Gyre Islands

Art by Makato Yukimura

"Sailing north past the terror of the Whirling Strait of the Above Ocean are the rocky shores of the Gyre Islands.  From these islands the clansmen set forth out into the Whirling Strait to descend deep into those moon pools and cold caverns. Embedding harpoons into vast expanses of cold flesh, they grapple and pull their ropes. Thews glisten with sweat as curses and grunts spill from between tensed teeth. The sea-beasts are slashed with thin knives and their limbs removed. The butchers then enter the beast through each bloody orifice, boring themselves deep and pulling out that blood soaked treasure from within." - Ahasver Who Wanders

The ancestors of the Gyre Islanders arrived at the uninhabited archipelago centuries ago. Their names lost to time, their great struggle with the Bear is still remembered. A monstrosity towering above the trees and the hills, it was exiled to the islands in primordial times. The ancestors knew of bears in their homelands who would fish out salmon from the rivers, and upon seeing the Bear pull out the sea-beasts of the Whirling Strait named it such. They waged war against the Bear envious of its strength. Most died, the few survivors ate its flesh and grew strong. The flesh of the bear now inside them, each renamed himself as an aspect of the war against the Bear in honor of its strength.

Each Gyre Islander is valued only by the strength of his flesh. They produce neither art nor song save for funeral statues, instead struggling to grow bigger and stronger than those around them. There is no culture, instead there is a cycle of struggle, feast, sleep, all in preparation for the struggle which overwhelms them. As the blood of the Bear flows in their veins, they re-enact his actions. Each awakens with a need to pull the sea-beasts out from the sea and consume their flesh.

The Hunt and the Hunted. Art by Mitch Cotie and Robert Shore

Their bestial nature and general disdain for magic as an inability to take action by ones own hands leads many to consider them barbarians. Though barbaric, they are well learned. The numerous butcheries of the sea-beasts has taught them much of anatomy and what lies inside the living.  They have no gods among them, instead venerating only their strongest as living hero-saints. When one dies, he is simply flayed and his strength put on display, his musculature contorted to raise a standing stone in his honor.

An ancient pharmicist made his home among the Gyre Islanders, seeking to understand the secret to their strength. He found that their diet of bitter herbs allowed them to push their thews past their breaking points, snapping tendons and ligaments as they hauled their bounties ashore. Using his knowledge, they refined each bitter herb into a potent strengthening powder. Merchants from the Gyre Islands are identified by having hair only on top of their heads, an unclothed breast, and being able to awaken drunks from their stupor with but a few grains of their powders.

Preparing themselves to fish the sea-beasts, each Gyre Islander garbs themselves in shared uniform. The back and sides of each heads is shaved clean, a knot of hair above the crown free to frenzy in the salty wind. Each simply wears a pair of black pants, held up by wide belt etched with their Clan symbols. They show their chests bare to the sea, simply binding their arms in bands of black and blue. They wear their same garb when they go to war, avoiding armor which would obscure their forms. They believe their thews are enough to terrify their enemies.

3 Major Clans of the Gyre Islands

Clan Bearskin. Led by their elder Rooster, the Bearskins are the most well known clan of Gyre Islanders. Strongest among the Gyre Islands, their bodies ripple with muscles as they mock out-landers for being disfigured. Many keep hounds, and each Bearskin clan member bonds with one dog. Each also a massive beast, fighting alongside their masters. Each member meticulously cleans himself and is hairless, a nubile edifice of thick thews.

Clan Bridgeburner (Beartrap). - Led by their oracle Valentin, the Beartrap clan is know by others as the bridge burners. A few decades ago they imposed a firm embargo on any entering their island and burnt every bridge leading to it. First an insult by the other clans, the Bridgeburners adopted their name as a prophecy. Consuming their yellow powder of crushed phoenix and salt, each burns themselves from within.  Many degrees warmer than the other islanders, they walk as burning embers. While the internal flame grants them minor mastery of other flames, it leaves them self-immolating in behavior. Each knows the burning flame is a death sentence and each rushes forward towards either glory or swift death.

Clan Beartooth - Led by their minister Dark-Hair, the Beartooth sit in their towers and record all that occurs on the Gyre Islands. Their demeanor melancholy and sour, they rarely exit their towers to hunt within the Whirling Straight. Each records his thoughts upon lithographs which are not likely to be seen by other living souls. Many farm rather than fish and simply trade food for the treasures brought out of the sea-beasts's insides. Recording description of those bizarre constructs found within the sea-beasts.

Bridgeburner clan member burning bright with his internal flame. Art by Vulpes-Ibculta

Unique Purchases from the Gyre Island

Gyre Powder - This powder can be used in one of the following ways: Granting a +2 to a character's initiative score for 2 turns, healing 1 hp for 1 turn, or granting a +1 to a character's strength score for 1 turn. Uses of the Powder can be stacked to increase the effects, but a character must then Save else they take 2 points of constitution damage.

Bridgeburner Powder/Yellow Phoenix Powder - Upon imbibing, Save vs Death, if save is successful then the character heals 1d8+Level hp and is now on fire.

