Friday, November 25, 2016

Creepy Crawlies for 5e

So I know that old school stuff is the stuff I normally do, but today I started playing in a 5e game one of my friends is running (the first game they are running actually!) and I'm a slightly modified dark elf thats actually a roach person so I thought "why not make stats for invertebrate races" so that's what this is.

Anything not noted in the racial stats is assumed to be the same as a human (so default). Also, while these are just referred to as cockroaches and worms, they are supposed to be intelligent people versions of them, with it assumed that they can manipulate things like a person.

Cockroach
Ability Scores Cockroaches get +2 to Constitution and +1 to Dexterity
Improved Darkvision Cockroaches are able to see in dim light up to 120 feet as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light.
Sunlight Sensitivity Cockroaches have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when they, the target of their attack, or whatever they are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight or otherwise bright light.
Blattodean Resilience Cockroaches have advantage on saving throws against poison, and when they drop to 0 hit points but are not killed outright they can instead drop to 1 hit point. Cockroaches can eat anything and everything.
Fragile Exoskeleton The hit point rolls of a cockroach are made at -1.
Biting Mandibles Cockroaches have a natural weapon attack in the form of a mandible bite, which they are proficient in and deals 1d4 piercing damage + 1d4 poison damage if the victim fails a constitution save.
Languages In addition to Common, cockroaches are able to speak with mundane and monstrous cockroaches of all kinds, and can speak Undercommon.

Housefly
Ability Scores Flies get +2 to Dexterity and +1 to Constitution, -1 to Charisma
Compound Eyes Flies have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Flight Flies are able to fly at a speed of 20 feet, and they can hover in place.
Fragile Exoskeleton The hit point rolls of a fly are made at -1.
Acidic Vomit Flies have a natural "weapon" attack in the form of their acidic vomit. They have proficiency in this attack, and it deals 1d6 acid damage, and functions like a flask of acid. Additionally, they can eat anything and everything.
Languages In addition to Common, flies are able to speak with mundane and monstrous flies of all kinds. However, when they speak Common it is very hard to understand them.

Worm
Ability Scores +1 to Strength and +1 to Wisdom
Blindness Worms are eyeless and thus cannot see, but they have tremorsense out to 30 feet around them.
Digging Worms have a "walking" speed of 20 feet, but have a burrowing speed of 35 feet. Worms can eat dirt, and thus do not require rations.
Dirtcunning Whenever you make any sort of check relating to caves, burrows, valleys, or any other sort of natural earth construction, you double your proficiency bonus when adding to the roll.
Languages In addition to Common, worms are able to speak with mundane and monstrous worms of all kinds, and can speak Terran.

Flea
Ability Scores +2 to Dexterity, +1 to Constitution, -1 to Charisma
Size Fleas are Small in size.
Speed Fleas have a walking speed of 35 feet.
Low Light Vision Fleas can see up to 60 feet in dim light conditions, but cannot see in conditions of darkness.
Flea Nimbleness Fleas can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than them. They are able to long jump without moving 10 feet first, and can jump to heights of 6 + their Strength score.
Fragile Exoskeleton The hit point rolls of a flea are made at -1.
Haemophagous Fleas can heal themselves by sucking the blood from creatures. For every hit point that they suck from the victim, they heal 1 hit point, but unless the victim is held down or is willing they are able to make strength saves to shake the flea off.
Languages In addition to Common, fleas are able to speak with mundane and monstrous fleas of all kinds, as well as all sorts of haemophagous monsters.

Mysterious Creatures

Below are old school stats for a number of cryptids, aliens, beings, and spirits from real world cryptozoology, ufology, and conspiracy theories for if you just really want the flatwoods monster in your game.

A note on statblocks: while this is compatible with whatever osr system you wish to use, they are formatted a bit differently from some systems, and there are some stats that assume houserules I use.

Hit Dice: # of d8s rolled for HP. Armor: if present, points subtracted from damage.
Attacks: number of attacks per round, attack bonus, damage of attacks
Saving throws: Toxic save/Paralysis saves/Magic save/Dodge save/Device save
                         (note: toxic is what is usually called poison, dodge is breath or dragon breath)
                         (second note: its roll equal to or under for success)
                         (third note: use dodge save instead of armor class)
Move: movement rate in feet per turn. Morale: number out of 12 for morale checks

Loveland Frog
Hit Dice: 3    Armor: 0
Attacks: 1, +3, d6 damage
Saving Throws: 14/13/15/12/13
Move: 120' Morale: 7
These frogs are humanoid amphibians that hide in sewers and under fetid bridges, congregating in small groups of 2 to 5. Loveland frogs, named after the first town they appeared in, are unspeaking and have unknown motives, crawling and hopping through their stinking homes during the day and only venturing out at night. They all are found carrying sparkling wands that illuminate the area around them with the loud sparkles, and they are able to paralyze creatures with these wands by pointing them at the victim, freezing them in place on a failed paralysis save.

Star Mummy
Hit Dice: 4+1   Armor: 2
Attacks: no attacks
Saving Throws: 16/15/16/13/15
Move: 100' Morale: 10
Star mummies are beings from another world with unusual appearance. They are vaguely humanoid, with grey wrinkled skin and legs fused together into one limb, their gangly arms ending with crab-like claws. Their heads are featureless except for thin slit mouths and their noses and ears nothing but pointed peaks. They float 2 feet above the ground, and travel about in great silvery craft. Star mummies steal away their victims into their spacecraft, but they do not incapacitate them to do so. Rather, if they "stare" at any sort of being, and said being fails a magic save, then they are almost "charmed" by the being and will accompany them into their starship.

Flatwoods Monster
Hit Dice: 6   Armor: 2
Attacks: 1, -1, 1d4 damage
Saving Throws: 17/16/16/14/14
Move: 90' Morale: 12
An almost spectre-like being from another world, its bulb-like head and metallic skirt immediate identifiers. While it can attack with its sharp claws, its main mode of offence is the stinking pestilential cloud that it can produce from under its body, and the disease which it can inflict. It takes a round of combat to release this cloud, and those within it take 1 point of damage per round from the sting to their eyes and to their lungs. In addition, those who enter the cloud must make a toxic save or contract the "Flatwoods Fever". Those who contract it are confined to their bed, oozing black goo from their orifices for several days if not weeks.

Batsquatch
Hit Dice: 3+2   Armor: 0
Attacks: 2, +4, d6 damage
Saving Throws: 14/15/8/14/8
Move: 130' (flying), 110' (walking) Morale: 6
Batsquatches are large apes native to cold northern rainforests and to mountains near them. They are bulky and muscular, and in addition to being large humanoid apes, they have leathery bat wings. Both the hands and feet of a batsquatch are opposable, often grabbing at things with their feet while they fly through the air.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Batrachians and Beezlebubs

Two similar yet opposed classes for the old school rpg of your choice (though I sort of assume LotFP).

