The City Tower of Deln is a huge, imposing structure. It is impossible, stretching upwards into the sky. The stone it is cut from appears to be sandstone, but shows minimal erosion whilst giving off the sense of incredible age. The work looks primitive yet incredibly precise. As you approach it, you realise several things - it is not a single tower, but four individual towers linked over and over by bridges throughout, allowing a traveller to pass between any of them. The other thing you realise is you are looking at at a corpse. There is no movement, no sound, no smoke, no light, no smell. You are looking at the skeleton of a beast coming up from the sands, a relic of time immemorial.
The interior of the towers is unsettling - incredibly urban yet also alien in every element. There is no understandable logic to the tangle of what appears to be residential rooms, commercial areas, gardens, temples, offices, storehouses, corridors, manufacturing areas, restaurants, barracks, training rooms, forests, natural caves and other impossible contents. Furniture and goods are perfectly preserved, and every shop contains honesty-boxes for payment. Every item is labelled with name (always readable) and price (always in your preferred currency) yet there are no residents.
Not a single creature is found, though there is evidence of similar expeditions to your own - camp-fires, expended ammunition, refuse. Eventually you will encounter groups or individuals similar to your own - lost, trapped or eager explorers. Some will be hostile. Some will have long ago given themselves to Deln. Some will attempt to live in this place as the residents did, replacing goods which have been bought, growing food in the gardens and forests, living in the beds. Over time, they will describe, the urge to leave diminished. They grow to love Deln. They would attack those who seek to destroy Deln. They only live above the tenth floors. There is nothing to stop anyone leaving apart from themselves. You will not always come out where you entered.
There are battles fought in the upper levels between those who now live in Deln, though all involved are very careful to not damage the city. There will be those from outside your reality here. There will be cultures from your past and future here. It would seem Deln has always been deserted, a place of squatters. It would also seem Deln is able to be found anywhere by those who seek it. However, Deln is masked from divination magic, and from the sight of the gods. The journey is the important thing. Clerics attempting to contact their gods in Deln are stonewalled, but spells are granted as normal. However, when they are cast, they seem dusty, as if retrieved from some ancient archive and then delivered, rather than granted in the normal way.
Everyone who knows of Deln speaks of it's great treasures. No-one knows how tall Deln is. They speak of the dangers of Deln. No-one knows who built Deln or why. It is said Deln will fall when the end comes.
Monday, 28 July 2014
A Metaphor ; Reality
More thoughts on the LotFP game, but could very easily be applied to everything I've ever run, maybe baring the 3.5 game. But anything is possible with this.
--
Imagine a black Sea. It stretches on infinitely. The Sea is rough, harsh, with swells and waves. It has no bottom and no shores. On this raw boiling Sea are boats. These boats vary wildly, but all have an identical function - they dry and keep the contents dry. Some boats are more like submarines, completely sealed from the black waters. Others are open, and the great waves wash over the boats, filling the boat and sinking it. Perhaps only flecks of water splash over, and the contents get a little wet.
The Sea is raw Chaos, the force of magic. The boats are reality, the forces of Law. They contain their own realities. Those who serve Law are the protectors and wardens of the boats, trying to drive away the influence of Chaos where it infiltrates the world. Whether the gods are the higher agents of Law or simply Chaotic beings captured and re-purposed by the force of Law is up for debate.
Magic Users are those who feel the pull of Chaos, of the Outside, of the Other. All Magic Users pierce tiny tiny holes in the sides of the boat, or perhaps stand on deck, trying to bottle some of that Chaos, and using it as raw power to invoke their spells, or perhaps infusing the raw stuff of Chaos into items and tools. Every time a hole is opened a risk is taken, with a larger hole containing greater risk and greater potential power.
There are further implication to this metaphor - travel between the worlds is possible, but incredibly dangerous. The factors involved in this are the distance between the worlds and how open the world is. The more open a world, the more Chaotic it will be. The more difficult, the more Lawful it will be. Staying too long in the Chaos attracts the dire attentions of those who call the seething Sea home, and they will find you. First the small things, those who dwell near the worlds. Tarry too long, and you will invoke the attention of the leviathans from the infinite black below, beings of unimaginable power and destructive potential.
The boat/worlds that sink are entirely overcome with Chaos. They are very easy to visit, being slowly ripped apart by the now free-reign of Chaotic energies. They are terribly unstable places, but entirely unique phenomena can be found there, at the point where Chaos and Law entwine unpredictably. Some of the Chaotic beings will drag away tiny fragments of the worlds and make their own realms, attracting others of their ilk.
There are thousands of splinter worlds which escape notice of the beings of the Sea. If anything survived the destruction of the world contained within, they will cling to these splinters and learn to adapt, as life always does. There may be fleets of splinter worlds within the infinite Sea of Chaos, fighting every day to continue existing, making use of impossible logic enabled by their proximity to the black waters of Chaos, building networks between each other and fashioning craft capable of travel through the Sea.
The completely water-tight realities are sterile wastelands. There is no Chaos, no life, only eternal mineral landscapes where natural processes wind on eternal. Many of these realities will have already suffered head-death and effectively be empty spaces. If one could seek refuge in these worlds, they could be fashioned into safe havens against the Sea.
