OKW: Half-orcs

This post is going to be a bit convoluted, but bear with me it will eventually make sense.

One of the major challenges of doing a campaign in OKW Cezavy (at least as I have conceived it) is that Thyatis isn’t really available as a source of ancient ruins. In my normal background scheme of Ancient, Old and Present, the Thyatis Empire really only becomes relevant in the present, even though it no longer exists.

Thus, in order to make any kind of dungeon-delve interesting via a multi-layered backstory (especially a center-piece dungeon), I’ve had to wrack my brain for other possible ancient civilizations that could litter the high steppes of Cezavy with ruins. Again, I have to credit Matt Lynch and his Tome of Adventure Design, because rolling on the various random tables found there-in gave me a very interesting idea with several ramifications for the campaign.

Since it is already established that Tharks roam the southwestern regions of the OKW, I figure that it is plausible that other barsoomian races happened to find their way to the OKW as well. My first choice would be the Lotharians due to their decadence and mental powers. This decadence would have lead to their downfall and possible extinction.

It also introduces the possibility that the various ruins that dot the Cezavy landscape have incubators and other reproductive devices, since all the various humanoid races of barsoom reproduce by laying eggs. This also allows me to put a twist on the reproductive antics of the Quastogs. According to Lawrence Schick, the Quastogs suffer from a curse that results in a very high rate of still births. This necessitates raids far and wide of other races to kidnap children to bolster their ranks.

Given the amount of risk and effort such an endeavor would entail, I postulate that the Quastogs would leap at other reproductive options. One of these could very well be a birthing chamber used by the Lotharians before they passed into the mists of forgotten history. The problem with using such a device is that orcs are not egg layers like the Lotharians. Thus, their use of the device tends to end in various mutations; however, these are successful births and the mutation rate is far less than the stillbirth rate.

Mutations, however, are still seen as a stigma and most are culled in infancy. Some do survive, however. Either rescued by their mothers (who may have been kidnapped in their youth) or their mutation didn’t manifest until they were able to escape on their own, these “half-orcs” can occasionally be found on the fringes of Cezavy civilization.

In order to represent the various mutations exhibited by these half-orcs, I decided to take the Replicant class from Mutant Future and run it through the custom class creation system found in the ACKS Players Companion. Here is what I came up with:

Half-Orc

Prime Requisite: STR
Hit Dice: 1d6
Damage Die: 1d8
Maximum Level: 14

Half-orcs are the mutated off-spring of the Quastog orc clans. Rejected by their own people, they live on the fringes of civilization.

Upon creation, the player rolls on the following table until three mutations (or the equivalent) are rolled. Duplicates may be re-rolled or stacked, depending upon player/Referee desire. The mutations are expressed as a mechanic. An example of how that mechanic might be expressed in game play is given; however, players are encouraged to create their own “special effect” for each mutation, thus making their character unique.

Mutations (d20):

1. Cast Scare 1/8hrs (Xenomorphism)
2. All saving throws at +2 (Extra Organs)
3. Cast Invisible 1/hr takes 1 turn to cast (Chameleon Epidermis)
4. Equivalent of Infravision: 30’ (counts as 1 mutation); 60’ (counts as 2 mutations) (Echolocation/Nightvision/Thermal Vision/Ultraviolet Vision)
5. Lay on Hands — heal 2hp per experience level once per day (Epidermal Photosynthesis)
6. +1 damage w/TH weapons; may use w/shield (Gigantism)
7. +1 surprise and initiative (Prehensile Tail)
8. 1d2-1/1d2-1/1d4-1 (counts as 2 mutations); 1d3-1/1d3-1/1d6-1 (counts as 3 mutations) (Spiny Growth/Natural Weapon)
9. Flesh Runes — When not wearing armor, the character receives +2 AC and reduces damage from non-magical attacks by 1 hp per die; this increases to +4 AC and 2hp per die at 7th level and +6 AC and 3 hp per die at 13th level; damage from creatures of 5HD or more are considered magical attacks (counts as 3 mutations) (Energy Retaining Cell Structure)
10. Glamorous Aura — +2 to reaction rolls to impress and/or intimidate; if the result is 12+ the subject acts as if charmed (Fragrance Development)
11. Climb Walls as a Thief (Increased Balance)
12. Cast Strength 1/hr takes 1 turn to cast (Increased Physical Attribute)
13. Cast Jump 1/hr (Increased Physical Attribute)
14. Cast Resist Fire 1/8hrs (Increased Physical Attribute)
15. Detect Traps — may detect traps, false walls, hidden construction, and notice if passages are sloped with a roll of 1-4 on a d6 (Increased Sense)
16. +1 AC (Natural Armor)
17. Cast Blindness 1/8hrs (Optic Emissions)
18. Cast Deafness 1/8hrs (Shriek)
19. Cast Magic Missile 1/hr (Toxic Weapon)
20. Arcane Dabbling — 15% chance of being able to use Magic-User-only-type magic items (like wands); increases by 10% each level to a max of 90%. Failure may have unindented consequence if Referee so desires (Mystic Sense)

