I've been busy.
Some of this is revised and reposted, most of it is new, however. This is the first 20% or so of my belated entry into Jack Shear's Tales of the grotesque and Dungeonesque contest. The name of the post comes from an area description in the latter part of the document (the part I'm still working on). It seemed apt.
Anyway, we decided to play this shit in my hybrid FTF/online game, and we start on Sunday.
Apologies to Jack for blowing the deadline and completely missing the point of Gothic Fantsy, I'm sure.
Whatever there's like 50 pages (and growing) left of this thing to get done, so if anyone wants to be my proofreader or layout bitch, let me know; the work is hard, but I can offer you nothing in return.
Nothing.
Haunted Isles:
Perched twixt reason
and madness.
A Dark Fantasy Setting
1.
Preliminaries
Books in use: Labyrinth Lord; Tales of the Grotesque and
Dungeonesque; LL Advanced Edition Companion.
All these books are online
for free. Here are the links:
This is for the Labyrinth
Lord core book and the Advanced Edition Companion. (together they are more or
less like AD&D)
This is for the Tales of
the Grotesque and Dungeonesque pdf; it’s on scribed or something but you can
download it from there as well as just look at it if you like.
Character Generation:
Race:The Haunted Isles is, for the most part, a humans
only setting. I’m somewhat flexible in this regard, however. We’ll just have to
work something out as to what the fuck you’re character is doing there, that’s
all.
Sequence:
Roll stats (4d6 drop the
lowest)
Select a class (see
below).
Roll on the character
background table on page 20 of the Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque
book.
Roll on the Dark Secrets
table found on page 44 of the Tales of the grotesque and Dungeonesque book.
Character Classes:
We’re going to start at 4th
level unless you select a Keeper, in which case you’ll start at level 3.
All classes listed in the
Advanced Edition Companion are available. Magic Users of any sort will, for the
most part, operate in secrecy, but they are a viable PC choice nonetheless.
Two additional classes are
also available:
Keeper
of The Silence
Requirements INT 10, WIS
10
Prime Requisite: INT, WIS
Hit Dice 1d8 until 9th
level then +2 every level thereafter.
Level limit: none
Experience: As LL/BX Elf
Attacks Fighter
Saves: Magic User
Weapons Armor: Any
Keepers of the Silence
(Keepers, henceforth) are a quasi military/police religious order within the
Hidden Church of the Humble Way. Keepers move alone or in small groups across
the land, rooting out impious activity and dispatching its perpetrators. In
past centuries the authority of the Keepers was unquestioned, but as the
Church’s power declines so too does that of the Keepers. As a result, while
traveling in the hinterlands, today’s Keeper is as likely to encounter
resentment and hostility as reverence and respect. In the past it was common
for Keepers to work closely with secular authority, but in the modern era this
relationship has devolved into jurisdictional squabbling.
Keepers gain spells at the
same rate as the B/X elf. However, the practice of magic is something they do
in secret, and most members of the general population are unaware that the
Keepers are adept in the very sort of thing they work to stomp out. Any keeper
exposed as a magic user will be disavowed and hunted down by the remaining
Keepers.
The Necromancer
Necromancers wield magic
they draw from the necrosphere, the ancient Earth’s spirit world, which is
infused with the ghostly energy of eons of the dead.
Requirements INT 10, WIS
10
Prime Requisite: INT, WIS
Hit Dice 1d6 until 9th
level then +2 every level thereafter.
Level limit: none
Experience: As cleric
Attacks: Cleric
Saves: Cleric
Weapons Armor: Any
In order to work their
magic Necromancer must have a focus made from the remains of a dead creature.
Such object may include a skull, or a staff made of bones, soft tissue foci are
rare but not unknown; however, such foci must be shielded from decay by embalming,
mummification or some other method.
Blood Magic: Once a day, a Necromancer may
self-inflict a minor wound in order to gain an additional spell. This maybe
done a maximum of three days in a row.
Turn undead as cleric
Potions: Necromancers of 6th
level and above may brew potions.
