[D.R.E.A.D.] Neptoma's map progress

 It has been a very loong while since i've posted any advancement on dread's universe development...

And surprisingly, I have no new text to show, but the progress I've made on a map, the map of the main human city, the lagune city of Neptoma (in the Lacuna Nepis)c.

It's still a work in progress, and there are errors that I will have to correct in post-production (with gimp), but I really like how it's getting somewhere (and how ideas for the setting come from developing the map and naming the places)

Here's the map !

And because i've reworked on it, but it's worth not a new post, i'll give you here the new development:

[DREAD] Scrap princess' 20 Questions about a setting

Questions to fine tune Middellærd

Scrap princess is not only a major figure of the OSR blogosphere but also a talented illustrator.
in this blog post, a magical internet thingy happened: a post from another creator (JEFF RIENTS) was twisted into awesomeness:  this-is-not-that-list-of-questions-for-your-campaign
Dating back November 2014, it's nowhere new, but it's so fun I decided to use those to create content for DREAD... It's been very quiet on that front, lately

 1. Is there weaponized Squid? 

Well there was not before this question. But there definetely will be some, in two understanding of the word "weaponized"...
Some water-elves/merfolks will train squids for war...
And organs of squids will be part of alchemical recipes, weaponizing those poor creatures further...

2. Is there undead robots?

Undead will not play a big role in DREAD. Using zombies as a cheap workforce (some kind of robots, if you will) is not a bad idea, but does not really fit into my vision of this universe... Maybe the big-bad-demons will do this... Thx for the suggestion

3. Do Icebergs walk across the land ?

No climate warming in this world, so if an iceberg walks the land, it must be some kind of gigantic mimic... Or a glacier shard launched into the air by a dwarven mega-catapult...

4. What do birds know?

Birds do know that their feather are precious and know how dangerous adventurers and hunters are.
Magical birds (like lotus hummingbirds and birds of paradise) have been nearly hunted to extinction...

5. Does medicine work like it does here but no-one knows CPR or does it work like a cartoon so I cure amnesia with more head injuries or does it work like medieval euro people thought it did with demons in your teeth?

Well it's gonna be more in the direction of Renaissance Europe medicine + Alchemy... So the base is the same as our medicine (germs and stuff) and not based on humors... But alchemy will be a potent alternative, based on ancestral herbalism & magical ingredients. Demons will also be able to heal you, for the right price...

6. I want to play a hobbit but really I'm the fleas controlling the hobbit. Where is that in the book?

Well demonic fleas that are a hive mind and control, better said possess, a humanoid host, will be found in the section about demons. Sexual intercourse will be a major way to take root on new hosts, for sure...

7. How much could I rent my body out to spirits before I lost control of my character?

Well, they might call themselves Spirits, but they are actually demons... You will lose parts of your soul first... And if you do exaggerate, you will lose body and mind for an eternity of pain and slave labor.

8.What level do I have to get my character to before I am the g.m?

All humanoids will be limited to lvl 9 and will need to use alchemy to better their bodies and skills afterwards... Once you have a lvl 9 character and i've written the game, i'd be delighted to let you read and DM it... I want to play this setting too !

9. What is the dumbest thing I can spend my money on?

A sand clock that is not precise enough: You'll ruin a lot of good alchemical components before realizing...
Buying an indexed book on demonology would also be an extreme bad idea...

10. How ugly can my guy be? Like Can I be a walking fish?

As ugly as you want, as long as other in your party are more capable to speak in public and society...

(ok that's an old joke... He wasn't that bad, in hindsight...)

11.The lamp oil? Is that like cooking oil, kerosene, white spirits or napalm?

It's gonna be very typically cooking oil or raw petroleum. Or some kind of alchemical decoction, for longer lasting and stronger illumination. Or just animal fat, that works too, it just stinks...

12. How does physics work in this world?

I intend to stay very near our principles, for simplicity's sake...

Alchemy will be a form of science, mixed with magic...

Magic will be vancian, since we're playing D&D, but without teleportation and resurrection. Rituals will be important, too, for higher level effects, for example...

13. Can I start with weapon hands?

Depending on the group, are demonic weapon hands a possibility, but not one I would recommend... The social stigma would be horrendous. 

14. What cultures approve of cannibalism?

Demons do. It's part of the way they corrupt the humanoid societies: by giving part of the power of the eaten to the one that eat them, but with a big load of corruption on top.

15. Can my character not be real , but a hallucination of another character?

Seems like an interesting concept for a group of 2 players. A challenge to DM, to be sure, but interesting nontheless (let me grab my old Wraith: oblivion books)

16. Which is the rome but with lava fire country in this world? 

Before the collision of the planes and the Severance, Urbarin was very like an almighty Rome (without the Pompeiian volcano references), but it does not have the same influence as before... The town is still very powerful but lost its colonial reach...

One of its colonies did get through into Middellærd, too, and is getting an important position: Neptoma, a Venice-like town with a powerful marine and a trading ports network around the sea on which the town "stranded"

17. Can I invent an insect?

Insects can be invented. Recipes to cook insects can be invented. They can be stitched together and revived with alchemy if you are experienced enough. They tend to be very voracious afterwards, though...