Half-orcs fight and save as fighters and may use any weapon and any armor.

Reaching 9th: At 9th level, a replicant may build a stronghold.

XP         Level
1700         2
3400         3
6800         4
13600       5
27200       6
55000       7
110000     8
230000     9
350000   10
470000   11
590000   12
710000   13
830000   14

OKW: Cezavy Regional Map

Cezavy refers to a common language spoken by various tribes in the northeast of the OKW. The are a barbarian peoples who have only recently stepped on the road to civilization. As such, the word “Empire” is more symbolic than actual, though there is a foundation in place on which to build.

Historically, the Cezavy peoples lived in various Principalities (also called Duchies) controlled by city-states. Each city-state had its own method of choosing a prince (traditionally called a Graf). As such, there really isn’t a well-developed aristocracy. There is an acknowledged difference between land-owners (boyars) and those who don’t own land (peasants and, in some cases, serfs), but this line has always been fairly easy to cross.

The seeds for empire were first planted when missionaries arrived in Cezavy lands from the Thyatic Empire. The first to convert were the Grafs of Sclavak and others soon followed. Thyatic bishops started establishing churches and the Cezavy people had something larger than their own city-states to aspire to. They were now part of the Thyatic sphere of influence.

When Chaos overran the Thyatic Empire, the Grafs of the Cezavy saw themselves as the last bastion of Civilization. A Tsar (meaning “emperor”) was chosen, and a shaky political alliance has formed. Whether or not this new political reality can withstand either the forces of Chaos or internal strife, only time will tell.

Here is a regional map, showing the six Principalities that make up the Cezavy Empire:

The area shown in the map is approximately 425 miles by 300 miles. Spheres of influence are indicated by color:

Grand Duchy of Sclavak (Red) 

Along with Beloz, Sclavak is the oldest of all the Cezavy states (thus the title “Grand” Duchy). Though it is not the richest nor does it have the largest military force of all the Cezavy states, Sclavak has traditionally had the most political influence. This is, in part, due to the fact that Sclavak is home to the Archbishop; however, even before the coming of Thyatic missionaries, the Grafs of Sclavak had invested heavily in a very well developed spy network. Colloquially, the Graf of Sclavak is known as the Old Fox or the Silver Fox. In part, this is due to the heraldry of Sclavak, but also due to the way they have always managed to get the upper hand through information brokering and manipulation. As a result, when the Empire was formed, the Graf of Sclavak was selected as Tsar.

Grand Duchy of Beloz (Purple) 

Beloz is a long-time rival of Sclavak. They have the largest military of all the Cezavy states and boast of a long and proud military tradition. This might have been enough for the Grafs of Beloz to lay waste to their rivals had not much of their military effort been focused on defending their long southern border from the Vanog Orcs of the Altan Tepe Mountains. They are most closely allied with Shuyusk. Colloquially, the Graf of Beloz is known as the Eagle, and sometimes the Black Eagle if they should take a despotic turn.

Republic of Pleskov (Green) 

Pleskov is singular among the Cezavy states because the Graf of Plaskov is indirectly elected by the gatherings of the people in what are called Veches. These institutionalized assemblies directly elect an advisory council of six members who then go on to elect a Graf. Electoral ties are traditionally broken by the bishop of Pleskov. As a result, the burgher class in Pleskov has a tremendous amount of influence and has made Pleskov the most wealthy Cezavy state by making it merchant-friendly. There is a bit of a rivalry between the Archbishop of Sclavak and the bishop of Pleskov. Due to its relative political power, its wealth and its traditional proximity to the Thyatic Empire, there are many who have argued that the see of Pleskov should be the seat of the archbishop and not Sclavak.

