[SUPPLEMENT] A Voyage to Fomalhaut (NOW AVAILABLE!)

A Voyage to Fomalhaut
E.M.D.T. 100!

I am pleased to announce the publication of A Voyage to Fomalhaut, a 48-page setting primer, and the 100th EMDT release! This guide is suitable for both players and GMs, and presents a setting with strong sword & sorcery and sword & planet influences. The guide updates and expands on the 2008 writeup in Fight On! magazine #03, reflecting the one and a half decade of gaming that has taken place in the setting since that point.

“Fomalhaut is a world whose origins coincide with the discussions that formed the modern understanding of old-school gaming in the mid-2000. Inspired by the rediscovery of Judges Guild (particularly Wilderlands of High Fantasy), the “Appendix N” books, and the stranger aspects of old-school play, it is a distillation of influences that make these games distinct and powerful.

This is a setting of bold sword & sorcery, where the Techno-Hellenic age fell in destructive interstellar wars, and was succeeded by one of iron and bronze. Here, the descendants of Man have fractured into a myriad strange societies in a changed world, some warlike, some reclusive, and some surprisingly civilised. Philosophy, religion, and cultural variety are rife with exception and local colour. But “in every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same” – and for all its strangeness, this setting, and the adventures you can find therein, should be immediately recognisable to fans of sword & sorcery adventure.

And where adventures are concerned, Fomalhaut can offer them in abundance: in barren wastelands dotted with the remnants of fallen empires, on wine-dark seas where splendid isles and reclusive civilisations await, in teeming cities where life is cheap and the sword can gain what even money cannot buy, deep underground in forgotten vaults and subterranean lands; and perhaps even beyond – in strange dimensions and the domains of mirages and dreams. Men of many devices shall win it all, while those who shrink back shall be forever forgotten!”

More detailed setting information and a preview of the deities section is found in this post.

The booklet includes the following materials:

• An introduction to the setting 4000 years after its foundation by a starfaring civilisation, and some 3200 after this civilisation’s downfall.
• A writeup of Fomalhaut’s gods and ideologies, and the practices of worship for Clerics, divine champions dedicated to a god’s cause, as well as laymen. 28 deities are discussed from Kang the Thousand-Eyed, rapacious God of Adventurers; and Mereskan the Bat-God, patron of thieves; to the Followers of the LOGOS, a sect of philosophers dedicated to the arts of mathematics and geometry; and the Idolators of Dhakam, a barbarous cult worshipping crumbling idols in the wastelands.
• A description of Fomalhaut’s regions, with its colourful mosaic of civilisations. Visit the ruined landscape of the Worn Lands, discover the mysteries of the Plateau of Ong whose cruel monks allow no stranger intruding on their domain to live, and sail seas hiding fantastic islands and fallen utopias.
• A brief guide to adventuring in the setting, with its people – from the mammoth-hunting cavemen of the northern ice wastes to the decadent descendants of the Empire of Mung, masters of ancient technologies.
• A two-sided setting overview map, with one side drawn by Sean Stone.

A Voyage to Fomalhaut features cover art by Peter Mullen, and interiors by Cameron Hawkey, Graphite Prime, and various Golden Age illustrators (including some by the incomparable Virginia Frances Sterrett). The print version of the supplement is available from my Bigcartel store; the PDF edition will be published through DriveThruRPG with a few months’ delay. As always, customers who buy the print edition will receive the PDF version free of charge.

NOTE to Garycon attendees: the gazetteer will be available at the con at the Black Blade booth. Say hi to Allan and Jon!

Not so Beyond Anymore, is it.

[BLOG] Towards Fomalhaut – and What It Is

The City-State of Pentastadion
(as depicted in a 1932 university yearbook)

“OK, but what actually is Fomalhaut?” is not a question I get asked specifically, but it is one which seems to deserve an answer due to other questions about the setting which come up – “Is Erillion part of Fomalhaut?”, “Are all the campaigns in Echoes from Fomalhaut set in the same world?”, “Do you have a blog post that’s like a guide to your settings?” – and which come back to this question.

Over time, I may have contributed to the confusion by not clarifying the matter in an accessible post, and just assuming all this would be self-explanatory. To compound the problem, I named this blog “Beyond Fomalhaut”, and my zine “Echoes From Fomalhaut”. These choices were intentional, since at the time, I was not actually running a game in the Fomalhaut setting, so the names were hints this would be something different (the “beyond”), it would just have some vague stylistic similarities to it (the “echoes”). Both were initially aimed at a small circle of friends I have known since the mid-2000s who would presumably know this, but rapidly grew beyond that scope to draw new readers who presumably wouldn’t. The original setting guide was published in Fight On #03 in 2008, and that wasn’t yesterday either (more time has passed since that time than between OD&D and 2e). To add insult to injury, when I started publishing materials for the Isle of Erillion, I didn’t have a good name for the broader setting, and didn’t really need any, so a lot of people just rationally assumed it would be the titular Fomalhaut. A few years later, the mixup persists and grows, and well, much of it is my fault. It also happens to be that I have published a hardcover last year that described a corner of Fomalhaut (Khosura), and am planning a players’ setting guide for early next year, making it a good opportunity to clarify things.

So here it is: a post about what isn’t Fomalhaut, what is Fomalhaut, and what makes Fomalhaut distinct from “just old-school D&D”.

We Will Speak of this No More
(an Unholy Khosura/Erillion Hybrid by Grützi)

Drifting Lands: What Isn’t Fomalhaut

Let’s start with the simple part. The Isle of Erillion, the Twelve Kingdoms, and Kassadia are unrelated to Fomalhaut. All of these places are regions of the Drifting Lands, a more traditional adventure fantasy setting which is more or less in line with the implied setting of the AD&D rulebooks. Of these, Erillion is sort of standard Gygaxian high fantasy (and would fit neatly into Greyhawk somewhere east of the Great Kingdom and north of the Lendore Isles); the Twelve Kingdoms is a northern archipelago divided among tiny rival kingdoms (mainly inspired by Jack Vance's Lyonesse and Mike Singleton's Lords of Midnight); and the fallen Empire of Kassadia is a mixture of late Roman and mediaeval Italian influences about a land where the local equivalent of the Roman Empire never fell, just decayed into competing polities still nominally linked by shared culture and tradition. Other regions in the settings are sketched out but unexplored, since we have not had adventures there.