18. Is there reverse fire?

Seas, waterways and ice will play a big role in the setting... Is it not what you meant with this question? 

19. How much money can I make inventing siege engines?

Probably a lot, if you find a good Warlord to employ you. But beware, your job might not be as stable as you think if you do not deliver what's expected of you (however realistic this might be)

20. What is the most significant tree to the economy of the starting place?

Neptoma's economy (this will be the default starting place) is based on the exploitation of the lagoon and sea resources: fishing is very important, shipwrights are very influential, and a blooming trade of secrets is deeply rooted in the corrupted but pragmatic city... As a place of trade, Alchemy will be important there too, since it's one of the few place where lots of exotic ingredients can be found... It's the reason the main academy for alchemy was founded in Neptoma (the NATICRA: Neptomian Academy of Transmutation of ingredients, chemical refinement, and alchemy)

Conclusion

I hoped you liked this 20 answers as much as I loved these questions. It is a very interesting exercise to answer seriously questions that were not really serious in the first place...
I'll have to do Jeff's questions on day, too.
It's a really good world building exercise !

Community

Don't refrain from sharing your thoughts in the comments, I normally validate the comments quickly.

For a longer conversation, you can join the discord of my publishing outlet (from outer space games):

From outer space games Discord

[Setting] Europol X - Setting overview

Europol-X

My love for parallel universes

This is a setting I've longed for since the first time I've heard of the concept of parallel dimensions.

I love time travel and alternate history, and they can meet in the concept of parallel dimensions.

I always find it difficult to make dimension travel "believable".

And in the past, I couldn't think of a plausible way to make the players travel.

Influences

Lately, I've had great influences in the science-fiction spectrum that I want to use as inspiration.

First and foremost, I want to talk about the "merchant princes" books by Charles Stross, which are a masterfully written story about dimension travel, but also a masterpiece of reflection on the subject of interactions between forces set on parallel universes.

Second, I'm re-watching the show FRINGE and it's a gold-mine for the beginnings of a dimension-travel-agency.

Third, the 2005 South-African TV-series Charlie Jade, which has only 3 worlds (ours, an utopian-hippie reflection, & an early-cyberpunky-dystopian reflection), which also depict credible interactions between universes

Last, there is a bunch of settings I'd like to send my players to, but never will have the chance to, otherwise... A lot of them are described in the GURPS alternate earths books (I & II), GURPS infinite worlds, some alternate history settings or novels (The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson, the Fvlminata rpg game setting, a bit of fantasy, some Shadowrun-esque, some nazi dystopia like The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick) and I'll steal stuff from the Strange (at least the system, which is perfectly tuned for dimension travel) but I'll drop the process of translation - I don't like that a character changes when changing to an alternate reality.

Bits of time travel shows (like Quantum Leap, Terminator, Primeval, Counterpart, and many others) might find their way into this setting.

The Cosmogony

I envision the multiverse as a d20 with each of the sides being one of the realities.

Each reality could have access to it's 3 "neighboring" sides (the sides on each of the 3 sides of its triangle) and the opposite side (on a die: one and twenty, two and nineteen, and so on).

Players would play as members of a secret unit of Interpol, the section X, which is tasked with resolving "paranormal" cases. Other such units exists internationally (as division of the FBI, FSB, or any state police organisation you fancy), but I've decided to play in Europe, hence the choice of Europol.

Main plot would be a cold war between our reality (Earth Prime, as we call it) and Earth Second, a slightly more technologically advanced reflection of our reality, where 9/11 happened differently and Covid-19 never left China.

The 20 Realities in short

For the place of the numbers on the convex regular icosahedron (d20) we will use this model (which should be standard)

Our earth (Earth Prime) is situated on the side numbered 20 and Earth Second is logically situated on the side numbered 1 (the other 18 realities have not yet been discovered, as of the beginning of the campaign).

In my campaign, the other realities on the 3 other sides of the icosahedron will be Pan-Germania (a reality where the Nazi and their Imperial Japanese allies won WWII - side number 2), Al-Kīmiyā (an arabic-persian dominated world where alchemy works - sometimes), and Batuutaa (where the world was conquered by the Dogon Empire, using their astrological prescience techniques)

