Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 5:09 pm
Fighter 5.
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I guess it depends if the audience is informed the content is a work of weird fiction, or led to believe it was of some other genre. The thing is, even Ron Howard's Conan was discussed with Lovecraft by Howard from the start to have overlap with the Lovecraftian Mythos. As soon as you imply you're in "sort of" Conanese Hyperborean Ages.Let's just say the stories started weird and got weirder.
This. Tolkien also mentions that even Sauron controls a lot of working farms off-screen in the east to feed his orc hordes at Mordor.Mord wrote:The regions in the east of Gondor (Ithilien, Anorien, Cair Andros) used to be more heavily populated, but then the Shadow returned and everything went to shit. The stewards were forced to move the seat of government to a minor fortress-city on the edge of the gigantic military buffer zone that used to be the heartland of Gondor. Much like how the capital of the Western Roman Empire moved from Rome to Mediolanum and then to Ravenna as the military situation on the border got worse and the security of the Italian peninsula could no longer be taken for granted.
I would expect Gondor west of Minas Tirith and south of the White Mountains to be substantially better-cultivated.
Gimli makes it through The Lord of the Rings without artifact weapons. In the D&D paradigm, his ancestral axe or something is probably at least +3.Ancient History wrote:and of course, sort of highlights the tendency in D&D to load up on magic items which are often quite scarce in fantasy. Gimli makes it through all of The Lord of the Rings without any magical weapons, for example.
The highest authorities of Nehwon are Chance, Fate, and the Lords of Necessity. They are to the gods as the gods are to men. These powers rule over many planes.
The Lord of Necessity decreed that gods must exist in Nehwon. Capricious Chance decided that these gods would be short-lived and have many of the same weaknesses as men. Fate continues to toy with gods and men alike, and all must accept Fate's judgments.
In order to come into existence, a god must have believers. This does not mean that people like or even worship the god, although worship does make a god stronger and more powerful. All human beings must do is believe in the deity's godhood. The more humans who worship a god, the more powerful the god, but mere belief creates a god. Unfortunately, the qualities which believes ascribed to their deity become his or her actual traits, good or bad.
These aren't exactly gods; they're closer to undead you can't turn, there is no priesthood. It's ancestor worship where if you try to steal their shit, Great-Grandma rises from the grave and strangles you to death. Very folkloric, even if it's hard on the economy.In past centuries, the Lankhmar Thieves' Guild was a venerable, faithful institution. Master thieves were lovingly entombed with their accumulated riches upon their deaths. These Dead Master Thieves were spoken of with respect and affection by thieves still living, and their memories were honored. The Dead Masters were grateful.
All priests of Votishal are lawful good thieves. This is the only case in in which Newhonese thieves may be of this alignment. Votishal-worshippers are extremely intolerant, often kidnapping thieves from other guilds and attempting to brainwash them to become lawful good.
Scott Bakker attacks this question with gusto, although he's defs more recent than Leiber or even Pratchett.Ancient History wrote: The only fantasy writer I know that really tried to get a grip on this concept was Terry Pratchett in Small Gods; everybody else was just fucking around.
I guess if you don't display any class abilities, that means you're a fighter.Ancient History wrote:Fighter 5.
Blame St. Patrick, besides chasing snakes out of Ireland (which is a myth because there are no snakes), he popularized the cross as a good thing.Ancient History wrote:Keep in mind that when the Christians were getting started and used the cross as a symbol, the cross is basically a torture device. So you can see the martyrdom/suffering parallels between Christ and Issek, is all I'm saying - and that's before we get to the wine bit.
This chapter opens with this quote, which are essentially words to conjure with; it's the call to arms for adventurers, to go and explore this great metropolis. Unfortunately, Mister Cavern is seldom a poet, or at least not a good one, and to move from stale description to actual action can be a difficult row to hoe. But the immediate focus of the chapter is not on creating adventures in Lankhmar, but getting PCs to Lankhmar. Three basic options are presented:The Swords of Lankhmar wrote:...the City of Lankhmar, oldest in the world. Lankhmar, thick-walled against barbarians and beasts, thick-floored against creepers and crawlers and gnawers.