The Drifting Lands just assume that all of the common assumptions about AD&D’s implied setting are valid, and if something is there in the three rulebooks, you could also find it here. (Conversely, I have never had much of an interest in expansions like the UA, although our campaigns have adapted some stuff from T. Foster’s much better Heroic Legendarium.) The Drifting Lands is more humanocentric than canonical AD&D tends to be; it is slightly lower on the power curve (it doesn’t get too deep into the high-level end of AD&D, and assumes a lower level of magical treasure); and it has a slightly stronger sense of fantasy realpolitik than most AD&D materials (assuming its internal conflicts mostly stem from human-level ambitions vis-à-vis a battle of cosmic forces and alignments – to be fair, Greyhawk comes fairly close in these sensibilities). These are differences of degree, but not of kind. It also explains why I didn’t worry too much about defining the setting beyond the regional level, since materials written for it are plug-and-play, and easily adapted to most old-school campaigns.

Now This Is More Like It
(Updated Overview Map)

What Fomalhaut Is

Fomalhaut is a different setting: a coherent sword & sorcery take on the D&D baseline, with strong sword & planet elements. While the Drifting Lands are defined by their adherence to the AD&D canon, Fomalhaut is defined by its distinction from modern RPG fantasy – it highlights that which is specific and peculiar about old-school D&D, eliminates the “elfie-welfie” (my phrase from 2006), and makes a setting out of it. At the time of its creation in 2006 (apparently, right before Christmas), it was inspired by the rediscovery of the Judges Guild materials, particularly Wilderlands of High Fantasy; the exploration of “Appendix N” books; a growing interest in OD&D; and the stranger aspects of old-school play. Thus, Fomalhaut is still D&D through-and-through, but it focuses on the game where it connects to earlier traditions of pulp fantasy. This is not old-school gaming as it was, since it was always a mixture of influences, but old-school gaming as it could at least theoretically be – self-consciously sword & sorcery while keeping the structures of play as they are.

Not Quite Fomalhaut,
But Close Enough

Fomalhaut’s TL;DR pitch is “Mediterranean city-states in a world built atop the ruins of an earlier, more advanced age, surrounded by a vast wilderness dotted with strange enclaves, fallen (or all-too-successful) utopias, and pockets of weirdness.” Its main sources of inspiration in tone are Leigh Brackett (the Skaith trilogy in particular), Jack Vance (more Planet of Adventure and even Demon Princes than the Cugel stories), Clark Ashton Smith (mostly Hyperborea and Zothique), H.P. Lovecraft (Dream-Quest, but not Cthulhu), Harold Lamb’s historical pulps, various swords & sandals movies like Harryhausen’s Sindbad films, and Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon comics (the original, crazy 1930s strips, of which the 1980 movie is a worthy adaptation). To sum up from the intro of the forthcoming gazetteer: “This is a setting of bold sword & sorcery, where the Techno-Hellenic age fell in destructive interstellar wars, and was succeeded by one of iron and bronze. Here, the descendants of Man have fractured into a myriad strange societies in a changed world, some warlike, some reclusive, and some surprisingly civilised. Philosophy, religion, and cultural variety are rife with exception and local colour. But ‘in every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same’ – and for all its strangeness, this setting, and the adventures you can find therein, should be immediately recognisable to fans of sword & sorcery.”

One major difference with strong implications down the line is that where D&D’s implied setting is mostly mediaeval (with Old West and modern influences), Fomalhaut draws its aesthetics and social settings from Ancient Greece and the surrounding Mediterranean and Near Eastern civilisations. It is thus a setting with vast seas and lots of seafaring; mainlands covered with wilderness and lots of barren wastelands; and small pockets of civilisation dominated by commercial city-states (leaning into the points of light concept). It assumes fantasy polytheism a bit beyond D&D’s understanding, and a set of limited petty gods with massive character flaws. It also adds a layer of weirdness, which informs its ideas of the fantastic: lost high technology, crashed UFOs, ideas plundered from pseudo-archaeology, the kind of strange magic you may find in 1930s pulps, and all kinds of odd thought experiments (“but what if… someone tried to set up an ecological utopia in a sword & sorcery setting around the wreckage of a flying saucer?”). The setting also assumes NPCs and PCs who are shrewd, pragmatic, and often a little morally dubious by modern standards – more Odysseus and Conan than Robin Hood and Frodo. Conversely, it is not a grimdark setting: it is intended to be violent and morally complex, but not nasty or cynical. It is about as edgy as a mid-century hardboiled story – that is, “somewhat” but not beyond good taste. If Leigh Brackett would write it, it would fit Fomalhaut.

Above all, Fomalhaut leans into the idea of the hex-crawl, as expressed most purely in Wilderlands of High Fantasy: the setting is meant to be a sandbox where wilderness exploration and sea-faring are important pillars of play. (Although our City of Vultures campaigns were mostly city-centric, and our ongoing online game is more site-based.) It stretches over nine hex maps, two of which have been published so far (one in Echoes #08, and one in Khosura), and altogether three of which have seen extensive play since 2007 (not counting connected otherworlds, of which there were some).

The Tridentos
(Regional Hex Map ca. 2006, Players' Version)

Setting specifics

(This section is excerpted from the forthcoming players’ gazetteer.)

Campaigns on the world of Fomalhaut generally conform to the rules and style of play found in old-school systems, but by default (as we have played our campaigns), they feature some departures as well. The following is not immutable dogma, and may be altered or disregarded at the Gamemaster’s discretion, but it makes for a cohesive, sword & sorcery-flavoured take on the old-school playstyle that has worked out fine in our games.

Humanocentrism: Only human descendants of old Terra are found on the world of Fomalhaut. The likes of dwarves, elves, gnomes or halflings are entirely absent, unless they are brought in through a magic portal, found in cryogenic storage, summoned by a magic-user, etc. During character generations, players may select from Terrans (general humans) and other human sub-groups. Likewise, Fomalhaut does not have goblinoids (orcs, goblins, ogres, most giants) or dragons, but features an abundance of degenerate cavemen, a few mutants, dinosaurs, and rarely, high-tech killing machines. In many cases, the GM can simply substitute appropriate results on random encounter tables (e.g. cavemen or ape-men for orcs, or dinosaurs for dragons). [The original setting concept had gnolls, but they were subsequently removed. Our first campaign also featured a dragon despite my sincere promises that “there are no dragons on Fomalhaut”. Fortunately, the dragon was killed by the characters, so there are no dragons on Fomalhaut. You can trust me.]

