Curious Dungeon #3&4 - Let the Year End with some Dungeons

The end of 2018 is coming close. This year i started this blog and, whilst my activity slowed down in the second half of the year i am still incredibly happy about what i am doing here and keep collecting ideas for new posts. I will write a anniversary post once that day rolls around so i keep the rambling about this short.

To close up this year i have a new entry in the Curious Dungeon Series. Curious Dungeons are not only among my most popular posts. They are also quite fun to make. The series is all about exploring Dungeon Design and Adventure design from different angles and creating new things to explore. So today i will do something else. I made two new Curious Dungeons, with one placed after the other. 

There are two main modes of creation for Adventures and Dungeons for me. Starting of with a story or starting of wit ha map. Most of the time i find myself in between those and not at one of the extremes, but some of my most fun creations have tended towards those extremes. This time i started just with drawing the maps and i filled it with life later. Naturally ideas started floating even while the maps were in work.

So to encourage creativity in this blogs readers i will only upload the maps to today's curious Dungeons. I know that many people reading this blog are no strangers to creating fantasy role playing content so i challenge all of you to fill these maps with life. Withing the next two weeks, to kick of 2019, i will post my own takes, my own ideas and my own design for what lies inside those two Dungeons, as i did for the first two in this Series. But maybe someone else will post his take. If you do so, please let me know, but yes... you are free to use those maps for you own creation. 

I'd really love to see some takes at these maps. Maybe someone even knows what lies beneath Curious Dungeon 4. There exists no map to there lower level yet. Maybe i have some ideas. Maybe i don't. Maybe your ideas are way better than mine. Who knows.

Here are links to the raw files for those maps if you want to use them. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RBAV9vsU3E0XMyvQS3DEh2Dv8mGGlsTf

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NNKXMkzBqhljyAZHPfPkh0TZ30BtjAgd

Thank you all for reading this blogs posts. This project has been close to my heart and used up way more time than i expected but it's worth it. There will be more content next year.

Connecting your Characters

At the core of most roleplaying experiences are the characters. When playing, the characters not only bond with the world and the story they are involved in, but with each other. Those bonds form the dynamics between the group and influence most of the experience. Not all of these connections have to be of positive nature. Tension within the group can lead to great roleplaying.

But there is not always enough time to forge those connections. In a small con-game or your typical one-shot session you normally don't have any relationships between the characters. While many players will forge them quite fast or might try to impose them upon their characters and the GM to make play more intriguing. All you need is a good idea.

When starting out running DCC i was looking for a way to easily connect 0-level characters, as a simple relationship between those peasants will help players forge more roleplaying opportunities, especially if they are not comfortable with the Funnel concept. I came up with a random Table to determine relationships and i have used it many times since. Not only for DCC but for many of my one shot sessions.

Now, over a year later, i reforged this table and turned it from a d66 into a d50 Table. I also translated it from German into English and cleaned up some entries that just didn't work out. So here i present to you. Character connections.

If the link is not working try this one: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DwxvXadzhIrC4bGIE0g8e0c9CPdM8AGo

This Table will not only help to inspire one shot parties but can also  be used in the creative process of forging new places and connecting the characters that live there. Just give it a try!

I'm working on many things currently. I posted a second elf class and will soon give the dwarf and halfling a similar treatment. Also i am currently working on two DCC adventures one of which i will try to release on this blog, maybe as a new year present. Look out for it. I might manage to make two posts a month for a while.

So far and thanks for reading.

The Elven Strider - A DCC Character Class

You are an outsider to most. Growing up as an elf, a long living demi-human, whose ancient civilization indulges in crafts and arts, magic and mundane, your lack of connection to the arcane world ensured, that you never quite felt at home. Traversing the thick elven forests you found your fulfillment in the martial ways, training in combat and patience alike.

Today's post is about a new character class for DCC RPG

The elven Strider

[If the link does not work try this one: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZzOxw1JOwTl2vDziYnAUycg0GN_hKXzC]

Character classes are a stable of fantasy role playing games, ever since D&D introduced them into their game along with them. DCC uses a old school line-up of character classes and with those, classes and races are indistinguishable. Being a dwarf apparently is a full time job.

This system has many perks and one of them is streamlining characters and play as well as setting expectations to judges and other players. Character and personality in DCC are not about what is written on your character sheet, but what the character experiences and how the player expresses him, anyway.

I am normally not a fan of elves. I just don't want to play them most of the time. But DCC made quite interesting elves by combining them with patrons and making them into long living vessels for some of the most powerful entities out there. While i liked that concept i felt like i wanted to give elves another option. 

In the long run i am planning on giving all races (elves, dwarfs, halflings) a second class option, just to give their players some choice and make them compensate for the "wrong" stats better. I have not settled for a second dwarven and halfling class yet, especially as there are some amazing ones out there on the Internet and in Fanzines.