--
Imagine a black Sea. It stretches on infinitely. The Sea is rough, harsh, with swells and waves. It has no bottom and no shores. On this raw boiling Sea are boats. These boats vary wildly, but all have an identical function - they dry and keep the contents dry. Some boats are more like submarines, completely sealed from the black waters. Others are open, and the great waves wash over the boats, filling the boat and sinking it. Perhaps only flecks of water splash over, and the contents get a little wet.
The Sea is raw Chaos, the force of magic. The boats are reality, the forces of Law. They contain their own realities. Those who serve Law are the protectors and wardens of the boats, trying to drive away the influence of Chaos where it infiltrates the world. Whether the gods are the higher agents of Law or simply Chaotic beings captured and re-purposed by the force of Law is up for debate.
Magic Users are those who feel the pull of Chaos, of the Outside, of the Other. All Magic Users pierce tiny tiny holes in the sides of the boat, or perhaps stand on deck, trying to bottle some of that Chaos, and using it as raw power to invoke their spells, or perhaps infusing the raw stuff of Chaos into items and tools. Every time a hole is opened a risk is taken, with a larger hole containing greater risk and greater potential power.
There are further implication to this metaphor - travel between the worlds is possible, but incredibly dangerous. The factors involved in this are the distance between the worlds and how open the world is. The more open a world, the more Chaotic it will be. The more difficult, the more Lawful it will be. Staying too long in the Chaos attracts the dire attentions of those who call the seething Sea home, and they will find you. First the small things, those who dwell near the worlds. Tarry too long, and you will invoke the attention of the leviathans from the infinite black below, beings of unimaginable power and destructive potential.
The boat/worlds that sink are entirely overcome with Chaos. They are very easy to visit, being slowly ripped apart by the now free-reign of Chaotic energies. They are terribly unstable places, but entirely unique phenomena can be found there, at the point where Chaos and Law entwine unpredictably. Some of the Chaotic beings will drag away tiny fragments of the worlds and make their own realms, attracting others of their ilk.
There are thousands of splinter worlds which escape notice of the beings of the Sea. If anything survived the destruction of the world contained within, they will cling to these splinters and learn to adapt, as life always does. There may be fleets of splinter worlds within the infinite Sea of Chaos, fighting every day to continue existing, making use of impossible logic enabled by their proximity to the black waters of Chaos, building networks between each other and fashioning craft capable of travel through the Sea.
The completely water-tight realities are sterile wastelands. There is no Chaos, no life, only eternal mineral landscapes where natural processes wind on eternal. Many of these realities will have already suffered head-death and effectively be empty spaces. If one could seek refuge in these worlds, they could be fashioned into safe havens against the Sea.
Dwarves part 2
It would seem I have Dwarves on the brain now. More info on the Rock and Stone Dwarves.
**Semi-Spoilers for LotFP players in my campaign, could well never come up**
Rock Dwarves are given to drinking and brawling when they are surrounded by their own kind, but when non-dwarves are present they seem incredibly serious. They just can't get their drink on with strangers around.
By contrast, Stone Dwarves are serious, grim and humourless. Their lives are given up to the collective good of the Burrow, and are occupied with work for the vast majority. Despite this, there is still wealth in their lives, but Stone Dwarven economics is nigh incomprehensible to anyone but a Stone Dwarf.
In terms of agriculture, Rock dwarves are very similar to hill-dwelling humans whereas the Stone Dwarves have to adapt for their subterranean existence. A principle crop is mushrooms, which are often grown on compost made from the dead - including Rock Dwarven dead. For more variety, they trade worked stone and metal goods to their Rock Dwarven cousins. For every Burrow there are roughly 3-4 Rock Dwarf villages.
Rock Dwarves have a requirement for every member of age within the village to be trained in organised combat, the most common weapons being heavy crossbows (imported) and using a shield and spear when distances close. They fight incredibly defensively, owing to their slowed movement due to their short stature, forming a solid wedge of Dwarf, reminiscent of a Hoplite Phalanx. Individual Dwarven fighters, whilst rarer than the human equivalent, are just as likely to use any given weapon.
Stone Dwarven military endeavours are far more involved and complex. The Dream Wardens generally fight with pole-arms, though they mimic the Dwarven Phalanx formation. They use extensive use of traps and hidden tunnels to fall back and ambush invading Nightmares. The Dream Wardens do not have an organised missile element, instead using a militia of those who live close to the dream armed with crossbows and utilizing murder-holes. The lower reaches of the Burrows are guarded by two main elements - a strictly defensive force of cross-trained Sapper-Spearmen, who block up tunnels with their formations whilst others collapse tunnels on the invaders. The final, offensive element of the Dwarven military are the incredibly highly trained Delvers.
