Races of the World With No Name, Part 1

The World With No Name is my primary pure fantasy setting, with all of the wizards, orcs, dragons, and dungeons that you know and love. Except it is actually more of a science-fiction setting where the majority of the people are uneducated superstitious peasants and thus think that all of the science is magic and that all of the creatures of the world were created in an instant by some god. Of course, there are definitely gods, they just aren't omnipotent nor universe-creating.

Below there are the basic descriptions of many of the races of this world, along with false beliefs regarding them and their true origins.

The Serpent People
The Serpent People died out many thousands of years ago, possibly millions of years ago. They had empires that spanned the entire world, they studied the origins and machinations of magic, they fought or were allies with the ancient elves, and they had incredible lifespans. What made them fall nobody knows, but now there lie in many parts of the world the strange metal, stone, and plastic machines and buildings of these ancient people, forever rotting despite their enhanced strength of material

Many of the things above are true. However, there is one thing that most people do not know about these snake folk; they used advanced genetic engineering and other sciences to create a vast amount of the races and creatures that crawl the world today.

Like this, but with more blood and claws and tumors

The Elves
I've written about elves before. Basically, they are sadistic pieces of crap.

Elves are just as old, if not older, than the Serpent People. However, unlike those snake men, Elves come from some otherworldly star or planet. The ones on our world have been stranded here for millions upon millions of years, slowly tearing the planet apart limb from limb. Elves are like an intergalactic disease, traveling from world to world only to destroy, maim, decay, and burn all in order to entertain their terrible immortal minds. They are chaotic beings from another world, and all (or most) fae creatures in the universe are descended from the original extraterrestrial stock. Elves in our world may come in many sorts, but those in space have horrifying monstrous variety. Many alien peoples know to flee when they see a vast and blubbery elfin leviathan barreling down through their atmosphere, ridden by and pregnant with the murderous violent spawn that will implode that planet.

The Humans
Humans come from many different cultures and races in our world, and they are the majority race, at least on the surface and in civilized lands.

Humans were modified from primitive and ancient apes by the Serpent People. They came in a handful of varieties that were bred for different uses, ranging from sport hunting to arena fighting to beauty pageants to information storage, which all interbred and merged together after the death of the snake empires, forming the hominid race that lives, breathes, and eats on the surface of our planet.

Upper Dwarf

The Dwarfs
Dwarfs are short human relatives that live primarily underground, and come in two main varieties.

Lower Dwarf

The first are known primarily as "Upper Dwarfs", and they are the more well known sort. Upper Dwarfs live closer to the surface, and they are short, squat, fat, and hairy. Upper Dwarfs are superstitious and xenophobic, extremely paranoid and obsessed with the forthcoming apocalypse that will wipe out all fleshy life. They create their numerous structures, statues, and robotic creations for the purpose of "surviving" after the Meatpocalypse destroys their fragile forms, and they hoard precious objects for the same purpose. Their religion is based on a mixture of the movements of the sky (astrology and astronomy) and the movements of the earth (geology), and is much more like a system of superstition than an organized religion. Upper Dwarfs are wary around strangers, and hide many, many things from them. Each dwarfish city-state has its own culture, but there are many things that shared between them (such as their religion).

The second sort of dwarf is the "Lower Dwarf", which is found in the deepest caverns and subterranean expanses. They are pale-skinned and bright-eyed, with frail and slight frames wrapped in slimy and nigh-hairless skin. They do not have large civilization, and live underground in roving gangs and tribes. They crawl on the ceilings and walls of caverns, hoarding bones, coins, rocks, and anything else they find interesting. They are quite bestial, and have no qualms over stealing and murdering anything that has something tasty or shiny in its pockets or on its bones.

Dwarfs were also created from primitive apes by the Serpent People, but they were made for more specific purposes than humans originally were. Dwarfs were crafted and bred for two primary uses: work and war. Their emotions and minds were controlled by snake chemicals and machines, to make sure they were subservient and unwavering when working, or violent and unrelenting when fighting. These chemicals and machines have been gone for generations, leading to the widespread dwarfish paranoia and xenophobia that is widespread today, among other neurological disorders. Lower Dwarfs evolved from those original dwarfs that had been isolated in the deepest caves for centuries, changing their forms to fit their cavernous environs.

