The Motley Crew

Campaign Setup

This is the wiki page for the campaign setting of The Motley Crew, an odd band cast into dangerous times at the end of the world.

The Motley Crew: Campaign Background

Welcome to Motley and Odd Arbage, a Manor town and Village port, respectively. They are located at the end of the world in a Dark age.

Recent history

When the Grand and High Powers finally fell to arrogance and insane magics in the Great Age, they took much of the Light out of the world.

• Whole peoples, races, spirits and divine beings became pieces and pawns in their elaborate, ritual wars and amusements.
• They bent time and space, plane and cosmos to their bidding, summoning Eldritch horrors to their own amusements, stocking and populating grand territories with their own creations.
• They violated ancient and divine precepts and slaughtered their avengers.
• They bent the very fibre of reality to accommodate their increasing perversities.

The Great Wheel finally turned. So much so that the Moon, it’s mother, spun a tear from the sky to finally quell the Grand and High Powers.

The Grand and High Powers, in their arrogance unrepentant, were destroyed in a Light that decimated the Known lands.

The Moons Burn.

Completely destroyed every Grand or High Power, any offspring, anything that contained any of their essence or fragment of their spirit. It reached across all the known planes at the same time and even into the infinite. All trace of the Powers ceased to be.

The Tear of the Moon fell on the heart of the Powers Empire and destroyed half a world - leaving behind huge, glassy wastelands surrounded by desert or desolate badlands.

Only in places like Land Ends, where tall mountain ranges absorbed and deflected the worst of the Moons Burn, did people survive. Even here, great storms boiled overhead, thier rain and lightning seeking out and destroying any trace of the Grand and High Powers.

Even more recent history

That was a long time ago as the Sages tell it, in the lives of grandfathers even to the Elder folk. Those who count say its 227 solar years.

But the world still feels small this side of the mountains that saved the remnant populations of the hundreds of different types of subject peoples left behind when the Grand and High powers were consumed and used to rebalance the world.

Motley is an isolated manor and market town and has been for nearly 200 years - although two kingdoms and three empires have come and gone, Motley has been Motley through all of it. The same with Odd Arbage, one of several villages and clans owing taxes and loyalty to Motley. It is a Cliffside fishing town and deepwater port, home, like Motley, do well over a dozen clans and bloodlines from the last age. It has a small manor and residing Knight, three Churches, and a small collection of houses and homes. It is also home to the adventurers.

The area is ruled by the Baron Motley, Lord Eastport - a title that has changed hands more than once. The current Baron hopes to establish a legacy, but then so did the last three.

Between them, the Town and Villages provide shelter for 2 000 souls, and support the surrounding 10 000 who work the land. The barony is sheltered between the Saviour Mounts to the East and North and the Karstfells to the West, and has very little flat, open land, except around the rivermouth. Odd Arbage sits East the mouth of the Aird river, which flows North and East through rugged, unnavigable twists and turns, all the way to the Lee Plateaus and the Monarchy of which Motley is currently a far-flung arm.

Not that it is an ignored subject - the fisherfolk bring in exotic southern fish and other things, dyes and shells the sell well in the north. The same with the local fruit and root crops - all have a market far away, which means coin and exotic goods, and the folk of Motley grow barley and wheat enough only for their own needs. Even the peasants do well by kingdom standards.

Add the odd merchant ship that ventures into Odd Arbage from the Lesser Isles or Moonburn, and the place is fairly cosmopolitan for a village of 350 odd.

Current situations.

These will fill up as people create their characters.

Characters and Players

Ineya Boat people girl played by Jarulf

A Character Sheet

Motley Crew Character Sheet

House Rules

Magic.

I'd like to have a variety of different magic types in the game, based around systems from BRP, Legend and Runequest Three. Their relative rarity is up to you.

Possible magic types are:

Innate Magic

These are the inner magics of true skill that set heroes apart without them being spellcasters.

• Natural Magic - Talented (skill % based).

