TheHornedRaidersReturn
Contents
The Horned Raiders Return
Concept
Three cultures predominate in this world
one flavoured like high medieval europe (knights, damsels, monks, foresters, minstrels, etc.) ,
one flavoured like the viking world (warriors, berserkers, skalds, shieldmaidens, seers, etc.)
also the hobgoblin pale (with a russian-scythian feel; boar riders, shaved-headed axemen, warlocks, slayers, etc.)
Concept: In days of yore, the Horned Invaders looted the towns of the Settled Lands. None could withstand the might of the longboat Raiders until the rise of Earl Goodspear, who stemmed the tide of their invasion in battle.
But now, after the Rain of Green Fire, the Settled Lands have fallen. Wizards in the civilized palaces grew too powerful and corrupt, unleashing an arcane war that ended in fiery destruction. Cities burned under the onslaught of necromantic Green Rain , and undead rose in the ruins to swarm the countryside.
The Rain's survivors have need of the horned fighters to rescue them. The Earl’s descendant, Duke Goodspear, has called on the invaders to enter the Settled Lands and aid the embattled folk. Roving from town to town, the Raiders will meet the walking dead, brutal greenskin invaders, and roving monsters (ogres, trolls, etc.) unchecked since the fall of civilized rule.
CLASSES: this is deliberately restrictive to evoke a particular setting. Emphasis is on fast, frantic melee between lightly or at most medium armored combatants. A party will consist of the following classes and races, mostly humans and fighter-types, including:
- One or more (Viking-like) 'Raiders'*: Raider Warrior: FIGHTER. Loses heavy armour prof but uses d12 for hps. Must wear (unhistorical) horned helm and carry Viking-ish arms and armour. Raider Berserker : use BARBARIAN. Raider Skald: BARD (with storytelling, chanting, etc as performance trappings).
NB: all Raiders gain a +2 (ancestral) melee weapon at start of play.
- One or more extra fighters: Kite-shield Knight-a rare Settled Lands survivor of the Green Rains. Use FIGHTER. Early medieval style gear with kite shield, chain (no plate armour in the setting). Gains diplomacy and Animal handling as free skills but must give up half money and peasant-useful magic items to aid locals. Greenskin 'Slayer' (use half-orc, but really a hobgoblin), a FIGHTER mercenary. -2 to diplomacy with locals, but +2 to intimidate. Peasant/ yeoman hero- a FIGHTER who gains only shield, simple weapon and light armour profs. Gains Animal handling, Bluff, and (Craft or Tracking) as free skills. May have an animal companion (cat, fox or dog).
- One arcanist: Minstrel (human, Settled Lands trickster; BARD, the only human arcane class ‘allowed’ in the setting Dragonborn or Tiefling SORCERER (arcane powers natural to these races)
- 'One 'Friar': Wandering Friar-human CLERIC but lose armour ability and forgo martial weapons for a WIS bonus on AC. Their ‘god’ is the Archangel Orchris, a demiurge of the Great High One (we won't go into theological detail). Domains include Law.
- One rogue or ranger: Catfolk ‘sneak’: ROGUE. Woodsman- RANGER- settled land native, Robin Hood-like (?) liberator. Delver-a class of risk-taking ruin scourers; human, halfling or catfolk ROGUE
NB: so no playable wizards or druids; clerics and sorcerers restricted as explained above
RACES: in order of frequency, Human, Halfling, Greenskin (hobgoblin; use half-orc), Tiefling (many born after the Green Rain), Catfolk , Dragonborn. NB: no elves or dwarves, thanks.
Tale of Zhark and Sir Pertwee
In its Golden Age an army of the North invaded the Pale . Their champion, a holy knight called Sir Pertwee, settled the final battle by entering into single combat with the hobgoblins' champion, Zharkov. Zharkov was not killed but fainted in the battle. Sir Pertwee spared him, believing that he would never anyway recover from the drubbing of the fight.
Zharkov, or Zhark, was a legendary hobgoblin who lived for much of his life in the human world as a highwayman, pirate and mercenary. As a result of his ruthlessness, black humour and daring he became a darling of the hobgoblin gods, who blessed him with supernatural powers. Or at least that is the story from the hobgoblin side. Brother Ericch has been told that Zhark the Wicked was touched by an Arch-fiend in the womb and had his diabolical good luck and powers since birth. As a Wandering Friar, though, he has his own independent opinion on the matter.
If Zhark is revived, the world will have to deal with a major hobgoblin adversary who will inspire the resurgent Greenskins to lose any remaining fear of the unprotected North.
