Dwarf-Land: The Empire of Zoob

Scott of the Huge Ruined Pile remarked that the Empire of Zoob is one of the locations in his very cool Dwarf-Land that he was going to leave for individual DMs to develop.  Given the information presented in Scott's original document, here's my unofficial take:

The folk of the Empire of Zoob are a secretive lot, freely sharing only two things with outsiders: commerce (which fills their coffers with gold) and cunningly devised tortures (which they work upon any and all who transgress their elaborate and harsh legal code). The nigh-paranoid secrecy of Zoob extends to the workings of its government. It is known that the Empire is ruled by a Cabal of  Magi, but the members of this body never appear in public and only make their will known through edicts issued on anthropodermic broadsheets posted in public fora.

The religion of Zoob is likewise somewhat obscure.  It's primary faith, the Cult of the Weird God (liturgically named Undying ul-Zoob-ra in the Empire), is divided into several sects adhering to different interpretations of the pronouncements of the god's numerous (the exact number also being a point of contention) prophets. The Undying ul-Zoob-ra, Himself,--or perhaps an earthly beast holy to the god (this is one of the doctrinal issues the sects argue over)--dwells in a palace-cage in Zoob's holy city of Baphoum. The god (or holy beast) appears as a giant anteater with the ears of an ass and the wickedly clawed limbs of a cassowary. At the Festival of Yala-ul-Zoob, the beast is led through the streets by gilded chains held by his attendant clerics so that his holy talons may trample ecstatic worshippers, thus ensuring their place in Paradise. 

Men of Zoob dress in elaborate and colorful robes. They refuse to be seen in public without jeweled turbans and veils that hide their faces, save their kohl-rimmed, exotically colored eyes. Women wear little but gold ornamentation, tiny, sweetly chiming bells, and intoxicating perfumes. The Dance of the Bloody Scimitars, performed by a group of the women of Zoob selected by lottery when an execution draws nigh, is said to be the sight of a lifetime--and indeed it must be, as few if any outsiders survive it.

Two Things You Should Buy

While I'm off today for a state holiday, so the easiest post I could imagine was to point you to some great stuff done by some of my favorite fellow bloggers.

The Manor is a 'zine by Tim Shorts of Gothbridge Manor, and its got a lot of old school goodness, including random tables and a micro-adventure--plus highbrow stuff like a poetical ode to the umber hulk. It features art by Jason Sholtis and Johnathan Bingham (two more fine bloggers).  Reserve your copy today! 

Weather all gloomy in your crumbling keep by the stormy sea?  Kill that ennui with the decadent pleasure of role-playing with a gothic touch.  Jack over at the Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque has created a "greatest hits" compilation of blog posts and made them available in hardcopy.  Highlights include his recent series on demi-humans and the core fear that embody in his World Between setting, rumors, spells, villians, and more.  What I love about Jack's stuff is how he manages to inject a touch of the literary in terms of mood and tone, while keeping the game-play firmly old school. Follow the links to get your hard or soft copy today.  And the pdf is free, ya cheapskates!

Warlord Wednesday: Demons of Days Past

Let's re-enter the lost world with another installment of my issue by issue examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...

"Demons of Days Past"

Warlord #90 (February 1985)

Written by Cary Burkett; Art by Rich Buckler.

Synopsis: While Tara supervises the unloading of supplies and the building of shelters for the ex-slaves they’re expecting Captain Hawk to be bringing them, Morgan is off staring at the primitive beauty of Skartaris, his thoughts in turmoil. He knows he has responsibilities but he yearns to run off and have adventures, leaving them behind.

Suddenly, he finds he’s no longer alone. An old man with a staff is behind him. Somehow, the old man seems to know the conflict in Morgan’s heart. The old man tells him that once in a while, a man comes along who can do great things. The choices men like this make effect the lives of others. He gives the examples of King Arthur and Lancelot—both great men who chose different paths. Morgan asks the old man to speak more plainly, but when he turns, the old man is gone.