Class range: Not all classes fit campaigns on Fomalhaut. Fighters, clerics, thieves, magic-users and illusionists are excellent; others may be adopted on a case-by-case basis. In a campaign played with Seven Voyages of Zylarthen, fighting-men, thieves (SVoZ’s excellent variant) and magic-users were sufficient, and clerics were not particularly missed.

You Will Worship the Benevolent
Giant Slug God of Hedonism
And You Will Be Happy
(NO EDGED WEAPONS
OR SALT ALLOWED!)

Petty gods: Fomalhaut’s gods are not impersonal cosmic forces, but powerful and arbitrary individuals. Few consider them a reliable moral compass, and those who do are often dangerous fanatics. But most average denizens, and even priests and other followers see them in a practical light, resulting in a more transactional relationship. However, player character may easily come into contact with the gods from the outset, who can act as both patrons and antagonists in the course of play.

Power range: It is suggested to start campaigns at level 3 (or an XP value where most classes are at that point) where characters are hardy and capable enough to face the world’s challenges. No campaigns in the setting have reached levels far beyond name level (12-13 was the highest), and that is more or less where the setting itself caps out. Magic has also been limited in our campaigns, with no spells available beyond level 5, and no magic items beyond +3 (mostly in keeping with OD&D’s original range, which was similar). Magic items were generally more scarce. All this results a world of sword & sorcery that is slightly lower-powered than the old-school default, but where characters can also expect the same restraint from the setting itself.

XP for squandering: Treasure-based experience is awarded not for winning treasure, but squandering it in hedonistic excess (at the same rate of 1 XP/gp). Squandering may mean expensive drugs, lavish entertainment, fancy clothing, sponsoring gladiatorial games, or anything that has no direct or indirect gameplay benefit. Therefore, money spent to curry favour with the rich and powerful, direct sacrifices to the gods, or bribes to achieve some concrete aim do not count, but investments in larger personal projects (including the construction of temples and strongholds) do. Alms to orphans and widows, or money spent on other acts of senseless altruism also qualify, since these actions are ultimately just as ineffective and meaningless as vapid debauchery. No training rules apply, as characters are assumed to be competent enough to learn during their adventures.

Hellenism and barbarism: The cultures, attitudes and development level of the setting reflect humanity during late antiquity instead of a truly mediaeval milieu. This is not just an age of barbarism, but also one of sophistication and sometimes decadence; of bold ideas and advanced commerce in a violent world. This is not a grim and dark milieu, but one with wide conceptual horizons. Magic and fantastic elements are not pervasive, but they do shape the possibilities and mindset of Fomalhaut’s societies, and the powerful use them on a par for the course basis. The legacy of the lost Techno-Hellenic age also means the setting may be more modern in its thinking than it could first appear, and both the players and some NPCs may be behaving like modern men dropped into pre-modern societies. Of course, applying modern ideologies or utopian philosophies to the basic layer of fantastic “realism” also introduces an inherent tension, with many possibilities for conflict and failure. This element is excellent fodder for ongoing campaigns.

High technology: The clash of a sword & sorcery setting and advanced technology is a prominent feature of adventures on Fomalhaut, which feature a strong sword & planet element. Devices from the world’s ancient history do not turn up often in the daily life of an average person, but they are a lot less rare in the hidden corners of the wilderlands, the deep levels of dungeon complexes, or in the possession of NPCs. By outwards appearance, the devices and architectural remains of the old Terran civilisation generally follow neoclassical, art deco, and high modernist / brutalist influences.

Foreign planes and strange worlds: Boundaries are thin between the plane of Fomalhaut and other dimensions. Adventurers who lose their way may easily find themselves in another world, or be dragged into strange settings by hostile forces, from which they must escape with their own might. It is left open to interpretation whether these worlds are truly different planes, foreign planets, a form of time travel, dream-worlds, or all of these.

Exoticism and colour: As conceived, Fomalhaut strives to be a world of colourful, mosaic-like cultural variety; eccentric and sometimes outré local customs; with a helping of fanciful thought-experiments and surrealism. This is also a setting where wild ideas may be tried in some corner of the world to see how they unfold to their logical conclusions, which is how many of the specific details of this gazetteer came to be.

Keep it adventurous: Ultimately, this is a setting for classic adventure gaming with the usual old-school rulesets, not an exercise in world-building for its own sake, or an attempt to come up with the most bizarre world imaginable. Where a lot of Fomalhaut is colourful, the adventures therein should be immediately familiar. It is a broad canvas to have adventures with a specific flavour, and the needs of the game always come first.

The Sea of Emerald Idols
(as Depicted on a 1988 SF Magazine Cover)

What Is Out There and What Is Yet To Come

At the present time, two main bodies of work for Fomalhaut are available in up-to-date editions: Khosura, King of the Wastelands (a regional sandbox setting which has a bit of everything – city, dungeons, wilderness, and more), and various pieces of The City of Vultures campaign that have been published in Echoes From Fomalhaut. There have been a few others, and there were earlier materials elsewhere (mainly in Fight On! and Knockspell, although many of these have been republished).

Hex-crawl materials:

• Khosura, King of the Wastelands: Includes the writeup of the wilderness setting surrounding the city-state of Khosura, encompassing the south-eastern quadrant of the Batrakasz.
• Thasan: A hex-crawl treatment of the western half of this region, centred around the City of Vultures and extending to the Sea of Kroitos. Published in Echoes #08.

