Actual Play: Darius Krin's Explorations of the Colossal Wastes of Zhaar

On Google Plus, I've been known for writing overly elaborate but somewhat humorous (I hope!) session write-ups of such disparate places as Barovania, Wampus Country, and New Feierland, among others. I have posted less of that lately on G+. However, my writing has not ended. Instead, I am using the more efficient GOOOOO-GGGLLLLE DOOOCCCCS! (Thunderclap!)

Of what I can share, I have the explorations of the rather scatterbrained artificer, alchemist, and tinker Darius Krin. Currently, he traipses about the Colossal Wastes of Zhaar. Called there by ancient and unknown magic, Krin allied with some fellow miscreants and set about learning about this alien land before ultimately beginning a search for a wrecked airship.

Krin's recollections of his travels are recorded here. Details on important persons and places may be found here. As continually updated documents, they are works in progress for the duration of the campaign. Note that these documents will contain SPOILERS for the Wastes.

About The Campaign
The campaign is a hexcrawl campaign usually run  weekly (if schedules allow) by +Ed Hackett  on G+. We used Fifth Edition rules, and FLAILSNAILS is allowed. We have a public G+ group you can ask Ed about if you're interested in joining.

About the Colossal Wastes of Zhaar
The Colossal Wastes of Zhaar  is a free, crowdsourced hexcrawl map made by numerous folks on G+. It is a precarious, highly fantastical desert land full of wonder that nonetheless languishes beneath the influence of the floating islands and flittering airships that drift overhead.

Hexcrawl Index

Homebrew Hexcrawls and Hexcrawl Resources

This is just another index post with assorted links on hexcrawls, collected for quick reference.
* denotes most recent update.


Hexcrawls with keyed entries
Across the White Marsh at Blood & Bronze
Astral Marines: Patrol Section Omega (Vietnam-themed githyanki astral warfare)
Barbarian Prince at Save Vs. Total Party Kill (Incomplete)
Colossal Wastes of Zhaar at Save Vs. Total Party Kill (Desert)
Fallout themed map at Save Vs. Total Party Kill (Incomplete)
Frogstar Peninsula at Goblin Punch
Generic OSR Land (Here Be Cannibals!) at Against the Wicked City*
Gongburg Solitudes at Save Vs. Total Party Kill (Depression era themed)
Hexcrawl of the Marcher Lords
Hexenbracken at Save Vs. Total Party Kill
Kaltval at Save Vs. Total Party Kill (Incomplete)
Kingmaker rewrite as a 3 page hexcrawl at Against the Wicked City 
Isles of Mist at Ars Phantasia
Kraal at Save Vs. Total Party Kill (Frozen north type setting)
Lavendar Marshes at Save Vs. Total Party Kill
Sublight at I Don't Remember That Move (Desert/hinterlands of a terraformed Mars, sci-fi)
Synthexia at Save Vs. Total Party Kill (Gonzo space fantasy)
Unholy Land by Casey Garske
Urbancrawl at the Alexandrian 
The World at Elf Shot the Foot (Part 1, Part 2,  Map)

Hexcrawls, unkeyed or without hex specific entries
Bleakstone Campaign Setting at MartinRalya.com
Distant Lands of DIY (Compiled map of various DIY/OSR settings) at Throne of Salt*
Exile Island at Elfmaids & Octopi
Hexcrawl map at Mega Dungeon
Hyberborea At I Don't Remember That Move*
Isle of Dread Map Redone at Lost Atlases*
Lost Duchy of Gaeleth at Countersong
Warriors of the Red Planet at the Eye of Joyful Sitting
Xoghul, City Hex-Crawl map at the Weirdlands of Xhuul

Other resources
Have a Nice Trip at Goblin Punch (Random encounters)
Hexcrawl Tips at World Builder Blog
How I Hexcrawl at Lost Pages
Hexcrawl Resources at Ars Phantasia
Kievs at Games With Others (features a template of writing cities)

Ten Ideas About Divine Noninterference

Ten Ideas for Divine Noninterference

In a fantasy world with hypothetically meddling gods, there are often questions why those hypothetically meddling gods seem to sit around and let mortals muck about in their affairs. These questions of nonintervention (or at least, inconsistent intervent) are usually answered through some kind of Great Balance™ scheme. For every Good, there must be an Evil, for Law a Chaos. Or perhaps some truce against mutually assured destruction. In any case, it’s usually some vague bargain between the gods, a standard fantasy trope that doesn’t require too much committal to deciding how the cosmology of the game world works.

