My Fantasy RPG World, Feedback and Ideas appreciated

Holy Humanoids Batman!
Holy Mayan Myths Batman!
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I thought I’d want to add some kind of subterranean monster that is not monstrous in their behavior. I thought about making one of Mera’s sacred animals bats. Mera loves it when creatures strive to live simply and well. Let’s make Nycter one of Mera’s creations!

I did some digging. There is basically zero official background material on Nycter in D&D lore outside of their MM entry and very little fan-made fluff. Basically, one of their illustrator made the concept art for Nycter. The editor was like “Cool art, let’s include this in one of Monstrous Manuals!” and then no one went any further.

I want my setting to include peaceful bat people. Given that there is basically no lore to borrow from, I have to start from scratch. Ergo, I have no reason to call my bat people “Nycter,” I don't want to get sued.


I like the name Camazotz. Camazotz is an ancient Mayan mythological figure, so the name is in the public domain. Camazotz was a mostly malevolent Mayan death god that was based on vampire bats. The Ancient Mayans saw small vampire bats feeding on mammals and then they saw giant fruit bats.

“What if these giant fruit bats thirsted for blood? We would be screwed!”

Hence the inspiration for Camazotz.

This 7:48 video on Camazotz is pretty good but not required viewing.

Batman comics and Batman the Animated Series based the Man Bat on Camazotz. A few video games have Camazotz as a monster type. Godzilla comics and videos games have boss monsters called Camazotz. Camazotz are usually bad guys, or a bad guy. The Mayan god, Camazotz, was associated with death and darkness, this is stuff Greymoria likes.

I really like the Camazotz in Werewolf, the Apocalypse. They are one of the few heroic factions in WtA. Most good guys are actually flawed anti-heroes. Heroic good guys tend to be driven to extinction. That’s what happened to the Camazotz. Villainous bad guys destroyed the European branch of the Camazotz. Misinformed antiheroes destroyed the Mayan branch of the Camazotz after Spanish Conquistadors killed most of the Camazotz human kinfolk. The Camazotz of this setting were Cassandra-like prophets that were always right, but no one listened to them.


But What About Scalenex's Bat People?

So here are my thoughts.

The Camazotz were a literally blood thirsty race of human bat people who terrorized Greymoria’s enemies in tropical regions until in amazing coup, Mera convinced a large portion of the Camazotz to give up their murderous ways and seek a peaceful existence.

I haven't fleshed out the details yet. I don't know who Mera's primary agent(s) in this process was/were

I don’t know what to rename them. Camazotz literally translates into “death bat.” I couldn’t find a good Mayan dictionary for me to make “life bat” or “light bat” or “peace bat.” It’s not based on any real word I’m aware of, but I will call the redeemed bat people “Kalazotz” until someone comes up with something else.

Forgotten Realms and fantasy in general has all sort of fantasy creatures that represent a good guy race being corrupted but it’s very rare to see bad guy races that are redeemed. Even Tolkien did this (the first orcs, were mutated elves). Individuals from bad guy races are redeemed all the time, but they are never redeemed en masse. Thus, I can pat myself on the back for being clever.


I need to figure out how old to make the Zotz people. I want them to be humanoid, so that pretty much rules out the First Age. Mostly likely the Camazotz were a monster created to terrorize tropical elves in the Second Age, or they were created to terrorize tropical humans in the Third Age. I suppose, the Camazotz could terrorize some tropical race other than humans or elves that Greymoria doesn’t like. Perhaps Greymoria sent Camazotz to terrorize Lizardfolk? Admittedly, I haven’t developed my tropical biome much.

The Kalazotz probably physiologically different from the Camazotz (they probably don’t drink blood anymore), but they are still scary looking bat people. Even if the humans and demi-humans don’t have stories about evil scary Camazotz, just on appearance alone, humans are probably likely to instinctively fear Kalazotz.

Mera’s Tenders could try to spread tales about how wonderful the Kalazotz are, but Greymoria’s minions could easily leak rumors about the Kalazotz to make them persona non grata among the civilized races. If the Kalazotz are ugly bat people, the stories of their evil are probably believed more often than tales of their goodness, even if Greymoria’s minions are not viewed as trustworthy. Besides, Greymoria’s propagandists don’t generally identify themselves as Greymoria worshipers in public.

In order to avoid angry mobs with torches and pitchforks, the Kalazotz mostly live underground in places humans and demihumans don’t like to go. They are peaceful and good natured, but they are also isolationist given their historical experiences. The Kalazotz are peaceful, but they are probably not pacifists. They will defend themselves. Some Kalazotz train in weapons and offensive magic.


If there are any Original Recipe Camazotz left, than they certainly loathe the Kalazotz. A lone Camazotz could probably obliterate a lone Kalazotz in single combat, but the community-centered Kalazotz can probably mobilize groups better than the Camazotz can. A Kalazotz can probably avoid conflicts with humans and demi-humans with relative ease while a Camazotz would have trouble not drawing hostile attention from humans. Thirst for blood and all that. Since the Camazotz are pretty much at war with everyone, the Kalazotz probably have a numbers advantage over them.

