Honor of the Dwarves

With Mars complete it’s time to move on.
Here is the first map for my next project,  a vanilla setting book titled  “Honor of the Dwarves”

I’m not sure about this map; it may be destined for the trash.

Anyway, it’s going tot take awhile. I have two months of silent running art practice and study time coming up. I gotta level up before I lose my shit.

From the mists of time; the Dwarf Thing revisted

Long ago, in the mists of 2014, I started a project that I found myself unable to finish; except I did finish it- but I suck at figuring that out- as I’ve recently been informed. The good news is I am going to put it together and re draw all the art and maps- and you’ll get some of my fancy new shit  with all the arrows and text clutter we’ve all grown to love.

Here is a link to everything I remembed to tag. There is more I’m sure. There is a
mega dungeon map at the very least.

The bad news is I’ll need to do like 100 illustrations. Because.
2014 was an exceeding bad art year. Brace yourself, youngling:

http://themetalearth.blogspot.com/search/label/Dwarfs

[map] Cyclops Wood Full

This is the initial campiagn area; after moving through Zimon's Gate, the characters will find themselves at the top of a mountain road that brings them down onto the sotheast portion of the map. Referees could also begin in Dogwall or Molt without too much trouble. Dogwall is a day's walk (more or less) on the other side of the stone bridge, and Molt is upriver on an island in the glacial lake.

Larger version

This was a bitch to draw, btw.

 

[map] The Ghosts Well

 

Bonus map- Ghostly Grove, with labels:

 

 

[Map] Dogwall

Larger version.

 

[Map] A section of the Cyclops Wood, and thoughts on wilderness adventure.

Although I have made a few in my time, I have gown increasingly less fond of big hex based sandboxes. I think wilderness adventues are a great idea. I do not believe, however, that hexcrawls are to the widerness what dungeons are to site based adventures. Walking and exploring have become big parts of the work I do in meatspace and hexcrawls absolutely fail to capture what I love so much about both.

Imo, most hexy things try to cover too much space and getting lost is a ticket to boredom. Now, my worklife aside, when I was a neglected child and spent my time wandering around defunct railroads and empty country, getting lost was fun, because you poked around until you were not lost, and you found stuff along the way. Also, you can easily spend days exploring what is represented by just one hex on most maps, but they usually have like one detail. This strikes me as too little and too arbitrary.

This map is the beginning of an attempt to convert some of this thinking into gamables.

It:

1. Constrains the players- the ravine is in the west, the east side is mountain cliff face. The bridge is flimsy or magic and you can only cross once, maybe- or just finding your way back to it could be the challenge.

2. Ensures that you will have to leave the road.

3. Gives you stuff to find once you get lost. That is the moon capsule from The First Men In the Moon up there on the top left, btw. I don't think lost should be a matter of rolling a random direction, but rather a random destination with a random duration of travel.

4. Has room for factions.

5. Has an ecology (take my word for it)

So the idea is you have to explore and interact with the environment (e.g., deal with the locals, figure out how to cross the boiling mud, decide which way to go on the road at the fork, discover that someone has fucked with the signposts, and so on...) on the way to your goal (which in this case is the big skull hill thingy) instead of just passing through. Not every landscape is an adventure, of course, in the same way not every building is a dungeon.

Note: I don't have the scale on the map but it is like a 4 hour walk from the bridge to the fork in the road. Also, the apex predator here is an insane allosaur.

I'll key this up in a day or two, probably like the Molt map, but with stats and shit

Come at me, bro.

 

Molt, not so rough

I am at a friend's house and he has been doing something involving insurance and the phone and the internet...