Adventure modules and campaign materials from the EMDT catalogue:

• The Lost Valley of Kishar (levels 6–8): Wilderness adventure set in a small valley populated by strange wildlife.
• Trail of the Sea Demon (levels 3–5): Three interconnected city adventures involving a mysterious cult.
• The Nocturnal Table: Although more broadly usable, the nighttime encounters in this book were originally developed for the City of Vultures.
• People of the Great Wheel: A doomsday sect worshipping an enormous, rolling stone wheel. Published in Echoes #03.
• Terror on Tridentfish Island (levels 3–5): Former island resort gone to ruin. Blood, death, and tourism! Published in Echoes #03.
• The Technological Table: Various high-tech devices from Fomalhaut. Published in Echoes #04.
• Arfel: City-State of the Charnel God: A smaller city-state close to the City of Vultures, ruled by the followers of Ozolba, the zombie god. Published in Echoes #04.
• The Enchantment of Vashundara (levels 3–4 ): A small extraplanar adventure set in the giant-sized palace of the eponymous hero-god. Published in Echoes #05.
• The City of Vultures: A primer to the city-state, with its customs, conspiracies, gods, and places of note. Published in Echoes #06.
• The Gallery of Rising Tombs (levels 4–6+): One of the major dungeon complexes beneath the City of Vultures. It goes deep and gets progressively more dangerous. Published in Echoes #06.
• The Hecatomb of Morthevole (levels 1–4): Mini-dungeon beneath the City of Vultures. Published in Echoes #07.
• The Tomb of Ali Shulwar (levels 4–6+): Another larger dungeon complex beneath the City of Vultures. Published in Echoes #07.
• The White Hand: One of the minor conspiracies in the City of Vultures. Published in Echoes #07.
• Oom the Many: A more prominent conspiracy in the City of Vultures. Published in Echoes #10.
• The Temple of Jeng: The city’s most powerful religion, including their heavily fortified temple. Published in Echoes #10.
• Urmalk the Boundless (levels 3–5): The necropolis of Pentastadion, a place of burial since time immemorial. Published in Echoes #12.
• Catacombs of the Pariahs (levels 3–7): Yet another large dungeon complex beneath the City of Vultures. Published in Echoes #12.
• Tower of the Thief (levels 3–5): A mini-adventure describing an abandoned tower inhabited by a master thief. Published in Echoes #12.

Earlier adventure modules, some to be revised, and excluding those that have already been:

• Black Blood (levels 3–5): A dark prophecy, a scared serving girl, and a nobleman’s villa where things have gone very-very wrong. The opening adventure to our first campaign. Published in Fight On! #05.
• Pentastadion: Large city-state, one of the setting’s main maritime powers. Published in Fight On! #05.
• The City-State of Dusal Dagodli: A very small, eccentric city-state inhabited by various philosophical schools. High Vancian. Published in Fight On! #12.
• Isles on an Emerald Sea (levels 5–10): A series of island scenarios, often fairly broad-strokes in their presentation. Published in Knockspell #01, #02, #04 and #06. I would like to update these, and add some material that saw play, but not publication.
• Systema Tartarobasis (levels 4–6): A larger adventure in a fallen technological utopia. Available here. [A minor note: the module introduction describes Fomalhaut's history as 8000-years long. This was subsequently shortened to a more sensible 4000 years.]
• In the Name of the Principle (levels 5–7): Tournament scenario set in a prosperous city-state known for its Autumn mysteries. A bit over-the-top compered to the setting baseline, but possibly the best thing I have written, so no regerts. Available here.

This is where things stand. My next  project is A Voyage to Fomalhaut, which will serve as the updated and expanded players’ setting gazetteer to replace the one that appeared in Fight On! #03, and should hopefully see release in February. I would like to release more material in the future, especially from our online campaign, which has produced a lot of stuff over three years of play. Even more importantly, I really wish to do a Fomalhaut boxed set with all the hex maps (counting player versions, that would be 18 of them, which is a bit scary to think of), and hex descriptions for the three major explored regions. This will need some work.

Until then, in the spirit of Christmas, here is a preview of A Voyage to Fomalhaut. Since my first post ever on Fomalhaut was a writeup of the deities, this will also be about half of the same chapter – now updated and expanded, with art by the late and great Virginia Frances Sterrett, the Antique Alumni, and yours truly.

A Voyage to Fomalhaut – Preview (2.3MB)

Onwards!

[MODULE/ZINE] Khosura: King of the Wastelands, Drifting Lands, Echoes From Fomalhaut #12 (NOW AVAILABLE!)

A Triumvirate of Adventure

I am pleased to announce the publication of three new release, including a hardcover sandbox supplement with city, dungeon and wilderness adventures; a players’ setting gazetteer, and the newest volume of my zine. That’s a handful!

Khosura: King of
the Wastelands

“Those risen against me, I pillaged their kingdoms, and placed my foot on their proud necks before the coming of the end...” Overking Srabmar, He Who Buys and Sells, is no more, and the twelve cities he has left in rubble are mere heaps of stone in a destroyed land. Yet many years later, the City-State of the Four Mysteries still stands on the shores of a salt lake, dreaming of past and future glories, from its gilded palaces to the depths of its Undercity. This is Khosura, King of the Wastelands! Visit a sword & sorcery city-state of ancient customs, dark sorceries, and secretive mystery religions – built on a wasteland wrecked by ancient wars, divine retribution, and successive cycles of harsh, tyrannical kings. Descend into an extensive Undercity, go up against treacherous mirages and cruel plans, and plunder the treasures of a land where might makes right, life is harsh, and the glory of heroes is earned at the cost of spilled blood.”

First and foremost, I am really pleased to announce the much-delayed release of Khosura: King of the Wastelands. Based on multiple campaigns in weird desert lands, this is a rather large, 164-page hardcover describing Khosura, a city-state in the world of Fomalhaut, its extensive Undercity, and the surrounding wastelands. Designed for characters of level 3–8, and compatible with OSRIC rules, the supplement offers a wide, deep playing environment (a sandbox with lots of sand in it) to set your own adventures. It includes the following materials:

• An adventure-friendly description of the city-state of Khosura, with its customs, factions, rumours, rumour and encounter charts, and 28 keyed areas, from teeming markets to the palaces of the high and mighty!
• An interconnected, vast Undercity divided among 8 levels and several sub-levels to a total of 176 keyed areas, including tomb-complexes, hidden holy sites, magical enigmas, and the remnants of ancient times!
• A wilderness section describing the Desert of Regulator, a place of deadly mirages and antique ruins, in a hex-crawl format. 45 keyed hexes can serve as springboards for further adventures to crumbling ziggurats, warlike enclaves, grandiose monuments, and  places haunted by deadly dreams. Complex wilderness encounter tables are included to handle travel across the points of interest.
• A grab-bag of supplemental materials: Stone Gullet, a wasteland outpost (and true keep on the borderland); a selection of caravans and NPCs to meet on the road; and three smaller adventures leading deep into wasteland mirages.
• An appendix of new monsters and magic items.
• A separate map pack of four foldout map sheets with GM and player cartography.