Spell List
First Level Necromancer
Spells
Detect Chaos/law
Detect Magci
Cure Minor wound
Light/Dark
Protection from Chaos
Puridfy food and drink
Animal companion
Remove fear
Second Level Necromancer
Spells
Bless curse
Hold person
Cure major wound
phantasmal force
Ghost Spear
Third level Necromancer
spells
Cure/cause disease
Locate object
Remove curse
Wizard’s eye
Effigy of agony
Fourth level sorcer spells
Fly
Protection form Law chaos
10’ radius
Sticks to snakes wall of
fire and Ice (Ghost Wall)
Create water
Fifth level Necromancer
spells
Animate Dead Commune
Contact other plain
control weather the wailing dread dispel chaos/law
Insect plague
Quest
Raise dead
Note: I may have fucked up
some of the spell names. If you can’t find a spell under the name listed let me
know.
2.
Introduction
New Urveon:
New Urveon is a former
colony of the Empire of Urveon. There has been no contact with the empire for
over 500 years.
Haunted Isles:
The Old Islands comprise the bulk of New Urveon. The Haunted
Isles, a more rustic and sparsely
populated archipelago, resides a month’s sail to the west of the Old Islands
and is the furthest outpost of New Urveon. Another island chain is said to
exist even further to the west, the fabled World’s Edge Archipelago, but little
is known about them, and most traditional entropic scholars maintain that the
world ends at the Haunted Isles. Upstarts and scientists, of course, have other
ideas.
Myth (?):
Long ago annoyed by the
chatter of his worshipers, the Entropic Lord destroyed the world with a great
deluge. The peoples of today’s world are descendents of the flood’s survivors.
Recorded History:
Although, with exception
of a few human settlements, the Old Islands were largely uninhabited when first
discovered some 600 years ago, evidence of a former occupation remained. Ancient
tumbledown ruins lay inland, sunken structures were (and still are) seen along
the coasts and even upon the floor the open ocean. The Haunted Isles were
pocked with ruins as well, but completely abandoned.
Settlers from the Urveon
Continent arrived en masse roughly 50 years after the islands were discovered,
bringing their religion, (the Humble Church of the Hidden Way) and nascent
industrial technology with them. The islands’ sparse human inhabitants either
fled into the woodlands, or assimilated with the new masters of the islands.
The latter process turned out to be surprisingly peaceful, perhaps due to the
church’s perspective that all mortal beings are equally despicable in the eyes
of the Entropic Lord and must be brought into the fold if his attention is to
continue to be averted.
The year is now 4880 AD
[After Deluge].
500 years have passed
since the last contact with Urveon. No ships sent in that direction return. The
law has prohibited such voyages since New Urveon declared sovereignty and
crowned its own king, two centuries ago.
In conjunction with a
popularly elected parliament the third monarch of the Blackwell dynasty, Queen
Astra, currently rules the Commonwealth of New Urveon. She is 30 years of age
and in the 10th year of her reign.
Social Trends: Woman’s dress reform; temperance; worker’s rights;
abolishment of indenture and child labor; religious indifference; and in the
west there is talk of revolution and independence from the crown.
Industrialization has
taken off in the last 50 years, leading to a wave of technological innovation.
Population: the total population of the Old Islands is ~
1,000,000; a full 80% of the population lives in the industrial city/port of
New Silence on the North Island. The population of the Haunted Isles is
unknown, and although the countryside is very under populated, close to a
million people are said to live in and around the great industrial city of
Stoker; the vast and overwhelming majority of whom exist, no doubt, in
conditions of crushing poverty and demeaning servitude.
Technology: Steam powered industry, steam cars, trains,
(sporadic) telegraph, clipper and steam ships. Homemade merchandise remains in
competition with industrial production of household and craft goods, but losing
ground.
Climate: The Old Islands lie deep in the southern
hemisphere, but are warmed by a jet stream type wind. Weather in the region is
violent and unpredictable. The Old Islands tend towards cold and rainy during
the winter months. The Haunted Isles are somewhat colder still and receives a
good deal of snowfall during the long winter.
Religion:
The Humble Church Of
the Hidden Way is the dominant
religion across most of New Urveon. However, despite several programs and
centuries of persecution, the Cult of Archelon, the Bearer, persists in the backcountry, especially in the
west. Aside from these two organizations, several smaller cults exists and at
least half the citizens of the Commonwealth acknowledge no god at all- a
phenomenon as much a result of apathy and negligence as a widespread lack a
belief. Apostasy, however, is indeed on the rise as “reason” and science
attempt to define the world in non-supernatural terms.
The Humble Church of
the Hidden Way:
The First Commandment: Thou
shan’t make thyself known to the Entropic Lord.
The Humble Church of the
Hidden Way does not worship the Entropic Lord. Instead it teaches the doctrine
of spiritual stealth. The ultimate goal is to keep the Entropic Lord from
paying attention to the world and its inhabitants, lest he bring about another
flood or a like disaster.
