RUNEHAMMER GAMES

1
 RUNEHAMMER GAMES presents:
INDEX CARD RPG WORLDS

All WORLDS Book pages may be

printed for personal use. Any other use of printed
or digital ICRPG Documents or artwork is prohibited
without the express written consent of
RUNEHAMMER GAMES LLC!

All artwork and design copyright 2018

RUNEHAMMER GAMES LLC

the RUNEHAMMER and ICRPG logos are

Trademarks of RUNEHAMMER GAMES

To create content for ICRPG, contact

hankerin.ferinale@gmail.com

Visit RUNEHAMMER to learn more, and join the

growing ICRPG community:

www.icrpg.com
facebook.com/Runehammer.Games/
and on youtube at Runehammer

Special Thanks to Alex Alvarez, Jason Scranton, Matt Shaker,

Austin Redmond, Rigaroga, Runehammer PATRONS,
and everyone on ICRPG Google+ community!

ICRPG WORLDS is protected by, and open for use under

The CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE 4.0
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
See Google+ for the full license text
FONTS used with license: Calibri by Microsoft, Nusaliver by DABNOTU
and FLATBREAD by Jake Luedecke

2
CONTENTS

Foreword.........................................................4

ADVANCED CHARACTERS
Play Styles.......................................................7
Milestone Paths............................................8
Choice Method..............................................14
Archetype Method........................................15
Purchase Method..........................................16
Milestone Moments.....................................17

ALFHEIM
Map of Kingdoms..........................................19
Almanac of the 16 Kingdoms...................20
Map of Alfheim..............................................62

WARP SHELL
A Universe in Ruin........................................64
Assemble a Crew............................................67
Warp Shell Adventures...............................68
Power Armor...................................................89
Warp Shell Enemies......................................90

GHOST MOUNTAIN
Welcome to Purgatory................................95
Ghost Mountain Classes..............................98
Character Types.............................................103
Weapons and Equipment...............................104
Firearms Rules.................................................106
Spells.....................................................................107
Conditions.........................................................108
Ghost Mountain Campaign.........................109
Loot Table.........................................................118
Monsters............................................................120
Allies and Villains...........................................121

Conclusion..........................................................122

3
FOREWORD
TO ADVENTURE!
Welcome to Index Card RPG WORLDS! This is the
companion book to the Index Card RPG Core, which
includes a complete ruleset, encounters, monsters
and equipment for WARP SHELL and ALFHEIM. With
WORLDS, you can take your Index Card RPG (ICRPG)
game much further!
Imagination is an incredible thing. Not only is it the
most human of traits, and something every single one
of us shares in our own inner world, it is the only thing
in the universe with absolutely no limits. Even when it’s
sated, or weary, it craves more. Even when it’s baffled
or caged it squeezes out in new directions and possibil-
ities. This is the spirit that has created ICRPG WORLDS.
In these pages you’ll find three huge worlds to dream
in, destroy, explore and save from destruction. A world
is far more than a simple map or list of locations, it’s
a collection of stories. A world is a dilemma, a chal-
lenge, a destiny ready to defy! Every detail isn’t listed,
because every detail doesn’t exist yet. That’s where
YOU come in.
It’s what happens next that makes it a game, not a nov-
el. It’s how it happens that gives players their definitive
role. The Game Master at your table is simply a sign
post...a sign post that reads ‘this way to adventure!’
4
COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES
The heart and soul of ICRPG is freedom, and daring to
go beyond what is written. This skill many of you have
mastered, and it’s why we play! As you read on, un-
folding new dimensions and stories with each page, I
invite you to do even more: to share that freedom with
others.
Sharing creative freedom takes great trust and op-
timism. It’s no easy thing to set control aside and let
others take the wheel! As your table mates guide the
ship of the story, you’ll see countless ideas disappear-
ing behind you. Here is where courage will be your ally.
If you can honestly accept the dreams of others, and
see in them great things, you won’t believe the sur-
prises in store.
Go beyond what’s written, trust your friends, your
players, and your GM. To hell with what should be. You
are the master of what will be.
Forward! Smash a Squag for ol’ Hank, will ya?
FOREWORD
FOR PLAYERS
PLAY STYLES: Here is just a brief section to consider
HOW you’re playing. These ‘classic’ play styles can help
to crystallize your role playing.

MILESTONE PATHS: For players who want more cus-

tomization, more progression and evolution in their
characters, you can now choose a MILESTONE PATH to
work through as play unfolds. MILESTONE PATHS will
feel familiar to XP-driven players, spell-hoarding magic
users or warriors set on wielding furious battle skill.

GHOST MOUNTAIN: Flip back to this section for 9 new

classes, equipment, weapons, LOOT and SPELLS in the
Weird West.

FOR GAME MASTERS

ALFHEIM: A complete fantasy world. The Age of King-
doms is here presented as a wide open listing of lo-
STRAIGHT TO THE TABLE cations, backstories, and people of note. This should
Most of this book is designed to absorb in just a few let your players wander, but always discover new detail
minutes and take straight to your tabletop. The simple that is woven together in a huge, consistent landscape.
mechanics that make an ICRPG session work (as laid
out in the ICRPG CORE) are left to you, while WORLDS WARP SHELL: A science fiction epic. WARP SHELL
gives you numerous tidbits to break the blank page bounces all over the universe, so here it’s presented as
syndrome and get your story turning. a collection of adventure starters. Dozens of different
adventure concepts are listed.
Even if you only really see a single opening MOMENT
in your head, once the players are at the table and GHOST MOUNTAIN: Adventure in the weird West.
things get moving, you can simply mine their assump- Nothing beats a good western. This WORLD is present-
tions and questions for what comes next. Never apol- ed as a single campaign to take a group through several
ogize for taking a few minutes between ‘rooms’ to find nights of life and death gameplay.
some terrain, some monsters, or jot a few notes. You
can even announce “Ah! I see where this is headed,
just a second,” and get your next encounter ready. The
purpose of WORLDS is to give you the thematic and
historical command of concepts to run with whatever
happens.

On the opposite end, WORLDS can be a powerful prep

tool for a session, too. Playing ‘canon’ adventures takes
a bit of time to catch the nuances, so sit and cackle in
your lair alone for a few days to really build a zinger.

5
 advanced
characters

Worlds don’t have stories, people do.

Places don’t make heroes, but danger, friendship, and wonder can.
All adventures begin and end in the same place: YOU.

6
PLAYER STYLES
DIVE DEEPER SPEARHEAD: You can’t stand waiting. You feel an in-
At the heart of your experience with ICRPG is your exorable pull forward, into danger, against evil, or over
Character. In a long-running campaign, you learn the any obstacle. This play style is invaluable, because it
nuances, frailties, and mighty deeds of that character keeps the story moving without pressure from the GM.
in a way that no other experience can truly capture. To “You guys can keep talking, I charge ahead.”
make this bond run even deeper, here is presented a
far more detail-rich path for building your next hero, or SCRIBE: Every detail must be kept and organized for
augmenting one you already have. future use. You know the wizard’s name, the potion in-
gredients, and the password. This style reminds every-
Standard ICRPG characters use a series of simple MILE- one how lush the story really is over time.
STONE REWARDS to grow and evolve. This method “Wait! This is the guy we we’re supposed to kill!”
leaves most of the heavy lifting to players and GM’s to
inject robust, homebrewed class options and ‘builds’ BARD: Hail, the heroes! You celebrate deeds and cry
into the game. To give more detailed guidance on how for the fallen. You give everyone a feeling of greatness
this can be done, have a look at the MILESTONE PATHS by exalting, announcing, naming and retelling. You are
below. Each includes lots of new options that can be often the GM’s favorite, because you make the game
added to any ICRPG class, offered as reward LOOT, or epic.
granted to players at key moments. This section also “We are so awesome! Well, except that one time...”
includes ideas for when to reward players, as an alter-
native to XP based character growth. CANARY: You are the first one to be scared. You’re
usually sure death awaits around the next corner. You
add tension and fear to the game, and sometimes the
fear is all too real.
“Guys, there’s no chance we’ll make it through here!”

SECRET-KEEPER: You, poor soul, must bear some hor-

rible secret for the GM’s wicked purpose. This style is
a great addition to the table, because inevitably you
start lying, usually badly, and an air of suspicion adds a
whole new layer to things.
“No, nothing is wrong. It’s right this way.”

PURE OF HEART: You are the innocent, good-inten-

PLAY STYLES
As you delve into the additional options and features
in WORLDS, expand and enhance how you play your
character, not just what your character may be. This a
huge part of every tabletop RPG, as it can define the
very essence of the story, and the feel of the table. Play
style is far more important to a game’s tone and evolu-
tion than any STAT or detail of the game system.
tioned, bright eyed saint. You always choose right,
and always offer yourself in sacrifice. You earn real
friendship from other players, and they will go to great
lengths to protect their good guy.
“I’ll stay here. You all run for it.”
PACIFIST: You abhor violence, blood, and death. At ev-
ery turn, you will seek another way forward. Another
GM favorite, because often the safest way is around,
not through.
“Maybe we should just ask nicely.”

7
MILESTONE PATHS
BECOME THE MASTER
A MILESTONE PATH gives your character something to strive for; something to become. They can be used with
any class. Think of a MILESTONE PATH as the heroic realization of your character’s goals, not the starting point.

• MILESTONE PATHS are a series of REWARDS earned at specific TIERS

• To earn a REWARD from a TIER, the player must Have at least two REWARDS from the previous TIER
• Rewards occur when a character reaches a MILESTONE MOMENT (see pp. 17)
• Path REWARDS are bound to your essence, and cannot be given or traded with others

Players can switch PATHS at any time, mixing and matching to create all kinds of new synergies. The nature of the
system rewards those dedicated to a single PATH with deeper REWARDS, but allows a jack-of-all-trades approach
for those who want to dabble in numerous PATHS. In time, characters will have a point of progress in any given
PATH, presenting them with interesting choices at each MILESTONE MOMENT.

THE 5 PATHS

PATH OF IRON: This is the mind of metal, the weapon master, the armorer, and the mechanic.
It is a road of knowing fire, and ore, and hammer and bolt. Like iron itself, those who master
this path become invulnerable, deadly sharp, and resistant to all the forces that seek to erode
our world.

PATH OF SMOKE: You are the hidden, who walk the Path of Smoke. You are there and not
there, ever changing, gone in an instant, and elemental as night itself. Dark indeed is the soul
who walks down this shadowy road, for it often leads to a place that terrifies most mortals.

PATH OF AMBER: Amber is a living, but timeless substance, just as the arcane forces that bind
our world seem to be. Those who walk the Amber path seek to use, understand and expand
this mysterious force. At its highest levels, the Path of Amber allows its masters to bend time
and space, break the cosmic laws, and even dare the boundaries between dimensions.

PATH OF OAK: Life is everywhere. The cosmos itself has a life force, and to the mortal mind it
is like the silent soul of a great and ageless tree at the center of all that is. The Oak-walker seeks
to know and protect this power. Mastery of the Oaken path renders its practitioner indistin-
guishable from the cosmic life force, and in this unity, there is great power.

PATH OF THE HAWK: You are the uncanny marksman. Be it guns, bow, or even darts, you
specialize in incredible feats of accuracy. You are the tactician, the battlefield-controller. You
select targets, focus fire, and leave the enemy no retreat. The walker of this path is one of the
deadliest, often hoarding an entire arsenal of weaponry for every situation.

8
PATH OF IRON
TIER 1 REWARDS
• MARK OF THE FALCON: A CARRIED iron symbol imbued with power. CON rolls are EASY.
• DURANIUM SIGNET: A curious, indestructible ring. When EQUIPPED, ignore 1D4 damage
done to you once per ROUND in battle.
• KIT OF SPIKES: CARRY this equipment to give your gear a painful, toothy surface. Even
when you MISS in melee combat, inflict 1D4 damage on your target.
• FORGE HAMMER: CARRY this armorer’s tool. Repair any metal item or machine in 1 ROUND, or use it to
create armor, weapons, and simple devices with an ATTEMPT and 1 HEART EFFORT.
• WAR CALLER: EQUIP this metal-etched war horn, usually worn at the belt. When used, it will earn the atten-
tion of all enemies or hostiles within a FAR radius. They will be fixed on you for 1D4 ROUNDS.

TIER 2 REWARDS
• YOG WHETSTONE: A crystalline sharpening tool for edged weapons. CARRIED. Your edged weapons are so
sharp, anytime they do ULTIMATE damage, that target also bleeds, taking 1D4 damage for 3 ROUNDS. This
sharpness also lets you chop or cut almost any object in two with a simple CHECK.
• THE LAST DAGGER: Knife of the Path, a relic of your way. This blade is indestructible, and never be lost. It is
a MAGICAL weapon. Even if thrown into the abyss, you will find it again in 1D4 ROUNDS.
• SHIELD HARNESS: A series of straps and metal cuffs affixed to any shield. When EQUIPPED, you never drop
your shield. Also, failed RANGED attacks against you ricochet back to their origin.
• UDIN’S BLOOD: A phial of clear liquid with a slight glow. 5 uses. Heal to full HP and break all negative effects.
• WAR CHAIN: Attach to any weapon. That weapon can now be thrown and return. Changing attachment
takes 1 TURN.

TIER 3 REWARDS
• BUCKLE KIT: A tiny first aid kit hidden in a belt buckle. Use to heal 3 HP with a touch and WIS CHECK.
• FIGHTER’S GEM: A black stone on a blocky necklace. Equip to add your STRENGTH to your WEAPON EFFORT.
• HEAVY RIVETS: Modular armor parts made from elementite. Equip to add your CON to your ARMOR.
• WORLD BREAKER: A collapsible duranium javelin. It is a normal MAGICAL weapon, except when used
against stone. If attacking stone, any roll of natural 15+ destroys the target entirely, up to FAR cubic volume.
• STAR SPLINTERS: Tiny bits of an ultra-dense star. When CARRIED, you cannot be moved against your will by
any force except gravity.

TIER 4 REWARDS
• MARK OF STONE: A granite totem CARRIED in a pocket. All damage inflicted on you that is not MAGICAL, or
ENERGY is reduced to 1.
• WAR BEAST: You craft a mechanical familiar of your design, as large as a lion or small bear. It has 2 HEARTS
and 6 points of STATS. It is somewhat intelligent, but has a mind of gears and clockwork.
• LIFE DRINKER: Take 2 HEARTS of INT EFFORT to create a supreme weapon of your own design. It always
does ULTIMATE damage, and heals you for 1D4 HP with each hit. It can possess up to 5 WEAPON TAGS.
• DURANIUM HAND: With 2 HEARTS of STR EFFORT, you design and build a prosthetic hand. It can possess 3
INT SPELLS, adds 5 to your ARMOR, and 3 to your STR.
• THE IRON WILL: You are bestowed with a super-mortal ability to continue fighting against incredible odds.
If you kill a foe, roll a CRITICAL HIT, or inflict 10 or more damage, ATTACK again.