There is a talent for each skill. This grants the ability to invest Magic Points into changing a result roll for that skill. It is entirely situational, varies wildly in MP cost and can only be learned by a master (95%) of the skill. Some people are born with a Talent, even before they master it.

• Gifted Attribute. You can use MP to change the results of a Gifted attributes rolls, either on the resistance table or on attribute rolls.

• Maximum umber of Talents and Gifted Attributes.

Each one takes up a point of your Int, in the same way spirit magic or Sorcery does. The three aren't eclusive, So a PC with Int 15, three talents and two gifted attributes has ten points available to memorise Low magic or Sorcery spells.

How to use Talents and Gifts

• Talents/Gifts consume 1MP per 10% difference between a skill roll (or attribute test) and a desired result. Adding a special success (or a x 1 result for an attribute check) costs +3 pts over and above the % cost to reduce the roll to that level of success. Adding a critical success coss +6 pts.
• Talents are used before a roll is made. MP cost is worked out after the roll is made.
• Gifted attributes:
  • Attribute Tests fall into two types, Resistance rolls (Att vs some other force) and
  • Characteristic rolls (Attribute x One to five gives degree of success)

MP's are consumed at the rate of 1 per 5% change on the resistance table or 1 per 10% reduction in a characteristic roll, +3MP for Attribute x1

Magic schools.

• Low or Common Magic: Learned from particular Backgrounds and Professions.

There are Six Subtypes or traditions of common magic:

• Battle/Hunt
• Craft/Hearth
• Spirit
• Elemental
• Wild
• Common.

These are purely cultural and anyone who can learn Low Magic can (in theory) learn any spell.

You may learn spells up to your Int in points. (Minus any Talents or gifted Attributes).

Divine: Divine magic as per RQIII, but tied to Pantheons. Through sacrifice of permanent POW, you build a 'Divine reservoir' which you fill out from the pantheons spells. These can be changed each time you pray for renewal, which will be daily or hourly depending on your rank. Divine ranks require high POW - 15 for Acolytes, 18 for full priests. Acolytes can only memorise 1/4 of their POW in spells, Priests 1/2.

• Three Pantheons:
  • Rude Pantheon. A pragmatic Divine order with links to many diverse survivor gods, who have formed a survival compact with Mortal Races. Priests of the order form temporary bargains with gods in return for fulfilling divine requirements.
  • Church of the Child. A variety of Orders with one link - the Child of Light, who reincarnates in a mortal form once every generation. The teachings of the different Children have led to a multiplicity of different Sects and Orders.
  • The Old Ways Druids, Bards, Lawspeakers, Smiths, rangers and witches, warlocks and old Earth gods.

• Can also worship in cults to individual gods.
• Can also be gained in limited ways from other traditions and guilds, who have patrons.
  • The Harpers Hall, The Guild of Sages, Philosophical Orders, , etc.
  • These are semi divine orders, often with only a few divine spells.

Sorcery. Could be MRQII Sorcery or BRP/Basic fantasy magic.

• Sorcery is the study of a Sorcerous Art (to manipulate spells). There are many. Each Sorcerous Art allows you to cast spells from Grimoires of that type.
• Sorcerors must also learn specific Grimoires to gain access to a group of related spells.

Many schools of sorcery are confined to very specific effects.

The Folk

• Different Folk or breeds of human inhabit Land Ends - this often leads to humans having different baseline Attributes from normal. The common types in the area are mentioned, but there may be others.

• Folk of Motley
  • Local Folk (valley/sea folk)
  • Mountain Folk (locals)
  • Wood folk (locals)
  • Sylvan folk (from the elder woods)
  • Elder Folk (from the elder woods)
  • Andermen (from the elder woods)
  • Halleas (old slave race)
  • Northerners (from across the seas)

• There are many non-human races or oddities in the area - generally creations of the great powers.