Roughly equivalent to special forces in today's forces, they are extensively trained in individual combat, fighting in smaller groups, survival in the caverns and tunnels, stealth, ambushing and scouting. They are mostly used to disrupt enemies forces whilst the slower Sapper-Spearmen move to set up favourable defensive lines. Delvers are either actively scouting below the Burrow or re-equipping. They Delve until they are eventually killed. They generally operate in sevens, but this is not a hard rule, the number being tweaked as needed. Delvers are equipped with whatever the job requires, though many of them choose to specialise in particular weapons. Spears are very rare amongst the Delvers, though light crossbows are ubiquitous.
Rock Dwarves give praise to gods of merriment and partying, and give the bodies of their dead to the Stone Dwarves for what they believe to be proper burial. (see agriculture section) Their culture suffers from some serious guilt about not being as Dwarven as the Stone Dwarves, but also poking fun at their seriousness with all the partying they do.
Stone Dwarven religion is as complex and confusing as their underground tunnels, within a complex network of deities, spirits and ancestors all balancing and counteracting each other. Worship is an incredibly private affair - asking a fellow Stone Dwarf about his religious practices is enough to be exiled. Burial is to be Given Back to the Stone - a tiny stone cell is cut out, the body is interred and then the cell is sealed. No possessions are stored bar the simple black robe of Stone Dwarven society.
**Semi-Spoilers for LotFP players in my campaign, could well never come up**
Rock Dwarves are given to drinking and brawling when they are surrounded by their own kind, but when non-dwarves are present they seem incredibly serious. They just can't get their drink on with strangers around.
By contrast, Stone Dwarves are serious, grim and humourless. Their lives are given up to the collective good of the Burrow, and are occupied with work for the vast majority. Despite this, there is still wealth in their lives, but Stone Dwarven economics is nigh incomprehensible to anyone but a Stone Dwarf.
In terms of agriculture, Rock dwarves are very similar to hill-dwelling humans whereas the Stone Dwarves have to adapt for their subterranean existence. A principle crop is mushrooms, which are often grown on compost made from the dead - including Rock Dwarven dead. For more variety, they trade worked stone and metal goods to their Rock Dwarven cousins. For every Burrow there are roughly 3-4 Rock Dwarf villages.
Rock Dwarves have a requirement for every member of age within the village to be trained in organised combat, the most common weapons being heavy crossbows (imported) and using a shield and spear when distances close. They fight incredibly defensively, owing to their slowed movement due to their short stature, forming a solid wedge of Dwarf, reminiscent of a Hoplite Phalanx. Individual Dwarven fighters, whilst rarer than the human equivalent, are just as likely to use any given weapon.
Stone Dwarven military endeavours are far more involved and complex. The Dream Wardens generally fight with pole-arms, though they mimic the Dwarven Phalanx formation. They use extensive use of traps and hidden tunnels to fall back and ambush invading Nightmares. The Dream Wardens do not have an organised missile element, instead using a militia of those who live close to the dream armed with crossbows and utilizing murder-holes. The lower reaches of the Burrows are guarded by two main elements - a strictly defensive force of cross-trained Sapper-Spearmen, who block up tunnels with their formations whilst others collapse tunnels on the invaders. The final, offensive element of the Dwarven military are the incredibly highly trained Delvers.
Roughly equivalent to special forces in today's forces, they are extensively trained in individual combat, fighting in smaller groups, survival in the caverns and tunnels, stealth, ambushing and scouting. They are mostly used to disrupt enemies forces whilst the slower Sapper-Spearmen move to set up favourable defensive lines. Delvers are either actively scouting below the Burrow or re-equipping. They Delve until they are eventually killed. They generally operate in sevens, but this is not a hard rule, the number being tweaked as needed. Delvers are equipped with whatever the job requires, though many of them choose to specialise in particular weapons. Spears are very rare amongst the Delvers, though light crossbows are ubiquitous.
Rock Dwarves give praise to gods of merriment and partying, and give the bodies of their dead to the Stone Dwarves for what they believe to be proper burial. (see agriculture section) Their culture suffers from some serious guilt about not being as Dwarven as the Stone Dwarves, but also poking fun at their seriousness with all the partying they do.
Stone Dwarven religion is as complex and confusing as their underground tunnels, within a complex network of deities, spirits and ancestors all balancing and counteracting each other. Worship is an incredibly private affair - asking a fellow Stone Dwarf about his religious practices is enough to be exiled. Burial is to be Given Back to the Stone - a tiny stone cell is cut out, the body is interred and then the cell is sealed. No possessions are stored bar the simple black robe of Stone Dwarven society.
The Church of the Hanged Man
The Church of the Hanged Man worships a martyr-turned-deity, the name and crime of whom has been long since forgotten. The operate across the world in conjunction with local authorities, all too eager to act as a working jail. The Redeemers of the order are assigned Atoners, who are then put to work throughout the church, encouraged to strive towards penance through work. The church pays to take on these prisoners, seeing redemption as it's sacred duty. Many Antoners die in their penance, the names of such individuals recorded in great tomes located in every church. These Ledgers are sacred artefacts, and the loss of one is a great calamity. No expense is spared in reclaiming a Ledger.
Activities of the church include hunting for clues as to the Martyr's name, recovering lost ledgers, renting out prisoners as labour (the money is used to buy more prisoners) The church also operates large industrial operations, including quarries and mass-logging camps. There are whispered rumours of military forces of Atoners led and trained by the most militant of Redeemers.