Khosura: King of the Wastelands is illustrated by Peter Mullen (who did the cover and various interiors), Cameron Hawkey, Graphite Prime, Vincentas Saladis, Sean Stone, as well as the Dead Victorians, the Antique Alumni, and the Robot Overlords. The cartography was done by Robert S. Conley (city and dungeon maps), Sean Stone (who did the excellent bird’s eye players’ map of the city), and myself (wilderness hex map).

Drifting Lands

“In a barbaric age where old certainties are gone, everything is possible. This booklet describes lands in turmoil. Old powers have fallen, civilisation has retreated to a few refugia, and barbarism is on the move. On the Isle of Erillion, a successful island kingdom has secured coastal footholds, but has made few inroads in the isle’s old forests and high mountains. The Twelve Kingdoms, a collection of small feudal realms, have descended into civil war and mutual destruction while an arctic empire dreams of conquest. And in the Kassadian Empire, the long decline of a high civilisation has created a landscape of rival city-states, militaristic frontier-towns, and barbarous hinterlands – against the shadows of an Empire that bitterly clings to its life. Here are lands ripe for adventure, plunder, and conquest. Here are thrones to win, dark fates to avert, and frontiers to tame – here is a world to be reshaped by the able and shrewd! And here is your opportunity!”

I am also pleased to announce Drifting Lands, a players’ gazetteer to my (more or less) vanilla fantasy setting, which has previously been released in bits and pieces over multiple zine issues as our campaigns progressed therein. This is a 52-bage booklet that expands on and consolidates these materials into a player-friendly guidebook. It includes the following materials:

• A bird’s eye big-picture description of the setting and its known regions, from the Isle of Erillion to the Empire of Pand.
• 34 gods and heresies, from fleet-footed Apelles, God of Messengers; and Galerius Demarcator, God of Boundaries and milestones, one of the three imperial cults; to the extinct (?) cult of the Purchased God and everyone’s favourite, the frog-god Tsathoggus. Notes are also offered on the Omnipotent Index, the Kassadian Empire’s monstrously outdated and utterly unjust legal code to classify approved and heretical religions.
• More detailed guides to three regions, focusing on customs, places of interest, and conflicts that call for adventurers to resolve.
• A separate map pack with six fold-out hex map sheets: players’ and GM’s cartogrtaphy for Erillion, the Twelve Kingdoms (two sheets), Kassadia (two sheets), and the blank slate Savage Peninsula.

Drifting Lands features a cover image by an unknown alumnus (culled from an ancient US college yearbook, it is a striking piece that makes quite an impression), and interior illustrations by Cameron Hawkey, Vincentas Saladis, the Dead Victorians, and the Antique Alumni.

Treasures of
the Necropolis

Also furthermore, I am pleased to announce the publication of the twelfth issue of my fanzine, Echoes From Fomalhaut. As usual, this is a 56-page zine dedicated to adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for OSRIC and other old-school systems. It is the most lavishly illustrated issue yet, with cover art by Peter Mullen, and interior illustrations by Cameron Hawkey, Vincentas Saladis, Graphite Prime, Ferenc Fabian, the Dead Victorians, and the Antique Alumni. This issue features a varied assortment of scenarios, three of which have been tested in both campaign and convention play. The following materials are included:

• Urmalk the Boundless (levels 3–5, 24+24 keyed areas), an open-ended, site-based adventure describing a weird necropolis next to a large city. A place of burial since primordial eras, this is a site of crumbling (and sometimes repurposed) mausoleums, catacomb passages, and more oddities. Beyond its campaign origins, the module saw extensive playtesting at Cauldron Con 2023, Society of Adventurers Con XI, and beyond. It makes for a tournament-style scenario, a side-adventure, or a permanent campaign ficture.
• Catacombs of the Pariahs (levels 3–7, 50 keyed areas), one of the subterranean complexes beneath the City of Vultures. Located under the crooked streets of the Beggars’ District (also described), this is a section of the undercity that goes from reasonably simple to remarkably deadly. From the Court of the Pariah-King to the Domain of Virotán and the Ceramic Space, it just gets stranger and more vicious.
• Castle of the Rose Knight (levels 5–7, 30 keyed areas), an enchanted castle found in the Twelve Kingdoms, easily glimpsed from afar, but unreachable by all but a few, this is a place to test a questing knight’s mettle! All is not what seems, and the Knight of Roses, the visitors’ mysterious host, is not someone to be trifled with.
• Tower of the Thief (levels 3–5, 15 keyed areas): what it says on the tin – the tower of a retired thief, also located in the Beggars’ District. Sort of a small adventure site.

Two foldout map sheets with player and GM maps. While supplies last, a third sheet will also be included in orders (I accidentally sent off a wrong map file to the printer, so this became an extra).

* * *

The print versions of the modules and the zine are available from my Bigcartel store; the PDF edition will be published through DriveThruRPG with a few months’ delay. As always, customers who buy the print edition will receive the PDF version free of charge.

[CAMPAIGN JOURNAL] The Inverted Tower of Hyél Singh

I bring you news of glory and death from the City of Vultures!

Four adventurers, sworn to take revenge for the destruction of the fair city of Avendar, have conspired to track down and assassinate their penultimate target, “He Who Is Not Known”, who has so far drawn many veils of secrecy around him. By now, dead was Isomarg, Maker of Images, identified at a ball of the rich and influential, and hunted down in his own residence. Dead was Ardaviraf, He Who Slumbers Deep Beneath, roused from his drugged torpor to which he had consigned himself, and confronted and killed as he emerged to a higher level of the Underworld. And dead was Vifranavaz, He Who Walks Beyond, followed to the Crystal Palace, an orbital pleasure resort, and found already dead in the dark vacuum of space among the stars he had sought with such obsession. But the price had been high: many of Avendar’s finest agents were also killed in action, with new operatives taking their place. The sole survivor of the second team (after the ill-fated first was unmasked and neutralised) was Farzan, Savant of the Seven Mysteries (Magic-User 9, recently reaching name level), and he was joined by Bron the Elder (Fighter 8, who could calculate the exact value of any object with mathematical precision due to a strange device implanted in his skull deep in the Underworld), Tigran Zard (Cleric 7, a servant of the baleful Sea Demon), and finally Farsi the Younger (Thief 6, Farzan’s created simulacrum).