Prayer is the ultimate
blasphemy, as it is an attempt to engage in direct dialogue with the Entropic
Lord; and the true name of the Entropic Lord is the Church’s greatest secret.
Only the most depraved individuals would whisper it. Thus, the church has no
priests or clerics. Monks, sworn
to a lifetime of silence, fill out the lower ranks of the church and the
miltant Keepers of the Silence
enforce the Church’s will.
The top of the church
hierarchy is comprised of a group anonymous of functionaries, known
collectively as the Secret. Theoretically,
the Secret is open to anyone who
wishes to serve, but in reality membership is tightly controlled and brokered.
Amongst the laity, true
believers spend at least two hours a day engaged in a meditative process known
as purging in which they
attempt to blank out their thoughts and suppress their personality in an effort
to keep the world quiet and, once again, avoid the attention of the Entropic
Lord.
Note-the Entropic Lord is indeed worshipped by some
practitioners of witchcraft and served by a host of demons, undead and
unspeakably foul entities from… outside. According to the theology of these beings, The Entropic Lord is
sleeping and they must work to bring him round. The chaos these beings sew, the
murder, destruction and practice of black magic are forms of prayer.
The Cult of Archelon,
the Bearer
Archelon, the Great
Turtle, bears the world through space upon his shell, or so say his followers.
The ancient cult of
Archelon is a religion based upon worship, supplication and sorcery. Clerics of
the Great Turtle perform powerful rituals, and have access to divine spells.
However, they do little of either out in the open.
Worship of Archelon is, in
all but the most remote areas, a secret affair. Temples to the god are hidden
away on desolate atolls and in forest caves.
The priesthood of Archelon
is essentially a secret society organized into cells. No priest knows more than
two others.
Players who wish to play a
cleric will usually be associated with the Cult of Archelon.
3. The
Haunted Isles:
Although it is a part of
Commonwealth culture, and within its geographical sphere of control, the
campaign area lies well to the west of the main island cluster, and according
to some, at the very ends of the Earth.
Atlas:
The Asylum for the
Criminally Insane at Point Gorngard:
A large, brooding
structure overlooking Madman’s Beach, the Asylum houses roughly 200 inmates. In
addition to fulfilling its original mandate, the facility has, over the last
century, at the behest of the aristocracy, served as a clandestine prison of
convenience. The Asylum is examined in greater detail in the next chapter.
Átemian:
The crumbling ruins of the
once great monastery at Átemian illustrate the church’s failure in the West.
One hundred and twenty-four years ago, with the entire local chapter of the
Silent Brotherhood became infiltrated, turned and controlled by the cult of
Archelon, a contingent of Witch Finders laid siege to the monastery. A short
battle proceeded a long and arduous siege. Over a year later, the last monk
died of starvation, afterwhich, the monestary spontaneously caught fire. The blaze burned with infernal
intensity; the monastery’s stonework shattered and exploded.
The fire burned for a
month; it is said the spectral screams of the dead monks could be heard
throughout. When the last of the smoke guttered and drifted away, the Witch
Finders searched through the ruins. Finding nothing they packed up and went
home, singling the end to the Humble Church’s strength on the west. The spirits
of the traitorous monks, however, remained behind, trapped in the ruins of
Átemian, doomed, restless and malignant
Bay of Beasts:
The Bay of Beasts provides habitat for a great many dangerous aquatic
animals. This condition makes passage difficult and accounts for the dearth of
settlements on the north shore of Hefód and the south shore of Lur. The bay is
said to be veritably made of gold and other valuable commodities ranging from
pearls to mermaids to majical cities beneath the waves.
Black Island:
The shepherds and woodmen
of Lur hold a deep terror of Black Island.
A three hundred foot high
pillar of glittering obsidian, marked all across its surface with deep-graven
hieroglyphs of sinister aspect, resides at the center of bleak, scrub-covered Black Island. The full moon sets the pillar aglow; drawn from all
over the islands creatures of darkness assemble at the base of the hellish
spire. They cluster and dance and join together in dark, worshipful
celebration.
The Derrick:
Half a day’s sail west of
Stoker lies a permanent fog bank, called the Sentinel. The fog is said be the product of a curse and
local mariners avoid it at all cost.