Redeemers are notable in their priestly attire for the sackcloth bags worn over their heads and the noose around their necks, homage to the Hanged Man himself. This headgear does not seem to impede their sight. Their robes are unadorned black. There is no obvious hierarchy to the church, with all Redeemers appearing to be equals.
Clerics and priests of the church attempting to contact their deity are always met with the silence of the grave. Many are later found hung from the rafters.
Activities of the church include hunting for clues as to the Martyr's name, recovering lost ledgers, renting out prisoners as labour (the money is used to buy more prisoners) The church also operates large industrial operations, including quarries and mass-logging camps. There are whispered rumours of military forces of Atoners led and trained by the most militant of Redeemers.
Redeemers are notable in their priestly attire for the sackcloth bags worn over their heads and the noose around their necks, homage to the Hanged Man himself. This headgear does not seem to impede their sight. Their robes are unadorned black. There is no obvious hierarchy to the church, with all Redeemers appearing to be equals.
Clerics and priests of the church attempting to contact their deity are always met with the silence of the grave. Many are later found hung from the rafters.
Sordid History of Sarnak
**IF YOU'RE IN MY 3.5 GAME DON'T READ THIS YOU SHITWEASEL**
Huge, brutal stone slabs make up the structure of this buried city. There are few broken slabs - most have fallen, smashing, crushing and flattening anything in their path. There is little ornamentation, most things being almost entirely defined by function rather than form. You see strange patterns in the stonework surrounding this area, small bubbles in the stone, strange mixings of the rock stratas. Even in the darkness, you see the looming silhouette of some sort of government building, or perhaps a church. Sounds echoes cleanly, with little debris to warp and twist the sound. The air is dry, still, dead. You feel that this area would struck dumb onlookers when filled with life, no-doubt the product of some highly organised society, nearly entirely driven by goals and desire.
Unbeknownst to most, this ruin is of Sarnak, a great capital of the race of Orks. They had risen to prominence in the area, developing advanced culture many years ago. They had thrown off the primitive shackles of their god, earning his enmity and that of their more primitive cousins around them. Echoing the current times, they had established a city state unto itself, controlling various smaller outpost settlements around them. The worked stone was dug from where the glacier now lays, as was their metal. They had begun subjugating and civilizing their cousins, well on the path to Empire and dominion. However, the coming of Man curbed this forever.
Man sailed across in his ships, hardy people with dreams of settlement and riches. It has been lost to time what drove them from their homeland. When they made landfall, they fought the primitive Orcish tribes warring amongst themselves on the coast. Establishing their own settlements, they beat back the Orcs using their superior understanding of total war. Thus it was for several hundred years, until the humans had made a significant enclave of their own, a network of villages and towns, forts and keeps.
The Orcs of Sarnak were aware of the Men, and were unsure of how to proceed. The Men bred at a rate equal to the Orcs, but were far more united - if they leveraged all of their fighting men, the professional troops of Sarnak would be easily outnumbered. Attempts to muster their tribal kin had been met with outright refusal by the Shaman class, who held true to the wishes of their dark Gods. The expansions of Man were certain to encroach on the territories soon. Facing doom, the citizens of Sarnak girded themselves for war.
The war came and it was terrible. Horrendous losses on both sides, with the continuous raids of the tribal Orcs compounding the issues that quickly arose. The Human forces were initially taken aback by these organised Orcs, but pushed on through through this difficulty. Their sheer numbers and experience in fighting eventually forced the Orcs of Sarnak to retreat behind their huge stone fortifications. It was then their spurned god showed his true hand. The tribal Orc shamans conducted a ritual to plunge Sarnak beneath the earth, sealing away the inhabitants from the surface and from memory. This also denied Man the wealth of Sarnak, leading them to greedily raze the area for it's natural wealth, creating the badlands that now lay at the foot of the Chill. Meanwhile, the remaining tribal Orcs were forced into the aforementioned glacier, where they have remained since.
Huge, brutal stone slabs make up the structure of this buried city. There are few broken slabs - most have fallen, smashing, crushing and flattening anything in their path. There is little ornamentation, most things being almost entirely defined by function rather than form. You see strange patterns in the stonework surrounding this area, small bubbles in the stone, strange mixings of the rock stratas. Even in the darkness, you see the looming silhouette of some sort of government building, or perhaps a church. Sounds echoes cleanly, with little debris to warp and twist the sound. The air is dry, still, dead. You feel that this area would struck dumb onlookers when filled with life, no-doubt the product of some highly organised society, nearly entirely driven by goals and desire.
Unbeknownst to most, this ruin is of Sarnak, a great capital of the race of Orks. They had risen to prominence in the area, developing advanced culture many years ago. They had thrown off the primitive shackles of their god, earning his enmity and that of their more primitive cousins around them. Echoing the current times, they had established a city state unto itself, controlling various smaller outpost settlements around them. The worked stone was dug from where the glacier now lays, as was their metal. They had begun subjugating and civilizing their cousins, well on the path to Empire and dominion. However, the coming of Man curbed this forever.