Still it’s hard to completely wipe out an entire intelligent species. I could justify pockets of Camazotz survivors if I want. I could split the Hollow Earths between warring factions of Camazotz and Kalazotz if I want. Or Camazotz could be extinct.

If Camazotz are extinct, I am thinking of creating a small faction of Kalazotz that I shall call "Neo-Cams". The Neo-Cams are Kalazotz that say “I’m tired of fleeing and hiding whenever flightless humanoids encroach on us. They should flee and hide from us.” The Neo-Cams may or not include some favored souls of Greymoria among them.


Camazotz are originally a jungle monster, but if I make the Zotz people of human or near-human intelligence, they can utilize warm clothes, controlled fire, or simple magic to say warm. Also, bats fly, so migrating is not that hard.

Kalazotz are unlikely to be seen in frigid environments but I don’t see why they could be common in temperate areas. Among other things, the temperate zone of Scarterra has a lot more useable land than the tropical zone, so Kalazotz are probably not considered a tropical race anymore. Camazotz, if they are still around, can also adapt and migrate to colder climates. They probably would face extinction if they refused to leave tropical areas.

How Big Are They?

In D&D 3.5, Nycter are pretty small, basically flying gnomes. In ancient Mayan Mythlore, Camazotz is a god so he probably has a variable size. In video games Camazotz tend to range between giant-sized and kaiju-sized. In DC comics and cartoons, Man Bat is the size of a large muscular human.

I figure the original Camazotz would resemble Man Bat. Modern Kalazotz would probably be smaller, either gnome sized (3 feet tall and some change) or Kenku sized (4 feet tall and some change).


That’s how the Zotz do

There is no rule that says Camazotz and Kalazotz have to be balanced with humans, powerwise, but whenever I create a fantasy race, my instincts tell me to balance them as closely as I can.

So I’m figuring Camazotz would be roughly equal to human when it comes to physical attributes. Camazotz were created to be a physical threat, but it’s hard to justify a flyer being built like a linebacker, so if a flying monster is exactly as strong as a human, that’s pretty impressive.

Camazotz should probably get social debuffs, maybe mental debuffs too. They’d certainly have weaponized fangs, probably have weaponized claws. They probably need to use weapons to handle armored opponents. While not better at withstanding damage than humans, they are probably extra resistant against poisons, disease, and toxin.

Kalazotz would probably be pretty agile, possibly more agile than the larger Camasotz, but they’d probably be pretty scrawny. Probably have some kind of Strength and/or toughness debuff relative to humans. Kalazotz probably have sharper teeth and nails than humans, but they may or may not be able to inflict lethal damage with them. They are certainly no match for Camazotz in unarmed combat.


Appearance is one of the nine attributes I took from White Wolf’s d10 system (the one least likely to be rolled). Appearance works just fine when everyone is a human, representing physical attractiveness and commanding presence, but it’s rather difficult to apply to cross-species interactions. For humans, it's like this.

X Mostrous
● Ugly or extremely unimpressive
●● Average
●●● Attractive
●●●● Gorgeous
●●●●● Angelic

Camazotz would have what I call “Inverse Appearance” (impressively frightening). A monster with a high Inverse Appearance can cow people into surrendering or running away with their scary looks alone. Kalazotz would have regular Appearance, but very low levels of it, or maybe very low levels of inverse Appearance. At the very least, they would get a huge penalty on Appearance when interacting with non-Zotz people.



Flight is a very powerful ability. But relative to other Scarterran fantasy creatures that fly, both Zotz races would be clumsy and slow. Birds could literally fly circles around them. It's still a huge advantage over non-flying foes.

Both Zotz races would probably have superior senses to humans in the dark, but inferior senses compared to regular bats. Sonar is very powerful, but it’s less powerful on the whole if it comes with weaker conventional senses or if it’s paired with a vulnerability to sunlight. If the Zotz have superior darkness senses to humans and comparable daylight senses to humans that’s a strong advantage. If the Zotz have superior night senses and inferior daylight senses that would be balanced.

Real world tropical bats, both fruit bats and vampire bites, have fairly strong senses of smell. I may or may not Make Kalazotz fond of fruit. Between sonar and their noses, Zotz probably have superior senses on the whole compared to humans.

Fruits bats are diurnal but most other bats are nocturnal. Kalazotz are probably nocturnal. Camazotz are almost certainly nocturnal. Are the Zotz nocturnal out of preference or nocturnal out of necessity? In other words, are they disoriented or weakened by bright light?


I think both Zotz races would utilize spears as their primary weapon of choice based on Shadiversity’s unnecessarily long video on what weapons would winged humanoids use. Both Zotz races probably utilize drop weapons to fight ground based opponents.

Both Zotz races would favor stealth since the Camazotz do not have overwhelming numbers and the Kalazotz do not have overwhelming strength. Both Zotz wouldn't able to wear much armor without compromising their flight. To compensate for a lack of armor and raw might, both Zotz would favor ambushes and hit-and-run tactics. Even if they aren't weakened by sunlight, a love of stealth could encourage them to be nocturnal.

EDIT: Real bats are not blinded by sunlight, but given that Greymoria is involved and the original Mayan myths made Camasotz a god of darkness, I can still make daylight baneful to either or both species of Zotz.


Anyway, I'm open to everyone's feedback on my Bat People.

