Northport: A Review of Clatterdelve and the Ymid Gets a Make-Over

Denis over at the Northport blog found our blog through Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day and he has really taken to our first installment of the Clatterdelve megadungeon-in-progress, as well as the Ymids, one of the strange creatures lurking in that particular adventure. In fact, he has converted the Ymids over to GURPS at his blog complete with his own interpretation that includes a bonus Hobyah. Good stuff. go click over and take a look for yourself at THIS link, or just click on the Ymid over on the left there.

While you're at the Northport blog, be sure to check out the post about The People of the Pit and some of the other excellent things that Denis has been doing over there. It's good stuff.

You can still download a free copy of our first installment for Clatterdelve via This Link to our Free Stuff folder at Box. that pdf prsents one of the six known 'false entrances' to Clatterdelve...all of which actually do lead into the megadungeon itself, just not directly or easily. A follow-up to this pdf is in the works and will be available after we get the Swords & Wizardry Mini-Bestiary fully formatted and uploaded.

Secret Spells of the Wizard-Frog

The nice people at Last Gasp have posted a wonderfully wicked six-armed Frog-Wizard as a gesture of appreciation and thanks to various other gameratin' and bloggeratin' folks that have been encouraging and supportive of their efforts, including us. It could be a relative of Tsthahoggua. We didn't ask. Wizard-Frogs can be sensitive about such things. In any case, you should click over and take a look. It's very cool.

Below are a few spells you might be able to acquire from a Hexapedal Wizard-Frog, should your characters ever get the opportunity to make the acquaintance of one.

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1d8 Secret Wizard-Frog Spells

Arcane Adumbration
Level: 2
Duration: 6 Turns
Range: 0
The shapes of things to come are revealed in a flurry of sketchy outlines and faint images produced by this spell. The general default configuration is usually attuned to depict the classical symbol associated with any of the 4,200 Common Spells all Wizard-Frogs claim to know. Any competent caster can adjust the spell to instead give themselves some foreshadowing of relatively immediately impending events, but such rejiggering of things is left to the student as an exercise.

Bawd-Breath of Tsthathogguri-Malamala
Level: 6
Duration: 4 rounds + 1d4 rounds
Range: 30'
The caster exhales a pungent pink fog that quickly fills a thirty-foot radius. The vapors distort the senses of everyone caught up within their swirly sphere of effect, causing them to see everyone--and everything--within the pink haze as supremely beautiful, desirable and attractive. Victims can opt to Save against the effects of the pink vapors, but doing so either costs them 1 point of CHAR (permanent) or renders them sterile for 1d6 years, player's choice. This particular spell costs double.

Cloud of Tasty Flies
Level: 2
Duration: 6 Turns
Range: 120'
Flies, flies and more flies of every type, sort and hue swarm madly about the caster, providing a delicious repast for a famished Wizard-Frog. Lesser beings suffer 1d4 points of damage per turn  spent within the area of effect of the spell. Save for half damage.

Gestural Globs
Level: 2
Duration: 6 Turns
Range: 90'
The caster forms a small mass of dermal mucous in their middle-left hand. The mucous forms a thin, but pliable film that holds it together like a water balloon. With a single gesture, but a flick of the wrist, the globular mass is sent streaking out towards any target specified by the caster. Any creature under 4 HD must Save or suffocate as the gooey mucous infiltrates their mouth, nostrils and air passages. Those who make their Save do not suffocate, but instead have their movement reduced to half normal for the next 3d4 rounds. This mucous is alcohol-soluble. Some sources say it can be used in preparing a sort of absinthe-like concoction.

Jiggly Scribbles
Level: 3
Duration: 6 Turns
Range: 120'
With a few quick movements, the caster sketches out a series of swoopy, curvy lines and spirals that quickly takes on a sort of life all its own and rushes forth to swarm all over the designated target who must make a Save or become disoriented (60%) or immobilized from intense nausea and vomiting (40%). While under the effects of this spell, the victim must roll randomly to determine their target, should they attempt an attack.

Humble Murmurings
Level: 1
Duration: 6 Turns
Range: 10'
During the duration of this spell, the target cannot say anything negative about the caster, including cast any sort of damage-dealing spell. The victim is required to make a Save, failure means that they gain a -1 penalty on all Saves versus the caster's spells for the next 6 turns. A successful Save reduces the duration by half.

Pruscoorm's Palpitation
Level: 4
Duration: 12 Turns
Range: 120'
The victim sprouts a host of wriggling pink growths from randomly determined parts of their body. The writhing, fleshy growths are harmless, but distort the victim's bodily shape so much that armor, clothes, rings and the like no longer fit and must be removed or discarded. The victim will suffer 1 hit point of damage per item retained over the course of the spell, their movement is reduced to half, and all their attacks suffer a -2 penalty. Once the spell subsides, the victim must make a CHAR check or else retain some lingering sign of the pink pulpy bits that once deformed their frame. Again, they are harmless, and only have a mildly cosmetic effect, and require a slight adjustment in one's clothing.

Transmute Liquor
Level: 2
Duration: Instantaneous
Range: Touch
Caster transmutes a quantity (up to one gallon/every 3 levels) of one type of liquor into the same quantity of another form of liquor, as specified at the moment the spell is cast.