The elven strider is a elf whose focus lies more on physical and martial combat and who has only small arcane capabilities, granted through his patron. His defining class feature, the Aim Die came from a Discussion on G+ on a similar class. The Outlier by Nick Baran. Check it out. It's quite cool. I just wanted to have a combat capable class who does not use the deed die in the typical fashion and wanted to give it a unique spin. 

This is not the first character class i ever created. For this years Gongfarmers Almanach i wrote a Lycanthrope class. Feel free to check it out. I am quite proud of it. It can be found in 2018 Gongfarmer's Almanac Volume #1. Huge thanks to my friend Maike Gerstenkorn who contributed the amazing Werewolf Artwork for the Front page of this class. 

Did you know that the consolidated Version is out? No? Go buy it! Its only printing and shipping costs. Literally the cheapest option possible. Gongfarmers Almanach 2018

Please feel free to leave any feedback for the classes, along with fun anecdotes that arise from playing them. I plan on writing a more general post on class systems and am even working on some exciting alternatives to use with DCC. Until then. Have a good time

 

Curious Dungeon #2 - Cave of The Moths

It's been a while. Not only since i posted a Dungeon, but also since i posted in general. So here is the second Curious Dungeon. 

In my first Curious Dungeon (The Temple of Oyraka) i tried myself at drawing and designing Dungeons by making a map without concept and filling it with life after wards. This time i took a similar approach. 

I always wanted to try isometric dungeons. I love isometric dungeons. They look awesome. So i went out and tried it for myself. I was quite happy with the result and decided that i need to use it for more than just drawing practice. So as with the previous Curious Dungeon i turned this map into a full, system neutral, fantasy Dungeon along with Plot hooks and room descriptions. Enjoy

The Cave of the Moths

The Design Ideas for this one came fast. At the moment i started drawing the long staircase i noticed that i was making the stairs quite irregular. I was thinking of fixing it but then decided to completely roll with it, which gave the dungeon a crumbled and dangerous look. 

So the structural damage plays hugely into exploring the dungeon. Every step might bring the building to a collapse. 

Filling the Dungeon was not too hard. I started of with an excuse to visit it. As always, obtaining an artifact was enough of a reason for me. Since i just ran a quick, improvised session in which beings of darkness, hiding in a cave, impenetrable to normal light, were the main danger, an artifact to counter the light was necessary. So i created a lantern, bright enough to vanish all darkness. Instead of a well rounded Dungeon i decided that home of this artifact was the Place where it was built. Crumbled and long abandoned the light unfortunately does the same thing what my light in my room does in these short summer nights. It attracts pesky insects. And so the Cave of the Moths was born.

I am quite happy with this one. Creating a smaller Dungeon is just a fun experience. The first Curious Dungeon with it's 18 Rooms was quite tedious to write down, but this one was fun from start to finish. I always intended curious dungeons to be a series and i want to continue with them. Currently i feel more inclined to create short ones but feel free to tell me what you prefer!

Tell me how you like it. I'd love to hear of someone who incorporated this dungeon (and my other creations) in his campaign and if you just want to use the map, feel free to do so. I'd love to hear how other people fill these maps with life.

On a personal note... I'm back. I had exams in the beginning of august and despite my intentions to write something i just could not get things done. Holiday soon followed and i collected many ideas and began fleshing them out. I will keep a bi-weekly postsduring the summer and hopefully the entire autumn with posts occurring on Fridays. At least that's the plan.

When Magic goes critical - DCC Rules

Magic in Dungeon Crawl Classics is awesome. It really is. And one of the most fun aspects of magic is never knowing exactly what happens. Therefore DCC wizards are among the most fun classes to play in all of fantasy roleplaying. There is just one thing that has always bothered me.

One of the most important things about d20 Systems is, that when the dice come up with a 20, then something awesome happens. This is true for Wizards in DCC to some extent. The rules say that when rolling a natural 20 you get a even higher spell bonus than you already got. So you are incredibly likely to cast the best spell of your life. That's good. But not as fun as rolling a 20 for any other class can be.

To make this more fun for myself and my group i did the most DCC thing i could think off and crafted a new set of random table to roll on. Critical Tables for spells. All spell casting classes can use these tables to determine more awesome results should a natural 20 come up. The tables work incredibly similar to the way mundane critical hit tables work. 

Critical Magic

[If this link is not working try this one: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cLvLnwdeSFyaCSfz6qPVC2nTYe57vgDb]

Those tables have not yet been playtested extensively, but my players like them this far. Feel free to leave Feedback as a comment or on G+

I can't guarantee that I'll keep a bi-weekly update schedule for the next few weeks but I'll try my best. I am definitely not running out of ideas. Just out of time.