 

Zotz is just the Mayan word for bat. I just used "Zotz" because I got tired of writing "Camazotz and Kalazotz" when referring to traits of both.

As silly as it is, I think I can work with this. I like to. work with treasure that is not just giant piles of coins and the occasional gem. And Neshik's player is relentless in hunting regents, and now he's been using it as currency.

I could give the Kalazotz some kind of candy they manufacture from underground plants or fungi. The Kalazotz candy would be a luxury good rich people might want to buy. Perhaps there would be a somewhat rare regent that I could use as a story hook to bait the PCs into opting to travel to a Hollow Earth.

 

So winter weather has kept my group from meeting recently. So the players just looted a dungeon from an evil but mentally imbalanced lich. I admit I need to update my map but here's my rough initial sketch.



A very skilled orc ranger has surreptitiously spied on the PCs, without them realizing it. The ranger is not aware of the specifics, but knows enough to put 2 and 2 together. The PCs are a tough trio that looted a dungeon where stupid young orcs have disappeared in the past. The PCs have treasure, and their path through the wilderness is predictable and fairly easy to track.

Granted Neshik just picked his first dot of Plant Magic. He could easily magically obscure the party's tracks, but he hasn't bothered to use his new power yet. He basically got Plant ● as a stepping stone to Plant ●●●.

The Orcs are a small Maylar cult within the Dirty Crow Orc tribe. Most orcs respect Maylar, but this small cadre represents elite fanatics. I figured their leader, Murash could tell the entire Dirty Crow tribe what's going on, but I think he'd rather get the loot for himself, so he's not going to tell the tribe at large about it. Also, it would unfair of me to have the PCs fight two hundred orcs.

So the PCs need to defeat, intimidate, or bribe Murash. If the PCs talk Murash into taking some tribute, or the PCs kill every last orc in Murash's little group. That's probably end of it. But if the PCs kill some of Murash's group, and the rest get away. It's likely the survivors will rat the PCs location out to the Dirty Crows.

The Dirty Crows are pretty widely dispersed and would take a while to assemble. Assuming Neshik's player is clever to actually use his power to obscure their tracks when he knows orcs might be after him, it's unlikely that the Dirty Crows would catch up to the PCs before they make it to the castle of their friend Duke Zimoz.

The PCs took the precious metal and regents from the Dungeon Of Guldur. but they left behind a huge pile of coal, iron, tin, and other utilitarian metal, plus a large forge and an alchemists lab.. The PCs intend to help Duke Zimoz collect these resources.

If the PCs have not raised the ire of the entire Dirty Crow tribe, it would be pretty easy for Duke Zimoz's men to claim all the goodies in Guldur's dungeon. If the PCs have provoked the entire Dirty Crow, this would be very difficult.

Duke Zimoz could hold off the Dirty Crow tribe if they attacked his castle, but he does not have enough men to march 100+ miles into the wilderness and fight in the open, even with the PCs providing support.

Duke Zimoz, or more likely the PCs, would need to recruit reinforcements. The closest reinforcements would be the men of the cowardly Count Poloc and the peasant militia set up by Umara Witherwisp and her Lanterns. The latter is preferable because one of the player's suggested they would want to take on the Dirty Crows before their next tribute time, and it would be good to introduce the Lanterns as a faction now.

Duke Frymar could help, but Zimoz and Frymar dislike each other a lot. Frymar would not help unless he got an unfairly high share of the goodies. King Henryk might provide some men, but he has a lot of his plate.

This could fill a lot of play time. A session can easily be filled with the PCs visiting various factions and negotiating support, and another session could be filled with the PCs joining the army trek into the wilderness.

Or the players could just mark the dungeon on a map for Duke Zimoz and call it a day, in which case I need to move on to something else. Or the PCs could help their buddy Zimoz claim all the goodies with clockwork precision and get everything wrapped up in one session. Either way I need to have something to do for the post Dungeon of Guldur chapter.

So here's my thought inspired by the fact that I've been brainstorming Hollow Earth and figuring that I should probably sketch out a rough idea of what's underneath Fumaya.

The players/PCs have an attitude that goblins are not really a serious threat. One commented that Zimoz's men aren't very competent when 15 of them (counting two of the PCs) took on 30ish goblins and lost one man in the process. To be be fair, I haven't been using goblins to their full potential. Their threat has been pretty feeble. Why not run with this?

Something underground displaced the goblins and chased them out of their territory. Whatever that something it can be a hook for the next chapter of adventures.

A few thoughts for the Hollow Earth(s) underneath Fumaya and it's neighbors.

-Scarterra has a lot of vast underground caverns but not every inch of the surface has a Hollow Earth beneath it.

-There are some dwarves in the Hollow Earth, but not many. To the west of Fumaya there are two Dwarf nations. Dwarfs like to stake claims over Hollow Earth. The thing is, the dwarfs don't have a lot of manpower and the parts of their nation that border Fumaya, the Border Baronies, and Swynfaredia represent the far edge of their territory. They can only garrison or patrol a small fraction of the Hollow Earths within the borders of their nations, so they are going to cherry pick the best mineral nodes and any life stones or elemental fonts which provide foodstuffs.