Two more foes remained: Mehersimin, the Faithful Companion, who had chosen to abandon high society and marry the dreadful Kwárü Khan, a subterranean horror whose very name was only spoken in whispers; and “He Who Is Not Known”, who had practiced complete anonymity. A few fractions of information were known: that “He Who Is Not Known” was a high-ranking priest of the Temple of Jeng; and that he had once infiltrated Avendar’s avengers under the name “Jamal”, and feigned his death when he had presumably learned what he wanted – the latter fact revealed in the mirror of the vampire-mage Riamos in his sealed tower. Divine prophecy could not find “He Who Is Not Known”, only that he was hidden even from the eye of the gods. It was eventually theorised that “He Who Is Not Known” might be using an amulet of proof vs. detection and location, and the company’s objective was thus focused on tracing the route of these items through the City’s trade networks.

In the previous episode, Bron the Elder and Tigran Zard had masked themselves as desert nomads, and visited one Lady An-Raydn, an aristocratic socialite running the most exclusive trading house on Uugen’s Market. Here they learned that these items were indeed for sale, but in such high demand that there would be a long waiting list. Bron and Tigran Zard nodded, and took a good look at the document where the lady’s scribe had recorded their aliases. The same night, a quick heist was conducted to enter the trading house, procure the document, and make a copy – and leave quietly. The names had, indeed, revealed a clue: an amulet was purchased by one Hothog Mirza, as an intermediary for the Temple of Jeng. The infiltrators were left pondering in a dark street about their next move…

[ZINE] Echoes From Fomalhaut #08 (NOW AVAILABLE!)

Welcome to Castle Sullogh!

I am pleased to announce the publication of the eighth issue of my fanzine, Echoes From Fomalhaut. This is a 52-page zine dedicated to adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school rules, with cover art by Stefan Poag, and illustrations by Denis McCarthy, Graphite Prime, and the Dead Victorians.

The first adventure in the zine takes players to the shores of the Twelve Kingdoms, a cold land of rival petty kingdoms and strange wonders. Here stands Yrrtwano’s Repose, a ruined manor house whose walls now protect an entire village. Lord Yrrtwano’s time has long passed, but he sleeps under the manor still, and the great hunter is said to slumber most uneasily! This is a dungeon adventure with 15 keyed areas, for levels 3-4 (my players brought a small company of NPC knights to share the glories and the dangers).

The sullogh are coming! The zine’s titular scenario, Castle Sullogh, was the penultimate adventure in our Isle of Erillion campaign. This woodland ruin had stood in its place from the beginning, just within reach, but always too formidable to tackle until the adventurers had no other choice left. It is suitable for levels 5-9 (much depending on the party’s approach – ours was repelled pretty badly on their first foray, and had to turn to more careful infiltration on subsequent tries), and covers 55 keyed areas, including buried secrets, the quarters of three powerful witches, and the halls of the murderous sullogh who were brewed for murder!

This issue also describes the western half of the lands of Thasan, “beyond the City of Vultures”. Arid wastelands dotted with tiny pockets of lush vegetation lie next to deep blue seas where islands hide weird inhabitants and unknown dangers, and two great empires, one ancient and sinful, one recent and fanatically pure, clash over parched wastes devastated by ancient catastrophe. Venture into the dreaming ruins of Zangul and shadowy Korlag Thyr; walk the Road of Iskarades, and try your guile against the wily masterminds of Virkat and its great Judgement Machine! Great phantasms and jewelled palaces await – and therein lurk beauty, strangeness and death in equal measure. This is a large hex-crawl describing half of one map sheet with 103 keyed and briefly described locales (which is where our games were located).

Long time in the making, Echoes #08 is a larger than usual issue, with a double map sheet: one of them a splendid players’ colour map of the Isle of Erillion, courtesy of Istvan Boldog-Bernad, who made it in Wonderdraft. (He also played Armand the Scumbag, human assassin, in our campaign.) The other sheet contains GM’s maps: one of Castle Sullogh, and one of Thasan and its strange lands.

The print version of the fanzine is available from my Bigcartel store; the PDF edition will be published through DriveThruRPG with a few months’ delay. As always, customers who buy the print edition will receive the PDF version free of charge.

Map sheets, booklet, and UVG dice

[MODULE] In the Shadow of the City-God & Trail of the Sea Demon (NOW AVAILABLE!)

In the Shadow of the City-God
& Trail of the Sea Demon

I am pleased to announce the publication of two new adventure modules, In the Shadow of the City-God and Trail of the Sea Demon. Both of them are delayed releases, which might have been ready for Spring, but then the Bat Plague happened, and the modules did not. However, they are now ready at last. 

Cloak and dagger...

Written by Istvan Boldog-Bernad, and illustrated by Denis McCarthy (whoso did the cover art) and Stefan Poag, In the Shadow of the City-God is a 32-page adventure module for 3^rd to 4^th level characters. The module is an effortless combination of urban intrigue, cloak-and-dagger action, and dungeon crawling in Mur, a city-state worshipped and forever constructed by its citizens as a living god. Inspired by Shakespeare and the bloody renaissance authors who had preceded him, Mur is one of the great charismatic locations in fantasy RPGs, and an excellent place to set your own adventures – after you have played this one. In fact, a further wilderness scenario is also included in the booklet (yes, it is positively packed). The module comes with a players’ map of the city.