Tzashazul - The Dimensional Terror - A DCC Patron

The Dimensional Terror is an ancient beast of magic. Not born, neither created it mindlessly traveled through dimensions, devouring mind after mind to fill its shell with thoughts. The pure basis of its existing was madness. Thousands of minds, living in a immortal body, struggling against each other, trying to seize control or escape this torturous state. As eons passed these minds slowly merged into one twisted, mad, but at the same time genuinely brilliant beast, which calls itself Tzashazul. 

Tzashazul - The Dimensional Terror

[If this link does not work try this one: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1S8qJnzcz43vwsYMgRhOKWkCBqyPPgkVR]

I hereby present to you Tzashazul. A DCC Patron for those seeking madness. I have to give credit, where credit is due. This Patron is inspired by one of the finest DCC adventures i ever had the pleasure of running. Of course i am talking about the magnificent Sailors on the starless Sea by DCC legend Harley Stroh. If you don't know this Adventure skip the following paragraph.

Spoilers ahead. It is no secret anymore that one of the deadliest beasts in Harley Strohs adventure is a giant leviathan living at the bottom of the starless sea. During one of my playthroughs a character began, driven by madness, to cut out his enemies and allies hearts to pacifiy the beast. The elf took such pleasure and fulfilment in the task that it was only natural, after he sacrificed the hearts of the enemy shaman with a combination of suicidal stupidity and unjustifyable luck, to make this beast at the bottom of the starless Sea his Patron. 

Spoilers end here. The Patrons design changed a lot over the course of the last weeks as i was never happy with what i got so the final version has only small resemblence to what Harley Strohs Adventure suggested. The theme of madness and tentacles stuck, though. This is all for those familiar with DCC. I am quite happy with this patron, but i'd love any type of feedback on this one as it is my first Patron write-up ever. To all those who don't know what a Patron is let me explain it to you

Patrons in DCC

Wizards in Dungeon Crawl Classics are fun! DCC is one of the best fantasy systems to be a wizard in. It perfectly fits the theme of wild, unpredictable, yet powerful magic. And the constant struggle of wizards to push their power and knowledge to unprecedented hights is omnipresent within the game. 

Patrons are one of the best implementations of this idea. By learning the spell "Patron Bond" a Wizard can strike a deal with a Patron. A being of vast arcane knowledge and power. The character offers up his wealth, services or even his soul in order to gain more power from his Patron.

In game terms, when a character bonds with a patron they strike a deal. The character gets the ability to invoke his patron for help and might, over the span of his adventuring life learn new spells from his Patron, which are superior to most normal spells. But every request comes at a cost. The character has to carry out quests for his Patron or has to sacrifice his wealth, his allies or himself to the Patrons cause. The Patrons influence taints the character over time, as he uses his masters service more and more. 

There are many types of Patrons. Some are powerful, formerly mortals beings who achieved near immortality through arcane skill and knowledge. Some are gods, supporting their followers with powers beyond celestial magic. Many are demons, abusing weak mortals for their own goals by pretending they could achieve greatness. 

One last note: Check out the amazing Knights in the North Blog, if you don't know of it yet. They post tons of amazing DCC stuff and have recently posted an amazing additional system to further improve upon Patrons in general. I highly recommend using it! Seriously. Take a look at their Patron and Deity Demands!

Until next time, where i take another look at the Wizard Class in DCC!

The obligatory house rule post.

As i started this blog i made a post about why i enjoy Dungeon Crawl Classics as much as i do. One of the points i made there was how easy it is to modify the DCC ruleset. I and many other judges out there made house rules to adjust the game to their personal preferences. I wanted to present some of my house rules for a long time and now i finally found the inspiration to do so.

This week the awesome Spellburn Podcast made an episode in which they talked about House rules in great depth and presented many suggestions. Go and listen to the episode if you have not done so already. It's a great one.

Two of the house rules presented here are already featured in the Spellburn episode but were heavily modified since then. I will discuss the reasoning behind every house rule and implications here. If you only want the crunch, then don't worry. I also posted all house rules as a PDF

OOC-DCC-Houserules

Attribute Checks

Instead of rolling 1d20 and adding the modifier of the corresponding attribute, players roll 1d20 and add the entire value of the attribute when making Skill and Attribute checks. All difficulties have to be adjusted by adding 10 to the DC.

Rolling the body is the only exception to this rule. You still need to roll under your luck attribute in order to succeed.

Reasoning

I never enjoyed rolling for attributes in d20 games. Big dice and small modifiers make your character and his stats feel irrelevant to the outcome of the roll. While DCC fixes this by rewarding creativity over dice rolling i still felt an urge to change the rulings.
My first attempt was, inspired by some AD&D and Cthulhu games i played in, making attribute checks by rolling under the attribute. While i liked it and still think it works fine this ruling had two major problems. First: Calculating Difficulties and factoring in modifiers is a mess. Second (as discussed in Spellburn): Rolling low is not fun. While i might disagree on the second one, the first one always bugged me.
This solution is mathematically equivalent to rolling under the attributes when it comes to probabilities of success. Also you don't have to house rule modifications. They apply per normal rules. Its still not that great to have a result of a 15 be "not that good", but i prefer it widely over a success difference of 15% between the weak wizard and the mighty warrior when it comes to strength checks.

