A Hack of My Very Own

I have been using Google+ quite a bit more recently and I ran across David Black's Whitehack & OD&D inspired The Black Hack. Within days I also discovered Luke Gearing's blog and his Dying in a Tomb rules, which are too brutal for me to describe here. Go check them out, they're great.

I had a chance to sit down and brainstorm. I loved both of these, so I decided to work out a way to marry them in a way that fit my play-style and in a way my players would appreciate. I came up with The Rat Hack.



Most of the heavy lifting was done by David Black's rules, with liberal amounts of actual OD&D descriptions, ideas from Luke's blog, and a few key rules gleaned from Arnold K (see the carousing table - that's all him).



Stealing Vorn

Vorn and the Church of Vorn were wholly created by this guy. Most of this content was also stolen from here.

Adding a Minor God to the Tøtenwäld pantheon.

The magisteria of Vorn are iron, rust, rain, still water, truth, and mystery. The Church is perhaps best known for its mysteries, unfolded to the clergy and lay-followers as cryptic tasks. They may not always be effective, but the blessings priests of Vorn receive from their tired god are evidence enough that they are in essence right and true to His order.

The powers Vorn bestows are inherently linked to the hierarchy of the Church. As one rises is stature one learns to subsume one's petty logic to better view His unfolding plan. An altogether purer instrument of faith. When a lay brother dons the chains and takes up his holy mission he enters an organisation of Byzantine avenues and arbitrary superiors. A Deacon may ask that you collect all the beetles to be found on the southern wall of the Windowless Tower and bring mass to the lower city, feeding said beetles to all who receive it. There will be no reason given, no reward and no results. It is to be done and is part of Vorn's plan.

Each time a priest strengthens Vorn's order at the behest of the Church there is a chance that it was indeed the correct interpretation (5%). If the task is of suitable proportions then you can expect a greater chance of correctly finding the trail of His ineffable plan (50% if it's an adventure, more if it's really big). Roll on the following table each time you get it right.

Lose all powers if you ever use arcane magic, including scrolls or other spell making devices. 
Lose all powers if you deliberately strike anyone with anything other than a bladed weapon. Force is final.

1. No Harm But Mine. The priest's touch rusts metal. It can be used as a response to being struck, whereupon the weapon bursts into a shower of rust falling like evening snow. Once per day per Hit Die, Dexterity Save if the thing being rusted is attached to someone.
2. Baptise in Iron. Once per day per Hit Die you may baptise yourself or another, healing 1d8 damage. It need not be full immersion or fully brown, a rusty nail in a glass of water will do.
3. He Was Born in Battlehymn. Priests of Vorn are no strangers to violence, use your Wisdom score when making attack rolls.
4. Rain, Walk With Me. You can never be hurt by any rainy weather related unpleasantness. This includes hail and natural lightning, but not magical versions of the same.
5. Tears of St. Paitr. Target cries brown rusty water. Uncontrollable guilt overpowers one touched person for one turn per level (Wisdom Save), during which they can't do anything but cry. If they are attacked they will defend themselves and snap out of it. Used at will.
6. Blood of the Martyr, Blood of Mine. You are part of the plan, your death will be too. When you die you do not lose any experience. Party members may gain experience through funeral expenses as usual.
7. The Bounds of Love. Tie them up with iron chains and they won't dare lie. They must make a Wisdom Save or answer truthfully to any questions, each correct answer deals 1d4 damage to them as the chains tighten (the truth hurts).
8. At the Roots of the Earth I Lay Sleeping. Once per week the priests can cast someone down and let the earth take them. If the priest can physically throw someone to the floor they must make a Strength save or they will fall into a small encystment where they shall be sustained in perpetuity. If the save is successful they are instead thrown down with great force, fracturing the earth and taking 1d8 damage per Cleric level.

