PARIAH HEXGEN #15: TEMPERATE BROADLEAF FOREST

Part of an ongoing series last update with MANGROVE:

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/11/pariah-hexgen-14-mangrove.html 

...we now come to TEMPERATE  BROADLEAF FOREST. I feel like I'm making genuine strides towards a comprehensive proto-neolithic psychedellic animist hexcrawl, more than two years after making this initial post.

* * *

Alignment Post (Non-Alignment Pact)

I'm making a chassis to run old school modules, but hoping to spin it out in interesting directions... this week  month I'm looking at alignment and also jotting down some notes about so-called "demi"-humans  giving up the extended footnotes about dwarfs and elves because there is no time in my life to do anything any more... which is an exaggeration and I apologise.

Previous posts in this series:

• Initial concept:
  https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/09/reverse-engineered-adventure-game.html

• Hit Points, Hit Dice, Death and Dismemberment etc.
  https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/11/generic-adventure-game-hit-protection.html

That was in the past. Now: let us tackle alignment, aware that this is a path well-trod, but one we will attempt to follow with fresh legs and open eyes.

But first...

While I was writing this I became aware of recent posts on alignment at FORTRESS OF DUST and VDONUT VALLEY which more or less align (ha!) with some of what I'm hoping to achieve.

PARIAH HEXGEN #14: MANGROVE

I originally included this generator with a continuation post concerning GENIUS LOCI REACTIONS AS ENCOUNTERS but I like it too much to leave languishing as a footnote. I like the revisions to the generator enough to give them their own post. 

Besides which, I should continue on from the series which last covered TROPICAL FORESTS:

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/09/pariah-hexgen-13-jungle-tropical-forest.html

...we now come to THE MANGROVE...

* * *

Spirit of the Wilderness: Second Look at Genius Driven Loci Encounters... and a new hex (mangrove)

Previously I've posted two posts about random encounter generation, both of which within the framework of PARIAH (but easily adaptable to your old school game of choice blah blah...). The first attempt was inspired by Goblin Punch's encounter stew, but modified to accommodate the skills system I'd built into PARIAH (this version was included in the zine). I wasn't entirely happy with it, especially when playing it online and started to think about how I could move things around and create something more coherent but also thematic. 

I googled "Nature spirit - scary" and got this

What then emerged was something based around the Genius Loci reacting to the PCs as they enter and interact with the place in question, usually (but by no means always) imagined to be the local 6 mile hex. A poor reaction leads to more lethal encounters, ba weather, and shitty foraging; the inverse is true of a a good reaction roll. You can read it all here:

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/07/genius-loci-linking-encounters-hazards.html

That post has become one of the most popular on this site, no doubt due to it being featured in an edition of The Glatisant. Nonetheless what was presented was somewhat incomplete. 

This represents an attempt to grant that post a little more polish.

Solar Blades and Cosmic Spells: Title Generator

In my previous post about Ulysses 31 I mention the utility of Diogo Nogueira's TITLE GENERATOR in the wonderful Solar Blades and Cosmic Spells and soon realised it would be better for me to "show" rather than "tell".. and tbh I can't think of a better advertisement for the game than that!

Ulysses

I used to think the DIY old-school scene needed to take more inspiration from James Joyce* than Ulysses 31. I have since revised that opinion.

Characters L-R: Yumi; the eponymous hero, Ulysses; Telemachus and finally the robot Nono

Ulysses 31 was a Japanese-French anime released in the early 80s, charting the voyage of the titular hero through space after being cursed by the Gods of Olympus. You don't need to have studied classics at a posh English school to recognise that this children's cartoon was a sci-fi retelling of Homer's Odyssey. The (literally) epic storytelling, stylish animation and (figuratively) epic soundtrack (U-le, U-le, UlySSEEEEES!/Flying through the ga-la-k-SEEEE!)would insure that the cartoon would have a lasting impact on young Gen Xers and older millennials around the world.

My question is this: would it make for a good campaign?

Generic Adventure Game: HIT PROTECTION & HIT DICE

Let's cut to the chase- this is another "0 HP" post, but I've been thinking about it while putting together this GENERIC ADVENTURE GAME  by working backwards from monster stat blocks.

You don't have to read any more if you don't want to. No one will think any less of you.

But if you do, let me know what you think.

CHERRY -FLAVOURED CHARGEN

Follow-up post to a concept  https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/08/cherry-coloured-funk.html: an Esoteric Enterprises campaign where a party of down-at-heel artists and performers, all tied to the same unscrupulous agent, carry out magical crimes in the esoteric underworld of H-Town. 

What follows is a simple character generator... grab one of each of the standard dice-set (D4, D6, D8, D10, D12) and roll....

 

Finally: the farewell roman-playing gander you've been waiting for...

Duodenums& Drains!

This is an experimental publication combining Jean Lescure's S + 7 constraint https://www.oulipo.net/fr/contraintes/s7 with the original version of the world's most famous RPG 

Reverse Engineered Adventure Game

This is a post was originally made on 27th September and then removed. Revisions have been made since then. To lay my cards on the table: the objective is to create a gam without the standard attribute array..