Blocking with Shields

In addition to granting a AC Bonus shields can also be used to block any one melee attacks, which the character is aware of, even critical hits. The blocking of an attack has to be announced after the attack is rolled but before any damage or  critical rolls are made. The shield is destroyed by the attack and no damage is applied to the character.
Magical shields are not destroyed, they are knocked away, cut loose, stuck or otherwise made useless for the remaining encounter.

Shields can be used to attack, which uses the normal dual wielding rules except for dwarves.

New Equipment
Shield	Cost*	Damage**	AC Bonus	Check Penalty	Fumble †
Wooden Shield	20gp	1d3	+1	-2	+1d
Steel Shield	35gp	1d4	+2	-4	+1d
Tower Shield	80gp	1d6	+4	-6	+2d

* for use with base DCC. My Campaign Setting "Thireila" converts all costs from GP to SP
** If used to attack (f.e. by a dwarf using board and sword)
† In addition to any armor worn. 1d equals a step on the dice chain for armored fumbles d4-d8-d12-d16-d20-d24

Reasoning

 As i read through the hubris setting i found this rule and wanted to imply it into my game. The rule as i present were originally found in Crawl Issue 2 , which originally took them from the Trollsmyth blog. I made a way more complicated draft out of this, which allowed to block multiple attacks and tracked shield hit points. Damage overflow from shields could be applied to characters. It was a quite nice system i think. It just did not work for DCC. DCC is focused on actions and reactions, not on bookkeeping. Its inspiration is in heroic fantasy, where taking a hit to the shield is not a tactical choice but an act of desperation. This current draft encourages this epic style of play without complicating gameplay and the new shield types i included offer more choice for player characters.

Combat Actions

Charging grants a +2 bonus to damage (if the attack is successful) instead of the attack roll. As usual it also grants a -2 malus to the charging characters AC

A character may perform a reckless attack. This grants a +2 bonus to the attack roll and reduces the attacking characters AC by 2. This maneuver can be combined with a charge to get +2 to attack and damage at the cost of a -4 AC malus.

Reasoning

An attack performed with high momentum should be impactful. Charging should be awesome. In basic DnD and DCC a charge is just a way to get more reliable damage instead of a maneuver to get one hit of high damage. So i changed this around. But even in a normal fight one can recklessly go all out on the enemy. It won't put more force to your strike, but it will make it more likely to hit someone.
This grants more options in combat which are not hard to explain, don't need any specifications and help create more high risk situations initialized by players. The impact of this additional action will drop off towards higher levels as characters get more reliable results out of their class abilities so it will only increase choice for 0 or low levels characters. I have not yet play tested this enough to see if it makes it too easy for the characters, but mightier characters can easily be countered by mightier foes, right?

No Corruption and Fumble avoidance

Wizards can't burn luck to avoid corruption, Warriors can't burn luck to avoid fumbles.

Reasoning

Corruption is awesome but rare. And avoiding it with one single point of luck makes corruption so rare that its not even worth checking. But as i mentioned, corruption is awesome. So it should happen. Therefore should not be avoidable.
I gave the warrior the same treatment and made them not able to avoid fumbles. I just like rolling on tables okay? Maybe the warrior thing will get kicked out soon, who knows.

Curious Dungeon #1 - The Temple of Oyraka

Normally when designing i start with an idea. With a story to tell. When running fantasy games i always ask myself. Where do i want my party to go and what do they want to do there, way before i ask my self what this place looks in detail. I wanted to break out of this routine and try something else. I sat down and drew a Dungeon map. I had nothing in mind while drawing it, i didn't ask myself questions about the place or the layout, i did not want to know what was inside the rooms and who lived there.

I posted the Dungeon map about two weeks ago with the promise to finish it up within a week. whoops. At least it's done now. I finished the Details of the map and here it is. Curious Dungeon Number 1. The Temple of Oyraka.

I randomly determined what this Dungeon will be. I used the tables i created for rolling through regions and found out that this was a submerged Temple inhabited by Lizardfolk. I did not quite stick to the premise as i decided that the temple was abandoned, but the Lizardfolk left their mark on this place.

But what is inside? The first room was huge, so it obviously needed a Statue. The Dungeon Alphabet by Michael Curtis provided many inspirations for this Dungeon, its arrival at my doorstep was one of the reasons i made this dungeon. It has a quite neat table for creating random statues, so i used it to roll out the table in Area 1-2 and 2-6. The Altars in Area 1-7 got randomized in a similar fashion. But there were still many rooms left empty.

It was quite easy to determine the former use of most of the rooms but for some i had to randomly determine a use. At this point i just looked at any table i could find for inspiration. Room by Room the Dungeon came together. I stopped rolling out random things and just picked what i liked out of this book and many other resources i could find in my bookshelf.