So, while waiting, I went ahead and did this:

 

 

New Stuff, Old stuff

These are my most recent gaming purchases. I picked up the Withcery book after spending a few days pouring over the .pdf. It is currently my favorite DnD. It has all the classic fantasy stuff but also races, classes and rules for horror, weird adventures, and sword and planet. I also love the interior art, most of which is by Dominique Crouzet, the author. The pdf is available for free, HERE. Go. Look. The HC Is currently out of print as Dom is doing a new round of edits.
The important thing, of course, is that I have one.
I bought the WD book because I read a shitty .pdf of the Lichway and it was the first time I have ever looked at published adventure and thought, "Fuck, I'd like to use this, and it fits my setting." The Halls of Tizun Thane, by the same author, had a similar effect. I have already placed both into the Valley of Bones*. I'll alter each, of course, and I am going to redraw some of the maps. WD maps are too clinical for my tastes and look like apartment complex floorplans to me. Aside from that, both are kickass dungeons and I think Albie Fiore was a master of exactly how much detail to provide. The scenario book versions of these are great, too, because they include all the monsters from the WD Fiend Factory, and as I don't own a copy of the Fiend Folio (what?) that's good for me.
* I am going to use some one page dungeons as well, but more on that in a future post.
Anyway, I hardly ever buy anything, so to get two cool things within the same month is pretty badass.

Notes and maps in the rough.

I am getting ready to run Valley of Bones, so I've had to scramble to get some stuff done. I thought it might interesting to post my prep work. This mostly relates ro the two largest above ground settlements in the Valley.

 

 

 

 

Valley of Bones, Spell Casters

 

An eclectic group of spell casters reside in the valley.

 

Dame Murdann (E) is searching for spells for her list as well as magical and monetary loot. Cruel, quick to anger, and prone to violent excess, she is little more than a brigand with a handful of spells at her disposal. She is obsessed with collecting valuable hairbrushes, but makes no use of them. Styling herself an aristocrat, Murdann is very sensitive regarding her claims regarding familial connections to royalty. She has a small group of miscreants and outcasts in her employ. Together they reside in a collection of ruins somewhere in the Winter Forest.

Aside from a session of magical study in the morning, Dame Murdann is usually drunk.

 

Eldrew the Defiler (H) is a small time necromancer with big plans. Weirdly tall; waxy pale; skeletally thin; perpetually nervous and prone to drinking copious amounts of foul smelling brown tea, the Defiler posses a cowardice exceeded only by his lust for power. Recently, he has gained access to the Grall barrow known as the Place of Skulls located in the Cyclops Woods. The barrow contains the remains of a shrine and a sacrificial cenote (the Ghostwell). He has learned how to draw power from the Ghostwell, but has unwittingly become its slave in the process; even now his sell swords wander the forest deeps and beyond looking for potential sacrifices with which to feed the curséd thing. Meanwhile magical pollution emanating from the Ghostwell poisons and corrupts the surrounding landscape.

 

Aldred Ashlocke (?) is a mysterious figure, whose goals remain largely as unknown as his visage, which, on the rare occasions he is seen away from his stronghold, remains concealed within the preternaturally dark shadows of his black cowl. Ashloke dwells at a large manse on the upper slopes of Roc's Nest Mt. He occasionally sends servants into Molt for mundane supplies. Dozens of bizarre rumors concern the spell caster and his household, but no one knows anything for certain.

Despite the ambiguity, Ashloke is unquestionably a powerful spell caster.

 

Professor Cloudfog (E) is the ancient, powerful and notoriously absent minded master of Drift, the floating castle of the sky elfs. The sky elf spoken policy in regards to the valley is one of noninterference, but Cloudfog meddles incessantly through a network of agents, elf and otherwise. Cloudfog seeks to maintain the current balance of power within the Valley. Seemingly a benign ancient, he is occasionally ruthless in the pursuit of his goals.

 

The Serpent King (God King) is the magic using, shape-shifting ruler of the reptile folk at Molt. Known to prefer the form of a gargantuan snake, the Serpent king is the primary reasons no outside force has attempted to raid or invade Molt. The king's subjects worship him as a god.

 

Miss Witherspoon (E) leads the elfs at the Broken Spire, she was a youthful two hundred years of age when the Hex War began, but she spent the next several centuries locked in an enchanted slumber. Waking, at last, a few centuries ago, Witherspoon found a changed and damaged world. Her intelligence and prowess as a spell caster have resulted in her current superior status, but despite her fey appeal, she is a scowling dour woman. Witherspoon is said to have a penchant for swift action and a particular dislike for dwarfs.