At the south of the City of Lankhmar, the Grain Gate, its twenty-foot thickness and thirty-foot width often echoing with the creak of ox-drawn wagons bringing in Lankhmar's tawny, dry, edible treasure. Also the Grand Gate, larger still and more glorious, and the smaller End Gate. Then the South Barracks with its black-clad soldiery, the Rich Men's Quarter, the Park of Pleasure and the Plaza of Dark Delights. Next Whore Street and the streets of other crafts. Beyond those, crossing the city from the Marsh Gate to the docks, the Street of the Gods, with its many flamboyantly soaring fanes of the Gods in Lankhmar and its single squat black temple of the Gods of Lankhmar—more like an ancient tomb except for its tall, square, eternally silent bell-tower. Then the slums and the windowless homes of the nobles; the great grain-towers, like a giant's forest of house-thick tree-trunks chopped off evenly. Finally, facing the Inner Sea to the north and the Hlal to the west, the North Barracks, and on a hill of solid, sea-sculptured rock, the Citadel and the Rainbow Palace of Glipkerio Kistomerces.
So...yeah, that means it can be Beaver day (29th) in the in the Month of the Hedgehog, in the Year of the Feathered Death. I'd throw more stones, but that shit was kinda typical in fantasy, and was derived somewhat from older dating systems, and parodied to hell and back by Terry Pratchett (who declared it was the Century of the Fruitbat). Bah, humfuck.Lankhmarts do not number their years, a practice that has led to a myriad of datekeeping systems with the consequence that no one is entirely sure what historical events happened when or in what order. Each year is named for a creature, legendary object, or event. A Lankhmart cycle is made up of the fourteen named years, and record keeping is further complicated by the fact that years frequently change names or have a special name for a single year, going back to their original designation. Each year has twelve months, equivalent in days to our own earthly calendar. Each day is named for a different creature. This is confusing to many Lankhmarts, so days bear numbers as well, though this is not "official" practice.
Vermin Day: A relatively recent addition to Lankhmar's calendar, Vermin Day celebrates the city's defeat of the rat invasion and the route of the armies of Lankhmar Below. In the day of the Rat, in the month of the Lion, when the rats and their 13 noble leaders were defeated by the combined forces of Lankhmar, the Gods of Lankhmar, the thirteen War Cats, and (as legend has recast Fafhrd's ghoulish allies) Death himself.
Prior to the festival, rats and other vermin are rounded up by the thousands and ceremonially killed in Punishment square for the entertainment of the watching masses. People in cat costumes prowl the streets, gifts are left before the temple of the Gods of Lankhmar, and carts are fed and pampered throughout the city. The rats of Lankhmar Below, who live beneath the streets, watch and wait, secretly plotting their revenge.
It's a game attempt to adapt Leiber's fantasy currency names to the bloated AD&D fantasy currency, and basically fails for much the same reason as trying to work out the dollar-to-gold piece buying power conversion ratio fails - D&D has prices set way too high for common goods, because their economy is inflated all to hell and gone.Platinum does not exist in Nehwon.
...along with a handful of "Standard NPC" stat blocks and some new Magic Items (the veil of trueseeing, cloak of invisibility, rod of climbing (which is not actual magical), diminution potion, enlargement potion, bolts of love, winged dagger, wire of magical diversion, and potion of astral travel). Most of which are just what they say on the tin and all of which found their way into general AD&D magical item storehouses.V. Noble
1-2: A dandied nobleman instructs his toadies to start a fight with the party so that he can watch from a safe distance and make useful comments.
Oh, I like the idea that due to naming conventions people can't agree on when or in what order things occured, that'd be a real headache for historians and could be a useful things for DMs. Naming each day after an animal...not so much.Ancient History wrote:So...yeah, that means it can be Beaver day (29th) in the in the Month of the Hedgehog, in the Year of the Feathered Death. I'd throw more stones, but that shit was kinda typical in fantasy, and was derived somewhat from older dating systems, and parodied to hell and back by Terry Pratchett (who declared it was the Century of the Fruitbat). Bah, humfuck.Lankhmarts do not number their years, a practice that has led to a myriad of datekeeping systems with the consequence that no one is entirely sure what historical events happened when or in what order. Each year is named for a creature, legendary object, or event. A Lankhmart cycle is made up of the fourteen named years, and record keeping is further complicated by the fact that years frequently change names or have a special name for a single year, going back to their original designation. Each year has twelve months, equivalent in days to our own earthly calendar. Each day is named for a different creature. This is confusing to many Lankhmarts, so days bear numbers as well, though this is not "official" practice.