He's probably hiding a big fat queen in his attic

The Halflings
Halflings are short and slight human relatives that lived in burrows and hives out in plains regions, before they were more forcefully integrated into human societies. Unknown to most humans, they live in eusocial hives ruled by a great and corpulent queen that births all of the hobbits in the nest, with most of the hive being sterile and muscular females. They function very similarly to eusocial insects, but they are hominid in origin. In human societies, however, they will typically hide their queens in a basement or attic, and will attempt to mimic a family usual to the human culture they are present in. There are also many halflings that have left their queens, and those half-pints are called Street Goblins. They live in chaotic and unstable gangs and tribes in the streets of cities and towns, stealing from rich people, begging on the sides of streets, brawling in alleys, etc. Halflings have been created with subservience in mind, either to a Serpent Person or to a queen, and when they have no leader they devolve into instability and violence. Street Goblins are able to reproduce without the need for a queen, though how is unknown.

Halflings, similarly to the races above, were created by the Serpent People. They were engineered as easily disposable pets and messengers, with queens created to produce mass quantities of these small humanoids. Their brains were wired to serve a leader, and their bodies were made small and slight in order to easily produce them cheaply. When the Serpent People all died out, this leader instinct and small frame coincided to create the eusocial halfling burrows and hives. However, since queens were expensive to maintain, as they required fairly large amounts of food, each and every halfling drone (the sterile female halflings) have a built-in ability to produce a single child agametically, which can be activated with certain chemicals in order to produce a quick messenger.

I said they came in staggering variety

The Hoblings, Hobs, and Bugbears
Hoblings are small humanoid goblins that come in great uncanny and monstrous variety, with some looking just like small humans and others have more mutated features. Hobs are created when a Hobling reaches a certain age (varies from population to population), and enters a puberty-like stage, growing and mutating into a strong and human-sized Hob. Bugbears are a third stage in the life cycle of a Hob, and are born when either a Hobling or a Hob dies. After death, a Hobling or Hob decays and fills with insects, worms, grubs, bacteria, fungi, plants, and beasts of all sorts, becoming a monstrous undead abomination with glowing eyes of fireflies and squirming decomposers under its hairy and stretched skin, crawling on the fragile and dusty bones of the goblin.

Hoblings and Hobs are both quite different in behavior. Hoblings may seem fearful and naive, but in reality that hides a veneer of manipulation and stealth. Hoblings might seem like nothing more than simple thralls, but they are actually the ones pulling the strings. Hobs are more straight forward, and more often will bully others into submission rather than manipulation, though they are still quite conniving and controlling. Both Hobs and Hoblings are incredibly militaristic and greedy, and they love to take things from others and hurt others simply because they can. Bugbears, on the other hand, are sneaky shadow monsters and bogeymen, crawling through the night and stealing into houses and homes to their unknown deeds.

Hobs are one of the very few creation of the Elves, and were originally created as toys just to torture and as agents of the fae monsters. Hoblings were made as slight sneaks and masters of stealth, their many slight fingers useful as weapons and tools. Hobs were made more as soldiers, and they were trained to use brute force and violence to hold sway. Both stages of development become Bugbears after death simply because the Elves did not wish to lose vital assets to them. The extreme change over time was done to save on resources. Even though it may not be obvious at first, these creatures were made through collaboration with the Serpent People, during one of the periods when the two races were allies and friends.

The Orcneas
I've already written about Orcneas (they have undergone a name change). Basically, they are violent and murderous, but pretty friendly.

The Orcneas were created by the Serpent People as war machines. Dwarfs comprised the majority of soldiers (there were some Serpent soldiers as well), but Orcneas were like living tanks, siege engines, and cannons, or like berserkers, myrmidons, and other horrifically skilled and violent soldiers. Those larger sorts are called Ogres. Orcneas populations were kept low by the Serpent People, but after their death there were great booms in Orcneas populations, slowly turning into the horribly violent race known today. Their name is descended from the Serpent words for "Eaters of Corpses", due to them being fed on the rotting cadavers left behind after a battle. Orcneas are actually one of the few races made by the Serpent People who were not controlled chemically, but they were brainwashed and taught that violence and war was a game.