When I first put PARIAH up on DTRPG I received a comment accusing me of advertising the product falsely and misusing the OSR label. I made sure a full preview was available and asked the commenter to take a look and see if they were willing to revise their opinion. To my surprise... they did! Not only did they take a look, they also revised their opinion!

By their definition, a game is OSR compatible if a character created can be run-through a B/X , 1e or BECMI adventure module with minimum effort. It's not a definition I agree with, but it did get me thinking: what kind of gaming system could you run through a B/X module with minimum effort?

PARIAH HEXGEN #13: JUNGLE/ TROPICAL FOREST

Continuing this series of hex posts by terrain type, following the previous posts about temperate plains...

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/09/pariah-hexgen-12-temperate-plains.html

...we now come to TROPICAL FORESTS...

* * *

CHEAP TRICKS OF DMing - MANUALLY AGGREGATED

This post aggregates the DMing advice from all sources following the 15 more cheap tricks to liven up your game by Phlox, itself following up an earlier post of ten similarly cheap tricks. It includes "cheap tricks" from the following source: 

• Phlox
• Sahh
• Cosmic Orrery
• SunderedWorldDM
• Eldritch Fields 
• TheFirstGokun

If you can't see the generator, follow this link:
https://perchance.org/cheap-tricks-aggregator

Memory-Eaters: Giant Silkworms

Caterpillar-Worms

The caterpillar is a most voracious creature. It is known that a brood will strip a tree of all its leaves — if they are not pecked off by birds first, that is. But those worms that weave silk are prized and protected... and provided with as many mulberry leaves as their mouths can munch... 

Such caterpillars won't stop eating until it's time to change... but for some, the time to change doesn't arrive when it's expected: those worms do not stop growing...

PARIAH HEXGEN #12: TEMPERATE PLAINS

The last few posts in this series have opened with apologies: let's get things back on track. Last time out I brought you two mildly different river generators....

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/09/pariah-hexgen-11-rivers.html

...but now we travel to the prairie/steppe/grasslands of the TEMPERATE PLAINS:

HEART OF THE PRIMAL UNKNOWN: A One-Sheet Adventure Powered by Hex-Flower Tech

This has been available online for nearly a month and I haven't really mentioned it on the blog other than as a footnote to my recent posts. I would therefore like to announce that my this PARIAH hack of GH's In the Heart of the Unknown is currently available to download as a PWYW PDF on Drive Thru RPG:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/369092/Heart-of-the-Primal-Unknown

PARIAH HEXGEN #11: RIVERS

In the spirit of the previous post (which was all about giving a little more than is superficially apparent... maybe?....

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/09/pariah-hexgen-10-hex-with-solitary.html

...I'm providing not one but TWO river generators. Fact is, they're both very similar: one has hippos and crocodiles, the other doesn't. They both have Giant Otters (if you're lucky- there's a different encounter table generated each time, did you realise?

So read on to generate TROPICAL and TEMPERATE RIVERS for your PROTO-NEOLITHIC ANIMIST HEXCRAWLING...

PARIAH HEXGEN #10: A HEX WITH A SOLITARY CONIFER

This post was thusly titled in an attempt to differentiate it from the previous dense taiga and upland taiga posts but make no mistakes: this is about a slightly less dense and flatter version of those two territories... perhaps begging the question why.

Well I shall tell you.

You might have realised that I cut my RPG teeth on BECMI and the later Rules Cyclopedia in the late 80s and early 90s, and I have a strong affection for the gazetteer series and the beautiful maps that they included. I loved them so much I've recreated them (though ever-so-slightly different) for the production of these hex generators... but more than that, I've created these generators to honour these hexes in some way.

You see, when my players would embark on overland journeys through the Grand Duchy of Karameikos all they had to differentiate one hex from another was a slightly different journey time and a choice of 8 monsters. Yet (as other authors have pointed out more eloquently than I) a 6 mile hex can be an entire world... and that's what I'm trying to do here.

(Not evening mentioning that gazetteer hexes were EIGHT miles across)

So here is the SPARSE TAIGA: somewhere between the dense forests of the far north and the either TUNDRA of the farthest north. Stick this on your map:

PARIAH HEXGEN #9: HILLS

Yes then... the series continues. Hot on the heels of this...

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/09/pariah-hexgen-8-mountains.html

...we now have this:

Yep, it's the HILLS...

PARIAH HEXGEN #8: MOUNTAINS

I forgot to post a hex generator this week so I very quickly dusted off the volcano generator and re-purposed it for Mountains. Last time was upland taiga I believe:

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/08/pariah-hexgen-7-upland-taiga.html

...but yes, this time it's MOUNTAINS. I'll give the generator another going over soon to make it more distinct from the volcano hex, but it's looking okay so far. Let me know your opinion below:

A Brand New Concept in Dice Rolling

Hands up, that title is bait. It's not brand new, I'm quite sure... but on Sunday this was new to me and sent me into a bit of a flurry.

• You have six dice
• Roll them
• Put them in ascending order

You have no idea how long it took me to get this result...

So the question I asked myself was:

• How many different combinations are there?
• What possible use is there for this mechanic?