D20	Description of the local Reality
1	Earth Second: slightly advanced early cyberpunk reality. Their US, Chinese, Russian, and European governments know of dimension travel, the Quantum Rupture and have access to advanced Fringe-science gadgets. They spy on our reality and try to destabilize it. It is fairly certain that they started the Covid-19 infection centers in Italy at the beginning of 2020
2	Pan-Germania: In this dystopian reality, Pearl Harbor never took place, Charles Lindbergh was elected president in 1940 and Nazi Germany conquered Eurasia with their Imperial Japanese allies. They then conquered north america, with the Nazi overtaking all US and Canadian territories east of the Rockies and the Empire of Japan the West Coast
3	Zǔguó-Ming: The Black Plague decimated the whole world but the Americas and China under the Ming dynasty. The main powers are Ming-China, the United Tribes of America, the Polish-Lithuanian Empire and the African rivals: the Kingdom of Nri and the Kingdom of Imerina. Early 19th Century technology and Chinese colonial hegemony.
4	Rule Britannia: the world is dominated by the colonial views of an unchecked Victorian England. Main powers are the Crown, the landed aristocracy, the Anglican Church, and the colonial companies. All persons not born of English descent are considered inferior, at best. Most are legally enslaved by the colonial companies. Early 20th Century technology.
5	Roma Eterna: Instead of disappearing in decadence, Rome reinstated the Republic and used Chinese black powder to create weapons (and not only fireworks) and gain victory over the barbarians. Eurasia and Africa are all parts of the Great International Roman Republic, a network of federal city-states with a great deal of autonomy. Early renaissance technology but much better guns. America was never "discovered".
6	Sovietica Materna: Instead of fighting an arms race with the USA, the USSR continued to grow its influence and took over Europe, mostly through the democratic process. Accessing European technologies and foremost the microchip allowed the USSR to better plan their economy and be a competitor to the USA while allowing a much better standard of living to all its citizen (and not only the russians). The technology level is equivalent to ours, but surveillance technology is everywhere and the world wide web is segmented. The balance of powers is different, but the world is similar to ours.
7	Necrotica: This world was quite similar to ours up until the 1980ies when a pandemic did hit their reality like a truck on the highway. Thing went from bad to worse when the dead started to rise again with a hunger for human flesh. Only a few islands (Iceland, Madagascar and New-Zealand) have achieved the feat to ward off the zombie pandemic completely.
8	Batuutaa: Early in history, the Dogon Empire developed ways to predict the future by means of astrology. Their empire has spread over the whole African continent and around the Mediterranean Sea. Their society is planned years in advance, family is the core value and social peace is achieved through prescient politics. Population control is strict to avoid depleting the natural resources. Low technical level, but high life expectancy.
9	Solar Federation: Creation after WWI of the European Commonwealth, which would grow twenty years later in the Human Commonwealth (all of Europe and their colonies, with equal rights and access to development). Landing on the moon in 1939, worldwide political unification under the Human Federation in 1945. Landing on Mars in 1969. Trojan independence wars in 1991. Creation of the Solar Federation in September 2001. Advanced technology and strong welfare state with a lot of personal freedom and private sphere.
10	Pharaohland: Old Egyptian Gods exist and their prophet, the Pharaoh Akhenaton CCXXIV rules over the Mediterranean basin, the Arabic peninsula and the silk road. Technology is a mix of antic artisanship, advanced agricultural techniques through genetic selection, advanced seafaring techniques but wind-powered and bronze age metallurgy. Advanced divine magic for true believers can turn the scales of a battle, even against modern weaponry.
11	земля трех дочерей (zemlya trekh docherey): Baba Yaga and her two sisters have taken an interest in the fate of humanity and helped scientist melding high technology and magic. During WWII, the sisters decided that humanity did not deserve to be free and took over governments. Baba Yaga rules over the Soviet States, Mala Yaga over Asia southern of Mongoly, and Mengma Yaga over Europe. Technomagic surveillance state akin to a kind of theocracy. Transhumanism and compulsory human trials are the norm, not the exception
12	Transylvania: Vampire exists and have conquered Eurasia from their East European roots. They won dominance over the Werewolves in Europe, but they still continue to resist the vampiric oppressors. Vampire have the advantage of being able to create new vampires at the whim of a bit, whereas lycanthropy is only hereditary. Technological level is ~1950ies.
13	Atlantis: The Ancient Astronauts left earth during the Antiquity, taking off with their into the stars. 1947, they came back and declared Australia to be the new Atlantis. They have enforced peace on the whole planet and warring parties have been known to be disintegrated into thin air. Every year, 666 willing candidates are taken into the stars and never come back. Technological stagnation without wars mean technology like the year 2000. Ancient Astronauts' technology seems to be magical.
14	Al-Kīmiyā: During the middle ages, Persian and Arabic scientists discovered ways to treat the Black Death and could easily take over a decimated Europe. The Democratic Califates Union now spans over all North-Africa, Europe and Near-East and borders with the Indian Mughal Empire and the Russian Orthodox Empire.
15	Draconia: No big bad meteor hit earth to extinct the dinosaurs. Some of them evolved into the Dragons. Using their magic, dragons created elves, dwarves and other humanoid beings. Around 10.000 years in the past, humans started to appear and have spread all over the world and prosper in each of the Dragon Empires
16	Azteca: advanced blood-magic techniques have allowed the Aztec empire to conquer most of the american continent and send back the Europeans into the ocean, not without stealing their technological wonders. Currently, while the Europeans power fight for their colonies in Africa and Asia, the Aztec Empire prepares to invade them using their flying pyramids. Advanced blood magic and Napoleonic technology level in Europe and Russia
17	Pace: Here, all humans live in harmony with nature, in small societal structures, independently from each other, without technology. The clan delegate can speak with the spirits of nature to ensure that everyone is healthy, well fed and happy. Weapons are unknown. Wrath of nature is the only natural danger.
18	Tyberium: Instead of immigrating to the united states, Nikola Tesla gets recruited by the Soviet Union and develops Tesla-coils based weaponry. Nazi Germany never attacks further east than Poland, but conquers Western Europe and North Africa completely. The US annex Canada. A peace treaty is signed between the main 4 powers (US of North America, USSR, Nazi Germany, Japan Empire) but evolves in a ruthless cold war with shady alliances.
19	Echo: This world runs very similarly to ours, but with a 555 years delay. Right now, the most important man on the world is a visionary, an artist and scientist named Giovanni Da Rambaldi, working for the Duke of Florence, but way ahead of his time. He might be the first to pass through to an alternate reality without creating a Quantum Rupture
20	Earth Prime: Our world, which has been infiltrated by agents from Earth Second and their technology. They spy on us, destabilize the main powers and field test the worst of their technology in our reality