The Frog Demon
d8 Hit Dice (6 hp at level 1)
Attack Bonus: as cleric (I use 1/2 level, rounded up)
Saving Throws: as elf
Experience Progression: as elf

At level one, you are a fledgling frog demon who is really only a simple tadpole, able to manipulate objects with your mouth and able to swim and breathe in both air and water. In addition, you have a single cultist follower who you can order to do things for you. You gain 1 new cultist follower each level, and can gain more through normal hireling means and by converting people to your worship. If any of your cultist followers die, they are "refilled" back up to the minimum number you can have, which is equal to your level, the next day. You are able to speak with all frog creatures.

At level 2, in addition to the cultist follower that you gain, you grow legs and the ability to jump great distances.

At level 4, in addition to the cultist follower that you gain, you become a fully-grown frog demon. You are able to control normal frogs, and have a special tongue ability that allows you to grab a creature or object from a distance and pull it towards you. This functions as an opposed roll, with both you (the frog demon) and the victim rolling 1d20 and adding your attack bonuses. Both you and the victim add their STR bonus to the roll in addition to the attack bonus, and the one who rolls higher wins. Arthropod targets get a -2 to their roll.

At level 6, in addition to the cultist follower that you gain, you gain the ability to turn your cultist followers into frog monsters. You can do this once per day, increasing by 1 extra use for every level above 6. You simply point at the cultist which you are gracing with a better, slimier, amphibian form, and their body contorts and mutates into some sort of frog monster. The exact appearance is up to you, but the creature always has the same stats: 1+1 HD, +1 attack bonus, 14 AC, 1d8+1 damage. You are able to spend more than 1 "use" to increase the stats of the creature, increasing all stats by one increment (2+1 HD, +2 attack bonus, 15 AC, 1d10+1 damage, etc). All frog monsters use your saving throws rather than their own.

The Fly Demon
d6 Hit Dice
Attack Bonus: as thief (1/2 level, rounded up)
Saving Throws: as fighter
Experience: as elf

At level one, you are a little baby beezlebub, nothing more than a fat giant maggot. You can manipulate some objects with your mouth, and can crawl upon the ground. You can also use your tusk-like mouthparts to dig through certain materials, especially meat. You follow the same cultist follower rules as the frog demon above, and so begin play with 1 cultist.

At level 2, in addition to the cultist follower you gain, you begin to go inside of your pupa, and thus cannot interact with the world in any way. However, you float in the air and are able to communicate with the minds of your followers. You are considered as having an armor class of 9, but always take 2 fewer point of damage than normal, and your followers will probably protect you.

At level 4, you crawl out of your pupa as a fully-formed adult fly. You are able to fly in the air, control flies of all life stages (maggot, pupa, and adult), and gain an acid-vomit ability. Your acidic vomit deals 1d6 damage, and can deal more damage (or have some additional effect) if you have consumed some sort of special food recently. However, you lose the points of armor and low armor class from your pupal stage of development.

At level 6, in addition to the cultist follower you gain, you obtain the ability to turn your cultists into either fly monsters at some stage of a fly's life cycle, a swarm of flies or maggots, or a strange mutated fusion of human and fly. You can do this once per day, increasing by 1 additional use each level above 6. You point at one of your cultists, and their skin begins to split as a fly or fly mutant pulls itself out, or they burst into a swarm of flies or maggots. The exact appearance is up to you, but the statistics are always the same: 1 HD, +3 attack bonus, 14 AC, 1d6+1 damage. You are also able to spend additional "uses" to increase the stats (2 HD, +4 attack, 15 AC, 1d8+1 damage, etc.) All such fly creatures use your saving throws.

Saturday, September 17, 2016

The World With No Name Session Report 1 Part 2

Cast of Characters
Moon Frog, a Tocatl (humanoid fusion of a spider and a frog) with a massive sword
Costin, a half a foot tall homunculus with a pet monitor lizard
GRN 1000, a robot specially made for vacuuming
Maxie, a dark elf coming to the surface from her underground fungus plantation with some Charismatic Skills and a rifle
Jaru, a floriambler (mobile carnivorous plant that loves traveling) with magical power

As maxie was being bitten in her face on one side of the dungeon, the homunculus Costin and the floriambler Jaru found two abandoned prison cells sitting right next to each other. They first went into the one to the west, seeing a skeleton chained up with a brass knife stuck in between its ribs, a sack lying in its lap. They felt that this was "really sketchy", believing either the contents of the sack to be dangerous or the knife to be cursed in some way. Trying to inspect the sack with Jaru's staff, they accidentally knocked a skull out of it, which made them think it was even more sketchy. As they were sitting there trying to figure out what to do, I rolled a random encounter: a giant harvestman!
The harvestman looked to have been attracted by the noise of the falling skulls, and the players took advantage of it by throwing rocks into the cell to attract into going in there. This was pretty good planning on their part, but sadly, as it turned out, some of the skulls in the sack were explosive, killing the harvestman when activated and throwing Jaru and Costin against the back wall. After the explosion died down, Jaru made sure to note that they gave most of it a proper burial (taking the legs for food).

However, even though they were hurt by the explosion and the giant harvestman was killed by it, some of the skulls contained treasure (coins and small gems) which were scattered about and they scrabbled about to pick up. After that, they went over to inspect the other prison cell.

This other abandoned prison cell really only contained two things: a tunnel in the wall which the once-occupant presumably escaped through, and an acid-spitting slug. They gave the slug some spices they stole from the chef Keeda to befriend it, and ended up taking it out of the dungeon afterwards and now it is their pet. After befriending the acid-spitting slug, which was used by the once occupant to tunnel out of the jail cell, they crawled through the tunnel and into another hallway.

As Jaru and Costin explored the abandoned prison cells and the tunnel out of them, the three other adventurers leave the mouth room through a door on the other side, Maxie bleeding from her face because of the wormtail bite. They walk through a stonebrick hallway to the south, eventually ending up in a small library which they positively loved, and ended up taking 6 different books from. These books use the grimoire system from Last Gasp Grimoire, but I don't really remember which post that was in.

After spending some time grabbing random books in the abandoned study-library, Moon Frog, GRN 1000, and Maxie move over to a smaller chamber some distance off. In here is the hollowed out remains of an ancient bronze robot. GRN 1000 moved over to it and started inspecting it, tearing the metallic arms off to use later, and discovering the creature hiding inside of the bronze body of the android. Inside of it is a very confused giant, pale subterranean sea star, more like a basket star in this case. It flung itself out of the body when discovered, but didn't really do anything but writhe confusedly on the floor. They decided to take it home too, bringing the total number of pets up to 5 (Jaru has a crow familiar).

After crawling through the tunnel, Jaru and Costin ended up at a crossroads. They took a peak through the doorway into the door to the north, and saw a violent scene of many Rowdy Brick Boys wrangling and riding a many-legged giant weasel. They decided they would rather not deal with that, and so went down the hallway and opened the door slightly to take a peak into the room there, seeing many cubbeys filled with many skulls, all snoring and sleeping, They thought that that sounded like it was either a boss monster or at least something terribly powerful, and so went back to the giant weasel room to fight.

When they entered the room, the brick boys noticed them immediately and pounced, one brick boy clinging to Jaru and one fighting Costin, the other riding the weasel and keeping it under "control". Costin dispatched the brick boy quickly, breaking it into smaller pieces, the same fate befalling the rowdy brick boy clinging to Jaru. I don't quite remember how they killed the weasel and the brick boy riding upon it, but I do remember it involved an attack to the throat, because it dislodged something within it. This something was a small ceramic statue of a rat, which (while the player's don't know this) is able to turn anything into a small mammal once/day.

