li><b>Churrsa</b>. A flaming snake coiling through the air. </li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: Quick to anger, insecure.</li>
<li>Voice: Angry guy. Quick, irritable. If angry: yelling slowly ascending in loudness.</li>
<li>Wants: To become a Fireball spell OR for Fireball spells to acknowledge it.</li>
<li>Spell: <i>Flaming Hands</i>.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>- No name -</b>. A horrifying, undulating composite of constantly shifting, terrifying things; mostly gruesome wounds, horrible fangs, and the face of your mother's corpse. Use your fear mechanic when PC's see it.</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: Silent, weird, unnerving, obsessive.</li>
<li>Voice: Quiet, gravelly, Australian. Like the Sniper from TF2. Maybe drop the Australian.</li>
<li>Wants: It won't say, but it keeps demanding odd favours and objects.</li>
<li>Spell: <i>Make Terrifying</i>. <i>You can make an object or creature bizarrely terrifying for [sum] minutes for reasons no one can explain. Use your preferred fear mechanics. You are not immune to this.</i></li>
</ol>
<li><b>Laylaps</b>. A quick-flitting pink bubbly blob with cute big eyes and a tiny tiny mouth. It shapeshifts around the dungeon, if the players find it twice, it will accompany them as pet rather than spell.</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: Like an excitable pet. Can be given commands other than its spell effect, but 2/3 odds it does it hilariously wrong in some way.</li>
<li>Voice: High squeaky repititions of what others say.</li>
<li>Wants: To be loved for what it truly is.</li>
<li>Spell: Just make it your favourite <i>Illusion</i> spell.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Babbeler</b>. A yellow koi carp swimming in the air. It exudes a soft golden glow.</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: Friendly, obsessive though.</li>
<li>Voice: A hoarse woman's voice, professional, unless near an animal.</li>
<li>Wants: To learn animal languages! Keeps trying to talk to them.</li>
<li>Spell: <i>Comprehend Languages. A yellow carp comes out of your mouth; if you feed it a morsel of food it, shrinking, enters your ear again. You can speak and write the language of the person who prepared the food, but not your own, and you must make roll charisma to make people not weird out about the yellow fish tail coming out of your ear.</i></li>
</ol>
<li><b>Null</b>. A white-hot glowing tiny woman in a white aura, Tinkerbell-style. Don't let it near magic objects, they might be disenchanted.</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: Bored, bored, bored, bored. It loves magic but it keeps disappearing near it.</li>
<li>Voice: A monotone. Lots of sighs.</li>
<li>Wants: To see magic!!! Give it a spell to examine and dispel.</li>
<li>Spell: <i>Dispel Magic</i>.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Warb</b>. A splash of liquid silver. It zooms around the dungeon unlocking locks (maybe put an escaped Lock spell in the same dungeon).</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: Like a happy, happy bird.</li>
<li>Voice: Tweeting like a bird.</li>
<li>Wants: To inspect and understand complex mechanisms. Might break 'em.</li>
<li>Spell: <i>Knock </i>or <i>Unlock </i>type spell. If you use Warb as as a spell, it comes out of your nose and flies into the target.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Qurvul</b>. An ugly, nasty, gross, naked, baby-voldemort lookin' goblin. It actually walks instead of floats. Only looking closely or otherwise inspecting Qurvul reveals that he's a spell. It goes around locking things (maybe put an escaped unlock spell in the same dungeon).</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: An old, annoying, bitter man.</li>
<li>Voice: A wheezy, insane monotone as he rambles to himself.</li>
<li>Wants: To seal everything up nice and tidy. Things. Must. Be. SEPARATED. and. CLOSED. Will be annoyed if the party are varying races and classes.</li>
<li>Spell: <i>Lock</i>. If you use Qurvul as lock, he'll crawl out from under your robe/out of your pant leg and walk agonizingly slow and muttering to himself to the target, before getting an enormous keychain and look for the one to the target. If some sort of danger is imminent, like an enemy coming through the door, Qurvul will not be on time if you fail to hurry him on (CHA). However, enraged at the interruption, he will Lock a crucial part of the enemy's anatomy; like joints, eyes, or lungs.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Mora</b>. A tiny floating elephant skeleton made of obsidian. It casts the shadow of a living elephant. </li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: An old kind grandmother.</li>
<li>Voice: A very old very teensy very sweet very worried woman.</li>
<li>Wants: To care for something. Probably caring for some random goblin or object.</li>
<li>Spell: <i>Darkness</i>.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Sûr</b>. Like any spirit of rot; a thin long black snake coiling through the air. It is friendly but does not speak. If it touches you, you grow one year older.</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: Laid back, lazy, chill.</li>
<li>Voice: None, mute.</li>
<li>Wants: Food to consume (i.e., rot)</li>
<li>Spell: <i><a href="http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-glog-wizards.html">Rotting Touch</a>.</i></li>
</ol>
<li><b>Magwar</b>. A fucking skull wreathed in fucking flame.</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: HAHAHA YOU FUCKING FOOLS, TASTE MY POWER</li>
<li>Voice: VERY LOUD AND RASPY HAHAHA</li>
<li>Wants: TO BURN AND BURN AND SQUASH THE WEAK HAHAHA</li>
<li>Spell: <i>Fireball</i>. Magwar the Fireball has a laughing, shrieking skull inside it though. It might intimidate people.</li>
</ol>
<ol>
</ol>
<li><b>Doifoiloi</b>. A collection of frothing bubles that change colour. They remind you of something.</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: Obsessive.</li>
<li>Voice: No speak. Just brain-speak. (Communicates through emotions and memories).</li>
<li>Wants: To explore depths. Is probably in some deep pit or pool.</li>
<li>Spell: <i><a href="https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2017/03/osr-100-orthodox-spells.html">Dredge</a>.</i></li>
</ol>
<li><b>Gribus</b>. A blue shimmering on the edge of vision.</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: Inquisitive, calm.</li>
<li>Voice: A faint gurgling that <i>seems</i> to contain no words. Will speak through whatever it animates, but like yoda speaks it does.</li>
<li>Wants: To be an artist. It will take any time off while animated as an opportunity to make art. Is it crude or amazing?</li>
<li>Spell: <i>Animate. This spell can animate any inanimate object shaped like a living being. This includes animal corpses and skeletons (1 dice), human corpses and skeletons (2 dice), and statues and artwork (3 dice). Lasts for [sum] hours. </i>Permanent if you make a golem of your own for Gribus to live in and invest 4 dice.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>The Cartaphrax</b>. A collection of rotating bizarre crystals that catch the light in colourful and strangely duplicating ways. </li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: <i>THE CRYSTALS WILL NOT SUFFER DISTRACTIONS</i>. </li>
<li>Voice: None; rather a bizarre computer like buzzing and beeping. </li>
<li>Wants: to make everything beautiful like them. </li>
<li>Spell: <i><a href="http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-glog-wizards.html">Colour Spray</a>.</i></li>
</ol>
<li><b>Xisfix</b>. Looks like a pink glowing sphere with many delicate tendrils, moves as if it was underwater.</li>
<ol>
<li>Personality: Unable to tell; calm though.</li>
<li>Voice: Can only say "glub glub glub glub glub"</li>
<li>Wants: To smooth over and close gaps in anything it can find.</li>
<li>Spell: Any healing spell.</li>
</ol>
</ol>
<div>
Here, you get two!! bonus ones for free. Was gonna write d100 but christ, there's not even that many good spells.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
They should be pretty rare and to be honest, good OSR-like spells are hard to come by, so i've borrowed some from Goblin Punch and Coins and Scrolls and made some of my own with Scrap Princess' <i>excellent</i> notions of what a good spell is (i.e., "material", and with a high "hi-jink potential")</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