Moby-Dick Dungeons

"The butchers then enters the beast through each bloody orifice, boring themselves deep and pulling out that blood soaked treasure from within." - Ahasver Who Wanders

At some point I'm going to write up rules for hunting the Sea-Beasts. Essentially the Sea-Beasts are larger on the inside than the outside. PC's would have to capture and cut them open to enter their alien bowels. Full of  monsters as immune system, parasite infections, and sailors who have been swallowed and slowly driven mad. Treasure would be loot swallowed ages ago by the beast: so ancient armors, artifacts, barnacle encrusted chests of antediluvian coins, idols of a squid-headed god made from unearthly bone, and other items you would otherwise find in a "marine" dungeon.

Upset that God didn't save you via sea-beast, you go inside of it to grave-rob those who had been saved.

Ozborn: WhatATerribleNight ToHaveACurse

Art by Adam Paquette

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Let's go Carousing
Get to Ozborn at night and it's always dusk while you're there
Ozborn was built on top of an Old goblin keep which leads into the goblin realms. The keep was repurpoused into a sprawling sewer system
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Malina Chorna - Revived Death by Fire, from Gyre Islands
Opulescence the Jewel Mask - Wizard of the Sucrose
Kledon - Guest of Ruler Wulfgang at Fort Etxeberria
Ax Gang - Harass everyone but generally incompetent, encountered in 3d8 amounts
Goblin-head Duo - Masks of Leather, Manage Portal Works
Ramirez the Last Goblin -
Duboshit - Leatherbound servant of Ramirez the Last Goblin
Dynamo - No Peace will Come from carrying arms
Erasmus - Undead Sorceror, Pale White Ghost, Butterfly Blade Magic Weapon
Wolfgang - Rain Eroded Zahra Jewels in his chest piece, resides on the Philosphers's throne
Hollows - Katana Wielding enforcers of Wolf
Baalzebul - Young old faith Cleric, triple beam swarm of locusts
Ha Ring - Bodyguard of Baalzebul, bleached hair
Aquarias Kari - Member of the Hollows and grows Senzu Beans
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Council of Woe: Erasmus (Metaphysical), Shinta (Economic), Wulfgang (Defense)
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Natives of Ozborn wear Masks
Outsiders are offered free masks
Ax Gang, doesn't and instead carry axes
Weapons are free to carry but strong significance in carrying


Carousing NPC Encounter Table


Carousing Mishap Table 1d5

1. 1d6+2 Hollows and a human servant of Wulfgang surround the character. They accuse the character of being responsible for a magical duel fought atop of a cathedral roof last night. The character has either the option of agreeing to the charge or seek out the actual culprit (real sorceror), who slayed their last opponent by eldritch might.

2.  A woman falls into the street from the second story window in front of the character and dies on impact. Soon after, the character notices a hooded figure skillfully dropping, uninjured, from another second story window facing into the alley. The figure quickly disappears into a maze of side streets.

3. The character finds an item they have been seeking in the marketplace. As the purchase is completed and they are about to leave, a stranger rushes up to the merchant shouting, "I know you have it [NPC NAME], and I want my back back now!" The stranger is missing his entire torso.

4. Returning from the night, the characters find that a pair of young lovers have taken the characters's room as refuge to meet in. They are sought after by families that do not approve of their love. If the character chooses to aid them there is a 2 in 6 chance that the families will find out and send assassins after them.

5. The character is resting in their  room when suddenly the door bursts open. A well-armed man with weapon drawn storms in and says, "Don't move, I've...crap, wrong room." The intruder then quickly exits, if followed he will identify himself as a member of the BLACK KULT.

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Ozborn Monster Descriptions
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Ax Gang

Immaculately dressed the crowd mirrors the axes in their hands. The off white metal matching their fine silks and the black handle matching their coats and boots. They cackle and jeer at you. They wear no masks but instead style their hair similarly. Each has slicked it back with tar, leaving it a single unmoving mass. A unifromly thin mustache and goatee covers the lower half of their face.
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Hollows

White slabs emerge from black hoods. Each an orgy of wild angles. Their cloaks must hide the shame as their hunched forms contain no curve or symmetry. If one could fully right itself it may two heads taller than a man, but instead they skulk forward. hands draw curved swords with a single edge and they advance each at a jagged pace.

Your blade sinks into the cloaked flesh and tears it open. No blood spills to the ground and your sword is not painted either.

They all lie dead, slabs and cloaks. As you investigate the bodies you find nothing within the cloaks. Simply a sense of animosity.
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Grue

As you enter the room a darkness menaces out of the corner of your eye. You turn around swinging your torch in order to illuminate the enemy but find nothing. In your peripheral vision a wide maw opens white teeth and a howl is heard.

You grip the torch tightly as something lashes out from behind you. The torch falls to the ground and darkness envelops you.

In that darkness, you see it. A slavering maw full of needles below two red eyes. That mouth twice the width of man's shoulders.

The torch is lit and it dissipates a mocking cry eminating from it's maw.
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Poser Sorceror

Surrounded by a few fellows. A long haired figure slouches before you. Squatting in the corner of the room, all of them smoking, he looks up at meets your gaze. Gold dangles from his fingers, ears, and neck. He is clad in a dark clothing with esoteric images embroidered on them. The demeanor of his companions immediately informs you their are his faithful lackeys, riding his coat-tails with a deathgrip.