After that I believe they all agreed to meet up back at the statue room before exploring any further (although that may have actually happened earlier and I may have just forgotten it). After meeting up, they went into the room after the room containing the bronze robot and the sea star. This room is a pit filled with fetid garbage and sewage, and a very nice garbage-eating monster which happily ferried them around the dungeon. Specifically, they asked to be taken to "the nearest source of weapons" for the cost of, I believe, a couple of the harvestman legs. Once taken there, they were able to grab some weapons, and they then went back to the garbage beast to be transported back to the weasel room to inspect the mysterious closet on the other end of the room, for the cost of one of the component parts of the brass robot.

They stood in front of this door, made of dark wood decorated with gold details. They opened this door. Inside of the door was a massive grey worm, shoved and stuffed into such a tiny area. The lumpy giant worm unfolded, squirming into the hallway and vomiting forth a handful of rowdy brick boys. They tried to attack each brick boy, Costin using his pet monitor lizard and Moon Frog doing spin attacks with his giant sword. Moon Frog also decided to slash at the worm down the middle, in an attempt to kill it. This really did nothing, as the worm was stuffed full of brick boys which all just surged out of the creature once it was sliced in half. Jaru, in an attempt to use their magic to solve something for what was probably the first time in the entire dungeon, tried to cast a spell to fill the area with a poisonous gas. They failed the spell roll, instead filling the area with an uncontrollable, poisonous, and explosive gas.

Moon Frog was going to spend all of his points of strength to do a kind of final, devastating blow, but as everyone was slowly being killed by the poisonous gas, Maxie, the one character who got pretty much within an inch of her life, decided to sacrifice herself to let all of the other adventurers live. They all grabbed their pets and their treasure, running as fast as they could while Maxie fired her rifle into the explosive gas, igniting it and blowing even the shack above the ground to bits. The dungeon collapsed, but two things escaped: 13 floating skulls, which flew off into the wilderness, and an old lizard woman, who totally won't show up again at some point (yeah she will).

And with that, the four remaining adventurers walk off to the town of Chamlet, to sell their loot and buy more stuff, and to meet two new friends.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

The World With No Name Session 1 Report Part 1

So this game was like three weeks ago so i may be misremembering some stuff, but I'm going to be looking over my notes to jog my memory. This was the first time a couple of these people had ever played an rpg, and sadly one of my players wasn't able to come this first session, but everyone there got to make their characters at the start of the session. Edit: as it also turns out, this session had more stuff in it than I remembered, so I'm going to be splitting it up among multiple posts.

Cast Of Characters
Moon Frog, a Tocatl (humanoid fusion of a spider and a frog) with a massive sword
Costin, a half a foot tall homunculus with a pet monitor lizard
GRN 1000, a robot specially made for vacuuming
Maxie, a dark elf coming to the surface from her underground fungus plantation with some Charismatic Skills and a rifle
Jaru, a floriambler (mobile carnivorous plant that loves traveling) with magical power

So the session started with all of the above characters standing outside of a dingy shack in the hills, which they entered, searched around inside for a couple turns and found nothing, and then they found a hole in the back wall leading to an underground dungeon which they entered.

They all walk slowly down the old stairs, dirt crumbling down onto them and the wall being cut by the huge sword that Moon Frog wields. At the bottom of the staircase is a small room with a statue of a lizard person doing the baphomet pose. After searching the room and the statue for a bit, Moon Frog decided to lop off the hand pointed upwards. This ends up opening a secret door leading to a hallway just off the room, which ends in a small chamber containing nothing but a glass sphere holding 25 preserved owls. These are pretty valuable. The players figured out a way to break open the glass sphere without damaging the owls inside by breaking it and having GRN suck up as much glass as they could before it could damage the owls.

Back in the room with the statue, Maxie had the (actually very good) idea to break off the other hand of the statue to see if there were any other secret doors. However I did not have any other secret doors. Also however she decided that the best course of action was to shoot at the statue's hand with her rifle, which she then rolled poorly on and accidentally ended up shooting herself in the foot. Jaru used some medical knowledge and lucky rolls to wrap up the injured foot, but they were still limping pretty much for the rest of the dungeon.

After that fiasco, Jaru walked into the room to the south, disturbing the gambling that some tiny goblins made of bricks (which I call Brick Bogeys in my notes but which we just ended up calling Rowdy Brick Boys) were doing. They all pounced at them and started fighting, but didn't really do a whole lot and were ultimately defeated when some of the other players ran in and helped Jaru fight. After defeating the Rowdy Brick Boys, they grabbed up the meager change that they were gambling over and all walked into a hallway that lead to an adjoining room and another hallway.

When they walk closer to the other room, they begin to smell spices and delicious food. Inside of the kitchen is an undead Keeda (a race of human-faced worms) that is toiling over a cauldron and an oven, cooking stuff up. About half the party thought she was "super sketchy" as they put it, and the other half loved her almost on sight. I remember one player really loved her, but then she mentioned how she really wanted to eat the race that player was (floriambler) and then their opinion of her changed. Even if she was very divisive, they ended up giving her some of the preserved owls to turn into healing pies and one of them wanted to learn how to cook from her.

I don't remember exactly what happened to cause this, but I do remember that the group split in two over some squabble after that room. Moon Frog, GRN 1000, and Maxie went their own way while Jaru and Costin went in the other direction. The first group passed back through the gambling room and the statue room and then down another hallway, where they found the door to a room containing a toothy mouth in the floor which yelled at them to feed it. GRN 1000 shot pebbles down its throat, but it only became enraged after the third pebble and vomited forth tiny tongue goblins which fought the group. Some of them ganged up on the robot, corroding their metal with their spit, but ultimately the mouth was defeated by Maxie shooting at the mouth worm which had been hiding in the floor. It was after this that I finally rolled a random encounter, and their loud noises from the combat attracted what looked like two big fat rats. One of them clung to the clay plate armor that Moon Frog was wearing, and when Maxie tried to pry it off, its tail bit her in the face, surprising her and giving her a bleeding bite hole in the face. These weren't ordinary rats, but wormtails, rodents with toothy worms for tails, and while Maxie was bleeding out I believe Moon Frog broke the neck of the wormtail stuck to his armor and killed the other one, but the tails broke off and crawled away.

More next time...

Sunday, September 11, 2016

I'm Back!

I apologize for the very long hiatus, I don't really have an excuse I just never really used this blog that much. I also apologize for the sudden change in post format, I was copying the format of a blog I had found and which I appreciated, with mixed results.

I've also started a game since last I posted! Technically I've started two, but the second game hasn't actually had a first session yet. The first game is set in my World With No Name Setting, which I will be posting about more in following posts, including session recaps that I will probably post the first of tomorrow. The World With No Name is a weird and wacky fantasy setting, with no humans and lots of monstrous playable races all set in a world mutated and ravaged by a history of weird people and weird magic, just on the cusp of a new industrial age (though still mostly pre-industrial). I've tried to do the ol Jeff Rients 20 Questions thing, applying it to the entire world that my setting is set in, but that just doesn't work. Instead, since I now have a much smaller scope game set in a specific part of the setting with specific characters, I can actually answer them, which I will do below!