Possible Exceptions are folk of the five forms:

• • The Dverger. People of the Land. A range of giant to small, strong and durable folk, long lived and tied to the Primal Runes.
  • The Lios. People of the Spirit. A range of large to small, light and subtle folk, long lived and tied to the Spirit Runes.
  • The Saur. People of the Dragon. A range of giant to small, long lived hardy folk, tied to the Dragon Runes.
  • The Taur. People of the Wild. A range of Large to small hybrid folk embodying beast and human forms. Tied to the Beast Rune.
  • The Huldre. People of the Green. A range of giant to tiny folk with plant based attributes. Tied to the Plant Rune.

Experience

I want to start characters as the equivalent of newly made knights, adept or acolyte magicians or priests, etc. To this end, i'd like people to pick a background from RQ3 that best suits their concept [Nomad Warrior, etc]. You get 10 years training then raise five skills by 25%, Three by 40% and one skill by 50%.

• Anyone skilled in Divine Magic, Sorcery or Spirit Magic[Summoning] will add all the bonuses usually given to ceremony, etc to their magic working skills.
• Anyone with any low magics [common magics] can add any of the old bonuses to their relevant lore skill.

NPC bases

Untrained Basic Trained Experienced Master

Local Knowledge

A Map of Land Ends

Land Ends is an East Facing Strip along the border of the continent. The area pictured is in the 40 degree north equivalent latitudes. The East Side experiences a mild Maritime climate, the area around the Lesser Sea a more Mediterranean climate. The Eastmarch Valley is a Temperate Seasonal climate.

There are scattered, semi nomadic peoples to the West and South of the EastMarch, across the Sea to the Lonely Shores there are Saurian Tribes. The Elder Wood is home to several small nations, including a grand City-State on the shores of the Lesser Sea. The towns near Irdis deep are all independent and involved in petty wars.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r14/drifterne05/LandEnds.jpg

A map of Motley and the EastMarch

The Eastmarch lies in a Wet Mediterranean climate zone, with long dry Summers, stormy and wet Autums and Winters that only bring snow to mountainous areas, though they will be wet in the lowlands. Frosts are confined to the highlands, so there are two different growing seasons for two types of produce. Local vegetable and fruit production is pretty much continuous over the seasons and the area has a diverse food base, enough so that famines are rare.

The Eastmarch produces: Exotic citrus, grapes and wines, apples and cider, olives and olive oil, 'southern' fish, pearl of shell, purple and blue dyes, inks, high grade shale, southern hardwoods and herbs/spices. Local wheat and barley/rye only.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r14/drifterne05/Motley.jpg

For a rough sense of scale, it is 50 miles [82km]as the crow flies between Motley and MiddleMount.

Major Features.

• The Burned Mounts. These low mountains burst into flame during the Moons Tear. Their people and places are forgotten.
• The Bad Lands Mostly desert and patches of fused sand, there are oases and patches of seasonal green in this dry land. Temperatures vary considerably on this high, wasted plateau but run to the chilly, and only the various warm blooded saurian species seem to thrive there.
• The Savior Mounts. High and jagged mountains that are impassible at all but two points, both treacherous. These mounts protected the river valley and places beyond from the direct effects of the moons tear, and have provided a barrier to the strange creatures that have grown in the Bad Lands since.
• The Lesser Sea A warm and shallow ocean protected by landforms and island chains from global currents. Home to much of the Eastmarches wealth and the trade route to the Lesser Isles [a collection of large and small island colonies] and Moonburn [the last true Citie].
• The KarstFells a former Holding of a minor Power, the KarstFells were an idealised expression of an UnderEarth wonderland. After the Moon's Tear and the fading of the old powers, the place settled into a more natural ecology, both on the surface and underearth. Many of the slave creatures and exhibits have reverted to their old gods and ways, and many odd, dangerous things haunt the Fells.

A map of Odd Arbage

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r14/drifterne05/arbage.jpg

Just a little picture of Arbage. fully brown buildings are covered longhouses. The others generally have gardens and reflect three or four odd styles from around the races/cultures settled since the Moons Tear.

There is not a lot of fine detail, but brown = mostly wood, grey = stone and black=Grand Age Architecture [read: unbreakable.] The black dots near the deepwater groyne are spikes that never move or wear.