Remembering Sir Pertwee gives BE pause for thought. The Wizards no doubt perished in the conflagration of the Green Rain. But some Knights , with manors outside the smitten cities, have surely survived. And re-established something of their Orders. When will they re-enter the North and save the beleaguered towns from the threats of the Pale and Raider ships? Surely they will remember the oaths of defence they swore in their vigil!
Player Characters
Kjarll Kellnson, the Berserker (retired)
Zlata Tuskbearer, the Half-Greenie Mercenary
Broken Fang, the Hobgoblin Grappler
Errich Angelblessed, the Halfling Friar
PC Sheet, copy and make your own page
Marching Order and Watches
Marching Order (List two-wide and single)
- Two-Wide
- Single File
Watch Order
- 1st watch:
- 2nd watch:
- 3rd watch:
- 4th watch:
treasure
2,000 pennies each.
+1 , vicious (2d6 bonus damage on nat 20) battle axe. For green girls only, obsessive bond.
Abbot Roland's Red Ointment (=Keoghtom's ointment with two salves left.
A hat of disguise
A bag of holding
Angel Chalice (2d8+2 heals a day, but needs some prepping).
A pearl of power.
I'm assuming that Rhos carries the bag and hat. Bruna the pearl and chalice. Zlata the axe.
Quiver of killer arrows
Locations of Note
The Raider Coast
A Map of the Raider Coast:
scale: the road in red from Loomton to Talltowers is 70 miles with twists and turns.
The northern Coast has been protected by the low, craggy hillocks known as the Cairn Hills. Ghouls who rose in the Rain-struck town of Talltowers have not crossed this range for some reason. But the villages are terribly exposed to Greenskin assault as the brutes now move freely from the Pale into the unprotected country.
Non-Raiders are currently holed in at the fortified (earth dyke , wooden wall) village of Loomton, hemmed in by marauding greenskins.
A longboat will soon land near the settlement , letting off the Raiders who will go immediately to the same village.
Talltowers
Map of Talltowers (Caer Dinerval, locally)
Culver's The large merchant house has been completely cleared and fortified, operating as a delver depot during daylight
Storehouses have been systematically cleared by delvers, with everything of value carted off tho at considerable cost of life. A weird, octopus like creature has now slithered in to the place from out of the river.
Knucklehead harbour and Lac Dineshere are nicknames for the large reaches in the river bend. Strange fish cruise the waters.
Ruined Watchtower Now haunted by terrifying shadow-like specters. It is dangrous even to look at the place.
Dinev's Rest is a tavern once owned by a half-hobgoblin ex-merc. The cellars are now haunted by a powerful undead presence.
The Uphill Climb is now the lair of a giant raven. 'Black Jack' has an uneasy truce with delvers.
Caer-Dineval is a castle once lorded over by a powerful Blue Wizard. The place has not been cleared successfully as ghouls and ghasts infest the place. Brave parties, convinced it is loaded with treasures, have unsuccessfully investigated.
The Dungeon
House Rules
Healing (in Talltowers).party has these options:
1.If you haven't done so already, do your free 'dig deep' (recover 1HD of hps, use average+1 if you wish). We'll use 'dig deep' to distinguish it from Zlata's 'second wind'.
2. Have a short rest. I'll be a slight stickler and say that the party has to find a defended area to rest properly. Returning back to Culver's is best. This was mentioned by Gad -it's the in-town depot (the barricaded merchant house) that the delvers use during the daytime for precisely this purpose -see Talltowers map for location. You can then recover up to 2 of your HD of hps. This will also recharge all of your 'dig deep's' and Zlata's second wind.
3. return to the hamlet and a long rest. I'll roll to see if there's an encounter for this longer journey.
4. Stay in the field
Pro-activ rollin' please. If your character does sonething that is intended to have an impact beyond discussion, please make a roll that accompanies it. Even if you choose the 'wrong' roll in terms of skill or proficiency bonus, I can still use it and add the bonuses I think match the situation. Or just go with your idea anyway. Looking at it negatively, if it ain't rolled nothing has happened. Looking at it oositively, you don't need need to ask the GM whether or what you should roll. Whether you think this is unfair or not, I tend to interpret the results of proactive rolls as those of slightly pluckier, more daring attempts.
Chargen: 4d6 best of 3, switching lowest score (only) to 16 if these are crappoid. Think of a motivation and weakness (will generate re-roll points).