Religions of the New World, Part 1

The Minister of Teresh raised his golden staff and began speaking in a foul, gutteral tongue, his eyes rolling back until nothing but white showed. Horatio knew it as the forbidden tongue of the dead, and made the sign of Maris across his chest, pleading to his god for mercy. Brother Horatio's prayers were not answered that day. - Mother Contessa, Heirophant of the Reformed Temple of Maris

Tøtenwäld Level Titles

I have a bit of a soft spot for old-school level titles. They are good at evoking a certain atmosphere from the game with little in the way of rules-bloat. It's a small thing to change "level 3 Cleric" to "Petitioner of Anu, Lord of Light and Law." Here are some of my house level titles. They are completely optional. 

	Fighter	Magic-User	Cleric	Specialist
1	Warrior	Adept	Sycophant	Helper
2	Soldier	Augur	Acolyte	Adventurer
3	Veteran	Conjurer	Petitioner	Apprentice
4	Sergeant	Beguiler	Diviner	Knave
5	Marauder	Invoker	Minister	Craftsman
6	Captain	Theurgist	Prelate	Factotum
7	Legionnaire	Warlock	Hierophant	Journeyman
8	Champion	Magister	Ecclesiast	Artisan
9	Lord	Mage	Hierarch	Master
10	Warlord	Archmage	Harbinger	Grandmaster

A side note: in changing demi-humans from standalone classes to races, the level titles  for Dwarves and Elves may be taken by themselves, ignored completely, or combined with class titles. I could have simply dropped the race titles, but I felt they were a part of the setting I wanted to keep. 

	Elf	Dwarf
1	Churl	Grave-Robber
2	Drang	Barrow-Thief
3	Chief	Crypt-Bandit
4	Hersir	Iron-Stealer
5	Housecarl	Brass-Pillager
6	Armiger	Bronze-Vandal
7	Gesith	Copper-Burglar
8	Thane	Silver-Raider
9	Knecht	Electrum-Looter
10	Jarl	Gold-Reclaimer

Be Fruitful and Multiply, Fill the Earth

Races of Men

In Tøtenwäld most characters are humans living between the Fellmoors to the west and the Icy Waste to the south, having settled from various far-off lands and eking out a living in squalid little hamlets. Those humans are of various creeds and ethnicities, some of which are outlined below.

All of the Mannish folk living in Tøtenwäld speak the common Trade Tongue as a second language, a pidgin version of the High Imperial tongue mixed with the ancestral languages of the peoples that have migrated to the New World. It is the language spoken by the most of the people of the Tøtenwäld.

Anubians

A desert people steeped in mysticism and folklore, with traditions and mysteries as old as the sand they walk. They have nearly black skin, like polished ebony or obsidian, and their deathly-white eyes lack visible pupils. Anubian religions usually involve a great number of desert-dwelling djinn and devas, warning the faithful to beware these spiritual tempters.

Anubian men and women typically dress in silk robes and loose tunics and breeches, usually gold or crimson or royal purple in color and dripping with jewelry and precious stones.

Anubians receive a +2 bonus on saves to avoid the effects of extreme heat, starvation, and dehydration, and can move unhindered by loose sand.

Anubians speak the Eldritch Tongue as their native language and any Anubian will have a 20% of also being fluent in High Imperial, the language of the Old Empire and the Temple. This is in addition to any other languages they are allowed to know due to high Intelligence.

Male Names: Ur-Abba, Abaris, Ikram, Maradook, Khamisi, Harthamah, Baako, Belqzabat, Astaroth, Giramis, Baal, Abu-Bakr

Female Names: Nasiriya, Nammah, Li-Lit, Alala, Delphyne, Mahnoosh, Baba-Mon, Hakate, Anusheh, Sabah, Bellona, Scylla

Surnames: Nammahani, Muttalib, Olgchak, Mephistos, Belilai, Burkan, Abiodun, Mahmoud, Moloch, Abbadus, Barrabus, Hipparchus

Gaelish

The pale-skinned mongrel children of the Old World, with hair ranging from black to red to blond. The Gaelish are organized into large familial clans, often with only a single extended clan or two in a whole town. The Gaelish have a deep respect for nature and the flow of life and death, with most of their faiths revolving around the minor gods of woods and rivers.

The Gaelish typically wear traditional wool shirts and hose with dark cloaks, and sometimes a knee-length unisex skirt. Jewelry and other adornments are often of a natural motif (leaves, birds, trees).

