Ruinlands Revisted, Madling Isle.

 

Madling Island:

According to popular legend, as related in the wine shops of Ssaur, the so called Madling Island, located in the Purple Lake of The Forgotten Depths, is the site of an abandoned factory, which, during the Lost Wars, was used for the production of Skeletal Warriors. Supposedly, a powerful Madling sorcerer took up residence in the old factory several centuries ago, and abides there still, engaged in an attempt to reactivate the factory's eldritch apparatus in order to raise an army with which to conquer Ssaur and the Rüinlands. The sorcerer is said to have a vast store of treasure. This horde is reported to be made up of magical, monetary and technological constituents. All of this is, of course, hearsay, and it is impossible to identify anyone who has traveled to the island and returned. Thus, the claims of legend remain unconfirmed, and true knowledge of the place is scant, if not completely nonexistent.

The truth of the matter is that the rumors are largely accurate, but they tell only a little about the strange and terrible place that is Madling Island.

Madling Island, Some Facts:

The island exists inside a time-space depression (TSD, henceforth); it actually occupies far more land area than it appears to from a distance. Although, at less than a kilometer away, the Island appears to be roughly 15 km from end to end, it is in truth, roughly 10 times as long. Furthermore, time flows differently there; for each day that passes on the island and in its immediate environs, a month passes in the outer world. Obviously, there is no missing the change in physical scale as one approaches the island; however, individuals within the TSD cannot detect the temporal aberration, as the day-night cycle is absent therein, replaced by an endless, brooding and blood-red twilight, punctuated only by the pulsating sullen glow of Godmount.

It is possible that a careful observer from outside the TSD might notice a dull flickering over the island, the cause of which would be difficult to ascertain.

The cause or causes of these strange conditions are poorly understood, although it is likely that the powerful reality warping magic utilized in the creation of entire armies of Skeletal Warriors- and the many other experiments and activities that took place on the island may have been among the causative factors

 

Origninally presented July 7th 2011, over the next few weeks I'll be fleshing out Madling Isle with new content and old. I rather like this old map though.

 

Age Of Lead: Sagoth (class) and Orkan (creature)

 

 

 

 

SAGOTH

Hirsute and ape-like, the ab-human sagoth exist as the most populous and versatile folk in and around the lands controlled by the empire. Sagoth comprise a large part of the imperial legions (second only to skeletons) and the vast majority of the empire's farmers and artisans. Furthermore, large populations of sagoth barbarians live outside of the the empire's control.

Player characters are assumed to be imperial soldiers or outland barbarians.

RESTRICTIONS: Sagoth use a D10 to determine hit points. They may wear any armor and use any weapon. A character must have a 9 or higher constitution to become a sagoth.

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Physically sturdy, sagoth add 1d4 to their final STRENGTH score. Sagoth relate to animals exceptionally well; at 3rd level a sagoth may charm animal as the spell, once per day. At 5th level the sagoth warrior gains a land mount, usually an orkan or a mammoth. At 8th level the warrior has the option to switch to an aerial mount, usually a war bat. Bat riders are held in high esteem, and are the closest a member of the sagoth class can really come to the aristocracy.

Progression and saving throw: as dwarf.

 

 

ORKAN

AC: 3 (15); HD: 15; MOVE: 120' (40'); ATTACKS: bite or trample; DAMAGE: 3d6/ 4d8;

NUMBER APPEARING: 2d10; SAVE AS: Fighter 8 MORALE: 8

These huge, surly beasts serve as mounts for the imperial light calvary. Notorious for their short tempers and hateful disposition, orkan prefer to trample medium sized and smaller opponents.

If an orkan fails a moral check during combat, it will turn on its rider.

 

 

 

 

Age of Lead: RAT [class]

 

RAT: (Master, Professor, Doctor) Outside the royal family, rats officially occupy the highest caste niche. They see themselves as the best imperial society has to offer. Members of the leech caste see it differently, however. Rats run the empire as scholars, wizards, ministers, magistrates and bureaucrats. Status within rat circles is based on seniority. Rats are notorious snobs.