The fog is produced by a
mechanism designed and constructed by the Baron Doctor Moresby, aristocrat,
scientist, fugitive and resurrectionist. Currently the Baron is engaged in the
construction of an undead army powered by electricity. He has a submarine.
Brokedown Palace:
Abandon for over two
centuries, the old Moresby Family Manor- or Brokedown Palace, as named by the
locals, exists now as a sprawling, haunted and horror infested ruin.
Nordenede:
The island Nordende,
famous location of the Asylum for the Criminally Insane at Gorngard, is also
host to a forest and a steaming, geyser-pocked badland at its southern extreme.
Turtle Cove:
Turtle Cove is said to
offer a safe place to come ashore on the southern coast of Lur. Some say that
monsters and other fell things are driven away by the presence of the Ward: a
giant image of a turtle- constructed entirely from human skulls.
The Pines:
The Pines, a temperate
rain forest, eternally swathed in a cold spectral mist, girds central Lur.
Little is known about the woodland’s interior. Few venture far beyond the
woodmen’s settlements at the coastal fringes. Fear of both the old, dark magic
associated with the place and the primeval creatures rumored to dwell within
keeps the forest inviolate.
Isenordal:
The haunted and broken
badland that is today’s Isenordál exists as the result of a magical battle
fought between a band of witch-finders and a trio of Archelon’s priests thirty
years past. Prior to the conflict, the region was a vast and ancient
necropolis, known as the City of Bones. During the battle, hundreds of tombs
opened, their doors and lids crumbled or flung wide by the sorcerous upheaval.
In the days that followed, Suffused with the violent energies of battle-magic,
the dead rose. Since that time, Isenordal has been considered a no man’s land.
Cape Talon:
A swath of prosperous farm
country, linked to Crestwick in the south and Cliff House in the north by a
network of good roads and a central rail line, Cape Talon serves, along with
farmlands of Hefód, as the agricultural foundation of the archipelago’s
economy.
Moonstone Isle:
Moonstone Isle takes it
name from a circle of standing stones found on a windy hilltop near the center
of the island’s scrub covered interior. A few scattered manorial estates, a
sparsely populated fishing village of questionably prosperity and an abandoned
silver mine represent the total of islands known assets.
The Lighthouse:
The Lighthouse functions,
but can not be approached and isn’t always in the same place. It’s said to come
to those at sea who need it.
According to local
folklore, old Bill ‘Crabhand’ Duffy assumed the responsibilities of lighthouse
caretaker, two hundred years past; he’s been on the job ever since, helping
lost sailors find their way.
Madman’s Beach:
Shallow, murky waters,
jagged rock formations and unpredictable winds make the southern coast of
Nordende dangerous place for ships. Broken hulks litter the sea floor and
splintered wreckage juts up through the waves. Gent and sharks will swarm here
with the slightest provocation.
The Sea Caves:
The Sea Caves provide a
cold, but reliable refuge for the goblin pirates of the Dream Sea. Legend holds
that the caverns and grottos are linked with the Underworld, and by extension
the cities of the Great Empire of Night.
Gastmor:
An upland region,
characterized by wild grasses, open woodland, bogs, mist, ubiquitous ruins and
the bones of giants, Gastmor provides a home to several clans of sheep herders
who think themselves free men and recognize no authority but their own. It’s a
well known fact that all manner of immodesty and witchcraft flourish in such
places.
Crestwick:
Crestwick is a prosperous
community sustained by a robust fishing fleet, agricultural shipping and light
industry. Many believe Crestwick to be a hotbed of petty aristocratic intrigue;
cult activity; organized crime and revolutionary sentiment.
Cliff House:
Prior to some rather
unfortunate incidents involving the Baron Moresby, science experiments, grave
robbery and mass homicide, the Moresby clan had ruled the island of Lur from
the time of the initial settling of the islands. Seven years past, the Baron
and his servants were driven from Lur by a mysterious band of individuals said
to contain witch finders, peasants, constables and priests of Archelon.
Not long after,
stewardship of Cliff House and governance of the island passed to the Count
Gareth Helmsted, who remains Lord Governor of Lur at present. Although he is
tasked by the Queen with governing the day to day affairs of Lur, has weightiest
responsibility is keeping watch over and containing Isenordal. In fact, north
of the badland, Helmsted’s governance of Lur exists only in name- and there’s
many a Gastmor clansmen who’d be surprised to hear that much.