Quantum Rupture

It is possible to "slide sideways" to another reality, when possessing the correct brain chemistry (which can be attained through zen meditation) and willing your body to get through (the sudden change of state from complete zen to absolute willpower is the hard part of sliding). Those two requirements are the same as for Psi powers.

It is also possible to tear temporarily cracks in the fabric of reality to pass through to the reality on the opposite side of the icosahedron, but these cracks never heal fully and could lead to the complete destruction of all realities linked on this icosahedron.

Feedback ?

So, do you have any feedback on these "worlds"?

Is there a world you think should be included but is not here?

Would you like to play in such a constellation of worlds?

Would you be interested in more content for this in Zine format?

Please be kind and answer in the comments !

[OSR Sci-Fi Horror] Presentation of Alastor 55

I've teased some Art and told you i'm working on a new project:

With a friend, we are writing a new OSR rpg. Actually writing 2 versions of one RPG : one motorised by the black hack and another based on Microlite 5th.

I'm in charge of a lot of things, from the microlite 5th adaptation of the system to layout, but also artworks.

I've found a way to create easily and quickly art that I deem good enough for an OSR publication, and I wanted to share some with you.

The Pitch:

The "Ravenium Rush" brings hundreds of new settlers on the "Satanic Planet", but only a few will survive the horror, the demons, and the corporate greed... Will you Crew survive, die in the dirt, or thrive in this sick atmophere?

The Setting:

Alastor 55 is an outer system moon, that was colonized by a satanic church, long ago, and went missing from the human sphere, during a big "Colonies vs Earth"-independance-war.

Much later, when the United Earth Nations discovered Ravenium on Alastor, a black cristalline fuel for black hole jumpships, they tried to re-colonize the moon and discovered a world in shambles: internal strife, feuding satanic sects, technology set back in the 19th century. And DEMONS! A lot of them, with all the slaughter, orgies, gore and unethical behaviours bound with it.

In the middle of the war between all these factions, the U.N. and the corporations, are poor settlers that came as a last chance to escape the misery of life on the planets and moons of the solar system. Thinking that the demons and the black magic were rumors, like the U.N. pretends.

Poor people...

You are a Crew, freshly arrived on Alastor and you'll need a few credits to survive in the protected corporate enclaves. But maybe you 'll strive in this atmosphere of conflict, betrayal and ever present death.

The Art:

I've developped a few images, that might or might not make it into the book.

The demons:

(I have already shown them all but two)

They were the start of the project, and i'm not yet sure to use them all...

But since i'm getting better, there will be more to come, same style and same Modus Operandi.

The firedemon

Wreaking mayhem and playing fire in a plaza? Yes, that's a typical fire demon

The Chainsaw-Massacre-Demon

This is probably not gonna be our Cover. This is the first art piece I created. But it's too recognizable from heavily copyright protected material. Sad, i really love it...

The quick and agile Demon

 

Most of the life on the planet is settled deep under the earth. These swift jumpers are rarely seen not in packs, and are a bane for travellers.

Demonic Infighting

 

Demons would not be demons if they were not bickering amongst each others. It's always a good thing for the colonist when they steer their anger at each others...

The Succubus

Who said all demons had to be ugly and spooky?

If there are orgies with demons on Alastor, I hope for the population that a few demons (independently of their gender) are good looking too. And manipulative. Evil anyway...

The tunnel confrontation

Alastor 55 is an ice moon, where hairy demons feel at home. Unless some pesky humans starts to crawl out of their warm underground arcologies...

The Origins 

(I don't want to use the word "race" in a Sci-Fi context)

The Patrolling Cyborg

  

Cyborgs are human brains implanted in a robotic body. There is no reason for anxiety, they are mentally stable and not prone to PTSD or loss of humanity. Never. Not at all. Remember these are the good guys.

And good guys go to bars, don't they?

This one doesn't drink, but likes to watch humans off-guarded by alcohol consumption...

The sad Cyborg

 

Why is he sad? He's working in one of the few places over the surface of the planet, at the equator.

Well why do you think he's sad? Maybe because he has to freeze his balls off to keep the privileged arseholes protected

Careers

Right now, I'm working on the careers (which is the ingame name for the classes), and there will be 8 of them:

Captain, Investigator, Medic, Occultist, Psiker, Scoundrel, Scientist, & Soldier.

I've already 3 pictures of classes, but i'll post them as a bunch when they are all ready...