Here's what I discovered—and the exciting tale of the friends I made along the way.

Nightmare Fruit

The world is changing: the way of life of the hunters,  herders, foragers and fishers is compromised by those that grow and plan. With this new subsistence strategy comes new ideas: not just about how to obtain sustenance but also about our individual rights and responsibilities.

These rights seem to vary from one person to another, rather than equal among all peoples.

It is a curious and alien thing for outsider to observe: people having stopped being people, transforming into the parts of a grander mechanism. Behind this transformation might lie many hands: the servants of dusk, or the emerging cult of the Sun & Heavens... but most insidious of all is the cult of the Nightmare Fruit...

To understand the cult, we must first understand the fruit: but be warned... wise-ones warn that while it offers great insights, its final gift is the greatest lie yet told.

CONTENT WARNING: mild body horror, descriptions of horrible things, death, drowning, reference to Lovecraft's racist story Polaris,  panic and being forced to swallow things.

PARIAH HEXGEN #7: UPLAND TAIGA

 The last hex we looked at was the TROPICAL PLAINS.

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/08/pariah-hexgen-5.html

... NOW IT'S TIME FOR UPLAND TAIGA!

(Taiga uppercut? Properly this time? I know I've done taiga before but still... this time it's on a hill!)

PARIAH HexGen #6: Tropical Plains

The last hex we looked at was the SWAMP.

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/08/pariah-hexgen-5.html

... this time it's the turn of the TROPICAL PLAINS:

Cherry-Coloured Funk

 

Promo card for Brand New Cherry Flavor

I'd been thinking about an urban horror/fantasy campaign for some time. Maybe since she-who-is-known-as-Eldritch-Eternity has been describing her own burgeoning occult-modern campaign on various discord channels, maybe since I picked up a copy of Dark Streets and Darker Secrets with the "Old School Cool" from Bundle-of-Holding... maybe it was the build-up and excitement just before Garblag Games started their latest Vampire Campaign, set in the 90s...

...you know, because if I was going to run an urban fantasy campaign with horror under/over tones it would HAVE to be set in the 90s...

...and then along came BRAND NEW CHERRY FLAVOR

PARIAH HexGen #5: Swamp

Last time I took a look at TAIGA

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/08/pariah-hexgen-4-taiga.html

... this time it's the turn of the SWAMP:

HUDLESS Adventure Gaming

Over the past 12 months it has been interesting to observe the rapid growth of the FKR: the reinterpretation of Free Kriegsspiel wargaming conventions in the indie RPG/NSR/OSR roleplaying spaces. Free Kriegsspiel  is a mode of wargaming whereby players are encouraged to immerse themselves more thoroughly in the "game world" by detaching themselves from the games' mechanics. Instead, an umpire or referee decides the outcome of the players' actions, cleaving as closely as possible to what they believe would be the "real world" outcome of such an action.

Giving a) the predilection for rules-light gaming/rulings not rules in the OSR and b) the preference for narrative over mechanics in many parts of the indie game scene the attraction of these 2 RPG "blocs"  towards free kriegsspiel is unsurprising. How such an approach is interpreted varies a great deal: last year I had the opportunity to speak at length to friend-of-the-blog Jim Parkin of   https://d66kobolds.blogspot.com/ on my very occasional podcast. He did a great job of explaining how such a philosophy might be applied, and it's well worth a listen if this stuff tickles your fancy:

https://anchor.fm/alonein-thelabyrinth/episodes/THE-JIMTERVIEW--Interview-with-Jim-Parkin-of-D66-Classless-Kobolds-enfrqm

..actually it was an off-hand remark Jim made about FKR on the NSR server he runs with Yochai Gal (https://yochaigal.itch.io/)  which prompted this post.

Index Update

EDIT JULY 2023:
The blog Index is now listed on this page:
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/p/site-index.html

It's been... 8 months? Time I updated the blog index, which offers an alternative to searching by labels (at the bottom of the post) or trawling through the archive (on the left, underneath the shameless self promotion).

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2020/12/200-posts-before-2021.html

There's also a button at the top of the page: it says "index". 

See you next time!

PARIAH Hexgen #4: TAIGA

 What could be more exciting than the TUNDRA hex generator of yesterday?

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/08/pariah-hexgen-3-tundra.html

Why, TAIGA of course!

PARIAH HexGen #3: Tundra

 What could be more exciting than the WETLAND hex generator of last week?

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/08/pariah-hexgen-2-wetland.html

Why, TUNDRA of course!

(It's also a kind of wetland in the warmer months so hey-ho).

PARIAH HexGen #2: Wetland

What could be more exciting than the VOLCANO hex generator of last week?
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/08/pariah-hexgen-1-volcano.html

That's right, WETLANDS!

PARIAH HexGen #1: Volcano

 People often ask me: "What are you doing in my garden?"

...but that's a joke stolen from Michael Redmond, and another story entirely.

No, they often ask me: "Why do you keep using perchance when you can achieve the same effect with javascript AND you can just write it directly into blogger?

To which I reply:

Shut up...