Here is the result. The Temple of Oyraka.

If the Hyperlink is not working just follow this link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NJDRr0_w-FqRCvSVEUh8o5ZEbSErY48d

I liked the idea of having the Dungeon set inside a lake. So i did it. It was submerged anyway, right? Now one question was left to answer: Why should adventurers go into this Dungeon? A mighty artifact had to be placed inside this Dungeon. I found no good spot to hide it. No room that made for a nice final room. So i placed it in the entrance and made a journey through the entire Dungeon necessary to retrieve it.

Writing this Dungeon down was way more work than designing it and i did not expect it to take this long. But i did learn a lot from this and be ensured that this won't be the last curious Dungeon.

Hog - God of Beasts and Combat

Here comes another God of Thireila. The chaotic and destructive Hog - God of Beasts and Combat.

While most of the Gods want to carry their ideals out into the wide world of Thireila, Hogs goals are more simple. Hog wants to see the most impressive combatants, men or beast, have the most brutal fights one could think of. Those who follow him are warriors and savages, mercenaries and brutes, looking for evergrowing challenges and rewards on the fields of battle. Whether they go alone or in groups, they don't care. They pray through their actions, not with their words. And while some belief in the constant struggle and fight, most follow Hog because his powers reward those who spend all their life fighting. 

The whole deity entry can be found here.

And now for something completly different.

Yesterday some books arrived at my home. Goodman Games 4th Printing of the Dungeon Alphabet, as well as the most current edition of the Monster Alphabet completed their journey, from the printing press in america to my lovely home in germany. I had the Pdfs to toy around with for some time now but those books just screamed at me that i finally should put them to good use.

Most of the time, when designing a dungeon, i design an Adventure first. I know why my party wants to go there and what they want. i know what the locations purpose in the story is and i know what awaits them. Yesterday i drew a map without any clue what it's going to be. I just started drawing and ended up with this

But this is not just a attempt to hone my (quite lackluster) drwaing skills. No. This will turn into a fledged out Dungeon next week. I will use my Special Places Chart from Rolling Through Regions, to randomly determine what this location will be and then i'll sit down with nothing but a pen, this map and the Dungeon and Monster Alphabet to fill this one with life. And you'll get the result and a quick report on how it went. I am looking forward to this!

Fate of the Ruthless Wizard - A DCC Funnel

The old tower looms over your small village. In the past it was a sign of resilience, but now it has turned into something else. As you step out of your small homes into the Towers shadow, the fear of the wizard Broshgar creeps back into your hearts. He took your food and your goods, he abducted your friends and your family and without remorse he killed anyone trying to stop him. Only a few months ago he took four of your children at once. And you let it happen. But today is the last day you'll ever be afraid of him. Assembling in front of the towers entrance you are ready to end his reign of terror.

I hereby present to you my first Adventure posted on this blog. Fate of the Ruthless Wizard is a six pages long DCC Funnel, which can easily fit into a single session. Built for 12 to 16 level 0 characters it will set your party up against an evil wizard who terrorized your characters home.

 I have playtested it twice and alwawys had a lot of fun with it. If you want to send any feedback into my direction feel free to do so. I'd love to hear any opinion on this module.

FATE OF THE RUTHLESS WIZARD - A DCC RPG FUNNEL

Enjoy!

The Gods of Thireila

I am currently re-designing some of the aspects of Thireila. This article has not yet been reworked, but will soon be updated!

Today we're gonna take a closer look at the deitys of the World Thireila, which i presented last week. This post will feature specifics about the clerics of Thireila and as well as the detiled entry for one of the gods. others will follow within the next few months.

Thireila has seen many powerful creatures. Some mighty enough to claim the title god for themselves. The gods had powers far beyond imagination, not linked to the magic some weaker races wield. Those beings have shaped our world like none other, have sprouted and raised some civilizations, as well as they have brought doom to others. Some gods live in our realm, some have their own home in a distant plane, but most influence our world to this day. This Post will mostly focus on the Gods worshipped by humanity.

The Gods of the Human Race

The Gods that brought humanity into existence were among the first beings to wander this world. They spent centuries travelling and shaping the world, building friendships and rivalries among each other. The thirst for power lead the civilizations of Thireila towards magical experiments, which brought the first demonic invasion upon the world. The Gods could, after a long war, send the demons back to their home Ifrinn, but the damage was done.

The gods then proceeded to help fill the world with life again and brought forth the race of humans. As peace settled in and humans claimed the world the gods resigned from creating, as they fell enamoured with the humans and created avatars to live among them. Distracted by mortal pleasures the Hordes of Ifrinn could make their return.