9
PATH OF SMOKE
TIER 1 REWARDS
• MARK OF THE SERPENT: EQUIP this bracelet. You cannot be poisoned by non-MAGICAL
means. Also, you can create poisons with an INT check. Types: Slow, Paralysis, or Blindness.
• THE EBONY HOOD: This light-absorbing cloak and hood deflects attention. Even when
seen, enemies will choose you as a target only if they have no other options.
• INK OF ANTALION: A tiny bottle of dark oily fluid. A single drop can be placed on any object
or creature. For up to 1 week, the user of the ink can see and hear through the droplet at will.
• ACID KIT: CARRY this leather fold-out case to create a phial of highly corrosive acid with 1 HEART of INT
EFFORT. The acid is MAGICAL, and damages anything it touches, for up to 6 ROUNDS, trickling downward.
• INT SPELL: SHROUD: Cast on a stationary person or object. Staying still, it cannot be seen by anyone but
you for 1D4 ROUNDS.

TIER 2 REWARDS
• EYE OF THE BEYONDER: This glass eye can replace one eye with a physician’s help. See heat, magical auras,
and the truth in illusion magic. With a HARD INT roll, you can even get glimpses through a wall, door or gate.
• SHADOW KNIVES: EQUIP this magical sheath. When you draw the dagger, another identical one material-
izes into the sheath. The knives are CLOSE, THROWN, MAGICAL, and dissipate seconds after being drawn.
• INT SPELL: LOST: With a competing INT roll against your target, induce a state of complete confusion that
lasts 1D4 ROUNDS. The range of the spell is FAR, and the target must be visible.
• MASTERWORK TRAP KIT: CARRY this set of tools. Any ATTEMPTS involving traps are EASY. Also, create elab-
orate traps with 1 HEART of INT EFFORT.
• MASTERWORK LOCK KIT: EQUIP these picks and tweezers to disable any type of lock, with no roll, in 1 to 4
ROUNDS. The GM will call how much EFFORT any given lock will take.

TIER 3 REWARDS
• SWARMER DART: A tiny, THROWN weapon that splits into 1D6 darts, hitting up to 6 targets in one ATTACK.
• CLOCKWORK WORM: A mechanical snake, made of duranium, that accepts basic commands.
• MARK OF KRONO: CARRY this silver totem. You will can stay the passage of time. Make a HARD INT CHECK
to hold one GM TIMER at bay for 1 ROUND.
• INT SPELL: DARKHEART: Touch one living target. Divine its vulnerabilities.
• WIS POWER: FOG: Become a mass of dark mist or fog. Remain in this form up to 4 ROUNDS.

TIER 4 REWARDS
• CRYSTAL OF DOORS: With an INT CHECK, this YOG can open a doorway to any location you can remember.
• MARK OF DEATH: EQUIP this amulet, marked with a red skull. If you inflict 12 or more damage in a single
attack, your target must make a CON roll or drop to zero HP instantly.
• DEMON BOND RING: With this ring, you are guarded by a demon-like creature. It will appear either when
you reach 1 HP or if summoned with a CHA roll. It has 2 HEARTS, and 1 magical claw attack.
• LIGHTNING BOOTS: Speeds unimagined! EQUIP these to run so fast, up to double FAR, that all objects and
creatures in the path of your dash take MAGICAL damage.
• INT SPELL: WINDOW TO THE VOID: Open a portal into the dimension of nothingness. The portal is 10 feet
in diameter. An unlimited number of creatures or objects can be placed inside. When the portal is closed,
no time will pass for anything within. Each time the portal is opened, even from within, the INT roll must be
made.

10
PATH OF AMBER
TIER 1 REWARDS
• LIBRUM ARCANO: An ancient tome on all things MAGICAL. CARRY this book to heighten
your magic power. Any natural roll of 15+ when casting SPELLS is now critical.
• RING OF ELUDING: EQUIP this for +3 ARMOR. Also, if you take 5 or more damage in a single
ATTACK, you slide to within NEAR distance instantly if you wish.
• ELEMENTITE EYE: This metallic eye can be implanted with the help of a physician. Choose
one element: Stone, wood, metal, air, ice, or fire. All MAGICAL effects with that element are always DOUBLE.
• HAND OF CINDERS: This odd chain-link glove burns with an eternal flame. With a CON roll to control it,
conjure a shield-like disc of fire with ARMOR of 10. This lasts as long as you focus ONLY on maintaining it.
• INT SPELL: SPELL NOVA: Any SPELL cast on the TURN following this cast explodes in a NEAR radius area, and
is CRITICAL. If your cast roll fails with this SPELL, you cannot use magic for 1 ROUND.

TIER 2 REWARDS
• INT SPELL: ILLUSION: Conjure convincing illusions of any description. They can either last 1D4 ROUNDS, or
be sustained by your constant and total attention.
• INT SPELL: LIFE: You can bring objects or dead things to a lifelike animated state, but only lasts 1D4 rounds.
The exact nature of these puppets is a mystery, and can be very volatile.
• INT SPELL: DEATH: With a HARD INT roll, you can kill a living thing in sight with 2 HEARTS or less. Their only
chance for survival is to make a CON CHECK, which will leave them with 1 HP.
• MASTERWORK TOME: This gold-bound book must be EQUIPPED. There is no limit to the number of SPELLS
you can have at the ready with it in your hands.
• MARK OF LOKUS: A bracelet with interlacing horn motifs. The arm where this is worn slowly changes into
a barbed, crab-like claw or twisting ridged weapon shape. It acts as a MAGICAL WEAPON, and is terrifying.

TIER 3 REWARDS
• AMULET OF THE INFERNALS: EQUIP this item to gain dominion over demonic creatures and infernals.
Command them with a CHA roll, or summon 1D4 of them with an INT roll.
• OAK ROSARY: An aged wooden cross and beads to be CARRIED. All HOLY SPELLS are EASY to cast.
• INT SPELL: RAVEN: Assume the form of, or conjure 1 to 10 ravens. The birds are living things, but with your
intelligence. In raven form, you can cast SPELLS with a HARD roll, but you cannot speak or use equipment.
• INT SPELL: WARDEN: Choose a plant or wild animal and imbue it with the mystery of Amber. It doubles its
HEARTS, doubles all its EFFORT, and cannot be harmed by non-MAGICAL means.
• WIS POWER: SPELLFINDER: With this POWER, you can detect, and are drawn to, written SPELLS within 1
mile. The exact route to these locations is not always clear.

TIER 4 REWARDS
• CRYSTAL EYE: Look into this CARRIED artifact with an INT roll. On a natural 15+, gain 1 new SPELL.
• MAGE’S HAND: A skeletal prosthesis. It acts as the one and only key to a Glyph of Iridess. This glyph is ru-
mored to lock the chaotic Ogdru in their distant dimension, somewhere in Kath.
• RING OF FORMLESS POWER: When using formless magic, you can reroll your ATTEMPT.
• INT SPELL: FOUNDATION: Call forth 1 massive column of an element for each point in INT. They are colossal
towers, rising upward up to 1 mile.
• INT SPELL: ELEMENTAL BLAST: Conjure a spherical burst of an element at a location you can see. Its radius
is FAR, and it behaves and affects surroundings as that element demands.

11
PATH OF OAK
TIER 1 REWARDS
• GREEN BARK: A leaf-pattern cloak, +3 ARMOR. The pattern adapts to any natural surround-
ings, making you nearly invisible when stationery.
• FEATHER OF ARAK: CARRY this heirloom to take the shape of any bird for 1D4 ROUNDS.
• NECKLACE OF SOULS: 13 iridescent coins form this necklace of gold and lapis. Place on a
living thing to enter their consciousness as a ‘co-pilot’ intelligence, sharing control.
• GREENBOW: A longbow made of living Elm. The weapon is MAGICAL, grows a new arrow for each fired, and
can never hit a friendly target. Also, the arrows will grow into small trees wherever they stick.
• WIS POWER: WILD CALL: Call upon an animal or small group of animals within 1 mile. They will come to
your aid for 1D4 rounds, but will flee on a failed CHA roll.

TIER 2 REWARDS
• RAZOR VINE: EQUIP this bracer-wrapping item. With it, grappling or pulling STR rolls are always EASY, and it
has a FAR reach. It can be severed, but will regrow in 1D4 ROUNDS.
• SEEDS OF AT’AR: CARRY these 5 little seeds. Each can only be used once. When planted with soil and water,
they explode into a colossal growth of flowers, trees, thickets and vines. If unchecked, this mass of growth
will go on for up to 5 miles in all directions over the course of a few days.
• WIS POWER: MOSS OF AGES: Cast on a living being with a touch. That creature heals 1D6 HP per ROUND
until the moss is cast on a different creature.
• WIS POWER: STICK MAN: Assemble a construct of sticks and pebbles. It is humanoid, up to 12 feet tall, and
has 3 HEARTS. It has no attacks, but can obey commands. It crumbles away the instant you take any damage.
• WIS POWER: CLEANSE: With a touch, remove any curse, poisoning, sickness, paralysis, or negative condi-
tion on a creature.

TIER 3 REWARDS
• GREENKIN GLOVES: +3 ARMOR. These gloves grip living wood or uncut stone with profound strength. On
these surfaces, climb in any direction with no roll, and no known force can pull you away against your will.
• SKULL OF ORMO: EQUIP this one-of-a-kind glyph-etched elk skull for +1 ARMOR. Also, any EFFORT done
with a WIS POWER of 4 or less can be re-rolled, choose the better of the two rolls.
• WIS POWER: WARD: Forcefully separate two touching objects or creatures you can see. This effect holds as
long as you give it total attention.
• WIS POWER: OATH: Make an oath aloud. If the GM approves, and it is fulfilled, learn 1 new WIS POWER.
• WIS POWER: CHILD OF THE GODS: Bless a plant or animal with a touch. It becomes immortal, and gathers
other local creatures to itself to ward off evil or wanton destructive forces.

TIER 4 REWARDS
• GREENHEART: CARRY this amulet, which hangs near your heart. If you drop to 0 HP, you will return to 1 HP
in 1D4 ROUNDS. If you are killed utterly, you will regrow to live again in 1D4 days.
• QUIVER OF A THOUSAND ARROWS: With a WIS roll, describe a type of arrow. That arrow will grow into
the quiver in 1 ROUND. If you want to make the same arrow again, no roll is needed.
• STAFF OF PINES: This MAGICAL weapon can instantly grow up to 10 massive pines with a WIS roll, anywhere.
• STAFF OF STORMS: A MAGICAL weapon that lets you cast LIGHTNING BOLT with no roll.
• WIS POWER: LUNA’S GLOW: With a touch, restore a being’s HP to full. This effect also grants them an ad-
ditional HEART which lasts until the next moonrise. During this time, the creature has a faint glow.

12
PATH OF THE HAWK
TIER 1 REWARDS
• ELEMENTAL AMMO: As you ready a shot, declare an element: fire, ice, stone or iron. Your
shot has the properties of this element, releasing that effect on impact.
• MARKSMAN’S GLOVES: These high-grip gloves give you an excellent hold on all ranged
weapons. No non-MAGICAL means can force you to drop that weapon.
• WEAPON RUCK: You can carry up to 20 ranged weapons in this special harness. The harness
only occupies 1 of your CARRY slots.
• CRYSTAL FLARE: Attach to a shot. A target hit for 1 or more damage is now marked with a glaring bright pink
magnesium spark for 1D6 ROUNDS.

TIER 2 REWARDS
• SEEKERS: Spend 1 ROUND to modify any type of AMMO, up to 3 count. Those shots will hit their target, even
around corners, through tight gaps or underwater.
• SPLIT SHOT: Call a shot as split. Make the roll as HARD, and break your round in two. If you hit the TARGET,
but miss the HARD roll, you hit with a normal single shot.
• GRAV AMMO: With a HARD shot, hit a target with a grav round. All subsequent shots on that target are EASY.
• RING OF RICOCHET: With this MAGICAL ring, you have an uncanny ability to bounce shots off of surfaces, up
to 6 different rebounds. If you make a kill with such a shot, your enemies must make a CHA roll or be terrified
of your incredible aim.

TIER 3 REWARDS
• REAPER AMMO: Spend 1 extra TURN holding a shot, making it a REAPER. This shot will penetrate its target
and continue in a straight line for 1 mile, doing damage to any targets in that line.
• CRYSTAL GOGGLES: These YOG-lensed goggles let you track targets up to 5 miles away. Any shots made
HARD by distance are NORMAL for you. Allies acting on your spotting also benefit in this way.
• REFRACTOR CLOAK: This master-crafted cloak deflects missiles of all kinds. Any time you are hit by a ranged
attack, roll 1D6. On a 4,5, or 6 the attack is deflected.
• BLOOD SIGHTS: This head piece can work with goggles or on its own. When you take a TURN to examine a
target, you see it organs and workings, determining a weak point at once.

TIER 4 REWARDS
• MASTERWORK WEAPON KIT: Choose one ranged weapon. This modification makes it +4 EFFORT.
• CHAIN REACTOR: You have an incredible ability to bounce shots on a targets inner parts such as bones. Your
shots now chain react. For any DAMAGE rolled over 3, roll DAMAGE again.
• INCENDIARY PUTTY: Take 1 TURN to attach this alchemical wonder to any shot. That shot, on impact, now
explodes with its effect to NEAR or FAR range, your choice.
• KRELL WEAPON MODULE: This wonder of the outer world can be reconfigured in an instant into ANY
type of ranged weapon including: Energy weapons, bows, crossbows, mortars, machine guns, pistols, slings,
spear-throwers or grenade launchers. The weapon is also deadly in its power, never requiring ammo refills,
and adding a 1D20 DAMAGE to every shot. The different forms the module takes include their native prop-
erties such as RAPID FIRE, EXPLOSIVE, LONG RANGE, VOLATILE, ENERGY and the like. The module can also be
compacted into a pod-like form, easily stowed and concealed, occupying 1 EQUIPPED slot in your inventory.

13
THE CHOICE METHOD
CHOOSE YOUR PATH PITFALLS OF CHOICE
The simplest way to build your character is to choose Having no restrictions on what REWARDS players can
MILESTONE REWARDS as you go. Let’s say your fighting choose can have a downside, too. Characters can be-
ability is where you like it, but you’re itching for some come hard to understand or categorize. “Are you a
magical powers, or your group is in desperate need of mage or a pikeman?” This problem can lead to a world
healing. At your next REWARD, simply seek out what or set of characters that is hard to believe, or even just
you’re wanting, and begin the PATH toward that spe- silly.
cific one.
Even more perilous is the effect of characters becom-
Using this simple method, characters will be very di- ing ‘one stop shops.’ This means that each character
verse, and hard to classify. A GUARDIAN class with ar- has fighting skill, magic, healing ability, ranged com-
cane magic? Sure! The only limit to your customization bat ability and so on. This might sound like a boon
is your CARRY and EQUIP capacity and your reaching of to the game, but it can eliminate or reduce the need
MILESTONE MOMENTS. Beyond that, any combination for teamwork, which is the foundational reason for a
is possible. class-driven character system in the first place. Com-
plimentary skill sets make playing with your allies more
ADVANTAGES OF CHOICE meaningful.
By developing your character in a completely free
way, you can discover or devise synergies that can be It’s all simply a matter of taste! Just talk with your ta-
terribly powerful. Synergies are combinations of abil- ble, and your GM. What feels right to YOU? Maybe at
ities that compound damage, invulnerability, magical times your progression is free to choose, and at others
power, and the like. This is a common theme in many it is restricted. Maybe certain combinations feel count-
games. Also, choice can be excellent for experienced er intuitive, so come up with a house rule! Remember
players who want to explore new realms with their all these options are here to make your game what you
character, rather than familiar tropes or types. want it to be!