But what if there were some more substantial reasoning behind the rules of divine noninterference? What might it tell us what it means to serve the gods and the nature of the mortality? To give you some inspiration, here are ten alternate ideas for why the gods don’t save the day all the time.

1) The gods are far away and can't perceive much of individual events or people. The world is hazy to them, or perhaps individuals are like individual ants are to a human.  Clerics are different in that they are temporary homing beacons for the god's attentions; they can bring divine awareness into our world enough to manifest some method of divine action.  But only the clerics with the strongest connections (as in, high level) can be so fine an antennae to make the god's power manifest directly into our world (working miracles, etc.)  Certain quasideities, divine avatars, and demigods may be able to stay in the mortal world, but true godhood means existing in a reality truly out of touch with any known by mortals.

A cleric acts is a beacon to his deity. (Source)

 

2) The gods do manifest in our world. It's called having clerics.  The clerics (and other priests) are the special intermediaries between the god and humanity. Perhaps sometime long ago in the primordial past, the would-be priests struck some kind of deal for how gods would interact with humanity/sentient races (and therefore the rest of the world). 

A deity's work is never done. *Sigh* (Source)

3) The gods are lazy or apathetic, but of such power and awareness that they can "feel" mortals' emotions and pleas. They answer prayers and empower priests in an "Okay, here ya go kid now go away, you bother me!" sort of concession.  Evil gods might get off on the strife and pain their actions or in-actions cause, but too much of it makes ‘em go blind doin’ that. 

4) The mortal world does not have the importance we think it does, or at least not in the way we think it does.  Our prime purpose lies in what we mortals call an "after life", as that is the beginning of our true lives.  This mortal world we call "life" is actually merely a boot camp on a truly grand scale- for some ultimate purpose beyond this life.  If the gods were to “coddle” humanity, that would prevent many great people from realizing the potential, or at least prevent separating the wheat from the chaff.

Presumably even Asmodeus had to go to seminary SOMEWHERE! (Source)

Variant: Deities are all ascended mortals.  It is the destiny of every mortal soul to ascend to divine status; it’s only a matter of time (unfathomably long in our mortal perspective, but not so much in a being of the infinite’s sense).  Intervening directly would interfere with people reaching their inner divinity and is thus avoided.

Humorous Variant: South Park had it right- the mortal world is actually one great reality TV show.  If the gods solve all our problems for us, it means the show becomes boring and thus gets cancelled. (Thus dooming all of mortal existence.)

Even gods can have bad days. (Source)

5) The gods once worked more directly in the world, but were long ago eclipsed in power by the churches and other trappings of their faith.  As a god’s belief structure evolves, it ossifies and achieves a transcendent existence of its own beyond the god’s (or any one being’s) conscious control.  This typically leaves the original deity a husk of its former self (such as the turtle deity in Terry Pratchett’s Small Gods book). This phenomenon might explain the odd iconography and/or taboos within many faiths.

6) The gods exist as manifestations as Jungian archetypes of the collective human (or given fantasy, inhuman) unconsciousness and are therefore intercede only through mortal action.  This can take the place through the brute display of the strongest mortals’ faith (i.e. spells like Miracle) but more often comes about through a coordinated show of faith through combined actions (as in, mundane social movements/trends brought about by many normal people working in tandem with each other.)

7)  The gods must be crazy. The gods vaguely represent certain portfolios or interests, but the way they pursue their interests is so alien, caricatured, or inconsistent by mortal standards. One might think of them as slightly more human-like than average eldritch abominations. It takes wisdom and experience to tease out and benefit from their cryptic mysteries.