THE JRIENTS 20 QUESTIONS: WORLD WITH NO NAME EDITION

  1. What's the deal with my cleric's religion?
    1. Well technically since I tend to use a classless system with this game I don't really have clerics, this question doesn't apply directly but I still have religions and I still have people who get mechanical benefits from religion so. The most prominent religion in the region is The Concordance Of Ahjax, a very exaggerated pseudo-catholic religion. The other big religion is The Pantheon Of Friends, a very nice chaos pantheon. Of course there's lots of other religions too, but those are the main ones in this region.
  2. Where can we go to buy standard equipment?
    1. The general store in Chamlet that's run by Kolya Skonoff the Bearded Dragon probably has what you are looking for, unless its weapons. Then you gotta go to the blacksmith in Chamlet, Didja Steelteef the Crocwoman. There's also definitely some stores in the other towns of the region.
  3. Where can we go to get platemail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?
    1. Well most likely one or more of the players will be more monstrous and will require special armor, but Didja will definitely make that armor for you, for a price.
  4. Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?
    1. Ushitel the Teacher taught pretty much every single wacky wizard in the region, and they will all listen to her whenever she tells them to do something, no matter how powerful or insane they might seem. Wizards from other regions won't care about her, but that kind of influence sure is mighty.
  5. Who is the greatest warrior in the land?
    1. Anastasia Voin probably was back when she killed that dragon just to the south, but she's an old lady now and there's probably some bounty hunter that claims to have one upped her by now.
  6. Who is the richest person in the land?
    1. The Queen of Zerbia is probably the richest person in the region, if it isn't some merchant in Skajev. However, that's just in this region, there are definitely richer queens and merchants in other lands, even in the Draugr empire just to the north.
  7. Where can we go to get some magical healing?
    1. You can't. The closest you are gonna get is some experimental device made by one of Ushitel's apprentices or a mysterious meat from Jenny the Butcher in Chamlet, but otherwise you are just either gonna have to deal with it yourself, get a spellcaster in your party to do it, or go to a normal doctor. Magic stuff is probably gonna make you grow tumors anyways.
  8. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?
    1. Doctor Bezumiye of Skajev claims to be able to cure anything, even death, but expect a couple extra special organs or some organs taken away if you go to his hospital. Undeath isn't really considered a bad thing in this setting (two of the starting playable races are undead), and there aren't any levels or alignments to drain or change.
  9. Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join to get new spells?
    1. There is the aforementioned Ushitel the Teacher, who will most definitely take in students and teach them new magic in between sessions.
  10. Where can I find an alchemist, sage, or other expert NPC?
    1. Ushitel and Didja of Chamlet will be able to answer questions about magic and clockwork respectively, and Doctor Bezumiye can answer those questions of a more medical nature, but in general there will definitely be an NPC somewhere that can answer your question, whether they are in a fancy laboratory in Skajev or they are just some wild hermit in the hills.
  11. Where can I hire mercenaries?
    1. There are plenty of hiring houses for more unsavory and violent types in Skajev and Soyim, plus there are always the more fanciful and boastful bounty hunters that you can hire if you can shell out the extra cash.
  12. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?
    1. To get into Zerbia (a nation to the north), and thus also the city of Skajev, you have to get a passport, but other than that and the more mundane laws of that nation, there aren't many in this region.
  13. Which way to the nearest tavern?
    1. There's one in Chamlet, and there's bound to be one on every street corner in Soyim. Plus there's the Phantom Inn which can be found at crossroads at night, filled with spectres drinking their fill of ethereal ethyl.
  14. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?
    1. There's still a handful of drakes left over from the dragon that Anastasia Voin killed, and some that are still born from the decaying corpse of that creature. There's also lots of roaming wizards, but those aren't necessarily ones you will be famous for killing, more for "defeating"
  15. Are there any wars brewing I could fight?
    1. The constant and chaotic ethnic conflict in the Peninsula could totally use a couple of adventurers to spice things up! However, the Peninsula is a bit outside of the general vicinity the players are in, but not really too far away.
  16. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?
    1. The Brawling Pit in the middle of the wilderness is a strange indentation in the ground, where contestants wrestle more and more ridiculously larger and stronger foes, all overseen by a mysterious masked WrestleMaster that everybody assumes you fight last (nobody's gotten there yet). Even if you don't fight the WrestleMaster, you still get some cash. There's also bound to be some brawl rooms in Soyim, what with all the rowdy sailors there.
  17. Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?
    1. Well of course, but they are secret for a reason!
  18. What is there to eat around here?
    1. The general store and butcher in Chamlet always have food, and there's plenty of fancy restaurants and cheap food establishments in Skajev, and plenty of fish-sellers and bakers in Soyim. Plus, if you want to try your hand at bread baking or want to eat raw grain, there's always the Grain Sea (and the creatures living inside of it). Plus, your coins are probably edible
  19. Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?
    1. All of the drakes left over by the now dead dragon have little stashes of treasure, and there's all of the fancy niceties lost in the maze-like megadungeon of Franchia just a couple days (maybe a week) worth of travel. 
  20. Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure?
    1. Probably some drake wandering the hills or a corn serpent in the Grain Sea has a lot of treasure, but there's also those mysterious flying skulls that just showed up, maybe those are worth something?

Saturday, January 23, 2016

the GUILDS of the CITY-STATE of KARM

the CITY-STATE OF KARM is a very industrial nation, which is also the starting location for the players in my game. in the big capital city of the nation there sits the huge toad of the government, which isnt even a true government at all. the rulers of the city are the huge corporate bodies of the GUILDS, which used to facilitate trade in the villages that became the city, but are now bloated on money and workers. they control the city with their vice-like grip on the economy, but it is a constant power struggle between the many faction-like guilds for the ability to truly rule the town. all guilds are somewhat akin to warring factions or criminal syndicates, the members of each guild skilled in fighting and filled with hatred against the other guilds, and the city is always in a cold war between the guilds, sometimes exploding into Guild War every so often.

a note on dungeons in the city-state: all "true" dungeons were cleared out long ago by agents of the guilds, meaning that there are empty castles, caves, tunnels, and complexes littered about the city-state. the only dungeons in it then are the occasional monster nest, as well as the two municipal dungeons where the guilds drop off their waste. however, destroying the municipal dungeons would net you guild punishments

examples of guilds and their members are below:

THE GUILD OF CUBE-CARVERS are ruled by an old and crotchety gorgon who hides his identity by wearing a large box-mask. he is obsessed with the shape of cubes, and so he orders his servile guild-members to carve any and all materials they obtain into the shapes of cubes. guild members wear cube helmets and boxy armor, and are particularly skilled in the fighting style of boxing. they hate the GUILD OF SPHERE-MAKERS

THE GUILD OF WOODCUTTERS are a small guild, isolated by the other guilds to the outskirts of the city and to the lumber woods where the lumberjacks work. they will typically wear flannel clothes that hide the thick wood underneath, but they are not very popular. they like to handle axes.