He introduces himself to you and ask how you find yourself here.
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Goblin Shadows

As you enter further into the room your torch causes the shadows of the room to coalesce into yellow eyes. Then into grey flesh riddled with archaic symbols. They are many. Each mishappen and wretched. None taller than your chest, and each equally pathetic. They hold crude instruments of war, a kid's attempt of picking a prop that resemble swords. They mutter and shriek to one another, fearful of the torch light. None have shadows, neither do they have fine details. Perhaps they are not worthy of those yet.

They do not approach instead merely avoid where the light of the torch spills out. Some hide behind rotted furniture, some force their bodies into the crevises in the walls, some even take to the ceiling to escape.
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Sorceror

The air reeks of ozone as a lone figure enters into your vision. Untouched by dirt his clothes are all bespoke and elegant. White robes swaddle his body and contrast with the grimy and soiled floor below his feet. He doesn't speak but merely stares through you.
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Church of the Mouse

A solemn temple stands amidst the fog. Forms of clergy walk further inside, each masked. You enter further and they turn to you. Edifices of wood covering their appearence and a mouse sits on the shoulder of each. They don't seem to have weapons instead a simple rope belt surrounds their waist. They sand silently as if waiting for you to speak.

In response a mouse sitting on the shoulder of the monk in front of you squeeks.

One leaves and then returns with a vial. He sets it down before you and steps back a distance before gesturing to it as the mouse squeeks yet again.

You imbibe the potion and suddenly the squeeking of the mice turns to words. The mice introduces themselves to you:
"We are the beautiful ones." Please, if you wish to take shelter enter our home.

You enter the temple and instead inside find a forest glen. They offer you another vial.

"Though we do not merely offer all in charitable assistance, we have need for defense against eye-blights, we can tell your our own occult truths, but for a price"
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Wilted Goblin Tree

Roots penetrate from the floor upwards. Warted and black these tentacles coil together and branch out like a tree. It reeks of vommit and seemingly bleeds slime from it's three open wounds.
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Goblin Tree

You recognize the mass of wires, tubules, and unnatural shapes as another fruit from which Goblin-Fruits grow.

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Stilt Walker

It stands a little taller than you, the figure's meager chest puny in comparison to the length stretched out for its limbs. Bones clearly broken and lengthened outwards. What may have once been a mouth full of few teeth has been replaced by a maw of iron nails, each rusted. Similar to the etchings of the goblin shadows the flesh of the figure is marked. Symbols archaic but easily understood. Torture, death, and woe to ontu others. Two yellow orbs each without a pupil stare back at you filled with envy and loathing; of joys you have had, of friends you had made, of smiles shared in confidence. Each something this creature has never enjoyed. It snarls unafraid of the light and raises its hands to evoke eldritch power.
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Erasmus

You enter the room and see a seated figure. As you stare at the figures pale body every use of the word gaunt now seems insincere. His skin is more tightly wound than the rope around the hanged man. Veins, muscle fibers, and bones menace outward as if every non-essential viscera was discarded. A thin beard covers his mouth and a mop of black of hair is tied back atop itself. His head bowed, shadows cast from his brow turn his eyes into caverns above sharp cheekbones. Both hands supinated sit empty above a black cloth surround his lower body.

A halo shimmers around his head, a tumult of white and gold the only clean thing in these filthy halls. Extending from between his shoulder blades it's zenith ends several inches above his forehead, the sphere centered between his brow.

A moment passes and both eyes open, each filled with flame.

Ax Gang HD1 DEF2 DAM1d6 MV12 SV6 MO8
Grue HD5 DEF2 DAM1d6/1d6/1d8 MV8 SV9 MO15
Goblin Shadows HD0 DEF0 DAM1d6 MV12 SV6 MO5
Hollows HD4 DEF6 DAM1d8+2 MV13 SV9 MO20
Poser Sorceror HD- DEF0 DAM1d6+1 MV12 SV9 MO10
Lackeys HD1 DEF0 DAM1d6 MV12 SV6 MO8
Stilt Walker HD2 DEF0 DAM1d6 MV12 SV6 MO5
Sorceror HD- DEF4 DAM2d6+2 MV12 SV13 MO15