Those Aren't Worms...A Table for Wermspittle at Dungeon of Signs

The one-and-only Gus L. over at Dungeon of Signs has created a very special table for Wermspittle:

Those Aren't Worms!

It's a Frikkin' Great Table, packed with some really nightmarish things that fit all too well in Wermspittle, or perhaps in some other broken-down, disreputable town, city or enclave your local band of adventuring ne'er-do-wells frequent in-between bouts of burglarizing vacant temples and the obligatory grave-robbing so prevalent in most old school derived/influenced FRPGs.

His Geist Hosts are an absolutely perfect fit for Wermspittle, and some of those Angler Crabs might show up in our upcoming Cellar Inspector scenario at Con of the North this February...those are some seriously sneaky crustaceans! (But they're probably good eatin'...)

Thanks Gus! We love the table and will return the favor shortly.

Table: Writhing Masses & Worse (Jalamere)

This is a continuation of what we began in the previous series of Black Ziggurat of Jalamere posts. 

[Get the free Swords & Wizardry (White Box) rules: http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/whitebox.htm] 


Writhing Masses & Worse

1. Alkaline Ooze (1): HD 3, HP 16, AC 8[11], Atk 1 strike; Move 1, Save 16, HDE/XP5/240; Special: Immune to Heat, Cold, Spells, Stone, takes half-damage from metal, takes double damage from wood--item then bursts into flames.
2. Crepuscular Crud (1):  HD 4; HP 30; AC 5[14]; Atk 1 Toxic Pseudopod; Move 2; Save 16; HDE/XP 6/400. Slow moving phlegm-like mass that drips a rancid-smelling lard-like venom. Save or be incapacitated with explosive dysentery for the next 1d4 minutes.
3. Orb Cluster (1): HD 5; HP 26; AC 5[14]; Atk 1(see post but use only one); Move 3; Save 15; HDE/XP 6/400.
4. Writhing Mass (Type II): 1d4 bulbous, pulsating pustule-like conglomerations of what appears to be disparate types of acne-pocked flesh that roll and flop along the ground like blind slugs, always seeking any living thing smaller than itself that it can enfold, crush and absorb.
5. Raging Blob: 3,000 pounds of succulent gristle and sweet-smelling skin rougher than an elephant's rump comes rolling and tumbling down the nearest slope right at the party. If the blob can catch anyone on the roll, it will extrude tentacles and attempt to grapple with them, otherwise it will come to a stop close to the main cluster of the group and strike out at as many victims as it can reach at once. If a tentacle ensnares a victim (60%) it will attempt to reel them in towards a freshly opened mouth. If the tentacle pierces the victim, it will spew a larval froth into the wound and then rip the harpoon-like member free of the victim's flesh, doing double damage. Anyone 'frothed' by the Blob will need to make a Save or fall into a coma as their body transforms into a micro-blob producing factory...[Raging Blob Labyrinth Lord stats (+Paper Mini)]
6. Starlit Mire (1): HD 3, HP 16, AC 8[11], Atk 1 Emanation of the Void; Move 0, Save 14, HDE/XP 5/240; Special: Anyone stepping into an area within a 30' radius of the Starlit Mire must Save or be exposed to the flesh-blasting cold of deep space. Should anyone be enveloped by the Mire for longer than 5 minutes, their corpse will be randomly teleported across space and time and lost forever.
7. Rampant Flesh (1d4); HD 4; HP 30; AC 5[14]; Atk 2 Bulgy Pseudopods; Move 6; Save 16; HDE/XP 6/400. Autonomous masses of living flesh that crawl about bonelessly and malevolently across the sands looking for things to eat.
8. Gelatinous Oblong (1): HD 3, HP 16, AC 8[11], Atk 1 Engulf; Move 6, Save 14, HDE/XP 5/240; Special: Dissolves all angular objects on a failed Save.
9. You can hear the high-pitched call of someone screaming 'Tekeli Li! Tekeli Li!' out on the perimeter.
10. A boulder-sized gobbet of reanimated giant-flesh. It quivers and jiggles threateningly in your direction. It has HP 43, but otherwise is unremarkable, aside from the odor of decay which will certainly attract wandering monsters. Anyone (or anything) attempting to consume this wretchedly rancid flesh has to make a Save against Death Magic or become a rotting zombie. Keep in mind that these zombies start out living, then rise again with +2 HD as enlarged undead zombies if they are killed. Those specimens that are dismembered form swarms of reanimated rotting body parts.

Jalamere Index

Wednesday Werk: Ordrang

Wednesday Werk: Ordrang
S.P. over at How To Succeed in RPGs or Die Trying has converted the Ordrang over to 4th Edition.
You can find the original post detailing these weird spherical beasties who dine on ectoplasm here at Hereticwerks.

Du Campion of Wermspittle has never fully explained how a creature he categorizes as mindless can cast several different spells. His classic treatise Morbid Thoughts From the Moonlit Moors, is one of the only substantive texts available on the subject of Ordrang, being derived from actual encounters with these creatures and collected over the course of more than thirty years. It is from critical appraisal of Du Campion's recently discovered pre-publication manuscripts that certain discrepancies have been noted. Several records regarding suspected Ordrang-Hasnamuss interactions were completely excised by editorial edict and an entire appendix  detailing no fewer than six different spells derived from or inspired by the Ordrang, including a means for directing an Ordrang to feed upon Projections, Predatory or otherwise.