They're conscious, they've got a name, a personality. They float around the dungeon doing their spell effects. They probably know stuff about the dungeon.<br />
<br />
A wizard can invite them in his brain by making an INT check! And a spell slot open. This can only be done if you have an empty spell slot. They don't mind being invited, but if you fail, they'll become angry if you try again. If they attack you, they perform their spell on you and then flee.<br />
<br />
You can also try to catch them in your spellbook or a scroll by making an INT check, which they won't sense until it succeeds, so bring your gear. If the spell sees you trying to do this, they'll be aghast that you would capture them so and attack! You can even catch them in a glass jar (make a DEX check), then study them later (or just let them out in a pinch). Better bring some.<br />
<br />
If the wizard catches this spell, it remains sentient. If it accepted your invitation it'll start liking you. If you caught it in writing you'll have to pacify it according to its wants before it will cast. Most don't like spellbooks but enjoy the ride around in your brain.</div>
Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-20406195423770543652019-02-02T13:35:00.001-08:002019-02-07T04:54:43.198-08:00The air is made of dragons<div>
DRAGON<br />
<br />
Silvery serpentine air spirits. Arrogant, powerful, knowledgeable, inscrutable.<br />
Loves speed, victory, freedom.<br />
Wants: heat and magic items to devour, to show its strength and dominance, to be sovereign, SPEED!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://pa1.narvii.com/6523/2fb83eafc378887d3965850020ab61e6a21a8ea0_hq.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="500" height="172" src="https://pa1.narvii.com/6523/2fb83eafc378887d3965850020ab61e6a21a8ea0_hq.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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Dragons have kinship with air and fire; they throne as Lords of the Middle Air among the clouds. Their bodies are serpentine and subtle; swift coils of feather, scale, fur and talon. <b>No wings</b>; they swim in the air as if in water. Their areal nature makes them hard to see. Only a silver shimmering, faster than thought, is what an untrained mortal may see of a dragon. </div>
<div>
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<div>
Dragons are of air, and air is of dragons. Every breeze and zephyr is governed by a minor dragon. The Cardinal Lords govern the winds of the cardinal directions.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Lords of the Middle Air meddle mostly in their own affairs, which are incomprehensible to mortals and have much to do with movement. Their parliaments scheme and battle amongst themselves up there in the sky. It can be cramped up there in the Middle Air; there's many a seething mess of coiling dragons whizzing around, as if in constant dance and constant battle. Movement is to dragons what territory is to mortals. They compete for speed and power. They race around the entire sky. They fight terrifying duels over cloud formations and pillars of rising heat. They court each other in break-neck race-like dances, whizzing by mountains. Salori legends say they chase the sun around the sky.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Dragons have infinite life spans and are nigh unkillable. Young dragons die if they stop moving - like the wind, falling still means that they simply become air - older ones just don't like it. If a dragon dies, its subtle body melts into clean air within hours. They know much - the air flows everywhere - especially about spiritual and cosmological matters and shifts. Dealings between dragons and mortals are exceedingly rare; for a dragon to deign to slow its all-important speed and listen to a mortal, the mortal must either be in possession of something a dragon wants (heat, mainly, or energy in other forms, such as magic or magical artifacts that they eat and consume) or very, very interesting. </div>
<div>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
Talking to a dragon:<br />
They won't, usually. Dragons only speak to those they respect. You could have a very long and personal feud with a dragon without it ever speaking a word to you.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi_R1uaU8fO5Jr2xwzfaf65sgxVmwhtpC0fvcJP-xvMxLgFTglztPSMswm6ruBP-m68ow0AiTWRu3RlmLklhGSyWm5-QyD5pGh66YvhEpytWR4HLhv0TqJt3Q-FrS9JLINggpxtmCjdwfn/s1600/estevao-teuber-pereira-fuchur-facial-expression.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1144" data-original-width="1600" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi_R1uaU8fO5Jr2xwzfaf65sgxVmwhtpC0fvcJP-xvMxLgFTglztPSMswm6ruBP-m68ow0AiTWRu3RlmLklhGSyWm5-QyD5pGh66YvhEpytWR4HLhv0TqJt3Q-FrS9JLINggpxtmCjdwfn/s320/estevao-teuber-pereira-fuchur-facial-expression.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By <a href="https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Zqnvm">Estevao Teuber Pereirra</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
An audience with a dragon:</div>
<div>
<div>
It is very worthwile to speak with a dragon - the true dragons of the air <i>never lie</i>, unlike the false dragons, the wyrms of the earth.</div>
<div>
</div>
It's usually best to go to a hilltop or mountaintop for this. A dragon might come if you simply call for a dragon; but if you call one by name it is much more likely. Then the real trouble begins. The dragon will be there, slowly circling you, or slowly coiling around while it hangs in the air before you, its great predator eyes gazing at you. Make a fear save or a panic save or a morale save or what have you.<br />
If you manage to swallow the terror, you, of course, probably don't speak the True Speech or Draconic or the like. If you can get beyond that, you may ask your question. The dragon may regard you mysteriously and take off; this is what usually happens. It might try to eat you. For a dragon to not just <i>listen</i>, but <i>answer</i> as well, is exceptionally rare.<br />
The voice of a dragon sounds like the hissing of a cat, but enormous, or like gigantic cymbals. It shatters glass in a massive radius. Make another fear save. If a dragon answers someone, they will answer him every time. Such a person, the one dragons deign to speak with, is called a Dragonlord. It is not totally clear what determines who may be a Dragonlord; it's likely your PC's aren't, but it's worth a shot. Otherwise they'll have to find or hire a Dragonlord. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Legends say it is possible to befriend a dragon, or the dragons. Little is known of how that would work. The minds and lives of dragons are so alien to mortals - governed as they are by the crushing cold of the higher regions, the landscape rushing below, the fights for dominance with talon and tooth, and always, always the terrifying speed. They live lives of solitude, struggle, and the purity and elegance of empty air - they value strength of character, obsessiveness, and ruthlessness.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMyNvZEQ03AFMSQmK4dN50TA6aLz8A002_veq4-KNQj36chsNBNbCgumaqAeP5HTagtvhrESfKzT6P3mtPoZBPNwjOxmN8Suu1u5-spqoyAku4difAs8Ehi4VcgmEpFiIIDCh6DiBjw73D/s1600/chinese-dragon-vargasni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMyNvZEQ03AFMSQmK4dN50TA6aLz8A002_veq4-KNQj36chsNBNbCgumaqAeP5HTagtvhrESfKzT6P3mtPoZBPNwjOxmN8Suu1u5-spqoyAku4difAs8Ehi4VcgmEpFiIIDCh6DiBjw73D/s320/chinese-dragon-vargasni.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By <a href="https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Leo0">Randy Vargas</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Minor Dragon<br />
HD - 7<br />
Defense - 5<br />
Movement - 30<br />
Attack - talons 1d6/1d6, bite 1d8<br />
Save - 12<br />
Intelligence - 15<br />
Reaction - 6<br />
Morale - 10<br />
<br />
Major Dragon<br />
HD - 13<br />
Defense - 7<br />
Movement - 30<br />
Attack - talons 1d8/1d8, bite 2d8<br />
Save - 14<br />
Intelligence - 18<br />
Reaction - 6<br />
Morale - 14<br />
<br />
Cardinal Dragon<br />
(Dragons of the Cardinal Directions)<br />