Heavy armour is absent from the setting except for chainmail (heavy in 5E) , generally worn only by Settled Lands knights.
functionally an 'E6' setting: most characters in the world are somewhere on a lev 1-6 scale. Higrer level characters may exist but most big-wigs have perished in the Green Rain.
PbP rules:
Post daily (most of the time)
write fun posts
Links
- [ Recruitment Thread]
- IC Thread
- OOC Thread
Random tables
| × | Survival | Advancement |
|---|---|---|
| Aslan | End 6+ | Terr* 6+ |
| Human | End 5+ | Soc 6+ |
| Jekyl | Int 6+ | Cha 6+ |
- 1Terr for Aslans on Trimoons is their Soc+2
| × | Cash | Other Benefit | @ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | None | Contact | @ |
| 2 | None | Pistol (slug or laser (Aslan)) | @ |
| 3 | 1000 | Vehicle | @ |
| 4 | 2000 | Small farm or shop | @ |
| 5 | 5000 | Farm or shop | @ |
| 6 | 10000 | Lodge membership** | @ |
| 7 | 20000 | Estate | @ |
- 2 Aslan: Hunt Initiation, Human: Promethean Lodge. Jekyl: Dog Star Cult
| × | Personal | Service | Advanced (Edu 8+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Str | Survival | Advocate |
| 2 | Edu | Notice | medic |
| 3 | Combat (blade) | stealth | engineering (electronics) |
| 4 | Guns (pistol)* | admin | mechanics |
| 5 | mechanics | drive (any TL4) | life sciences (any) |
| 6 | Street | Street | JOAT
|
- 1 laser[Aslan] or slug [non-Aslan]
| × | Aslan | Human | Jekyl |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Str | Animals (agriculture) | Street |
| 2 | Animals (warliz) | Animals (draft liz) | broker |
| 3 | Combat (blade) | Survival | engineering (electronics) |
| 4 | Guns (laser pistol)* | notice | stealth |
| 5 | Survival | mechanics | notice |
| 6 | Notice | streetwise | guns (slug pistol)
|
| × | Rank | Aslan | Skill or Benefit | Human | Skill or Benefit | Jekyl | Skill or Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Cub | Lad | |||||
| 1 | Scout | Survival 1 | Farmer | Animals (agriculture) 1 | Streetwise 1 | ||
| 2 | |||||||
| 3 | Warrior | Guns (any) 1 or Melee (blade) 1 | Deception 1 | ||||
| 4 | Reeve | Admin 1 | |||||
| 5 | Judge | Advocate 1 | |||||
| 6 | Baron | +2 Territory | Tribune | Advocate 1 |
MISHAPS and EVENTS
| 1d6 | Mishap
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Injured |
| 2 | Convicted. Lose a benefit from this career. Roll Advocate 8+ or also lose 2 SOC (does not affect Jekyls) |
| 3 | War! You are caught up in armed struggle. Roll Recon 8+ or you are injured. |
| 4 | Disaster-you experience a meteor fall, volcanic cloud or dino swarm. Gain Survival 1 |
| 5 | Baron's Displeasure. Gain a powerful Aslan Enemy |
| 6 | Displaced. Flee from bandits, rival gangsters or an enemy army. |
| 1d6 | Mishap
|
|---|---|
| 2 | Disaster! Roll on mishap table but you are not ejected from the career |
| 3 | Challenging times. Roll Survival or Streetwise 8+ to tackle an imminent threat (drought, volcanic cloud , gang war, etc.). If you succeed gain +2 to your next Advancement roll. Fail and you take a -2 penalty to your next Survival roll |
| 4 | Pressed into service. Gain Guns (any) 0, Athletics (any) 0, Guns (slug rifle) 0, Recon 0, Melee (any). Your service passes uneventfully. Roll Recon 8+ or you are injured. |
| 5 | Your labours bear fruit. Gain +1 DM to any one Benefit roll. |
| 6 | You are recognised as having promise in a particular field. Increase any existing skill by 1. |
| 7 | Life Event. Roll on life events table. |
| 8 | You are challenged to a duel. Accept and roll 8+ on any Melee or Guns skill or roll for Injury. Decline and gain a sneering Enemy |
| 9 | You need to undertake an arduous journey. Roll Drive (any), Mechanics or Survival 8+ and increase that skill by 1. |
| 10 | You become a spokesperson or politician. Gain one level of Advocate, Persuade or Carouse 8+ but also a Rival and an Enemy |
| 11 | You gain favour with a powerful Aslan baron. Gain +4 DM to your next Advancement roll |
| 12 | You are automatically promoted. |