...and take this hex generator for a volcano hex generator:

Statting a God: Death

This post follows up my earlier post on Aziza, Queen of Dawn, wherein I tried to turn an encounter with a goddess into a different kind of mini-game rather than a combat encounter. Using this as a template for each of the "ruling spirits" of the the other realms of Pariah, I set to work on Death...

Nergal: a Sumerian death god

Note: I almost immediately reneged on my original brief and ended providing options for turning this into a combat encounter... if only because the death of death is a fun and familiar trope.

Adventure Seed Generator: Spears of the Dawn (Sine Nomine)

 A few months ago I was flicking back through my old PDF of Spears of the Dawn by Kevin Crawford (currently available from Drive Thru RPG I believe) and came across a neat table for generating adventure seeds.

The set up is simple: 5 1d20 tables which together imply a story: 

1. 20 patrons who approach the party
2. 20 antagonists in conflict with the patron
3. 20 causes of the conflict
4. 20 MacGuffins that are central to the conflict
5. A location where the MacGuffin is found.

I put the 100 entries into a simple generator using perchance:

Obviously there's go t to be some degree of interpretation on the GM's part, but that's the point: it's a seed. How the adventure grows out of this sentence is down to you. You'll also notice that there are buttons for "Old school Fantasy" and "Pariah", the additional lists for which you will find below:

Artefacts of the Others

As explained in my last a recent post I think I'm nearly done with hand-wringing and "anxietising" over my post frequency (or lack thereof). Life is complex at the moment and I will just have to deal with it, hoping that the future will provide more opportunities to play and to create.

That said, I have plenty of drafts sat on the ol' slush-pile awaiting a cursory polish, and I will attempt to drip feed these out to you as the weeks and months go by. This is one such slush-post: the Artefacts of the Others...

Roadside Picnic concept art by Alex Andreev https://www.behance.net/gallery/19310523/ZONA 

This post is at least partly inspired by the novel Roadside Picnic, though the contents were originally designed for use in burgeoning Pariah adventure/sandbox City of Ghosts. Another inspiration—the great Semiurge of Archons March On—I shall pace the generator proper at the top of the pile:

The form, materiality and the effect these artefacts produce may not make any real sense: this is not a bug, it's a feature. A Neolithic person would have no idea what to do with a Marshall combi amp, but taking it apart they'd gain multiple capacitors capable of delivering powerful shocks, lots of shiny copper and a fuck-off big magnet. Similarly, artefacts are fragments of larger wholes, beyond the ken of the average pariah, but still capable of producing incredible supernatural effects.

Read on to find out how the generator slots together (1d20 tables listed below)

Genius Loci — Linking Encounters, Hazards and Reaction Rolls

This post is a sketch or a collection of notes... or maybe a starting-off point. It is an attempt at addressing a self-imposed problem: that of making an environment that is also a character, not just a spirit of the place, but a spirit-as-the-place.

The Genius Loci

The words are latin: "genius" = spirit (hence genie, which was also used to translate the Arabic word jinn) and "Loci" = [of the] place (locus).

I never came across it until I was studying landscape architecture, when we were introduced to the English landscape garden, the picturesque and cultural appropriation ("chinoiserie" and "orientalism") in our singular design theory module in the first year. This introduction came via Pope, who was a garden designer as well as a poet:

Consult the genius of the place in all;
That tells the waters or to rise, or fall;
Or helps th’ ambitious hill the heav’ns to scale,
Or scoops in circling theatres the vale;
Calls in the country, catches opening glades,
Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades,
Now breaks, or now directs, th’ intending lines;
Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs.

...and through an unnecessarily complex process of backwards and forwards engineering, learned that the term originally meant a Roman guardian spirt but has come to mean the ambience/character/"personality" of a space in contemporary architectural discourse.

I preferred the original definition, but also didn't really see much of a distinction.

Before we brush this aside, I just want to add a nice design quote form a former teacher of mine:

"The genius loci must be consulted... but it does not have to be obeyed..."

- Tom Turner

Let's Play - 4 Vignettes and a bad poem

This is an informal essay — more a collection of notes, really — which represents an attempt to jot down some thoughts I've had since listening to (and occasionally participating in) discussions on discord, anchor and twitter about general RPG "theory" (scare quotes mine).

Apologies for those, by the way. The scare quotes. I can get defensive when I see attempts to intellectualise the hobby, mostly due to my an ambiguous relationship with design theory. This isn't a boast, it's a confession: part of me is and always will be passive-aggressively anti-intellectual, while another part craves the validation of the labyrinths of Hod. Both these aspects of myself shame me, or I shame myself by outing them in public...

But look. We're here now, you're reading, I'm writing and we both may as well persevere. GNS still gets touted around and we really have to move on....

How? 

Well, there aren't really any answers here, but I hope the anecdotal vignettes that follow might provide some further thoughts and discussion.  It's also likely to be in two parts: both are inspired by childhood play, but the second part is perhaps more relevant within the context of street culture and children's folklore and I'm more likely to post it at my other blog psychocartography, as I've neglected it for nearly two years now and I think I'd like to resurrect it.

Here's some half-formed thoughts. Bon appétit.