These are adventure synopses. This is actually an insufficient number of adventure ideas, because there's a quarter-page of white space left at the end, like someone just hit their wordcount and said "fuck it." Some of these adventure ideas are serviceable, few are unique to the Lankhmar setting. One example:In all the worlds of heroic fiction, none equals Lankhmar. No other fantastic city evokes such images of adventure, danger, and derring-do. The information in this book only presents the foundation of future adventures both within and outside Lankhmar's walls. The following short descriptions are intended to provide ideas for future adventures or as jumping-off places to multi-session campaigning.
A Deadly Sissy
New to Lankhmar from lands far to the east, Count Arykki is widely regarded as a wine-swilling fop, an easy mark for the Thieves' Guild. He is actually a skilled swordsman and acrobat, several levels higher than the most powerful PC.
The counter enters a drinking establishment occupied by the PCs and arrogantly orders the barmaid to bring him more wine. When the girl brings him the wine he takes a sip, then flings the contents of the cup into her face, insulting her loudly. If the PCs do not interfere, several other patrons do and are soundly thrashed. The situation escalates into a brawl, with Arykki finally drawing steel and challenging the PCs to a duel.
Should the count be defeated and survive the duel, he can be introduced into the party as a new PC or may show up in future adventures as a patron, friend, or enemy of the party.
Okay, this is better. Not great, but better. Sheelba of the Eyeless Face is made to hand out quests, and getting shrunk down and going to rat-city is a fun adventure. Once there, I suspect the adventure would go off the rails pretty quick, but at least it focuses on how the PCs get involved, and what the object of their mission is.Spies
Sheelba of the Eyeless Face suspects that the Rats of Lankhmar Below are up to something. He offers the party disguises and diminution potions, as well as a substantial reward, if they agree to venture into Lankhmar Below and reconnoiter. Upon entering the underwrold, the PCs discover that the evil Hisvet and Hisvin have infiltrated several major Lankhmart temples, secretly diverting them to evil and using them as paths to power in the city. Returning to Lankhmar Above, the PCs must evade attacks by Hisvin's rat-guards and then convince the city's rulers that the temples have been infiltrated. Can the PCs convince the Overlord and his ministers of the danger before Hisvin takes complete control?
There are three known species of Nehwon behemoths. All of them resemble killer whales with four stubby legs, and are ferocious predators with no fear of humans. Fortunately, these creatures are rare.
Weird character idea: blind Nehwon ghoul. Still cannibalistic, but has no idea they look like a living skeleton, not racist. Also, this reminds me, this is a thing now:Ghouls consider themselves paragons of civilization and enlightenment. Other races need to be civilized by being eaten. Humans are referred to as "mud-men" since ghouls consider normal flesh muddy and impure. Ghouls can occasionally overcome their cannibalistic natures to join human adventuring bands. They can be overbearing at times as they consider themselves more civilized than lesser, "barbaric," races. Ghoulish women have been known to take humans as lovers, but this is rare.
An Ice Gnome mathematician claimed that with a couple million ice gnomes, one would emerge that could challenge the gods.For every 30 ice gnomes encountered, there is a 3 HD fighter. If 100 or more are encountered, there is also a 4 or 5 HD fighter. If there are 150 or more ice gnomes, they are led by a 6 or 7 HD fighter.
"It is strange, sire. The humans have an unusual mating cry."Stardock society is old and decadent. The sterility of invisible males has led to a severe decline in population and threatened the entire kingdom with collapse and extinction. Oomforafor has reluctantly decided to experiment with human-invisible crossbreeding, but the results of these experiments are not known.
And, bigass map aside, that's the book.Stardock currency is in the form of strange gems, visible to non-Stardockers only in the dark. These gems are worth 1,000-6,000 gp each to collectors.