The gods were overwhelmed by this army and as the full invasion began they could not stand their ground. After months of losses they struck one final plan: All Gods left combined their power to banish the demons once and for all. This Ritual lasted one day and shaped the world forever. The energies set free burnt land and cities. the living races had to pay a high bloodtoll but the attack hit the demons harder. Not many demons survived and those that did were without leadership and scattered across the land. The Plane of Demons was sealed again, but the gods were nowhere to be found.

As the world recovered from nearly beeing destroyed humans that lived by the rules and principles of the gods began to feel a power flowing through them. The gods were still alive but not among the living anymore. They became bodyless entities and the only way to impact the world they had left was to grant humans power to carry out their will. They became worshiped or feared but could no longer walk the land as they once did.

Those gods are the gods humanity worships today.

The Gods of Humanity
Lawful	Neutral	Chaotic
Imna - Goddess of Honor	Janu - God of Diplomacy and Secrets	Elyra - Goddess of Mysteries and Magic*
Parthia - Goddess of Justice and Nobility	Molyk - God of Creation	Hog - God of Beasts and Combat
Paturo - God of Wisdom and Age	Tirif - Goddess of Nature and Weather	Matho - God of Desperation and Hope
Ralwonir - God of Purity and Health	Tjorael - God of Hospitality and Alcohol	Olnoth - God of Pestilence and Illness
Torgej - God of Craftsmanship and Trade	Travendra - Goddess of Death and Fate	Shantu Sulfar - Goddess of Alchemy and the Moon
Vorlukay - God of the Undead	Urr - God of War	Zeyai - Goddess of the Sea

* Elyra has only few clerics and mostly acts as a patron to aspiring Magicians  

Clerics in Thireila 

The existance of the gods is not up for debate so the only question for most beeings is wheter they can identify with the ideals of a single god or a group of gods enough to worship them over all others. It is common for humans to follow the path of a god but some take it one step further and devote their entire life to a single god. Those people are called "clerics" and are able to summon the power of the gods.

Some clerics and faithful organize in churches or ordos but others find faith on their own. Not all people choose the god which they follow sometimes a god chooses a human to carry out his will. The Gods don't take the servitude of their followers lightly and reward them by helping them on their encounters and lending them powers. But a Human who abuses his powers or betrays his god might soon find out how the real wrath of his god can feel.

The importance of the churchs and gods varries on a regional basis, depending on the interest of the gods, the faith of the people there and the intents of the rulers. Some rulers even forbid the worship of specific gods. While the gods mostly lend their powers to humans some of other races have been able to follow their calling and join the ranks of the clerics.

Playing a Cleric 

 

Thireila hosts some changes to the way Clerics are played in Dungeon Crawl Classics. There are two major changes. Disapproval and Deity specific abilities. These changes all depend on the specific Godthe cleric follows. If no Entry for the god of the cleric has been released than these changes don't take place and the cleric follows the normal rules presented in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Book.

Deity Abilities

Each Deity alters the way of the core abilities in some minor or major way. Specifics are detailed in each gods entry. 

Deity Spells

Each God gives his clerics access to one or more spells only his clerics may use. These spells can be aquired once a cleric has a level high enough to learn spells of that level. Deity specific spells use a "Spells known" slot as normal spells do and a cleric does not have to learn them.

Deity Requests 

Each god entry comes with a table of six god specific deity requests. These can be used instead of the table in the core book or in addition to it. If combining both simply use a d16 and treat the results in these new tables as entries 11-16.

Disapproval

In Thireila the gods are more aware of the deeds of their faithful. So their punishment is more concrete. Every God has its own disapproval tables, which are divided into three categories. Lay on Hands, Turn Unholy and Spellcasting. Instead of rolling a Number of d4 equal to the result of the roll which caused disapproval, simply take the result and compare it to the table corresponding with the action, which caused disapproval. If the disapproval has come up as a result of a Divine Aid roll, then refert to the table best fitting to the request and deed.

Ralwonir - God of Purity and Health.

The Pure god, The savior of Mankind, the Helpful Hand. Ralwonir is all this and far more. He watches over the humans, protecting those, who follow the right path and are of pure heart. He rejects those who only thirst for power and fame, those who willingly put others at risk and those who have any malicious intent. His vision of humanity is a vision of humble, grateful, helpful and loyal beings and he will do everything to protect his faithful who are building this vision. Those who failed his Vision may have the chance of redemption, as Ralwonirs hopes for humanity are far too high to let people fall easily.

Deity Entry (click to open):
Ralwonir - God of Purity and Health

Rolling through Regions

Every Story needs to take place somewhere. This somewhere is not the entire continent, or world. It is a small region. Some landmarks, a few cities, some history, nothing more. Most Stories and Adventure Modules don't need a predefined world and DCC is built around the idea of creating the world from within. Taking the focus towards the individual places and persons.

This system i present you here will provide you with a randomized region for fantasy roleplaying. While some of the designs and ideas are directly catered towards Dungeon Crawl Classics, the regions provided here can easily used inside every fantasy setting or system.

A huge shoutout to Last Gasp Grimoire, which inspired this Setting with its amazing City and Village Generator.