Ancient One — derivative Isopod Monster

It used to be that I'd look back on a forgotten /abandoned piece of writing and be pleasantly surprised by its quality... or maybe (should it have been below par) there'd have been some nugget or turn of phrase which caught my attention. The older I get (and, dear readers, I'm barely into my forties) the less this occurs and the more I'm struck be the weird spelling mistakes ("no" and "know"?), missed typos, odd grammar and sentences trailing off into the void. Not sure if I have a degenerative brain disease nor if this is the platform upon which to talk about such things... but maybe I should speak to someone.

All that neurotic hypochondria aside, nothing really prepared me for picking up the Bestiary the other week in an attempt to turn it into something at least partially table-worthy and realising the first entry was a complete rip-off of the isopods in lair of the lamb. This was disconcerting: I'd read the adventure at some point in the summer of last year, then within a few months I'd added a very similar (albeit somehow more aboleth like version) to my bestiary without really acknowledging or realising that I had stolen the core idea  (metal eating woodlice) from another source. 

It's not so much the plagiarism (I've ripped off loads of stuff, but I always try to cite my sources)  but the worrying fact I hadn't realised I'd done it. It's such a specific thing. What made it worse was the fact that I read the adventure through AGAIN around December  and STILL didn't twig the connection (I had somehow forgotten about my rip-off monster). The 3 sessions I ran never made it to the Isopods but I had read ahead and was eagerly awaiting the party running into them.

There's something weird going on and I don't like it: being a pitiful human, I believe that my actions are somehow powerful enough to mould this universe back to a state that I am more comfortable with, and I offer up this post as an act of sympathetic magic: take this derivative shit away from me, with apologies to Arnold K.

Common pill woodlouse via wikimedia

How much PRIMAL is there in PARIAH?

A great deal of time has passed since Jim Parkin (https://d66kobolds.blogspot.com/) first suggested I watch  Primal... but now the dust has settled, those 10 episodes are safely beneath my belt and my belly is full I can finally answer the question: how much PRIMAL is there in PARIAH? How much PARIAH is in PRIMAL?

This is a short post [edit: it was supposed to be a short post] taking a summary overview of Genndy Tartakovsky's animated series PRIMAL, through the lens of my own proto-neolithic psychedelic animist old school RPG, PARIAH. Spoilers abound, you have been warned... scroll down for TL/DR

How to Stat a Goddess

It's been a while. I'll leave it at that, and also pledge to post with greater regularity.

Image copyright Games Workshop, in case their lawyers track this blog down through reverse image search and threaten to have me kneecaped. 

In stolen moments (between work, childcare and attempts at eradicating my lockdown pounds) I've been diligently chipping away at the coalface of the PARIAH bestiary. It's still very much a w-i-p, but there's  a link to the free PDF at the end. Expect updates each week for the next month or so. Don't expect Fire on the Velvet Horizon, or the excellent monster-manualling of D4 Caltrops or Coins & Scrolls; do expect , however, sufficient tools to populate a proto-neolithic psychedelic animist sandbox.

Anyway, I digress: the purpose of this preamble is to set the scene. Like probably everyone before me I soon found that writing stat  locks gets old very quickly (even if you're just ripping off the Rules Cyclopedia...), and that in some instances I was skipping the block entirely or throwing in placeholders. After all, how does one stat a goddess?

I Punch Cthulhu on the Nose

Providing a stat block suggests that at the very least the creature can be harmed, if not outright destroyed. Some of the figures I was describing weren't just overviews, they were forces of nature: life and death itself. If met on their own terms, on their own turf, I didn't want PCs to rule initiative and declare actions.

Samurai Jack in action... a good chance to bring up Primal... it's pretty good...

This is not to say that one can never punch Cthulhu on the nose, or decapitate death... just that when that moment comes, will a stat block really be that useful?

Aziza in her Own Domain

Aziza is Queen of Dawn, the realm of nature's wyrd and fecund side where there is no death... just endless florescence and reformation, something like the feywilde meeting the novel Annihilation. Indeed, the shimmer from the movie adaptation of that novel is part of the recipe that makes up Azia, who otherwise is equal parts Titania, Slaanesh, Queen Mab and Aaliyah as Queen of the Damned.

What the elders can tell you:

1. She is a giant eel/peacock/mushroom/flower (partially true)
2. Aziza can bring back the dead (partially true)
3. Only those deemed worthy my gaze upon her (false)
4. Music is her weakness: bring her a truly beautiful song and she will grant your heart's desire (partially true)
5. Answer her questions truthfully or she will twist reality to contradict your lies (partially true)
6. The Others are her children, born from her union with the Beyond (unknown).
7. It is said the only way to contact her is combine the rituals of the shaman shroom with that of the cactus flower (false: this is the gateway to the Beyond Realm of the plague swarm).
8. Aziza is in love with the Moon, and a token from the silver lake will win her favour (true).
9. Those who have lost their true name can retrieve it from Aziza (true).
10. Aziza is the mother of the Sun (unknown)
11. She can grant your wildest wish, but you might never be given the chance to say what the wish is (true, sort of)
12. She despises Death, and carries a spear that can slay Him (true)

PCs are likely to encounter her as part of a careful and planned process of petitioning... or else through irresponsible use of entheogens: in other words, this is a situation where the normal game rules do not apply. Take us, then, to the Queen Aziza mini-game:

How Aziza Manifests

Roll the shaman’s entheogen skill dies (1d6 if unskilled): this is how she manifests...