-The humans and elves don't have any real influence underground. We haven't fleshed out all the Border Baronies yet. There are probably one or two Border Barons that have a special interest in the Hollow Earths, but for the most part they do not have the means or the desire to go poking underground. The Wood Elves of Loren and their Fey allies probably have even less desire to go underground.

-Water, there's a lot of it. House Linijka is the King's House. I haven't marked it on the map yet, but King's Lake, both the city and the lake are here. King's Lake is about the size of Lake Titicaca, which is between Bolivia and Peru. It's a big lake. It's probably fed by a river flowing west from Meckelorn but the lake is also near a font of elemental power where water is fed to it from the Elemental Plane itself. Some of this water is underground. The Hollow Earth near King's Lake is going to have at least one underground river and a lot of lakes and ponds.

In general, the Hollow Earth underneath and near Fumaya is going to have a lot of water. That means they probably have a few Aboleths, but Aboleths are more of a random encounter monster and not a villain monster, at least in my opinion.

Non-Exhaustive Roster of Humanoids that Live Underground in my setting
Certainly Exist
Aranea
Cyclopes
Derro
Dwarves
Goblins
Kalazotz (not statted out yet)

Probably Exist (none of them are statted out yet)
Camazotz
Humans (possibly with subterranean mutations and adaptations)
Myconids
Minotaurs
Umber Hulks
Underground Fae
Underground Orcs

Non-Exhaustive Roster of Intelligent Monsters that Live Underground in my setting
Aboleths
Beholders
Delvers
Destrachauns (not statted out yet)
Dragons

Probably Exist (none of them are statted out yet)
Some kind of monster with a first letter to their name from the latter half of the alphabet.


I don't have many unintelligent monsters statted out yet (fewer than 10). Rust Monsters and Ankhegs are likely to be found underground and I have created d10 stats for . Almost any monster can be adapted to be an underground monster.

Under my d10 based system, unintelligent monsters are very easy to stat out once I have the basic concept. The only abilities they really need are Alertness, Animal Ken, Brawl, Dodge, Stealth, and Survival. The only attributes they need are Dexterity, Stamina, Strength, Wits, and Perception.

Unintelligent Monsters either come in large swarms, medium sized packs, or they run solo. If the monster is a plant or fungus the monster could be an amorphous mass.

Unintelligent monsters usually either rely on very high physical attributes or highly unusual magical abilities. Maybe both.


It's not the most clever monster, though there is a voice in my head saying I should include include giant snakes somewhere. Also, some kind of predatory ooze or man eating fungi sounds good.

I could always have cave trolls, but I haven't figured out yet if I want trolls to be very intelligent beasts or really dumb sapient monsters. Both molds of troll hold an appeal for me.

 

That's a good idea. The PCs caught Guldur before he could do this, but they did find the secret door to his escape room where he had a spare spellbook, a skeletal horse, and a path to the surface. I could add a path the the Hollow Earth too.

Hmm, King Henryk certainly has a lot of prisoners from when Etch's criminal organization got dismantled. It would be fun to include a Dirty Dozen because most/all of them would be pissed at the PCs for getting them arrested...

This sounds like a lot of fun!

Definitely going to have several types of trolls. I will ponder this. All the trolls are going to be big, strong, fairly dumb, and have some kind of self-healing/regeneration power. I'm just not sure how powerful their regeneration is going to be, but that's not a big deal right now.


Lets do a recap of ongoing noble intrigue

Summary of the core elements of the Major Houses. Fumaya is shaped liked a sock. Apart from Zimoz and maybe Polnoc, most of these intrigues will probably unravel without the PCs direct involvement, though they will hear about events if things explode.

House Polnoc, rim of the sock.

Count Polnoc is a sad old man broken by loss. He tragically most of his children and he defends his grandson and heir with a paranoid tenacity. This has caused him to hole up in his castle under high alert while he lets orcs extort his subjects his freely.

A group of Zarthus' Lanterns has created a peasant militia to resist the orc raiders and possibly to overthrow Count Polnoc.

House Zimoz, upper ankle of the sock

Duke Cezerary Zimoz has benefited greatly from befriending the PCs. The PCs helped him drive off most of the monsters and baddies assaulting the commoners. The PCs helped Duke Zimoz gain a valuable courtier to replace the one he lost.

Duke Zimoz still owes the Masks of Phidas a lot of gold, but he is slowly paying this down. Duke Zimoz's son and heir has secretly been moonlighting as a brigand (his sole target, Duke Frymar's caravans), but he stopped after Etch's criminal empire went away and now he'll probably get away with it.


House Frymar, the middle of the ankle of the sock

Duke Frymar has a well deserved reputation as a miserly jerk and he has few friends, but he has few enemies too.

He had a problem with well-informed brigands robbing his caravans but that stopped when Etch's criminal syndicate was taken apart. He is assuming the problem is solved, though Zimoz still has a spy in his castle.

Despite his financial losses, he's doing okay. No major problems. Duke Frymar is a greedy man, but he's not a cruel man. His peasants aren't starving and Frymar's men are not abusing them.


House Linijka, Where the ankle meets the foot

This is the king's House. Most of the land is not in the King Henryk's personal demesne. Most of it is ruled by Duke Linijka who is his uncle and vassal who in turn has more vassals that are at least partially related of the Linijka bloodline.