Probably the next post 

[D.R.E.A.D.] Legacy of the 1st Age

Fragments of knowledge concerning the mythical 1st Age

Bragi, holding a harp, sings before his wife Iðunn (1895) by Lorenz Frølich.

Rules

Characters proficient in history, and Elves, can start the game with one fragment of knowledge about the first age.
Read the skill check result first on the general knowledge table here, then on the specific one.
On the general table, the characters knows all entries up to his result, on the specific, he only knows that one.

Reference

This article refers to the 1st Age of the setting, the Age of Yggdrasil

General Knowledge Table:

History check	Knowledge
12+	The Gods created Middellærd and the Elves, the Jötnar created the Giants. Elves and Giants fought a 1000 year warThere was a 3rd side to the “eternal war” - Asgardians vs Jötnar vs Vanirians (“gods” vs “titans” vs “primal spirits”)
14+	Asgardians & Vanirians were allied at first, but treachery tore them apart
16+	The Gods certainly created the Elves, but Middellærd was created before (this opinion is considered to be blasphemous for the elves)
18+	The Eternal War went on for over 1000 years and ended in the “Trinity compact”, which strongly limits the influence of divine beings on Middellærd
20+	The Eternal War was sparked by the abduction and desecration of Idunn, the asgardian Goddess of Apples and Youth
22+	The young Jötunn Thiazi had abducted Idunn as a reprisal for the abduction of his daughter Skathi by the Vanirians

Specific Knowledge Table:

History check	Knowledge
12	The Elves of the first age were mostly organised under the influence of three very important families, all wearing the name of the first important member of the family (the Nerijorites descending from Nerijoriel, the Tanevonites descending from Tanevyr, and the Alrindelites descending from Alrindel)
13	Nerijoriel was the “First Elf”, supposedly created by Odin himself, using branches of Yggdrasil, a scale of the Jörmungandr (the world serpent) and a tear of Jord (the Jötunn / Titaness of earth)
14	Tanevyr was the “First Mother”, at least the first to bear a child from a non-divine being, and organised the first clan, therefore was also known as the "First Matriarch"
15	Alrindel was known as the “the Wisest” after receiving the gift of knowledge after pledging himself to Mimir, thus also becoming the “First Cleric”
16	After the war, Idunn (asgardian Goddess of Apples and Youth), Skathi (jötunn Titaness of bowhunting) and Bekkra (vanirian Archomental of Sea Life) created together an apple orchard as a symbol of appeasement. The salty apples grown there are supposed to give eternal life and the trees' branches make the best possible bows
17	The “Trinity compact” was negotiated by Jorodiel of the Nerijorites, Loki disguised as a Giant named “Ikolag”, and Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, representing the Vanirians
18	At the end of the Eternal War ruled the very talented King-General Jorodiel of the Nerijorites. His armor is supposed to make unvulnerable to mundane weapons
19	Triandel “Jötunn-Slayer” was an exceptional archer and the “First Assassin”. After proving himself to Bragi, God of Poetry, the god offered him a magic brooch, to help him assassinate the Jötunn Thiazi, who had abducted Idunn, Bragi’s wife (thus asserting “revenge” as a poetic notion)
20	Evondiel “the Trapper” is known to be the first non-divine being capable of trapping a Vanirian and tap into his elemental powers for his own profit.
21	Idunn’s orchard is protected by the “Trinitan druidic Order of the Avellenau Orchard”
22	Freyja gave her amber mirror (named Spegillsokr) to Völfyr of the Alrindelites, thus giving her the gift of glimpsing in amber the fate of her petitioners. Volfyr was the first of the “Seidrakona”, the amber seeresses, able to foretell the future. They must be female and virgins to keep their gift
23	Foreseeing death all around the world, Hel decided to build the Gjallarbrú as a network of invisible gates (to the living) leading to the bridge, and appointed Modgud as the guardian of the Gjallarbrú. One such doors lies at the bottom of the Œdramarr (the Lake of Madness)
24+	Roll twice 1D12+11 and give the player both results

Who's who and What's what

• Odin the All-Father: Patriarch God of the Argardians. Creator of the elves.
• Bragi: asgardian God of Poetry (married to Idunn)
• Idunn: asgardian Goddess of Apples and Youth (married to Bragi, abducted by Thiazi)
• Thiazi: jötunn and notorious for his abduction and desecration of Idunn (Father of Skathi)
• Skathi: jötunn associated with bowhunting (daughter of Thiazi, she was married to Soffereim, the Sapphire Dragon as compensation for her fathers assassination)
• Nerijoriel the “First Elf”: founder of the Nerijorites lineage
• Tanevyr the “First Mother”: founder of the Tanevonites lineage
• Alrindel the “First Cleric”: founder of the Alrindelites lineage
• Hel: God or Jötunn (unknown) of the Underrealm, watcher of the unworthy deads
• Modgud: guardian of the Gjallarbrú, the bridge over the river Gjöll, which encloses the underworld
• Gjallarbrú: bridge to the underworld
• Œdramarr: the Lake of Madness, where a door to the Gjallarbrú is situated
• Loki: the most well known Jötunn, infamous for his uncanny capacity to fool all beings. His spectacular misdeeds outweight his goods deeds, but he is not per se an evil character
• Middellærd: the continent that saw the birth of the Elves and the surprising arrival of the humans
• Avellenau Orchard: the holy apple tree orchard founded by Idunn, Skathi and Bekkra, after the Eternal War
• Bekkra: vanirian Archomental of Sea Life
• Bahamut: vanirian Platinum Dragon, king of the good aligned dragons
• Soffereim: vanirian Sapphire Dragon (married Skathi after the war)

As always, remarks, comments and questions are welcome !