Magical Items that can be purchased in Ozborn
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Bottle Imp: Black
Answers one question truthfully. Knows everything that Hell knows (which is damn near everything). If you eat it, or if it crawls down the throat of an intact corpse, it can possess that body for 30 minutes. Dies quickly upon contact with air. Can only answer questions that start with “what”.
Bottle Imp: Blue
Answers one question truthfully. Knows everything that Hell knows (which is damn near everything). If you eat it, or if it crawls down the throat of an intact corpse, it can possess that body for 30 minutes. Dies quickly upon contact with air. Can only answer questions that start with “why” or “how”.
Bottle Imp: Green
Answers one question truthfully. Knows everything that Hell knows (which is damn near everything). If you eat it, or if it crawls down the throat of an intact corpse, it can possess that body for 30 minutes. Dies quickly upon contact with air. Can only answer questions that start with “when” or “where”.
Bottle Imp: Red
Answers one question truthfully. Knows everything that Hell knows (which is damn near everything). If you eat it, or if it crawls down the throat of an intact corpse, it can possess that body for 30 minutes. Dies quickly upon contact with air. Can only answer questions that start with “who”.
Speak With Beasts
You can speak with all non-swimming, non-flying, non-crawling, animals for 3 minutes (use a timer). Smaller animals tend to be smarter. Carnivores tend to be demanding.
Speak With Birds
You can speak with all flying animals for 3 minutes (use a timer). Birds are usually very smart, very stupid, or very smart and pretending to be stupid. Migrating birds are the primary source of gossip in the world, especially modern gossip.
Speak With Crawling Things
You can speak with all crawling things (such as lizards and slugs) for 3 minutes (use a timer). Reptiles tend to be careful, pragmatic, and stubborn. They usually know the deep history of a place. Insects know many useful things, but they struggle with human concepts of time and identity.
Speak With Dead
You can speak with a corpse as long as it has an intact mouth (or if you reattach the jawbone) for 3 minutes (use a timer). They tend to be incoherent, obtuse, and prone to reminiscing.
Speak With Fish
You can speak with swimming things for 3 minutes (use a timer). Cetaceans want to know all about you so they can fit you into their theories and stories. Fish tend to be amazed by everything, forgetful, and a little awkward. Sharks talk of nothing else except eating
Speak With Metal
You can speak with metal for 3 minutes (use a timer). Metal tends to have a pretty good knowledge of everything that has directly happened to it since it was forged, but not things that happened to it. Weapons speak of their kills; locks speak of what they guard. Cursed and trapped metal objects tend to be liars.
Speak With Plants
You can speak with plants for 3 minutes (use a timer). Plants often have either a deep-seated hatred towards things that eat them and cut them down, or resignation. Trees tend towards the hateful side of things, and sigh a lot. Flowers tend to be optimistic idiots and/or sexually graphic. Grasses are nearly impossible to talk to because they all shout at once.

Valley of Himmon's Children

Last session, I ran a Total Party Kill Module for the players. It went so well that after re-fluffing a few things I shamelessly stole from Goblinpunch, I'm planning on publishing it. Because I'm gonna be posting the entire module in a PDF later on, this post will be mainly the highlights.

Update* Module can be downloaded by clicking on Modules.

• Party emerges from beneath ashes next to a lake of fire.
• Party enters a Bone Devil's Tower and rescues two children and a ghost. 
• Party finds a crawling hand with a map written on it's back.
• Party follows the map and finds an ancient vampire imprisoned in a hole.
• Party leaves and find giant lice who wish to enter their mouths in place of their tongues
• Party finds a trio of shacks full of wishmakers, nightmare distillers, and ugly walruses
• Party investigates a ship sunken near the shore and Ugh falls in the lake of fire
• The Bone Devil finds the party again
• Party trades the children for a wish and go back in time before the dragon encounter

Overall, the party acted much more cohesively and I think they are becoming much more skilled as players. 

The Latter Half of D&D

Because I couldn't come up with a strong module for the original party and we had a new member join us, I had everyone roll up new characters. I ran them through an old module, I had written around November. Everyone's character died a gruesome death and I get to run them through one of my Total Party Kill afterlife modules.. I don't think I've ever seen such good role-playing from my players.

Party # 2 Roster

Briellen, Level 1 Wizard played by H. Briellen is an easily excited wizard whose hair changes colors when people aren't looking. Her parents were killed by the soldiers of the Empire of the Alabaster Crown. Her first course of action is to talk to things rather than try to slay them. Her eyes boiled inside her skull as she was caught in a great gout of dragonfire.

Eldwin, Level 1 Knight played by F. Eldwin is a knight errant who is discontent with the way the Empire of the Alabaster Crown is run. Eldwin aknowledges his shortcommings in being a knight and "reappropriates" all treasure which has no use for the dead. The golden armor of St. Polyphagos melted into his flesh, as he was caught in a great gout of dragon fire.


Straid, Level 1 Ranger played by W. Dubbed "Loose Cannon" by his fellow party members due to his tendency to shoot enemies in the head and ask questions later, Straid understands that it is better to live and fight another day than die foolishly. Was bitten almost in half by the dragon and swallowed. He then regained conciousness within the dragon's stomach, attempted to draw his sword, and was burnt alive by dragon fire.

Roger, Level 1 Barbarian played by G. After this session Roger's class will be retroactively converted to the Ghoul-Knight racial class. Roger has a habit of trying to make friends by force with everyone he meets. He lost a leg when one of the "friends" he made became a zombie and bit his leg. Roger found a secret chute in the parish building, where an elevator had once been, and jumped down. He broke himself when he landed 110 feet down.


Ugh, Level 1 Barbarian played by M. With a strong Cajun accent and a strong sense of justice, Ugh travels the land hoping to stop criminals. Ugh's father was slain by a knight of the Empire of the Alabaster Crown. Ugh attempted to slay the dragon and dealt 15 damage to it, he then burned alive.



John, Level 1 Monster Hunter played by I. Traveling the wilds near November, John hunts monsters and seeks to help people. Keeping a detailed journal on the monsters he encounters, he hopes to aid the common man. John was carrying Roger when they jumped down the chute.