They're basically gods; they don't have stats.<br />
<br />
<b>Dragon Generator</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Roll 6 times; name, title, domain, skin, physical features.<br />
<br />
D20 Dragon names<br />
<ol>
<li>Shyaraku</li>
<li>Xixiro</li>
<li>Raku</li>
<li>Cheytava</li>
<li>Saumash</li>
<li>Hurhé</li>
<li>Uxíla</li>
<li>Curun</li>
<li>Sho Tai</li>
<li>Churuf</li>
<li>Rai Xen Xo</li>
<li>Ahar</li>
<li>Chrising</li>
<li>Ahrava</li>
<li>Hnacaxa</li>
<li>Lorocun</li>
<li>Xanaga</li>
<li>Ngatarre</li>
<li>Niglaise</li>
<li>Churlang</li>
</ol>
<div>
D20 Dragon titles</div>
<ol>
<li>Hierophant</li>
<li>Sovereign</li>
<li>Tribune</li>
<li>Satrap</li>
<li>Sacristan</li>
<li>Princeps</li>
<li>Matriarch</li>
<li>Patriarch</li>
<li>Palatine</li>
<li>Imperator</li>
<li>Vizier</li>
<li>Herald</li>
<li>Lady</li>
<li>Lord</li>
<li>Master</li>
<li>Exarch</li>
<li>Despot</li>
<li>Centurion</li>
<li>Archimandrite</li>
<li>Suzerain</li>
</ol>
<div>
D20 Dragon domains</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>of the Left-Hand Wind</li>
<li>of Rising Air</li>
<li>of the Upper Strata</li>
<li>of the Sea Breeze</li>
<li>of Wind of Ill News</li>
<li>of the Monsoon Wind</li>
<li>of the Keening Blast</li>
<li>of the Hurricane</li>
<li>of the Freezing Easterlies</li>
<li>of Western Storms</li>
<li>of the Host of Rain</li>
<li>of Snow-Laden Clouds</li>
<li>of the Southerly Buster</li>
<li>of the Gentle Breeze</li>
<li>of Gnawing Rocks</li>
<li>of Barrier Jets</li>
<li>of Shrieking Air</li>
<li>of the Desert Air</li>
<li>of Sudden Squalls</li>
<li>of the Gentle Breeze</li>
</ol>
<div>
D8 Dragon skin</div>
</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Slippery and silvery like a fish</li>
<li>Feathered</li>
<li>Furred like a wolf</li>
<li>Covered in steel spikes</li>
<li>Shimmering like silk</li>
<li>Scales like a shield wall</li>
<li>Long-haired fur </li>
<li>Smooth and glistening like a snake</li>
</ol>
<div>
D8 Dragon physical features (roll twice)</div>
<ol>
<li>Maned</li>
<li>Bearded</li>
<li>Moustachio'd like a catfish</li>
<li>Two-horned</li>
<li>Crowned with spikes</li>
<li>Crowned with antlers</li>
<li>Great crest of spikes or feathers</li>
<li>Great ridges of spikes along its back</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivBusRpkEqS5DU4Cm1qQusOAiXlAwyp4EU5JDRq0ATCeVAjzS9NgpUhbgqIqCN9_YXktMbCHM16jM2pPNmV5TCRURh7Du-EmN1xmrS7uEg6fNsUSHFIYZubEKUBc-6zjHb4CNcDEIlSeOV/s1600/cow292final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="732" data-original-width="920" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivBusRpkEqS5DU4Cm1qQusOAiXlAwyp4EU5JDRq0ATCeVAjzS9NgpUhbgqIqCN9_YXktMbCHM16jM2pPNmV5TCRURh7Du-EmN1xmrS7uEg6fNsUSHFIYZubEKUBc-6zjHb4CNcDEIlSeOV/s320/cow292final.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
How do adventurers run into them?<br />
1. A dragon has installed itself as the dragon-king of a local village or city; it brings rain for the crops and is really quite charming, but eats people as tribute.<br />
2. A dragon, wounded in the great fights in the Middle Air, has crashlanded right into the city/village/ship that the players are in. It is wounded but still very dangerous. Make a powerful dragon friend or finish him off?<br />
3. A mage has gained control of a dragon somehow. He is using it for evil; kill it or rescue it?<br />
4. The players run into a dragon while climbing a mountain.<br />
5. A dragon emissary from the Warring Parliaments of the Middle Air contact <i>the players</i> due to a great, potentially apocalyptic threat. If the dragons come to you, there's a serious problem.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbvXyzO5rfbEsiYLLXMKtZXnsGN5LTLWb2dy1OEq9gzg1YEprkoPXu8ACYmTdkJ-7WuQm2GWuYvE7Ha4ZWOa5numz6G3AAe4W6D1rpotWMkyNUg_mNWDumjeRGRugD6SFtxGPU-OlQZ7t_/s1600/estevao-teuber-pereira-fuchur-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1036" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbvXyzO5rfbEsiYLLXMKtZXnsGN5LTLWb2dy1OEq9gzg1YEprkoPXu8ACYmTdkJ-7WuQm2GWuYvE7Ha4ZWOa5numz6G3AAe4W6D1rpotWMkyNUg_mNWDumjeRGRugD6SFtxGPU-OlQZ7t_/s320/estevao-teuber-pereira-fuchur-02.jpg" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">A dragon and his friend. By <a href="https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Zqnvm">Perreira</a><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div>
(Fire-drakes are not related to the Lords of the Middle Air at all; these coiling wyrms - heavy and slow, greedy and lazy - their kinship is with earth, their fire is not solar but sepulchral, born in the molten deeps of the earth. They meddle far more in the affairs of mortals, by occupying fortresses or eating cattle or burning the ships. But they are a story for another time.)</div>
Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-83366152423648478292019-02-01T03:40:00.000-08:002019-02-07T04:55:25.483-08:00Trying to make humans not boring<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Humans are pretty weird, man. There's so many cultures around the world that are just staggeringly different from generic-kindofmedieval-europe. So why are the "human" places usually the normal places, the generic places, the medieval-europe places, complete with king, castle, and Church? Especially the last one baffles me; presumably Christ didn't show up in your world (unless you're C.S. Lewis), so how can there be such a construction as a Church? Monotheism does not equal Church.<br />
<br />
The Salori are a group of humans who are definitely not medieval-european, and certainly have no church. They're black, for starters - except that the concept of race hasn't been invented, so really I should say that their skin tone varies from reddish brown to light brown; with sometimes odd, mottled crimson markings appearing, especially in the heartland. They keep saying this is somehow related to the betrayal and death of some ancient god-king which stained the entire land with blood. Whatever. Their faces are sharp and long, and they have sharp cheekbones. Salori are tall and a bit lanky, they often have bright eyes.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTVS5i1zu7DHLBZDuJxfFd4r3BUbkKhsoePGW-Hgrc4_mcrS-wHHgm7HLFO_gW2dAfEZoU1sVmBM4b80nHnMIElvtNEnDCqHT1XNbeVP5YwxlMcp9oulMKpC8yn-U6yRfzQYLDaI6yRZJY/s1600/morrowind_dunmer_by_theminttu-d6528g5.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="799" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTVS5i1zu7DHLBZDuJxfFd4r3BUbkKhsoePGW-Hgrc4_mcrS-wHHgm7HLFO_gW2dAfEZoU1sVmBM4b80nHnMIElvtNEnDCqHT1XNbeVP5YwxlMcp9oulMKpC8yn-U6yRfzQYLDaI6yRZJY/s320/morrowind_dunmer_by_theminttu-d6528g5.jpg" width="284" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixPWlflZUsj2TeUHJF3L4hmMenEd_w-Sy9ERK-SrNQAq_yckE5-S-wiOFmTTqnwzLQQIK2LN9BZSyEvDeUdonKkQ6bwkPGYvamc3wjuut45NOQLz5rv5NRgmbGqrPbkfssEzebOM-vUzWR/s1600/cheddar_man_for_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixPWlflZUsj2TeUHJF3L4hmMenEd_w-Sy9ERK-SrNQAq_yckE5-S-wiOFmTTqnwzLQQIK2LN9BZSyEvDeUdonKkQ6bwkPGYvamc3wjuut45NOQLz5rv5NRgmbGqrPbkfssEzebOM-vUzWR/s320/cheddar_man_for_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salori have the sharp features above, the skin colour below. Not pictured: red skin variations.<br />
Art by <a href="http://theminttu.tumblr.com/">theminttu</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Many Salori, even mere farmers, are proud and haughty, and don't shirk confrontation if they detect offense. Almost all adult Salori, men and women, are armed with a long, thin dagger tucked in the sash around the waist. It's usually an heirloom, and they're not afraid to use it.<br />
<br />
They came into Circassa from the North, over the Shield Wall mountains which block the subcontinent from the rest of the world. They came here from some half-remembered distant strife, following the Sage called Salor, after whom their entire people is named.<br />
<br />
When they got there they found that the place was already inhabited by a staggering variety of goblin-species (seriously, how do these guys keep ending up everywhere) and the proud last remains of a waning, non-human empire called Tel Ammon. Exactly how this empire was non-human the histories don't mention; they might have been elves or even vampires. After a tense co-existence war broke out, the tribes united, and the empire was destroyed. It's said that the region Tel Ammon is still haunted by vengeful specters, clad in mottled gold and opulent robes turned to tattered rags, which is of course, totally true.<br />