Meanwhile, Jennifer has used her magic to locate Tinder. She recognizes the chamber he’s in, because she had been there in the distant past, when she and her friends confronted the Evil One. Tinder and Chaka mesmerized by the gem they found last issue. Jennifer is able to counteract the spell and free them. Jennifer confiscates the gem, as she realizes it contains a portion of the Evil One’s power. Ashir, ever the thief, is busy gathering gold pieces, until Jennifer warns him of the deadly curse on them.

Back at the mouth of the Ramphos River, Tara reminds Morgan that he needs gold to pay off Hawk. Morgan knows just the place to get it—the pyramid of Shaban D’Aba where the mages of the Age of Wizard-Kings hid their treasure.

They have to do some climbing to get there—and Morgan has to grapple an orange dimetrodon:

Eventually, they make it to Shaban D'Aba. They’re greeted by a group of villagers bringing a sacrifice to appease a demon. They barely have time to ask “What demon?” before a multi-legged creature with a lion’s head and a body of flame attacks.

Their swords have no effect. Their only chance is to escape into the inside of the pyramid. Unfortunately, the demon merely turns to smoke and streams inside behind them. Morgan prepares to make their last stand, but Tara notices an open bottle with emblazoned with the same symbol that the demon wears. On a hunch, Morgan points the bottle at the demon and the creature is sucked inside. Tara quickly stoppers it. Danger averted, Morgan and Tara kiss.

Things to Notice:

• This issue places Warlord firmly in the DC Universe for the first time by having a cameo by the Monitor. This was done in most DC Comics as a lead up to Crisis on Infinite Earths.
• Again we see an example of the wide variety of orange prehistoric reptiles in Skartaris.

Where It Comes From:
Morgan first discovered the treasure-filled step pyramid in the ruins of Shaban D'Aba back in issue #31.  We later discovered (in issue #66) that Jennifer Morgan was instrumental in developing the plan to hide the gold of the wizards there--which is also the issue where she visited the Evil One's lair as she mentions here.

The demon in this issue was clearly inspired by Buer, a "Great President of Hell," who appears in the 16th century grimoire Pseudomonarchia Daemonum.

Real Dungeon, American Style: Burrows Cave

A man just finishing his lunch on a bluff overlooking a valley in southeastern illinois steps on a flat rock and falls into the entrance of a cave. There he found a crypt with skeletons adorned in bronze, armed with swords, and surrounded by gold. This isn’t any pulp story or movie serial, but the account of one Russell Burrows from 1982. The story is, of course, controversial--but a little controversy is hardly unheard of for a dungeon, American-style.

Anyway, this is what Burrows said he found:

“I saw a full human skeleton reposing on a large block of stone. It scared the hell out of me! Then I began to see other things lying there with those bones. I saw ax heads, spear points, and something else—metal! The skeleton was laid out upon a solid block large enough to hold not only the remains but artifacts as well."

"The artifacts include ax heads of marble and other stone material, an ax head of what appears to be bronze, a short sword of what appears to be bronze, and other artifacts which might be considered personal weapons. There were also a set of three bronze spears, the longest being about six feet long and the shortest about three feet... The skeletal remains bear several fine artifacts such as armbands, headbands and other such items, all off gold. "

Quite a haul--and that was presumably just one of the 13 burial crypts. Burrows claimed to have sold the gold (which is probably a crime). Artifacts that supposedly came from the cave appear to show a mismatch of ancient world cultures and a few things reminiscent of Native American designs (See some of them here). In other words, the sort of things that cynical scholarly types would decry as forgeries. Where’s the fun in that, though?

Burrows Cave would make an interesting locale for a pulp game, but it’s map could be used for any sort of setting.

D&D Most Cosmic

Before I talked about the possibilites of fantasy gaming enlivened by concepts of gods borrowed from comic books. In that discussion, I neglected the abstract cosmic entities, peculiar to Marvel--several of whom were the creation of Jim Starlin. Adding these sorts of deity-level beings also suggests a way to revitalize the hoary old great wheel or develop a trippy planar travel sort of setting wholly different from Planescape.

Let's take a look at a few of Marvel's concepts given form:

The Living Tribunal has three faces representing equity, vengeance, and necessity, and he likes to go around judging things.  He might be the supreme being--or he might just be the supreme being's prosecutor.  He's probably lawful neutral (or maybe just lawful).