1: Eel-in-the-cave-of-bile  

 

The ground rises up around the pariah(s) and forms a rocky chamber about them. A pool of black bile forms at their feet. The pariah collapses to the ground, swallowing some of the acrid liquid (randomly select if more than one pariah is present).  The individual begins to convulse and wretch, before finally vomiting forth a slimy black eel with a vaguely human face. It is a painful labour that seems to last several minutes, inflicting 1d4 perm con or wis damage. 

Aziza as the eel-in-the-cave of bile entwines the pariahs and begins to question them.  All present are nauseated. This angers Aziza. -2 to all subsequent rolls.

 

2: Resonance 

The environment about the pariahs begins to melt into viscous strings of colour; even sapient creatures with whom they may have been conversing are absorbed into this new landscape. The pariahs feel themselves stretching: limbs elongating, entwining around their bodies. Efforts to speak or cry out instead manifest as bodies vibrating, music issuing forth from within. This is visible: appearing as colourful waves rippling through the fabric of a new reality, causing other strings to vibrate as it makes contact with them.

Aziza is the music that slowly comes to dominate this strange world of iridescent strings, communicating through a harmonious resonance the pariahs feel deep within their very souls.

 

3: Rising Sun 

A brilliant flash of white light temporarily blinds the shaman. Recovering their vision, they find themselves in a freezing cold desert of grey ash bathed in a dim blue glue. Shivering, they are relieved when a brilliant red sun breaks on the horizon, bathing all in not just light but life. 

This rising sun is the queen of dawn as progenitor of life. She communicates with the pariahs through the plants and animals that spontaneously manifest in this once barren landscape, either directly (talking birds) or indirectly (the course of a new river forming in a lush valley).

 

4: Pea-hen-cock

The glowing orange orb of the dawn sun rises, slowly taken on its yellow hue, before settling into the form of a great golden eye. The eye is the feather of a great peacock at the centre of a forest glade. It’s slender neck and head shift in colour and shape, appearing at times to resemble an elegant man or woman emerging form the great bird’s torso. Its voice is a piercing screech that somehow communicates complex sentences.

 

5: Primordial Fungus

In the shade of a great tree grows an enormous, tentacled mushroom. It writhes elegantly, and begins to issue questions in the form of vibrations, spreading up from the ground beneath the pariahs’ feet.

Aziza as the primordial fungus is forgiving and kind. Add +1 to all subsequent rolls during this encounter.

 

6 or more: Queen of Dawn

Aziza, Queen of Dawn, appears as a terrifyingly beautiful man or woman with entirely black eyes and bat, butterfly or bird wings. Endlessly changing, her skin shimmers and bursts, sprouting new limbs and appendages, ultimately subsuming her entire form.

Around her the forest is perpetually unfolding and revealing new life, as a beautiful chorus harmonises with each word she utters. The pariahs feel a deep state of content. +2 all subsequent rolls.

Aziza's Curiosity

Upon manifestation the Queen of Dawn asks her supplicants: the nature and number of those questions depends entirely on how well the "shaman" knows their mushrooms: roll the shaman’s entheogen skill die (1d6 if unskilled)and add it to their con (or wis) score (the whole thing, not the modifier). There is a twist to these innocent questions which shall yet be revealed. Questions are shared equally among pariahs:

2-12 1d10 questions about the world in which the pariahs live: "what do you hunt?" "Which is the strongest animal in the grasslands?" "What is the tallest mountain?" "Who is the ruler of the forest?"

13-19 1d8 personal questions, ranging from the obvious to the obscure: "what colour are your eyes?" "Who do you love most?" "Why were you exiled from your tribe?" "What is your greatest talent?"

20-24 1d6 questions about plans and ambitions: "where are you going?" "What do you really want?"

25-27 1d4 questions about personal effects "what weapon do you favour?" "What instrument do you play?" "What is in your pocket?"

28-29 She smiles. No questions.

30  No questions and add 2 to all further rolls in Aziza's presence (accumulates with other modifiers)

The pariahs are compelled to answer truthfully: if they lie or refuse to answer, they suffer 1d6 WIS damage.  The question is then asked of the next pariah. 

After each question, those interrogated need to make a save vs spells (TN 19) or Aziza  contradicts that statement. 

Reality  alters to fit her version of events; Aziza  asks if the pariah accepts this new narrative: 

• If they do, reality is forever altered and she moves to the next question.
• If they do NOT accept, she asks if they are  willing to change themselves to prevent this new situation...
• If Yes, roll for a mutation. Reality reverts to however it was before Aziza's question.
• If they are unwilling to change, the pariah can take 1d4 wis damage to stop her from altering the truth. 

Once all questions are asked, Aziza explains what she wants. If Aziza manages to alter everyone's truths OR the entire party is mutated, add 2 to the next roll. 