Muhjat, Level 1 Wizard played by K. An old man with a bad hip, Muhjat is a pacifist and does not enjoy violence. After surviving a great gout of dragon's flame, Muhjat attempted to blind the dragon with a spell of light. After he failed he fled and also jumped down into the chute.

Summary of Play

Starving on the streets of the November, the party is approached by a priest of the Cathedral of the Second Archangel. He tasks them with traveling to the mountainside parish high on Mt. Sloan. He has no communication from there for 3 weeks now and would have the party investigate. He tasks them with three things.

1. Discern why there has been no communication
2. If there is a tragedy, return with survivors
3. If there is a tragedy, return with the Church's relics

Traveling for three days the party finds the towers, ramparts, and bridges of the mountainside parish and travels upwards. Entering through a secret door behind a waterfall, the party chooses the low path and enters the small hamlet below the parish. They find several houses and no signs of life. They split up and promptly begin looting. Roger, Ugh, and John enter a house to the north and loot it for art. Muhjat, Straid, Eldwin, and Briellen enter a house in the south and find it occupied. The people inside announce themselves as "renovators". After a tense stand off, one of them says to the others to kill the four party members and to keep their new found loot to themselves. Hearing this, Straid fires an arrow which flies through the skull of one of these brigands. The other three give themselves up and are robbed by the party members. Free from their wealth and arms they run away.

As they run away, Roger sees one and gives chase. He tackles him down to the cobblestone street and the renovator, who we later learn is named Sergey, splits his head upon a sharp rock. Bleeding heavily from his head Sergey is harrassed by Roger. Sergey then manages to escape from Roger and runs off.

Moving deeper into the hamlet, the party finds themselves splitting off and looting again. Straid attempts to climb up through a window on the second floor. The ledge he was holding instead breaks and he falls down on his back. He hears voices inside and steps back drawing his bow. The three inside begin to step out before seeing his bow and then step back inside. The Party then reunites with Straid and begin to assault the building.

Eldwin slams the door open and falls into the building. Following him, Briellen rushes inside the building and seeing no-one on the first floor rushes upstairs. She cleanly bisects a pot thrown at her by one of the men inside. The other party membesr rush inside while Ugh and Roger wait for a bit. Then they see two men fall out of a window above the door. They clearly assumed that there would be a ledge there for them to grasp, but alas Straid had slain it earlier. They then rush the two men and break them upon the cobblestones of the streets taking them prisoners.

Briellen rushes the pot thrower at the top of the stairs and questions him. The party learns that these men are part of the brigand group called the Wolves and they are looting this hamlet. They learn that there is a camp of these brigands further up in an orchard. Deciding to parley with these men, the party heads towards the orchards. They meet with the rest of the Wolves and decide to release their prisoners. Roger chooses to keep one of the prisoners (Jaguar), lying to the leader of the brigands (Verja), that he wants to help the party. The brigands lower their barricade had made and allow the party to go towards the parish.

The party enters the parish some time later and finds undead inside. Roger loses control of Jaguar, who runs away from Roger, into the parish full of undead. Roger misunderstands this as bravery and cheers Jaguar forward. Jaguar runs into a trio of zombies who rend him limb from limb and lies bleeding out. Eldwin rushes in and slays one of the wights. Briellen rushes in and attempts to slay one of the zombies. Straid attempts to fire an arrow into a zombie and instead misses, hitting Jaguar's head instead, ending his suffering. The party quickly slays the rest of the undead in the parish and sets about "saving" the relics inside. Roger performs funerary rites on Jaguar. The party pilfers the ostuary of 5 saints and finds an old rusted sword on a platform. Roger takes this sword and the party departs.

The party exits the parish and finds themselves in a courtyard. Muhjat, concerned that they couldn't find the golden armor of St. Polyphagos, returns to the parish by himself to investigate. He then goes to steal the two silver coins Roger set upon Jaguar's eyes. Jaguar's character rises as an undead and he attacks Muhjat. The party becomes very concerned and runs in to help. Jaguar seemingly takes revenge on Roger, and bites Roger's femur in half, pulling his left leg off his body. Roger falls bleeding out, leg missing. The party rush Jaguar and slay him, while John binds the wound, saving Roger. The party continues searching for the golden armor of St. Polyphagos elsewhere.

The party walks past the courtyard but doesn't cross the charred and burned bridge in front of them. Instead, they choose to go up a watch tower. As they ascend, they see a massive tail from a window. Curious, the party finds a dragon sleeping on the roof of the bridge gatehouse. The party also sees the golden armor of St. Polyphagos resting on the roof, the dragon resting around its hoard. The party begins to deliberate what to do and decides to jump over to the gatehouse roof and try to steal the armor. During this process, Ugh decides that if he slayed a dragon he would be immortalized forever. Ugh comments to his peers, saying that when else would he have the chance to try and strike a sleeping dragon. Eldwin hops over and grabs the golden armor. Briellen hops over and prepares to speak with the dragon. Muhjat prepares to watch this horror unfold. Everyone else but Ugh finds cover in the tower. Ugh screams and tries to kill the dragon with his ax.