King Henryk is basically broke but he refuses to take a loan from the Masks of Phidas so he is basically living hand-to-mouth. Now that Etch's criminal syndicate is broken, King Henryk has one less problem and moderately more tax revenue. Huzzah.

Besides his cash problems, Henryk has to deal with orcs raiding his northern lands and Swynfaredians saber rattling along his southern borders.

On a personal level he has a lot of bastard half-brothers and half-sisters. One of them was meeting with Etch regularly providing him information. Henryk knows they were meeting but not why. He has his half-brother under watch but has not taken action yet. A bigger (and undiscovered) problem is that his half-sister has seduced the Swynfaredian ambassador. Another half-sister is on Duke Frymar's payroll, so Frymar can spy on his liege. Maybe I'll throw in a regicide-minded half-brother into the mix, but in order for the brother to usurp the crown he'd have to do more than kill the king. He'd have to kill the king, his infant son, the king's uncles and the king's cousins. Thus, if the half-brother decides to kill the king it will be for personal reasons, not political reasons.

House Nerozik, The heel of the sock

Duke Narcyz Nerozik is good-natured but he has over delegated his rulership. His vassals have a lot of autonomy and his advisers basically run the duchy.

If and when Swynfaredia invades, they will probably invade Nerozik's lands first. Nerozik's vassals are divided into Hawk and Dove camps. Hawks who are looking forward to killing Swineherdians and Doves who want to avoid war at all costs.

Most of the Hawks are just stockpiling defenses, but a few are seeking to actively provoke the Swineheridans. Some of the Doves is secretly planning to sell out to the Swynfaredians, others are setting up escape routes into the Border Baronies.

Lady Nerozik has been cuckolding her husband and most of his children are unknowingly illegitimate. Etch was blackmailing Lady Nerozik. King Henryk's agents now know that Etch was corresponding with Lady Nerozik.

House Wiern, The arch of the sock

Duke Garland Wiern is the king's father-in-law and the grandfather of the Crown Prince. This automatically makes Duke Wiern King Henryk's most loyal vassal. Duke Wiern is not exactly flush with gold but he has been helping King Henryk pay his bills as much as he can.

Duke Wiern has focused so much attention on his eldest daughter (the queen) and his eldest son (his heir), that he has neglected his younger children. His younger children resent him a lot and have rebelled.

Lord Tacitus has discovered one of the lesser ladies of House Wiern is a budding sorceress. Too young to marry off for years, Tacitus has arranged to adopt her as a fosterling. He is hoping to use her as a bargaining chip if the Swynfaredians invade. The Swynfaredians could theoretically legitimize their rule over Fumaya by marrying a Fumayan highborn sorceress into Swynfaredia's Dragon Houses.

Lady Felicja is a rebellious teen who fell in with the wrong crowd. In this case the wrong crowd is the Decadents. A Maylar cult of jaded rich people who throw debauchery-filled parties and commit acts of cruelty on commoners for fun. If that's not bad enough, the Testers of Maylar could theoretically convince their secret agent into say assassinating the queen, leaving a gate unlocked, or some other heinous act of sabotage.

The Testers of Maylar don't want Swynfaredia to win. In most wars that the Testers didn't start, the Testers nearly always support the underdog, who is Fumaya. Hypothetically, if the threat of Swynfaredian invasion goes away, the Testers wouldn't mind destabilizing Fumaya just for the giggle factor.


House Palbuc, Toe of the Sock

Duke Vern Palbuc is only sixteen. He is not aware that his uncle and advisor Lord Farzin Palbuc is plotting to kill him and seize the ducal throne. Think Simba and Scar here if Scar was a lot more subtle.

Farzin killed his older brother and made it look like an accident. Farzin did this with help from Etch, but Farzin gave Etch a large lump sum payment rather than a recurring payment, so Farzin was not in Etch's little black book (which King Henryk now has).

Farzin hopes to arrange an accident for his nephew. Farzin has told his nephew that sixteen is too young to worry about marriage and producing and heir Not something for a boy his age to be concerned with. He also told his nephew that sixteen is a man's age and that the young Duke should be focusing on his martial skills. If Swynfaredia invades, the young Duke should be willing to lead from the front...you know, to help morale.

 

Don't Report This Post for Trolling.

The Basics
-Trolls are big, strong and ugly.
-Trolls have sharp claws and teeth.
-Trolls regenerate and their regeneration is usually negated by fire.
-Trolls have almost bottomless appetites and prefer fresh meat.
-Trolls are not too proud to run away or avoid a fight they feel they cannot win though an especially hungry troll will take more risks.

I haven’t figure out if they die of old age or not. I haven’t figured out how trolls reproduce either (apart from Spirit trolls). An asexual form of reproduction is preferable, because ewww. I also haven’t figure out how fast trolls grow from infancy to adulthood but I assume it’s very fast.


Origin of Trolls (Must Pick One)

Bestial Trolls have animalistic intelligence and drives. They have keen senses and instincts.