Gaelish adventurers gain a skill point in Nature at 4th, 7th, and 10th levels.

Gaelish speak Low Imperial as their native language (another mutated version of the High Imperial tongue).

Male Names: Cuthbert, Harold, Baldur, Wine, Ethed, Todd, Teowy, Waldo, Eddard, George, Geoffrey, Edmund

Female Names: Burga, Bricha, Jane, Eleanor, Witha, Tanhe, Brea, Brynda, Elsa, Drusilla, Wynna, Hilda

Surnames: Balwic, Bastow, Caford, Marsh, Dalham, Badün, Hafeld, Mayhurst, Haig, Bruegehel, Dunnmohr, Blackhert

Etruscan

The more “civilized” olive-skinned cousins of the Gaelish, the Etruscans are renowned horse-lords of the Old World. Etruscans typically represent affluence, old money, and conservatism in an age of enlightenment and progress. Etruscan faiths typically revolve around ancestor worship and small household gods, with many adventurers taking a totem of their ancestors or hearth-spirits with them for luck. Above these small deities however, Etrucans revere the triune godhead of Teresh-Menva-Maris, brought with them from the Old Empire.

Etruscans are typically seen in whatever fashions dominate the region, not wanting to appear out of touch with the current modes. When among their own kind they will most often be seen in loose pants and blouses of pastel shades, with vests and hats of crushed velvet and high boots of lamb or calf leather.

The Etruscans cosmopolitan nature gives them a natural 2-in-6 in Lore. Their renown with horses also gives them a 3-in-6 on Nature rolls to calm, break, control, or otherwise handle horses, and a 2-in-6 for a more exotic mount.

Having been the original founders of the Empire, Etruscans speak High Imperial as their native language.

Male Names: Darius, Florian, Cornelius, Remus, Solivius, Magnus; Nicodemus, Horatio, Lazzaro, Arnestus, Adelard, Fabian

Female Names: Margot, Evangeline, Contessa, Salome, Morgan, Tatiana, Petra, Mariella, Cordelia, Violetta, Aspeth, Bethany

Surnames: Quartermaine, du Masque, Fontaine, del Castillo, du Mond, de Cruix, Lacroix, du Caddis, Sanguine, Devereux, Baachen, Voldaris

Nördish

A severe folk hailing from a land of frozen pine forests hiding dark secrets and icy fjords that look out over waters too deep for any healthy mind to fathom. The Nördish are a hardy people, given to distrusting outsiders and keeping long secrets. The Nördish religion centers on worship of the Frost Shepard, known variously as the Ice Father, Culler-of-Herds, and He Who Precedes the Final Day. It is an apocalyptic faith that looks grimly toward the ending of this evil world and the coming of the next.

Nördish travelers commonly wear simple woolen garb with fine leather boots and a fur cloak, weather permitting. They are gifted sailors and craftsmen, and are often selling fish and handcrafts in all the major port cities.

Nördish adventurers receive a +2 bonus on saves to avoid the effects of extreme cold, and starvation, and can move unhindered by snow.

Nördish speak the Old Tongue as their native language, an ancestor of High Imperial and the language spoken by Greatkin, barbarians, and witches. Any Nörd will have a 20% of also being fluent in Tongue of the Dead, the secret language of gravediggers, death cultists, and the restless dead. This is in addition to any other languages they are allowed to know due to high Intelligence.

Male Names: Heinrich, Rolff, Corfus, Claus, Amundsen, Sigmundsen, Manfred, Hans, Einrich, Brockhaus, Moldof, Engelbert

Female Names: Nastia, Gretel, Blodwyn, Agatha, Friga, Olga, Lenore, Winifred, Ingrid, Caerwyn, Moira, Morrigan

Surnames: Haaren, Riksch, Vorschom, Geothe, Gunderhelm, Vermeersch, Mölden, Juergen, Reichalt, Albrecht, Stanislaus, Mohrghast

Faeryfolk, Fair-Skinn'd, & Elves

Known variously as the Fairy-Folk, the Gilded People, or simply Elves, these alien beings are the children of the Faerie, and share every bit of their ancestor’s cruel indifference within the world of Men. Though they appear as men, Elves typically are fairer skinned, thinner, and with white-blonde to silver hair. They appear much like ghosts from a distance.