THE GUILD OF BASKET WEAVERS all wear woven grasses for clothing and hats. they are very acrobatic, and due to how ubiquitous they are they are able to afford very nice things. their guildmaster, a fat lizardwoman named vurek, wears basket-clothes of golden thread and fine amber jewelry.

THE GUILD OF WAX-DRIPPERS do not craft candles, rather they use candles. the higher up in the ranks you are, the more candles will burn unendingly on your skin. their guildmaster is almost immobile due to all of the wax which covers her.

THE ETERNAL BANKING GUILD, FIRST DIVISION are militaristic bankers. they have uniforms of fine silks which cover heavy metal armaments. they carry their Master Banker in a great golden tank which is equipped with the ability to fire coins.

THE HABERDASHER'S GUILD craft buttons and ribbons and other fanciful things. they are led by a huge red knight that carries a great ribboned sword, and employs 5 by 5 buttoned squires.

Monday, January 18, 2016

weirder classes: the BARD

the basic concept of the bard works well as an adventurer. its based off of the historical traveling minstrels, who would look for heros n whatnot to sing stories about to their lord or lady, but when there was no work they would just steal whatever they could. so they have a pretty good concept that has a good reason to adventure, but thats just not WEIRD enough

bards sing about stuff. FLUTERS OF THE COSMOS play the alien music of otherworldly things, invoking unnatural power with their dissonant and chaotic sounds

THE FLUTER OF THE COSMOS
what kind of music you play and what kind of magic you use is based off of what spirit, daemon, alien, or godling you serve. some dance in parlor fashion, tooting on a flute from down below. some scream and shout anarchic things in the name of some daemon. others play artificial beepings and dissonant sounds. just in general you are gonna play really weird music, and youll have to do favors for whatever thing you serve

HIT DICE: d6 (+1/level after 9th)
SAVING THROWS: +2 to cosmos and dexterity, -2 to strength (or as cleric)
WEAPONS: dagger, other weapons based off of boss
ARMOR: light armor
MAGIC ITEMS: musical instruments, weapons, scrolls
XP to LEVEL 2: 2,250

fluters of the cosmos have the following class features:

  • if you are able to make noise in some way that your boss likes, you are able to invoke their power. this functions as a reaction roll, with +2 if it is a kind of sound that your boss likes, and the ability to spend points of dexterity or cosmos on your performance.
  • you are able to TURN creatures as a cleric by making a huge ruckus of noise. if such creatures are serving your boss, you control them instead
  • you are much more skilled at social interactions, especially with creatures relating to your boss.
  • after level 9, you may choose to join the cacophonous ensemble or orchestra of your boss, leaving the game as a character, but being able to influence the effects of the actions of the party, in a similar way to the Guardian Spirit class over at goblinpunch, with the whole party as your ward

Saturday, January 16, 2016

weirder classes: the BARBARIAN

so ive been reading some posts about the design of new school dnd classes (Pathfinder and 5th Edition), which is shocking given my disposition towards old school type rulesets (like Labyrinth Lord and LotFP). from these posts, and since i own the 5e phb, i came up with the idea to make weirder old school versions of the 5th edition classes (and later the non-core pathfinder classes). so here is the first post of that sort: the BARBARIAN.

note for rules: i dont normally use prime requisites and have different ability scores, so pr wont be listed and i will provide easy conversions for ability scores. in my games, non-fighter classes dont advance in combat ability (mostly because of how i allow multiclassing), so only fighter-types will have attack bonus/attack matrix. i treat item restrictions differently, but my ruling for that isnt going here, and they will still be listed.

barbarian isnt a class. barbarian is what the "civilized" people call the "uncivilized" people. nah, thats a background, not a class. barbarians go berserk, so they are BERZERKERS

THE BERZERKER
you could be a super-soldier who has broken from the platoon and gone on a sadistic rampage, or you could simply be some manic and violent guard or militiaman, or even a wild thing that was brought up by beasts in the wilderness. berzerkers are unified by violence and anger and inability to be reasoned with.

HIT DICE: 1d8 (see below) (+2/level after 9th)
COMBAT: +1/2 level to attacking
SAVING THROWS: +2 to stamina and strength, -2 to magic and intellect (or as fighter)
WEAPONS: anything that isnt too complicated or weak (no bows, no crossbows, no daggers, etc.)
ARMOR: light and medium armor
MAGIC ITEMS: none
XP to LEVEL 2: 2,000

berzerkers have the following class features:

  • if you are not wearing any armor, you can spend points of strength as if it were armor points
  • you begin play with 1d8 grit points in addition to your stamina (constitution) score (if not using my ability score system, have them begin play with 2d8 hp)
  • you receive a +1/2 level bonus to your attack if you attack a different creature on each of your turns in combat (this adds up to a full +level attack bonus if doing that)
  • beginning at level 2, you are able to go into a violent trance. during such an episode, you are unaffected by the world around you and only react to violence. your only goal is death.
  • at level 3, and every third level afterwards (levels 6, 9, 12, etc.), you have a strange effect during your violent episodes. example powers are listed below.
    • darkness vision: you can see in darkness during your violent trances. eyes are humongous and dominated by pupil.
    • forceful bite: if you attack with your mouth during a trance, it deals 1d8 damage. mouth is filled with huge terrible fangs
    • hardened skin: you count as armor 2, even without spending points of strength, during an episode of violence. however, this makes you move slower. skin is only callouses and scabs.
    • monster sense: you can sniff the air to detect a certain breed of creature (this can be done outside of a trance, but at diminished effect).
    • venom: your attacks are venomous, and deal 1 additional point of damage each following turn.
    • really loud shout: can deafen or incapacitate creatures for a time with your incredibly loud shouting/burping.
it is important to note that you must come up with how you got such abilities. also, physical changes do not go away when not in a violent trance, they are simply diminished.

SPELLCASTING

spellcasting in the world with no name comes in lots of flavors. most things that would be called "spellcasting" are actually powers that are different from spellcasting. these include powerful mutations, innate abilities, and supernatural powers gifted by deities. they are set powers, rather than the more fluid abilities present in the casting of spells.

the main types of spellcasting are used by wizards and by the geothermal priests of the dark elves.

WIZARD SPELLCASTING
wizards roll on the following 1d30 table at least twice (possibly more if they know more spells) to determine "magic words" with which the wizard can construct their spells. if the wizard rolls the same word twice, reroll.

to cast a spell, the wizard combines as many magic words as they wish (it can also be a single word!), and they (along with the gm) interpret the spell's effect. if they wish to improve the power of the spell, they must spend points of their MAGIC score. to cast the spell, roll 1d20 + magic points allocated +/- any situational modifiers. if it is 10 or above, the spell goes off without a hitch. if it is 20 or above, it goes off REALLY WELL. if its below 10, the spell fails and something bad happens.