<br />
The Salori remained nomad tribes for a long time, until some guy named Carahir was instructed in the secret arts of agriculture and architecture by one of the thousands of spirits living in the volcano. Tradition calls him Maskurat, Old-Man-of-the-Volcano. They say he's got one eye, black hands, and a crown made of antlers. So Carahir built the ancient city now known as Godsgrave, and then, according to who you talk to, tried to conquer all the continent, what a dick, or tried to conquer all the continent, what a hero. Some complicated stuff went down, Carahir ended up killed by a cowardly assassin/heroic freedom fighter named Alkoveran still despised/venerated to this day, and the landscape of Circassa was forever changed.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAzUYgnM67GM_HoXaBjoic6aWIVp_A6ujHAJZkthw1BfFPzJ6Ss1mW3LSM09DFPlS4bkjyApi2mqclZG09sWGXublpeKwrHbDU5JOz25J6C0Bt718uBE3HsaD4dkBIaYDsMTmXRXqnhgit/s1600/ukiyo-5-ukiyo-1-katsushika-hokusai-south-wind-clear-sky-1830-1280x686.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="1280" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAzUYgnM67GM_HoXaBjoic6aWIVp_A6ujHAJZkthw1BfFPzJ6Ss1mW3LSM09DFPlS4bkjyApi2mqclZG09sWGXublpeKwrHbDU5JOz25J6C0Bt718uBE3HsaD4dkBIaYDsMTmXRXqnhgit/s400/ukiyo-5-ukiyo-1-katsushika-hokusai-south-wind-clear-sky-1830-1280x686.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
When the dust settled, the Salori were now split up in the settled peoples and the tribes of the old ways. The settled people organized in Manses, which are like a mix between dynastic oligarchies, republics, political parties, and corporations.<br />
<br />
There's four of them now, and they own most of the fertile land of Circassa. Here they are:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Manse Neraan</b> are a bunch of fat merchant slavers. Their ancestral seat, Kratum Neraan, sits right on the flanks of the volcano, a mother-of-pearl bulwark of domes, aquaducts, many many terraced bloodrice paddies, and many many slave pits. They buy slaves from overseas or overmountain, but they also have a dedicated in-house slave hunter branch, which organizes raids on the tribes and even ordinary travellers without Freedom Papers which are sold at exorbitant prices. They're filthy, filthy rich, and very untrustworthy. Their taxes are incredibly high but they beat down peasant revolts mercilessly. It's an open secret that the Neraan employ some sort of assassin guild, possibly assassin-wizards.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhvi35swChBydjd6eN_kNV87eigg_9Qnc8h9SPjiRaCnPZXkwSEhKRDZpZ-bS37zoBLtJxvjBiOBvhvtMYL86q9iWbyGGWNpp32MsQ3hQlWcilENvkvthYJqJht_ttCq9ID9vCLskQfX0/s1600/d9eb4b041ecb777876a5cc8fa84b0518.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhvi35swChBydjd6eN_kNV87eigg_9Qnc8h9SPjiRaCnPZXkwSEhKRDZpZ-bS37zoBLtJxvjBiOBvhvtMYL86q9iWbyGGWNpp32MsQ3hQlWcilENvkvthYJqJht_ttCq9ID9vCLskQfX0/s320/d9eb4b041ecb777876a5cc8fa84b0518.jpg" width="231" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Like a bunch of these buildings stacked into one giant upside down chandelier. Not pictured: terrible slave pit conditions.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Manse Tennion</b> is a collection of feudal matriarchies around bitter old witches, allied only by pragmatics and tradition, because most of them can't stand each other. Their ancestral seat of Al Hneren to the north was devastated by the magic Chernobyl that concluded a war against the Northern invader long ago. Their new home, Tuhmas Tennion or Home-In-Exile lies in a desert to the south and is a collection of separate towers and fortresses, one per sorcerer-matriarch, and very well guarded (they're nothing if not paranoid). The towers are composed of the bone-like organic rock called hulac that grows in the region; they look like huge shelves of enamel; square teeth the size of hills. Manse Tennion is busy colonizing the Floating Mountains to the south in flying ships, but they've been having trouble with declarations of independence and piracy.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJd1UVu9RqAXheE_1mXfhoIDPS1zP6-cNmUkN1Nz-la7KbBfCbxicixTDLEAS_rVsmTZMqCdG6HPrQXapR7k3Li4aepFpxFq3awgXuvLMNK4eP4p4gvkIIakTsdbXnwcecNdzLryWrNcCW/s1600/JH_00042_MinM-port.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="540" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJd1UVu9RqAXheE_1mXfhoIDPS1zP6-cNmUkN1Nz-la7KbBfCbxicixTDLEAS_rVsmTZMqCdG6HPrQXapR7k3Li4aepFpxFq3awgXuvLMNK4eP4p4gvkIIakTsdbXnwcecNdzLryWrNcCW/s400/JH_00042_MinM-port.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hulac buildings kind of look like this, but less evil, less mountains, and the weather is nice. <br />
Minas Morgul by John Howe.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Manse Hnennao</b> are a bunch of cult followers and those who make a living by starting a cult. They're not fanatics, mind you - monotheism hasn't been invented; most people move between cults as we do between Netflix series. Their ancestral seat of Kogo Hnennis, City of a Thousand Cults, has statues, shrines, sacrificial pits, and temples on every street corner, and that's just the ones that aren't secret. You literally can't spend a minute without some chanting procession passing by. Kogo Hnennis straddles the Great River Huliac, which is how they trade with other parts of Circassa and, since recently, overseas. Despite the river, Kogo Hnennis has been dying of thirst for at least two centuries now. See, the springs of the Huliac lie to the north in the rocky highlands of Renca Ur. The same magic WDM which destroyed the Tennion homeland cursed the whole region, including the springs. Now the fertile land surrounding Kogo Hnennis is called Hurgliath, the White Wen. Everything is drained of colour and the ground has become a sickly mire emitting poisonous fumes. Trade caravans are manned by brave, brave folk - but the coin is good. There's all sorts of magical threats and unnatural things going on, and certainly the water isn't drinkable. The whole city is covered with criss-crossing copper rain catchers and pipes; water is sold for exorbitant prices, and the entire region around the citey is honeycombed with old wells, all of which end up poisonous after a few days of clear water. After invoking at least a thousand gods - most of whom didn't answer - the Hnennao are now sending scouts into the cursed North to see if anything can be done about the curse.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuUHhQjvRX8a8V3hwqLVwhnCfL42oWxuV6wetj2mFidp6h8BFGHDvbvXc-nveeCAk6b2G3JmA2jVPKEEscJ_164Ly6JnOpYLvwTk_2v6OgTSrYjK_h2-Hqw1avx65G1p88Dx0bYxToPH_f/s1600/e18d4904e6e17d08168cf73875793dc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1494" data-original-width="1494" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuUHhQjvRX8a8V3hwqLVwhnCfL42oWxuV6wetj2mFidp6h8BFGHDvbvXc-nveeCAk6b2G3JmA2jVPKEEscJ_164Ly6JnOpYLvwTk_2v6OgTSrYjK_h2-Hqw1avx65G1p88Dx0bYxToPH_f/s320/e18d4904e6e17d08168cf73875793dc1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In Kogo Hnennis, you're constantly running into these kind of things.<br />
Art by <a href="https://art.marcsimonetti.com/">Marc Simonetti</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Manse Carahir is, everyone agrees, over. They all hope for the return of a king like the legendary Carahir, but that's just wishful thinking. Their land is shrinking everyday, swallowed up by the long disenfranchised tribes and rival Manses. They've struck a trade deal with the far-away empire called the Azure Eleven, but that may prove to be a deal with the devil, as the first operations of this empire in their ancestral seat of Godsgrave look a little bit too much like the beginnings of colonialism. Godsgrave is said to be built on the place where the ancient god-king who throned on the volcano fell down after his betrayal and death, and it is incontrovertible that the ancient palace of Carahir is built on a strange round hill, that just before it meets the level soil, juts out in places that almost suggest that just below the surface lie... eye sockets?<br />
<br />
