[old stuff] So, how many mutations do you have?

This is the old version of additional tables, helpful in determining number of mutations posessed by the natives from Ortix. It will be unused / heavily modified in my current game.

1. Born on the one of the moons

01 - 90	Not mutated!
91 - 98	One mutation
99	Two mutations
00	Three mutations

2. Born in the City of Gods

01 - 98	No mutations
99 - 00	One mutation(outcast)

3. Born on the Central Wastelands

01 - 10	Not mutated
11 - 40	One mutation
41 - 70	Two mutations
71 - 90	Three mutations
91 - 98	Four mutations
99 - 00	Five mutations

4. Born in the Last Kingdom, Khaal or similar place

01 - 25	Not mutated
26 - 85	One mutation
86 - 00	Two mutations
00	Three mutations

5. Born in the Underworld Kingdom

01 - 75	No mutations
76 - 00	One mutation

6. Born in the Tomb of the Exiled

01 - 85	Not mutated
86 - 95	One mutation
96 - 98	Two mutations
99	Three mutations
00	Four mutations

Skills - overview

As I don't like useless (roleplay killing) skills in old school D&D games, I use only two of them in my campaign. Both of these skills are the reflection of knowledge possessed by a character. Note: I don't know if I will use both of them in my current game - perhaps I'll drop Knowledge and stay only with Arcane Lore.

Knowledge - skill about science, forgotten technologies and lore of the past. Can be used to identify the purpose of ancient machinery (if it's possible at all), repair and maintain technological devices, or even more advanced tasks, like biological research, scientific experiments and so on.

Arcane Lore is a skill about almost every aspect of occult, magical or even demonic knowledge. It can be used to perform magical research, rituals, summon demons (if the appropriate ritual is known) and even - under several circumstances - to create potions or identify magic items.

At the end - an important word about skills (from Terminal Space):

Despite that, if a player sees a solution to a problem that can be accepted by the Referee even though the character does not possess the appropriate skill or its level is too low then the skill check can be omitted. Any solutions created by the players should have a priority over the game mechanics but the final decision is up to the Referee.
The maximum level of the skills below is 95% to mark the fact that even the best can make mistakes.

Old map of the surface

(click to enlarge)

Very raw and inaccurate map of part of the Ortix's surface, created by me few days ago. It will be totally altered.

1. Ruins of Aldarien
2. Anomalies
3. Poisoned Lakes
4. Black Sea (city)
5. Grey Marshes
6. Shadow Cities
7. Last Kingdom
8. Death Pits
9. Blackcrag Fortress
10. Stone Portal
11. Cliffs
12. Spire Cities of Khaal
13. Ryhk Pass and the Ryhk Grotto
14. Waterfall of Tears
15. Dead Trees
16. Ruins of Targin

List of Dargs' names

Old, currently unused stuff, at least not as dwarven names - I'll make them more "universal".

Male names - roll 1d20:

1.    Grak
2.    Throk
3.    Vrok
4.    Zorri
5.    Korri
6.    Gorti
7.    Grok
8.    Kordi
9.    Khard
10.  Gard
11.  Oro
12.  Gorto
13.  Kortis
14.  Gund
15.  Mindor
16.  Nendir
17.  Gandar
18.  Dragg
19.  Namdor
20.  Gortal

Female names - roll 1d20:

1.    Thissa
2.    Taddis
3.    Gaddis
4.    Kora
5.    Ora
6.    Thora
7.    Drigga
8.    Gunda
9.    Gortha
10.  Ortha
11.  Zetha
12.  Gritha
13.  Khissa
14.  Kortha
15.  Ditha
16.  Khonda
17.  Drathi
18.  Nentha
19.  Ura
20.  Urtha

List of Alarri names

Old stuff, from the previous version of campaign. Perhaps I will use them as universal name from some city-state or nation.

Alarri do not separate names of male and female, so there is only one table to determine it. Roll 2d20:

2.    Aliar
3.    Altane
4.    Toliar
5.    Xassi
6.    Valta
7.    Valto
8.    Gantax
9.    Torven
10.    Venax
11.    Zanthi
12.    Erine
13.    Qualx
14.    Thari
15.    Shari
16.    Shax
17.    Thox
18.    Viltas
19.    Zenin
20.    Xerine
21.    Xortix
22.    Eitix
23.    Valthi
24.    Exus
25.    Esta
26.    Estan
27.    Verane
28.    Veax
29.    Ganthi
30.    Xinth
31.    Quirt
32.    Tartix
33.    Thassi
34.    Exta
35.    Istan
36.    Istix
37.    Venti
38.    Larix
39.    Valtix
40.    Tiliex

Chronology?

My first and probably last attempt to stich together some facts about past of Ortix. Some of the events are based on my old campaign (1997-1999 AFAIR), some on events from my 2002-2003 campaign, and some are brand new, added to glue everything together.

Note: absence of dates is intentional - I encourage everyone who wants to play this campaign to adjust everything himself.