8) The gods are long dead, and any pretense to their continued existence is a falsity. Divine energy is a limited (or even nonrenewable) resource that the clergy doesn’t like to hand out like candy.

9) The gods all have self-confidence issues. It is the role of the cleric to ask as counselor to her deity and build enough confidence to persuade the deity to act. (Of course, this setup makes deities the ultimate atheists, for they truly do not believe in themselves.)

 
10) Pay no attention to the god behind the curtain! Despite what they might want you to think, the gods are not great and all-powerful in and of themselves. Rather, divine power exists through acting as conduits of belief. The gods’ priests are their circuits, delivering the power of their influence in order to gather more power back from the believers (or whatever interests funnel energy back to their gods). As priests rise in level, they become more attuned with this power and are able to deliver greater and greater manifestations of this power.

D&D Goblinoid/Orcs/Etc Homebrew Resources

Oldschoolish D&Dish Homebrew Resources- Goblinoids and Other Monstrous/Savage Humanoids (Giant-kin, Gnolls, Orcs, etc)

Gathered together for future game reference. Feel free to suggest others.

Classes
 Goblin Enchantress at Le Chaudron Chromatique
Manrider Alchemist at Goblin Punch

Gadgets and Generators (See also: "Random Tables" below)
Goblin Doors at Abulafiah
Random Humanoid Horde- Abulafiah

General Information
Behold the Blingdingel at Wampus Country
Ecology of the Bugbear at Hack and Slash
Ecology of My Goblins, or How I make Goblins Fun at Searching for Magic
Ecology of the Kobold at Hack and Slash
Ecology of the Orc at Hack and Slash
Ecology of the Troll at Hack and Slash
The Goblin Article at Basic Red
God Hates Orcs at Goblin Punch
Halfling and Goblins at Goblin Punch
Kappas at Basic Red
Kobolds More Like NOBOLDS at Basic Red
Legends of Pahvelorn: Doorcreepers at Necropraxis
Names of the Orc at Basic Red
Of Manuals and Goblins at Dungeon of Signs 
Meditations on the Bugbear at Dungeon of Signs
Monster Archaeology- Large Humanoids
Monster Archaelogy- Small Humanoids
Orcs Are a Disease at Dungeon of Signs
An Orcish Prayer at Goblin Punch
Ogres and Their Kin at Goblin Punch
Ogres of Wampus Country
A Plague of Goblins at From the Sorcerer's Skull
Thouls and Owlbears at Dungeon of Signs

Monster Entries and Subtypes
Blobblins at Goblin Punch
Goblin Collectors at Le Chaudron Chromatique 
Gretchlings and Grues at Goblin Punch
Hollow Goblin (+ Hollow Hermit) at Le Chaudron Chromatique
Spider-Goblins (Hexenbracken) at Gaming, It Happens
Tooth Fairies at Goblin Punch
Yoblins, Funglybears, and Filth Libraries at Goblin Punch

PC Races
Bullywug at Hack and Slash
Gnolls at Hack and Slash
Halfling and Goblins at Goblin Punch
Savage Races at False Machine 

Personalities
The Greatest and Deadliest of Goblins at Basic Red
Griffin Street Irregulars at Wampus Country

Places
Goblin Arena at Goblin Punch
Yoblintown at Goblin Punch

Random Tables
1d6 Goblin Traps at Goblin Punch
1d8 Goblin Weapons at Goblin Punc
Gads of Goblin Goodies at Land of Nod
Goblin Tribe Generator
Humanoid Traits Table at A Hamsterish Hoard
Mixing Liquids from Orc Spawning Pools with Healing Potions at Le Chaudron Chromatique
Random Starting Equipment for Goblins at Gaming, It Happens
Thouls and Owlbears at Dungeon of Signs
What Does That Broken Goblin Machine Do? at Rolang's Creeping Doom
What's in that Dead Orc's Pockets? at Jeffs Gameblog
 WTF Are Those Goblins Doing? at Goblin Punch
 Yoblintown at Goblin Punch

Things
The Seven Deadly Stinks at Goblin Punch

The Terrible Truth About Trolls

The Terrible Truth About Trolls

Any adventurers worth their salt have heard tales of the troll. Physical descriptions vary, but the type of brute I’m speaking of is almost universally big, dumb, and eternally hungry. The troll ability rapidly and disturbingly stitch together any wounds it sustains (the trollish “regeneration”) is well known. The method of its defeat, fire or acid to cauterize the wounds, is also well known.