Dreg, (dragon) a great dragon lives in the ruins beneath Urux, at the border between Vale and Under-Vale. Only the most powerful and well informed even know of his presence. His true power and his designs remain swathed in dred and mystery.

 

The Valley of Bones: Forces and Factions

Pardon the image reuse, please; this entry is actually what It was intended to illustrate. I need to stop posting them whenever like that.

 

This section gives a brief description of some of the groups vying for power, control, resources and survival in the Valley of Bones. Powerful individuals will be addressed in a future post.

 

The Warriors of the Black Sun (AKA Rictus' Mob): gnolls and others openly in the employ of the self proclaimed Hex king Rictus. Although the presence of this group lies heavy over the valley, the location of their head quarters is a closely guarded secret completely unknown to outsiders.

The Vargann- sentient arachnids who dwell in several nests deep in the forest and in the Under-Vale as well. Their queen is rumored to dwell in a scaborous city somehwere in the deeps.

Dragon Marked: agents of Dreg the Wyrm, usually engaged in observation and compilation of information, and only rarely active in any other sense. Their existence, like that of their master, is largely unknown to the other residents of the valley.

 

Hexlings: dwarfs and others who have turned away from law and now serve chaos (i.e., Rictus). They are everywhere, usually acting as sleeper agents waiting to strike. Nonetheless, most believe them to be a myth.

 

The Wounded- the fatalistic and not entirely benign elfs who live at Broken Spire and in the surrounding forest.

 

Deepspawn: vile creatures from the Under-Vale. For the most part the spawn keep to their own Black City far from the light of the sun; however, they will occasionally in the pursuit of some noisome goal, come to the surface- in force.

 

Rats of Minn: benevolent, scholarly rat folk; chief residents of Minn a former dwarf city in the Under-Vale. Long time enemies of the Deep Spawn.

 

Gorskul's Band: an unaffiliated band of gnolls, led by the unusually thoughtful and refined warrior poet, Cap'n Gorskul.

 

The Observers (aka sky elfs)- selectively aloof elf clan, housed in an invisible floating castle. Although their official policy (as it were) is one of non interference, they meddle in valley affairs with an intensity that makes this stance a bit of a joke.

 

Clan Ironhelm: the settlement of dwarfs at Dogwall, currently locked in a cycle of decline and internal conflict.

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. I put up a full (B/X) adventure yesterday, get it here.

 

Zimon's Gate adventure pdf.

This is a small dungeon with a teleportation gate at the end. It is part of a larger thing, but can be used easily enough by itself. It has a color map and illustrations. I will likely do another version later, and I am certian this one is full of errors and omissions.

Link

 

Color pictures from far away

 

 

 

 

Zimon's Gate pt 1

Out of setting intro- if you need a teleport or a dimension door, and want it to have a dingeon on the front end, you may find this useful.

 

 

In setting intro (The Wide World) can be found here.

 

This map has been posted before, but it's not like I'm paying for space.

 

 

 

ENTRANCE: Monster Door. A large, many-legged, reptilian beast is painted upon a door set into the hillside. When the door is unlocked, the beast will walk out of painting and attack.

Lizopede:

AC:4(15) HD:4(13) MV:180 ATTK:bite/claw DMG:1d12/1d8 ST:f4 M: 8

 

1. Pig Heads:

Illumination: None

Environment: Clean

Encounter: Trap- see below

Treasure: None

 

Puzzle door/sand-trap

Four tiles on the floor- Elephant, Rat, Wolf and Fire. There are insets on the east Door, obviously made to house one tile each. The door will remain closed until the tiles have been placed on the door in the following order, running top to bottom: fire, rat, elephant, wolf. A series can be set every two rounds.

 

Six wild boar heads are mounted on either wall. Their mouths are a bit agape. The door slams 1 round after the PCs enter the room. Sand begins to flow out of the pig mouths the next round- if left unchecked it will fill enough of the room in 12 rounds to render everyone immobile.

 

Solutions and stopgaps: solve the puzzle, stop up the Pig Mouths, break down the door(s). If the outer door is broken open it will disgorge a second Lizopede at full strength.