It is precisely because of such spells as noted above, and the simple existence of these very creatures, that those who intend to indulge in astral projection experiments need to do so in secured spaces, and to take measures to protect themselves from Ordrang incursions.


So far no one has successfully located the notorious so-called 'silver collars' supposedly used by Silas Gromff's deputized auxiliaries to control and use Ordrang as anti-mediumist weapons during the Midwive's Rebellion.


Fantomists are known to offer bounties on Ordrang. Substantial rewards and inducements are often mentioned, but few ever collect.


There are a few Mediums among the Refugees out in the shanty-camps who have somehow captured very immature (1 or 2 HD specimens) Ordrang that they are attempting to train to help them find and remove Fantodics and other such pests and nuisances.

Jalamere: Encounters Within a 1 Mile Radius of the Black Ziggurat

This is a continuation of what we began in the previous Black Ziggurat of Jalamere post. We want to thank Blair of Planet Algol for his feed-back, encouragement and the contribution of a couple of entries to further flesh out the special encounters that might take place in the area surrounding this version of the Black Ziggurat.


[Get the free Swords & Wizardry (White Box) rules: http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/whitebox.htm]


Encounters Within 1 Mile of the Black Ziggurat

1. Masked Watchers: 2d6 black robed and masked figures appear in the distance; waver like mirages; disappear in seconds although one PC may hear strange whispers on the wind. (From Blair of Planet Algol.) 
2. Menticore: (1d2): HD 6+4; HP 32; AC 4[15]; Atk 1 Claw, Bite or Psychotropic Tail-spikes; Move 12/8 (flies); Save 13; HDE/XP 8/800; Special: Flight and Psychotropic Tail-spikes. (Menticore starts with 24 spikes and can hurl up to six spikes per attack to a maximum range of 180 feet.) Anyone struck by one of the Menticore's Psychotropic Tail-Spikes must make a Save or be disoriented for 1d4 minutes by a strobing light show only they can see. The Spikes are worth 2d100 GP in the right places.
3. Seething Seepage: (1): HD 4; HP 26; AC 8[11]; Atk 1 Corrosive Saturation; Move 3; Save 15; HDE/XP 5/240; Special: Remains unseen as it lurks beneath debris and sand, waiting for victims to walk over its body, then it rears up and attempts to form a gelatinous crater or bowl from its own flesh that it fills with a potent, corrosive stew of digestive juices. It takes less than 3 minutes for the 'bowl' to fill to capacity. The juices destroy leather, corrode metals, and discolor flesh that survives the attack to a grotesque mottled green and yellow that is easily recognized as the 'mark of the lurker.'
4. Tumbling Cube: A huge stone block rolls past in the distance (3d6 miles out). It is nearly a mile across on each surface and it is headed away from the Black Ziggurat.
5. Petrocloptrian: 1d4 hovering telepathic alien beings who wield seven melee weapons at a time using a form of close-quarters telekinesis. They are hunting Bandersnatches and arrogantly disdain having any interactions with humans whom they see as coarse, vulgar and uninteresting. This is probably a good thing though, as the Petrocloptrians tend to hunt anything that they think is interesting in order to mount it upon the walls of their orbital estates. [Petrocloptrian S&W (White Box) stats] [Petrocloptrian Labyrinth Lord stats]
6. Glyph Block: Random PC trips over or stubs toe (save or take 1 pt. damage) on corner of corroded basalt tablet/block embedded in sand. Examination reveals glyphs worn away into illegibility but sinister in form. May be worth 1d100 gp to the right buyer but doubles chance of nocturnal random encounters while in possession. (From Blair of Planet Algol.)
7. Naked Lizard Shaman: A laid-back, even kind of sluggish and scaly spell caster out in the middle of nowhere looking for some of those Aerial Jelly-fish that they've heard are to be found in these parts. Anyone pointing them in the right direction receives a fizzly green potion that will heal 3d4 damage, even if you haven't been hurt yet. The effect will persist for as long as it takes to use-up the liquid goodwill of the potion.
8. Twitching Corpses, every one of them someone the characters have killed either directly or indirectly, parade before the party. Each corpse stares at those whom it holds responsible for its terrible fate. They are all now the possessions of a terrible otherplanar being that has taken a decidedly unhealthy and clearly malevolent interest in the party... 
9. Pool of Molten Green Glass: Extremely hot and bothered, this malevolent fluid will attempt to lure the curious into coming within reach of its pseudopods (about 10-12'). It inflicts 2d4 damage.
10. 400 stunned carp fall from the sky. Most are still alive. For now.
11. (2d8) Three-Toed Mutants:  HD 4; HP 20; AC 4[15]; Atk 1 Fork or Claw; Move 4; Save 11; HDE/XP 6/600; Special: 1 in 8 has an additional Eye-Beam weapon.  Each stands fully seven feet tall and wields a wickedly barbed stabby-fork. Their middle toes are tipped with a vicious, hooked claw which they will use in close-quarters. Only one of them has a tail and the rest make fun of him because of it.
12. Slime Fall: Bilious green clouds roll in from the North and begin to drizzle green slime over everything. The slime evaporates, leaving a foul-smelling crust after about an hour. It tastes like licorice, but will cause dysentery if eaten.
13. Blue Light: A glaring, sizzling blue radiance erupts from the ground itself. The effect blinds everyone within 300' for the next 2d10 minutes.
14. (2d12) Camels are tethered to low-lying clumps of cacti and thorn-wood. They don't seem particularly concerned about much of anything.
15. (1d6) dead bodies of previous adventurers, all of them stripped of their possessions and tossed into the brush to feed scavengers. (Base Chance of 10% that there is a minor magical ring or some such to be found by investigating the bodies, but that will incur at least one, if not more, wandering monster checks.)
16. Iron Golem with +1 bassoon. It was kicked out its marching band and is looking for a new gig. Unfortunately the thing is completely tone-deaf.
17. A blue-haired dwarf in besmirched chain-mail stands up to its waist in dead rat-headed monkey-things. Their eyes are wide and staring and unresponsive. He still chops and hacks the air with his twin hand-axes as tough the creatures are still coming after him.
18. (1d4) Drilg surround a fallen comrade who is complaining of stomach pains. The fallen one is no longer their friend and ally, but has been entirely consumed from within by an intelligent 6 HD Black Pudding.
19. (3d6) Serpent Men are looking for volunteers for their most recent series of experiments exploring the capacity of lower-order mammals to perceive trans-temporal tonalities under the influence of modulated electrical stimulation.
20. Roll twice on any of the previous tables, or a stampede of (6d100) Titanotherium rumble through the immediate area. Roll three Saves to avoid getting stomped or run over. Player's Choice.