The cities are populated by much more than just the red-skinned Salori; there's many foreign traders and expats, as well as enormous amounts of goblins, some Rafa, bird-men from the south, and all manner of strange creatures beyond count; be they native to the subcontinent or from other lands or even realms.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN-Gd22ActjYgINWpJ8XrflkNHdzhXuAFCyEsdgWTzK2EINNsn0mnxxndzSEerKx-kxQISKG_zP1muBoX-Nn5SoYxPLIBtTvFQZ3P7pM0DRnyoCVFOxbIUvZwEVmqBO07UJ5bw6em7WFU9/s1600/Mesopotamia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="1155" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN-Gd22ActjYgINWpJ8XrflkNHdzhXuAFCyEsdgWTzK2EINNsn0mnxxndzSEerKx-kxQISKG_zP1muBoX-Nn5SoYxPLIBtTvFQZ3P7pM0DRnyoCVFOxbIUvZwEVmqBO07UJ5bw6em7WFU9/s400/Mesopotamia.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Art by <a href="https://www.artstation.com/jeffbrown">Jeff Brown</a>.</td></tr>
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And that's just the settled peoples. Outside, in the dangerous regions; the steppes, the cursed waste to the north, the boiling swamps, and the deserts, live the disenfranchised tribes. They speak Ohr Kirkes, which no Manse-folk now understand. The Manses call them the Savages and regard them as an embarassment, little more than feral goblins, and the tribes themselves view the Manses as blasphemous traitors to the Great Ancestors and the ancestral ways. They're not even true Sons of Salor; they're nothing.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJp-yRs83LwoFT2tBSGOzxbHAoVxENqf206rlNU-xUyO2umbnE9NSNgN1IPex94FJR4whvWfQoepIYdQW4R64bBKY8Xiu1WuOb29KhBYWnPjInH72Gkm5OszNZnEYWpRRwu0Kv8t0BXeDF/s1600/00444998efc4b5a2420531ad0522c512.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="645" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJp-yRs83LwoFT2tBSGOzxbHAoVxENqf206rlNU-xUyO2umbnE9NSNgN1IPex94FJR4whvWfQoepIYdQW4R64bBKY8Xiu1WuOb29KhBYWnPjInH72Gkm5OszNZnEYWpRRwu0Kv8t0BXeDF/s320/00444998efc4b5a2420531ad0522c512.png" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An uncommonly light-skinned Salori might look like this.<br />
Art by <a href="http://www.allisonhowle.com/">Alison Howle</a>.</td></tr>
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Among the tribes there is a legend that one day the ancient god-king will wake up from his long sleep, retake his throne on the mountain of fire, and drive out the thrice-cursed trickster Maskurat, who tried to fool the Salori with the vile magics of agriculture and building, and destroy everything wrought with them. Then the land will be healed, the blood of God will flow back and no longer stain the soil and the people, the vile curse of the northern wastes will be undone, and the tribes will hunt and keep their herds freely in the fertile and free lands of Circassa.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9DNVzPin9KPrsFWdAoGhy0CFuuPnpEuwBax2VVzTaxFqunM1QQJVzRKjUH8UGnQ866Ri7GfaQ5AyDy7syq6c_-_grl3HSBN0Fd9RHNnIEqyiHjIAbvN3-kZ_s1FxlDR21F5Ov3PNnmXG1/s1600/relief-candi-prambanan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="535" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9DNVzPin9KPrsFWdAoGhy0CFuuPnpEuwBax2VVzTaxFqunM1QQJVzRKjUH8UGnQ866Ri7GfaQ5AyDy7syq6c_-_grl3HSBN0Fd9RHNnIEqyiHjIAbvN3-kZ_s1FxlDR21F5Ov3PNnmXG1/s320/relief-candi-prambanan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">This might be what Manse art looks like. From Borobudur, Indonesia.</td></tr>
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Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-66140672402669846322018-09-17T02:32:00.000-07:002018-09-17T02:32:01.933-07:00More stuff about orcsYou'd think orcs, for their reputation, are savage killers and monstrous beasts. Only half of that is true.<br />
<br />
As anyone with half a brain knows, orcs are not a species -- not really. Orcishness is a religion, a way of life. An orc is only an orc if she follows the Orc Way -- if she kills. The killer part, then, is true; but monsters they are not. Furthermore, orcs aren't green, nor even exceptionally huge. Rather, orcs are pitch black and covered in thick, coarse hair. Their eyes are bright yellow and they have huge yellow fangs, although no tusks. They have wide mouths with thin, almost non-existent lips. They look like apes, but with more elongated, predatory faces.<br />
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Given their looks and their propensity for killing, one can forgive other peoples for thinking them mindless monsters. Yet orcs are intelligent, sensitive people. They care a great deal about others -- for this quality, combined with their strength, were they chosen to feed the Creator. Only one who loves the world and its creator more than his own soul could do what orcs do - kill to keep the world alive.<br />
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<b>What is an orc?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
We, orcs, serve the Creator. The Creator died - as far as God can die - by making the world. Reality is his corpse. And make no mistake, the Great Rot is coming. The Great Rot, when all is pain and disease and broken. What can stave off the Great Rot? Only life. This is why we kill. The life force of those we murder serves to feed the Creator, that his beautiful world and the vibrant life within it may exist longer. That the Great Rot may be delayed. To this we are called. To live in peace, to refrain from killing - this is the greatest selfishness, the most disgusting robbery. The un-killer is not orc. His orcishness leaves him. I have seen it happen. We, true orcs, take upon ourselves the hideous task of pruning the world - that it may flourish the more. The task of killing the innocent, the frightened, the defenseless. This crime we take upon ourselves. Never think that killing is good, child. Killing is not good. But it is necessary.<br />
<br />
<b>How do they live?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Orcs live in nomadic bands. They move every year or so. Hide tents they take with them for the journey, mud houses are left since new ones are easily built again. The orcish name for these villages, <i>buqarz</i>, derives from <i>bur </i>(fenced, warded) and <i>qarzje </i>(rest after battle). A "village", then, is not so much a place to live as it is a place to recuperate from violence outside the <i>buqarz</i>.<br />
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Orcish nomadic groups are part of tribes; these are mainly linguistic/ethnic sub-divisions, each of which is related to one part of the creator:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The Ayyin trace their origin to the sun, God's eye.</li>
<li>The Hezur trace their origin to the rocks, God's bones.</li>
<li>The Darakh trace their origin to the seas, God's blood.</li>
<li>The Sárka trace their origin to the soil, God's flesh.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Orcs know and identify with their tribe. They do not think in terms of blood relations. Clans are important to orcs, but are synonymous with group or village more than with family. If an Ayyin orc travels to and joins an Ayyin <i>buqarz</i>, she will without problem be accepted as part of the clan, although she has no family relations there. Orcs from other tribes will always be an other-triber, mainly due to language and culture barriers - a perfectly fine and a good walker of the Orc Way, accepted in the group, but forever a bit strange. An orc name mentions tribe before mentioning parent.</div>
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Orcs have no real social structure apart from the <i>buqarz</i>. Some orcs live as man and wife. Others live in polygamous or polyandrous configurations, or in polyamorous relationships. Others have no lasting relationships at all and are alone. Every adult orc has a personal domicile in the <i>buqarz</i>. The way these are configured mimics the social relationships. Friends or lovers place their tents facing each other or next to each other. Should there be conflict, the dwellings are moved away or built with their backsides to each other.<br />