Old Odd is the centre of the village, despite being smaller. It is here you will find the market once a week, and the few buildings devoted to anything other than living and working.

Families and clans: [on average, a family will be 5 people, a clan 10] total population is usually 375 or so. You are currently missing about 20% of the population [70 people], mostly the fighting age men and women and their leaders.

• 19 clans of Local folk [Olive skinned, brown hair and eyes. The 'average' human]
  • 10 fishing clans, devoted to various aspects of gathereing ocean harvests.
  • 8 farming clans, devoted to a mix of hillside and bottomland farming.
  • 1 Milling clan, devoted to the growth, grinding and baking of grains.

• 3 clans of Mountain folk [Fairer skinned, tending to blondes and redheads] From the North and the Lee Plateaus.
  • 2 Herding clans, devoted to cattle, sheep and goats, the production of dairy, and butchering.
  • 1 Orcharding clan, devoted to the growth of cooler fruits, Olives, and oil production.

• 3 clans of Elderfolk [smaller, nore nimble]. Originally from the Great Sylan Lords parklands.
  • 1 Forestry clan, devoted to the management of the local woods and creatures therein.
  • 1 Fishing clan, involved in pearl of shell and dye-making, as well as exotic sea goods.
  • 1 Farming/gathering clan, devoted to the gathering of wild growth foods, herbs and spices.

• 2 Families of High Goblins. [from the Fells]
  • 1 Ponyriders clan, Devoted to the breeding, training and use of forest ponies, donkeys and Mules.
  • 1 farming/fishing clan, devoted to subsistance living and labour for hire.

• 4 clans of Andermen [short, rounder, healthy] Originally from the Fells.
  • 1 Ponyriders/Houndbreeders clan, devoted to the breeding, raising and selling of ponies and hounds.
  • 3 Fishing clans, devoted mainly to shoreline and river/pond/lake fishing and the finding of exotic water foods.

• 1 Family of Water Goblins [from the Fells]
  • Fishing clan, devoted to deep sea fishing and working with Dolphins.

• 2 Families of Old Northerner Folk.
  • 1 Crafters family, working in Iron and Wood, leather and other, more exotic goods.
  • 1 Archers clan, devoted to the making of bows and accessories, their instruction, use and hunting skills.

• 2 clans of Northerners [big,strong]
  • 1 fishing clan, devoted to deep water runs and whale hunting.
  • 1 Herding clan, devoted to goats and high mountain sheep.

• 1 clan of WaterGoblins.[small, nimble,semi-aquatic]
  • Devoted to deep diving and pearl of shell gathering.

• 1 family of Helleas [Bred as servants to the Powers]
  • Devoted to healing and herbs/spice gathering. Also, inverventions with house and evil spirits.

• 2 clans of Bladhamers. [short,broad,muscular, tireless]
  • 1 shale gathering clan, devoted to the gathering, shaping and use of high quality shale and slate.
  • 1 Fishing clan, devoted to deep water and shoreline netting.

• 1 clan of Bacchae. [tall, charming, lacking wisdom]
  • Devoted to the production of wines and ciders, the growing and grafting of grapes and apples.

• 9 'Mixed' clans - open to joining by outsiders without marriage or blood ties, unlike a normal clan or family. vitally important to the social fabric of Motley and the whole Lee Kingdoms, these 'mixed' clans gave the homeless and lost a sense of place and belonging in the days after the moons tear. 120 years of tradition have cemented them into the social fabric alongside family or 'blood' clans.
  • The workers clan. a collection of small families who work mainly for others.
  • The fishers clan. a collection of small families who make their living from the sea.
  • The Landers clan. a collection of small families who make their living from the land.
  • The Inn clan. Runs the local Inn/townhouse.
  • The Militia clan. Maintains and supports the watchtowers, their gardens and foodstores, weapons and provisions.
  • The Crafters clan. An unofficial clan made up of all practicing craftmasters without immediate clan ties, and their families.
  • The Manor clan. Another unofficial clan. Composed of the knight, his family and entourage, their families and hangers on.
  • The Temple. All the associated folk who run and maintain the Temple of the Rude Pantheon.
  • The New Temple. All the folk who are associated with the Temple of the Child of Light.
  • The Old Temple. All the folk associated with the outdoor temple to the Old Ways.
  • The Clan Marine. A local version of the Militia clans common to the kingdom.The local version requires decent boating skills.