Jalamere: Encounters Within a 10 Mile Radius of the Black Ziggurat

This is a continuation of what we began in the previous Black Ziggurat of Jalamere post. We want to thank Blair of Planet Algol for his feed-back, encouragement and the contribution of a couple of entries to further flesh out the special encounters that might take place in the area surrounding this version of the Black Ziggurat.

[Get the free Swords & Wizardry (White Box) rules: http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/whitebox.htm]


Encounters Within a 10 Mile Radius of the Black Ziggurat

1. Spatter Moths: 3d6 fluttering moths alight upon one randomly selected victim, taking 1d4 rounds to finally settle into place. They emanate a feeling of calm and peace and trust. Then they explode, covering the victim with a viscous, radioactive sludge that will provoke a CON check or Save to avoid incurring some minor, insectile mutation.
2. Cuneiform Tablet: Stained, pitted and chipped, but still legible...if you know this particularly rare, even extinct form of pre-human cuneiform made up of spiral impressions of ammonite shells that were pressed into the raw clay to form cyclic patterns. The Tablet is worth hundreds of gold to a linguist, sage or scholar and it only weighs about 20 pounds, so it could be carried out of here. However, anyone falling asleep near this thing will find themself dreaming of Malevolent Monoliths that will begin to hunt them down in their dreams for 2d4 nights, after which time the Malevolent Monoliths will begin to hunt the dreamer(s) down in the physical realm, taking 1d4 nights to reach them.
3. Transparent Humanoid Corpse: Only their bones are visible and their head is missing.
4. Writhing Mass (Type II): 1d4 bulbous, pulsating pustule-like conglomerations of what appears to be disparate types of acne-pocked flesh that roll and flop along the ground like blind slugs, always seeking any living thing smaller than itself that it can enfold, crush and absorb.
5. Poisonous Purple Radiance: Glimmering purple effulgences corruscate and perambulate across the rocky wasteland, teasing the edges of every surface like some weird sort of foxfire that leaves small droplets of dew condensing behind upon any and everything it touches. The dew is poisonous. Save or go blind.
6. Old Shoggoth: 1 very old, very large Shoggoth is seen slithering along in the far distance. It seems to be ignoring you. For now. Faint cries of Tekeli Li! in the course of the next 2d4 nights make it all but impossible to sleep. But then the thing seems to disappear. Maybe it has gone away for good?
7. Arachnocacti: 2d8 eight-limbed cactus-spider hybrids wait patiently for someone to come within reach of their grasping claws or venomous maws. Each Arachnocacti can spray a mass of prickly webbing equivalent to a Web spell up to 4 times a day, and anyone caught in these webs takes 1d4 points of damage per round that they attempt to move...or are moved about, like say if they were grasped and picked-up by the creature's claws and dragged towards the slavering fly-trap-like central fang-rimmed maw. The only good thing about these creatures is that they tend to be rooted and it takes them 4d6 turns to extricate themselves from the rocky soil before they can follow any prey that manages to get away. Oh, and their flesh is super-saturated with clean, pure water, so if you kill one, you can replenish your canteens and water-skins.
8. Rulak: 1d4 creepy fungal things come slithering through the shimmering air with bad intent. (as detailed for Labyrinth Lord HERE. )
9. Masked Watchers: 2d6 black robed and masked figures appear in the distance; waver like mirages; disappear in seconds although one PC may hear strange whispers on the wind. (From Blair of Planet Algol.)
10. Raging Blob: 3,000 pounds of succulent gristle and sweet-smelling skin rougher than an elephant's rump comes rolling and tumbling down the nearest slope right at the party. If the blob can catch anyone on the roll, it will extrude tentacles and attempt to grapple with them, otherwise it will come to a stop as close to the main cluster of the group and strike out at as many victims as it can reach at once. If a tentacle ensnares a victim (60%) it will attempt to reel them in towards a freshly opened mouth. If the tentacle pierces the victim, it will spew a larval froth into the wound and then rip the harpoon-like member free of their flesh, doing double damage. Anyone 'frothed' by the Blob will need to make a Save or fall into a coma as their body transforms into a micro-blob producing factory...[Raging Blob Labyrinth Lord stats (+Paper Mini)]