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No leaders, no chiefs, no wars, no goals. Orcs just kill to keep the world going. Orcs are concerned with "keep going". They don't develop, invent, or have grand ambitions. Orcs don't move anywhere, they don't care about utopia's or salvation. They don't care about immortality or fame. They just live their lives the way they're supposed to, part of the bigger whole. They care about the kill, the atonement, eating, drinking, singing poetry, watching the stars.<br />
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<b>Growing up an orc</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Orcish children enjoy a sheltered childhood in the <i>burqaz</i>, yet they grow up fast. They have no names until they enter adulthood. Orcish play is mainly fighting and hide-and-seek. Orcs don't really have "parents"; often, one parent will be dead. Conversely, an orc child may have multiple fathers and mothers, given the prevalence of polyamory. Like everyone, they do not know about sperm and egg -- all of an orc's fathers and mothers are her true fathers and mothers.<br />
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Orcs usually have two teachers, often a parent - one teaches killing, the other tracking. During puberty, an orc will start to join on raids. Here, a kill marks the end of childhood. The orc, now, is in liminal space - neither child nor adult - and must sleep outside the <i>burqaz</i>. They will join again the next raid, until they "take their head" after managing a "good kill". A "good kill", in orcish parlance, is a quick kill: usually it involves head, neck, or heart trauma by way of spear, arrow, axe, in rare cases sword. The victim is then decapitated. The best kill is a sudden decapitation - almost impossible in battle, but the true act of killing that all orcs aspire to. This head-taking at the entrance into adulthood reminds orcs of this most pure and painless act of killing. Orcs keep their First Heads with them during all raids. For practical reasons, this often becomes just the jawbone.<br />
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Only after the head-taking is an orc an adult, and receives he a name from the Unblooded. This name is usually something degrading, like Guilty One, Cancer, Murderer, Poisoning, Killer, Monster, Leech. This is so that the new adult may never come to relish killing for its own sake. An orc is a wretch, taking upon himself the unspeakable crime of murdering frightened innocents, sacrificing his own soul and conscience to the world.</div>
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<div>
<b>The Unblooded</b></div>
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Most large bands contain an Unblooded, sort of madmen-saints. The Unblooded are orcs who have never, and never will, kill. They are the only orcs who do not kill yet remain orcs. Orcs have a bizarre, contradictory relationship with their Unblooded. They hate, love, despise, pity, and envy them.<br />
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In orcish society, the good kill and the head-taking marks adulthood. Unblooded, never killing, are in a way children, yet wise and dangerous; outside of normal ways of being. Unpredictable and strange. Who knows what an Unblooded thinks? Why is he laughing like that? Pale and gross, with their ugly pale-blue eyes and white matted hair. Are they born or created? This is a secret known only to other Unblooded.<br />
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The Unblooded are not chiefs -- there is only one Chief, and he is dead. Orc life is mainly anarchist. No orc owes allegiance to any chief, warlord, or king. Only the Creator commands an orc. Btw, this means that if you're a minor human chiefdom or bird-men aviary or whatever, your organized attempts to fight off or even kill the local murder-band of orcs will most likely be successful. Orcs don't organize wars, because orcs don't organize.<br />
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Unblooded are seen as societal trash, since they do not feed the Creator, yet at the same time they are revered, envied, and seen with guilt and grief, since they are the only orcs not stained by hundreds of murders. Unblooded possess an innocence that orcs cannot afford to have. Unblooded usually wear rags or nothing at all and live on trash heaps and dung piles, their white hair filthy and matted.<br />
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The Unblooded is one of the rare orcs who actually might die of old age. Dying of old age is a disgustingly selfish action -- you have used up all your life yourself, giving nothing to the Creator, who so sorely needs it. Orcs look suspiciously on old people and spit on those who die of old age.<br />
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Unblooded are thus a reversal of everything orc. As such, they break social taboos continuously. They adress men as women and women as men; they masturbate in public; they smear themselves in shit; they may even be vegetarians or <i>- ugh - </i>keep pets <i>and not kill them</i>. And yet if an Unblooded suggests an opinion or a course of action, it is done.<br />
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That's because the Unblooded are wise beyond their mortality. Their insanity is just a way of seeing and acting that transcends the affairs of petty mortals. The Unblooded tastes the reality of the Dead Creator. It is the Unblooded who decides the next pastures; the Unblooded who decides the next raid; the Unblooded who decides the next sacrifice.<br />
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Everyone listens to them, everyone spits on them, everyone reveres them.<br />
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<b>What do orcs eat?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Orcs are carnivores. Not biologically -- biologically they are omnivores. But an orc knows that consuming vegetables and fruits <i>furthers </i>the life of the plant rather than ends it. Life must end, lest it devolve into the squirming of the Great Rot. Thus, an orc eats meat. They hunt, they herd. Typical orcish cattle includes wildebeast, oxen, aurochs, mountain goats. Anything that's around, really, preferably with red blood.<br />
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Orcs are also cannibals. The failure to eat a fresh dead body is seen as offensive and disgusting - especially to the spirit of the deceased himself. The only exception are the Unblooded, who are thrown on the trash heap to rot.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>How do they fight?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Orcs want you to die as quickly as possible and with as little pain as possible. During combat they might thank you, cry for you, or advise you to submit to a quick death. Orcs want to insta-kill - a decapitation, nigh-impossible as it is, is most admired. As such, orcs are not even aggressive fighters. They are content to wait. Think samurai -- frozen like a statue, waiting for that opening, that one perfect strike that brings death at once.<br />
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They are also archers - again trained to kill quickly, through the heart or throat.<br />
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<b>How to interact with orcs.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Honestly, don't. If you want to talk with orcs, make sure to take their minds of the kill-mission. One way to do this is to take something with you and kill this yourself in front of them, as a token of your understanding and your value as a bringer of death. A rabbit might do. A cow is better. The larger, the more life, the more likely an orc will be to spare your own. If you bring more death alive, an orc will leave you alive. But you must convince them that you are a bringer of death.<br />
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Of course, most adventurers <i>are </i>bringers of death, and perhaps an orc will come to those conclusions himself -- to the dismay of your noble heroes. That's interesting right there. For a travelling adventurer, orcs may not even be in that much of a rush to kill you.<br />
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<b>Orc Racial Traits</b><br />
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<b>Despised</b> - If you want to travel with or play as an orc, nigh everyone will try to murder you on sight.<br />