More is Coming Soon

Class and Race Week Day 2: The Mummifier and the Residual Spectre

Here is a class that slowly mummifies its body and grants itself strange esoteric powers, and a race of undead ectoplasms left over from a ghost's untime in this unworld.

The Mummifier
Parent Class: Priest
Hit Dice: d6 (+3/level after 9)
Attack Bonus: 1/2 level, rounded up
Saving Throws: as Priest (see below)
XP to Level 2: 2,750

Prerequisites to playing this class:

• Must have a physical body that can be preserved. If the race you are playing is normally incorporeal or semi-incorporeal, you must somehow acquire a physical form. If you are playing a race that cannot be easily preserved, such as slug-people or certain elves, then you cannot play this class much, since they would be harmed by the preservation process.

Mummifiers have the following class features:

• All experience from treasure must be spent on acquiring special materials (such as incense, wrappings, holy texts and relics, etc.) to begin or continue the mummifying process and to gain religious knowledge.
• At level 2, your unarmed attacks are considered magical and deal 1d4 damage on a hit. This damage goes up one die type every second level (d4 to d6 at level 4, d6 to d8 at level 6, etc.). At level 4, additional damage equal to half the unarmed damage is added to weapon attacks (1d3 at level 4, 1d4 at level 6, etc.)
• Every level (beginning at second level), you choose an esoteric power. Most esoteric powers are once a day, with a handful of at-will abilities and the possibility that a mummifier will choose the same power twice or more. The esoteric powers available vary, but some possible ones might include:
• Speak to Stones
• Night-vision
• Turn Food to Dust
• Control Flames
• Sticks to Snakes
• Mind Control
• Immunity to Disease and Poisons
• At level 9, the mummifier chooses to either unlock the ability to inflict the terrible disease known as Mummy's Rot (in addition to other possible diseases), or to be able to cure any disease.

The Residual Spectre

Ability Scores: +WIS, -CON

Racial Traits: Is incorporeal (can pass through inanimate objects and living creatures (causing a strange feeling)). Cannot use non-magical physical equipment at all. Is able to see where any living thing is at all times, but cannot see inanimate objects in darkness. Can possess living things and inanimate objects to gain a physical form, at least for a time. Can speak with the dead once per day (plus wisdom modifier if positive). When inhabiting a physical form, use the average of the host's and spectre's physical ability scores.

Class Restrictions: Residual spectres can play any class, but the majority are magic-users and priests, simply due to the immaterial nature of these small spirits. However, when inhabiting a body, they are able to utilize the physical equipment required of other classes.

Residual spectres are the remnants of immaterial undead (and some material ones as well!) when they pass through an area. They are cast off, with no memory of their parent ghost's past life, and with not much in the way of paranormal power. All they can do is take another being's physical form and contact other, much more powerful spirits in the area.

Class and Race Week Day 1: The Slime Catcher and the Dust Bunny

Here is the first pair of playable things for class/race week: a class that starts out as just a person with a lil pudding buddy but can become either a slime hunter or the arcane servant of the demon king of slimes, and a race of small constructs grown from the dust and grime lying around your house.

The Slime Catcher
Parent Class: Professional
Hit Dice: d6 (+1/level after 9)
Attack Bonus: 1/2 level, rounded up
Saving Throws: as Professional (Specialist/Thief) (see below)
XP to Level 2: 2,250

Slime catchers have the following class features:

• +2 to saves v. slimes (any effects caused by oozes of some sort), +1 to saves v. poison
• Can speak OOZOID, the alien language of slimes and puddings
• Begins play with an oozing companion that can follow very simple commands. Statistics-wise, it functions as whatever the weakest slime in your game is. It can go into small spaces and do very simple actions. Can speak oozoid.
• Is able to catch and train slimes into monstrous companions. These can be any slime, and it will usually take more time/have more risk the more deadly the pudding is.
• Optional system to determine risk/time: it takes 1 week/hit die, and to succeed they must make a skill check as if they were trained in the skill (following the 5MORE skill system). On a failure, it either takes 1 additional week (cumulative), or you are injured by the slime.
• At level 2, chooses one of the following features:
• Gain a special bonus to hit and damage slimes, equal to 1/3 level, rounded up. This is in addition to your normal to-hit and damage bonuses from leveling and ability scores.
• Gain the ability to cast spells, in a similar manner to a magic-user. All infernal enchantments come from the demon lord of slimes and oozes JUIBLEX, or from similar fiends. Gain spells as the cleric once did (with the first spell being at level 2, etc.). Special spell lists and tables will be forthcoming.
• At level 4, gains one of the following features based on their choice at level 2:
• Is able to track slimes and oozes and puddings with incredible accuracy (functions as if an EXPERT in the skill), and has decreased penalties when attacking recklessly or defensively against slimes (rather than penalty being double bonus, penalty is equal to bonus)
• Can shapeshift into a slime at-will, by making a check of 1d20+level+WIS modifier, against 10+hit dice of goal slime+any other bonuses from special features. Every successful check imposes a -1 penalty, and an unsuccessful check means you cannot shapeshift for the rest of the day.
• At level 6, gains one of the following features based on their choice at level 2:
• All damage dealt by the slime catcher is treated as magical for purposes of killing oozes, which are normally effectively immune to physical damage.
• Can imbue their slime servants with intellect and cunning, allowing them to follow more complex commands.
• At level 9, gains one of the following features based on their choice at level 2:
• Is effectively immune to the caustic effects of oozes, as well as to the powers required to destroy them. They take minimum damage from acid, fire, lightning, etc.
• Can invoke Juiblex itself, or the fungal demon queen Zuggtmoy (as well as certain other powerful demons). They will usually require a favor or sacrifice for whatever they will do. Lesser demons can be invoked from a spell acquired at a lower level.

Dust Bunnies

Dust bunnies grow from dust and sand and hair and all other sorts of particles you might have lying around. The vast majority of them are very small, even shorter than a halfling, but there are records of almost human-sized ones from incredibly dirty ruins and abandoned structures. Dust bunnies generate naturally over time, but they can be created on purpose by wizards or even by a simple commoner with the right charms.

Ability Scores: +DEX, -STR

Racial Traits: Is able to learn very basic information from the dirt in a location. Can fuse together with other dust bunnies to create larger and stronger creatures. Is able to see in low-light conditions just as well as normal light. When fighting against larger creatures, they are adept at crawling all over them to attack (make a DEX check to crawl on a larger creature and attack them). Cannot use large weapons, and must use medium weapons two-handed (even if human-sized, unless fused together).

Class Restrictions: Dust bunnies can play any class, but the majority are fighters or professionals, followed by magic-users, followed by clerics (dust bunnies are very secular). Sub-classes typically fall into the realm of their parent class for these purposes.

A Handful of Announcements

I have many things planned in the upcoming days/weeks/whatever on this here blog.

The first is that next week is what will be called Race and Class Week, where everyday I create and post a playable race and a playable class, and occasionally one or the other will be replaced with a race-as-class style class. This will go from Monday (Labor Day) to the following Sunday.

The second is that I am working on a large(ish) adventure that I will post a pdf of after I play it with my group. It still needs a name, but I have the basic concepts down. It is a dungeon filled with undead halflings, strange mutants made by a morally ambiguous wizard, ancient fungal monstrosities, and demons from space.

I am also going to make more Colorpocalypse posts in the upcoming days, as well as conversions to make it into a more normal OSR game.

Have a great day!

The Monk for LotFP

So i finally got an actual physical copy of the LotFP book! And I have promptly begun putting sticky notes in it to fill it with my houserules. So here's some houserules that I cam up with a few days ago regarding a new class (its really a sub-class though)!