14
THE ARCHETYPE METHOD

FULFILL YOUR PATH WARLOCK: You have made a pact with dark and pow-
Archetypes are classic or well-known types of charac- erful forces. When in Tiers 1 and 2, take the Path of
ters we all know and love. The gold-clad Paladin, the Smoke. For Tiers 3 and 4, switch to the Path of Amber.
dark-hooded Assassin, or the creepy, mysterious Gun-
slinger who materialized one winter morning. The Ar- WEREWOLF: Despite this curse, you have become a
chetype method of progression takes a bit more work heroic force for good. At Tier 1 and 2, you walk the
on your part, but then your PATH is set and all you need Path of Oak. Beyond that, walk only the Path of Iron.
do is fulfill it.
MAGUS: You have devoted yourself to the purest form
An Archetypal method chooses a set selection of RE- of magical training. You may only take REWARDS from
WARDS, in the Tiers listed, and marks them as avail- the Path of Amber.
able to you. You and your GM can choose these at the
time of character creation, with the goal of capturing a EVENSTAR: You are a warrior for all that is true, holy
very specific flavor of character. Then, as you play, you and good in this world. Whenever you earn a REWARD,
simply ‘unlock’ each REWARD as was predetermined, you must alternate between the Path of Oak and the
and glow with newfound power that fits a concept or Path of Iron. You can never use Infernal Magic.
theme.
OFFWORLDER: A strange being from the outer cos-
Here are a few suggestions for Archetypes to get you
mos, you are a visitor only. For Tiers 1-3 walk the Path
started. An Archetype can be any class! An Archetype
of the Hawk. At Tier 4, choose from any Path.
can even inform when your MILESTONE MOMENTS
will occur, or your role in the wider story. Are your RE-
Invent new REWARDS, new TIERS, or even entire new
WARDS earned, granted, or found? It’s all up to you.
PATHS! The only limit is your imagination.

15
THE PURCHASE METHOD
SO SHINY VENDORS AND VENTURES
Some games are focused on COIN as a key element The key question with allowing players to buy items is
of progression and reward. COIN can be great in that who has what. Meager vendors in backwater towns
players are given a lot of control over how their efforts should not be selling the Skull of Ormo! The process
are rewarded. It can also save the GM time, as she can of seeking out exotic or rare vendors can be the pivot
always get a smile by awarding COIN on fallen foes or of many great adventures. Here are some guidelines of
in the tombs of kings. what kind of vendors will be found with what kinds of
wares.
ICRPG is no exception to this time-honored tradition
in tabletop games. Like many games, consider 1 COIN COMMON MERCHANT: Average guy in an average
to be fair pay for 1 day’s work. This price listing is only town or village, just trying to get by on whatever he
a starting point, of course. You can always use your fa- can find, scavenge or buy at a discount. Starting Equip-
vorite source book for gear and pricing, as many games ment, Shabby LOOT, Supplies
follow the ‘1 gold=1 day’s pay’ rule.
TRAVELING WARESMAN: This vendor wanders the
ITEM COMMON PRICE in COINS span of one kingdom or region, actively seeking quali-
ty goods. It can be challenging to bump into them be-
Meal and Bed for a Night 1 tween their travels, but they will regularly visit a set of
Starting Equipment Items 5 larger towns. Weapons and armor, Starter LOOT
Basic Weapons 5
Large Weapons 10 EXOTIC TRADER: Here is a merchant that travels be-
Military and Mechanical Weapons 15 yond one kingdom, but isn’t an armed adventurer or
Armor 5/point treasure hunter. They are usually only met in very large
Advanced Armor (+3 or more) 15/point cities or by special arrangement. Basic LOOT, Starter
Supplies 10 LOOT
Bullets 1/5
Starter LOOT Items 50 FARFOOT: To the ends of the Urth and beyond go
Shabby LOOT Items 10-50 these explorers. They are usually found in ports or
Basic LOOT Items 25-75 remote caravans, but seldom in towns or cities. Epic
Epic LOOT Items 200+ LOOT, Tier 1 Rewards
Tier 1 Rewards 250
Tier 2 Rewards 1,000 PURVEYOR OF RELICS: This kind of collector caters
Tier 3 Rewards 5,000 to high end clients such as dukes and kings. They have
Tier 4 Rewards 50,000+ several adventurers and treasure seekers in their em-
House 500 ploy, and deal in the rarest, most coveted objects and
Castle 10,000 wonders. Epic LOOT, Tier 2 Rewards
Town 50,000
City 250,000 MYTHIC WANDERER: This type of ‘vendor’ usually
Retainer/Thug/Porter 1/day only has one item or type of item. It is their very ex-
istence to curate, keep and distribute this rarity, and
many folk don’t even believe they are real. Finding
them is next to impossible. Tier 3 Rewards, Tier 4 Re-
wards

16
MILESTONE MOMENTS
TIER 1: GEARING UP power is reached by one hero in a thousand. To reach
Earn Tier 1 Rewards once or twice per session. This these final echelons, you will face interdimensional
isn’t a hard rule. You and your GM will know when the forces, immortal monsters, or evil that threatens all
time is right. Here are a few examples of when to drop the world, whatever that world may be.
that sweet Tier 1 LOOT.
• Traverse, repair or rescue the stream of time
• A decisive victory against lopsided odds • Uncover a mythic relic or artifact beyond Urth
• A clutch maneuver to help the entire group • Inherit or be bestowed with lordship
• When the story glows with ‘the feels’ • Encounter beings from another world or dimension
• A display of true honor, courage, or kindness • Spend 50 years in reclusive study with a master
• Meeting a mentor or master
• Receiving a boon from grateful villagers BE A SEEKER
Most importantly, do not feel confined by these exam-
TIER 2: A LOCAL HERO ples! If a specific REWARD catches your imagination,
Tier 2 separates the dabbler from the practitioner. then tell your GM. Seek out a way to retrieve, earn
Rewards from this Tier should be earned when some- or find the thing you seek, and make that story your
thing specific to your PATH happens in play. This will be own. Every devious-minded GM loves to have this kind
more rare, maybe once every 2 sessions. of player drive, as nothing makes for more personal
quests or story arcs than those which players create.
• An encounter with a high-level hero of your PATH
• Using a specific PATH ability in a decisive victory
• Defeating a personal enemy one on one
• Taking time to study with a master of your PATH
• Being exposed to powerful arcane forces

TIER 3: MASTERY
At this Tier, you are an accomplished expert in the giv-
en PATH, and only through specific quests, long term
study, or a royal award can you reach higher levels of
power. Here are examples of how to seek out these
REWARDS.

• Complete a heroic errand for a local lord

• Make safe an entire region or kingdom by your ac-
tions
• Discover or recover a relic of legendary power
• Receive a blessing or touch from an immortal
• Die and return to life with new supernatural power

TIER 4: A LIVING LEGEND
Some folks aren’t even sure you are real. You are fea-
tured in bardic tales, and sought out for the most im-
possible quests and royal errands. This level of

17
 ALFHEIM

We were caught between history’s lessons and a future that refused to learn.
I looked out from the hollow head of the colossus, lightning flitted below distant
thunderheads to the West, and it was a good day to die.

18
ALFHEIM
NO ONE DOOM
ALFHEIM is a place of many threads and stories, but
no single theme tying them together. It isn’t ‘dark’ or
‘high’ or ‘low’ fantasy, but a complex fabric of flavors.
We all have our own fantasy worlds in our minds, ALF-
HEIM gives you the tapestry to build upon. From high
cliffs, castle-crowned mountains, and towering mono-
liths to the shadowed tunnels of Ardenmoor, the ru-
ins of Iridess, or the fabled mines of Duros...these are
all the elements available to build your next fantasy
WORLD bigger and better than ever.
The sandbox style of the following information will let
your players explore freely. Using your knowledge of
distance, terrain, monsters, and player SUPPLIES you
can dare the elusive, and awesome, sandbox-style Now, let me tell you of the Fourth Realm...
game many players crave.
19
AN INCOMPLETE MAP
Not every detail is shown on the ALFHEIM map! For
one thing, knowledge of the world is not total in the
Age of Kingdoms, and for another, those blank spaces
and unmapped dungeons are for you and your players
to discover! The WORLD PRIMER in the ICRPG Core Set
can get you started, but this more realized place can
give you the location or villain to top it off.
Finally, the island of Crask, in the far northeast, is yours
to imagine. Use it as a distant goal, supreme enemy,
or even heroic headquarters. Each entry listed below
should also give you a template to create your own
kingdoms, islands, and continents.
ALFHEIM

IRE, DOMAIN OF THE PRIMALS

“Only hearty folk dare the wind-swept cliffs of Ire,
where the ape-man still walks the snows.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• Frigid: Rocky highlands swept with snow.
Stranded travelers can freeze to death on cold
nights.
• Hazardous: Spend 2 Supplies per day traveling.
• No Roads: Much of Ire is simply impassable
without a guide. If traveling without a guide,
add 1D12 days to your journey.
• Storms: On a failed travel, scouting or nature
roll, a storm destroys equipment, expends re-
maining supplies, or blocks travel completely.

DANGERS TO DARE
• The Primals: Somewhere in the northern
snows, these 10 foot tall beings rule. They are
the dread enemy of the lowly ape-men, who
hate and fear them. They abide no intruders.
• Giant Beasts: A secret sect of chaotic dru-
id-folk have been imbuing bears, wolves, and
elk with power and size. These beasts attack at
random, set to destroy all civilized folk.
• Coal Demon Slavers: Wandering out from Sol-
stice Depths, these infernals seek slaves to
delve their warrens below the mountain.
• Ice Wind: During any encounter here, the
freezing wind adds 1D4 to all TARGETS.

DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• A frozen traveler, coated in ice, clutches the sky at a roadside. He wears a strange amulet, untouched by cold
• Cracking fissures in the frost revealing a glowing catacomb below, leading west
• Snow-dusted aftermath of a battle. Primals, ape-men and dwarves all lay silent, but one survivor stirs
• A wagon full of gar merchants heading to The Warden. They are lost, freezing, and hunted
• A dwarven village burned to the ground, now frosted over
• Iron-hinged crate of Koabi scimitars lying in a mess of broken arrows and blood spatter
• Bluish ice cliffs shine in the sunlight, revealing tunnel entrances with ape-men guards
• A group of druids, barely alive and frightened at Pine Henge
• A charred handprint on The Warden sickens the ageless tree as rumors spread of an infernal presence
• Burning skulls on pikes flanking a neglected dwarven roadway towards Solstice Peak

20
ALFHEIM
FOLK AND FRIENDSHIP
• Sval of White Bluff: Orc chief of all Ire, but whose rule is contested by warring tribes
• Pietro Pete: Legendary dwarvish trapper who guides travelers through the northern reaches
• Asra Cloudbow: Matriarch of the Pine Henge druid-folk, who seeks help
• Strom: A Primal who believes his people are wrongly warring with Ire, and seeks to stop the invasion
• Helen Asram: Dutchess of Port Snow, who seeks aid to drive out the Koabi pirates

DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• Pine Henge: Deep below the henge, a dimension door has grown out of control, and the caverns are filling
with strange lifeforms and evil will. If the gateway is not closed, or brought to heel, it could shatter the pow-
erful magic that holds Ire safe from the Primal invasion.
• Solstice Depths: Coal Demons have overrun the once-prosperous dwarven city of Solstice Peak. The forges
run nonstop, and they are arming a siege of Ire itself in the fiery deeps.

21
ALFHEIM
MORE ABOUT THE WARDEN
• The Warden is Ire’s central town, but also home to an ancient tree, which emanates a powerful life force.
Once, the Wardens dotted Alfheim. It is now said this is the last of these colossal trees, and in its heart rests
the very lifeblood of Urth itself. Druids are prone to exaggerate such things, though.
• The town is lawful, held safe by a council of traders, pioneers, and frontier folk. It is populated by dwarves
and men, but few elves are welcome here.
• As the ‘last stop’ before the northern wilds, Warden is rich with smiths, outfitters, and even magical suppli-
ers for expeditions and border fighters. It serves as headquarters for those fighting the Solstice demons, the
Primals, or the elements.
• One thing is certain to all in Ire: if The Warden were to fall to dark forces,
the fate of the North would soon follow, and all hope of taming this wil-
derness would be lost.

IRADRUM, KINGDOM OF HEROES

“Where any man or woman may rule, if their deeds deserve,
and the mighty forges of dwarves burn hot.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• Bountiful: A wide, green country of villages, sea ports and the Kinder
Peaks to the north. It’s easy to find shelter and good folk here.
• Pleasant: Spend 1 SUPPLY per day, and travel double normal pace (up to 25 miles per day).
• Kingly Roads: Guarded, well-kept, and often lined with vendors and travelers. There is no getting lost here,
save traveling through the Witchwood, to the northwest, which has no roads at all.
• A Folk of Feasts: Gain 1 FOOD ITEM on any trip through Iradrum. The road culture here is generous and bright
with bounty.
• Dwarves! This is the oldest settlement of dwarves in Alfheim, so has an animated, exciting culture of gar and
song. All dwarf characters are welcome here, and make social rolls as EASY.

DANGERS TO DARE
• The Iron Outcasts: Among the Iradrum, there is a legion of metal-clad dwarf warriors who refuse human
rule in their land. For this, they are banished, and wander as fugitives, attacking any non-dwarves in Iradrum
when possible. They are ruthless and evil, despite their appeal to some dwarven purists.
• Skeleton Army: Witchwood was once its own barony, before the rise of Norburg. It is unknown what doom
befell that sunken land, but now an endless trickle of skeleton warriors stumble from the dead trees, and
prey on all they encounter.
• Direhorn: Legend holds that the Ogdru blasphemers below Norburg created this species as war-beasts cen-
turies ago. Now only a few remain, ravaging road-folk ... eating men whole in one terrible bite.