“Mur’s fortunes have been built on tear salt, and merchants from distant lands travel to the city for this healing elixir. There are two tear salt springs in town, owned by two rival patrician families: the Falconi and the Capullo. Mur’s laws forbid open conflict, and like most crimes against citizens, the punishment for breaking the peace is severe: live entombment within the living city’s ever-growing walls! Nevertheless, cloak-and-dagger intrigue always claims new victims, and discord between the two families has now escalated into almost open warfare after the elderly Ercol Falconi’s young wife has disappeared. Time is ticking away, and only a bold company of outsiders can resolve the feuds and discover the masterminds behind it all… under the watchful eyes of the City-God!”

***

...enigmas and dreams.

The second module, Trail of the Sea Demon, is a 32-page collection of three loosely connected weird fantasy scenarios for 3rd to 5th level characters. These mini-adventures revolve around a secretive mystery-religion, and the hidden paths which lead to it in a fantastic, labyrinthine city. They can be inserted into any sinful fantasy metropolis, and may be smoothly integrated into an ongoing campaign. Originally published in Fight On! magazine, the adventures have been revised and expanded based on further play, and presented in an accessible, user-friendly format in the current edition, with illustrations by Peter Mullen (whose cover is one for the ages), Graphite Prime, Jerry Boucher, and Stefan Poag.

“The Temple has stood in an abandoned plaza since time immemorial. It is part of the city, but no known street or alleyway leads to it. Only those who wait for the appointed time can embark on a pilgrimage of shadows and dreams to walk new ways through the silent and dark city. It is said that only a select few know the way except for the fanatical priests who worship the destructive powers of the sea. Those who have sought the Sea Demon’s advice seek it rarely; those who seek its riches have never returned to tell the tale. But now, the city’s past may grant a key to solve an occult mystery… Trail of the Sea Demon is a collection of three short adventures concerning the way to the Sea Demon’s sinister temple, the secrets and perils that await therein, and what may follow afterwards.”

The print versions of the modules are available from my Bigcartel store; the PDF edition will be published through DriveThruRPG with three months’ delay. As always, customers who buy the print edition will receive the PDF version free of charge.

[ZINE] Echoes From Fomalhaut #07 (NOW AVAILABLE!)

From Beneath the Glacier

I am pleased to announce the publication of the seventh issue of my fanzine, Echoes From Fomalhaut. This is a 40-page zine dedicated to adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school rules, with cover art by Matthew Ray, and illustrations by Graphite Prime, Denis McCarthy, Stefan Poag, and the Dead Victorians.

The Bat Plague may still be out there, but now so is this zine (and YOU can be the judge which one you like better). Not all restrictions are gone, but they are suitably relaxed to resume print sales and shipping. Delivery is bound to be slower than usual for a while – I am hearing that packages, which had taken five or six days to reach European addresses now take twelve days or so – but at least it seems to work without major problems. If you can trust the Post, you can perhaps trust the rest of our civilisation as well.

And so, we have this issue! The common theme this time seems to be “things that go deeper than anticipated” – at least this is one aspect which, by some act of Fortune, unites the four articles. There is something quite fascinating going into an adventure, and discovering that the dungeon you expected to end has a deep well going down to a new level; the plot threads you have almost had in your hand suddenly trail off again in new directions, or the room beyond the secret door has a second secret door, hidden even more carefully. What lies beyond the door, the well, or the almost solved plotline? Only one way to find out!

The titular adventure, From Beneath the Glacier, takes the characters to the high mountains where something has gone wrong. Where do the nighttime raids and strange corpses washed down the rivers come from? The answers are found in this scenario, with 21 keyed areas, offering challenges related to navigation, exploration, and confrontation – not to mention a major dilemma once the company is victorious. This is an adventure for mid-level characters, levels 5-7 (our test party was slightly stronger by the time they got there, and had an easier time).

Of course, sometimes an undead-haunted cellar is just an undead-haunted cellar – The Hecatomb of Morthevole is a take on the proverbial “help this guy with rats in his cellar” dungeon, except it is not rats, and the cellar goes deeper than you might think (levels 2-4, 12 keyed areas, which is not bad for a two-pager – I am thinking there will be more smallish scenarios in future issues).

This issue’s centrepiece, drawn from The City of Vultures, is the best known of its Underworld complexes. The Tomb of Ali Shulwar is fairly well known among the city’s thieves and smugglers, but few know of its deeper layers, and none before have mapped its connections, secret sections and true depths. This article presents two entrance levels and three main levels of the tomb (more precisely, what lies below the tomb… if the tomb is even the real tomb) in 66 keyed areas. The dungeons are mostly for the 4^th to 6^th level range, with outliers (and tougher side-areas, to be presented next issue).

The issue’s final article, The White Hand, introduces one of the City’s lesser conspiracies. A vigilante group formed to mete out “good old-fashioned street justice” to market thieves (and everyone the members believe to be one!) would usually merit little discussion beyond “Thugs (3d6)”… but something is off here. Links to now extinct organisations, infiltration attempts by other conspiracies, odd musical tastes and bizarre characters hanging around the White Hand make it a gateway into an entire world of hidden meanings and secret warfare.  Who is using whom? Who watches the watchers watching the watchers? Most importantly, what happens when it all falls apart at the slightest shove? Whether used in the City of Vultures or somewhere else (which would be easier than it first looks), it will be fascinating to find out.

The issue’s map supplement this time is an unkeyed dungeon level. Or it is multiple smaller dungeon levels on one sheet? You be the judge!

The print version of the fanzine is available from my Bigcartel store; the PDF edition will be published through DriveThruRPG with a few months’ delay. As always, customers who buy the print edition will receive the PDF version free of charge.

***

In other news...

• Castle Xyntillan is being reprinted. While copies of the first printing are still available, there will be more soon. The PDF edition is also out there, although the promised, improved functionality will still take some time (my IRL job has been picking up pace again).
• If you look at the back cover of Echoes #07, you will discover a listing for EMDT62. This was too optimistic, but this module – the English version of the great In the Shadow of the City-God – should be published early next month… if things go well, along with a module collection.
• The Four Dooms of Thisium, our Bat Plague placeholder campaign, keeps racking it up. 44 PC and follower casualties have been noted, and while one Doom has been averted, three more still hang over the city, abandoned and cursed by its very gods!

From Beneath the Glacier

[ZINE] Echoes From Fomalhaut #06 (NOW AVAILABLE!)