11. Spine Thieves: 3d4 eel-faced hominids clad in woven plastic armor and armed with either shock prods or burn-sticks slither quietly out of the shadows and attempt to subdue one or more stragglers or other likely-looking victims. They will render their target insensible, fetter them with quickloops and plastic manacles, then begin to extract the spine. It is very unlikely that a natural vertebrate will survive this process. If the PCs kill all of the Spine Thieves they will discover 2d4 spines preserved in durable sacs of translucent green fluid and 1d4 Cerebracrystals.
12. Glyph Block: Random PC trips over or stubs toe (save or take 1 pt. damage) on corner of corroded basalt tablet/block embedded in sand. Examination reveals glyphs worn away into illegibility but sinister in form. May be worth 1d100 gp to the right buyer but doubles chance of nocturnal random encounters while in possession. (From Blair of Planet Algol.)
13. Hovering Blue Pentazoid: 1d12 fractured poly-planar crystal formations that cut across 1d30 planar layers, creating conditions conducive for a roll or three on the Damned Things Tables every hour spent within ten miles of this spot. The Pentazoids are hyper-intelligent and with a little luck and a good Charisma reaction roll, they might teach a variant form of such spells as Contact Other Plane, Commune with Pentazoid, or Poly-Axial Realignment...but the Pentazoids will demand a grim price for this knowledge...
14. Petrocloptrian: 1d4 hovering telepathic alien beings who wield seven melee weapons at a time using a form of close-quarters telekinesis. They are hunting Bandersnatches and arrogantly disdain having any interactions with humans whom they see as coarse, vulgar and uninteresting. This is probably a good thing though, as the Petrocloptrians tend to hunt anything that they think is interesting in order to mount it upon the walls of their orbital estates. [Petrocloptrian S&W (White Box) stats] [Petrocloptrian Labyrinth Lord stats]
15. Aerial Jellyfish Swarm: 2d100 small but hyper-poisonous gelatinous sacs of living fluid flutter and squirm through the air, each one dangling a multitude of tiny thread-like tendrils that will sting anyone who comes into contact with them for 3d4 damage plus an immediate Save at -2 or suffer terrifying hallucinatory nightmares for 3d6 hours. Lizard-shamen often dance naked in the midst of these things in order to receive visions. Those that don't die are considered profoundly accomplished dreamers.
16. Malevolent Monoliths: 1d4 cyclopean slabs of intricately carved basalt that loom menacingly from their randomly sloping positions within the sand. If the Cuneiform Tablet (2) is present, the Monoliths will awaken and attack everyone in the immediate vicinity, beginning with Rays of Petrification and using Rock to Mud to convert the terrain to a gooey, sticky mess that will hamper their victim's ability to move.
17. Smoldering Lump of Radioactive Glass: Anyone approaching within a mile of this thing begins to make Saves of suffer increasingly negative radiation effects. Eventually a rise in the surrounding landscape will reveal the still-steaming shard of greenish glass sitting prettily at the very center of a crater that could well be over a mile in diameter...
18. Insectoid Cadaver: The scattered and defiled remains of 1d6 dismembered insectoids litter the immediate vicinity. There is a base 50% chance that these are Flytaur Type I Drone-Soldiers. [Flytaur Type I Labyrinth Lord Stats] [Flytaur Type I S&W (White Box) stats]
19. Pernicious Polyp: 1d6 black and tumorous masses of boils, bubbles and larva-like flesh, each one with a different configuration of eyes, mouths, feelers and tentacles circle around the PCs just out of range of any spell or fire-arms they might have. The Polyps will observe the party for 3d4 turns and then either attack in force if the group appears weaker than the Polyps, or else they'll leave. Wait for a day or two. Then circle back and see if luck has changed.
20. See the Writhing Masses & Worse Table.

The Black Ziggurat of Jalamere



One More Sighting of the Infamous Black Ziggurat

Since it was first discovered by players in Blair's Planet Algol campaign early in 2010, the Black Ziggurat has appeared in a number of other games, settings and campaigns across the blog-o-sphere. In his post 'The Blackest Tesserzigguract', the idea of a cross-campaign 'Black Ziggurat' that subtly (and sometimes unsubtly) obtruded into all manner of other settings, planes, dimensions, etc. was further elaborated, to wit: There ought to be dozens of these things out there, all of them highly mysterious, hugely dangerous and potentially interconnected -- that last being subject to GM whim.