Principality of Shuyusk (Brown)

Shuyusk may not be the oldest Principality in the Cezavy Empire, but it is one of the most traditional. It was the last to see Thyatic missionaries, and it still chooses its Graf in the ancient Cezavy method: by trial of combat. This is not, however, simply a test of martial skill. Of equal importance is how one fights. A council of tribal elders decides whether or not any of the combatants are worthy to be Graf (there have been times when the answer was no). This emphasis of martial prowess is due to threats on two fronts: Vanog Orcs to the south and the Hagoth Clans to the east. There are rumors that the current Graf has formed an alliance with a group of werebears and may very well be one himself.

Principality of Azov (Blue)/Duchy of Chelyadin (Orange)

These two Principalities are the youngest of all the Cezavy states, having been formed at the birth of the Empire. The Graf of what was then the Great Principality of Azyadin was steadfastly against the formation of the Empire and several other Grafs were happy to allow him to be an impediment to the new Cezavy State. The Silver Fox prodded the recalcitrant Graf onto the battlefield where he was betrayed by his uncle and his illegitimate son. Azyadin was split between the two. Azov is now in the hands of the son and the uncle is now Graf of Chelyadin. They supported the SIlver Fox’s bid to become Tsar and the Empire was born. As a result, the two states are seen by many to be puppet states of Sclavak. Certainly, they are the most despotic of the Cezavy states, as neither Graf trusts their people nor do they have the confidence of their people.

Gamer ADD: An Original Known World Campaign

Thanks to all of the interesting information made available about the Original Known World (OKW) through the diligence of James Mishler and the generosity of Lawrence Schick (see the links here), I have a serious case of Gamer ADD. Admittedly, I’ve never been a big fan of Mystara and I certainly have never run or been a player in the Known World; however, I really like the idea of starting with the raw material of the Known World prior to publication and running with it.

The problem with it is its size. The OKW is HUGE. In order to really do a thought experiment about the OKW any justice, I will need to choose one of the cultural analogs and focus on that. Of those listed by Schick, three really interest me: Thyatis (Ancient Greece/Rome), Corunglain (Byzantine) and Cezavy/Sclavak (Kievan Rus).

One of the main reasons for this is that of all the various deities that end up on Moldvay’s and Schick’s grand table of gods, nothing corresponds to either Byzantium or the Kievan Rus. This, of course, is due to the fact that both were explicitly Christian civilizations. What interests me about Thyatis is that the existence of a Byzantine culture suggests that Thyatis is the same culture.

The word “Byzantine” was coined in the 16th century by a Frenchman long after what we call the Byzantine Empire collapsed. In reality, the Empire that had Constantinople as its capital called itself the Roman Empire. In other words, it is incorrect to say that the Roman Empire fell in the fifth century A.D. Rome fell, but the Empire persisted in the East for another thousand years. Thus, if we were to use this historical pattern as a reference, what was the Thyatis Empire still exists in a diminished form in Corunglain. This suggests that the Thyatis Empire had adopted Christianity or a fantasy analog prior to its collapse.

The “Byzantines” were also responsible for the Christianization of the Rus and were responsible for providing bishops throughout the Kievan Rus period. When Constantinople fell, the Russians adopted the concept of the “Third Rome.” In the same way that the Roman Empire continued to exist sans Rome in Constantinople, the Russians sought to be the center and protector of (Orthodox) Christian civilization after Constantinople became Istanbul. Thus, Cezavy has taken up the mantle of “Empire” in an effort to aspire to be the next Thyatis.

Of the three, I am least inclined to expand upon Thyatis, simply because it played such a large part in what became Mystara. Corunglain certainly has the most intriguing geography. It is the closest of the three to the Tharks and has immediate neighbors in Akoros (Mughal India) and Karameikos. Cezavy, though, has a couple of things going for it that really interest me.