Echoes From Fomalhaut #06

I am pleased to announce the publication of the sixth issue of my fanzine, Echoes From Fomalhaut. This is a 44-page zine dedicated to adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school rules, with cover art by Stefan Poag and illustrations by Denis McCarthy, Stefan Poag, and the Dead Victorians.

This issue holds a special significance for me, containing materials I have been hoping to publish for many years. The City of Vultures, a sinful, crumbling metropolis ruled by bizarre customs and malevolent conspiracies, has been the setting for three campaigns and multiple one-off games I have refereed. So far, precious little of these adventures have seen publication: by the time they were ready for release, both flagship old-school fanzines had folded, and I was left without a publication venue – clearly, it was simultaneously too big and too fragmentary to fit a single module. You could say I needed my own fanzine to make it happen – and here we are. Welcome to the City of Vultures!

The current issue offers a primer on the city, introducing its cruel gods, weird customs and labyrinthine secret societies. This article is reprinted from Knockspell, but updated and expanded to reflect the multiple years of play that has taken place since, and accompanied by a dual city/wilderness map with player-level detail. Some notes are also offered on the lands surrounding the City – these wilderness modules (there are two maps’ worth of them) are also forthcoming in later issues. The main focus of Echoes #06, however, is The Gallery of Rising Tombs, describing one of the four major Underworld complexes beneath the Beggars’ District. This is not a single dungeon; rather, an interconnected maze of entrance levels (three of them), sub-levels and side-complexes, for a total of 81 keyed areas. This scenario is suitable for characters of quite different power (but mostly in the 4-6 range). From a disreputable caravanserai to the under-temple of the rat-god and the domain of a damned warrior yearning for his lost love, mysterious discoveries and horrible death await in equal measure in… The Gallery of Rising Tombs!

Gaming dice not included

From the Isle of Erillion, this issue brings you an enchanted forest. The Wandering Glade is of no place and every place, appearing at different points of the land. For some, the glade is a place to seek lost treasures and hidden knowledge. For some, it is a site for nighttime revels and human sacrifice. And for some, it is a trap with no easy way out. Yet there is something about the place which no living being has discovered… yet! This wilderness adventure for 4^th to 6^th level characters (but suitable for repeat incursions at different character levels) describes the twisting trails and hidden clearings of this arboreal realm, as well as a hidden mini-dungeon for those who would seek its ultimate secrets (26 + 13 keyed areas). And, finally, if you need to kill things properly, there is The Armoury, a storehouse of 30 magical weapons. Confound your foes with The Sword of Barriers, master the treacherous Axe of Many Runes, or take up the choice of champions, mighty Frogbringer!

The print version of the fanzine is available from my Bigcartel store; the PDF edition will be published through RPGNow with a few months’ delay. As always, customers who buy the print edition will receive the PDF version free of charge.

IMPORTANT SHIPPING NOTE: Due to project meetings and conference season, orders between September 28 and October 11 may ship with some delay. I will try to do my best, but I will spend most of this time out of town.

[ZINE] Echoes From Fomalhaut #04 (NOW AVAILABLE!)

Revenge of the Frogs

I am pleased to announce the publication of the fourth issue of my fanzine, Echoes From Fomalhaut. As before, this is a zine dedicated to adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school rules, with cover art by Matthew Ray, and illustrations by Denis McCarthy, Stefan Poag, Andrew Walter, and others. 

Revenge of the Frogs is, of course, dedicated to the best monsters in gaming, and it ain’t dragons! The titular adventure module takes the characters to Silvash, a dying port town facing a batrachian menace, and beyond to a weird swampland inhabited by strange inhabitants, and teeming with… but let that be a surprise. 

Those who do not find frogs to their liking shall surely find solace in the fact that Echoes #04 also presents a small city state. Arfel: City State of the Charnel God is a small city ruled by the cult of a dead god, but administered by the living – and those who would come between them might find either riches or an unpleasant death! A fold-out player’s map of the city state forms this issue’s map supplement. 

This issue concludes the hex key of the Isle of Erillion. Feudal lords, tiny settlements lost in the wilderness, and enigmas of nature and magic await in deep forests, forbidding mountains, and on the high seas. As before, Erillion may be used as a sandbox of its own, or incorporated into the GM’s preferred setting. 

And if you like lasers, there are lasers! Previously published on this blog, The Technological Table is a repository of technological instruments, from futuristic weaponry to the sinister relics of an advanced age. 

The print version of the fanzine is available from my Bigcartel store; the PDF edition will be published through RPGNow with a few months’ delay. As always, customers who buy the print edition will receive the PDF version free of charge.

[ZINE] Echoes From Fomalhaut #03 (NOW AVAILABLE!)

Blood, Death, and Tourism!

I am pleased to announce the publication of the third issue of Echoes From Fomalhaut. As before, this is a zine dedicated to adventures and GM-friendly campaign materials for Advanced old-school rules, with illustrations by Stefan Poag (who did the cover for this issue), Denis McCarthy, and various long-dead Victorians. 

Blood, Death, and Tourism is centred around two longer articles. The first is an adventure module set on Tridentfish Island, an exotic island resort gone to rot, and currently being rediscovered by visitors from a sinful and decadent city state. Ancient mysteries and perplexing discoveries await! This article is the first published adventure from our City of Vultures campaign (the second on the world of Fomalhaut). Further issues will explore the city and the nearby lands in more detail.

The other large article describes the eastern half of the Isle of Erillion, with its ruins, castles, mysterious forests and inhabited settlements. From the city of Baklin to an archipelago of pirates and Northman raiders; and from gloomy highlands to magical forests, the hex entries provide half of a vanilla fantasy setting suitable for sandbox play. Erillion is easy to use on its own, or to place within the GM’s milieu of choice. The issue also includes a fold-out hex map of the island (the less accurate and less detailed player’s map was published in Issue #02).

Two smaller articles are also included: one adapts the beasts of Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant to Advanced old-school rules, while the other presents a mystery from the wastelands of Fomalhaut. What is the Great Wheel and who are the hosts who follow on its trail of devastation? The answer to at least one of these questions is revealed in Echoes #03!

The print version of the fanzine is available from my Bigcartel store; the PDF edition will be published through RPGNow with a few months’ delay. As always, customers who buy the print edition will receive the PDF version free of charge.