 

 

 

 

(Image) Dwellers in the deep: Gargan Warrior

 

 

 

 

Dwarf Lore II

DWARF LORE II

 

"Well, aint sayin' he's as guilty as a dwarf, but he aint innocent, neither."

Overheard at the Clutch and Boil, a tap-house in Blyx.

 

The Past

Abstract:

 

After a long period of peace and prosperity, the dwarfs unknowingly raised a tyrannical necromancer to the throne. after a period of manipulating the prejudices of the population, this king declared war on everyone; most of the dwarfs went along with it, but a sizable minority resisted.

The rebels were forced to flee the dwarf lands.

The dwarfs that stayed loyal to the evil necro-king morphed, over time in to gnolls, which resemble the dwarf god of death, Kur. When the king was killed, at last, 500 years later,the gnolls scattered and the empire collapsed overnight.

So dwarfs are still around but everyone blames them for the Gnolls and the necro empire and everthing else that goes wrong in the world from sour milk to plagues.

 

Gnolls are still around, but few in the East are aware of it, as they occupy the former homelands of the dwarfs, the remotest areas of the Gloomy Mountsins. It is unknown how, or if they reproduce.

 

The Second Summer

Fifteen centuries of bloody strife followed the Sundering. The Pact of Four, a compact between dwarfs, elfs, men and halflings, brought about an end to the chaos and ushered in a time of prosperity known as the Second Summer. The Second Summer, or the New Unification, as the people who lived at the time grew to call it, graced the lands for over two millennia, and showed no signs of decadence or decline.

 

Destruction, however came to the New Unification, nonetheless. As it turns out, blame for this catastrophe, i.e., the end of civilization; the period of rapine and destruction that came in its wake and, following that, the present dark age, can be completely and without question, assigned to the dwarfs. It is said that history oft repeats itself; however, it seems rather unlikely that anyone will ever again be so absolutely, thoroughly, despicably guilty.

 

The coming of Wound.

The current day clan structure did not exist in the time of the New Unification. Dwarfs instead lived in nuclear families, knit together by a strong sense of community and cultural pride. Peace and harmony represented the norms of existence. This placidity, however, gave rise to a pervasive complacency and conformity, which combined with the dwarf penchant for industry and invention, resulted in the manifestation of a sort of evil previously unknown, or, perhaps, merely unremembered.

 

At the time the dwarfs were ruled by the Dynasty of Gladdock, fifteenth and final dynasty of the mountain kingdoms. Their name, once so proud, is now extinct and buried in shame. The eighth dwarf from this line to wear the Ore Crown and bear the title Deep King, was born fourth in line to the Throne. His given name is unknown, for he had it struck from history. What is known is that upon his rise to the throne, he took upon himself the name Wound.

 

Wound became heir after his three brothers died under mysterious circumstances, whilst hunting rock worms. Prior to this, he had lived for many years in exile, dwelling upon the Island of Skulls, studying the Unification ruins there; eking what sorcerous and necromantic secrets he could from them. It is believed that Wound, alone out of the multitude of scholars who have made the attempt, managed to decipher the Unification Script. He shared his secrets with no one.

His parents quickly followed his brothers to the grave and King Wound took up the Hammer and Crown. The latter of these dissatisfied him. During the first year of his reign he bent the resources of his kingdom to making a new crown. Money flowed like water from the palace. Using never before divination techniques, King Wound found deposits of precious metals and stones to finance his researches. What is more he shared his power with the powerful amongst the citizenry. New mines opened. Smith fashioned things of beauty and wonder. The dwarfs prospered and found themselves well content with this new king.

Meanwhile, using the hottest fires, magic infused metal and sinister gems of alien aspect, Wound forged his dire crown, and, if the stories can be given credence, he underwent a second coronation, this one in solitude; in the heart of the mountain, he named himself Emperor and wore for the first time the Crown of Chaos.