MAGIC WORDS

  1. Fire
  2. Cold
  3. Ball
  4. Force
  5. Unseen
  6. Servant
  7. Faerie
  8. Slime
  9. Flesh
  10. Baby
  11. Bolt
  12. Dark
  13. Eyeball
  14. Spider
  15. Poison
  16. Summon
  17. Monster
  18. Knife
  19. Bullet
  20. Bite
  21. Magma
  22. Death
  23. Undead
  24. Animate
  25. Object
  26. Bone
  27. Blood
  28. Water
  29. Air
  30. Laser

GEOTHERMAL PRIEST MIRACLE USE
the geothermal priests of the dark elves know how to cast spells from a set list of miracles that are sanctioned by the priesthood. the use of these geothermal miracles follows the same dice rules as above, but using the COSMOS score rather than MAGIC. the priest can improvise new spells using the words in the names of the spell, but this is incredibly discouraged.

Friday, January 15, 2016

MORE ECOLOGY of the WORLD WITH NO NAME

there are many farmed animals beyond the ceratopsans detailed in the earlier post on animal life. there are also DOWNFOWL, which are gigantic herbivorous birds that are cultivated for their big and fluffy down-feathers. in the wild, their feathers are tougher and their bodies are scrawnier, with some species even retaining the large keratin horns that were bred out by their lizard person handlers. CHICKENS in this world are just as violent and angry as their earth counterparts, though they tend to have fewer feathers and sharper beaks. otherwise, they are not different in any way from the earthling avians. some say that there are gigantic kinds of chickens that hunt as predators in wild places, but this is just rumor.

the aquatic MOBILE MOUNTAINS are huge arthropods which sometimes stray onto land or are captured by fisherfolk. they look like huge rocks or boulders, and their outer shells are truly made from collected minerals which are used for protection, but within is the stringy meat of other arthropods. when they crawl onto land they tend to die quickly, but since they are blind (or at least hard of sight), they sometimes do it, to their detriment. crawling all over these huge bugs are the parasitic KNOCKERS, crustaceans that cling to the sides of the mountain and crawl around on it, boring through the mineral shell with their similarly mineral-coated mouthparts, sucking some of the blood of the beast and then burrowing back to the surface.

scrawny packs of WILD CATS scavenge and feed on the corpses of fallen creatures, while their pampered domesticated cousins prey on mice and are fed fancy foods. a similar scavenging thing which competes with the feline creatures are HESPEROS, dog-sized and long-legged crocodiles that hunt small reptiles and mammals and compete with cats for scavenged meat.

slithering through the grasses of plains areas are SERPENTS of many sorts. there are the drab and friendly PLAINS SNAKES, which are nearly identical to the much more hostile and territorial SAND SNAKES that hide in holes in the ground in the very same sandy plains that the plains snakes dwell in. they are differentiated by the time at which they are active, and a helpful folk-rhyme helps the lizard people susceptible to the sand snake's hostility and painful bite filled with venom know which serpents are safe to play with or be around (plains snakes during the sun-times, sand snakes afterwards). many species of SEA SNAKES swim through the oceans, with the most well-known being the SPIRAL SERPENT. it is so called for the spiral formation of its swimming.

SKINKS are welcomed by any farmer, for they eat the arthropod pests which would otherwise ravage crops and cause famine. in the cultures around the first nation/point unpleasant region, blue tongued skinks are considered lucky, and the presence of a blue tongued skink is enough to make any lizard person or other person at ease.

ANGLER BUGS are much like an arboreal version of the aquatic angler fish. they flit between trees, hanging below them brightly colored and bulbous antennae that attract smaller insects and flying things, which they then drag to their mouthparts and quickly devour.

SALAMANDERS are common in any wet area. RED GIANTS, also known as HELLBENDERS are huge reddish-brown salamanders which are found in muddy rivers. they swim around and use their drab coloration to their advantage in the ambush of prey. NEWT HOUNDS are carnivorous salamanders that have been bred and kept by the lizard people in environments much too wet and swampy for normal monitor hounds. they are about the size of a fairly large hound, and with the skin and head of a salamander. even though they walk on the land, they must be kept wet to stay comfortable.

TSUCHINOKO are very rare serpents that hide in grassy and otherwise hidden conditions. they spring forth to ambush and attack their prey, which they incapacitate with powerful venom. they look like squat snakes, with strong muscles that facilitate the spring ambushes.

GIANT SPIDERS are sometimes used as mounts by more daring mount-riders, mainly for their military uses and ability to climb walls and trap things. they are oftentimes used to pull the chariots of very important people. in the wild, however, they crawl through forests and plains and all other places that spiders reside, acting much as a spider does. these arachnid predators are specially adapted for the preying on other large arthropods, but they also eat mammals and reptiles.

things you can KILL WITH and things that STOP YOU from BEING KILLED

of course, im talking about Weapons and Armor, collectively called Armaments.

the rules i use for weapons in my games (and system) are based on the weapon's size. unarmed battle is only 1D4, small hand weapons are 1D6 damage (stuff like daggers n small clubs). bigger arms, like swords and axes and shotguns deal 1D8. the REALLY big stuff, like broadswords and whatnot deal 1D10. if its like a cannon or something just use a save and if they fail they die, if they win they take like 1D8. ya dont really need to write down the damage of things, just know how big and bad it is.

for armor, since armorclass isnt something in my games, armor is a dmg reduction. light armor subtracts 1 damage, medium subtracts 2, heavy subtracts 3. there is some with an armor score of like 4+, but you cant really buy that with your money. if, after damage reduction, its 0 or below, you take no damage (if its negative you dont heal why would you??). your amount of armor points also reduce your movement, meaning you subtract your armor points from your DEX score

if you just keep the same damage dice and damage reduction, the armaments can be anything!

WEAPONS

Obsidian Sacrificial Knife (D6 damage)
useful for magic stuff, plus ya can pass off as a cultist and get into their secret gatherins. also easily concealable yay. however, people dont like things that look like cultists. you can get it from nekromancers, cultists, and people that wanna look edgy and metal. shiny

Teething Rifle (D8 damage)
ranged. living thing that is always shedding teeth, needs to eat to produce more "ammo". meat can be covered with metal and wood so it looks like a normal gun. takes extra food resources that the party needs. ya can get it from vivimancers or from strange alien factories.

Grendel's Arm (D10 damage)
long reaching. giant monster arm, must be grafted to body to use with any accuracy. weird monsters (especially giants) will either accept you as one of their own or hate you bc of your monster "murder" (no in between). found in monster graves, dungeons, pulled off of giants

Sorcerer Cage (D8 damage)
ranged. a small wizard-spirit in a cage, cast spells with some poking and prodding. nature of spell-attack will vary, but only function as an attack roll. if it ever gets free, wizard-spirit will hate you so so much and try to kill you.

Pistol (WITH BAYONET) (D6 damage)
ranged (and melee). really just sorta a normal gun, you can get special bullets and whatnot for it tho.
he looks worried

SWORD OF CONFLAGRATION (D10 damage)
really big sword, but also on fire. this fire could spread to things hit with it, it also could not. people will both find you really cool, but they will also really sorta dislike you bc you could catch everything oh fire why in hell is you sword on fire

ARMOR

Armor People (2 armor points)
these people just really want to be on your body for some reason. they are probably really small, so a lot of them can fit, huddled on your body. if you take enough damage, they will die and fall off. this is your fault

Layers Upon Layers (1 armor point)
why are you wearing so much clothing? well it allows for some protection, i guess. if you are attacked by a blunt attack, damage is reduced as normal, but slicing attacks will eventually completely destroy your armor-clothes.