Let's get started.

1. Prepare the Region.

We need some tools for creating our region. We need a normal piece of paper, some pens and dice. Specifically d4, d6 and d20. Which dice of which sort you take is up to you but for trying out the system i recommend 6 of each. Put all the d4, d6 and d20 on a pile or into a bag. Now we can start.

2. Roll the dice.

Pull a hand full of random dice out of the bag or from the pile. Throw them all onto your sheet of paper. Those refusing to land on the sheet of paper will have to find their way back on there. Just pick them up and place them somewhere or roll them again until they stay there. Every Die will represent something in the region. The d4 form the landscape, the d20 create the settlements and the d6 fill the region with places of interest.

3. Create the landscape.

Every d4 represents a big area of terrain. Take the die out and draw the landscape corresponding to the number rolled onto the map.

1 - Mountains
2 - Forest
3 - Lake
4 - Hills

The size of the landscape is up to you but if you can't decide. Reroll the d4. The number that comes up shows the diameter in inch. If landscapes overlap with other dice, then so be it. If a dice is close to the edge of the map you can expand the landscape out of the map. A Lake might become the sea by doing so.

4. Create Settlements

Every d20 is a settlement. The number rolled represents the size of the settlement. Everything below 10 has to be considered a town or smaller, while 11 or higher represent cities. Draw a Settlement of corresponding size and write the Number next to it. If you want a more in depth city creation look at the Optional Steps after this.

5. Create Special Places

Every d6 represents a special place. Higher numbers mean more important, mythical or dangerous places. There are two systems of which to choose. They obviously can be mixed without further adjustment.

5.1. Place Adventure Modules

This method replaces the d6 with pre made adventure modules. Every die represents the location at which a Module takes place. The recommended character level for the module equals the number rolled -1. Note that thiss will not provide with adventures for characters of level 6 or higher. Level 0 reffers to Funnel Modules, which are more or less specific to Dungeon Crawl Classics.

5.2. Place "Special Places"

Just get creative! Ancient ruins, secret wizard lairs, ruined chapels. The higher the number, the bigger the danger, the greater the reward. Within the optional steps, a set of random tables can be found which provide inspiration. If planning on using them, mark the number of the dice at the location.

6. Create Roads and Rivers

We begin with the largest settlement. If the Size of the Settlement (the number on the d20) is bigger than 10 connect it to 1d4+1 other Locations. This proritizes close settlements and big settlements over special places. If the settlement is "close" to the edge of the map, there is a 50% chance that one road will lead out of the region. For settlements with a size of 10 or lower, if they have no roads yet, create one. Afterwards, no matter how many roads there are, roll a die. At a odd number draw a road between the settlement and another random place.

Every mountain spawns 1d4-1 rivers. Also, there are 1d4-2 rivers, which spring from somewhere else or come from outside of the region A river begins at the spring and then flows towards a random place, be it a settlement a lake, or a special place. At every place reached roll for another one towards which the river will continue. Rivers will never go closer towards their spring. If all "valid" targets are closer to the spring than the previous targets it simply flows out of the map. Rivers crossing each other join up and become a single river.

7. Finishing touches

The map you have now is a rough sketch of your region. Giving names to places will transform it into a place to play at. If you don't wish to give more details to cities and special places, then you are done. If you want to do so, then either follow these optional steps or any other method you see apropriate.

Optional steps:

The following steps are not required in Order to create a functioning region. Often they have to be chosen in order to fit the narrative, but sometimes rolling them out can lead to more creative fun.

O1. Who rules here?

Every Region needs a Ruler. In order to determine the Ruler roll a d20 and add the size of the largest settlement ontop. Then consult the following table.

Things inside a settlement
Result	Who rules?	Modification
2 - 4	Anarchy. People here have somehow arranged with each other. Stranger might find the inner workings quite confusing.	none
5 - 8	Clans. Old families rule this land. They are not noble and not wealthy but their rule has been accepted by the people.	none
9 - 12	A Chief. A Warlord or some other form of archaic king rules here. His laws might be erratic but they work.	none
13 - 16	Rulers from the outside. Some Ruler from a distant land have all the saying in this land. There won't be any direct rule, just an embassy within the biggest settlement. Roll another d20 and add it to your previous roll. This determines the outside rulers.	Embassy in biggest settlement
17 - 20	Religious Leaders. This region is governed by the Church of (1d6) 1-2. A lawful god. 3-4 A neutral God. 5 A chaotic God. 6. A demon lord.	Add a Temple of the entity to every settlement
21 - 24	The Merchants Guild. Trade is the essence of this land, as it is owned by wealthy traders	Add a Merchants Guild building in every settlement
25 - 28	Place of the People. The People Rule over their own land. Decisions are made by (1d6) 1. an assembly, voted for by the people. 2. the rich and wealthy. 3. the military leaders. 4. the noble. 5. the oldest. 6. the literate and scholars.	Add a public meeting hall to the capitol
29 - 32	A mighty Person. This region is controlled by (1d6). 1. a powerful mage. 2. a powerful noble. 3. a holy person of a random god. 4. the child of a king. 5. a military leader assigned to this place. 6. a young rebel, who overthrew the old regiment (roll again to determine the former rulers)	Add a fortress befitting the ruler to the capitol
33 - 36	The Count rules. While neither as noble, nor as powerful as the king, the count and his family reign over all settlements in this region, with no one above them.	Add a Castle to the capitol
37 - 40	The King rules. A mighty King reigns supreme. Not only is this region under his rule, he also reigns over all the land surrounding it. This is the centre of a big kingdom.	Add a Castle or even a palace to the capitol