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<b>First Head</b> - Your First Head, covered in a linen rag. Where did you get it? Who does it belong to? The First Head is enchanted and can, in horrifying choking whispers, answer any question once a day with the great knowledge of the dead. However, there is a fifty-fifty chance that it will tell a lie in an attempt to kill you.<br />
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<b>Kill for God - </b>You <b>must</b> kill something once a day. Plant, bug, cow, person - anything. If you fail to uphold this, your First Head will not speak that day. If you persist in your disgusting pacifism, orcishness will leave you. Your teeth will shrink, your yellow eyes will fade and change colour, your hair will vanish and your pitch-black skin will be afflicted by discolouration and diseases. You are no longer orc. You look human, or goblin - but make no mistake. You are not goblin or human. You are nothing. You are worse than nothing.Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-87834080154151341692018-08-03T22:31:00.001-07:002019-02-06T09:43:26.735-08:00The Goblin-peoples<div dir="ltr">
Caraxan goblins are not the same as your run of the mill goblins. Of all intelligent species in Caraxe, goblins at the most numerous and varied. They come in all shapes, sizes, colours, and demeanours.</div>
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Maybe they evolved first. Maybe they originated in a magical accident. Whatever the reasons there's tons of them. They outnumber humans. But they aren't sadistic dumb-dumbs any more than humans are. Crucially, they're not orcs either. Orcs are as orcs do. They are tough and hard as steel cords; fanged, yellow-eyed, and covered in black bristles, agents of the Orc Way, guardians of the Creator. Orcness is more like religion than a species.</div>
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Goblins, by contrast, are just a species; often flabby with huge, bat-like ears, mostly hairless and harmless. (Although, facing a hammerhead goblin warrior, tribally tattood, half-naked, ripped with muscle and baring his incisors, you may as well be facing an orc). Their skin colours contain all those of mundane humans and more exotic ones as well. </div>
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Again, they are not Orcs. Goblins are people, not monsters. <u>They</u> live in multi-species cities, serve in armies and as clerks. Their faces are human-like, caricatured and stretched by their specific breed. They are intelligent. Adventurer-wise, goblins are likely to favour conventional weaponry over magic. They're pragmatic. Specific goblin traits depend on the sub-species or breed.</div>
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Breeds include:</div>
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Grey Goblins<br />
Hammerhead Goblins<br />
Night Goblins<br />
Longhaired Goblins<br />
Proboscis Goblins<br />
Hive Goblins (these are often hostile)<br />
Blind cave Goblins (often hostile)<br />
And many many others...</div>
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Goblins are like dogs, or fruitflies. Their genes are slippery and mutate fast. Lock 20 city goblins in a dungeon for three generations and the kids will come out blind with huge ears, amazing senses of smell, a very odd sense of humour and a taste for rats. This is why there's so many breeds.</div>
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If you play as a goblin, you get to pick (or invent) a breed. </div>
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The race bonus of Goblins in general is:</div>
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<b>Bitey:</b> unlike other species, Goblins, with their sharp teeth and adaptable stomach can digest almost anything less hard than stone. A Goblin is likely to bite his way out of trouble - wood, earth, bone, even metal, given enough time, must fall before a Goblin's teeth. </div>
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<b>Strong Stomach</b>: They don't require rations or water since they can digest most anything and are immune to poison damage through eating.</div>
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<b>Breed Talent</b>: Alternatively, a player may want to invent a Goblin breed with a specific racial bonus. Be it dark vision, limited flight, amazing hearing, burrowing skills, elastic bones, or anything the DM approves.</div>
Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-47666878016648452292017-12-16T06:40:00.001-08:002019-02-01T04:58:44.101-08:00Orcs are driven by love <div dir="ltr">
<b>Orcs are </b><b>driven</b><b> </b><b>by</b><b> love.</b></div>
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Orcs love the entire world. That is why they kill.</div>
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Let me start over.</div>
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Wild orcs, tribal orcs. Yellow glowing eyes, dark scaly skin, ape-like fangs, black bristly hair everywhere. Stone-orcs, true orcs, whatever you wanna call them; the greenskins, the barbarians, killers - these are the true orcs who live as they have for thousands of years. The chosen people.</div>
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Being an orc lies not in your toughness, black bristles, or your tusks, these orcs will tell you (before they kill you). Being an orc lies in honouring the Creator. This faith needs no name, since all orcs follow it, and those who do not follow it are not really orcs. It is the Orc Way. Orcness is more religion than species.</div>
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The orcish faith is built on love. Love for the entire world and everything that's in it.</div>
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But, you tell me, orcs kill everything that's in the world?</div>
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They kill because orcs, more than anyone, understand that love, true love, is a terrifying force. True love is sacrifice.</div>
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The creative act of the honoured Creator was a sacrifice. He died doing it. The world is the Divine corpse. His blood became the spirits and the world of spirits and the few spirits that follow the Orc Way that the orcs call smallgods.</div>
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Orcs love life, and they love the world, which is the corpse of the beloved Creator, and they live in constant fear of what they call the Great Rot. The world is in freefall towards total putrification, the rotting away of everything good and beautiful. Orcs know this. Their wise women have seen it.</div>
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Only death can pay for life. Orcs know this too.</div>
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For life to continue existing, bloody sacrifices are necessary. The teeming of life must be kept in bounds lest it become the teeming of the Great Rot. And the orcs, strong as they are, are called to be these grim custodians. To keep at bay the Great Rot. They trim the world, that it may flourish.</div>
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This is is why adult orcs, male and female, kill something at least once a day, be it person, animal, plant. Why their bands leave mindless destruction in their wake. They kill so that life does not overstep its own bounds, implodes in on itself. Population control for all of creation. The life force of their victims feeds the Dead Creator. It prolongs the advent of the Great Rot. Orcs <u>don't</u> find pleasure in the killing. It is a thankless job. They know they are reviled and damned. It is part of the sacrifice.</div>
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Orcs prefer to kill by one decapatory blow. The goodness of a kill lies in fitting intent and ruthless efficiency; they see pain as useless, and a symptom of the Great Rot. When the Great Rot comes, there will be only pain.<br />
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If you find a slaughtered caravan and all bodies are headless, you have found the work of orcs. The heads are removed and placed in their shrines to the Creator, where they receive ritual mournings and apologies, and thanks for their sacrifice. Orcs cry for every life they end.<br />