The dragon takes a good deal of damage and then awakens. The entire party then makes their save against the dragon's fearful presence. Ugh and Eldwin try to strike the dragon again but neither is able to penetrate it's scaly hide. The dragon breathes a great gout of flame and half of the party is INCINERATED. Only Muhjat and John make their saves against the dragon's fire breath. Briellen, Eldwin, and Ugh are but ash. Straid and Roger take a great deal of damage and gain fatal wounds, which they are able to survive against on their next turns. Muhjat unleashes his light spell but the dragon is not blinded. The surviving 4 run/hobble away from the dragon as it rams itself into the watch tower. As the surviving four run back to the parish, they hear the screams of the Wolves as Sergey and his friends, in the hamlet below, are slain by the rubble. Straid is bitten and swallowed by the dragon, while Roger, John, and Muhjat make it to the safety of the church. The dragon then crashes into the parish's antechamber and snakes its long neck into the parish. The remaining three topple a statue and find a chute going downwards. Fearful of the dragon's impending fire breath, they jump into the chute and fall 110 feet into the darkness, breaking themselves across it's stone floor.

Like this, but with way more fire

Running a 12 HD dragon against 7 Level 1 characters.

While some of the players complained that the dragon was "unbalanced" or "cruel", I think their reactions to the dragon were some phenomenal roleplaying. While sneaking to the roof of the tower, I told them that if they were loud the dragon might awaken. I derived pure satisfaction from their looks of fear and urgency that their companions also remain quiet. I think they understood that their chances of fighting the dragon hinged on their skill as roleplayers. They understood that in a straight fight they could not take the dragon and had to adapt. They began planning a tactical approach and some even thought to just leave.  I had the three players who died to the first gout of dragon fire play as the enemy dragon. They had a blast crushing towers and slamming through buildings. For the majority of the players, it was also their first time experiencing a dragon in a D&D session.

Compared to last session, this one went fantastic. The only complaints were that the party needed to work together more. I think that the party is becoming more and more aware of the notion of player skill rather than numeric value being the determining factor of how well they do. They roleplayed phenomenally and I'm super-excited to see what they do in the Total Party Kill afterlife module.

Anti-Cartography

I personally hate having to make maps whenever I referee a Tabletop RPG. My players seem to enjoy my maps, when I make them, but I hate having to make them, especially world maps, because I feel it limits my creativity. Now this has to do with how much detail I put into the maps. Ideally, I would just put in very vague locals and simply state what directions they are in. However, players want maps which detail exactly where things are. For this reason, in all of my settings/whenever I Referee. I declare that maps are essentially limited to a 6 mile hex and are essentially treasure maps which show something's locations. Dungeon maps exist but atlases do not. I think I just realized that I'm fine with maps; I just hate Atlases because once made, things have to have a certain spacial alignment.

 I am big fan of non-cardinal directions like upwards, downwards, nearby, faraway, towards the sun, deep, redwards, deathwards, and whimwards. I think that the origins of Tabletop RPG's in war-gaming made an implicit necessity of spacial alignment of locations. Personally, I don't like that. I feel that locations in fantasy don't need to be constrained by only 4 directions. Instead, I prefer to treat my locations as more of a tesseract. If you go north of the tribe of shining men you may find yourself at the mountain of truth, but if you dive deep into the lake in between the two you may find yourself in the cloud castles high above the lands of the shining men. I think that the concept of witch-ways (or at least the thing I imagine witch-ways to be) the ability to travel elsewhere not by distance but by completing an occult algorithm are really cool. Rather than driving two hours to the next city over, you can instead make a specific series paths inside of the local woods, and after entering a storm drain, you end up on top of a skyscraper in the next city over.

One of my favorite things about the OSR style of play is that player knowledge and character knowledge is the same. Players know that dragons have upwards of 10HD and deal their HP when they breath flame. They then implicitly roleplay their character's being scared of dragons because they themselves are. As a Referee one of my greatest joy is the players gaining insight into the world due to character actions such as researching the past, entering dungeons, or interacting with non-human entities. It allows me to "show the setting, rather than telling it", I think this helps player immersion a great deal because as their characters learn something new, they do so as well. For this very reason I tend to have the character's start out as foreigners, and then if they die the players can roll up a native. I feel that this mimics the Player knowledge of the setting and explains how their character now knows so much information that the previous character didn't. I like to do this with maps as well.

Cartography Process

At the beginning of the zeroth session, where the Players and I all agree on certain aspects of the world and make characters. They create the proximal world. I believe this reinforces the notion of the foreign as truly foreign. Players, and in turn their characters, will have an understanding of what is proximal to them because they have been there. However, as the players have their characters travel outwards, they will have no idea what they encounter save for a name.

After everyone rolls up a character, I have the table go around and ask the players questions that describe the town where they are living in. Everything a player says is now a fact. I might disable certain facts or ask to compromise on certain things which I don't feel reflect the tone of the setting to well, but otherwise what they say goes. I feel this also help players by immersing them in the world a bit more and legitimizes their knowledge base. For those familiar with the RPG Beyond The Wall, this is where I got (shamelessly stole) this concept of collaborative world-building.