The manor is made of logs. Here is a map of sorts.

A map of Odd Manor

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r14/drifterne05/arbagemanor.jpg

Nearby Places and Facts

Bladhame

Bladhame, "Son of the Stones", was a (Dvergar/Mountain Folk) fortress at some point in the distant past; a mountain hollowed out through unknown magics or unimaginable labor. A handful of folk dwell today, along with odd mountain races and a great many humans. Precisely what killed the original inhabitants of the city remains a mystery, but stories and theories abound. Ask any two Bladhamers, and you'll hear half a dozen tales between them.

It remains, however, one of the few remaining gateways to the World Below. Behind enormous stone doors, sealed with runes and sigils of obscure and arcane power, Taggit Dal Uggrit ("The Road That The Sun Never Sees") still runs deep into the earth, bringing the occasional caravan from the peoples who dwell below.

The trade in strange goods and stranger knowledge, these merchants, and none can truthfully claim to have seen their faces. But they deal honestly and well, and their occasional presence has drawn folk from great distances with the hope of learning...or acquiring...something that will give them a bit of power.

The Older Ones

Late on the quietest winter nights, some of the shormost residents of Odd Arbage say that they can hear, just for a moment in the dead of night, a strange bell tolling out across the waters. By day, the stories are ridiculed, dismissed; but on those nights, the people of Odd Arbage shutter their windows tight and keep a roaring fire.

The oldest among them speak tales, when in their cups, of a time when the bells were answered by bells from the shore, and when they were they drew closer, and dark happenings took place at the shoreline.

But that hasn't happened for nigh-on twenty years, they say, though they glance fearfully at the odd gold trinkets that are in some family heirloom collections: little-worn and ill-favoured by all but the most brazen, who often come to a bad end.

Have new trinkets been seen around the town of Odd Arbage? None are sure. Perhaps the stories are so long-forgotten that the pieces are no longer seen as cursed. Perhaps some benighted jeweller is replicating them out of ignorance or misguided curiosity.

But the fishing this year has been the best ever; better even than the year before that, which was better again than the year before that... and some of the old folk wonder to themselves, and stoke roaring fires...

The Movealong Shadows

Once there were villages in the foothills of the Karstfells, to the East. Some of the elders can still remember when they were burned out, or found empty. Now only wild men, the nomads, dare to dwell there, and even they speak of enemies that come in the dark, through some moonless night or thick fog, leaving behind only empty tents to be found in the morning. None know who or what they are, but they move through the rocky hills like ghosts, evading watches and guards. Each dark night you camp in the same place you risk them finding you, and then you are never seen again.

The Karstfells

Originally the holding of a minor Power, the Karstfells were once a fantasy wonderland of underearth races and beasts. When the Power fell, a more natural order took over.

The Fells have a bad reputation, getting steadily worse the further East you go...which pushes Bladhames trade route undergound, where these attacks, oddly, never occur.

Considering the Karstfells as the fantasy equivalent of Bolivia/Central America cave system wise, this creates an environment where the surface is bleak and dangerous and the underearth is possibly safer and a more diverse, vibrant ecology...probably connecting to underwater rivers and ocean openings [a sunless sea or two?], where ancient marine races have found their contemptuous conquerers to now be a thing of history...

The Hellas clan

The Hellas clan has been in Motley since the world changed...though their circumstances have changed somewhat. The result of twisted, magical crossbreeding between higher and lower bloodlines, the Hellas were magical accessories, bred much as pets are in some cultures. Those few in Motley at the time of the world change were part of the retinue of a minor local Power. When he vanished in a flash of light along with his inner circle, those Hellas left banded together with a few refugees to form their own clan - specialising in otherworldly magics.