DREAD's Mythology (1/5): The Age of Yggdrasil

1st Age: The age of Yggdrasil

Yggdrasil by Oluf Bagge (1847)

Introduction

The continent of Perfu had a long history of its own, reaching millenaries back before humans stepped on it for the first time.
There probably was a time before the mythical age of Yggdrasil, but it is shrouded in the oblivion of forgottenness

Definitions

• Asgardian: The divine beings living in Asgard, also called the gods. They claimed to have created Middellærd, conjointly with the Vanirians
• Vanirians: The primal elemental beings living in Vanir, the labyrinth leading to the elemental planes
• Jötunn (plur. Jötnar): the titanic, divine-like beings living in Jötunheimr. They claim to have created Yggdrasil and the whole universe and planes of existence [al least Loki does claim that]

Mythology

Asgardians and Vanirians created the material world and descended on it, leaving their divine realms.
The Asgardians created the elves, at first out of boredom, but soon thereafter to toy with them in jousts, entertaining themselves with shows of marksmanship, swordsmanship, horsemanship, versemanship, craftsmanship and musicianship.

The Jötunar found their way to Middellærd (the continent named Perfu by humans which saw the birth of the elves) though the Vanbrú (also called the Sturmurbrú - the Stormbridge, literally made of lightning) created by the Vanirians, envious of the toys the Asgardians had created for themselves. The Vanirians tried to enslave the Jötnar but failed. The Vanirians abducted Skathi, the daughter of Thiazi, and tortured her, trying to unlock the secret of using the Vanbrú to reach Jötunheimr.
In the aftermath, the Jötnar abducted the Asgardian goddess Idunn and experimented on her. The young Jötunn Thiazi (the abductor of Idunn) created the Giants combining the elements (captured Vanirian offspring) with the tears of Idunn (hence the different kinds of giants).

The divine war

This abduction (and desecration) of the goddess was the last straw that broke the back of the peaceful relations between the Jötnar and the Gods. Only the Asgardians were directly concerned by the evil act leading to the declaration of war, but Loki tricked his peers into going against all other divine beings, Vanirians and Asgardians. On Middellærd, the Giants and the elves fought a proxy conflict in the name of their respective creators, that will be named "the eternal war" in hindsight.

The trilateral compact

After a millenary long war, Asgardians, Vanirians, and Jötnar realized that there was no way to win this endless battle and negotiated a cease-fire. Loki tricked Asgardians and Vanirians in believing this was a trilateral negotiation, that the interests of Asgardians and Vanirians were completely different, and after long bargaining rounds, a truce was found, but the relations between the Asgardians and Vanirians were forever ruined. The peace compact not only interdicted direct confrontation between divine beings but  also limited their intervention on Middellærd: Each being was allowed only 2 bridge crossings per year.
Only Loki, as the main peace mediator, was allowed 2 crossings per draconic month (one complete transformation of the Dragoness Luna from its full moon form to the next).
The Vanirians were forbidden to use the Vanbrú, but given the right to cross into Middellærd at points were their core element were present in high quantity (not without unforeseen consequences on the material plane), but also limited to twice a year.

Appendix: The 3 main Bridges

• Bifröst, the rainbow bridge, is garded by Heimdallr, who only let pass the Asgardians. Loki seem to be able to pass the bridge during his sleep, though.
• Vanbrú (also called the Sturmurbrú), the Stormbridge is literally made of lightning and links Middellærd with Jötunheimr. Old elvish legends claim in lands in the middle of Zibelthiurdos, the land of storms.
• Gjallarbrú, the bridge to Hel (the plane of dead souls), the bridge over the Gjöll, the river of Hell. Modgud (meaning "Furious Battler") is the female guardian of the Gjallarbrú. Since the arrival of the humans on Perfu, the river is also called Styx and Modgud seem to have adopted a 3-headed dog to help her, but a strange ferryman seem to cross the river under the bridge. Since he doesn't bring back dead souls on his way back to the Middellærd shore, she does not intervene
• Other bridges exist, but they are even more secret and unknown.