What Aziza Wants

Again, roll the shaman's entheogen skill die (1d6 if unskilled)and add it to their con (or wis) score. Add any bonuses from the previous round if applicable.


2-12 Something nearly impossible, the sound of a cat's footstep, the breath of a fish, the soul of death...


13-19 A truly beautiful piece of music, art or crafted item. Alternatively, an incredibly delicious piece of food. This should be of supernatural quality.


20-24 As above but "the best you can provide" I.e. not necessarily of supernatural quality..it's the thought that counts.


25-27 To walk as a human in the here and now: she will return with the pariahs for 24 hours.


28-29 Aziza wants nothing but is happy to give to her disciples. Add 1 to any subsequent rolls (bonuses accumulate)


30 As above but she is so impressed by the shaman she whispers her true name. They may utter this once per day to summon her to the Here and Now.

When does She Want it?

Results 2-24 above all entail presenting Aziza with some tribute, or going on a quest on her behalf. Roll the entheogen die and consult below to find out when she wants it.

1: within the duration of this trip. It .must be found in the realm of dawn

2-7: before the next rising of the Sun Aziza will come and visit the pariahs for her gift.

8: or more: within one lunar month.

What will happen if she doesn't get it?

Roll 1d6 and check below:

1. Reabsorption into the dawn. The pariah's spirit is lost forever. It's a reincarnation of sorts…
2. Pariahs transform into invisible, non corporeal ghosts doomed to wander the Here and Now for eternity, with no way of interacting with it.
3. Nameless: CHA drops to 0, pariahs become Nameless Ones.
4. Multiple mutations. Roll 2d4, 4s explode. Each pariah receives this many mutations.
5. Shunned by plants and animals, roll reaction rolls at disadvantage.
6. Banes: Roll 2d4: each pariah receives this many banes of Dawn (PARIAH VOL I page 47).

What She will Give If She Gets it

2-12 Nothing. However, the pariahs will be well received if they return the following moon (or later).


13-19 Aziza offers those present the chance to improve storytelling, musical instrument, drinking OR craft (by one die) AND become more confident, alluring and assertive (1d4 CHA nonus, maximum 20). If they politely decline she might consider their REAL request.


20-24 As above but her offer also includes one item becoming enchanted, one pariah gaining a spell-spirit, one creature/pet becoming sapient and one pariah gaining a random ritual. Only if all decline (politely) will they be given the chance to explain the purpose of their visit.


25-27 Aziza asks politely why the pariahs came to her in the first place. Without answering the request, she offers all of the above to one pariah, and some other more personal desire. If they refuse she grants the original request, assuming it is within her power.

28-29 The Queen of Dawn ziza offers all of the above alongside their wish, if it is possible. If she is unable to grant the wish she does all in her power to assist them in finding a solution. The pariahs have a goddess as an ally.

30. Their wish, if it is possible. But that’s a side issue. Aziza is so impressed by the shaman 

she whispers her true name to them. Tey may 

utter this once per day to summon her to the Here and Now

If this has already occurred, the shaman is offered Dawn immortality as bride/groom of Aziza. The details of this are up to the GM and group, but it should involve retiring of that character  and something pretty spectacular for the remaining band.

What Wishes are Within Her Power

• Heal injuries, including permanent attribute damage.
• Increase con, str, dex or cha score to 20.
• Restore lost limbs/sight/hearing/the power of speech.
• Remove curses, banes and unwanted mutations.
• Grant mutations and abilities
• Rid malevolent spirits (except those of the Beyond, which she refuses to acknowledge)
• Locate any living person and bring them to the supplicant.
• She cannot force anyone to fall in love with the supplicant: she can compel the chosen individual to believe they are in love, but with several conditions needing to be met to preseve the spell. When it is broken the victim will be aware of the horrendous violation and possibly begin plotting revenge.
• Aziza can restore a person's  true name, healing any damage and restoring their character in the process. Note this is unlike the ritual of naming, which effectively creates a new person sharing the originals memories.
• ...she cannot, however, truly restore the dead to life: she can create a simulacrum of flesh and bone, with all their memories, but they will slowly realise they are not who they thought they were and yearn to return to the realm of Dawn.
• Aziza cannot grant wealth as she doesn't understand the concept: land, titles, deeds are meaningless, and gold and other metals are the domain of the spirits of the deep earth and the Beyond.

Conclusion 

None of this has been playtested, it is bit a sketchy and (as mentioned) forms one of the (many) entries in the Pariah  bestiary. They aren't all like that, there's  bears there too...

Have a look:

https://atelier-hwei.itch.io/monsters-beasts-spirits

Links

Alone in the Labyrinth: Sketches for My Sweetheart, The Beyond

Coins and Scrolls: The Monster Overhaul

d4 Caltrops: OSE Encounters

Fire On The Velvet Horizon - Peecho

April: What a Shower of— (plus Brù-Gar Campaign report!)

 Work sucks - I know.