However, for all true knowledge known of trolls, many more misconceptions maintain in our minds.

Trollish Physiology

Trolls loom over normal men in a disgusting fashion that shouldn’t even be physically possible. Their bloated cores (which might be called abdomen) sag disgustingly over the top of legs much too gaunt to hold them. Its arms are equally emaciated, with skin seemingly pulled painfully tight over the bone.  A troll has no hair save for its head. Instead the creature’s (at times) rubbery skin is “decorated” with varicose veins, stretchmarks, or pus-filled growths of unknown nature. The latter features tend to change places when nobody’s looking.

(Source)

The troll is often described as technically a member of the giant family. However, their vaguely humanoid structure is perhaps the closest thing trolls have with giants. Physiologically (and historically, see Troll Origins), trolls more closely resemble the doppelganger. Ecologically they vary between behavior that mimics plagues of locusts and, more often, (somewhat more subtle) cockroaches. (See Troll Ecology and Reproduction).

The physiological body of a troll is actually incredibly weak. A troll’s physical toughness comes from its state of constant “regeneration”. Yes, even when unharmed, a troll’s body warps and devours its old flesh to make up for new.  The troll possesses no regeneration ability as we know it. “Remutation” serves as a better term, for the troll is technically a shapeshifter, like a doppelganger. However, the troll bears no control its shapechanging, dooming it to an existence of eternal suffering as it suffers constant writhing “mini-mutations”.

The troll’s mini-mutations pass by so quickly that the human fails to notice it. Two exceptions to the rule exist: when the troll deliberately turns its remutation to its favor or when it is wounded.  Of the former, the troll has two little known abilities. First, it can stretch its limbs slightly but significantly. This stretching is always accompanied by a noticeable physical change, such as the creaking and cracking of bones or the tightening or even tearing of the flesh. Second, a troll can fold and compress itself to fit into a much smaller space than its normal volume would allow. Of course, a troll will only perform such compression if it accepts the bone-breaking pain and mutilation that accompanies such a transformation. It helps that the troll’s bone structure is not consistent; it can turn solid, spongy, or even almost liquid given the right circumstances.

The troll’s constant transformations require a humungous heap of energy to burn. Hence, in addition to the constant trauma of their bodies breaking down and building back up, the average troll faces constant hunger surpassing even the most gluttonous of ghouls.

Troll Ecology and Reproduction

Trolls have been rightly called the cockroaches of the giant world for several reasons beyond their ability to be too damn hard to kill. For the most part, they are disgusting, lurking horrors that stay out of the way until food is most readily available. Like the normal cockroach, they feed on garbage (or what they consider garbage- as in, sentient humans and humanoids smaller than them.) Of course, because of the constant trauma they suffer from pain and starvation, trolls show much more aggression than cockroaches show.

Trolls are similar to cockroaches in another way: reproduction. Or at least, in a way cockroaches are rumored to reproduce. A troll’s reproduction resembles the old wife’s tale of female cockroaches. Namely, that they shoot their eggs all over the place if squished. (This is of course, a myth, but in a magical world with all sorts of whacko wizards, you never know if somebody turns it into a reality). However, when a troll is hacked apart, it does not eject eggs, but rather the trollish flesh acts more like a planarian flatworm or even an ooze.  Any “significantly large” enough piece of troll flesh, bone, or even blood that is left undisturbed can regenerate back into an entirely new troll, even when the original is destroyed.