22
ALFHEIM
DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• A cask of fresh gar fallen from a wagon or traveling supplier. Roll for type, best stuff in Alfheim!
• The symbol of the Iron Outcasts, a red chevron, painted across a destroyed wagon
• A merry band of bards on their way to Norburg, celebrating a newly crowned hero
• A strange, heavy iron key in the motifs of the Iradrum deep-miners
• A direhorn’s claw-nail, broken clean off and caked in blood
• Disoriented slaves wandering south from Witchwood, unable to speak
• An Iradrum forgemaster in a mobile weapon and armor cart, eager to buy and sell
• Ambushers from the heretical Ogdru cult, camouflaged in a thicket outside a village
• A company of royal lancers traveling the countryside in search of new army conscripts and squires

FOLK AND FRIENDSHIP

• Three Hero Kings: Norburg is ruled by three heroes of great deed. They are true good, and willing to help or
reward all adventurers who rid their land of evil influence or foreign claim
• Hatch’s Heroes: Hatch is an Iradrum dwarf, born in West Kinder, who refuses to accept the expansion of
Witchwood. He is always looking for able bodied warriors who will aid his cause
• Cap’n Gettz: One of the most decorated pirates and captains of the Emerald Sea
• The Lightning King: High ruler of Iradrum Spire
• Gibbles: A Thushum goblin armor trader and weapons expert who travels the Iradrum roads

DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• Blackwave: The Island Southwest
of Norburg was once a garrison
of Crask. Shelled into oblivion by
Norburg siege engines, it is now a
broken ruin. Still, something stirs
in the rubble...
• Kinder Mines: A volcanic heart
feeds the Dwarven fires below
Iradrum. These fires have also
carved a maze of lava tubes and
magma chambers, occupied by all
those terrors that dwell below.
• Witchwood Lake: As the dark
power grows in Witchwood, so
does the stick-barrow at the cen-
ter of this mucky pond.

23
ALFHEIM

KHETT, DESERT OF BONES

“Few places are more lonely, more deadly, than
those high, cold steppes.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• High Desert: Barren plateaus and wind-scoured hardpan. Distance can be the main enemy here.
• Deadly: Spend 3 Supplies per day traveling.
• Nomadic Folk: Settlements here move with the seasons. Only local guides will know the exact locations of
the three main camps of the Khettish.
• Volatile Wind: When acting up, the gales here can add 2 to TARGETS, and even demand DEX or STR rolls to
resists their terrible force.

DANGERS TO DARE
• Nomadic Brigands: The Khetts are without mercy for travelers, but even worse are the lowly thieves who
wander the steppes in search of victims. For each day spent here, roll nature, scouting or navigation TWICE to
avoid their raiding parties.
• Bone Constructs: Since the Co-
lossus fell here, strange ver-
sions of men and monsters
have been forming or animating
from dusty old bones. How can
you kill what has never lived?
• Crystal Skitters: The YOG mines
of Nool have delved deep in-
deed, and there opened a
hatching chamber of crystal-
line insectoids that threaten
the eastern borders, growing in
number down in the depths.

DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• A group of armored skeletons, buried to the waist, slowly beginning to move again
• A lone horse, equipped for lance or spear cavalry, wanders the waste
• The remnants of a tent camp, abandoned. In one hut an old woman has been left to die
• An odd group of small folk travelers taking shelter in a stand of giant cacti
• Slow-moving Stone Flimes migrating north
• A floating sky barge, with room for 5 crew, tethered to a tall stone pinnacle. The hull is peppered with arrows
• A freshly opened fissure leading down to red-glowing depths
• The skull-heaped lair of a Sand Dragon
• A hermit waves with a smile from a red tent on a bluff. A closer look reveals he is a wooden clockwork

24
ALFHEIM
FOLK AND FRIENDSHIP
• Shirash the Knife: Not exactly a friend, the ruler of the Khett tribes is not officially recognized as king. Never-
theless, he lives by a code of honor that is the closest thing to law here.
• Jadzaro Bunini, Genius: This half-mad engineer and philosopher wanders the steppes, creating wonders of
science such as sky ships, walking wagons, and digging machines.
• The Daughters of Rel: A tribe of orc women who fight the Khetts with guerrilla tactics, all in honor of Mud’s
great grand daughter.
• Ferrin’s Folk: The canyonkeepers of Nool can be hard-nosed, but one family still holds the old hospitality.
They are crystal magi who work to stop the return of the snake-men to Alfheim.

BORDER WAR
• All the surrounding nations of the west fight to contain the chaotic Khetts. They have no taste for rule or law
of any kind, and plunder as they please. Thus, the borders of Khett are heavily guarded, and fought over, on
all sides save Koab, where only the dead stand watch.

DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• West Colossus: This massive creature is now a hollow husk, but its power pervades the landscape around it
and below it. There is an entrance at the head, but the Khetts guard this place, claiming the treasures below
as their own.
• The Canyon Abyss: At the dark floor of the eastern canyonlands, a bounty of Yog crystals grows. With them,
comes Skitters and other creatures far older. The folk of Nool work to mine this area, but seldom return.
• Ruin of Beetle Meer: The castle northeast of Port Sand has been reclaimed by the desert, but travelers have
spotted great green-shelled beetles there, as in the legends, and a ghostly glow by moonlight.

25
ALFHEIM

KATH, THE TOMB OF SNAKES

“Still close is the evil influence of the long-dead
snake-men in the pyramids and jungles of Kath.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• Dune Sea: Expend 4 SUPPLIES per day to travel here, mainly carrying water.
• Sweltering Jungle: The southeast is dense with jungle, and far easier to traverse with 1 SUPPLY per day.
• Uninhabited: Few ever go here, fearing snake-men from ancient times. The largest settlements of living peo-
ple are the excavation camp along the northern border and the tiny, accursed village of Hal.
• Die of Thirst: If travelers become lost for more than 4 days, they have a 50% chance of meeting their end.

DANGERS TO DARE
• The Undead: The snake-men used the dead as their legions, and many remain here. Mummified priests,
skull-faced warriors, and moaning shamblers make up their ranks
• Serpent-Folk: The rumors are true: snake-men have been seen walking the dunes, weaving black magic and
working to awaken their terrible gods
• Agnar and Agnar Riders: The primal ‘mega-mouth’ can be lurking anywhere
• Devious Traps: In their time, the serpents used many complex mechanical terrors to guard their tombs and
unholy places. Many of these are still armed and just as deadly as a thousand years ago. Sometimes even the
open desert hides buried death just waiting to be triggered

26
ALFHEIM
FOLK AND FRIENDSHIP
• Verkin Ferinale: Master Archaeologist, or so he claims, running the excavation camp. With the aid of a sky
galleon, and a small crew of dwarves, he has established a relic trade in Kath
• Liette of Hal: A hero who refuses to abandon her dying town
• The Grey Road Cavalry: The northeast border is held by Grey Guardsmen. They are always willing to help
those in need, but will only venture a day’s travel into the dunes

DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• South Colossus: A massive coil of stone vertebrae twists through the jungle, capped by a pyramidal ‘head’
near the Dead Lands gate. If it has been explored, no one has any written account of what lies within.
• Pyramids of Koab: Once a mighty city of snake-men, this is now being reclaimed by the dunes. There are no
less than twenty giant pyramids, concealing an even larger undercroft.
• Dead Iridess: The town that ran red with blood when Aras the Red Fang awoke his dead queen so long ago.
Now it is a haunted city, and the dead queen’s chamber of power still fills this place with dread.
• Tomb of Sett: At the south extreme is a weird island, hewn square in raw bedrock, and covered in glyphic
warnings and sigils of confinement. This is believed to be the sleeping place of Sett, the serpent God. The
nearby pyramid served as a place of worship in elder days.

IRIDESS, REALM OF MADNESS

• Aras, also called Red Fang in later days, gained his dark power in this abandoned city. The dead queen who
gave him this hideous gift still dwells there, beneath the silent streets. To tread that place brings a plague of
hallucinations, and comes with it a death curse from beyond time.

27
ALFHEIM

NORDHEIM, THE ENDLESS WOODS

“True pioneers live up north, master shipbuilders,
and keepers of dark, violent secrets.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• Vast Forests: Endless pine forests in low hills and rocky plains make this a maze to navigate.
• Remote: Only use 1 SUPPLY per day traveled, but rolls are all HARD.
• Shipping: Travel anywhere on the Nordheim Coast in 1-3 days. Ports and moorage are plentiful.
• Patrolled Roads: There are a half dozen well-kept roads in Nordheim, patrolled either by Nordish knights
from Shipshelm, or the Grey Border Guard. The roads are kept safe year round, at any cost.

DANGERS TO DARE
• Stick People: The forests here are vast, and ancient. Within, a race of semi-humans still fight off what they
see as an infection on the world: all civilized races. On occasion, the border troops of Nordheim will clash
with stick folk. They are huge, antlered things born of dark, angry magic.
• Snow Orcs: The South of Nordheim, near the Khettish border, is home to a tribe of predatory orcs. They run
rampant on those who defy their borders, and use the Broken Rocks range as their fortress.
• Thushum Outcasts: Those goblin kin who are too vile, or too evil-willed to endure in Thushum often take
refuge here in the woods. They form small bands, and work their deadly mischief with woodcraft machines
and deep woods ambushes. Their clans are Groat, Pineblood, Thumush and Big Tooth in name.
• Escaped Pit Fighters: The fighting pits at Arlston crossroads represent the dark and violent hertiage of this
rugged land. Either by amnesty or escape, the death dealers from the pits find their way into the countryside.
Some are noble-hearted. Many are not.

28
ALFHEIM
DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• An abandoned logging camp, riddled with snow orc arrows
• A strange talisman made of sticks and bone, left as a warning of some kind
• An escaped gladiator from Arlston, camping near a fire. With him is a small boy
• Branches and mud piled into a crude hut, the smell of roast flesh on the breeze
• An old dock moorage with a derelict ship roped and left unmanned
• A lodgepole fort manned by a single warrior from Gilhelm
• A massive clawed footprint, 30 feet across, and smashed trees in rows
• A locket, silver, with the likeness of the Duchess of Westbrook inside

FOLK AND FRIENDSHIP

• Hankerin Ferinale: Ambassador to the Iradrum in Gilhelm, honorary mayor, and Brewmaster of the Frothy
Mare tavern. On occasion, Hankerin will commission mining expeditions to the Broken Rocks and beyond.
• Crumb: One of the heroic dwarves who fought back the ‘Titan of Shipshelm,’ this stout fellow is now in the
duke’s employ as a road guardian. He lives a quiet life escorting travelers and leaning on old pines.
• Elisa of Englemoor: The hill folk of Nurin can be found in Nordheim, and their best is Elisa, the savior of Han-
nar, hero of Englemoor before its destruction.
• Oracle of the Banners: The old ruins on the west point of Nordheim are occupied by an ancient being few
have seen. Some say she is a humanoid turtle in robe and hood. Either way, folk say she can see the past and
the future in that haunting rubble.

DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• Depths of the Dark Brotherhood: Below and beyond the manor of Duke Herald, the governor of New Haven,
is a vast catacomb of burial chambers and demonic tunnels. This is the seat of the Dark Brotherhood, who
claim themselves as witch hunters, but are in fact the most powerful witches of all.
• Lost Barrow: Told of only in stories, a dwarven city hidden in the hills.
• Broken Rock Tunnels: The snow orcs have occupied these rocky crags for centuries, gaining power and for-
tune by the rich iron deposits there. Far below these mines are deeper places...
• Ruins of Light Port: Just south of the Oracle of Banners is a now-destroyed port town. Some say the Titan
destroyed it, or wild seas of old, or even the wrath of snake-men. The mystery remains unsolved, as those
who venture there do not return.

29
ALFHEIM

APHOS, REFUGE OF THE ELVES

“The island fortress of Elf kind is held in a magic
power, and they are lonely in their perfection.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• Shrouded Isles: Navigating any ship to Aphos makes all rolls HARD
• A Weird Calm: Despite being so far north, it is sunny, warm, and pleasant
around the Aphosian islands
• The Grey Veil: Aphos is guarded by an endless, impenetrable fog of mag-
ical mist. Many dead ships drift here, voices hang on the ghostly wind. Some even say time itself can become
warped, or tangled, in the fogs
• Limestone Crags: White stone built these islands, and it is common to have dizzying drop-offs and ruin-topped
pinnacles here
• Ancient Wealth: Ancient are the elves of Aphos. Their architecture stands as a testament to the millennia
they have ruled from here, living like demigods among the sublime beauty. All LOOT found here is EPIC

DANGERS TO DARE
• Treachery: A recurring theme in Aphos is the deception and multi-layered betrayals of elves. Infiltrators, dou-
ble loyalties, or ensnarements are common here to the unskilled. To the elves who dwell here it is not evil,
but simply a way of life that has kept them alive for millenia.
• Minotaur Rebellion: Once the servants of the high council, and many great houses of ancient Aphos, the bull-
men now openly revolt, and hold ruins and catacombs for their own. Some are too far gone, mad with lost
love or rage, and can no longer communicate as human beings.
• The Scorned: Ever do elves work to hide their ugly side. Using dark magic, they place their vices and sin into
other beings. The saddest of these are The Scorned, a misshapen race who lives below ground, operating the
elder machines that power Aphos’ magical engines. They are sunless, seldom seen, and cannibalistic.
• Unstable Magic: Any magic used by outsiders here is highly unpredictable. Write a 1-10 mercurial Spell table,
and roll it whenever magic is used. Results vary from fizzled Spells to cross-dimensional catastrophes.
• Snake-Men: From far below Aphos the enemy of Alfheim has begun to resurface, but only in the ruins of the
outer islands.

30
ALFHEIM
DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• A hovering chunk of spell-etched stone, just hanging in the air
• An old elf, hunched over on a rock, but on a second look she is young and beautiful
• Slender green snakes that align to form vaguely familiar glyphs
• Pillared ruins and causeways below the glimmering green water
• The impossible, wondrous form of the Colossus, circled by birds and a ring of thin cloud
• Starless nights
• A slave, carrying water, who has no mouth ... none at all
• A child of The Scorned, wandering burned, dazed, in rags only, stumbling among the white pillars

FOLK AND FRIENDSHIP

• Star Ephelle: A lovely young girl, who believes the Colossus can renew elven virtue
• Stryke: Vengeful for the elves’ imprisoning her here, she lurks in the cliffs
• Brumble Ironfist: A hilarious dwarven seafarer who runs trade routes to Aphos
• King Archeiandeus Daelon: A doubted, sudden ruler who dwells with the hated Yellow Robes in dark halls.
Despite this, many believe his soul can yet be saved, if Queen Adea can be found

DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• The North Colossus: This giant rests upright, but few have ever survived the climb to its massive skull. The
elves have kept this creature in perfect condition, and its workings are studied to this day.
• White Halls of Lazareius: Straight down beneath the main island of Aphos is a baffling maze of geometric
cavities and shifting shapes. Here preserved are the Elven dead, and their endless libraries. Also here is the
skeletal snake-king, kept in secret for eons.
• Quay Island: Southeast of the bigger islands is the stronghold of the Minotaurs. Their ranks have been
plagued, though, by the ravenous Scorned hordes, who threaten to overrun the island.