These creatures of ethereal nature live by and with the sea. Their appearance is ghostly; slender, fair of hair and skin, with piercing grey eyes, yet their disposition can be unthinkingly inhumane, if not brutal. When they are not in their secluded communities, they pillage indiscriminately along the coasts of other lands, their victims by and large the Menfolk who make their living there.

The Elves’ natural affinity for the Fae and Wyrd give them an enhanced sense for magic, giving them a 2-in-6 Arcana skill at first level, with an extra point at 4th, 7th, and 10th levels.

Elves speak the Faery Language as their native tongue, the language of Elves, Dwarves, Littlekin, and Faeries. Any Elf will have a 20% of also being fluent in Language of the Trees, the secret language of trees, druids, and other denizens of the Wildwood and Deadwood. This is in addition to any other languages they are allowed to know due to high Intelligence.

Delving Folk, Dwimmerkin, & Dwarves

Known to the Mannish races as Dwarves (due to their short stature), the Delving Folk are a stunted and ugly people, a shadow of their former glory. Once the most powerful people in the world, consorting with gods and kings of old, their decline has left them a spiritually shattered people.

Once known for their powerful magics and dweomercraft, the few Dwarves left now scrounge a living through banditry and plundering the picked-over hoards they once held in ages past. To a Dwarves, nearly all gold and jewels are theirs – and they are nearly right.

With their exceedingly long lives and ancient knowledge, Dwimmerkin are filled with the lore of the former and current world, and have a greater Lore score than most other characters, and one additional point in Arcana (2-in-6). Dwarves start with 2-in-6 in Lore, gaining an extra point at 4th, 7th, and 10th levels.

Dwarves are able to bear incredible burdens; they take no Armor Class penalty from carrying Dead Weight, and only a -2 AC penalty for being Overweight, though they still cannot do anything more than stagger under weights greater than this. Dwarves receive a +1 bonus to their Constitution modifier (so a Dwarves with a 12 Constitution has a +1 modifier instead of the usual 0 modifier, for example).

Dwarves speak the Faery Language as their native tongue, the language of Elves, Dwarves, Littlekin, and Faeries.

Welcome to Tøtenwäld

Year 193, Age of Discord. The Old Empire has been sundered. Petty colonial fiefs have endured centuries of infighting and fight over the fields of mud and broken stone like wild dogs, eking out a pitiful existence in a monstrous and insane land that calls every moment for their destruction and insanity. The One True Temple is weak and morally depraved, villages and hamlets are depopulated, and violence reigns supreme. History has entered into the final years before the end of the world.

But if there is a vibrant spot in these forbidding southern colonies, it is the free city-state of Tøtenwäld. The First and Last Rest. Queen of the Dead Woods. City of Life and Death. Explorers and merchants and swordwhores from the Old Kingdoms ply the colonies with their various trades, but they all come through here first. Old architecture and fortified stone hangs over colonist shanty-towns and faery-kin ghettoes. Emissaries of the One True Faith administer to the shiftless masses, taking coin and confession. Fog as thick as milk creeps up the broken basalt shore from Devilfish Bay, muffling all sound. Shapes move in the dark, and no one hears the screams.

History does not record who actually build the city, and none are left alive who remember, though the Empire and the Temple claim it was founded by Imperial Etruscans only 200 years prior, though a look through the chronicles and architecture would claim a much older founding. The Inquisition has a tendency to quiet any dissention to the official histories, however. What is clear is that Mannish peoples and Fairfolk from across the Great Sea have been landing for centuries, and yet the exotic, gibbering wilderness is still untamed beyond the city walls. 

Welcome to the Old Town. Welcome to Tøtenwäld.