Coming after that age:

• 2nd Age: The age of Alfheim
• 3rd Age: The age of Ferlikan
• 4th Age: The fall of the Giants - Jotnarrøkkr
• 5th Age: The age of Cornucopia (the actual age. This age will probably be known in the future as "The age of Vileny"

What does a character know about this Age?

read the post: legacy of the 1st age

If you have any remark or question, do not hesitate to ask or express yourself in the comments

D.R.E.A.D. [Rant]: Bags of holding & Fantasy economy

Rant: Bags of holding are hampering my suspension of disbelief

Whispers of Oak Elvish pouch by Gwillieth / Aelin Laer original image

The bag of holding is an iconic part of D&D.
It’s really important to parties, because adventurers needs to be able to move a large sum of coins, which can amount to an uncarriable weight.
Assuming a 9g (0.32 oz) for a GP like in the Forgotten Realms, the weight of gold you’d need to carry around to buy a plate mail is around 15 kg of gold (33 pounds)…

The Good bag,

The bag of holding is a very good way to tackle the “apothecary accounting”-syndrom out of the character sheet and the game. Some kind of gameplay will insist on encumbrance and weight, but the less hardcore players will want to not take care of such trivial and boring details.
The players will also try to invent and use their magical objects in a non-intended way. This is part of the fun of roleplaying and adds magic to the game, so I'm delighted about such thinking.

The Bad bag,

The problem is not the bag in itself, but the players that want to push the limit always farther, and fill 62 cubic feet of water into storage in the bag, just in case. Soon they’ll build a contraption with automatic water filling the bag, bring that water 100m high, have the water power up a mill, and have another bag fill and repeat. I get it that magic can create an infinite movement that can be harnessed, but is it still a game of adventure?
So it’s important to keep in mind the limitations of the bag and to be extremely strict to players abusing the bag. Retrieving stuff from the astral plane can make for exciting adventures anyway…

,And the Ugly bag

My main problem with the bag of holding, is one of coherence.
D&D uses a dreamt middle-age as it’s background, with a lot of hierarchical structures borrowed from european feudal times. One aspect that is seldom taken into account (Eberron being the exception here - but Eberron is not medieval anyway), is that magic should normally have an influence on a lot of aspects of society. And it would have an enormous influence on the economy.
Town incomes in the middle ages were massively relying on taxes. Taxing wares at the town entrance was an important part of the financing of the “community” and the reason why wares from far away were so expensive was not only because of their scarcity and the danger that was inherent to move them. Taxes were a big chunk of the price of these wares.
Based on contemporary scientific studies, it’s recommended that horses should not be loaded with greater than 20% of their body weight. So a normal 545-kilogram (1200 pound) horse, then would be best off carrying no more than 109 kg (240 lbs) of tack and rider. A merchant could ride his horse and load it with 16 bags of holding and still be able to travel.
Do you see the need for a cart?
Declaring the wares would be funny too: I’d show my players how the town guards would turn the bags of holding inside out to empty them and then inventorize the content to calculate the taxes.
Smuggling would be on the rise, too. It’s much easier to smuggle wares in, if they are conveniently all fitting in a small bag or two… It does not have to be illegal wares, either. Evading taxation would already be a good deal enough to try to do it. Even bringing flour to a bakery would be interesting (one bag nearly completely full of flour would be around 900 kg / 1980 pounds of flour).
A combination of teleportation circle and bag of holding is a sure way to get rich, as a merchant (but wouldn’t it be a common merchant trick? Would that not mean a lot of transformation to society?).

Conclusion

I really love the bag of holding as a tool for adventurers, and at the same time I hate what the bag does to my suspension of disbelief.
One of the reasons for this hate is the fact that the bag of holding is an uncommon magic object. To avoid that the bag has such an influence on society and economics, it needs to be MUCH less available (I actually don’t want it to be banned)

What does it mean for D.R.E.A.D.?

It means that on the continent of Perfu, only a few bags of holdings are known to exist. I would rank up the rarity of the object to very rare (but not legendary) instead of uncommon, and put a price tag around 25.000 Gold to it.
The artificer class would not be allowed in this world anyway.

Your thoughts?

Do you have any comment on this rant?
Do you know of a particularly good use of the bag of holding, that I missed to refer to?
Did your party use this magical object very creatively and you want to share?

Well that’s what the comment section is for 😉

DREAD's World (2/6): The prophecy of the "Dawn of the Vile Moon"

The Dawn of the Vile Moon

Gustave Doré—The fourth Horseman, Death on the Pale Horse (1865)

What players might know:

51 years after the Severance and the arrival of the Humans on Perfu, a mystical event rattled all civilisations in the world:
During that moonless night, all seers, augurs, diviners, oracles, and fortune-tellers had the same vision.
The "Dawn of a vile moon" was coming. Noone could tell when, but all, from the goblinoid shamans to the High-Harbingers of the forest-folks, agreed on the fact that it was coming.

"Whence the moonless night reaches her middle and the stars align, a gaunt rider will fly before a hitherto unknown bloody moon, followed by his legion of horned minions.
Shepherded by their bleak General riding a TerrorGeist, this dread-swarm will bring war to our lands and herald an age of chaos, destruction, and despair.
Brace yourself for darker times, folks of Perfu, for the Dawn of a vile moon is coming erelong"

Only Pythonia, the oldest human oracle, saw the "Dawn of a vile moon" for what it really is: The arrival of the Infinite Horde on Perfu.
She recognized the leader of the armies heralded by the "Dawn of a vile moon" as Phongor — the Inquisitor of Hell — who was the General of the Infinite Horde on the lost home of humanity.
In the years following what will be called the "Night of the Prophecy", the cultures that were in contact exchanged information and realised that all their seers had the exact same vision of the future, reinforcing the credibility of the Prophecy.
Since they already were perceived as bad seeds, the human kingdoms failed to inform their partners that they identified the threat coming towards Perfu.
Since then (around 200 years), an arms race has taken place, but since the Dawn of a vile moon did not happen, those weapons have been used against neighbours. Otherplace, cults attempting to hasten the coming of the Dawn of a vile moon have flourished and withered.
The coming of the Dawn of a vile moon is not forgotten, and times are getting darker.
Will your Characters be ready and survive the Dawn of a vile moon?