Source

 

The process of the above “budding” reproduction is fiendishly slow, leaving most troll hunters completely unaware that trolls can even multiply this way. Woe be it to the unwary troll hunter who brings fire only to burn the main body but leaves scraps of the creature laying all over the place. Fortunately, their slow reproduction rate also puts a cap on their population. If their inert parts are eaten by predators or scavengers, the trolls will not regrow. Trolls are prone to cannibalism, which sounds nice but actually has a nasty implication. Troll hunters who wipe out an entire clan can make things worse than simply thinning out the population. Few other creatures can stand the taste of troll flesh…

Trolls generally prefer the splitting method of reproduction over sexually mating, though the latter is technically possible. Due to their origins (see Troll Origins, below), trolls find each other physically disgusting. Instead, they find the beings with conventionally finer features much more appealing despite the physical weakness they loath. A lustful troll can experience an erotic high from combat, further complicating the troll’s already convoluted (and now self-contradictory) feelings towards combat. Even the language of trolls reflects how they relate to bloodshed. In the trollish dialect of Giant, the words for “kill”, “die”, “eat”, and “mate” are largely the same. In its own twisted way, a troll signals its love by wanting to tear your guts out and wanting you to do likewise...

Troll Origins

How did a creature so warped in body in mind come to exist? And why does it mock our human form? Perhaps the right question might be why does our form mock it?

Classified erroneously as giant-kin, the origins of the troll more likely hearken back to a much more ancient time, where the rules of life were not like we know them.  In that primordial existence several worlds ago, form and physiology were less distinct. Sexual reproduction, perhaps even reproduction itself, was new or perhaps even unknown.  Yet, something raised the humanoid shape from the creatures that skitter on the ground.

Even in this bygone times (if time was a thing back then), the drive to improve, to evolve, still existed in some form. The first creatures resembling our form, the First Walkers, were otherwise shapeless, indistinct, even malleable, for fixed form had not been decided yet. The creatures we would call “doppelgangers”, the Formspawners, were among the first to solidify their forms from inconsistent muck. This feat was accomplished by ardent pushing and pulling, tensing and letting go, twisting, and untwisting. These first forms were simplistic, nearly featureless faces, dull colors, and of course the inability to reproduce. Yet this basic frame was mutable yet stable enough for the Formspawners to begin crafting more refined shapes.

At the same time as the above physical transformation, the basic reflexes and instincts of pushing and pulling, etc. began to become more complex as the drive towards differentiation unbound creation from itself. These reflexes and instincts intermingled and combined, first becoming basic perception of the outside reality, then awareness of the distinction of organisms, something akin to animal desire, and finally “human-level consciousness”.

The Formspawners were true to their names, having achieve separate existences, yet linked by an understanding of each other that could only come from evolving from the same “mass”. This common understanding may have evolved into what is the telepathy modern doppelgangers show today. That’s not our concern for this discussion. Suffice it to say, the Formspawners thoughts allowed them not only to communicate with each other, but also communicate with their own flesh, allowing increasingly finer and more distinct shapes.

However, in increasing their forms capacity for finer manipulations, the Formspawners reduced their capacity for grosser manipulations. No longer could they assume as radical size or weight changes, nor could they heal themselves as quickly.

An early Refiner (Art by Niii of Deviantart.com)

A sizable number of the First Walkers saw folly in substituting subtlety for greatness. These Reverters (as opposed to the Refiners on the other side of the argument) believed they had to go back a step and start again. Stretch for ever greater and greater things, continuously warp and mutate, “reach for the stars”. The Reverters stretched and warped themselves to greater and greater heights.

De/Evolution to the Modern Troll

Like the saying that if you make a face enough it will stay that way, so did their forms. Stretched to the limit and yet still warping, mutating, substituting quantity for quality of change, the Reverters damned themselves to an everlasting hell of torment. Through their petty spite and desire for vengeance against the Refiners, the Reverters became the abominable trolls we know today. (This is not to say the Refiners were without blame, far from it, but that is a story for another time.)

The greater sized troll ancestors look upon a Refiner. (Art John Bauer, 1915)

The Hexenbracken: Welcome to Halcyon Springs!