Character Sheet Download

Tøtenwäld Character Sheet Sneak Peek

Language Fluency

I am likely not the only one, but I have always been a little dissatisfied with the binary nature of D&D languages. I rather like the idea that if a character knows more than one language, that they have different levels of comprehension in each. If i meet a polyglot, they are likely not idiomatic in more than one or two languages, and have varying levels of fluency. I think the same should be true for adventurers. Languages are often glossed over in roleplaying, and in almost every group it tends to become a game of the party covering the most bases by allocating their known languages, even if this makes little sense thematically.

Most of the Runequest/BRP games have something like this, where you have a percentile skill for languages and cultures, and I think that is pretty neat. Here's my take on it:

Fluency at Character Creation

At creation a character gets Mannish (the common tongue) and their native language to start with. Fluency in their native tongue is always 100%. If they are not human or are not from Mannish lands, they must roll a d50 plus 50 plus their Intelligence score (maximum 100, of course) to determine their fluency in the common tongue. Fluency of over 50% means that they are also literate in the language. 

For every point of Intelligence modifier a character has, they are also able to speak another language. For these additional languages, roll 1d100 plus the character's Intelligence score to determine fluency. 

If it is a dead language, the character is automatically literate, and a score of 50% or higher means they can also speak it properly.

Most of the time, a character would not need to determine whether or not they understand a language. Any fluency at all, even 1%, means a basic survival understanding of a tongue. However, in ancient ruins or tombs, where there is little context for translation, knowing the precise text on a tall or stone tablet is a life-or-death proposition. Roll under your fluency score on a d100 to see if you understand it completely. The DM is encouraged adjudicate just how well or poorly the piece is translated based on the roll, and may want to make the roll in private if that is their playstyle.

Perhaps characters can increase their fluency if exposed to a language; 20% per year if passively living in a region, 5% per month of dedicated study. Secret languages, dead tongues, and non-verbal modes of communication may not be learned passively.

Serpent Cultists

Cultists of the Serpent Men

Lay Cultist: # 1-6,  HD 1, AC 10, MV as human, +1 with 1d6 short sword (or 1d8 spear), carries 1d4 dagger.

These unpleasant folks are usually found skulking about in old ruins left behind by the ancient Serpent Men, whom they venerate. The Serpent Cultists are your typical apocalyptic cult, biding their time away from the civilized world until their masters return and unleash scaly hell upon the unbelievers. They dress in little but a loincloth, weather permitting. Since they make a living scavenging and attacking merchants and pilgrims, their weapons are usually those of the surrounding culture, or perhaps just bits of sharpened bone and metal - whatever they can find, really.

In order to properly venerate and curry favor with their departed masters, the high priests of the serpent cultists perform sacrifice on living humanoids when given the opportunity. This generally drives them to worship in forgotten and inhospitable places, like ruins of old dwarvish kingdoms from before the Rise of Man.

Roll For Initiative

Session one of my new campaign with a bunch of new players really couldn't have gone better. I was not as well prepared as I probably should have been, but I couldn't be happier with the way things went.

As I said in my last post I used a super-ultralite ruleset I made partially for this contest, but also for this occasion. I made it available here. As you can probably guess, character generation was a trivial affair. Everyone rolled pretty excellently for their ability scores. These being their first characters, I elected to have the team roll 3d6-and-place-wherever-you-damn-well-please. Not that it would have mattered much, because there is only a single -1 modifier among them. The reluctant cleric rolled an 18, a 16, and four 15s, the lucky bastard.

Dramatis Personae

Ethan's character: Gotrek Starbreaker, Lawful Dwarf. Warhammer dorf Slayer expy. Rolled high Strength, and 6 for Charisma. Hates: water, socializing, elves, not being drunk enough for this shit.

Brian's character: Friar Jerkins von Cranberries, Lawful Cleric. Weirdly atheist cleric that is the most reluctant murderhobo ever. Rolled high everything: an 18, a 16, and four 15s, the lucky bastard. Collects all the weapons for some reason, which is fine because he put that 18 in Strength.

Britni's character: Patches von Schweets, Chaotic Gnome (really a halfling rules-wise, but whatevs). A female with a full beard that sparkles, because why not. On a search for her lost unicorn which may or may not be a phantasm. Wants to be a sneaky sneaky stabby bitch, and I like that.