How did the devils come to Perfu?

It took them 666 moon cycles, but the devils that were mingling with humanity, possessing a host or assuming a covert identity in urbarin society, did find a way to reach through the planar boundaries, after traveling with humanity to Perfu during the Severance.
The bloody sacrifice executed to power the devilish spell nearly razed the two biggest goblinoids tribes around the inner sea. Even though scouts from different nations did find gruesome rests of the slaughter, all nonchalantly ignored the finding, considering it condescendingly as a random act of violence in a depraved monstrous "society".
Contact has been made to the Infinite Horde and since then, the devils have worked toward the opening of a bridge to allow passage to Perfu to the rest of the Infinite Horde

DREAD's World (1/6): The arrival of humans

The world on which D.R.E.A.D. is based

Mythology:

Once upon a time, in a plane far far away, humanity was losing a war against the Infinite Horde. The Kingdoms of the world of Panares had not been able to rally themselves against the Infinite Horde, at least not until the Conference of Urbarin, the Capital of the greatest human empire. Sadly, the attendants of the Conference could only come to one conclusion: That it was already too late to win this war, even if they were to fight with all their combined forces together. They had not listened to their experts and now it was too late. Having reached that consensus, Alamuna, a high Priest of the minor Goddess Uhrta, goddess of Famine and Sacrifice, stepped in front of the assembly and let her goddess incarnate herself in her body to speak directly to the delegates.
The gods too, had a summit. Their situation was precarious, too, since their believers were disappearing in this losing war. Their recommendation was quite relentless: since the Fight reaction did not work, their flock would have to flee, not only far away but out of reach of the Infinite Horde. The only place where the Infinite Horde could not grasp humanity easily would be another Plane of existence.
The method proposed by the god was extreme: They would bring 2 planes of existence to collide and tear a part Panares and paste it on the other plane of existence. The price would be high, too. Arin, the Patriarch of the gods, God of the sun, Reincarnations, Soul Transmigration and High Arbiter of the gods, would have to sacrifice himself and every 10th planar traveller.
This was seen as the last chance of humanity to survive and so it came to be.
Humanity from all around the inner sea moved onto Arkaion, the biggest island on the inner sea, and the Gods started the Severance.
The Severance was a catastrophe of planar scale for both concerned planes. The whole Island of Arkaion was wrenched out of Panares and dropped into the Valmerian Sea of what will be called by the human refugees "the Perfu Continent".
Gigantic waves broke out and devastated the coasts and their inland. Storms raged for months until the temperature and pressure differences compensated. Ley Lines were pulled, some even ripped, creating major Wyld Magic phenomenon (rains of frogs, random portal openings, meteor showers, volcanic eruptions, etc.)
The first year was bad for everyone, on the island and on the continent. Humanity decided to rename their Island and the continent around it Perfu, a word for Hope and rebirth in the language of the old Urbarian Imperium, that spanned around the complete inner sea.
The only spark of hope was that the old gods seemed to have survived and still were at the side of humanity.

After the Severance:

Old Urbanian society structures were reused to organise life on the Perfu Island, and person of noble extraction were granted land on the island. Land was scarce, though, and a lot of nobles took to the seas to conquer lands on the continent or the other islands around Perfu. Those were easy targets for the Urbarian nobles, the devastation wrought by the Severance having weakened the locals.
New baronies, provinces and even states were created around the Valmerian Sea (as the locals call it). Caletria, the biggest city of the island formerly known as Arkaion (now Perfu), was renamed Neo-Urbarin, soon known only as Norbarin, the Enlightened city, capital of the human world.
Time passed, and humans carved themselves new kingdoms on the coasts of the Valmerian Sea.
They met new races, some friendly, a lot of others frankly hostile.
Contact was made with the long-living elves and the subterraneous Dwarves. A guerilla war against the halfling kingdom of Odovar was quickly lost and a reconciliation treaty was signed. A goblinoid invasion was stopped at the gates of Nidilarum.

Nowadays:

We are now 250 Years after the Severance, and humanity is still alive, always trying to expand like a parasite, only slowed by the constant infighting between the rival powers.
The Continent of Perfu is still undiscovered and full of monsters.
Humans have brought technological advancement to their allies and discovered the rudiments of arcane architecture from the halflings, the base of alchemy from the elves and the lowest secrets of dwarven metallurgy (Steel).
Alchemy has proven very effective and potent and its wonders has kindled hope in the Perfuan civilisation, which started to intensely research this new science.

More on the world another time