Something Edgy and Heavy (3 armor points)
ow the edge. could you even fit more spikes and skulls on your shoulder pads and knee pads? well anyways, this stuff will either instill fear in your enemies (which is your goal) or it will instill humor in your enemies (which is not your goal), based on how over-the-top it is

Symbiotic Slime (2 armor points)
the slime is thick and protects both it and you from much damage. it must be fed, or else it will begin to feed on you, and any creature that touches it is damaged.

Garbage Armor (2 armor points)
you cobbled this together from garbage of lots of different kinds. might be smelly, might attract bugs and rats.

The Armor of The Famous Knight (3 armor points)
how did you even get ahold of this? it musta been really expensive. it used to belong to a famous knight/dragon slayer/bounty hunter/general/whatever, and it has some real historical value! nothing else special though. its just armor

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

the NEW GOBLIN, the ORC, and the BUGBEAR

before, i have stated that goblins are a monstrous subculture of all manner of strange beings. such a subculture exists, and they are often compared to the weird race of goblinkind, but they are more akin to all kinds of monsters and spirits that hide away in the societies of the world. goblins themselves are something different entirely. (with the Iconic DnD Races i am trying to make them more akin to weird spirits or beings which can be found in all kinds of environments. this is quite evident in my descriptions of the dwarfs, elves, feral children (hobbits), etc. and will continue to be the theme between such Iconic humanoid species)

GOBLINS
goblins are small humanoid things. they are feeble and weak physically, filled with all manner of disease and poison which they could inflict on others. their skin is green and pocked with sores, their faces are ugly and monstrous, either something bestial, some caricature of old age, or something weirder. they are numerous and everywhere.

goblins evolve through consumption. if they kill and eat some living thing, they will begin to take on traits from it. these traits can be passed on down through the generations of goblinhood, creating many different creatures and strains of goblinkind. what some call Hobgoblins are goblins which ate a lot people. Goblin-Hounds are goblins which ate a lot of dogs. Kobalds are goblins which ate rocks or snatched the small mining spirits into their mouths. there are shiny gold goblins, rusty and impervious iron goblins, long-tailed monkey goblins, and goblin changelings (what do you think they ate to become that). to stay as a goblin, the goblin must eat undifferentiated garbage.

the goal of a goblin is to become some kind of Ultimate Being, all through the consumption of all that they possibly can shove into their mouth. goblins do not eat out of hunger, for they are never truly hungry. goblins only eat to reach their goal of evolution.

sometimes, a goblin will eat so much of a particular thing that they will become identical to that thing, with distinction between being nigh impossible. these people merge into the society, mimicking the culture and the people as well as they possibly can, but still working for the goblin folk, bringing them captive people so that they may become one themselves.

the nature of the goblins that are called Thouls is strange and shrouded by lies and semi-truth. they seem to be either the closest thing to a Perfect Being that the goblins have become, or they are goblin efforts to turn non-goblins into a goblin creature, twisting their bodies into weird forms with surgery, augmenting their biology with weird magic and science.

ORCS and OGRES
orcs are lithe and violent humanoids, with blue or green or red skin. they are obsessed with violence, for they see life as a literal game, with death and destruction as the most fun parts! if you die, you're gonna be reborn really quickly anyways, so it doesn't really matter.
orcs are like this but always super happy while slicing your head off with that ax

as orcs age, they get taller and taller. the oldest orcs are immense things that are called ogres. some of the most ancient of the orc things are as tall as mountains, with strange knowledge gathered from their millennia of existence. orcs follow anybody who is larger than they are, with no exceptions. orcish leaders are typically called The Tallest, or Big'uns.

there are many different tribes, enclaves, gangs, and armies of orcs. they fight and feud constantly, all for the sole reason that one tribe claims their leader is The Tallest and the other claims that their's is the Tallest. their solution to this is battle, and whoever wins obviously was bigger and badder

there is a stereotype that ogres are dumb brutes, nothing more than huge slabs of muscle and fat. this is most definitely not the case, as the tallest orcs (ogres) tend to be even more experienced than other orcs, making them more knowledgeable. the smaller orcs are the ones that are really not much more than savage brutes, in it for nothing more than fun.

BUGBEARS
bugbears are strange things. they are shape-changing creatures which hide in closets, under beds, outside windows, and in the darkened recesses of attics and basements. they take on fear-inducing forms, but for what reason people can only guess at. some say they eat fear, others say that they just do it for fun. they mutter and they make the floorboards creak. they are the things that move all of the stuff in your room while you are asleep. they are the things which gaze at you through the window, but which you claim to only be the boughs of some dying tree. they are the things that snatch away children in the night, and the things that crawl through hallways and through the walls, moaning and groaning.

what bugbears look like in their true forms is unknown. they change into any number of faces and of bodies and of skins. some may look like furry things with the head of a jack-o-lantern, others will look like meaty cows and horses but with something off. there are those with skin of cracked porcelain, and those who look like huge hulking hairy brutes. bat wings, fish fins, finger bones, yellow eyes, scaly skin, dirty fur, and suckered tentacles.

for some reason, the feeding habits of the bugbears are what most speak of them. some say that they are child-eaters, while others go broader and claim that they eat of the flesh of humankind. the above suggestion that they feed on fear is another common one, as is the idea that they do not eat at all, and instead are removed from the ecosystem entirely.

bugbears, though not a kind of creature that interacts with people very often beyond instilling fear and terror, are oftentimes found in the monstrous subcultures of hidden things that dwell in many settlements. however, since bugbears have unnatural shape-changing power, they are essentially indistinguishable from the many other monsters, goblins, faeries, undead, vampires, and mutants which belong to such cultures and frequent businesses that cater to the monstrous palette.

(i try to make all of the intelligent species that i create have a specific goal or motivation. dwarfs want to make stuff, elves want to tear the universe limb from limb, feral children want to do childish things and never age, goblins want to become a Perfect Being, orcs just want to have fun (and get taller while doing it), bugbears want to cause fear, k'kladorf want to isolate themselves, cadavers (might) want to find out who they were in life, werewolves and vampires want to reproduce, orcas want to steal and pillage, etc.)

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

FOUR SOME PLACES

THE SPECULARIUM OF KANEZ was once a thriving city, filled with hustle and bustle and all sorts of noises of life. now not a single person lives here, for they have all been converted into an extreme energy source for the powerful wizard KANEZ, who hides and crawls through the alleyways of this place, constantly marauded by the indistinct voices of the folks who have become nothing but magical energy forced into his flesh. he is fearful and paranoid, and almost never uses his nearly limitless power for fear of what the long gone people will do. the streets have become home to gangs of monitor hounds who are very bold about their secret society, for they have nothing to hide from a wizard who is too afraid to do anything but weep and grovel at the mercy of his own energy source.