Firstly, it exists only in the OKW and not in Mystara (to my knowledge). Therefore, I don’t have any canon I need to worry about stepping all over. Secondly, the Kievan Rus period is really interesting. It is familiar enough for players to immerse themselves into the setting, but also alien enough to make things interesting. The one factor, however, that really attracts me to Cezavy is its proximity to the “marginally human” Quastogs. Schick explains that they have a difficult time reproducing and go far wand wide to raid other cultures abducting people. This is great fodder for background noise and adventures. It also gives me an excuse to put a new spin on the half-orc.

Therefore, my currently non-playing gamer mind will be keeping itself busy with bringing an OKW Cezavy campaign setting to life. I hope you enjoy.

Tharks!

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but some really interesting info has recently been unearthed about the Known World which was originally published in Cook’s Expert Edition and which eventually became known as Mystara. Lawrence Schick (author of White Plume Mountain), who helped Moldvay create the Known World, has been kind enough to share with us a bunch of info about what the Known World looked like prior to publication. You can find the awesomeness here (with a big shout out to James Mishler):

• http://www.blackgate.com/2015/02/07/the-known-world-dd-setting-a-secret-history/
• http://adventuresingaming2.blogspot.com/2015/02/mystara-original-known-world.html
• http://adventuresingaming2.blogspot.com/2015/02/mystara-lawrence-schick-answers-qs-on.html
• http://adventuresingaming2.blogspot.com/2015/03/mystara-another-round-of-qs-answered-by.html

One of the most fascinating things about this whole exercise is the inclusion of various non-human/demi-human races from literature not penned by J.R.R. Tolkien — Tharks and Kzinti, for example. The latter were meant to be a PC race and ended up in D&D as Rakasta and Tabaxi. The tharks, on the other hand, were just too strange and were always going to be a monster-type that attacked everybody. Well, as those who are familiar with my playing style, I like weird. Therefore, I am really interested in working on a campaign to take place within the Original Known World and for that I want to give players an opportunity to play a thark.

To that end, I need to start with Champions (of which I played 1st-3rd editions). I am a big fan of Champions because of the way it approaches the special effects of super-heroes. Rather than try to come up with rules to cover every type of ranged attack found in comic books, they reduced everything to mechanics. It was then the player’s job to describe these mechanics with special effects. For example, a 10d6 ranged attack could be ice, fire, laser, an elongated fist punch, chunks of rock, etc. If one takes the same approach with the demi-human classes found in the ACKS Players Companion, all kinds of goodness can be found there.

For example, here is how a basic dwarf is expressed mechanically in ACKS:

• They require a minimum Con of 9
• They cannot use TH swords or longbows
• They cannot use arcane magic
• They have a +1 to surprise rolls in a given situation (underground)
• They speak four bonus languages
• They can spot traps
• They have bonuses to saving throws (+3 vs. Breath and +4 to everything else)
• They are limited to a 13th level maximum

If one divorces these mechanics from the "special effect" of being a dwarf, it is possible to apply all of these mechanics to other non-human and demi-human races, thus allowing us to create PC classes for all kinds of races from whatever source material we want.

These mechanics, for example, could easily be used to describe tharks. The no TH swords and longbows could be explained as a cultural bias. Or, better yet, one could expand that limitation to all TH weapons, explaining that such a fighting style is inefficient with four arms. If you throw in the fact that wearing heavy armor also interferes with their fighting style, there are two available slots for bonuses to represent having four arms:

• They can wear two shields, giving a total of +2 to AC.
• They can use the two-weapon fighting style (which normally gives a +1 to hit) while wearing shields. This fighting style also gives them a +1 to damage.
• For flavor, tharks could get a -1 reaction roll with all other races, but a +1 with other tharks.

Otherwise, they fight and save as fighters and can use any weapon that doesn’t require a TH fighting style.

Requirements: CON 9
Prime Requisite: STR
Hit Dice: 1d8
Damage Die: 1d8
Maximum Level: 13 

XP       Level
2500         2
5000         3
10000       4
20000       5
40000       6
800000     7
160000     8
270000     9
400000   10
530000   11
660000   12
790000   13

So, you want to play a thark in the Original Known World of B/X? There you go, compliments of the guys over at Autarch via the ACKS Players Companion.