31
ALFHEIM

GREY, THE HEART OF ALFHEIM

“A vast, diverse Kingdom riven only by the defiant
hill folk of Nemedia.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• Land of Many Borders: If traveling across or near a Border of Grey, expect to encounter dangers or Knights or
both. Dangers from the neighboring Kingdom can be used. Incursions are all too frequent.
• Vast Fortress: Grey itself is the largest city-fortress in Alfheim, with thousands of residents, and more than
20 enormous towers. The city could be a location for several adventures in itself. There abandoned parts of
the city, bustling markets, lively arenas and dangerous slums. Every manner of service and item can be found
here, for a price.
• Law and Order: King Henryk keeps a lawful kingdom, by goodwill and the sword. Evil doers find no quarter
here, and are hunted relentlessly. The incarcerated rot in the vast lake castle at Reaver Fjords or are sent to
Arlston to fight in the pits.
• Pleasant: Travel in Grey is pleasant, safe, and bountiful. Use half your normal SUPPLIES to travel.
• Ancient Forests: Frogwood, The Grey Glades, and Mystvar are tangled, ageless places that remain mostly
unexplored despite their central location.

32
ALFHEIM
DANGERS TO DARE
• Ant Folk: There is little known of the Southeast of Grey, where the land is sundered. This is mostly due to the
dominance of fierce ant people there, who tolerate no intruders. On occasion, they are spotted in foraging
parties as far as Nemedia or Gwadan.
• Deep Delvers: Beneath many parts of this massive kingdom dwell the oldest, most isolated dwarves. These
subterranean delvers resent the surface world, and though their queen is good-hearted, many of them crave
only death for sun-walkers.
• Shadow Lasher Packs: The vast forests and farm lands of Grey are home to shadow lashers, who hunt in
packs. They are especially problematic in the northeast, where farms and livestock are raided.
• The Rusted Company: In the Age of Snakes, the early lords of Grey made a pact with those serpent emperors
to spare their lands. For this, they were cursed with immortal wrath, and their ghostly army wanders Grey in
a daze of thousand-year old anger. Some say there is a way to free them, but it remains unknown.

DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• A carved stone head, 10 feet across, lying vine-wrapped in a dim forest
• Remnants of a wood-spike fort, littered with skeletons. The birds are oddly silent
• A colossal tree, oak or elm, as old as the Wardens once were
• A frantic librarian, laden with a cart of rare books, fearing for his life
• A polished helm of the Grey soldier elite
• Two pair of iron manacles, picked or jimmied open and left behind
• A carving in old stone, weathered, written in Nemedian glyphs
• A discarded banner of King Henryk’s army, tattered and blood-stained
• Sand-dusted splinters of the purest red YOG crystal
• A forgotten cask of the gar so golden, so good, men will kill to get it

FOLK AND FRIENDSHIP

• King Henryk the Hawk: A good king! Henryk aids the true, defends the weak, commissions noble adventur-
ers, dares to chart the unexplored, and stands firm against all threats to Grey and the wider world.
• The Boggish: The frog-like kin in Southern Grey are a kind-hearted, bright-eyed folk, known far and wide for
their impeccable hospitality, cooking, and finery. Their rapier-wielding captains have also earned distinction
fighting in Henryk’s Wailing Raiders unit.
• Mugs Pink: Though gar be loved across the known world, it began in Gwadan. For generations the brew-
masters have passed down the secrets of this wondrous drink. The presiding brewmaster is, these days, one
Mugs Pink. He is a stout, glad fellow who symbolizes and protects all that is best in the Alfhemic heartland.
• The Grey Troubadors: Ah, the whirling bards of Mystvar! Alfheim’s most famous story troop calls Grey home,
and can most times be found there. They are a diverse, boisterous band of heroes, poets, dancers and mad-
men with little regard for war or doom: they insist the world laugh.

AT WAR WITH NEW HAVEN

• Duke Herald has made a blood-enemy of King Henryk by defying the order to abolish the torture and burning
of so-called ‘witches.’ This war has escalated in recent times with the disappearance of Baron Westbrook of
Nordheim. For this reason, the northwestern border of Grey is a forbidden, dangerous place.

33
ALFHEIM
DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• Reaver Fjords: A dungeon in the truest sense of the term, this dark, windowless fortress sits at the central
reaches of the vast Reaver Fjord lake. It serves as a prison for Alfheim’s most uncontrollable, unkillable, or
simply powerful villains and monsters. Though the prison is mostly effective at containing these horrors, the
area surrounding the lake is still lurking with what evil seeps out.
• Unalaya Summit: The huge mountains that protect Grey’s great towers are called the Unalaya. High atop
these snowy peaks, a lost fortress is said to house the old mountain gods. This has long been an obsession of
dwarves in the area to discover, but few return from the dizzying heights of those slopes.
• The Fissures: The insect realm of the Fissures is arid, toxic, and unstable. The ground has been ravaged and
eaten hollow. Things far worse than ant men crawl below the baked dirt. Some say the insects have found a
source of power even older than YOG, and will soon threaten all life on Alfheim. For this rumor many explor-
ers have given their lives, but little is yet known...
• Mystvar Henge: The vast, shadowed forest of Mystvar holds many secrets. Among these is the great henge,
which dates all the way back to the Primordius itself. Beneath this stone edifice a great hidden hollow is
hewn from solid rock: the Domain of Urth, or ‘Star Barrow’ as the wood elves call it. To even find this place is
near impossible in the shifting woods and small-folk roads. Any group entering Mystvar appears in a random
part of the forest each morning, unless they can find a way to undo or resist the magic of the trees.

34
ALFHEIM

NEMEDIA, THE FERAL HIGHLANDS

“Elk, wolves and men commune as one on those
remote, desolate stones...”

LAY OF THE LAND

• Rocky Highlands: See for miles, especially travelers or campfires. Use
supplies as normal, but wagons cannot traverse the uneven ground.
• Untamed Wilderness: Predators prowl the steppe. Roll once per
hour to encounter predatory animals.
• Frigid Wind: If the wind is up, it can inflict cold damage, sweep away
equipment, or even push characters against their will.
• Spike-Walled Borders: 20 feet high in places, spiked walls made of
rope and timbers ring these lands.

DANGERS TO DARE
• Banshee Plague: Something dark gathers here, despite the stubborn pride of the folk. The beasts grow too
large, and the dead often return as banshees to haunt the living. Their howls can be heard echoing across
the bare hillsides by starlight, and they have a hatred of the living.
• Stone and Snow Flimes: As the curse spreads across Nemedia, flimes of various kinds are growing in num-
ber. They are simple minded, wanton predators who kill to feed, and feed to multiply.
• The Ogres of Bear Crag: Just north of the old Grey city of Whiteshield, the foothills of the Unalaya hold a
vicious tribe of Ogres. They have been driven from their ancestral lands on all sides, and scheme to destroy
Nemedia, then all of Eastern Grey.
• Nemedian Barbarians: No danger here is more feared than the wandering reavers to defend these hills.
They are a once proud people, now cornered, and they fight like lions. The Nemedians honor a code of valor,
but it leaves little room for intruders, weaklings, or civilized men.

35
ALFHEIM
NEMEDIAN HOMELANDS
• The rock-strewn highlands of Nemedia are home to a defiant, fierce folk. Brothers of the Nurin hillmen, these
warrior clans are called wolf-keepers, rockmen, rangers, or even the ‘mountain ghosts.’ As the centuries have
passed, they have refused to be ruled by any king or nation. They hold their borders with furious, courageous
warriors, sometimes only one against dozens, and are said to speak with animals. Little is known of their true
ways, for so few are welcome among their mighty ranks.

FOLK AND FELLOWSHIP

• Captain Helgatha: The garrison at Westburg Road is held by the heroic leadership of Helgatha, a shield maid-
en of ancestral blood from the heart of Nemedia. She is a hero to all clans here, and is recognized as supreme
war chief for all the clans in time of crisis. Ever has held an alliance with the folk of Westburg, and so keeps
that border safe, and open to trade.
• Argus the Wolf: With Grey Elk gone, the wolf clan has risen to far greater power than its neighbors. At its
head stands Argus, a fierce traditionalist who plans to push Nemedia’s borders outward at any cost. Deep
down, though, he is an honorable and good man.
• Menduh: An old woman has wandered the highlands for decades, casting prophecies and helping fallen he-
roes. She is Menduh, the oracle of Nemedia, and she seems as old as time.
• Killian Tarney: Brother to Dobbs Tarney, the famed owner of Dobbs’ Dim pub in Westburg, Killian is a brew-
master and carouser who wanders the Westburg road, telling tales and chasing women.

DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• A wolf’s den, but cluttered with sticks and debris. Spiderwebs are seen in the tangle
• A rusted woodsman’s axe, with a hand still grasping it
• A lockbox of silver arrowheads with the monogram ‘AG’ on the lid
• A cache of obsidian tools from a prehistoric age
• A field of skeletons, laying bare on the exposed rocks of a high plateau
• The broken wheels of a cart
• A great silk banner, lying in the dirt, with two great black chevrons
• A hideously deformed wolf skull, far too large and adorned in bony spikes

ELK CLAN
• Nomadic hunters who seldom speak at all, the Elks represent druidic ascetism, solitary living, and nature’s
way. Their prime directive is to fight the encroachment of civilization and magic into the highlands.

BEAR CLAN
• The Bear Clan lives to make war. They are a loosely affiliated group of raiding parties, whose only code is
never to kill one another. They fight for plunder, power, or simply glory. They are most often found near the
borders where the action is.

WOLF CLAN
• The most reasonable of the Nemedian clans are the Wolves, who broker a narrow path between their people
and the outside world. Argus is far more ambitious than his predecessor though, and this could prove dan-
gerous for all the neighbors of Nemedia in coming years.

36
ALFHEIM
DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• The Dead Fort: In Nemedia’s lowland south, a wooden fort stands. It is victim of the Dead Lands’ arcane rot
curse, and inhabited by skeletons, crows, and marsh demons. Nemedians avoid the area entirely, but lately
the glow of fires can be seen in the sagging walls, and fell voices are heard on warm summer nights.
• Bear Crag: The canyon citadel of the Ice Ogres, Bear Crag is a place hewn from bedrock, and braced with
countless raw timbers and stripped logs. Something, or someone, has given these creatures the unnatural
power to survive across ages of defeat, but no one has returned from the region to tell.
• Tombs of Whiteshield: The Eastern border of Grey was held, long ago, by the hillmen of Whiteshield Fortress.
It was their blood that battled back the ice Ogres of Bear Crag. Time has left this place abandoned, retaken by
ice and rockfall. Still, legend tells of ancient tombs beneath that ruin that hold the relic vault of those heroic
highlanders.

37
ALFHEIM

THE DEAD LANDS

“A poisoned, cloying hell of ebony muck and rot.
Here dark forces take seed, and the land cannot heal.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• Noxious Swamps: A low, rotten fog lays on these marsh
lands at all times. Every day spent there inflicts 1 CON
damage, only recovered when free of the area.
• Razor Thistles: Towering, impassable tangles of carnivo-
rous, thorned vines choke the south. These inflict WEAP-
ON damage if NEAR, and can only be cleared with fire.
• Sinking Lands: Travel is near impossible here. Use 5 SUP-
PLY per day, with chances to lose wagons, gear or even
hired hands during traversal. The mud eats it all.
• The Charred Wall: On both flanks of the Dead Lands a co-
lossal wall of charred-black oak and basalt hems the infec-
tious evil of this place. The wall is 50 feet high in places,
accented with sharp spiked towers and not a single guard.
Its entire surface is hot to the touch.

DANGERS TO DARE
• Hut People: The central swamps here are held by a tribe of masked oddlings called the Hut People. They are
cryptic, little known folk who hunt both man and beast for food, and seem to keep some strange pact with
the dark forces that curse these lands. They hunt in scouting parties of 4 or more, utilizing snares and other
devious methods to make the murk even more deadly.
• K’tul Fishmen: To the southeast, and along the coast, people have been changed into half-fish deformities,
driven only by some wanton murderous desire from the depths. Every solstice they gather in great numbers
and hurl themselves onto the sharp rocks at Spiral Point and Blood Sholes.
• Razor Pods: Among the twisted vines, a form of alpha predator plant lurks. These spine-toothed giants can
eat a horse in one bite, have been seen at more than 50 feet long, and blend perfectly into the baffling scen-
ery.
• Eye Beasts: Some say the curse that keeps this place dead was caused by eye beasts, who dabble with chaotic
magic. What few dwell here employ armies or corpses, swarms of flies, and sucking mud pits to guard their
lairs. Any eye beast located will have 2-20 magic books in its keeping.
• The Lure of Ynsmouth: Everywhere one goes in the Dead Lands, a sort of subliminal call or lure can be heard
and felt. It is Ynsmuth, the southern port town. By magic unknown, it calls to all within 75 miles, luring them
to join the gloom there by the Bay of Masts. Any character in extreme duress, be it injury or fear or hunger,
while nearby must roll a HARD INT check, or be drawn powerfully to the town. This lure will cause its victims
to lie to, betray or even kill their companions to answer its call.

38
ALFHEIM
DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• A shallow trench forming a spiral shape, 300 yards across
• An ageless elm tree, leaf bare, with 7 skeletons hanged by the neck
• An unnaturally dense group of red-eyed crows swirling above
• A discarded helmet made of mud, with a disturbing, howling facial design
• The slime-wet spear, net and supply pack of a fishman
• A vast bog of rusted armor, smashed helmets, broken swords and black banners
• A human ear
• A stray chunk of the charred wall, ever hot, black as pitch
• A worn roadsign pointing south to Ynsmuth
• A possum turned inside out and crawling with fishman tadpoles

FOLK AND FELLOWSHIP

• Grax the Wanderer: Out among the swamps a giant hillman walks, carrying a great pack of food and wares.
He collects all manner of odd relics from the dead here, and some say he’s been driven mad by the marsh.
• The Charred Rider: A lone knight, clad in black armor, patrols the walls. He is neither dead nor alive, but
doomed to eternal service. Those who dare the wall must answer to him, but enemies of the Ynsmuth curse
find an ally.
• Old Yaba: Supreme among the mud-masked Hut People is a shrunken hag called Old Yaba. She is wise, ter-
ribly powerful with dark magic, and intrigued by travelers. It is unknown if she is driven by good or evil, but
she has no love for the k’tuls or razor vines of the south.
• Harlo the Ferryman: Across the river north of the Bay of Masts, a lone ferryman is known to offer crossing
to those who can pay the toll. Few dare the trip, however, as that river delta is infested with gargoleths and
tentacled things. No one knows why, but they leave his ferry unmolested.