Man sailed across in his ships, hardy people with dreams of settlement and riches. It has been lost to time what drove them from their homeland. When they made landfall, they fought the primitive Orcish tribes warring amongst themselves on the coast. Establishing their own settlements, they beat back the Orcs using their superior understanding of total war. Thus it was for several hundred years, until the humans had made a significant enclave of their own, a network of villages and towns, forts and keeps.
The Orcs of Sarnak were aware of the Men, and were unsure of how to proceed. The Men bred at a rate equal to the Orcs, but were far more united - if they leveraged all of their fighting men, the professional troops of Sarnak would be easily outnumbered. Attempts to muster their tribal kin had been met with outright refusal by the Shaman class, who held true to the wishes of their dark Gods. The expansions of Man were certain to encroach on the territories soon. Facing doom, the citizens of Sarnak girded themselves for war.
The war came and it was terrible. Horrendous losses on both sides, with the continuous raids of the tribal Orcs compounding the issues that quickly arose. The Human forces were initially taken aback by these organised Orcs, but pushed on through through this difficulty. Their sheer numbers and experience in fighting eventually forced the Orcs of Sarnak to retreat behind their huge stone fortifications. It was then their spurned god showed his true hand. The tribal Orc shamans conducted a ritual to plunge Sarnak beneath the earth, sealing away the inhabitants from the surface and from memory. This also denied Man the wealth of Sarnak, leading them to greedily raze the area for it's natural wealth, creating the badlands that now lay at the foot of the Chill. Meanwhile, the remaining tribal Orcs were forced into the aforementioned glacier, where they have remained since.
Sunday, 27 July 2014
Developing some details for the LotFP game
Just some rough 'sketches' of stuff for my LotFP campaign. Probably boring and derivative.
Elves.
The forests are rich, old and dark. The beasts roam free and those not welcome in the communities lurk and brood. The roads are dangerous and thin when they do exists, and only skirt the light outer edges. The deep forests were not meant for man. The inner, ancient woodland is haunted by a race inimical to man. They flit between the trees and plants, passing freely through the densest foliage and most difficult terrain. They trap, confuse, cut, shoot and bleed intruders. Your body will be left for the animals, decomposing to feed nutrients to the plants. They are the Elves.
Once their dominion projected forth from the forests. Your grandfather's grandfather may remember the time of the Illyan - a time where a cousin of the Elves of today held the area in a tight grip, and man was nought but a plaything. The ruins of this time are scattered about the land, invariably containing valuables, secrets and death. We do not know why they retreated, only that they did. And now Elves are only spoken of in hushed whispers matched with furtive glances at the oh-so-brave adventurers asking about them. No good can come of disturbing their land.
Dwarves.
There are two kinds of Dwarf - the dour Rock and the unseen Stone. Rock dwarves live in hill communities, farming pastorally much as men would in similar places. However, they have fantastic metal and stone work at their disposal thanks to trade with the Stone. Rock dwarves are unwelcoming of humans, and barely tolerate visitors for any length of time, especially adventurers.
We know nothing about the Stone Dwarves bar that they spend their entire lives underground.
--DM INFO--
The Stone Dwarves do not believe in the surface. It is merely a dream in the minds of the those who truly exist. Those Dwarves who dwell there are the Dreamers, or the Sleeping. They are fools of great use, for they and they alone can evoke things from the Dream into the reality of Down. Though only the better-off Dwarves can afford such delicacies, the Dreamers do well of the trade. They do not attempt to understand, for the nature of reality does not suit them - they find it distasteful after the Dream.
Sometimes Nightmares pierce their way into the real, through holes the Sleepers insist of leaving open, or perhaps through their own ken. The Sleep Wardens guard such places, and are uniquely gifted in comprehending both the reality and the Dream. They can never experience the true reality because of this, and are confined to the upper layers of the real, where the borders are thin. The real is dark and stretches on beyond ken, but it is finite. The Dream is infinite and filled with unreliable, fickle lights and beings.
Elves.
The forests are rich, old and dark. The beasts roam free and those not welcome in the communities lurk and brood. The roads are dangerous and thin when they do exists, and only skirt the light outer edges. The deep forests were not meant for man. The inner, ancient woodland is haunted by a race inimical to man. They flit between the trees and plants, passing freely through the densest foliage and most difficult terrain. They trap, confuse, cut, shoot and bleed intruders. Your body will be left for the animals, decomposing to feed nutrients to the plants. They are the Elves.
Once their dominion projected forth from the forests. Your grandfather's grandfather may remember the time of the Illyan - a time where a cousin of the Elves of today held the area in a tight grip, and man was nought but a plaything. The ruins of this time are scattered about the land, invariably containing valuables, secrets and death. We do not know why they retreated, only that they did. And now Elves are only spoken of in hushed whispers matched with furtive glances at the oh-so-brave adventurers asking about them. No good can come of disturbing their land.
Dwarves.
There are two kinds of Dwarf - the dour Rock and the unseen Stone. Rock dwarves live in hill communities, farming pastorally much as men would in similar places. However, they have fantastic metal and stone work at their disposal thanks to trade with the Stone. Rock dwarves are unwelcoming of humans, and barely tolerate visitors for any length of time, especially adventurers.