Welcome to Halcyon Springs!

Art by Tyler Edlin

Welcome, honored seafarers and adventurers, to the great town of Halcyon Springs (Hex 0304), the gateway to the Isle of Mulk!  We are the Hexenbracken’s PREMIERE vacation destination!  So whether you seek thrilling excitement or merely to take a load off (especially if that load is excess coin), Halcyon Springs is THE place to stay! Be sure to visit our miraculous hot springs! You’ll find that all those impurities from the rough dungeon days will just melt away!

Fun for the whole party! (Source)

Halcyon Springs has something for the entire party! For the nature lovers, we have plenty of parks and sacred groves to explore and meditate at! Be sure to talk with ‘Bracken famous botanist and flower seller, Avana Rouncefield, whom even organizes expeditions from time to time! If you’re the more scholarly sort, be sure to visit the Oakheart Academy! Our avant-garde curriculum leaves nothing off the table! And if all you want is true adventure, our Dungeon Crawlerz Venture Tourism® will test the mettle of the best! Can you stand the heat?

The Official Maxcot for the Dungeon Crawlerz Venture Tourism®

And should you need to bill this as a business trip, our Venture Capital Market® is the best place to sign up for quests, charter McGuffin seekers, or even procure expedition funding from investors! And if you need hired help, please visit the Henchman’s Guild to contract some of the best redshirts the Hexenbracken has to offer!

Art by Wayne Reynolds

Halcyon Springs is 100% safe from unpaid for dangers! Any rumors your heard about rodentmen marauders are 100% FALSE! You won’t see them here- THOSE things are only for OTHER campaign settings! Our diligent constables are on hand to make sure you have only halcyon days at Halcyon Springs!

So what are you waiting for? Book tickets for your visit today!

Strange Spelljamming Races: Hat People

Strange Spelljamming Races: Hat People

Hat People, from the Planet of Hats, are a spacefaring civilization of a rather unusual nature. The "People" in question aren't the mounts they ride on, but rather, the Hats themselves. Any Hat can ride its mindless, artificially created “flesh chariots”, but they prefer intelligent mounts (as in, people.)

A Hat can perform a symbiotic bond with any creature capable of wearing a normal hat (which is usually humanoids or the like). The Hat has a lamprey like mouth (though with much smaller and finer teeth) that it can use to attach itself to the head. Once attached, the Hat will meld its mind with its mount, creating a gestalt mind of both. Some special Hat breeds may grant minor boons in exchange for certain behavioral changes (see below) or increased nutrient take-in they require.

A Party Hat moves to grab a host. (art Tony DeTerlizzi)

The Hat will often let the mount’s personality determine the primary characteristics and behaviors of the gestalt mind, though with some additional quirks and sometimes dramatic changes (as dictated by the type of Hat in question- woe be upon whomever dons a Mad Hat.) A displeased or just plain nasty Hat can dominate its mount as per an intelligent magic item. Hats always have disproportionally large Egos. (As evidenced by calling the beings they ride “mounts” instead of “hosts.” (This would imply that the Hats in question would be parasitic in nature, which offends them).

The rejection of a mount by his Hat can be traumatizing. (Source)

Hat spacefaring ships will usually emulate the race or species of their mounts (or the race or species that has the largest representation. However, from time to time, an unusually gargantuan Hat will be spawned, such that it can only ride a usually large host, such as a space whale. In that case, the Hat can negotiate with or dominate its host to take the Hat’s kindred into space. Even more rarely, the 

Hats may make ships from their own biomanced thread weaves. These ships invariably resemble giant floating hats. The Hats realize that humanoids might find a thing like, for example, a giant beanie hat flying through space disturbing. Therefore Hats usually prefer to use humanoid spacecraft.

Hats have individual names but not usually surnames beyond “the Hat” or an indicator of what kind of Hat it is. For example, the notorious Hat crime lord Jabba, a Bowler type Hat, may go by Jabba, Jabba the Hat, or Jabba the Bowler Hat.