YNSMUTH, CITY OF THE ACCURSED

• Whatever dead influence hides beneath the waves here, it has sickened the town of Ynsmuth with a cruel,
disturbing curse. Its folk have a fishy slime about them, some even hunching over, splitting gills at their necks
or concealing webbed fingers. Many adventurers have gone missing there trying to find the reason for the
dark influence. Some believe they are cannibals, or murderous cultists, set to end the world. Mostly they
are simply a wretched, quiet folk who live a damp, muddy life in the shadow of a bay crawling with unseen
beasts and limbless horrors.

39
ALFHEIM
DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• Stick Barrow: The Hut People worship a frog-god somewhere in the deep marsh. This vile behemoth dwells in
a mountain of mud and sticks, fed by human sacrifices. It has enslaved the folk here with its grotesque frog-
mind. Most devious of it all, it lures treasure-seekers with a vast hoard of gold and magical items retrieved
from the sunken battlefields nearby.
• The Ynsmuth Depths: Ynsmuth is merely a shell atop a vast underground maze of tunnels and waterlogged
caverns. Among these caves are ritual sites, foul altars, and the egg-lined oubliettes of fish men. Some say
the only known map of Xenos is somewhere down in those caves, but what madman would even dare ex-
plore them?
• The Charred Tower: This monolithic spire can be seen in the gloom for miles around. It is at least 200 feet
tall, and hewn from charred oak, elm, and basalt supports. It is hot to the touch, seething with smoky fumes,
and emits a dreadful dark magic. Long has it stood as sentinel, hemming in the curse of the Dead Lands. How
it was built or when is unknown, for few venture there. What is known is that the dark power that fuels the
Charred Wall is focused in this forbidding structure.

40
ALFHEIM

XENOS, STAR-FALLEN
“The stones in Xenos are children of some far away
star, or a time long before our own sun was born.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• Colossal Jade and Basalt blocks: The Xenosian islands are
made up of interlocking blocks of irregular shapes and
seams. They tower and lean impossibly. There is no natu-
ral landscape whatsoever.
• Mind-defying Angles: Climbing gear is needed to go al-
most anywhere here, and the absence of plants and an-
imals inflicts 5 SUPPLIES per day to survive.
• Unnatural: No known force can form blocks and structures of these type and size. For each day here, make
an INT roll or suffer -1 INT damage, recovered upon departure.
• Doorways: At all manner of angles, weird triangular doors lead to subterranean chambers. All navigational,
mapping or scouting rolls are HARD when daring to enter.
• Shifting Shapes: At intervals, linked either to the moons or tide or both, the cyclopean blocks shift and slide,
forming new jagged shapes. There is a small chance that explorers could be caught in this shift, and be
crushed or dropped into thin air.
DANGERS TO DARE
• Bore Worms: A terrible breed of these predators dwells in
the cavities of Xenos. They have adapted to feed on YOG
crystals, which can be found in the odd-shaped catacombs
below the surface. This variety is also deadly in its intelli-
gence. They are known to call to one another, stage am-
bushes, and even lure prey into primitive traps.
• Children of Azatoth: The hideous statues that hold star-fall-
en evil lure the weak minded to their deaths. Xenos is most
likely the origin of these powerful beings.
• Brain Horrors: Many believe that brain horrors are a de-
scended form of the original Xenosians. They despise sun-
light, and only dwell in the deepest recesses of the islands,
poring over baffling inscriptions and forming incompre-
hensible plans to rid Urth of other species.
• The Custodians: These huge constructs, some 30 feet tall,
are the servants of the Xenosian all-mind. They maintain,
patrol, repair and protect the islands with tireless mechan-
ical precision, seemingly preparing for some far-off arrival
or awakening. They are made out of the same unearth-
ly material as the islands themselves, and blend perfectly
into the weird scenery here.

41
ALFHEIM
DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• A map of Alfheim, etched flawlessly into solid jade, showing the continent as it was in some ancient past
• A tiny splinter of YOG crystal, vague shapes twisting and moving inside
• A jade sword with levitating elements and a glowing teal gemstone on its hilt
• Blood-stained pages from a cartographer’s journal, showing a vast series of chambers below the islands
• A black stone bracelet, carved with a single, lidless eye motif
• A spiral-etched flute. When played, can induce visions of some terror beyond space
• A group of dwarven corpses, dry with age, gathered around surveying equipment and crushed to death
• A series of odd triangular bottles, each containing a fetal creature of unknown type
• A baffling control panel of lenses, colored levers and a brass dial
• A slime trail, 3 feet wide, leading down into the depths

FOLK AND FELLOWSHIP

• Bartleby Longfellow: Dwarves dare to chart, mine and explore even the most extreme environs of Alfheim.
Bartleby is the best, maybe the boldest of these. Part pirate, part archaeologist, he welcomes all who dare
the shifting cubic shores of Xenos.
• Xil’Ul the Defiler: Driven from the ruined monastery at Valley Rim, the spirit of this. ..creature... has taken a
new form, and seeks redemption for crimes in the name of Ogdru and the Xenosian gods.
• Crazy Tom: Those who dwell here go mad. The baffling, greenish landscape is more than the mortal mind can
handle. Ol’ Tom, well, he’s been here for almost three decades.
• The Hags of Glass Rock: Somewhere on the northern islands, three hags gather ‘round a hovering cube of
pure jade. It is said they are neither good nor evil, and will answer any question ... for a price.
• Effigy of the Red Lady: The goddess who stands guard over the underworld has an envoy in Xenos. It is a
massive statue, that speaks directly into the minds of men. It is the only way to gain an audience with her
majesty, besides walking the halls of the dead.

REALM OF THE OGDRU

• Xenos remains mostly unmapped because it is comprised of impassable, ever changing blocks and baffling
shapes. These pearlescent, greenish stone megaliths form what remains of an Ogdru vessel called a starfarer.
When the 4th Realm was formed from the Primordius, eons before the Age of Serpents, this cosmic object
formed the anchor point of Alfheim.
• The star-fallen are a race so ancient, so vast, that they are both the creators and destroyers of countless
worlds. This ineffable scale has made comprehension of their kind so elusive over the centuries. One thing
has been determined: events in the Primordius echo forever, somehow carried by vibrations or markings on
the Starfarer. Some even believe the ship can be activated, or that it contains the secret to the collossa.

42
ALFHEIM
DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• The Argent Lens: A series of spherical and cylindrical chambers connected by omnidirectional tubes and
chutes. This puzzling space is ever moving with silver rings and spiral-etched gears. At its heart, a massive
array of crystal discs align and re-align, focusing beams of sunlight and radiant energy into the cosmos for
purposes beyond mortal comprehension.
• Dead Surrath: An enormous city of windowless towers and ballustrades stands at the eastern edge of Xenos.
The buildings are beyond any human sense of scale, but within is chronicled the starfaring journey of the Xe-
nosians and their Ogdru ancestors. Indicted in these frescoes and star maps are several far worlds, including
Xevos, Tortua, and Aster. What other secrets lie in these towering corridors and galleries?
• Jade Coast Caverns: Facing the infinity of the Southern Seas, the lower coast of Xenos is dotted with a multi-
tude of ocean-carved caves. Here the ugly side of the star-fallen can be found: those poor deformed wretch-
es who have been twisted and made hateful by the Ogdru. They occupy these caves, brooding over plots to
eat the world, or burn it, or somehow turn the starfarer against the nobler races out of pure spite.
• Starfarer Halls: The deepest section of Xenos is the mighty control rooms that the Ogdru once used to pilot
this immense craft. None have ever seen that place and lived to tell of it, for it guarded by constructs and
machines beyond mortal imagination.

43
ALFHEIM

THE GREENWAY
“There are yet good and simple folk in our world,
and they hold fast all that is best in this life.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• Hill and Dale: This pleasant green land is well traveled, with kept roads and friendly faces at every turn. Use
1 SUPPLY every 2 days’ journey here. Also, each day encounter 1 or more friendly local merchants.
• Farmlands: All but the northwest corner of The Greenway is verdant, rolling land farmed by all kinds of folk.
Inns and villages, meals and gar are all plentiful. It is common to see a dozen or more farm houses, barns and
hamlets in one day’s walk.
• The Bogs of Hurun: Where this land meets the Dead Lands, and the forbidding highlands of Nemedia, the
forest has sunken too low, taking on a mucky tangle. Travel here is terribly difficult, costing 3 SUPPLY per day,
and many become lost in the winding marsh.
• Historic: Being the first land settled by people after the Age of Serpents, there is history everywhere here.
Old roads, grave sites, abandoned towns, centuries old cobble walls and landmarks dot the country.
• Rainy Season: Each spring, The Greenway receives a few months of relentless rain. This keeps the land green
and lush, but also lays a gloomy dim on all its folk. Travelers make daily CON rolls or get the chills. Left unat-
tended, this can lead to a fever or even pneumonia.

44
ALFHEIM
DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• A dolmen stone, etched in time-worn spirals, leaning in a grassy field
• A high-roofed barn tended by a dwarven farmer and his family, the smell of gar wort in the air
• A circle of ancient elm trees, covered in thickets and vines, with an odd clearing within
• Cobbled roads overgrown with thick green grass, leading to every corner of the land
• A faded wooden sign pointing oddly into untracked wilderness
• A basket of fresh bread scattered about, and a pair of children’s shoes nearby
• Two drunks, one dwarven, one human, asleep in a thicket surrounded by empty casks
• A sweeping vista atop a small hill, showing rolling fields of green and gold
• A hamlet of small folk, busily preparing for a feast
• An elf, imprisoned in a hanging cage at a rainy crossroads
• A blonde woman, carrying a bundle of dead flowers and singing a sad dirge

DANGERS TO DARE
• The Eels Beneath: The curse brought forth by Aras, later called Red Fang, still infests the dark places of the
Greenway. These are tangles of eel-like serpents, each lined with barbed suckers. They move in swarms
through any subterranean space, and some grow to 20 feet in length. Contact with them can cause an infec-
tion. More of them grow in the host, eventually bursting out with ravenous momentum.
• Hurun Mudmen: All along the marshy border of the bogs, a tribe of ape-like mud people fight to hold their
lands. Some believe they are related to the Ape Men of Ire.
• Sahaguin: Garret Frak’s evil magic, which laid ruin to Westburg, still brings about these demons through un-
stable dimension doors. They are often controlled by a hag, or one of Frak’s many disembodied heads.
• Bloodsworn Elves: Not all the elves of Hath Ordur, the tower where Lydea once ruled, have been ousted.
There are squads them still, and they prowl these lands with killing as their only agenda. Theirs is a path of a
doomed people, and they see no other way but that of the arrow and the sword.
• Groat Goblins: Nasty, pointless, mischievious buggers who ambush travelers and villagers in a futile effort to
glorify their toothy, nasty folk.

FOLK AND FELLOWSHIP

• Grinn Tarney: Great Nephew of the hero Dobbs Tarney, Grinn now mans the bar at Dobbs’ Dim, one of the
most famous taverns in Alfheim. He is a community leader, and has been instrumental in the rebuilding fo
Westburg after the numerous disasters there.
• Scoots Whiteflag: Above the Greenway floats a great sky galleon, patrolling those verdant lands like a guard-
ian angel. At its helm stands Scoots Whiteflag, a dwarven sky capatin.
• The Flying Walenzos: A hilarious troop of bards travel the roads and villages of this area, and they are be-
loved wherever they roam.
• Swan Grady: The newest Lord of Englemoor is a small folk Dutchess named Swan. She is a kind ruler, and
works daily to route the evil that dwells below that storied city.
• Zheimer the Wise: None other. After his many adventures, Zheimer has settled on a humble farm ‘tween
Westburg and Englemoor, there spending his days devising magic to protect and enrich the land.
• The Order of Helm: An order of knights patrol these lands, stopping to aid the weak, imprison thieves and
rampagers, and stand firm in the name of Dutchess Grady.

45
ALFHEIM

DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• Hath Ordur: A series of siege tunnels lead to the depths below Lydea’s insidious old tower. Some of the
tunnels stretch for miles in straight lines, but the main chambers house an elder wyrm. This creature seems
beyond time and space, and some say it actually feeds on the timestreams, destabilizing the cosmos.
• The Catacombs of Ardenmoor: Long ago, Englemoor was called Ardenmoor, and the catacombs below were
a place of torture and madness. Now the asylum is there, but that is only the upper layer of a labyrinth as old
as Alfheim itself. No place are the eels of Iridess more densely packed in nesting swarms than there.
• Nurin’s Stones: In the southeast of this land, a set of stones still leans upright. These act as an entrance to a
vast undercroft, where the stone giant Lion Sword and his phantom warriors still growl with anger. None go
there, for to awaken those titans could spell doom for the entire south coast.

46
ALFHEIM

THUSHUM, GOBLIN STRONGHOLD

“What most consider to be a vile folk are in fact a
noble, honorable, and hilarious race.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• Hinterlands: This far north, the seasons can be exagger-
ated, and the cold wind can be ruthless. Though storms
are rare here, when they come, travel is perilous. Each
day has a 10% chance of storm. If one rolls in, triple SUP-
PLY use, and make HARD rolls to scout, navigate, or hun-
ker down and find shelter. A failed roll can leave you lost, captured, or facing the wall.
• Off Limits: The entire Kingdom of Thushum is forbidden to all but the goblin folk who have taken the vow of
loyalty. Intruders will be taken to the great hall, to be judged by Queen Knyfe.
• Great Wall: Besides the Guud Peaks, the land border of Thushum is penned by a massive stone wall. It is
patrolled at all hours, and has no gate.
• Barrows: Goblins here make their homes in brick huts and long houses on timber stilts or lodged in cliffsides.
These structures are tough, with few windows, and highly defensible.
• A Little Known Folk: Despite common belief, the Thushum are a noble, stout hearted, and good people. They
have a rich oral history which predates most written language, and stand for all that is best in life.

DANGERS TO DARE
• The Thumush: Not all who call Thushum home take the sa-
cred vow. These outcasts succumb to the craven spirit that
has given goblin folk their evil reputation. For this, they are
cast out. Some have yet to leave, and hide in the country-
side laying in wait for the unwary.
• Snogres: The blood enemy of goblins has always been
ogres. No where is this feud worse than here, where high
mountain ogres refuse to abandon their ancestral fortress
high in the peaks. Their true clan name is Throg-Ungut, but
the Thushum simply call them Snogres. They hate this.
• Stone Flimes: Like all flime colonies, this one has contin-
ued to multiply against all the Thushum efforts. In fact, this
threat is reaching critical mass, as the troublesome little
buggers can now be found in almost every corner of the
realm.
• Sink Holes: As the flimes continue to devour the bedrock
of Thushum, the upper layers of that land has become rid-
dled with tunnels and drop-offs into deep places. To make
things worse, the Thumush have begun massing down
there.