We know nothing about the Stone Dwarves bar that they spend their entire lives underground.
--DM INFO--
The Stone Dwarves do not believe in the surface. It is merely a dream in the minds of the those who truly exist. Those Dwarves who dwell there are the Dreamers, or the Sleeping. They are fools of great use, for they and they alone can evoke things from the Dream into the reality of Down. Though only the better-off Dwarves can afford such delicacies, the Dreamers do well of the trade. They do not attempt to understand, for the nature of reality does not suit them - they find it distasteful after the Dream.
Sometimes Nightmares pierce their way into the real, through holes the Sleepers insist of leaving open, or perhaps through their own ken. The Sleep Wardens guard such places, and are uniquely gifted in comprehending both the reality and the Dream. They can never experience the true reality because of this, and are confined to the upper layers of the real, where the borders are thin. The real is dark and stretches on beyond ken, but it is finite. The Dream is infinite and filled with unreliable, fickle lights and beings.
Friday, 25 July 2014
Mechs and Howitzers
A friend recently ran an experimental game about mechs blowing each other the fuck up. We used a simple system he had cobbled together out of various parts, with the combat system being entirely bespoke. The primary motivation for the game was the guys love of Steel Battalion, something I can support. Seriously, go read about this game before going on, it's pretty badass.
So, the main divergence point with Steel Battalion is the agility of your mechs (known as Vertical Tanks in-universe) as well as the targeting systems available. Thanks to computer assisted aiming for almost all weapons, each weapon discharge is assumed to hit unless the target takes preventative measures, which for most weapons involves a dodge move to the left/right. Whilst the VT is pretty mobile, dodging like this strains the system, meaning you can only do it every so often (we worked it as once per turn rotation) without specialist systems or skills.
Seeing as we were playing as a routine merc. group, we only had the most basic mechs available to us, which led to a feeling of our mechs simultaneously durable and fragile - you can avoid being hit, but if you get cornered or focused, you are going to quickly explode horribly. Furthermore, the mech is not your character - the pilot inside is getting the feedback of shots impacting. This was represented by addition 'force' damage dice, which represented the chance of powerful weapons to both throw the pilot around or knock a mech flat - a dangerous position. Being on the floor means no dodging, meaning you get pinged by shots over and over.
The other important thing to note about combat in this universe is the importance in ranging - most weapons have a minimum range they can't be used within, the rounds pinging uselessly off armour. The majority of combat relies on you positioning effectively between your minimum and maximum ranges whilst trying to spoil the opponents ranges.
To give the system a whirl, we were tasked with conducting an ambush on a small convoy consisting of 3 non-combatant carriers and 2 medium-weight enemies, known as Scarefaces. Our motley crew consisted of myself in a heavy-weight mech I had kitted out almost entirely to smash into others with a close-combat weapon, a pair of long-range firepower mechs and an EWAR/Spotter role light mech who was tasked with guarding the heavy hitters.
Unfortunately, we got spotted in our ambush and this led to a messy engagement. Thanks to the inherent clumsiness of a heavyweight mech, I fell flat on my face attempting to close distance, getting a rifle slug in my side for the trouble. Our ranged section was far more effective, the initial barrage of howitzer shells and rifle fire near-flattening one of our opponents and damaging the other. The said flattened enemy spent their turn picking themselves up, the pilot inside panicking and losing an action for it.
In the next turn rotation, I spent my entire turn attempting (and eventually succeeding) in righting my machine, whilst the already damaged target was finished off with another round of pummelling. The remaining target attempted to retaliate against the howitzer-user, who was saved by the EWAR mech firing down a locked-on missile.
I finally redeemed myself by tearing open the remaining armed enemy, removing the cockpit from it's rightful place, leaving plenty of salvageable material. The small carrier mechs were now attempting to flee. One of them was 'convinced' to surrender, whilst the other two were destroyed. The first took a burst of machine-gun fire into the back, scoring hits into the gas-regulator systems, causing toxic fumes to gas out the pilot. This was only possible due to reduced armour facing in the back, giving a small chance of hitting vitals. The remaining carrier was flattened entirely by the ranged team and their sustained fire.
Overall, we all had a blast with this, though we will probably use a miniature grid in future for distancing purposes. Some of the stuff I didn't cover here includes the perks you were given access to, which enabled extra options within combat. All of us look forwards to playing out more of this system, as well as refining it as time goes by.
So, the main divergence point with Steel Battalion is the agility of your mechs (known as Vertical Tanks in-universe) as well as the targeting systems available. Thanks to computer assisted aiming for almost all weapons, each weapon discharge is assumed to hit unless the target takes preventative measures, which for most weapons involves a dodge move to the left/right. Whilst the VT is pretty mobile, dodging like this strains the system, meaning you can only do it every so often (we worked it as once per turn rotation) without specialist systems or skills.