After their hometown is made I go around the table twice over. Each player will give me a direction and I will have them roll on a table for what type of local they will describe. I will then give them the type of local they rolled and ask them to describe what is there and how they know about it. These aren't facts but instead are inspiration for me to place things in proximity. This populates the region and educates the players in what is nearby.

1d8 Table of what players describe for the referee 

1. Ruins of civilization within historic record
2. Ruins of civilization before historic record
3. Human town
4. Human city
5. Non-human town
6. Mythic monster lair
7. Magical resource
8. Otherworldy entrance

I then make a hex map for myself for purposes of distances, terrain, and geographical encounters. After I have made the mechanical aspects of the hex map I will add thematic elements to match the mechanical such as giving forests, mountains, or oceans names. Then I usually spend an uncomfortable amount of time in front of my computer screen consuming media to steal and tint in order to fill up what the player's described. Then the players decide to visit about only half of the locations on the map and begin writing up my lore/mechanics of each location to put out here so that I haven't wasted all of my time.

Bonus Rant on Creativity

I don't think there is anything wrong with reusing your settings/things you like. In almost all of my settings, I include a sprawling cavern complex filled with fungal spiders and their god. I think it's one of my thematically tightest encounters/dungeons/locals. There is nothing wrong with you doing the same. You can simply take the best encounters/dungeons/npc's/myths/ect and drop them piecemeal into new campaigns. Creativity is a false god. Steal Everything! If you like a character from a piece of fiction, steal him and change his name. If he reacts to the party instead of being just reference, congrats you just made a NPC, you'll enjoy playing. If you like the visuals of a video game/anime/music video/film/comic/tv show/whatever, steal it! Simply put it into your own words effectively and congrats, you have your own aesthetic. I have ran about 3-4 campaigns using the Pokemon Red and Blue setting, all I did was remove 95% of all the Pokemon creatures and used the original Japanese names of things/etymologically similar German/ etymologically similar Norse. No one figured out that they weren't playing a medieval eastern fantasy/medieval western fantasy/viking campaign. Most importantly steal from your own life. If you think your life is boring, then just go out and meet new people/have adventures to fix that. Simply take something that you know well, tint it in some manner, and boom you're a creative genius.

How To Decide Which Black/Doom Metal Album To Blare Over Your Speakers So You Can Ignore Your Players!

One of my players asked me how I choose what background music I play during my campaigns. I thought I could give her a more accurate/honest answer as well as assist other Referees by writing this post. I look at the background music of my campaign as the "score" of my sessions. I'll get into my advice on how to pick out good background music for your campaign below, but I want to explain some concepts first.

In regards to effectively scoring my campaigns, I have been fortunate in two unique ways Referees with the same amount of experience may not have been. First, around my sophomore year of high school I began to try to gain a better taste or appreciation in music. I began to expand my horizons in not only what I listened to, but also tried to listen to the "best" music. I don't currently ingest as much music as I did and I think I only spend maybe 3 hours a week attempting to find new music. I feel that because of this I am simply aware of more music to draw upon than other Referees. Second, I have been exposed to much media which had excellent usage of sound atmosphere. I don't know if I simply chanced upon noticing these things because they all had great usage of sound atmosphere, or if  my diet of music predisposed me to noticing the usage of sound elsewhere.

Like other aspects which go into creating an atmospheric setting such as negative/positive space usage, visual aesthetics, and tempo; a good sound atmosphere can make one's partaking in media much more overwhelming. I use the term overwhelming in an emotional sense, not a sensory one. I'm not referring to music being blared over loud speakers, instead I'm referring to the emotional intensity which results from the summation of a media's individual components.

Examples of good sound atmosphere off the top of my head below:

Donkey Kong Country

Heroes of Might and Magic 4

Sunless Sea

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Sound Effects and Backing Track

Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift Sound Reinforcing Visuals

28 Days Later  Climactic Build Up

Soundscapes

If one were to ask me to describe what kind of music I enjoy the most, I would probably list off a few of my favorite genres. Last time this happened I was asked why those specifically, and I got to thinking about how they relate to one another. The majority of my favorite albums fall into one of the following genres: Black Metal, Stoner Doom Metal, Cloud Rap, Witch-house, and Emotive Hardcore. On first glance, one may simply surmise I have garbage taste. Honestly though, each of those genres are dominated by soundscapes. I use the term to mean the increasingly atmospheric composition created as the album/song is played. perhaps the following song may help explain.

Link

Each element of the song builds and coalesces into an overwhelming experience. Now the song itself could not serve as background music. Instead, I would say to think of the song as two separate components. First are the recited lyrics and the second is the background instrumental. The lyrics themselves evoke a certain theme and the background instrumental reinforces that same theme. I would say that each component on its own could evoke the theme, but the combination of them is what makes it so atmospheric. Each component can then be divided into components. The recited lyrics can be looked at in terms of what is said as well as how it is said. The instrumental component can be looked at in terms of the repeated motifs and chants, specific tonalities and slow somber tempo.

Selecting Background Music

There is a fine line between distracting and supporting background music. To quote the musician Brian Eno "it must be as ignorable as it is interesting." The purpose of the background music is to thematically support the tone of the campaign, not be fun to listen to. Think of the campaign as the recited lyrics and the music as the instrumental component.