47
ALFHEIM
DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• A malfunctioning wooden contraption still shooting arrows and swinging floppy swords at random
• An open sinkhole. Far below, a series of campfires are smoldering in the dim
• An abandoned quarry site, where huge blocks were once removed, now occupied by flimes
• A goblin skeleton, adorned with rare white gold jewelry and a gem-crusted battle axe
• A pile of pelts and timbers near a road, some charred
• A tremendous outdoor forge. A thatch hut nearby glows from within
• 3 goblin helmets, rusted by intact
• An odd, super-heavy metal cube covered in goblin markings
• A terribly unkempt rope bridge over a gorge
• Dozens of gable posts and lodgepoles stacked as if ready to build a home
• An iron-banded lock box filled with steaks, dried meat and roasted fish
• A goblin battle horn among long-decaying bones and broken spears, far from any road

FRIENDS AND FELLOWSHIP

• Queen Knyfe, Lady of Thushum: Ever has Thushum been ruled by a woman, and Knyfe is one of the all-time
greatest warriors, heroes, and queens they have known.
• Sir Thaileon: At Knyfe’s side stands a knight of impeccable courage and virtue. He commands the Thushum
armies, and is known to love a night of green gar, here called Verdangarst.
• Priestess of Roses: The worship of the god called Guud is omnipresent here, and this is their leader.
• Dockmaster Quinn: The great trading ports on Northern Thushum are of legend. They are managed, and kept
safe by this one-eyed human, who was raised by the Thushum from birth.
• The Grillmasters: A council of goblins runs the monthly feast. They are master chefs and master drinkers.

WORKING THE WALL

• There is a never ending demand for soldiers and sell-swords to guard the massive wall. There is more than 40
miles of wall to patrol, maintain, and repair. This work employs fully half of the Thushum people. They only
employ outsiders after years of residence. This patrol is also sleepy work, though as the wall is constantly
assailed by snogres and the glory-seeking hordes of Skar.

DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• The Coal Beds: Beneath the Great Grill in the northwest of Thushum, there is a huge cavity in the earth that
has filled, over the centuries, with the coals from above. A small crew of Thushum maintain the cavern, but
it has gone too deep, reaching the strange depths where crystal worms dwell. Faced with an expedition to
retrieve the YOG those worms feed on, the Thushum seek adventurers up to the deadly challenge.
• Teeth of Guud: The jagged rocks off the coast of Thushum have claimed many ships. Not only are these spires
haunted by the ghosts of the doomed, many great treasure holds have sunken there, ripe for the taking.
• Frostfall Prison: The snogres keep many Thushum prisoner as a food source. Desperate not only to attack,
but to free the prisoners, Queen Knyfe has issued a king’s ransom for any one who can crack the prison and
rescue the doomed there.
• The Thumush Undercroft: Outcast goblins have fortified a huge underground labyrinth below the pine woods,
hoping to launch a siege on Thushum City when they are at full strength. Win the adoration of the realm by
finding, infiltrating, and destroying them all. Rumor has it, though, they have made a sinister alliance with
other creatures in the deep.

48
ALFHEIM

SKAR, REALM OF BEASTS

“Myriads of wild things roam the wide plains and plateaus
of Skar, and they all want to eat you.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• A Scoured Land: Vast, open spaces define this place. So vast are these plains, any journey with less than 10
SUPPLY is all but doomed. In the furthest, loneliest reaches, strange lights have been seen in the endless sky.
• Towering Buttes: Seven colossal buttes define the horizons of the endless steppe. Local people call them the
‘Seven Gods.’ The largest are 10,000 feet high, their table-flat tops etched with gigantic lines and shapes.
The nature of these is unknown. Either way, the buttes must be circumnavigated, for their sheer walls are
unclimbable in most places.
• High Desert: Most of Skar is cactus, grass, and low scrub. There is almost no water here. At night, the tem-
perature drops terribly. This diversity makes Skar home to all kinds of shrewd predators, and wildly different
are their kinds by day or night.
• Old Bones: In the southwest of Skar, giant Drakes from primordial times fell to ruin. Their bones still tower
over those haunted lands in the moonlight, and few dare go there.
• Breath of the World: Wind. There is a ceaseless, wild gale that blows here. It drives some mad, pushes men
from cliff edges, or topples wagons on frigid nights. Each day here, there is a 25% chance of a cataclysmic
wind storm, which can wreak havoc on any living thing without stone shelter.

49
ALFHEIM
DANGERS TO DARE
• Dire Predators: All manner of giant beast prowl these lands. Some legends say the nomads even control
some of the monsters, but mostly local folk are preyed upon as much as explorers and adventurers. Species
range from giant buzzards and eagles to lions, sabretooths, cave bears, vipers and even crocodiles.
• Skar Nomads: Two tribes of nomadic warriors call this place home. They are blood-enemies of each other,
vowing to kill each other to the last child. It is unclear if either is a force of good or evil. They know only hate.
The two tribes are called Canus and Herat.
• Outsiders: Skar is visited, for reasons unknown, by a group of outsiders piloting a WARP SHELL. Their agenda
is a mystery, but they have been known to vaporize, pursue, or entrap various creatures.
• The Arden Company: Banished centuries ago from their home in what is now called Englemoor, these knights
roam forever on the steppes, between life and death. They still believe themselves on a holy quest. Treat as
20-50 Commanders, Priests, and Blades with 10 points of STATS each.
• The Last Colossus: The only colossus still up and moving has been spotted plodding across the plains at night.
These monsters destroy all they encounter, as is their nature.

DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• A mile-long straight line etched into solid rock, its edges flawlessly tooled
• The buzzard-cleaned skeleton of a massive lion, bigger than a horse
• The blood-spattered wreckage of a doomed caravan, freshly destroyed. No bodies are found
• A strange metallic object lodged in a small crater. Roll for WARP SHELL LOOT
• An ancient standing pole of animal gods or totem creatures, facing due east
• A makeshift windmill, abandoned
• A stretch of fence, almost 20 miles long, from a long lost ranch or farm
• A stand of towering saguaro cactus, as dense as a patch of forest
• A lonely grave, marked with the forbidden symbol of Ardenmoor
• A cluster of enormous feathers, each more than 8 feet long
• A lost small folk child, filthy and forgotten, who cannot speak
• A mud hut, occupied by garrison keepers of one or the other tribe

FRIENDS AND FELLOWSHIP

• Brimoire Steelhearted: A great legend walks these plains, wearing a horned helmet, wolf-head pauldrons,
and a cape of great eagle feathers. On a direhorn she rides, and folk say she is guardian of all that calls this
place home. Exactly who or what she is unknown.
• The Druids of Needle Rock: In Western Skar, great precarious spires of sandstone stand against the wind. In
a series of cliff dwelling and rope-bridges dwell a group of druids. They are friend to all, and work to find a
peace between the Canus and Herat ... someday.
• The Nuzka: Some say they are not real, but there is a group of small folk who work to maintain and restore
the great etched lines in this vast place. They move in teams of three, with stone tools to hone and keep
prefect the ancient lines.
• Ezra Muntz: One man from the south has managed to survive here, a hillman named Muntz. Once a year he
returns to the Greenway with a catch of direhorn, plains mares, and giant ostrich. These the folk of Nurin
make mounts and breed for war steeds.

50
ALFHEIM
DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• Tower of Lokus: Once the hardened core of a massive volcano, this striated tower now houses a complex
base used by outsiders from another world. Here they service their starfaring ships, develop their strange
plans, and hold their countless specimens for study.
• Ruins of Skrix: A serpent-city of old still stands here. It is a feared, hated place, long abandoned. Like so many
of their enclaves, though, movement has been sighted there recently, especially by night. What is the strange
green glow in that black-windowed hell, and what doom lies in store if none dare its shadows?
• Lizard Rock: Both the Canus and Herat claim credit for carving this huge monument. Whoever is right, the
rock conceals a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers that, some say, reaches to very hollow core of Urth. Few
dare its heights, for it is home to all manner of giant reptiles.
• Dur Olo: An Olo settlement lies within Skar borders. Both nations tolerate this arrangement for the dire duty
of that frozen shore: to hold watch on the evil island of Crask. It is a town of soldiers, sparse accomodations,
and a grim tone. Never has Crask moved without an alert from these dire watchmen, and they take a fierce
pride in their charge. Along that ice-bashed shore a series of hollows is said to stretch under the channel all
the way to the forbidden island. This is unconfirmed.

51
ALFHEIM

DURADIN, FORTRESS OF DWARF KIND

“A great and sprawling land, that stands as the indomitable
capitol of all the kingdoms of Alfheim.”

52
ALFHEIM
LAY OF THE LAND
• Land of Many Climes: So vast is Duradin, it ranges from the frigid north to the warm, arid south coast. Much
of its cold is due to altitude rather than latitude, as most of the realm is near tree line. Some snows even
last through the summer, especially in the heights around Dur Moro. Travelers here should expect a range of
conditions that can be gleaned by their approximation to other kingdoms.
• The Molten Mountains: The borderlands due west of Ramthas are sundered by a range of huge, conical,
volcanic mountains. These titans are still active, and choke the region in smog, heat and ash. Travel there is
perilous and requires some form of protection from heat and toxic smoke.
• A Mighty City: Ramthas Rock is a wonder of Alfheim. An entire city, almost as big as Grey, hewn form one
massive outcrop of solid rock. This is the seat of dwarf culture, and was once home to King Akram in his time.
Many spend their entire lives there, and ever do evil eyes look on its splendor with envy.
• Cold Hills: In the northeast, the altitude is so high that the land is snow-locked. These are the foot-lands of
Gem Glacier to the north. Travel here should be treated as if exploring Ire.
• The Wall of Duros-Tem: The largest known structure in all the world. This monster is 80 miles long and 1,000
feet tall in places. All navigation up, over or through is HARD. Here the ancient elves rallied their greatest at-
tack, and failed to break the lines of the Falcon King. The battlefield west of the wall is a terrible, dead place
that still echoes with the din of war.
• The Underkingdom: The great door of Dur Moro is the entrance to the dwarven realm. No one knows how
far and wide these barrows spread, but it is vast. Non-dwarves will find travel there challenging, 2 SUPPLY
per day, and all navigation and scouting HARD.
• Endless Coast: The only vulnerable section of Duradin is its vast coastlines. Dwarves are not masterful
ship-makers, and so they defend these great cliff walls with a series of ingenious lighthouses.
• The Amber Grove: Somewhere in the far South of Duradin is an opening so deep, it reaches the hollow center
of Urth, or so legend tells. These rumors speak of a magical aspen growth somewhere down there that holds
the life force of all the world in its delicate roots.
• The Duros Road: From the towering Sword Gate all the way to Olo’s border, there are well-kept roads. Staying
to these makes travel pleasant, and wandering merchants and smiths may be encountered along its length.

53
ALFHEIM
DANGERS TO DARE
• All Manner of Monster: Covering so much territory, Duradin contains every monster known in Alfheim, and
some yet to be documented. Next to Skar, this realm is a destination for loremasters who seek to map all the
world’s oddities.
• The Dead: There is a sad truth behind the dwarven mirth of Duradin. Many wars have been fought here, and
the countless fallen do not all rest. A curse lay upon the ancestral battlegrounds, and those who have died
there, unless consecrated, tend to rise. These undead are often armored soldiers, archers, or even cavalry
on skeletal mounts.
• Ant Men: The Molten Mountains are teeming with ant men, who mostly mind their own business. Every few
decades, though, they dare to expand their borders.
• Athic Rebels: The seafaring smugglers of the south have been trying to break free of Duradin rule for gener-
ations. Having failed so far, they settle for terrorizing travelers and sabotaging roads.
• Hill Demons of Xhil: The entities that follow Xhil ‘Ul have found their way into the north of Duradin. These are
squid-faced spellweavers, misshapen deep delvers, and worse. It is unknown what gives them the power to
stave off the dwarves, but they have proven unkillable so far.
• Plague of Wolves: All across Duradin, a type of supernatural wolf pack can be found. They are all drawn
south, always seeking the Amber Grove for reasons not totally understood. Regardless, there seem to be
an unlimited population. They feed on shadows and form from black smoke on moonless nights. Every few
years, they gather in great numbers, and all the armies of Alfheim must unite to drive them back.

DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• A broken warhammer, gouged with fang marks of unusual size
• A cask half-full of red gar
• Near a road, a broken shipping crate. White iron cheese and loaves of Sfengart bread scattered everywhere
• The drying corpse of an ant man, still sporting war equipment
• A rune-etched translation stone, used for decoding architectural carvings
• A stone-ringed exhaust port with some chamber of machinery far below
• A lonely, thin red banner whipping in a cold breeze
• An abandoned 4-wheel cart, empty, but stuck in deep mud ruts
• An angry heard of wild turkeys
• A cryptic, brass-capped navigation marker spiked into solid rock
• A group of Ramthas soldiers, enjoying gar and singing songs of the good ol’ days

54
ALFHEIM
FRIENDS AND FELLOWSHIP
• Yababa, Keeper of the Coins: In the mountains near the East Colossus, a tiny old woman wanders the sparse
pines. She lures travelers with a bounty of coins, but these coins are the souls of men, and come with a ter-
rible price. Despite this grim truth, she has been known to aid the greatest kings and lowest slaves, and her
exact purpose and agenda remain a mystery.
• Boot Myron: A little-known champion of King Akram is Boot Myron, who has ruled as a steward of the throne
of Duradin for many years. Boot has the strange distinction of being half deep delver, and so has become a
bridge between the peoples of the above and below. This has made Duradin mighty, but some dissent exists
on both sides, believing there can never be such a peace.
• Gilga and the Riders of Valhal: A troop of female knights roam Duradin, fighting back the forces of evil. They
bend the knee to no one, and answer only to Thoor himself. Their leader is Gilga, a blonde-braided dwarf
woman that stands as a folk hero for all the people of the east.
• Hugh: Of the relentless ant men, there is a small enclave that believes a peace can be achieved. Their leader
is called Hugh. He is considered a traitor to his kind, but has proven his heroic worth to both sides over the
years.

DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• Dur Moro: Beyond the massive doors, an under-realm sprawls out, almost as large as the surface of Dura-
din. It is a vast place of blocky tunnels, forgotten crypts and towering halls. Here are stored great dwarvish
artifacts, burials of ancestral kings, and forbidden places where serpent men pry at the world of the living.
• The Molten Cathedral: One reason for the endless war with the ant men is their taking of this mighty tower
at the heart of the Molten Mountains. Here, a god-forge rests, and is the only way to create weapons and
armor as powerful as Angrid the Lawgiver. This is an insufferable affront to Dwarves. Ever do they seek to
reclaim the cathedral, but the ant men have fought them back so far.
• Udin’s Rest: There is a holy place where it is said the gods rest. This temple exists in a sort of tear between
times and places, vibrating between the stars forever. Its location changes each solstice, and no one has ever
explored its wonders and lived to tell of it.
• The Amber Grove: The heart of life in Alfheim is sustained by these magical trees, hovering impossibly at
the hollow center of Urth. Every 1,000 years, a sickness comes on this grove of aspens, and shadow wolves
spread out across the land. If the grove is not tended, and cleansed, it could spell the doom of all.