Seeing as we were playing as a routine merc. group, we only had the most basic mechs available to us, which led to a feeling of our mechs simultaneously durable and fragile - you can avoid being hit, but if you get cornered or focused, you are going to quickly explode horribly. Furthermore, the mech is not your character - the pilot inside is getting the feedback of shots impacting. This was represented by addition 'force' damage dice, which represented the chance of powerful weapons to both throw the pilot around or knock a mech flat - a dangerous position. Being on the floor means no dodging, meaning you get pinged by shots over and over.
The other important thing to note about combat in this universe is the importance in ranging - most weapons have a minimum range they can't be used within, the rounds pinging uselessly off armour. The majority of combat relies on you positioning effectively between your minimum and maximum ranges whilst trying to spoil the opponents ranges.
To give the system a whirl, we were tasked with conducting an ambush on a small convoy consisting of 3 non-combatant carriers and 2 medium-weight enemies, known as Scarefaces. Our motley crew consisted of myself in a heavy-weight mech I had kitted out almost entirely to smash into others with a close-combat weapon, a pair of long-range firepower mechs and an EWAR/Spotter role light mech who was tasked with guarding the heavy hitters.
Unfortunately, we got spotted in our ambush and this led to a messy engagement. Thanks to the inherent clumsiness of a heavyweight mech, I fell flat on my face attempting to close distance, getting a rifle slug in my side for the trouble. Our ranged section was far more effective, the initial barrage of howitzer shells and rifle fire near-flattening one of our opponents and damaging the other. The said flattened enemy spent their turn picking themselves up, the pilot inside panicking and losing an action for it.
In the next turn rotation, I spent my entire turn attempting (and eventually succeeding) in righting my machine, whilst the already damaged target was finished off with another round of pummelling. The remaining target attempted to retaliate against the howitzer-user, who was saved by the EWAR mech firing down a locked-on missile.
I finally redeemed myself by tearing open the remaining armed enemy, removing the cockpit from it's rightful place, leaving plenty of salvageable material. The small carrier mechs were now attempting to flee. One of them was 'convinced' to surrender, whilst the other two were destroyed. The first took a burst of machine-gun fire into the back, scoring hits into the gas-regulator systems, causing toxic fumes to gas out the pilot. This was only possible due to reduced armour facing in the back, giving a small chance of hitting vitals. The remaining carrier was flattened entirely by the ranged team and their sustained fire.
Overall, we all had a blast with this, though we will probably use a miniature grid in future for distancing purposes. Some of the stuff I didn't cover here includes the perks you were given access to, which enabled extra options within combat. All of us look forwards to playing out more of this system, as well as refining it as time goes by.
Wednesday, 23 July 2014
huh
Couldn't sleep a couple of nights ago
Their
machines shine,
And glint
darkly in the sun.
Our machines
bask,
And reflect
not.
Their
machines are of thought,
And slip
through them.
Our machines
are literal,
Course,
crude and slow.
Their
machines skim,
Over sand
and bower.
Our machines
tear,
Grunt, quake
and moan.
Their
machines dive,
Amongst us,
slicing.
Our machines
roar,
Spit and
explode.
Their
machines are cruel,
Capricious
and bright.
Our machines
are dumb,
Unthinking
and slow.
Their
machines swarm,
Spreading
and twitching.
Our machines
squat,
Alone and
grounded.
Their
machines leave glimmering,
Beautiful
graveyards and tombs.
Our machines
die slow and loud,
Glory and
ruin amidst the wrecks.
Are their
machines truly machines?
Are our
machines anything but?
Tuesday, 22 July 2014
Great Trees
There are trees, and then there are the Great Trees. There
are forests, and then there are the Great Forests – those which host a single
Great Tree. If a party ever stumbles across one, roll twice on the table below – the first
is the tree’s appearance, the second is its true nature.
D4
|
Description
|
1
|
Ancient, wise and true
|
2
|
Twisted, bitter and
malicious
|
3
|
Capricious, fickle and fey
|
4
|
Young, curious and naïve
|
If the Great Tree deigns to speak to the group, roll below to see what is has to say.
Ancient Tree
D6
|
Speaks thusly…
|
1
|
Answers a single question with absolute truth. Opinions are the Tree’s
own.
|
2
|
Recounts a notable historical event of interest that occurred within
the forest.
|
3
|
Tells a tale of the time before man, elf or dwarf trod foot on the
world.
|
4
|
Imparts a bleak prophecy based on recent (within past 100 years)
events.
|
5
|
Finally answers the question the last group it met asked it.
|
6
|
Gives directions to allies within the forest.
|
Twisted Tree
D6
|
Speaks thusly…
|
1
|
Imparts horrible doom upon the group.
|
2
|
Gives false answers to any questions asked of it – these answers will
be damaging where possible.
|
3
|
Gives directions to ‘allies’ – actually most dangerous creature of
the forest.
|
4
|
Invents rumours of impending war/plague/famine – intent is to create
self-fulfilling prophecy.
|
5
|
‘Prophesies’ success of group’s current objective and the horrible
consequences of this.
|
6
|
‘Prophesies’ failure of group’s current objective and the horrible
consequences of this.
|
Capricious Tree
D6
|
Speaks thusly…
|
1
|
Gives directions to get the group hopelessly lost in the forest.