Faerie Trolls are as intelligent as dim humans. They are brute enforcers for the Faerie Courts. If anything, they are easier to trick than Bestial Trolls. They occasionally have obscure janky weaknesses linked to their Court in addition to being repulsed by salt and especially harmed by untampered cold iron like most Fae creatures.

Not all Faerie Trolls serve a Faerie Court, a lot of them are rogue monsters.

Spirit Trolls might as well be called Maylar Trolls because it’s very rare for deities who are not Maylar to create spirit trolls. They have keen senses, instincts, and reasonable intelligence. All together, they are harder to trick, but they nearly always have obscure janky weaknesses in addition to being repulsed by salt and especially harmed by untampered cold iron like most spirits.


Size of the Troll (Must Pick One)

Pygmy Trolls average about four feet tall, but they are very muscular and wide for their size, commonly having four dots of Strength and four dots of Dexterity. They usually travel in packs and rely on sneak attacks. They have seven health levels

Common Trolls average about seven feet tall. They usually travel solo or in pairs. They use stealth if the terrain allows it. The commonly have six dots of Strength and three dots of Dexterity. They have twelve health levels.

Giant Trolls average about 11 feet tall. They are nearly always solitary. Stealth and sophisticated tactics are basically impossible. They commonly have nine dots of Strength and two dots of Dexterity. They have sixteen health levels.

Mini Trolls have bright colored hair and are an outdated fad from the 1990s.




Elemental Trolls (Optional)

Many trolls have elemental traits but many do not. Hybrid Elemental trolls are possible though uncommon, as long as the combination is not Fire-Water or Air-Earth.

Fire Trolls are unique among trolls in that they are immune to fire. They have a fire breath weapon. Ordinary water negates their regeneration and causes pain but it does not actually damage them. They are especially vulnerable to cold based attacks. On average they are smaller and weaker than the average troll (one less dot of Strength).

Water Trolls can breathe underwater and outside of it. They are agile swimmers and even the dullest trolls are cunning enough to drown their prey. They are more vulnerable to fire than the average troll.

Air Trolls have gross wing flaps like flying squirrels and they can glide clumsily. They are more dexterous and less strong than other trolls of their size (they also tend to be smaller). Air Trolls have an incurable wanderlust and they never maintain a single territory or lair like most trolls.

Earth Trolls have stony skin and are a lot more resilient to damage than the average troll of their size, but they tend to be a bit slower. Earth trolls are extremely territorial and will usually fight to the death before abandoning their territory.


A Faerie Fort may have Pygmy Water Faerie Trolls swimming in the moat.

The Hollow Earth below Fumaya probably has a lot of Common Water Bestial Trolls.

A Maylar temple in the mountains could have a Giant Earth Spirit Troll guarding it.

Spoiler: Crunchy Stats for Bestial Trolls and Guidelines for Other Trolls

Pygmy Troll
Strength 4, Dexterity 4, Stamina 5, Perception 3, Wits 2
Abilities: Alertness 3, Animal Ken 1, Athletics 3, Brawl 3, Dodge 3, Intimidation 3, Stealth 3, Survival 3
Willpower 4, Health Levels OK, OK, OK, -1, -1, -3, -5, Mostly Dead
Attack: Claw for six dice of lethal damage, or bite for eight dice of damage (if they can grapple their opponent).
Traits: Regenerate one health level of lethal damage or two levels of bashing damage per minute. One level of aggravated damage per day.
-Soak with full Stamina against all non-flaming attack. Half soak against fire.
-Fire causes aggravated damage.


Common Troll
Strength 6, Dexterity 3, Stamina 6, Perception 3, Wits 2
Abilities: Alertness 3, Animal Ken 1, Athletics 3, Brawl 4, Dodge 2, Intimidation 4, Stealth 2, Survival 3
Willpower 6, Health Levels OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, -1, -1, -1, -2, -2, -3, -5, Mostly Dead
Attack: Claw for eight dice of lethal damage, or bite for ten dice of damage (if they can grapple their opponent).
Traits: Regenerate one health level of lethal damage or two levels of bashing damage per minute. One level of aggravated damage per day.
-Soak with full Stamina against all non-flaming attack. Half soak against fire.
-Fire causes aggravated damage.


Giant Troll
Strength 9, Dexterity 2, Stamina 9, Perception 3, Wits 2
Abilities: Alertness 3, Animal Ken 1, Athletics 3, Brawl 5, Dodge 2, Intimidation 4, Stealth 1, Survival 3
Willpower 8, Health Levels OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, -1, -1, -1, -1, -2, -2, -3, -3, -5, Mostly Dead
Attack: Claw for eleven dice of lethal damage, or bite for twelve dice of damage (if they can grapple their opponent).
Traits: Regenerate one health level of lethal damage or two levels of bashing damage per minute. One level of aggravated damage per day.
-Soak with full Stamina against all non-flaming attack. Half soak against fire.
-Fire causes aggravated damage.
-Large size gives enemies a -1 bonus to hit.


Fire: -1 dot of Strength. Fire causes bashing damage rather than aggravated damage. Water negates regeneration. No soak against cold based damage. Breath Weapon inflicting bite damage up to 20 feet, Dexterity + Athletic to hit. Each use inflicts a level of aggravated damage on the troll.


Water: +1 dot of Dexterity. -1 bruise level. Fully amphibious.