There is only one family of Hellas clan in Odd Arbage - Natt the healer, his wife Eleanor the Herber and their daughter Bough - who seems to have a way with spirits and such.

The Brotherhood of the Blessed Bolt

The Brotherhood of the Blessed Bolt

This organization of wandering Holy woodsmen formed after the Fall of the Moon's Tear to deal with the monstrosities that still roamed the land.

They do not crusade. They hunt and protect.

As monstrosities declined, so did the Brotherhood. Most went on far-ranging journeys to find evil, and few ever came back. Those that stayed became more like knights-errant, wandering and dispensing justice as they saw fit. Those few though kept the memory of the traditions alive, the techniques of monster-hunting, of the various weaknesss and vulnerbilites of demons, devils, lycanthropes and worse.

They revere the Father Sun, whose face watches and judges them by their actions everyday.

A fallen Brother is said to have forgotten the face of his father.

They train not so much in direct combat, as in stealth and attack from a distance, using specially crafted repeating crossbows.

The Archivists Order

They call themselves, in their clandestine meetings, the Archivists. Others call them thieves. Some few refer to them as the Bookwyrms, and regard them with a special sort of loathing.

The Archivists feel that is their divinely appointed task to accumulate as much knowledge as possible, in any and all possible form, and to cache it in hidden places to keep it from being lost forever the next time that the Moon sheds a tear.

Some, it must be admitted, take this sacred duty rather more seriously than others.....

The Sambaqui Mounds

Dotted along the coast of the Lesser Sea are barrow-like mounds known as Sambaquis, mostly overgrown and unnoticeable. The Church maintains that they are simply piles of refuse, shells and broken pottery, from ancient primitives who once lived here.

The common people know better, however. The Sambaqui are burial mounds for the first of the Water Saur kings. Any man who sets foot on one of the mounds is blighted - he will never raise a son to take his place and his dreams will shrivel. A woman who steps on a Sambaqui will have her children taken by the Water Saur but will be blessed with unnatural health.

It is said that the Barons, ignorant of common wisdom, have all stepped on Sambaqui and have even taken taken some of their wealth from the mounds. But they have paid the price.

Gods and the Rude Pantheon

The relationship between mortals and gods is fundamentally different in this campaign.

The Grand and High Powers planted their heels firmly on the neck of many deities, great and small, during their increasingly insane reign.

• Some, who's existence is woven into the make of the world, were supressed into little more than their earthly manifestations [Sun, woods and magic].
• Others were enslaved. Some fled and hid, some were killed. All were humbled.

When the Wind Dragon fell and the Winds stilled, the world paused...and one of his semi divine sons took the mantle of his position. The magical and philosophical implications of this are still being fought out in the hearts of mortals and Outsiders alike.

Only the primal forces of Nature and the Middle Way endured unchanged as their existence was the canvas on which the Powers made their marks. The Old Ways, woven into the interdependence of existence, were only in danger near the end, when the Powers began to claw down existence and were flattened by nudging the Wheel. As those priests who have had [oddly frank] divine messages answered can attest to, the Moon's Tear had a number of effects across all the planes, all fatal to the powers and their ilk - and many others besides. Apparently, Hell and the Abyss are pretty much empty.

The Gods of the Rude Pantheon

This is a religion - a new approach to faith between the devout and the Deities that remain. Inspired by Caeran Twiceborn, who died and lived again after talking with the god of Death, who was a god without a name. Returning to life is not unknown, but returning after a year and a day is. The story from there is long and involved, but the part crucial to the church is the compact it promises between gods and mortals - namely that gods will strive together to ceate a better world as mortals must. Old emnities are not part of the Church's way, and the "Rude Pantheon" is called so with understanding of it's possible interpretations.

In practical terms, the Rude Pantheon is a collection of the remnants of the gods of another age...and the few who have arisen since the Moon's Tear. There are many other Gods and semidivine beings, but they are generally unimportant in the area.

Bits