Coming Soon...

Today I realized that Volume Three is ready since Jan 2014. I have no idea how I managed to forget about it...

I'll try to re-read the contents of the booklet this week, tweak it, correct the grammar (of course within my limits) and release it via Lulu. Unfortunately, I still don't have tools to prepare my releases to fit the RPGNow requirements (unless something changed within the last year), so - for now - only BandB will be available via DTRPG / RPGNow.

Once again, Volume Three will contain:

• 29 new monsters;
• Prehistoric beasts stat blocks;
• Info about the Lovecrafrian monsters inhabiting the Underworld Kingdom;
• 6 nasty demons;
• Options for Giant Slugs;
• 26 new magic items;
• Useless items;
• Disturbing standards.

Moreover - I'm more than sure that I haven't included all items that were posted on this blog, so I'll try to add them as well.

Charon Prime - Artificial World

Inner Surface.

Yesterday I told you about reasons why Unnamed World is unnamed. Today I want to reveal something more. As I'm writing this post in the middle of the night, it will have rather loose, modular form.

• As I mentioned before, humans are rather young race on Charon Prime. Its original rulers, now called the Hollow Ones, disappeared without a trace long before the first humans landed on the planet (about eight thousand years before it) and ruled for maybe 100000 years.
• Hollow Ones weren't the first visitors of Charon Prime. In fact, there was no Charon Prime before their arrival. Hollow Ones created the Charon Prime.
• Charon Prime fits into the Hollow Earth model, but there is no sun inside it - there is only darkness. Inner layer of the world seems to be dead and abandoned but who knows what nightmares lurk there...
• Almost no one knows about the "inner world".
• Some of the ancient machinery of the Hollow Ones are still active, buried deep inside the planet. At least one of them is used by humans (power core of the City of Rust) but it's almost certain that no one knows a shit about the origin and nature of this machinery.
• Several megadungeons (or even something like gigadungeon) may be placed between the outer and inner surfaces of the planet. It's highly possible that they are really dangerous places.
• Even the outer surface of the Charon Prime is not very similar to our Earth. It's barren and dead, landscapes have surreal shapes and it's dotted by immense ruins of strange buildings of unknown purpose. Inner surface is even more alien and hard to describe. Generally, some regions of the "regular surface" were inspired by landscapes by Zdzisław Beksiński (especially from 80s), while the inner one was greatly inspired by bio-mechanical landscapes of H.R. Giger. Kinda obvious, eh?

Appearance of Underworld forests

First fungal forest ever?

Characters have reached vast forest placed in Underworld and you ran out of ideas how it can look like? Just make several rolls!

Step One: general features. Roll 1d10:

1-2:   Sparse fungal forest

3-4:   Sparse tree forest

5-6:   Dense fungal forest

7-8:   Dense tree foret

9:   Sparse mixed forest (trees and fungi)

10:   Dense mixed foret (trees and fungi)

Step Two: appearance.

Appearance of the fungi. Roll 1d10:

1:   Tall and thin, with pointy caps

2:   Puffballs

3:   Regularly shaped

4:   Pointy-shaped cones

5:   In shape of big, oval boulders

6:   Barrel-like, with oval caps

7:   Tree-like, but obviously still fungal

8:   Tall with wide caps

9:   Phallic

10:   Mixed of all of above

Appearance of the trees. Roll 1d10:

1:   Rubbery, with tentacle-like branches

2:   Twisted and covered with growths

3:   With thick and tall trunks, ended with spherical leaves

4:   Looking like twisted branches growing directly from the ground

5:   With thick and short trunk with multitude of thin, long twigs

6:   Looking like woody fungi

7:   Regularly shaped, with spherical leaves

8:   Growing from the cave's ceiling, with leaves on their long roots

9:   With fleshy, algae-looking leaves

10:   Short and covered with long thorns

Step Three: additional features. Roll 1d6: if '6' is rolled, randomly determine one additional feature of the trees/fungi.

Additional features of the fungi. Roll 1d10:

1:   If touched, they release clouds of toxic spores

2:   They are covered with thick, very sticky slime

3:   Fungi are rotting and falling apart

4:   Parasitic mold covers both fungi and the ground with slippery layer

5:   Fungi are coveres with horribly stinking slime

6:   Different creatures made their shelters in the fungi

7:   Fungi are waving as moved by invisible wind

8:   Fungi are infested by maggots

9:   Fungi are glowing in a dark

10:   They are humming quietly

Additional features of the trees. Roll 1d10:

1:   If touched, leaves hide themselves inside the branches

2:   Forest is dead (10% to be partially fossilized)