THE ELFIN CITY OF MANMEAT is an anarchic mockery of a metropolis. it is simply the largest of the many elf-cities which dot the surface and underground of the world like horrific fever dream-esque pimples. the elves from this place are pale and with long, stringy black hair. their teeth look like the teeth of the sharks which swim through the rivers of the place, and which are fought by many elves with free time. their eyes glow in the darkness, and they are able to craft weapons from garbage of equal caliber to the best crafted weapons of the best smith. there is a mayor, and there are elections, but the mayor is just whomever has had the meat-crown on the longest, and the elections are closer to all-out brawls. for some unknown reason, the elves of this city hate each other with a passion completely unknown to all other elves. could this be connected to their wish to construct a city and their surprising immunity to iron?

THE ISLAND OF TIPHANYA is dominated by a great fortress, and within this huge hulking walled citadel there is a community of monks of some seemingly long dead faith, having survived the armageddon which befell the rest of their community through what they claim to have been "pure faith" and "the will of the gods". the actual nature of their religion is completely unknown, as they assume that the apocalypse was to eradicate all non-believers and leave only those who truly believed, and so think that everybody who visits is a follower of their faith.

NEKROMANTIA is the most important necropolis that can be found worldwide, barring only the expansive DRAUGR EMPIRE. nekromantia is ruled by the Thawed Queen, a massive and seemingly mammalian creature that is of some long dead race, which only lived during the VILE MAMMAL AGE (Ice Age). she is stuck within a block ice, slowly melting, and she is only able to interact with the world beyond through her speeches and ravings to her undead servants and subjects. nekromantia is built on a mountain, home to innumerable graves from innumerable ages. it is also the place where one can get the closest to the moon of THE GRAVEYARD in the entire world, as it is the tallest peak, and a very important location for that god-moon. the undead of nekromantia tend to not interact often with any other societies, with the exception of their far-away sister nation of draugr.

ANIMALS of the NATURAL WORLD

MONITOR HOUNDS come in many flavors, ranging from the great hulking lizard-things that rove the wilderness with no master, to the small and colorful pocket hounds that royalty and nobility carry with them in their bags and pockets. they were domesticated long ago by the early lizard people, for use as help in the trying times of the VILE MAMMAL AGE (Ice Age). wild populations of the monitors are slowly dying out, due to hunting by hunters of many kinds. domesticated monitor hounds have a hidden semi-government and secret economy, both of which are fraught with deceit and corruption in the mock street-courts of the lizard dogs. wild monitor hounds have a strange government, one that is more chaotic and collectivist than the imitation of noble life that the domesticated monitor society has. Monitor hounds that are truly monstrous in stature are used by the druids, but it is hard to tell whether they are natural wild hounds or shapeshifted nature freaks

RATS and MICE are some of the most common mammalian forms of life, along with SHREWS and other such small creatures. they live in burrows and hideyholes just as they do in our world, and are similarly eaten by many animals, such as serpents and even the great cultures of the lizard people. another common kind of mammal are the many species of BATS which fly through the night sky, eating insects and chowing down on fruit and, in some species, living a sanguivorous lifestyle. the vast majority of mammals grow no larger than these small rodents or their feline predators CATS, and non-rodent mammals are very limited in population. the only true exceptions to this are the ORCAS, intelligent yet brutish and violent aquatic mammals, and the GNOLLS, cunning and intelligent and hungry and sadistic hyena-like creatures that hide in a small part of the southlands, known of in other lands only from what has been told by the crocmen.

CRICKADEES are huge flying crickets that nest up in the boughs of trees, competing with BATS and even the few BIRDS for space. they, along with the BEHEMOTHS, eat the hulking APHIDS that would otherwise destroy great groves of trees and other plant-life. BEHEMOTHS are gigantic insects, easily larger than even the monitor hounds ridden by druids, with mountain-like curved and smooth shells, patterned with many different patterns in different species. they are nearly unstoppable giants, the only things which can defeat and eat the aphids and their ant masters in the wild, and able to stop the destruction of wilderness areas in an instant. when a behemoth wades into an area, pushing the venomous ANT MASTERS out of the way with their bulk and their smooth shells, breaking the bodies of the aphids and snacking on their insides, attracting lesser, vulture-like crickadees to feast on the weaker aphids and even sometimes on the ant masters.

LOOMS are humanoid creatures, nothing more than unintelligent beasts, which will crawl around the edges of towns, scavenging for scraps of food like a bear would on the earth. when the sun sets and the moons rise, the looms can be seen activating their bioluminescent spots that allow them to find friends and mates in the darkness. there are many superstitions regarding the looms, almost comparing them to the obviously unnatural bugbears, but they are nothing more than peaceful scavengers.

on the shores of the ocean, many different animals can be found. PUFFERFLIES are semi-aquatic fish which can fill themselves with liquid or even air, and then shooting out of the water in a great stream, all to avoid the dread attack of some aquatic predator. QUEEN CRABS are more often found on the shores of more northern lands, but they sometimes drift further south and into other lands. they are huge crustaceans, resplendent in the bright crimson shades which color the slight male's huge crown-like crest, but the much much larger females are just a famous, known for their plentiful delicious meat in fishing communities. many species of HERMIT CRABS, coming in many different sizes, gather different materials to hide in, or even sometimes to construct a home for themselves. giant sorts are not too common on the shoreline, but can be found deep underwater, with mysterious room-like chambers in their shell-homes.

LEECHES are found in any wet environment, and they eat many different kinds of things. of course, there are the vampiric leeches of the more swampy lands, which are oftentimes prone to becoming chupacabra from their sanguivorous lifestyle, but there are also worm-eating leeches in hilly lands, coral-like sea leeches, huge many eyed and bloated gutter leeches which have evolved for an urban environment, and snatch at airborne insects and bats with prehensile teeth. SAND WORMS are found in desert areas, with their heavy armor plating protecting their fragile wet flesh from the abrasive sand beyond it. they are common predators, and they will sometimes disguise their tongues as cacti to attract prey. OASIS NEMATODES are small worms that can be found in the isolated pockets of water and life in the desert, which will snag on the flesh of their perfect host, and cause disorienting mental effects, brain tumors, and possibly death in hosts that are of the wrong sort.

tiny PTEROSAURS flit through the skies of the very warm regions near the equator, where some bat species would overheat with their fur and warm blood. they are very colorful, with beautiful crests and bright markings. they run the gamut from predator to prey, from carnivore to omnivore to herbivore. some break open nuts with their strong beaks, while others use snaggle teeth to snatch tiny flying insects and even other, smaller pterosaurs from the sky. it is said that there are huge, larger than a person, pterosaurs hidden somewhere in the wilderness.

CERATOPSI are farmed for their meat by the lizard people, but they once were huge horned creatures that roamed the wilderness in huge flocks and herds, chewing on the grasses and defending themselves from the large predators. they have huge crests, sometimes with eyespots or other coloration in some breeds, and with snipping beaks and piercing horns. cow ceratopsi will tend to have smaller horns than the male ones, but the females are much larger and fatter. there is a very large trade in the huge horns of these beasts.

ROACHES come in many, many sorts and live in many environments, with small URBAN ROACHES sifting through the refuse of civilization, brown and grey and easily missed. the flat CRACKER ROACHES crawl in the dark spots of wet forests, flattened and wide so that they may fit through thin spaces. GARGANTUA ROACHES are large sorts that live within swampy environments, adapted for a semi-aquatic lifestyle and defended against marsh predators with a hard shell.

more of the ecology of the world with no name is forthcoming