So there is a mysterious Black Ziggurat out amid the drifting dunes and harsh wastes of Jalamere. It reeks of preternatural power and pre-dates humanity by millions of years...and it is said by nomads and others who've been unfortunate enough to have encountered the place in their travels that the whole place exudes a miasmic influence that spawns nightmares and worse. Hungry spirits and worse things prowl the broken escarpment that forms a semi-natural wall around the Black Ziggurat.


No one sane goes there. No one sane has ever come back.

There are rumors of terrifying hybridized manticore-medusa creatures nesting in the escarpment near-by the Black Ziggurat, but no survivors have returned with any details as of yet.


No one from the surrounding area will willingly lead anyone to this place, except those of the Wultru and Nirizi tribes, but since those particularly unsavory humanoids are far from trustworthy, it may not be wise to hire their services in this regard...


Black Ziggurat Encounter Tables

• Encounters within a 1 mile radius
• Encounters within a 10 mile radius
• Encounters within a 100 mile radius
• encounters within a 1,000 mile radius
• Encounters at the Black Ziggurat
• Writhing Masses & Worse
• Special Encounters (Black Ziggurat)

20 Major Dungeons/Ruins (Jalamere)

Here's a quick list of 20 sites we want to make sure are included in the final map of Jalamere. So far.

Major Dungeon/Ruin Sites of Jalamere

1. Black Ziggurat (see Black Ziggurat of Jalamere and Black Ziggurat of Jalamere Part Two for more details concerning the immediate area surrounding this strange hyper-dimensional structure)
2. Borderland Keep
3. Brazen Tomb of Gargantua (One of many such entrances)
4. Crash-Site
5. Mysterious Mounds connected by subterranean canals
6. Octagonal Keep
7. Arid plateaus criss-crossed by lines like at Nazca, only for real, sort of...
8. Disangled Ruins
9. Phantasmal City that might not really be there after all
10. Village with strange inter-planar ties to Wermspittle...includes a section of Haunted Hop-Yards
11. Vast labyrinth of catacombs accessed via a dismal sepulchre like the one in The Statement of Randolph Carter by HPL
12. Peak Fortress of the Visitors
13. Crater-Lake within a Black Lagoon
14. Tsan Yian Colony-Dome
15. Escher-site: See Swords & Dorkery's Escher Challenge
16. Cliff-stairs
17. The Dome
18. Gardens of the Resolute Empress
19. Blasted Pyramids of Nitocrimelle
20. Lost City of Jikai

Details to follow...

Jalamere 2: Zones

Okay, so we handled Step One of Mr. Conley's 'How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox' Checklist in the Jalamere 1 post where we briefly introduced  the Worldrim and sketched-in something of the rough features that we had in mind for this Fantasy Sandbox. Now we're moving on to Step Two: Labeling Important Regions.


As you can see from the revised map above, we've color-coded the underlying terrain/pseudo-topography and broken it into Six Zones. The larger, 11x17/300dpi version of the Jalamere Zone Map is at our Free Stuff Folder at BOX, so if you want a copy, you can either click on it via the handy gadget in the right-hand side-bar, or click this link: http://www.box.net/shared/fdv1xfjrb9xzyraueesy .


The Six Zones range from Zone 1 which is the mostly vertical region of Great Cliffs that extend downwards from the very edge of the Worldrim; to Zone 6 which is a bleak, barren and very rugged environment dominated by shifting dust, grit and debris. There is one more zone, the Outer Zone where the atmosphere extends outwards from the Worldrim just enough to establish a semi-viable region dominated by flying beasts, harpies and worse, which would very likely be a Zone unto itself. But we're going to leave the Outer Zone alone for now and come back to it later.


Zone 1 is an extreme environment; Zone 2 is a windy rocky region where life is hanging on desperately and it may well be where the Player Characters are most likely to begin (though that could change...); Zone 3 is a transitional environment that shifts and combines aspects of Zones 2 and 4; Zone 4 is a little less windy, but a whole lot more rocky and goes from increasingly steep hills to mesa, buttes, and bad lands; Zone 5 is another transitional region that blends aspects of Zones 4 and 6 into one another; Zone 6 is the Deep Wastes, a cold, dusty, barren place where things tend to bleed through from other places.


Each Zone has a range of Terrain Types associated with it, and thus will have its own set of Weather, Effects, Events, Typical Encounters and Wandering Monster Tables. That will allow us to make each region more distinct and to build adventure seeds and plot-hooks that take advantage of the special conditions and opportunities to be found in each Zone.


Here are our preliminary notes for the Six Zones, so far. All of this is subject to change as we move ahead with this series, but this is a good beginning from which to start thinking about what sorts of creatures live here, and how people might adapt in order to survive in this place, etc.




Zone One Terrain Types

1. Rim Regions  -  Crumbling, eroded and unstable lands prone to collapse. Harpy Aeries and the Roosts of other kinds of Winged Folk are often encountered in these areas.
2. Edgelands  -  Rocky, lichen-dense regions where sparse grass and twisted trees try desperately to make things just a bit more stable. 
3. Waterfalls  -  Strange, slippery and extremely treacherous regions of mist, fog and mighty cataracts rushing off of the very edge of the Worldrim into whatever lies beyond. Ravenous great gray oozes are known to prowl these areas.
4. Cliffs  -  The craggy, heavily eroded and cracked vertical face of the Worldrim where gargoyles perch and more than just spiders hunt the unwary.
5. Abyssal Peaks  -  Massive half-gnawed remnants of ancient chunks of the Worldrim that have separated or fallen away from the current edge. Many are dotted with strange ruins and winged things will often flutter to and fro on strange errands.
6. Special  -  Chasms that run right to the edge like chutes, strange mounds or heaps of talus and debris raised right on the very edge of the world for unknown purposes, ruins clinging to the cliff-face, and other such places yet to be determined.