3:   Trees are constantly creaking

4:   They have numerous hollows, often inhabited by different creatures

5:   Roots formed a dense maze, hindering movement

6:   Trees emit pleasent scent

7:   Trees are stinking horribly

8:   Instead of leaves, trees are covered by pale, slightly glowing flowers

9:   Trees secrete sticky, flammable resin

10:   Trees are glowing in the dark

Rumours and legends about Lost Haven

Random table, created mostly by Mr. Wight, containing facts, rumours and legends about the dreadful Lost Haven. Roll 1d20:

1. They say that a mighty Kraken sleeps in the center of the Haven's Inner Port.

2. When inhabitants of the city were being slain, magical "security system" cut off the main access routes to the Port.

3. Treasure vaults of the Haven, containing its untold riches, are hidden deep beneath the City's surface but access to them was cut off by a different layer of the underworld.

4. The Guildmaster ( or even masters ) was trapped inside his palace... and changed a bit over time.

5. During the Haven's fall, monsters caged in the local arena got loose and are now roaming the streets, sewers and rooftops.

6. It is said that at least two forces are fighting inside the city.

7. One of the last Great Wyrm eggs was said to be sold during the last days of the Haven but never left its vaults.

8. Beings change while inside this cursed place.

9. Usually one of the trespassers is allowed to escape to tell the tale of horror. Not that it happens often.

10. Nothing is constant in the City. It can change without warning as the power of the curse sets in.

11. Giant crystals are suspended on chains from the caves ceiling and shed some light. Some of them are burned out. Some still hold power.

12. A great expedition was led into the Lost Heaven never to return from the caves.

13. The truth is that there are no riches in there. Only illusions of power. Nothing else.

14. Weapons out of this world were prepared to be shipped outside when all hell broke loose.

15. Nothing should be considered as harmless.

16. It is said that the downfall was prophesied by many streat preachers across the Kingdom. Usually the crazy ones.

17. Everything taken from the city eventually returns.

18. A group of bandits have a base of operations near the Havens borders.

19. Denizens of the Underworld sometimes can be encountered in the vicinity of the Haven.

20. They say that some people survived... and are still alive despite the hundreads of years of the curse.

Idea about the Moons

Rather extreme idea about the moons and the Megastructure. Cool but i don't know if i will use it - maybe it will appear only in rumours and legends.

Click on the image to enlarge it. Picture from Tsutomu Nihei's NOiSE.

Since then 9000 years have passed.

Heavymetal based construction fluid is being brought in over various transportation lines.

A group of builders.

At one point, even the Moon, which used to be in the sky above, was integrated into the Megastructure.

In the end i didn't make it in time...

...because the Order brought tremendous suffering over the people through the chaos. Their appearance changed because of that.

They still continue their parasitic existence in the Megastructure.

Clawsa died 200 years ago.

Furthermore, I haven't met a human being in the last 100 years.

The netsphere is still expanding.

Accursed domains hidden in the realm.

Hello, this is mr.wight again.

There are places in the world that lead all to damnation with no recognition of their past deeds.

One of such places is the Lost Haven. A cursed, god forsaken city that used to be a shining jewel amidst the darkness of the Underworld Kingdoms caves. Many ships made port there and it is said that the wealth accumulated there could fund many, many wars or even entire kingdoms. Some even say that certain items infused with the power of magic were available to the highest bidder in the auction chambers of the upper classes. Albeit the city was powerful and posed both a threat and an invaluable asset for everyone that that was strong enough to be noticed by its rulers it was not mortals that eventually led to its doom. Forces much more terrifying and vicious are said to have cursed the realm of the city and sealed a pact with a great beast of the underworld to dispose of all that would dare to loot its treasures. At some point the beast started luring vessels sailing nearby with powerful magicks of illusion and treachery as the races inhabiting this world were less then keen on getting their hands on the treasures of the City leaving its memory to become one of many myths that live in the darkness of the caves.

There is a forest in the Kingdom. The Cursed forest of T’tog with its mighty trees that shine with an unnatural light. Their leaves gleam with a pale green glow that give little light to the surroundings thus allowing many animals and monsters to live there and survive in one way or another. A tribe of men lives in the forest and cuts trees for those that are willing to pay. The problem with being a lumberjack in T’tog is that you can never leave once you cut down a single tree. When a tree dies it sheds its juices in a manner a burst artery would. It’s a powerful poison that may bring one to life at the same time imprisoning that being to the boundaries of the glowing trees. It won’t die. Neither the crushing weights of the trees or the fangs of predators will end life of one of the lumberjacks.It is said that their wounds heal, though in a very painfull way. That every death does leave a terrible scar upon their bodies.Some say that ancient beings live there. Beings that possess knowledge of the power that is hidden away somewhere among the dark caves.