The Monk (A Class for LotFP)
Parent Class: Priest (Cleric)
Hit Dice: d6 (+2/level after 9)
Attack Bonus: 1/2 level, rounded down (see below)
Saving Throws: as Priest
XP to Level 2: 2,750 (2,250 if paying a tithe (1,750 if paying all money beyond bare necessities)

Monks have the following class features:

• When making unarmed attacks, their attack bonus is equal to their level (rather than 1/2 it). Certain melee weapons allow for this as well (whichever are favored by the sect the monk is from). If their sect doesn't focus on unarmed fighting, then it can be switched out for certain weapon types.
• The damage dealt by unarmed attacks begins as 1d4 (if using favored weapons, simply add the die type to the weapon's damage). This damage increases every odd level (d4 to d6 at level 3, d8 at level 5, d10 at level 7, d12 at level 9, d14 at level 11, etc.).
• They can use their WIS score instead of their AC for defense purposes. Alternatively, they can add their WIS modifier to their AC in addition to DEX.
• They save as a priest of 1 level higher than their actual level.
• Monks have certain powers tied to their sect. This can be the healing of injuries for a college of doctor monks, or the summoning of elemental powers for monks of arcane science. For all powers, follow the following guidelines:
• Every level, the monk can either increase the power of the ability or the probability of success. For example, with the healing example, say it begins healing d4 hit points, with a chance of it instead hurting the individual more than they already are. When the monk levels up, they can either increase the HP healed to a d6, while keeping the chance of injury the same, or they can decrease the chance of injury but keep the HP regained at a d4.

Example Monk Sects

The Healing Church 

Can heal individuals of their injuries with their elixirs, pills, and equipment that they carry with them everywhere. This begins healing d4 HP (only Flesh, rather than Grit (though many monks of this sect carry with them supplies for that as well)), with a 3 in 6 chance of taking the HP from the individual, rather than giving it. Every level, they either increase the HP healed (d4 to d6, etc.) or decrease the chance of failure (becomes 3 in 8, etc.)

Monks of the Healing Church are more like traveling doctors, who specialize in the healing of more magical and monstrous illnesses. Instead of healing HP, the monk can increase the chance of failure to 6 in 6 (or 6 in 8, 6 in 10, etc.) (using LotFP rules for skill checks) to attempt to reverse such effects.

Monks of the Healing Church are trained in the use of edged weapons and clubs (both of which are extremely useful in surgery), rather than the unarmed fighting of the monk detailed above.

The Cult of the Frog God

These cultists are trained in strange magics that allow them to transform themselves into powerful frog monsters at-will. This lasts for 1 turn (at first), with a 4  in 6 chance of instead turning into a simple powerless frog for the time wished. The abilities of the frog beast improve as the monk wishes, but what powers these are is determined by you.

Monks of the Cult of the Frog God are trained in only the most simple of weapons when in human form (daggers), but when in frog form all of their attacks count as if they were proficient in them.

Monks of the Cult of the Frog God must do strange arcane rituals to retain their shapeshifting abilities. These are usually determined by whichever branch of the cult is nearest to them, but sometimes the cultist will see visions ordering them what to do. These rituals include eating frog eggs from a pond, dissecting a frog alive and eating its organs, keeping an amphibian as a pet for a set number of days without it being hurt, or sacrificing much of your wealth to a well or lake.

The Angels and The Nephilim

Angels are creatures of divine radiation and nuclear fire. In their true forms, they are but clouds of atomic matter or blobs of alien energy, but they take physical forms to venture down to the planet’s surface. They follow unknown laws which they consider the rules and strictures of the cosmos, and they travel to planetary surfaces to punish those who do not follow their laws. They carry swords of radioactive light and shields of otherworldly glass, with bodies of gold and fire and steel, and innumerable eyes of many sorts. Some wizards and warriors enjoy the killing of angels, stealing their atomic fire for their own uses and leaving the strange shells behind, to be scavenged by raiders and monstrous beasts.

The Nephilim are strange creatures born of some combination of angel and mortal. Some of them were produced from the unlikely union of a divine and a person, whereas some others are wizards, scholars, or their servants who consumed the radiant power of an angel. They are gigantic, with skin made of some inorganic material such as stone, gold, or ivory, and radioactive fire within. They are incredibly powerful, and angels sometimes use them as mortal agents, which are named Saviours or Prophets.