|
2
|
Sends the group in the complete opposite direction of their current
objective.
|
3
|
Gives the group fabricated clues to any questions asked of it.
|
4
|
Answers a question truthfully but in riddles.
|
5
|
Attempts to coax the group into sleeping beneath its branches – will
cast sleep if needs be.
|
6
|
Signals dryads/nymphs of the area silently.
|
Young Tree
D6
|
Speaks thusly…
|
1
|
Asks the group incessant questions on any and all subjects.
|
2
|
Stumbles over speech and confuses the players whilst trying to impart
information.
|
3
|
Demands an interesting fact from each member of the party.
|
4
|
Insists the party stays until it is bored of them.
|
5
|
Nothing – it is awed simply watching the players zip about.
|
6
|
Imparts information regarding events occurring near the forest within
last 5 years.
|
When Great Trees choose to speak and answer questions,
tradition demands a sacrifice or offering to be made…
D10
|
Offering of…
|
1
|
A token watering of the tree’s roots.
|
2
|
The leaf of a distant tree.
|
3
|
The sacrifice of an animal.
|
4
|
The sacrifice of an intelligent being.
|
5
|
A sincere conversion to Druidic beliefs.
|
6
|
A significant amount of mineral wealth.
|
7
|
A literary work of note.
|
8
|
An intelligent carer for 1 week.
|
9
|
An intelligent carer for 5 years.
|
10
|
An intelligent carer for life.
|
A group unwilling or unable to make an offering is inflicted
thusly….
D4
|
Punishment
|
1
|
Animals to hound them in any Great Forest.
|
2
|
Never a restful night in any Great Forest.
|
3
|
Innumerable dead-falls, rabbit holes, thorny plants and the like in
any Great Forest.
|
4
|
The Great Trees will spread tales of your terrible deeds – whenever they
tell a lie, there is a chance your group is the subject of the lies.
|
Monday, 21 July 2014
Alternate Race Generation
So, I’ve been thinking about how races work through the
various editions, and I came to the realisation I much prefer having race/class
as a combination rather than being the same thing mechanically.
On top of this, I also felt that flat bonuses to stats were
kinda boring and deterministic, so instead I made a system whereby you just
have a different spread of values for your stats, generated by rolling dice
other than 3d6. So, substitute the usual stat bonuses for the rolls below. Other
abilities for races should probably be left as – is. The only issue is how to
make humans operate on-par with the demihumans – possibly give them the ability
to switch two stats? (Assuming hard rolling down-the-line)
This table should work for any system of D&D, and could
be tweaked to other systems.
|
Statistic
|
Human
|
Elf
|
Dwarf
|
Halfling
|
Orc
|
|
Charisma
|
3d6
|
2d6 + 1d8
|
2d6 + 1d4
|
3d6
|
1d6 + 2d4
|
|
Constitution
|
3d6
|
3d4
|
1d6 + 2d8
|
2d6 + 1d4
|
1d6 + 2d8
|
|
Dexterity
|
3d6
|
1d6 + 2d8
|
1d6 + 2d4
|
3d8
|
3d6
|
|
Intelligence
|
3d6
|
3d6
|
3d6
|
3d6
|
1d6 + 2d4
|
|
Strength
|
3d6
|
3d6
|
2d6 + 1d8
|
1d6 + 2d4
|
3d8
|
|
Wisdom
|
3d6
|
3d6
|
3d6
|
3d6
|
3d6
|
The above rolls use human as a baseline, Elves as graceful,
charming but fragile, Dwarves as strong, tough but dour and clumsy, Halflings
as nimble yet weak and fragile and Orcs as powerful physically but stunted in
other areas.
So, using the above table, we get the following spread of
statistics amongst the average
members of that race.
|
Statistic
|
Human
|
Elf
|
Dwarf
|
Halfling
|
Orc
|
|
Charisma
|
7-12
|
9-15
|
7-11
|
7-12
|
7-11
|
|
Constitution
|
7-12
|
5-9
|
8-16
|
7-11
|
8-16
|
|
Dexterity
|
7-12
|
8-16
|
6-10
|
9-17
|
7-12
|
|
Intelligence
|
7-12
|
7-12
|
7-12
|
7-12
|
6-10
|
|
Strength
|
7-12
|
7-12
|
9-15
|
6-10
|
9-17
|
|
Wisdom
|
7-12
|
7-12
|
7-12
|
7-12
|
7-12
|
Whereas this table shows the maximum possible rolled stat for any of these races, with a minimum
of 3 for any of them.
|
Statistic
|
Human
|
Elf
|
Dwarf
|
Halfling
|
Orc
|
|
Charisma
|
18
|
20
|
16
|
18
|
14
|
|
Constitution
|
18
|
12
|
22
|
16
|
22
|
|
Dexterity
|
18
|
22
|
14
|
24
|
18
|
|
Intelligence
|
18
|
18
|
18
|
18
|
14
|
|
Strength
|
18
|
18
|
20
|
14
|
24
|
|
Wisdom
|
18
|
18
|
18
|
18
|
18
|
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