Thick furred, 2-2.5 meter tall rodents, trained in magic nearly since birth, rats serve as the ministers and functionaries of the empire. Rats also have near universal obsession with astronomy, and refer to the discipline as the secret science. Despite the near continual overcast, rat astronomers track every object in the heavens. All imperial rats belong to one

of thirty clans. The clans are in constant conflict with one another.

The rat's prime requisite is intelligence. A score of 13 or above results in a 10% bonus to earned experience.

RESTRICTIONS: Rats use 1d8 to determine hit points. They may not wear any sort of armor, and may only carry a quarter-staff as a weapon.

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Rats are spell-casters. As they gain levels they attain access to more and more powerful spells. The rat inscribes these incantations upon his staff in a personal secret language.

WEIRD: All rats are born as twins. One twin is slain out of hand and preserved in jar. The jar and its contents represent the living twin’s most prized possession. Many rats speak to their twin as a confidant while alone. Further, on nights of the full moon rats may communicate over long distances with one another by speaking through their twins.

 

 

 

 

[MAP] Age of Lead, campaign area, version one.

Lots of composition issues here. I need to redraw, obviosly. The idea is to make something for both AoL and B/X Cosmonaut. SHED is the PC base town.

 

 

[Age of Lead]: Forager [class]

 

 

FORAGER

Sentient trilobite-like creatures, possibly of extraterrestrial origin, foragers live between the cracks and gaps of proper imperial society. Foragers lack imperial citizenship status; as a result they may be abused- even killed out of hand, by members of the aristocratic classes. Despite their lowly status, and barring the odd case of casual murder, adult foragers are largely tolerated within imperial holdings.

 

Juvenile foragers are called mites, and considered vermin by everyone, including adults of the species. A forager gains its full size and reaches sentience at about 10 years of age; an adult forager stands (on it’s rear legs, the number of which varies) at about 1.5 meters. Foragers do not care for their young; most do not survive to adulthood. Foragers can live up to 50 years. Adult foragers occupy the bottom rung of imperial society and often make their living cleaning sewers, handeling the dead and crime.

 

A forager’s prime requisite is dexterity; a minimum score of 9 is required; a score of 13 or greater results in a 10% bonus to all earned experience.

 

RESTRICTIONS: foragers use a 4-sided dice for hit points. It is possible they could wear armor, but nobody makes any for them. The forager’s natural AC is 5(14). Foragers produce speech by vibrating their antenna-horns. Foragers may use any weapon.

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Foragers receive a +4 to hit and DOUBLE rolled DAMAGE when they strike an unaware opponent from behind. Foragers can CLIMB most surfaces regardless of angle without difficulty. SECOND HEART: Foragers are very difficult to kill. When a forager reaches 0 hit points for the first time, its second heart activates, resulting in a healing surge of 1d4+2 hit points. This ability resets after the forager has had time to heal ALL damage. Second heart hit points heal at 1/2 the rate of normal hit points. If the character reaches 0 HP before this healing is complete, death is the result.

 

SKILLS

At first level the forager may CREEP; SPOT; STEAL; JIMMY (See Below) on a roll of a 1-2 on a D6.

With each level attained, until 10th level, the forager may increase the chance for success of any one skill by +1. When the forager reaches 10th level the referee should create new, campaign specific skills for the forager.

 

CREEP: Move silent; hide; spy.

SPOT: Find; detect; observe.

STEAL: Shoplift; pick pockets; cheat.

JIMMY: Pick; breach; hot wire; rig.

 

WEIRD: Foragers are asexual and reproduce by dying. Mites gestate inside the forager throughout its adult life. The forager’s demise triggers the rapid completion of this process. Four to five days after death, hundreds of mites will eat their way out of the forager’s corpse. It’s rather unseemly.

 

PROGRESSION: As thief

SAVE: as dwarf

 

 

[Map] Karakul Province

For the thing, which I am calling Age of Lead.