In a lot of fantasy Law and Chaos are in opposition.  In the Marvel cosmic entities pantheon, Lord Chaos and Master Order work in tandem, perhaps manipulating events to show the superiority of one side or the other? Maybe they're engaged in a debate or a game rather than a battle?  Separately, Lord Chaos has a visage that could easily hang above a humanoid altar and bald Master Order could easily be the patron of monks.

Chaos and Order also have a servant embodying both of their philosophies (perhaps the True Neutral of balance?) called the In-Betweener, who sometimes seems to pursue his own agenda.

Eon is a weird looking guy that guards the cosmic axis. (Maybe that's what the Great Wheel spins around?) He can also dole out "cosmic awareness" if he needs to.

That's just a few examples.  Perusing the list of the beings appearing in Marvel's various cosmic sagas out to offer a lot more ideas.

Images From Beyond the City

Even if the locals think it's the center of the world, there's plenty of adventure to be had beyond the City:

"Yeah, she was a thousand years old and evil, but you had to admit: that mummy could make a cleric kick out a stainglass window."*

The whole time they were guests of the Monkey King of the South Seas they were in constant danger from his capricious (and often deadly) sense of humor. Still, he had a helluva palace band.

Everywhere the two grifter eikones manifested, they acted out the same mystery play.  Thick versus thin.  Lean versus plenty. Either way, it never worked out well for the locals, in the end.

"The Courser is our only chance to make it in time!  If we can outrun Grandfather Winter, we can easily reach the Northern Ruthenian wastes and retrieve the fragment before Donander's zeppelin is even across the Staarkish border."

*With apologies to Raymond Chandler for partially appropriating his line.

Doorway to Weird

Last night was another installment of our Weird Adventures game in Lorefinder.  The gang was reunited after a few weeks of partial party adventuring and they made their way back to the Thaumaturgical Society library in Paladin Hill. Thanks to Creskin's membership, they got access to the tome they were looking for in manuscript form: Incursions from Elsewhere by Montagu Ware.

Poring over the manuscript, Creskin finds a chapter on Hoborxen and its alien overlay. Interestingly, Ware mentions a visit by a wizard from the alien city--Faustus Bleys--and his nonhuman scribe.  There was once an illustration on the facing page but it had been torn out.  Creskin also notices the page he's reading is a palimpsest--and the original writing not quite scraped off appears to be a still-functional spell. The spell (when read) should open a doorway to a pocket dimension.

Creskin tears out the page and the guys leave with the librarian none the wiser.  In a secluded alley in Grimalkin Village, Creskin reads the spell.  The page expands to become a doorway.  They step through into a crazy cubical bronze room with doors on all the walls and the ceiling.  And perhaps weirdest of all, a floating, mumbling head in the center.

An attempt to decipher the head's utterances, gets acid vomitted at Creskin for his trouble.  Bored with that conversation, Boris puts a bullet through the head before it can attack them.  Don Diabolico explores the other doors finding: a gold box containing restive, jumping bird skulls, each polished to a porcelain sheen and wrapped in tissue paper; a room that's walls and ceilings are coated with moving globules of a viscous, oil-slick irridescent substance; and a room indentical to the one they're in--complete with duplicates of our heroes in it.

Diabolico plays with these weird places, while Creskin and Boris are sure that all of them are potentially deadly.  After Boris goes out and comes back with a ladder, their able to get into the strangely normal room on the other side of the ceiling door.  Amid the fairly mundane furnishing, they find Indrid Bliss's coat, another glass orb, and a photo of a younger John Vandemaur and Vivaine Vandemaur dressed as a cigarette girl--in a hopping Club Tekeli-Li!

Taking these items with them (as well as an ooze sample and the box of bird schools), the gang runs into Indrid Bliss on the way out.  He's miffed they broke into his place and demands his "beacon" back.  Creskin threatens to break the orbs and Bliss back off, disappearing into a shimmering door.

Questions abound, but the boys are more convinced than ever that Viviane Vandemaur is hiding something.