Vigilance Atoll:
A true wonder of science,
the Royal Observatory sits atop the remarkably high Lookout Mountain on
Vigilance Atoll, and is manned by a team of dedicated researchers from Salem
University in Stoker. It is said by some that the late King Gilroy II charged
the astronomers of Salem university to watch the skies in anticipation of a
great and eldritch danger from beyond. The veracity of this rumor aside, nobody seems to know for what
exactly it is that the astronomers search.
The Cursed Caves:
A series of caverns
located within the confines of a rock formation situated at the border of the
Pines and the Bramble. Folklore, as related by woodsmen, maintains that any who
venture in to the cave will devolve into dumb beasts subject to ravenous and
unwholesome appetites.
Stoker:
Founded in the opening
decade of the settlement era, Stoker is actually nearly a century older than
the larger eastern metropolis of New Silence. The city is the uncontested
center of civilization in the archipelago. The Viscount Sirus Blackmarch runs
his government from the imposing Castle Mistlock there; the steam car industry
of the entire realm of New Urveon finds its home there, with three separate
manufacturers and seven factories. Other industrial enterprises and trade
guilds abound. Shops line the avenues. Tens of thousands of citizens and
visitors from all over New Urveon team in the streets. Billowing smoke and
clanging, grinding noise clog the air. Stoker bustles; Stoker works; Stoker
plays; Stoker never slows down, never rests.
In Stoker, everything is
available and nothing is free.
Character Classes:
We’re going to start at 4th
level unless you select a Keeper, in which case you’ll start at level 3.
All classes listed in the
Advanced Edition Companion are available. Magic Users of any sort will, for the
most part, operate in secrecy, but they are a viable PC choice nonetheless.
Two additional classes are
also available:
Keeper
of The Silence
Requirements INT 10, WIS
10
Prime Requisite: INT, WIS
Hit Dice 1d8 until 9th
level then +2 every level thereafter.
Level limit: none
Experience: As LL/BX Elf
Attacks Fighter
Saves: Magic User
Weapons Armor: Any
Keepers of the Silence
(Keepers, henceforth) are a quasi military/police religious order within the
Hidden Church of the Humble Way. Keepers move alone or in small groups across
the land, rooting out impious activity and dispatching its perpetrators. In
past centuries the authority of the Keepers was unquestioned, but as the
Church’s power declines so too does that of the Keepers. As a result, while
traveling in the hinterlands, today’s Keeper is as likely to encounter
resentment and hostility as reverence and respect. In the past it was common
for Keepers to work closely with secular authority, but in the modern era this
relationship has devolved into jurisdictional squabbling.
Keepers gain spells at the
same rate as the B/X elf. However, the practice of magic is something they do
in secret, and most members of the general population are unaware that the
Keepers are adept in the very sort of thing they work to stomp out. Any keeper
exposed as a magic user will be disavowed and hunted down by the remaining
Keepers.
The Necromancer
Necromancers wield magic
they draw from the necrosphere, the ancient Earth’s spirit world, which is
infused with the ghostly energy of eons of the dead.
Requirements INT 10, WIS
10
Prime Requisite: INT, WIS
Hit Dice 1d6 until 9th
level then +2 every level thereafter.
Level limit: none
Experience: As cleric
Attacks: Cleric
Saves: Cleric
Weapons Armor: Any
In order to work their
magic Necromancer must have a focus made from the remains of a dead creature.
Such object may include a skull, or a staff made of bones, soft tissue foci are
rare but not unknown; however, such foci must be shielded from decay by embalming,
mummification or some other method.
Blood Magic: Once a day, a Necromancer may
self-inflict a minor wound in order to gain an additional spell. This maybe
done a maximum of three days in a row.
Turn undead as cleric
Potions: Necromancers of 6th
level and above may brew potions.
Spell List
First Level Necromancer
Spells
Detect Chaos/law
Detect Magci
Cure Minor wound
Light/Dark
Protection from Chaos
Puridfy food and drink
Animal companion
Remove fear
Second Level Necromancer
Spells
Bless curse
Hold person
Cure major wound
phantasmal force
Ghost Spear
Third level Necromancer
spells
Cure/cause disease
Locate object
Remove curse
Wizard’s eye
Effigy of agony
Fourth level sorcer spells
Fly
Protection form Law chaos
10’ radius
Sticks to snakes wall of
fire and Ice (Ghost Wall)
Create water
Fifth level Necromancer
spells
Animate Dead Commune
Contact other plain
control weather the wailing dread dispel chaos/law
Insect plague
Quest
Raise dead