The Nephilim

Hit Dice: d10

Features:

• Being a nephilim costs 1 Adventure Point.
• The die used to roll damage goes up by 1 die size, due to size and strength.
• You roll saving throws to resist radiation twice, taking the better result.
• Goes into a meditative state rather than sleeping, where questions that need to be answered are answered by the universe itself. The nephilim is aware of their surroundings while in this state.
• Does not eat or drink, and rather consumes holy oils and incense.
• You are able to speak with angels in their language, Enochian.
• You are able to receive gifts from the divines in exchange for following their esoteric laws, thus making you a Saviour or Prophet.
• You have -2 to-hit small creatures, and they receive a +2 to-hit you.

The Divine Laws

If you are a follower of these laws, and even if you are not, angels will descend from the heavens to punish you. Their strength will vary with the impact of the crime, with small ishim appearing for miniscule breaches, and great arch-angels descending to punish those who commit great crimes. If you go along with the punishment dealt by these angels, they will either incur some special penalty on you (if you are not a Prophet or Saviour), or remove your access to one of your powers (if you are a Prophet or Saviour). If you do not go along with the punishment, then they will attempt to kill you. As long as you are really good at killing angels, you can break these laws all you want.

There are way too many angelic laws to detail them all, but as a general guideline, just make them very strict and esoteric, with lots of restrictions and complex rituals.

The Angelic Order

All angels are equals in the infinite void of colorful space. However, they take on ranks when they take on physical forms. The ranks of angels are as follows (in order of weakest to strongest).

1. Ishim
2. Cherubim
3. Bene Elohim
4. Elohim
5. Malakim
6. Seraphim
7. Hashmallim
8. Erelim
9. Ophanim
10. Chayot Ha Kodesh

Statistics for each angel will be forthcoming, but you could just use whatever angel stats you want (just so long as Chayot Ha Kodesh are stronger than Ishim)

As a general rule of thumb, angels become more and more metaphysical and immaterial the higher up they go in rank. Ishim are uncanny humanoids, whereas Elohim are gaseous and Chayot Ha Kodesh might be no more than a spoken word or thought idea. However, once their task is done or if they are killed, they must leave behind something (a shell). In the lower orders, this is simply their body. But in the higher orders (such as the Chayot Ha Kodesh), the shell must be remembered by the killer for it to remain in the world, or it must be held within a container.

Adventure Points and Some Characters

So I read this post over on rememberdismove about doing away with classes entirely, and I felt that it would fit very well with the system I created for Colorpocalypse, rather than having races and classes. So I will be creating things for this instead of classes. I want to include this with Mutants and Machines of the Baffling Badlands, but I am having difficulties reconciling random mutations and this system. Now, instead of selecting whether you want to be an engineer or a drug fairy or a person with a tv head, you mix and match features that you wish (many races have minor augmentations, and powerful races cost AP).

Also, here's some Colorpocalypse characters that use AP for character creation:

From Kill Six Billion Demons

Jung Cho the Rifle Witch

• Has rifle-shoes that allow her to jump great distances (1 AP)
• Proficiency in guns of all sorts (1 AP)
• Is able to sense changes in the weather and communicate telepathically (1 AP)
• Is incredibly agile and trained in ancient martial arts (1 AP)

CNN the Televisor

• Has replaced face with television screen that shows shows and signals found in the ether. Can use powers derived from these signals, but has 1/2 charisma in social situations (2 AP)
• Is able to see in darkness (1 AP)
• Has device that they can tune to take control of creatures of signal and static (1 AP)

From Kill Six Billion Demons

Balaam the Saviour of Us All

• Is a nephilim (powers and abilities will be detailed in a later post) (1 AP)
• Has major control over fire and radiation (1 AP)
• Is able to see in all directions (1 AP)
• Can smite physical creatures (WIS save or be greatly harmed by subatomic might) (1 AP)

No-Skin the Birdcatcher

• Is invisible, unless wearing clothing or having some substance on skin (such as paint or dust) (2 AP)
• Is proficient in skills relating to the catching of birds, such as trap-setting and stalking (1 AP)
• Can walk on rough terrain and sloping terrain with just as much ease as on flat ground (1 AP)