Zone Two Terrain Types

1. Rimward Steppes  -  Cold, constantly windy, hardscrabble region that is dominated by clusters of rocky formations that jut upwards into the clouds like the colossal fingers of dead gods.
2. Howling Hills  -  Bare and blasted regions of broken stone and huge boulders that whistle and moan with the passage of the winds and other things drawn to such utter desolation. Carnivorous lichens and outcast spirits congregate in the wind-lashed gaps and pockets formed by haphazard mounds of boulders scattered all over this area.
3. Grasslands  -  From coarse spiky grasses to elegant stands of bamboo, this region is dominated by rolling vistas of grasses, herds of grazing creatures, and the sporadic clumps of thorny brush or densely packed forests that stand out like leafy green islands surrounded by seas of grass waving and swaying in the capricious winds that come in off of the Howling Hills.
4. Woodlands  -  Vast, dark forests of gigantic trees that extend across the horizon like a living wall that obscures and hides what might lie beyond...or beneath their moss-draped and vine-heavy boughs.
5. Special  -  Gravel strewn gullies, brush-bordered gorges, chasms, pits, rock mounds, ruins, and such places.

Zone Three Terrain Types

1. Steep Hills  -  Extremely difficult, exceptionally steep vertical faces that may or may not be entirely overgrown with twisted trees, densely inter-connected brush and some weird form of quasi-terrene coral.
2. Canopy  -  Humid, foggy regions of intensely overgrown pseudo-rainforest and/or jungle.
3. Overgrown Canyons  -  Domed-over natural pockets formed by erosion and other factors that have become thriving and verdant ecologies almost entirely cut-off from the rest of the world.
4. Lesser Bad Lands  -  Harsh, dry, rocky landscapes in-between the smaller rivers and dense woodlands. The Bad Lands start and stop abruptly, with little warning and even less rhyme or reason. They may not be entirely natural.
5. Lost Valleys  -  Isolated, hidden places located along convoluted and treacherous arroyos, smaller rivers, or bad land regions that open up into fertile valleys, lush box canyons and other wide open spaces.
6. Broken Places  -  Weak-spots and vortexes that have a particularly sorcerous influence on the surrounding landscape.
7. Special  -  TBD

Zone Four Terrain Types

1. Bad Lands  -  Harsh, dry, rocky landscapes in-between the smaller rivers and dense woodlands. The Bad Lands start and stop abruptly, with little warning and even less rhyme or reason. They may not be entirely natural.
2. Overgrown Canyons  -  Domed-over natural pockets formed by erosion and other factors that have become thriving and verdant ecologies almost entirely cut-off from the rest of the world.
3. Woodlands  -  Vast, dark forests of gigantic trees that extend across the horizon like a living wall that obscures and hides what might lie beyond...or beneath their moss-draped and vine-heavy boughs.
4. Pit Jungles  -  Massive sink-holes where the vegetation runs rampant and geysers spew super-heated steam upwards into the sky at random intervals.
5. Alkali and Salt Pans  -  Dry, dreary, desolate regions where very little grows and less can survive.
6. Special  -  TBD.

Zone Five Terrain Types

1. Alkali and Salt Pans  -  Dry, dreary, desolate regions where very little grows and less can survive.
2. Rocky Wastes  -  Bare expanses of crumbling and pitted rock with little else to be seen.
3. Collapsed Area  -  The crust has subsided or given way in this area, leaving everything a topsy-turvy mess of jumbled rock and shifting soil that is extremely treacherous to navigate on foot.
4. Thorn Forest  -  Dark, sinister clumps of ancient thorn-bushes the size of ancient trees. Few, if any birds can be spotted here.
5. Fern Niches  -  Eroded-out sections of cliffs, hills or even ancient colossal rockfalls that provide enough of an overhang to create a pleasant environment for all manner of ferns.
6. Special  -  Flat sandy regions, places of congealing shadows, coterminous ruins that lead across a dozen or more regions of time and space, dreaming woods, and more.

Zone Six Terrain Types

1. Barrens  -  Unpleasant stretches of broken hills, blasted buttes and convoluted --even curdled-looking canyons and defiles that extend outwards and onwards into the shimmering haze that marks the distant beginnings of the Deep Wastes.
2. Rocky Wastes  -  Bare expanses of crumbling and pitted rock with little else to be seen.
3. Collapsed Area  -  The crust has subsided or given way in this area, leaving everything a topsy-turvy mess of jumbled rock and shifting soil that is extremely treacherous to navigate on foot.
4. Thorn Forest  -  Dark, sinister clumps of ancient thorn-bushes the size of ancient trees. Few, if any birds can be spotted here.
5. Dust  - Seemingly endless shifting dunes of ultra-fine dust.
6. Gritlands  - Slightly caustic fields of grit that grind away at everything that comes into contact with this region.
7. Deep Wastes  -  Dark, dismal, haunted and accursed regions that extend outwards into whatever lies beyond.
8. Special  -  Vortexes, Weak-spots, Nexii, and all manner of weird and Damned Things.