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Of course, there *are* what the clans call Bent Orcs. These actually enjoy slaughter and murder and don't really care about the Great Rot. They are a minority, but despised by True Orcs.<br />
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Nothing is more horrible to an orc than the idea of a natural death. It is the ultimate selfishness, a murder of the world. <u>This</u> is why orcs (almost) never run from a fight. If their victims die, the life goes to the world. If they themselves die, their own life goes to the world. Either outcome is good for an orc.</div>
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Orcs must kill once a day or suffer nightmares and after a while become human or goblin.</div>
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Orcish Racial Traits</div>
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<b>Kill For God</b>: Kill once a day. Plant, bug, human. If you don't, you suffer nightmares and lose the blessing on your First Head. If you don't for a week, you become goblin or human.</div>
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<b>The First Head</b>: Every orc carries the head of their first kill with them wrapped in linen. It is revived by orcish magic and the blessing of the creator. This head knows everything, can only speak in whispers, and can answer a question once a day. However, there is a 50/50 chance that the head will lie and lure you to your death.</div>
<br />Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538256094104218982.post-4331572092937395632017-12-11T07:28:00.002-08:002017-12-11T07:28:46.982-08:00The Bloody Lands of CircassaFirst off, this blog is mainly an attempt to get some dnd personal worldbuilding organized. I was inspired to do this after finding <a href="http://goblinpunch.blogspot.nl/">Goblin Punch</a>, which is <i>amazing</i>. I have tons of half-baked ideas lying around and some friends who'd like to play dnd if only someone was willing to DM, so I guess this is my foray into actually producing some sort of homebrew settings. If anyone ever actually reads this and likes it, that is a win for me.<br />
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Let's away!<br />
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<b>The Lands of Circassa</b><br />
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Basically, it's a volcanic swamp-plain that is really the bloodstain of an ancient murdered god.<br />
In the northern parts of Caraxe lies a swamp that stretches away for miles and miles in the shadow of mount Berammon. The entire landscape is dominated by shades of red and black, with only bright green and blue mineral deposits around the boiling pools popping out.<br />
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In the bogs, pools bubble with steam that tastes like metal on the back of your tongue. The thin-treed forests are all shades of red, brown, and purple. In the barrens, the very rocks look like congealed blood.<br />
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According to the Circassans, that's because it is. The Red Lands were formed when the Ruling King named Diluvian was betrayed by his two companions, stabbed clean through with the Pammachon sword which burns like the heart of the earth. His gigantic body toppled from his palace on the mountain onto a fertile patch of land which his boiling blood stained. To this day, the place where Diluvian's massive corpse lay is seeped through with boiling blood -- seething with the heat of the Pammachon sword or with lust for revenge. People can't seem to agree on it.<br />
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<b>The Red People</b><br />
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The Circassans -- or the Red People as some call them -- believe themselves to have been born out of the seething blood. They look like it, sure. They're hairless and slightly misshapen, their skins ranging from anywhere between blood-red, brown, and blotted purple. They enjoy spicy foods, a good fight, poetry with a distinctive depressive streak, and a hot bath in any of Circassa's hot springs (the water is slightly reddish).<br />
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Circassans revere -- and fear -- blood, or rather the power inherent in it. A person's blood is a person's soul. The religion of the Red Men centers on the ritual letting and imbibing of the blood of (usually willing) others for whatever reason (marriage, mourning, pledging fealty). The bloodspeakers of the tribes use blood magic as part of sacred, divinitory rites. Don't call it blood magic though, since other and unsanctioned uses of blood magic are seen as severe blasphemy, or as a violation of a person on par with rape. These all function within the wider worldview wherein Diluvian is honoured as the Great Ancestor, the Dead Father.<br />
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These are the old ways, the ways of the blood. The tribes (calling themselves freemen) still practice these ways in their semi-nomadic travels over the Circassan plains and bogs. However, many Circassans have abandoned the old ways and live like a settled, agrarian people, either in their city of Godsgrave, or in the many cities of the lands surrounding Circassa. Some have even lost their old religion, the way of the blood and the Dead Father. The tribes call these city people stonefolk, and it is not a compliment.<br />
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<b>Flora</b><br />
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The Bloodlands are filled with all manner of choking weeds and gore-like algae filling the smoking pools.<br />
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<b>Bloodplum</b> is an ever popular fruit with the Circassans. It makes your eyes turn red if you eat too much of it.<br />
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<b>Purplerice</b> is the main agrarian crop for cities like Godsgrave. The tribes sometimes buy it, since it is useful, keeps for a long time, and it isn't hard to find a boiling pool somewhere if you can't get a fire going for cooking.<br />
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<b>Birch</b> grows in Circassa. Ordinary birch, though the leaves seem a little reddish. Same goes for many other "ordinary" plants and grasses.<br />
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<b>Fauna</b><br />
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Everything in Circassa has adapted to the heat emanating from the bowels of the earth in places.<br />
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<b>Hotfrogs</b> are frogs that have an incredibly high body temperature due to their adaptation to the hotter pools in Circassa's wilderness. They are a delicacy and the Circassans hunt them with long frogspears to avoid the hot steam.<br />
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<b>Soarers</b> are a type of very light and thin snakes that can - if weather allows - float crazy distances on the hot air streams that arise from the red ground. Some types actually hunt birds.<br />
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<b>Pearl Beetles</b> are delicious (and huge) insects that are not native to Circassa, but some have escaped after being imported to Godsgrave as livestock or pack animals.<br />
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<b>Monsters</b><br />
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Some bad critters are the <b>spirits </b>that arise from the boiling pools at certain positions of the moons. They might be fragments of Diluvian's ghost or manifestations of his betrayal. Nobody knows, but they can possess a man and makes his blood boil. When you look at them, your eyes start bleeding.<br />
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<b>Lurkers</b> are half-real, hateful creatures that lurk in ponds and pools to drag in any passing little girl and drown/boil her to death. An adventurer will also do. They might be born out of Diluvians blood same as the Circassans, but they are cruder, lumpier, and turn back into liquid once killed.Circas Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05766264412222575558noreply@blogger.com1