 

 

Not long after, Wound began his experiments. He despoiled Unification tombs, and brought forth their mummies. Harnessing magic inherent to the ancient cadavers, he managed to perfect the art of animating them. Some unification tombs contain hundreds of such mummies. His Crown gave him control over the mummies, and he utilized hundreds of them in his private mine. Public outcry followed the exposure of these activities. Wound bribed the high priests of Kur, the death god, and declared a year without taxes for the general citizenry, due, he claimed to the extraordinary productivity of royal mining operations. There were those that talked against the mummies, but most were content to count their coins and work their trades.

 

Not long after, Wound began his campaign to vilify the elfs. He spoke against them; saying they were arrogant tricksters who thought themselves the lords of the world, and worse, plotted on secret agains the dwarfish kingdom. Without warning, one day King Wound had the ambassadors from Camarill seized. based upon wholly fabricated evidence, he accused the entire group of eight representatives of spying. He tried them the night they were seized and found them guilty. He paraded them, crucified, still living throughout the Vale of Urux, and the Gloomy mountains beyond. Repeating his absurd accusations before the masses. It has been theorized that the crucifixions initiated a power ritual which eventually resulted in the Gnolls. However, a sizable segment of the population accepted the word of their king.

 

Within a few months the dwarf armies, accompanied by legions of the undead, boiled over the mountains and marched east. Wound, terrible in his sourcerous power, rode at the front. One by one, the peoples of the east fell before the dwarfs, until none remained to resist, but for the last alliance of elfs and men at Stargleam's Wall, but even they perished in the end, and one grim morning, his foot on Stargleam's dead chest, King Wound proclaimed his dominion over all the known lands. His claim went unchallenged.

 

Wound quickly established a tyrannical police state, supervised by his loyal dwarf vassals and local turncoats.

 

Decades passed. Over time, it became apparent that Wound's dwarfs changed. It is unknown whether the transformation was the intentional end product of a process put in place by Wound, or the result, perhaps of some curse (attributed by most to the elf Prince Stargleam) or perhaps, even, divine retribution for the many atrocities to which these fallen warriors had been party. It matters not. In the end, those that had once been dwarfs, became the creature known today as gnolls. After the change, Wound's troops were even more fanatical in their loyalty and unquestionably more prone to savagery in the execution of their duty.

 

The cities and settlements of the east became squalid pits of suffering and poverty. All wealth flowed to the king. The lot of his subject, from high to low, was base servitude. As for Wound, he enjoyed few things more than rooting out enemies of the state. Once identified and taken into custody, such people were rarely seen again. Wound's army of mummies only seemed to increase in size, however.

 

 

The Deep King's dark empire reigned for 500 years, until he was killed by an anonymous agent of a secret cabal, The Black Orb. Wound's assassin remains a mysterious figure to this day, remembered now in folktales and legends only as Woundkiller.

 

The gnolls, who had, up until this point been under Wound's complete control, fell to fighting amongst themselves. Local resistance sprung up and, in time, avenged the abuses of the preceding five centuries, eventually driving the gnolls into the Gloomy Mountains. The chronicals fail to intimate the ultimate fate Wound's legions of undead warriors...

 

Warriors of the Black Sun: intro

Above is the title to what has, up until now, been called the dwarf thing. All tolled, there are like 200 keyed areas. Most of them are done, but my disire to provide unique monsters and magic items is definitely slowing things down. Imma blow my xmas deadline, I think. Apologies. Right now without graphics the document is 40 pages single spaced and around 13k words.

I am very much committed to infusing a fairy tale vibe into this thing, hopefully that will evident in the short piece below, so opinions in regards to the same (or anything else, really) are very welcome. I also welcome name calling and profanity.

 

Introduction:

 

Warriors of the Black Sun is a B/X fantasy adventure/campaign supplement. Adventure material is presented first, as it is assumed that the referee will place the regions detailed herein into the context of their own campaign. Referees who choose to do so should encounter no difficulty utilizing whichever version of the classic game they prefer.

 

Part two of the document, however, includes some detail on the Wide World and related material. The Wide World can easily be used as a campaign setting on its own; but it is likely small enough that it could be placed into an existing campaign world in its entirety. A short section on house rules has been provided, which lists character generation options specific to the Wide World. More specific detail regarding the races of the Wide World, especially in regards to dwarfs, can be found in this section as well.

