Nameless Things

Cosmic Horror in Middle-earth

Welcome to Nameless Things, a small, strange crossover between the bucolic countryside of Tolkien’s Middle-earth and the unspeakable eldritch horrors of H. P. Lovecraft. Middle-earth is already ripe with horrors, from the “nameless things” that gnaw the depths of the world, to the undead Barrow-Wights and Nazgul, to primordial spirits such as Ungoliant and her descendants. Likewise, the idealized vision of the English countryside that is the Shire is easy to reimagine as a place of secrets and decay, with insular and suspicious hobbits peering out of noisome holes, corrupt and degenerate families falling from nobility into shocking ignorance and monstrous habits, and seekers after lore and power whose minds are blasted by what they find.

Nameless Things is set in Middle-earth several hundred years after the events of The Lord of the Rings. Great names such as King Elessar are the stuff of legend, the Elves are all vanished and only half-believed in, and the world is a dark and fallen place.

Nameless Things uses the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition rules, with alterations as noted here.

Setting Rules

The following setting rules are in play:

• Abstract Wealth: Characters roll a Wealth die instead of counting coins.
• Civilized Folks: Weapon armor or carrying a large weapon where it’s considered inappropriate imposes a Persuasion penalty (½ armor value, -2 for a weapon).
• Difficult Healing (Horror Companion): Only one healing roll per Wound.
• Dynamic Backlash: A critical failure on an arcane skill roll forces a player to roll on a special table.
• Gritty Damage: When Wild Cards take a wound, they roll on the Injury table and apply the result.
• Hard Choices: The GM’s characters only get bennies when the players spend theirs. Jokers no longer generate bennies.
• More Skill Points: Start with 15 skill points instead of 12.
• Multiple Languages: Characters know half their Smarts die type in different languages at d6.
• No Power Points: Those casting spells don’t track Power Points but instead subtract half the listed Power Point cost (round up) from their skill roll to activate the ability. Powers may be maintained as desired at a −1 penalty to all further arcane skill rolls.
• Skill Specializations: Characters choose a specialization when taking each skill and subtract 2 when using other variations.
• Unarmored Hero: Wild cards without armor add +2 to their Soak rolls.
• Wild Cards (Horror Companion): Most characters and monsters are Wild Cards.