Hope you people enjoy it. Pleas comment as I am very curious about your thoughts on my writing.

Tribes of the Megastructure

Examples of the savage tribes that occupies the Megastructure:

Followers of the Core – band living in the complex of endless corridors in the northern part of the Megastructure. They worship as god one of the AIs, named Core 217. Some rumors says that Followers capture travelers and members of other tribes and sacrifice them to their god. Some other people says that numerous clan elders were “possessed” by the Core and now bear strange and sinister powers.

Rebuilders – nomadic clan that believes that Builders are servants of evil gods, sent to the Megastructure to prepare it for the arrival of the Seven Dark Lords. Tribe members follows Builders in their endless journey through the Megastructure and “seal” their creations by mystical sigils, totems and paintings. In some cases they just destroys new rooms, corridors or installations, freshly created by Builders. Tribe is at constant war with Black Crab Children.

Warriors of the Steel Caverns – once proud and strong tribe, now decimated by Ho-ru expedition. Some of their elders (or even tribal chiefs) may be descendants of the long-gone masters of the Megastructure, as they know the secrets of the old machinery, teleporters and hidden passages. Some of them carry strange and very powerful weapons of unknown origin. Some believes that that tribe is degenerated descendants of expedition of off-worlders.

Black Crab Children – tribe that worships one of the biggest (and most insane) Builders of the Megastructure – the dreadful Black Crab. They are cannibalistic savages, hunting mercilessly every other living being. Some of them are augmented by its god’s creations – electric circuitry, hydraulic muscle replacements or armor plates. Those “gifted” by a Black Crab are treated with respect and fear by other members of the Tribe, mostly because of their power, agility, ability to kill and utter madness.

Brotherhood of Yarrrhh’l – they are more a band of retarded and mutated clones than a typical tribe, but they generally fits in this category because they are one of the most primitive occupants of the Megastructure. With a twisted bodies and almost “blank” minds they wander through the Megastructure, sometimes attacking everything on their way, sometimes fleeing before even smallest group of adventurers. Most of them are unable even to speak, but some believes that they all are mind-linked and can communicate with each other Brother with some kind of ESP. Its rumored that they are all just drones of their ‘mother” or “breeding facility”.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Haven't seen it yet, but seems to be very inspirational.

Cross section map of the Blackcrag Fortress

It's not really a cross section of the fortress, but rather its vicinity. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

W - Wyrms of the Underworld

I planned to post detailed info about dragon rulers of the Underworld, but I'm really sick, so everything I can do is post their names with a brief description.

Grax Bloodfang - the Old Black Dragon - most cunning and evil of all dragons. He lives on the island located in the middle of the great underground lake;

Thrax Emberfire - the Red Beast - furious and insane monster, lord of the deepest parts of the Lava Caves;

Vrax / Morax - previously mentioned here, but I've changed my vision of the game since then, so I decided to dethrone him :D Lord of the Galroth Spire;

Tanax the Silver-winged - also known as the Great Traitor. Outcast hiding himself in the Megastructure; also it's possible that he is trapped there.

Forgive me the general shittyness of this post - as I mentioned before I don't feel good today.

Megastructure - inspirations (by ExileHazard)

No text this time - only graphical inspirations about how the Megastructure's inhabitants may look like (not tribesmen but rather... the other ones). If you want some more, check out ExileHazard's deviantART profile. Unfortunately, I have no money to ask him for some commisions...

Krubera Cave!

Click on map to enlarge it. It is a great source of inspiration (here you can find something more about it), but also it scares the shit out of me...

M is for the Megastructure!

Some fresh meat for you! Unfortunately no stats nor random goodies, but some kind of preview (actually, a list of features) of one of the Underworld Kingdom "levels" - the Megastructure.

• Rejuvenation Chambers - places that can heal damaged body of man and machine. Some of them are damaged and may change their victims into the hideous abominations;
• Dimension Doors - teleporters. Rather ordinary things... as long as they work properly;
• Builders - huge machines designed to expand the Megastructure. They are sentient - and insane;
• Lifts - unfortunately, most of them are automated and go up and down at theirs own will;
• Savage tribes - primitive inhabitants of the Megastructure;
• Assemblers - guardian constructs able to generate robots, guardians and "living" weapons;
• Digital spellbooks - why not? :D
• Railways - connection between the Megastructure and dreadful Darkforge. Probably train stations are guarded by some security system and / or robots. And don't expect that you will be able to command the automated trains (see lifts);
• Cloning facilities - maybe every clone is mentally linked with each other?
• Feeding chambers - because clones must eat something;
• ...and - as always - many more.