 

 

 

Character Details

No specific range is suggested, but characters should probably be of at least 4th level before entering the ruins beneath Urux. Although much of the setting material is slanted towards dwarfs, any and all classes and races are suitable for play.

 

 

 

Start:

 

 

The Bird of Omens is a magical peacock that can answer one question about anything, once a year, at midnight on Midsummer's Eve.

 

Three days ago, a band of gnolls acting as agents of Riktus, the Hex-King, stole the magic bird from the Elfs of Glistendome Castle. The bird has lived at the castle for centuries. Over that time, the elfs there have bonded with the enchanted creature on an elemental level; as a result, in the days since the theft, excepting the royal family, all the elfs of Glistendome have fallen into a cursed magical slumber. As time goes on, the sleepers seem to become transparent. The king's scholars believe that if the bird is not recovered by Midsummer's Eve' five months hence, the elfs of the castle will sleep until they fade to nothing.

 

The band of gnolls, who call themselves the Warriors of the Black Sun, have been tracked as far the front door of Zimon's Gate, a subterranean complex thought to date from imperial times. It is thought the place may contain a magical passage to another part of the world.

 

Fully equipped by the elf king, Theopolis, the player characters stand now in front of that door themselves, about to set off on a quest to retrieve the Bird of Omens. It is up to the individual players to determine why they have joined the expedition.

Concept sketches:

Concept sketches:

 

 

Dwarf project status report

 

Aside from a map I'm fucking up for Trey over at the Sorcerer's Skull, this is all I am working on until it's done. I am committed to completion before X-mass. Currently, I am typing, augmenting and refining the key to big dungeon (pic below). There are two more adventures that are each about 75% done. The Under-Vale and the Vale are both mostly keyed, less stats and encounter tables. All the maps are done, but I have only done like one piece of non-cartographic art. How much more art gets done will depend entirely on when the text gets finshed. I'm thinking all tolled we're looking at like fifty pages, maybe 100.

This will be a free product, but if it isn't completely comprised of suck and the demand is there, I will put a version up on lulu or something, the proceeds of which will go to some charity involving kids and food and junk.

Yeah.

See you on the other side.

 

Place of Skulls: Area 8

 

 

8. The Drawing Room

Door: North: Stone x 2. both are immensely heavy (6d6 STR check, up to three characters may add in their strength to the effort/check) to shift each one.

South: Locked.

Smell: Nothing remarkable

Light: Warm lamplight emanating from overhead chandelier.

Inhabitants: hostile furniture.1 Settee; 2 chairs; 1 coffee table; 2 bookshelves.

Furniture all has the same combat stats.

AC: 4(15) HD 2 HP 10 Attack 1d6* Morale: 12

 

*bookshelves attacks by hurling books. Each shelf hurls 2/round and has a total "magazine" of 20.

 

Aside from the strange looking and remarkably well preserved furniture (seeming value 1000gp total) the room has two paintings, one on the west wall and another on the east. The former depicts a sinister looking black galleon upon a rough sea beneath a slate grey sky; the latter shows the interior of a torture chamber, as seen, perhaps, through the blood smeared vision of one of its unhappy occupants: foreboding shapes loom over humanoids of indistinct aspect. Both paintings seem almost to move and breath with life. Looking at either engenders an unease.

 

The furniture will attack when the south door is attempted or if someone molests either of the paintings. Unless someone is watching it specifically, the furniture will have surprise. Once the room is vacated it automatically reassembles itself.

 

Place of Skulls, area 7

7. Dragon Skull

Door: All locked.

Smell: Dust.

Light: Dull red glow, emanating from the dragon skull

 

The center of this room is dominated by a 20' long dragon skull. The snout of the skull points east. It gives off a bit of heat and is warm to the touch.

A large chair made out of humanoid seeming bones resides within the skull, a seated figure looks out through the eye sockets. If a character sits in the chair they will heal all damage, and gain a permanent +1 to all their attributes- even if it mans pushing them above 18. If this occurs the skull will instantly cease to glow and no one else sitting in the chair will gain any benefit at all.