Blogwalk: Down To the Roots

You begin to make your way back down the Tree. At least you start climbing downwards, but you notice something very, very odd as you move from branch to branch. When you move one way there seems to be a clearing or meadow below you, but when you go the other way there seems to be a thick, fern-choked hollow in purple twilight. How very strange. When you go a bit farther you see a frozen expanse beneath a gibbous moon grown huge and swollen in the cold black night of a desolate winterscape. A bit farther around the trunk of the tree and you spot a distant rocky desert. Clearly, the Tree is at the center of a number of different locations that seem to all overlap somehow.

Whichever way you go, there seems to be another option...

So where do you want to go?

Do you...

Climb down to the roots of the Tree  Blog One   Blog Two   Blog Three
Climb out on a limb   Blog One   Blog Two
Go to the Clearing   Blog One    Blog Two
Go to the Fern-Choked Hollow   Blog One   Blog Two   Blog Three

Go into that Cold, Dark Winter's Night    Blog One   Blog Two   Blog Three

Go towards the Rocky Desert    Blog One   Blog Two   Blog Three

Explore the Tree itself a bit more    Blog One   Blog Two   Blog Three
Perhaps you'd like to look for a bird's nest?   Blog One   Blog Two   Blog Three
Change your mind and go back up  Blog One   Blog Two Blog Three
Pause for a bit and just listen   Blog One   Blog Two   Blog Three
Take That Leap...  Blog One   Blog Two

This is a continuation of Porky's Fantasy Blogwalk, a collaborative cross-blog Choose Your Own Adventure narrative that begins at The Oak and expands outwards across the blog-o-sphere as explained by the prime instigator and friendly coordinator of this online collaborative narrative, Porky himself in his 'Blogging Our Adventures' post.


If you have an idea for a scene that might come before, during or after this one, write it, post it on your blog, and link to this post as one of the choices/options available from your scene's post. It's okay to present more options even if those scenes haven't been written just yet. There's plenty of room for everyone and alternative paths are much appreciated and encouraged. If you do write a scene that links to any of the ones at this blog, please leave a link in the comments here so that we can add your scene into the link options here. Everyone is welcome. Make sure you check out some of the other paths that are already available—you might get some ideas for thing to add that none of us have gotten to yet!

To begin your own Blogwalk as a reader-explorer, we suggest going back to the BEGINNING.

If you'd be interested in participating by contributing your own scenes as a Blogwalk writer-blogger then read the Summary and Guidelines at Porky's blog.

Blogwalk: Up In the Branches

Poised between the cold, empty sky and the hard, dark ground you hold tight to a thick, gnarled branch of a great old oak. There is rain coming. You can feel it on the wind. The boughs of the tree are beginning to sway gently. You consider climbing further upwards. You contemplate making your way back down the tree, down to the earth, to the roots down below your precarious perch.

For a fleeting moment you wonder what it would be like to hurl yourself outwards onto the swirling unseen currents of the wind. Would you find yourself possessed of wings or would you plummet to the rocky forest floor and whatever awaited at the end of such an abrupt and pointless journey? Or would it be so pointless? Perhaps this is all a dream. Maybe you would find yourself with a pair of wings...

It is a seductive thought. But in the end you know in your heart that there is a nagging doubt, a remorseful sense of loss that would have you admit that you do not have wings. To fall from this height would almost certainly be fatal. Do you have the courage to make the leap? Do you have enough faith -- is there ever enough of such a thing --  to tempt fate and to see if you might just have wings?

A cold gust of wind ruffles your clothes. You shiver in the dubious shelter of the swaying branches.

Perhaps it is time to head back down to the ground...

Do you...

Climb back down to the base of the Tree  Blog One   Blog Two   Blog Three
Change your mind and climb on bit farther...  Blog One    Blog Two   Blog Three
Take That Leap...  Blog One   Blog Two

This is a continuation of Porky's Fantasy Blogwalk, a collaborative cross-blog Choose Your Own Adventure narrative that begins at The Oak and expands outwards across the blog-o-sphere as explained by the prime instigator and friendly coordinator of this online collaborative narrative, Porky himself in his 'Blogging Our Adventures' post.


If you have an idea for a scene that might come before, during or after this one, write it, post it on your blog, and link to this post as one of the choices/options available from your scene's post. It's okay to present more options even if those scenes haven't been written just yet. There's plenty of room for everyone and alternative paths are much appreciated and encouraged. If you do write a scene that links to any of the ones at this blog, please leave a link in the comments here so that we can add your scene into the link options here. Everyone is welcome. Make sure you check out some of the other paths that are already available—you might get some ideas for thing to add that none of us have gotten to yet!

To begin your own Blogwalk as a reader-explorer, we suggest going back to the BEGINNING.

If you'd be interested in participating by contributing your own scenes as a Blogwalk writer-blogger then read the Summary and Guidelines at Porky's blog.