Earth: -1 dot of Dexterity, +3 soak dice.


Air: +1 dot of Dexterity, +1 dot of Brawl -1 bruise level, -1 dot of Strength. Glide ability.

Faerie Trolls would gain Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 1, Intelligence 1. They'd probably get 5-10 ten dots to add to abilities for things bestial trolls cannot get such as Archery, Investigation, Melee, Subterfuge, etc. Leaders might have higher stats.

Spirit Trolls are all unique but they would probably have 2 in all the attributes above and 10-20 dots of additional abilities.

 

Agreed

Works for me. Trolls asexually reproduce from eggs. For genetic diversity, they are extremely prone to mutation, so a troll might create eggs of a different subtype. I suppose they can pick up a wide variety and adaptations besides elemental subtypes.

I like the idea of Void Trolls. I don't know if they'd be fully undead trolls or some kind of warped monster, but they would be twisted variants of trolls. Probably a bit weaker physically but they would drain the life force of the living instead of eating creatures. Void Trolls would also have a strong prey preference for eating mortals with souls as opposed to a garden variety trolls whose preferred prey preference "whatever is closest and slowest."

According to science, your explanation makes sense. According to SCIENCE!, fire and water are opposed elements. That said, your explanation makes more sense.

Game balance dictates if a variant type of trolls gains something, they should lose something too. I suppose I could make Water Trolls less able to sustain damage.

Doesn't that kind of apply to all trolls?

 

I have belatedly and somewhat randomly decided to develop Spirit Loas in great detail.

Ideally, it would better if a player character decided to be a Spirit Loa at the time of character creation, but I am willing to let the players buy the Spirit Loa ability now and pretend they've always had this ability and just never used it until now.

I also added the following text as a spoiler box back on page 18.

Spirit Loa Mechanics

Spirit Loa is a Rare Ability that rates between one to five dots like most traits.

● You sometimes hear disembodied voices and get unexplained flashes of insight or luck.
●● "I see dead people..."
●●● You are fully comfortable channeling your power...usually
●●●● You are probably more comfortable dealing with dead people than living people.
●●●●● You are world famous, at least among dead people.

Specialties: warrior spirits, ancient lore, family spirits, ghostly senses


Spirit Loas, also known as spirit horses can open themselves up to possession and borrow the skills of the spirit “rider”. The spirit in question is usually a ghost from the material plane, or one of the honored dead from the Aetherial Plane. This usually invites a friendly spirit with similar goals, and the spirit and Loa usually work in tandem, but a botch always brings an unwanted rider that will fully possess the Loa temporarily.

Even if the spirit rider does not initiate a hostile possession, a Loa can easily manifest new verbal accents and mannerisms from their spirit riders. Spirit Loas can also manifest cravings and urges as their spirit riders yearn to enjoy food and other simple pleasures of the living. This is solely a role playing suggestion, the Spirit Loa is normally not forced to act on these urges.

Most Spirit Loas are born that way and begin manifesting the rudiments of their powers as children. In theory, Spirit Loas can pop up anywhere, but most Spirit Loas show up in cultures that practice filial piety and ancestor worship. A lot of Loas have a near-brush with death early in life which triggers their nascent powers.

It is possible that a Spirit Loa that only has one or two dots of the Spirit Loa ability is not even aware that she is a Spirit Loa, attributing her occasional ability boosts to sudden inspiration or dumb luck.

A rare few individuals develop Spirit Loas later in life through training and studying. This is especially common for someone who is studying necromancy, divination, or theology of the afterlife.

Ghosts are attracted to Spirit Loas and may drop by just to chat. Spirit Loas with high dot ratings often have more dead friends than living friends. There is a kernel of truth to the stereotype that Spirit Loas are asocial loners with poor hygiene who crazily whisper to their invisible friends in the corner.

In societies that commonly value ancestor worship, about one in a hundred individuals is a Spirit Loa. Among societies that do not normally put much thought to their honored dead, Spirit Loas make up approximately one in five hundred individuals.

Most Spirit Loas are non-spell casters, but it is possible to be a mage or theurgist to also be a Spirit Loa, it’s just very rare.

Spirit Loas are less to come back as ghosts after their own deaths than the general population. Spirit Loas never retain their Loa abilities post-mortem.


Spirit Loas are more vulnerable to hostile possession from ghosts than average people. Attempts to possess Loas are at -1 difficulty, -2 difficulty if the Loa has four or more dots of the Spirit Loa ability. On the plus side, a Loa is always aware the second a spirit attempts possession on them and always retains full memory of what their body did during a possession.

Loas can roll Perception + Spirit Loa (difficulty 7) reflexively to detect ghosts in their immediate proximity. There does not have to be ghosts nearby to use their ability, Spirit Loas can channel spirit riders from many hundreds of mile away with little difficulty. Proximity is not nearly as important as being in an area that resonates positively with the honored dead.


Spirit Loas can call upon the spirits once per day normally. If they want to use their ability additional ties, they have to spend a temporary Willpower to do so.

Loa rolls Wits + Spirit Loa to call on a spirit as a free action or Perception + Spirit Loa to call on a spirit after meditating for at least twenty minutes.