1. K'reen arrive to the Ortix.
2. Shaping the planet by K'reen (to be honest - one really knows what happened during their reign).
3. Arrival of the Shapers, the beginning of war between the newcomers and K'reen.
4. Shapers, after a long and destructive war, escape beneath the planet's surface. They create  vast underground cave complexes..
5. K'reen begin to remove effects of the war, they also build a giant spaceship.
6. K'reen descend to the underworld, to bring utter destruction to their mortal enemies.
7. Torgon Heartripper leaves the Grey Dimension and arrives on the Ortix.
8. Shapers create an underground city, which shall be attacked and ruined by K'reen in the future.
9. As a result of the last war between the Old Ones, K'reen are almost extinct and Shapers descend even deeper underground.
10. Rise of the Dargs and Alarri civilizations.
11. First humans arrive on Ortix.
12. War between Alarri and Dargs, Jewel of Creation dies. The first magic burn disrupts the flow of magic.
13. Human civilization flourishes, benefiting heavily from the remains of the Old Ones' technology. Architects' Guild is formed.
14. Total war breaks out between humans. Almost entire human civilization is destroyed and most of the planet becomes a contaminated wasteland.
15. First manifestation of Anomalies - distortions of the laws of physics, magic, time and space. People are starting to mutate. Some people escape to the Underworld.
16. Architects disappear without a trace.
17. First sights of the Grey Plague.
18. A being called the Great Father creates vampires and werewolves - the most perfect mutant species.
19. Kingdom of Aldarien arises.
20. Dead Ones find an ancient city deep in the Underworld.
21. Lord of the Plagues brings disease upon the Aldarien, king of Aldarien initiates ancient machinery, hoping that it help fight off the plague. Instead it destroys the entire city.
22. War erupts between the people of the Underworld Kingdom and Vrax & Morax - the two-headed dragon.
23. The lands east of the ruins Aldarien are united by the council of mages.
24. Mages discover a vast underground complex, called by them the Tomb of the Exiled. They build huge fortress over the entrance to the Underworld.
25. Hideous beasts start to appear in the Underworld.
26. Fall of Blackcrag.

Note that Blackcrag has fallen at least 200 years ago (although flow of time on the surface of Ortix can be Easily disturbed).

Hypotheses on the chronology

- Is the Floating Island a spaceship built by K'reen?

- Was the Jewel of Creation created by the Old Ones?

- Is Torgon Heartripper the same person as the Great Father and the Lord of the Plagues?

Because of significant changes in current shape of the campaign, consider this info as the "old stuff" - it will be heavily modified. 

Alarri (elves)

Former masters of magic, the Alarri civilisation collapsed when they were cursed by the Dargs' god. Apparently they were brought to life by the very essence of magic, source of which was in the center of their kingdom. Alarri didn't worship any gods, furthermore - because of their highly developed magical talents they saw themselves as equal to the gods (even though they represented only a fraction of K'reen or Shapers' capacity). It is said that this arrogance led to the conflict between Alarri and Dargs - children and followers of the Crystal God.

Although the technology of Dargs was very powerful and led to the destruction of large areas of the eastern forests, it cannot be compared to the magical powers of Alarri. Dargs' Kingdom has been broken and devastated, and the survivors fled into the underworld. However, this victory turned into a total disaster - The Jewel of Creation decided to avenge its children.

Crystal God broke through the magic shields guarding the capital of the Alarri kingdom. Although its crystalline "body" was destroyed, when Alarri tried to repel the attack, the dying god freed his life energy, destroying the power source and cursing all Alarri, severing them from their ancient magic.

Since the war Alarri number have decreased significantly. The old masters of magic completely isolated themselves from the world - a magical shield still keeps them out of the deserted and decaying kingdom, preventing access to anyone who is not invited. Now their power is only a shadow of their former abilities - even human wizards of Blackcrag would be able to overcome current Alarri masters.

Because of significant changes in current shape of the campaign, consider this info as the "old stuff" - it will be heavily modified. 

Dargs (dwarves)

A dying race of short humanoids, created in ancient times by the ancient god of Ortix's mountain roots, known as the Jewel of Creation. Deity, whose domain was grievously wounded during the wars of Old Ones, cast its essence in the crystal to avoid destruction. Dargs, guards and followers of Gem, were created from stone and life essence of troglodytes, wild tribes that inhabited the limitless plains of the planet.

Many years later, just when first humans appeared on Ortix, blooming kingdoms of Dargs began a war with the Alarri - race inhabiting the vast, virgin forests stretching eastward from the Plains. Technology of Dargs could not match magic of Alarri, so their kingdoms were smashed, temples destroyed, and they themselves forced to fall back into the underworld, like the Shapers millenia before.Legends say that the direct cause of the wars and, and the coming of the inevtable death of the two races was a result of the Darg's god's wrath. The diety, who was mortally wounded during a magical storm unleashed by the magi-kings of Alarri - used his last reserve of energy to curse the winners of war in a single magical eruption.  Unfortunately, the consequences of that act also reached the children of the Crystal God.

Dargs are a race close to extinction - death of the Jewel of Creation deprived them of their will to live. Through centuries, their outstanding achievements in engineering and construction turned into dust, and their desire to develop knowledge changed into a meaningless vegetation. Currently, only a few Dargs leaves Calthiboros - their last stronghold, hidden deep in the bowels of the Underworld Kingdom.

Because of significant changes in current shape of the campaign, consider this info as the "old stuff" - it will be heavily modified. 

World of Ortix

Ortix is a planet with a diameter of approximately 1.2 diameter of Earth. Its large, metallic core produces a magnetic field strong enough to protect the planet from deadly radiation of the Cold Star. Gravity on the planet is close to the Earth's, the day lasts 24 hours.
The three main features distinguihing Ortix from our planet is total lack of tectonic activity, a smaller amount of oceans and seas and chaotic orbit, of which the last two features are probably the result of the titanic-scale war, waged thousands of years ago by the creatures recently known as the Old Ones.

Planet has two moons, called simply the Grey Moon and the Red Moon. Red has its own cycle of day and night, and gray - just like most typical moons - is in synchronous rotation with Ortix, always showing the same face.

Because of significant changes in current shape of the campaign, consider this info as the "old stuff" - it will be heavily modified.

Cross section map of Ortix

This map was posted nine months ago on TS blog, but it's still most recent map of Ortix. Maybe some day I will make some cross section maps of moons and specific locations (i.e. Tombs of K'reen or Blackcrag).

Because of significant changes in current shape of the campaign, consider this info as the "old stuff" - it will be heavily modified.