K - King(s) of the Underworld

Although the name of the Underworld Kingdom seems to require the presence of the king, actually its meaning is slightly different. The point is that the underworld is a realm that is completely different from surface world. More mysterious, dangerous and unfathomable, it’s also more static – some things in the underworld have not changed for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Despite that rather obvious misinterpretation of the kingdom’s name, there are several powerful rulers, each ruling a different part of the Underworld:

• Jaarkon the Elder, King of Ghohk – lord of men, old and mad. It’s said that some kind of worms is slowly devouring his brains. However, he lives for almost 200 years and outlived his eight sons.
• Vrax / Morax, the Dragon King – two-headed master of the Galroth Spire. Lord of all dragons of the Underworld. Clever and dangerous, he despises mankind.
• The Seeker, lord of the Dead – master of the Necropolis. Is said that he transferred his mind into some powerful yet incomprehensible artifact of the Elder Races.
• The Great Father – ancient and dreadful, shrouded in mystery “Father Of All Evil”. Master of abominations, mutants and monsters, he plots to bring doom to all mankind. Some say that he is long dead, slain by his finest creation.

I - Inhabitants of the Underworld

Here is a list of all (or almost all) sentient races that lives (or lived) in the Underworld Kingdom and other underground complexes linked with it. This list will be successfully filled with links to the posts containing information about particular creatures / races.

• Cave Orcs
• Dead Ones
• Elder Things (in the past, current number unknown)
• Ghouls
• Goblins
• Ho-ru
• Ho-thal
• Humans
• K’reen (Elder Race which had disappeared without a trace)
• Kobolds
• Mi Go (sporadically)
• Neanderthals
• Ogres
• Pale Giants
• Shapers (Elder Race which had disappeared without a trace)
• Toadmen
• Trolls 
• Yithians (they lived in the Yellow City of the Empty Mountain, but their current location and numbers is unknown)

Reshaping the Underworld

So, probably I will make another remodeling of the campaign (here you can find more info about it) and this time changes will be even bigger than during previous reboot. However, I'll not resign from the idea of the surface world, most likely I will separate both ideas - another maps, background and rules for the Ortix world, another for twisted and bizarre (truly weird?) Underworld Kingdom. Are they connected to each other? It will depend only on GM's decision :-)

Here is a list of things that potentially will appear in the "new" Underworld Kingdom:

• Jungle Caves (I don't see any reason to drop this idea);
• Red Moon Caverns as some connection between one of the moons and kingdom of Underworld? Why not? :D
• Megastructure - artificial level, inhabited by savage tribes and deranged living machinery. Heavily inspired by works of Tsutomu Nihei, it bears some resemblance to Gigacrawler;
• Black Sea and the City of Serpents (not necessarily inhabited by Ho-ru);
• Green Light Caves (haunted and dangerous place of madness and illusion);
• Land of the Dead (inhabited by the Dead Ones);
• Lava Caves;
• Mutation chambers (or maybe - mutilation chambers? :D);
• Palace of the Black Emperor (bizarre and slightly surreal sub-dimension - more info soon!);
• Icy Caves;
• Darkforge (another industrial level);
• Frog River;
• Great Fungal Forest;
• Watcher's Pit;
• Crystal Caves;
• Death Pits.
• Blackcrag Fortress ("mountain inside a mountain" - I'll try to explain it in the future);
• Tesseract Chambers;
• Ancient graveyards...
• ...and probably many more.

I know that these are only names, but they can give you some ideas on how it will look like. In addition I'll try to expand this list in the future and add links to the articles about specific items.

Another idea that came to my mind is that these locations will not connected in the "only right" way - more likely I will include general guidelines about connections between different layers (and some additional rules about moving between larger parts of the Underworld) and every DM will be able to connect different parts of the Underworld Kingdom in his own way.

F - Frog River

One of the longest rivers of the Underworld Kingdom, in fact is a part of much bigger underground river. Emerging from sunken grottos on the west of Great Cave of Ghohk, with spiral meanders running through almost entire cavern, and ending in a great waterfall on east. The area south of the river is particularly dangerous - most of it is misty, dark swamp, inhabited by untold monstrosities, such as mysterious toadmen and dreadful Pale Octopuses. Swamp holds many secrets – it’s said that it contains many secrets – one of them is described below.

Most notable location in the vicinity of the river is Stone City – ancient ruins of enormous metropolis, destroyed in ancient times by unknown cataclysm (or maybe war) and now engulfed by a swamp. Little is known about either its history and treasures that may still be hidden in it, but one thing is certain – Stone City was not build by humans. Maybe it was built by the Shapers – one of the Old Races, which disappeared millennia ago?