Side-note: Please don't use any music which has lyrics. Lyrics are too engaging and the players will try to figure out what they are saying. That kind of music distracts from the actual playing.

A great way to get music for your campaign is to steal Original Soundtracks from other media. Those are designed to facilitate a specific theme and you will also get a sense of what it should sound like. Friendly reminder, creativity is a false god!

For the majority of my dungeon background music, I either choose Dungeon-Synth, Post Metal, or Doom Metal Albums. Here are the ones I currently have in rotation for when the party delves: Pig Destroyer - Mass & Volume, Bongripper - Satan Worhsiping Doom, Bongripper - Miserable, HUNTER GATHERER - Regathered, Ufomammut - Idolum, Sans Soleil - A Holy Land Beneath a Godless Sky, Asva - A Game In Hell Hard Work In Heaven, Asva - A Trap For Judges,Sunn O))) - Black Wedding, Lord Wolf - Darklands of Hate, Dolch - Yggdrasil, Depressive Silence - 1996 Demo, Leviathan - A Silhouette in Splinters, Locrain - Extinction, and Locrain - Drenched Lands.

For the majority of my overland travel background music, I go either with folk or ambient albums. Here are the ones I currently have in rotation for when the party travels: Bone Tomahawk Film OST, Book of Eli OST, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. OST, Nebelung - Palingenesis, Black Hill and heklAa - Rivers & Shores, Forndom - Flykt,  Forndom - Dauðra Dura, Wardruna - Yggdrasil, Wardruna - Ragnarok, and Wardruna - Gap var Ginnunga.

For the majority of my battle music, I go with either the songs a film's OST uses for a fight scene, or a four string cover of either video game or thrash metal. For important NPC's and the occasional monster I use leitmotifs. These are often instrumental tracks of a song that remind me of a character. I use sounds of wind, rain, and the ocean to reinforce the locations characters are at. Lastly, I use instrumental covers of songs on harp or actual medieval music for when the party goes carousing.

Mukade Racial Class

Art by Tsvetan Nanov

Mukade

You gain +1 HP for every Mukade template you possess.

A Obligate Man-Eater

B Blazing Hunger of Aethon, Madness of Aethon

C Greater Evil, Manifest Famine’s Grasp

D Manifest the Shivering Centipede's Carapace

Obligate Man-Eater 

Instead of Rations, a Mukade must consume human flesh (1HD of corpse) to gain any sustenance. A Mukade gains no benefit from eating regular rations within a dungeon. Every day the Makude goes without eating flesh, they gain a point of Hunger. For every 24 hours a Mukade character goes without human flesh, the character must save else one Constitution point is lost until they feed on human flesh again. This save is made with a penalty equal to the Mukade's Hunger score. For every point of Constitution lost by a Mukade by forgoing to eat human flesh, they gain a point of Starvation. Only one point of Starvation can be restored per human flesh consumed. If a Mukade's Starvation score ever equals or is greater than their Constitution score they must roll as per Madness of Aethon. (See Bottom)

Blazing Hunger of Aethon *

As a Mukade character has human flesh within them, they have the ability to eat themselves in order to fuel themselves. A Mukade can willingly inflict a point of Starvation on themselves in order to increase their Attack, Initiative, Strength, and Movement  scores by 1 per 20, 40, 80, 160 HD of human flesh consumed, for a number of rounds equal to their Starvation score.

Greater Evil

A Mukade may substitute the flesh of Man-Eaters (any creature which consumes primarily human flesh) for the human flesh they must consume. 3 HD of Man-Eater corresponds with 1 HD of human flesh.

Manifest Famine’s Grasp* 

A Mukade can willingly inflict a point of starvation on them in order to manifest one of the following abilities for 1 turn, they may keep inflicting Starvation upon themselves to sustain it for further turns. Each manifestation grants a natural weapon and a mechanical benefit. The ability is chosen by rolling a 1d4 when the Mukade becomes Level 3.

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1. Famine's Feathers: +2 to initiative score, +2 to movement score and a ranged attack to 15' for 1d6 damage

2. Famine's Shell: +1 to AC and deals 1d10+STR damage

3. Famine's Scales: -2 to severity roll on Death and Dismemberment table, deals 1d6/1d6 damage

4. Famine's Tail: +1 to initiative score, +1 to Movement score, deals 1d8+STR damage

Manifest the Shivering Centipede's Carapace*

A Mukade can willingly inflict 2 points of Starvation on themselves in order to manifest a carapace over their body for 1 turn, they may keep inflicting starvation upon themselves to sustain it for further turns. The Carapace increases their defense score by a point for every 10 HD of Man-Eaters eaten, up to a maximum of 7. A Mukade cannot wear armor while manifesting this carapace.

Art by Rodrigo Vega

Madness of Aethon

If you use one of these powers more times in a session than your level, roll save with a Starvation score penalty or turn into an enemy monster. If you do turn into an enemy monster, your stats are converted into that of a monster and you must actively seek to eat all you human party members in your starved state. An asterisk next to a power indicates that it counts as one of those powers.