I am about done with the player text, and have a number of images done. Everything that has come before here, exists now as an idea farm, so some things may be familiar, but I assure you the final product is like nothing you have seen before. I could probably release next week, but I have ideas, see, and I may go all summer.

Here is the inkiest map you likely to see this morning. Comments are closed, but shoot me a mail if you have something to say.

 

 

 

 

[Map/color] The Black Smoke Sea, revisited.

I changed some names, and colored this. I'll be coloring some more old maps in the near future (My plan is to give The Province of Forgotten Empire the treatment, in order to further this effort of Jack's to replace the Dwarf kickstarter thingy. Dwarfs need a place to hang their... Whatever.

Anyway, this is what it is, but I imaging it could be used for a variety of PA settings, or even an alien world. I changed some names amd fixed some fuck ups. Anyone want to learn how to do these, from balnk paper to colored hexmap?

 

Bigger version.

 

[Map] The Bottom of The Black Smoke Sea, Inception

The Black Smoke Sea is the name given the enormous and relatively stationary volume of smoke and toxic gas that fills a large depression in the southwest region of the Deep Desert. The floor of the depression is a hellish place, hot, forever dark and choked with noxious clouds of poison. Strange life forms thrive there; aliens, machines, insects and fanatical nomads compete for the stingy resources afforded by the fouled wasteland. Savage predators stalk weird prey in smoke shrouded stone forests. Silverfish cluster and swarm, rushing across the broken earth in their clacking, rustling millions.

Gas masks, survival suits tanks, acid rain, e-rations, thirst, bugs, lava, smoke, sludge, air locks, trundles, blood lung, gas ghosts, slavers, domes, psionics, vulcanism, skin burn, contamination.

Sadly, I have done nothing new with elves here.

 

Caverns of Empire

Caverns of Empire

For the Metal Earth
Epoch: The Age of Lead
Period: The Flare


The. power of the moonwraith, or space vampire, is thought to have been broken at the dawn of the Flare. However, this is not the case. They have merely taken themselves and their undying emperor underground, where they reside patiently, in their Caverns of Empire, waiting to resume their mastery of the surface when the sun goes dim once more

Despite the name, the caverns are not universally controlled by the 'wraiths. The moonwraith legions made their first forays into the underworld long before the begining of the Flare, and have been there now for five thousand years. They are latecomers, however, in comparison to most of the cavern's other intelligent life. Even so, the Empire is, at present, the largest power block in the region beneath Satan's Spine and, presumably, beyond it as well. Many groups strive against the 'wraiths and one another, competing for mastery of the cavern's resources and space. The moorlocks; the Men of Baal; the City of the Spiders; and the minions of the abomination, represent some of the more powerful factions. Many galleries and grottos lie unclaimed and wild, however, too savage to be tamed.

Air is manufactured by huge atmosphere plants of ancient, near-mythical origin. Water can be found, but more often than not it is locked in the rocks, boiling, or sealed up in huge subterranean cavities- vast surfaceless seas, accessible only in certain places.

Hellstone, another important resource both sought after and feared, lies hidden in nodules throughout the earth's strata. This remarkable mineral is thought to be the source of the unnatural fecundity that makes life possible in the caves, and fell beasts in great numbers as well. The 'wraiths and some others mine hellstone and make use of it as a sort of magical fuel.



The Current
No discussion of the underworld would be complete without mention of the Current, the seemingly endless stream of undead that flows up from the Earth's core. Both Baalor and the lesser imperial cavern have active Horde holes, and fight a continuos battle to hold the seemingly inexhaustible enemy at bay. The Men of Baal, who are not men at all, have a long standing knightly tradition structured around this eternal conflict. It has made them amongst the most deadly fighters in the world. Conversely, although the moonwraiths are mighty fighters, they prefer to combat the problem of the Current with an army made up of unruly slaves, criminals and prisoners of war, the so called Doomed Legion.