Note on the table: This table does assume, that humans are in charge, but if this is not the case by design, then there is a 10% chance of the ruler beeing a dwarf, elf or halfling. If  one of those rule the land there is a 50% chance, that the population mostly consists of his race.

O2. Give life to Settlements

Settlements are not well defined within this method. If you want to give them more Detail, then you can use the system provided here. You need to know the size of your settlement in order to use this system:

 - Determine Population.

Each Settlement is populated by about 50 * [size]² People. You can adjust the numbers for larger, big cities by increasing the power to the size to 3 or even 4.

 - Determine whats inside the Settlement

Settlements consist of more than just huts to live in. First of all. Every settlement has a building for those who reign there. To randomly determine other buildings or places of importance look at the list provided here. Roll a d20 for each entry. If you roll lower than or equal to the size of the town, then such a building is present within the town. A natural twenty never adds anything.

Things inside a settlement
Guilds	Temples*	Military	Shops
Guild of Magicians	Temples of lawful gods	Soldiers Academy	Legendary smith
Guild of Mercenaries	Temple of neutral gods	Walls**	Salesman for everything magic
Guild of Merchants	Temple of chaotic gods	Castle**	Thriving Black Market
Guild of Thieves	(Secret) Cults

 * Cities can have multiple temples. If your settlement gets a temple decide if it si for one or many gods. If it is for only one, then roll again for a temple of the same alignment, until you roll too high or run out of gods.

** Cities with a size of 11 or bigger automatically have walls around their centre. This adds another layer of walls. Also every city, ruled by a Chief, Count, King or anything similar automatically has something like a castle. This option then imporoves its looks or fortification.

O3. Randomize your mysteries

This little table can provide you with a randomized special area. You just have to roll a number of six sided dice, equal to the number rolled for the special place (between one and six d6) and compare it to the table. Reroll for each individual column. This tablehas four different entries that make each Place special. The Place itself, it's dominant feature,and its current inhabitants. You may roll twice for feature and / or inhabitants in order to give to place more character. Substract or add 1d6 on your second roll.

Random special place table
Result	Place	Feature	Inhabitants
1	Encampment	abandoned	Roll 2d6 instead
2	Swamp	forgotten	giant spiders
3	Forest	destroyed	humanoids
4	Town	overgrown	goblinoids and orcs
5	Graveyard	forgotten	beastman
6	Cave	corrupted	Un-Dead
7	Fortification	ancient	lizardfolk
8	Mine	gigantic	giants
9	Tower	trap-ridden	plants
10	Laboratory	submerged	elementals
11	Temple	covered in mist	cultists
12	Crypt	frozen	constructs
13	Arena	crystallic	magical [2d6]
14	Prison	glassy	fey
15	Ritual Site	unholy	Shapeshifters
16	Wreckage of a ship	sentient	demons
17	Labyrinth	mechanic	devils
18	Holy Site	flaming	dragons
19	City	gravity defying	giant [3d6]
20	Portal to another realm	toxic	Un-Dead [2d6+7]
21	Magical Tree	moving	mutated [3d6]
22	The Underdark	teleporting	spirits
23	Ancient Battlefield	demonic	vampires
24	Dragons Lair	cursed by a god	Creatures from the underdark
25	Treasure hoard	flying	[4d6] from another plane
26	Pyramid	ontop of another site	shadows
27	Corpse of a giant	shrinking	the child of a god and a demon
28	Portal to another Plane	pitch black	a unspeakable horror
29	Throne of a dead god	devouring	immortals
30	Inside a living creature	multi-dimensional	a crossbred between [2 * 5d6-1]
31	Birthplace of a race	from the future	the last of his race
32	Demonic Rift	made of pure gold	time travellers
33	A Cloud	place of negatives	a demon lord
34	Megadungeon	teleporting	a 10 000 years old mage
35	Portal to another time	older than time	a forgotten god
36	Home of a deity	extraplanar	chickens

 

O4. Hexcrawls

By throwing all the dice onto a Hexmap one can easily create a hexrawl out of this. I recommend taking more special places then and adding some coins or other markers at which random encounters will occur.