My wife Erin's character: Seylin, Neutral Elf. Truly, the character with the most thought-out backstory, which is one of my favorite things in new players. Pretty standard Tolkienesque elf in most regards. On a quest to find a lost uncle, I think. Has a pet fox that never seems to come up in play.

Session One

To start with, I threw them on a boat bound for Tøtenwäld and we started things a little bit differently (but not really because I stole it wholesale from Logan Knight).

After an eerily similar shipwrecking to the above (fog, tentacles, only survivors), they wash up on the shore and pick up the refuse that forms their starting equipment. I altered the shipwreck-debris equipment list a little bit to suit my needs but not much. Gotrek ends up with a couple grenades, among other things, which makes him happy. Most of them got a means of starting fires and some rations. Friar Jerkins got some iron spikes and a mallet, so his immediate next step was to find fabric and rope to fashion a tent.

Down the beach about a mile lay the walls of the small fortified town of Seevers Mill. The drenched adventurers immediately take stock of the few shops and amenities, which weren't much, and try to bunk for the night at the edgiest (and only) tavern in town, the Snake and Skull. Within the town they notice that snakes seem to be a running theme, as they are everywhere in the streets and shops. Some villagers are complaining about them, while others praise them for eating the mice which plague the mill town's grain stores. The river has had a foul smell to it for some months now, just as long as the snakes have been around, and the local clergy were tired of treating snake bites. Things were strange. No one knew about the sea monster, apparently.

After the dwarf almost get thrown out by the 18 Strength barkeep Oliver, they manage to finagle getting rooms in the crowded inn for only 1 copper a night. The team overhears an old man raving about the haunted ruins to the north and how a detachment of soldiers from the lcoal garrison never returned last week. Patches the gnome makes friends with a guy from the local Guild of Explorers and Delvers. She breaks into his room thinking that she could just kill some hapless villager to take their room for the night, because I guess that's the chaotic thing to do? But after seeing he was anything but some helpless old lady, she decides to break down crying in an attempt have him let her sleep in the room I roll a 6 as a reaction roll, even with a -2 penalty because she just busted in on his nap, but she rolled a natural 20 on the Charisma check, and he just couldn't help but listen and accept her sob story. The Guild member, Virgil, offers her a contract outlining her obligations should she need a hireling. After that we ended the session.

Didn't get a whole lot done, but that's okay. It was the first game, and character creation always eats up the most time. I have learned that my players like to discuss things, and tend to never go off half-cocked, and a slightly slower pace leaves my breathing room to create content and ad lib.

Next time: Off to the Dwarf Caves

Ethan always seems super excited when we play, and my wife just bought her first dice ever, so I think this might be a long-term thing now. We can only hope.

New Group, New Game, New Blog

By way of humble introduction, this blog is meant simply to house my various thoughts and notes concerning a half-baked semi-retro D&D campaign I call Tøtenwäld. Recently, I began a new game with a group of people who had never played before. I have been playing on and off for about 10-12 years, and I always jump at a chance to DM. Three sessions in, and things are going swimmingly. In the coming posts I intend to outline my campaign and setting notes.

The setting's primary influences will become apparent as time goes on, but they variously amount to an amalgam of Ravenloft, Sanctuary, Middenmurk, Cörpathium, and the Old World. I am sure the poor pastiche jobs and outright theft will be readily apparent to most every reader.

I have been using a homebrewed system I whipped up essentially on a dare, that distills Microlite74 into a 1-page system; I had no idea my players would outgrow the simple rules so quickly. They immediately balked at the lack of character creation options, were almost never confused as to which dice to roll, and clamored for more ways to make their characters and actions unique and mechanically meaningful. I have to say that I was quite happy and humbled as a Dungeon Master to be able to game with such an eager and receptive group, and I believe that says a lot about them. I will close with a quote from an awesome blogger by the name of Ben Lawrence:

Now, introducing someone to D&D isn't like sending them a board game. A proper introduction to our hobby is an initiation. So much of the game is in the sense of how it's played. I thought, if I do it, I want to do it right, the way I wished I had been introduced to the game.

I think I may have accomplished that. Thanks, guys.