April panel from a Roman mosaic of the months (from El Djem, Tunisia, first half of 3rd century AD)

Life continues to be a struggle, yet still I manage to deliver! The first is this twenty minute rambly podcast by yours truly where I talk about all the things I would be doing if I had time:

https://anchor.fm/alonein-thelabyrinth/episodes/Notes-from-the-Labyrinth-evtcb9

The second is an ACTUAL PLAY REPORT by Louis/Gen2K whose name I mention 4 billion times in the podcast above. It's a first for me as I was not participating in this game in any way: I think you'll agree the outcome was no worse for my absence (indeed, possibly improved?): read on!

I Promise I have Nothing Against March (or Mars)

 Honestly, I don't know what it is. I just don't seem to be able to write anything in March. Nothing against the month, nor indeed this poor unfortunate:

A man from Mars, aka. "Martian man". Absolutely nothing to do with Martian Manhunter.

At the turn of the century, when blogging was still sort-of fashionable, there would be a million blog posts that would begin "wow, sorry for not posting in so long!". Not going to do one of those, nor make any promises to commit to posting frequently again. I'm also sorry to report that the long-running PARIAH campaign concerning the trials and tribulations of the Unlucky Ones is on temporary hiatus. However, there is still at least one active PARIAH campaign ongoing at present, run by Louis of So Much Game. I've shared an update from his game (in which I play) which I will share below:

It is backdated to 1st April for personal reasons.

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/04/bru-gar-sandbox-session.html

Brù-Gar Sandbox Session

This session took place on 3rd March 2003.

Players:

Slayer of the Father (Nye) https://twitter.com/ersatzexpert?lang=en

Chasing Ape (TinheadNed) https://www.stdin.co.uk/blog2/

Timidly Hindered Dwelling (Sofinho)

Louis Gen2K of https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1l359KSJetX0WTiE0AnWbw is the gamemaster.

Lions at Chauvet cave.

Season:

Early to middle spring

THE UNLUCKY ONES: PARIAH CAMPAIGN, WEEK 31 & 32

This is the summary of the 31st week of the PARIAH campaign, covering 14th-20th February.

The previous session report is available at this link:
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-unlucky-ones-pariah-campaign-week-30.html

You can catch up on all the session reports via this link here (all posts tagged "unluckyones"):
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/search/label/unluckyones

I've decided to lump these updates together as there were only 3 sessions played in that period. Incidentally, this brings the total number of PARIAH sessions (in this campaign) to 35, not including 3 sessions of "hudless" Pariah in a modified Lair of the Lamb and  2 sessions GMed by Louis in his Brù-Gar campaign setting (there will be further posts about this shortly). 

Given that the first (post-Kickstarter) session was played on 6th June, that's 40 sessions over nearly 38 weeks!

As the sandbox continues to evolve and develop I'm hoping some of the players will be happy to step-up and take on GM duties so we can start to flesh out this burgeoning world even more.

Visible/experienced world, end of most recent session.

D66 Enchanted Items

Have I done one of these before? Feels like I should have... maybe I'm thinking of that I search the body post I did recently. In any case, here are some magic items for your proto-Neolithic campaign:

Neolithic grave goods, possibly magical.

CITY OF A HUNDRED GODS: Part 1/10 City Limits

Jewel at the Foot of the Mountain. The Bridge Over the Great River. City of Many Stairs. Gateway to the Sun and Heavens. The Endless village. The city has nearly as many names as the number of deities to whom its inhabitants pray... and it is this peculiar feature that grants its most familiar name: the City of a Hundred Gods.

Was going to use this as the cover for PARIAH volume 2 then remembered...
...we ripped it off Assassin's Creed...

To outsiders these "gods" are hungry, capricious demons that thrive on that unique misery endemic to urbanised societies... but to those born within sight of the city's incredible walls, they are entities worthy of their devotion. The myriad cults venerating these one hundred deities each work in synergy to make the metropolis greater than the sum of its parts.

So come then, let us explore each district via the "gods" venerated there, starting with the outskirts of the city and of course its walls.

THE UNLUCKY ONES: PARIAH CAMPAIGN, WEEK 30

This is the summary of the 30th week of the PARIAH campaign, covering 8th-13th February.

The previous session report is available at this link:
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/02/pariah-etau-campaign-session-28-29.html

You can catch up on all the session reports via this link here (all posts tagged "unluckyones"):
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/search/label/unluckyones

Multiple sessions were put forward with the nature of the session determined by the players present, similar to a "west marches" style campaign. Dates provided are in-game, to help players to coordinate the events of the past few sessions.

The World in a 1d100 "I search the body" table

Once again, a fun challenge has emerged from the OSR discord, this time issued by Sahh: create a 1d00 I search the body and grant flesh to the bones of your world. The first response to this challenge was made not by Sahh but Locheil of Nothic's Eye and it is this post that I shall first link below:

 https://nothicseye.blogspot.com/2021/02/i-loot-body-d100-aclas.html

...but Sahh was quick to remedy the situation and put up her own: 

 https://coloursofpentagrams.blogspot.com/2021/02/world-in-1d100-i-loot-body-table.html

Illustration by Greg Harlin from this cool article: 
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/100830-first-feast-science-proceedings-israel-shaman-sorcerer-tortoise

A lot of these are taking from the 48 or so starting items. Half sorry about that.