8/4/2023 0 Comments Black Cloaks Dev notes 1My evolving love for RPG's never stops: 4e -> Pathfinder -> 5e -> OSE -> Black Cloaks. I was once an ardent supporter of the complexity and esoteric fiddliness of systems like pathfinder and reveled in the minutiae of grappling rules as sort of a shameless celebration of complexity and customizability. But then I met the OSR contingent and was swiftly converted. I love the elegance and immersive diegetic play that a stripped down system provides. And of course, as is demanded of tradition, I am constructing a homebrew NSR-style RPG. I've taken inspiration from OSE, Into the Odd, Cairn, The Black Hack, Maze Rats, Knave, The White Hack, Mausritter, MÖRK BORG, DCC RPG, Shadowdark, Halberds and Helmets, Fate Core, and probably a few others I can't think of right now. After about a year of tweaking, destroying, and rebuilding, I have closed in on a set of rules and mechanics that support the style of play that I am trying to create. The system is governed by two goals:
You can find the WIP rules here To do:
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11/2/2022 0 Comments Marea 1The tragedy of the Marea: The rise and fall of a civilizationLore for my homebrew setting.The Following is a sort of mythos which I am using as the underlying logic for the history, ruinous architecture, and the political climate between races/species as it pertains to my small island setting called Daggerogg. I hope you find it interesting. WARNING TO MY PLAYERS! IF YOU SOMEHOW FOUND THIS, DO NOT READ! Long ago, a small tribe known as the Marea plied the waters for fish and trade and devoted themselves to the study of the sea. They had no home or lands and sailed endlessly, but always watched the sea believing that one day, it could be understood. From their patient observation came knowledge of the ocean’s patterns and cycles, expertise in navigation and oceanography, and eventually a grasp of the arcane arts. Generations of work eventually sprouted genius. Many wizards could be found amongst the Marea and some wielded immense power. In time, one such wizard, a scion of the Marea named Enolo Ondas, was able to ascend to godhood. He cleared storms, commanded the tides, and summoned great leviathans to pull the vessels of his people ever farther afield. Enolo was loyal and despite his power he never forgot his people and when he eventually guided them to an archipeligo for them to begin their civilization, he became known as Elondas the god king of Marea.
At first, the footprint of the Marea was modest and the creatures of the land took little notice but in time their needs and the land they transformed became a thorn in the side of the king of the dryads Obad Hai. However, a peace was reached between Elondas and Obad Hai in part due to the generosity of the Marea and in part due to the council of his daughter Lyra that convinced Obad Hai that isolation and failure to adapt would doom the dryads. In truth, Elondas and Lyra had been secret lovers for centuries. With both Elondas and Obad Hai’s favor, the civilization of Marea flourished and a long peace was enjoyed between the spirits of the land and sea. In time, Lyra wished to reveal their love to her father Obad Hai but Elondas forbade it claiming that Lyra’s father would never understand nor sanction the union. At first, Lyra complied with Elondas’s wishes but when she became pregnant she confessed the relationship to her father. Unfortunately, Elondas was correct and the king denounced their union, and claimed their child for the kingdom of the forest: forcing his daughter to choose a life on land or beneath the sea. Although she knew the seawater would slowly poison her, she chose to have her child beneath the sea hoping that it’s birth between the two would heal the schism(It was this child that would give rise to the sea elves which later created planted mangroves and kelp in her honor). After Lyra’s death, king Obad Hai, in his anger, called on his allies – the gods of earth, and stone: Dur, Gorgal, and Rrall, the dwarves and giants of the mountains, and the fae and elves. He commanded his legions to destroy the Marea and so the forest laid a terrible unending siege to the world of men, over years, buildings and roads were mangled and fields filled with noxious weeds. The sides of mountains gave way to landslides as trees uprooted themselves and in a few winters the once glorious civilization was mostly reduced to rubble and a tangled mess of roots and brambles. Now the ruins and riches of Marea lie beneath centuries of growth, and earth. Elondas was blinded by his grief for Lyra and the sea responded to the dryad king's assault in kind. Tsunamis, hurricanes, and floods drowned the archipelago's forests for years and the creatures of the land suffered terrible losses as seawater poisoned all. Elondas called upon his champion: Aureleos a Marean sorcerer of time itself and won the favor of the island‘s dragons through consul with their queen Rrkothra. Although Marea itself was lost, after relentless assault, Obad Hai, king of the Dryads, was slain. The forests and fae, leaderless and vengeful, took an oath to remove whatever remained of the Marea. Elondas attempted to protect his people but saw hundreds of thousands perish. (Begging Aureleos for his help created horrid zombie-like timeless beings). Ultimately, blaming himself for the fall of the Marea, Elondas recused himself of the mortal world and dove beneath the waves where he is said to dwell thousands of fathoms beneath the surface. In the chaos, the people of the islands were nearly exterminated, some fled to their ships and returned to their lives on the sea as fishermen, traders, and pirates, dispersing throughout the world. Others hid on the islands as best they could, fleeing to the mountains where the endless war between giants and dragons made life hell but kept the dryads at bay. Others fled to the places where the conflict had changed the land and the fae had fled: ancient cursed mires filled with disease and creatures born of the violence and death. Ultimately the Marea survived but did not thrive. They lost their culture and their science, their prosperity and their identity. Today Anorak island holds the village of Bywater and its people‘s veins hold this ancient blood. Reduced to a meager and pitiful fishing village, the once great Marea people hold on pulling silversides from a muddy river as mosquitos bite their ankles.
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AuthorMy name is Alexander Sousa. I love fantasy, RPG's, Science, and making stuff. Here are some of my thoughts. ArchivesCategories |