Every success grants the character an extra dot of mundane ability for an entire scene, the maximum temporary rating of an ability is still 5. If the player wishes, she can split her bonuses up between multiple abilities if they are related such as Dodge and Melee.

It is slightly easier to enhance an existing ability than to channel and ability the Spirit Loa does not have at all. Rare Abilities are considerably harder to channel than common abilities. At know point can a Spirit Loa invite a spirit rider to enhance their Spirit Loa trait.

If the Loa is seeking cerebral ability boosts, it’s possible the information gleaned is leaning towards the spirit rider’s personal biases, especially if the player is channel bonus dots in History or Politics.

The difficulty depends on how likely it is friendly spirits are metaphysically tied to the area.

Area Base Difficulty
The Loa’s family's ancestral shrine (difficulty 4)

Hollowed cemetery or holy site of Loa’s favored religion (difficulty 5)

Area is intimately familiar to the Loa, but not tied directly to the dead (difficulty 6)

No personal connection, but many mortals lived and died here (difficulty 6)

Most Places (difficulty 7)

Area is both very unfamiliar to the Loa and sparsely populated (difficulty 8)

Situational Difficulty Modifier
Today is a calendar holiday honoring the dead. (-2 difficulty)

Loa is trying to channel an ability he has zero dots in (+1 difficulty)

Loa is using channeling ability as a free action (+1 difficulty)

Loa is trying to channel a rare ability (+2 difficulty)

Area is infested with undead or otherwise polluted with Void energy (+2 difficulty)

 

Mahrlect. Was going to run my game tonight but all my friends are either sick or have a sick spouse.

Body convulsing from RPG withdrawals.

Ordered an RPG bereavement pizza. Shall I wile away the evening developing a complex underground biome full of slimy trolls, rogue elmentals and stoned mushroom people that I probably won't end up using in my game.

Or should I develop some Scaraquan nations that I almost certainly won't end up using in my game.

Another tangent I've thought about is megafauna based terrain. A high fantasy concept I've been intrigued by is hills and islands that are actually giant turtles. The turtles move very slowly and just eat boulders or something similar so it's actually possible for humans to live on the turtle's back in relative safety

I saw a D&D Youtube video where they talked about living dungeons. Some that might be hostile to adventurers altering themselves so say the monsters never have to worry about locked doors or traps or the PCs do. Others talk about a living dungeon that is calling out to adventurers to clear itself of a monstrous infestation. in this case the dungeon might aid the players by augmenting their healing spells or something.

Another thing that pops up in fantasy and especially sci-fi is dead megafauna based terrain where a bunch of people live in the hollow carapaces of gargantuan dead insects or something.

If Scarterra has megafauna of that size they are probably dead because it's unlikely they survived the Second Unmaking. What about a mortally wounded giant turtle that is taking five hundred years to die? What would the terrain be like?

 

It's time to rename the home of the Wood Elves from Loren to something more original.

Their druidish which makes me think of the ancient Celts.

The Celtic word for Oak is "Daur." Sounds elvish to me, but seems some kind of tweak.

Dauresh
Daureshia
Kahdaur (the Dark Elf nation is called Kahdisteria, I could make all the elf nations a "Kah")
Daurillia
Tordaur

Any thoughts or opinions?

 

I couldn't find anything approximating a dictionary or translator like I found for Welsh, so I googled "Celtic for forest"

Hmmm, my Wood Elves are not exactly Dour. Given that the Wood Elves are only a few hundred miles away from Meckelorn and no one looks dour compared to Meckelorn dwarves.

If anything my Grey Elves are the most dour and Vulcan-like.

My intent was that the "resh" would soften the name but maybe it doesn't soften it enough.

How about Daihyer?

I suppose coillearnacha can be shortened into something easier to say

Coinacha maybe?

 

Ok, I'll be the bad guy (again).
Why does it have to be an original name?
If your players are anything like mine they will call them "wood elves", "treehuggers" or "Bush dudes/chicks" anyway...

 

While the Scolenex Roleplaying Review newsletter has rated my RPG system as "the greatest RPG system that ever was or ever will be" I figure less biased sources will not rate the game system very highly and tabletop RPG publications are a very saturated market.

I do house quiet dreams of writing and publishing novels set in Scarterra. I'd like to not get sued.

 

In this case double pepperoni and sausage on a Chicago style crust.

Almost all of my pizzas have pepperoni or salami (and pepperoni is basically an American variation of salami).

I also like sausage and meatballs. I sometimes like mushrooms though only one place near me uses fresh mushrooms, but they didn't have a Chicago style crust and I kind of wanted that because I think Chicago style reheats in the oven better and I bought a large to have leftovers with the intention to eat pizza for days.

As weird as it is, I like pineapple on my pizza but it's rare for a commercial place to have fresh pineapple. So my homemade pizzas involve pepperoni, salami, mushrooms, pineapple, and fresh garlic.

Most of my friends like black and green olives. I don't mind olives, but I do not add them to solo pizzas, only communal shared pizzas.

Simple enough.

Simple enough in theory, but out of habit I tend to design settings from the top down. I do not have the top of Merfolk society figured out yet. I know most Game Masters build settings from the bottom up, and I should adapt, but I the top down approach got me this far.

That's a good idea.