55
ALFHEIM

OLO, A FROZEN HELL

“None dare the ice hells of Olo, for they are the dead realm of
Manac, and grave to any who dare the snows.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• Frozen Solid: Stranded travel-
ers can freeze to death on cold
nights. Spend 2 SUPPLIES per day
traveling.
• Gem Glacier: Impassable even
by foot without some means of
flight.
• Castle Manac: The walled realm
of the defiler. Ghosts still serve
the dark wizard here, and SPELLS
make lost even the best scouts.
• Salt Frost: All the coastal areas
here have a frozen, salty soil. For
each day there, DESTROY one
item, weapon, or piece of armor
per traveler.
• Plains of YOG: Manac built his for-
tress here to harvest the plentiful
YOG growing from the ice.

DANGERS TO DARE
• Snow Orcs: Most of Olo is held by vying tribes of snow orcs. Some are nomadic, some dwelling in stone for-
tresses or timber garrisons. They unify only in groups of 50 to 100, and their feuds go back centuries. Only
Manac has held them at bay.
• Ghosts of Manac: In the oft-retold battle in the Salt Frost, where Fenrir the Grey Wolf was lost, Manac cast
a powerful spell that cloned his life force 1,000 fold. Though defeated, the echoes of those duplicates still
wander the wastes here, and are as dangerous as the original Dark Lord.
• Ice Drakes: The inaccessible vistas of Gem Glacier are home to three ancient drakes. These are called Hydra-
nax, Suros, and Garudan. Each seems to have its own agenda, but none abide the presence of lesser crea-
tures who do not serve as slaves or devotees.
• Unstable Time: The dabblings of Kazgat the time wizard have created a ripple effect across Olo. Time itself
vibrates and even tears in places. When unto these tears lead is never certain.
• Snow Flimes: No where in Alfheim are the snow flimes worse than on these wind swept slopes. They have
been allowed to reproduce unchecked, and in places they swarm so thick they have turned to eat one anoth-
er. Woe unto any traveler who encounters such a horror, for they are ravenous.

56
ALFHEIM
DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• A ruby amulet frozen in a glass-clear block of ice
• A spiral vortex of skeletons frozen in a bluish ice lake, all reaching upward from the dim
• The wreckage of a nomadic tent, strewn by wind, even the iron center pole bent by some great force
• A flickering rip in time itself, appearing and disappearing
• A seemingly bottomless fissure, lined on both sides by small, man-cut caverns
• A small growth of YOG crystals growing out of the ice
• A corroded set of plate armor with the mark of Ramthas
• A snow orc Banner atop a rocky outcrop
• An oddly snow-free swath of terrain, leading up to a steam-belching cavern
• The flesh-cleaned skeleton of a wooly direhorn. It has been eaten by something very, very big
• A road sign indicating the route to Olo

FRIENDS AND FELLOWSHIP

• Kazgat the Time Wizard: In a canvas tent somewhere near the glaciers, dwells one of the mightiest wizards
in Alfheim. He has been known to aid heroes and wanderers, but he is also a bit mad. His mind has become
a tangle of timelines and dimensions, but he still makes a fine mint tea.
• Fort Anvil: A cave in northern Olo has been fit with timber barricades and three catapult. This alliance of
dwarves and men hold fast against the orcs and ghosts of Olo. To do so, they keep a 24 hour vigil. Many be-
lieve it is only a matter of time before the drakes destroy them.
• The Roadkeepers: Patrols from Fort Anvil keep the roads open here. They can be flagged down to aid any
traveler. They are stout, selfless warriors sworn to a life of service in this forbidding place. Encounter 2-5 at
any one time.
• Hilga the Hammer: In the pine forests of Olo, there is a legend of a mighty hunter. A solitary dwarven shield-
maiden with a zest for life and a talent for survival. The location of her cabin is unknown, but those who have
met her tell tall tales of her hospitality, heroism, and incredible bravery.

57
ALFHEIM
DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• Castle Manac: Imagine the secrets that must lay hidden in that lifeless place! Manac’s basalt fortress, called
by some The Red Keep, has lay silent for decades. A terrible storm of traps and wonders await those heroes
who finally crack its doors.
• Drake Hollow: Somewhere in Gem Glacier, the ice drakes keep their lair. Here also, according to legend, is the
frigid orrery of those mighty beasts. What fool would dare such a place?
• YOG Island: Just East of the YOG fields so carefully cultivated by Manac, a small island sits in the ice. Kazgat
has recorded a brilliant gleam of crystal caverns below that place, but it remains unexplored.
• The Blue Abyss: At Olo’s center is a mind-defying chasm. Its depths are frozen solid, and, some say, home to
a forgotten race of frost giants from another world. These are simply rumors. To even verify the story would
require a 2 mile descent down sheer ice walls into the darkness.

58
ALFHEIM

CRASK, WORLD’S END

“Here is your place to create. Is it an evil stronghold? A last bastion of
good? A dimensional fold or climatic anomaly? All doors are open.”

LAY OF THE LAND

• Travel Conditions: Devise one key detail that af-
fects travel here, in terms of peril, SUPPLY cost,
or simply flavor.
• A Landmark: Besides the castle, what singular
feature warrants investigation or avoidance? Is it
natural or the work of mortals? Immortals?
• A Mystery: Set up a loose end. You don’t need to
know its outcome, only its introduction. Dream
outside the norm, and dare heroes to unravel
the truth someday.
• An Obstacle: Designate one peril intrinsic in this
location that makes exploration exciting, diffi-
cult, or actively prevented.

DANGERS TO DARE
• Creatures: Create or choose a species that prowls or hunts here, posing deadly threat to any intruders. The
creatures should fit the LAY OF THE LAND, and reinforce the mood and tone you are building in Crask. Those
who go here should dread encountering these beasts, and expect them to leap out at every corner.
• Monstrosities: A creature or two? No problem. This thing however, could destroy an entire party. This is a
giant thing, an invisible thing, or an evil army. Escalate the danger 10 fold with this danger, but make it less
likely to appear.
• Characters: Besides beasts and terrors, what folk call this place their own, and suffer no intrusion? A tribe of
warriors? A sect of evil cannibals? A brotherhood of witch-hunters? Again, use these people to reinforce the
underlying feeling, story, or theme of the location as a whole.
• Perilous Events: When daring the outer reaches of the world, terrible things are bound to happen. Imagine
a calamity that would occur here: a frozen tidal surge? Eruptions of scalding steam? Poison fog from deep
space? To get more specific, designate a likelihood or die roll to check for the event’s occurrence.
• The Unknown: Devise a hint or clue that has no confirmation. Not only is it still unknown, it is deadly. This
dares your heroes to find the truth without being destroyed by it.

59
ALFHEIM
DETAILS TO DISCOVER
• Try listing three or four things that can be found lying around. Just right there on the ground
• Lay a breadcrumb. Whatever the coolest idea is in your region, leave a clue that leads to it
• Nothing useless. Don’t list any detail here that doesn’t have to with something. Just peppering bits of infor-
mation or objects in the area only clutters the theme

FRIENDS AND FELLOWSHIP

• Even in the darkest lands, there are good folk that welcome travelers, aid the downtrodden, and resist the
evil forces of their home. They can serve as merchants, combat relief, shelter, or story motivators.
• Someone Magnanimous: Add a figure of royalty, leadership, or high station to serve as a sort of representa-
tive for the location you’re visualizing.
• Someone Lowly: Add a friendly character who has very little, and is barely getting by in the hardships of this
area. How can you help them?
• Someone with a Quest: An errand of heroic proportions often begins with a single clue or call for aid. Picture
one person in your region who holds such an important task.
• Someone Fun: It’s always good to have a few bright-hearted folk about, to remind heroes what they’re fight-
ing for. These are the best of us, and stay happy and cheerful even in dark times.

60
ALFHEIM

DUNGEONS TO DELVE
• First, devise four names that suggest doom, mystery, adventure or treasure. Don’t worry about any of the
details. A simple name is all you need. Make it fit the area’s theme, and load it with ominous suggestion.
• For each dungeon, it can help to visualize a brief description by picturing a single word that captures your
idea. Get this single word in your head, then start inventing descriptive tidbits that reinforce that word. Ex-
amples could be words like frozen, dark, unstable, overgrown, ancient, or inhuman.
• A Natural Wonder: One of your dungeons can be a great cavern, mountain, or other feature. Some force has
created a great hollow, and wonders await deep within.
• A Fortress of Evil: The classic way to build dungeon ideas is to house a great evil in a series of traps and haz-
ards. Heroes dare these halls to confront the vile presence. Count on it.
• A Beast’s Lair: Some great dungeons are tunnels and chambers dug or occupied by terrible predators, mon-
sters or beasts. They guard treasures, terrify innocents, or must simply be destroyed. When building such a
place, employ curving tunnels, jagged cavities, and bone-strewn shadows.

THE WHOLE TRUTH

• When creating new areas, or filling in the adventures and details in Crask, keep track of the full story. This
means the region’s stories and secrets in totality. A good place for this is your GM’s journal. With the whole
truth at your side, you’ll be able to answer every player question, improvise encounters, invent travel me-
chanics, or reveal shocking facts at the right moment. It isn’t about writing everything, it’s about knowing the
root of what’s going on so you can freely create a new story with your group.

61
62
WARP SHELL

The grav anchor snapped, and the ion drive spun into deep space.
We were marooned in the vapor, two more ghosts to drift through The Wake.
That’s when we found out what a WARP SHELL can really do.

63
WARP SHELL

ONE-SHOT HEAVEN TRAVEL BIG, FIGHT SMALL

WARP SHELL is purpose-built to run one-off adven- In general, the limitless dimensions and timestreams
tures, each wildly different from the last. The entire of WARP SHELL can be daunting at first. Solve this by
universe is at your disposal! A trek across the ice, a allowing massive travel through space and time, but
race in hypercars, a gunfight in the jungle ... all witheach peril or mission the players face is very tight or
the same cast of characters, or new ones every night! small scale. This keeps you jumping from world to
world for epic variety, or a great rhythm for running
For this reason, don’t worry about economy, SUPPLIES, one-offs, but keeps each adventure detailed, human,
COIN, or really any mundane elements of life. A WARP and comprehensible.
SHELL crew has the details covered, they have bigger
matters to attend to. I see what you’re thinking: No solar-system scale super-
cruiser battles? No planetary war? Sure! Include these
If you’re new to running one-off adventures, just keep elements, but place the heroes in a single supercruiser,
it simple! Three encounters, a twist in the middle, and working to disable a specific doomsday weapon. Plan-
a big cataclysmic end works every time. Let players ex- ets may make war, but assassins must end them. Take
plore the crazy LOOT, CLASSES, and BIO-FORMS freely! the huge and zoom in to the tiny.

64
WARP SHELL
INTRODUCTION
Eons beyond the swords and kings of Alfheim, in a universe crumbling under the awful appetite of a god-like
being called The Devourer, those who survive desperately search for some hope to stave off the end of all things.
It is an age of spacefaring folk, titanic cataclysm, great and ancient starships, and interstellar cultures laid low.

As an RPG and storytelling setting, WARP SHELL is a bit different from other brands of science fiction. It is inspired
by the sci-fi of Isaac Asimov, Transformers, Douglas Adams, Silver Surfer and Larry Niven. It is a cosmos-spanning
tone, including all times and dimensions. Deep space objects and long-declined stellar cultures dot the stories.
On this operatic backdrop, larger-than-life struggles fight back oblivion, and heroes are made.

Here are a few key themes to reinforce during your campaigns and adventures that can help to capture this
unique tone.

• WHERE ARE WE, WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE? Every adventure in WARP SHELL should start with this mys-
terious arrival, a cosmic purpose, and staggering revelations.
• SCALE BEYOND NIGHTMARE. Always include massive scale in your descriptions, and remind the players
how giant, how ancient this universe is.
• STATISTICAL AND MECHANICAL EXAGGERATION. With all the tech and cosmic phenomena in this set-
ting, be ready for your game to have more varied, more ‘crazy’ variation in damage, movement, and other
elements of play. Embrace it!
• DURANIUM. This indestructible material gives you, the GM, a great device. Players can’t smash it! They
have to think around it. Use this as a puzzle-driving trope.
• THE MAGIC OF HIGH TECH. In WARP SHELL, you have two sources of wonder to build monsters and charac-
ters: magic and technology. Be free with your use of tech as a mysterious, all-powerful, mercurial force! It’s
so high tech, the two begin to blend…
• WORLDS RATHER THAN REGIONS. In fantasy, heroes travel from region to region, but here you can leap
from world to world, timeline to alternate dimension, and beyond. Keep the guessing, span the universe!

65
LIMITING THE LIMITLESS
INFINITE?
Generally, the unique capabilities of a WARP SHELL negate common limitations of distance or speed. Heroes can
travel anywhere, in an instant. This gives your world a new freedom, but also asks your creativity in comprehend-
ing and using space and distance in adventures. No matter how far they travel in space or time, always come
back to the mystery of a WARP SHELL to keep things interesting, impose limits, and force hard choices. Here are
two key methods to so.

WARP SHELL INTELLIGENCE

As a living thing with an incomprehensible mind, a WARP SHELL cannot be directly piloted. Systems can be re-
paired, weapons activated, landing craft launched and the like, but only the WARP SHELL itself can utilize its drive
system. The crew never knows where they’ll appear next, how far in space or time, and this can make a powerful
tool for a creative GM.

YOG: FUEL OF THE COSMOS

WARP SHELLS consume YOG crystals to function. This
fundamental need for fuel can lead to all kinds of ad-
ventures and tight spots. Here are a few examples.

• Fuel Spent by Deep Warp: Traveling immense dis-

tance in time or space can expend every splinter
of YOG onboard. The WARP SHELL may tumble
through space, crash land, go adrift, or be found by
space salvagers. Either way, some new fragments
of YOG crystal must be installed to reactivate the
ship.
• YOG Damaged: Whether by attack, asteroid im-
pact, or darkstar emission, a damaged YOG drive
core will cripple a WARP SHELL. This can be worked
on with improvised tools, but a space dock is the
only way to get a reliable fix. This can be expensive,
and take days or weeks to complete.
• Unstable Power Core: Using improvised tech, pi-
rated parts or low-grade YOG crystal can introduce
unpredictable variables into a WARP SHELL’s func-
tions. This can make for some unexpected twists
and perils in space.
• Dimensional Fold: Pushing a WARP SHELL too hard,
or being exposed to extreme energy fields can
cause a dimensional fold. This will deposit the craft
in a parallel universe, where all kinds of new possi-
bilities and adventures may await ... one more way
to fit any kind of adventure into your campaign.

66
THE WARP SHELL CREW
CHOSEN BY THE SHELL gifted individuals who have taken a solemn oath to
The ICRPG CORE Set includes a complete listing of serve a higher purpose in very specific ways. Rather
CLASSES, WEAPONS and LOOT for WARP SHELL. To sup- than spanning the cosmos in their efforts, they delve
plement that listing, presented here are four unique into a series of 2 or 3 worlds to save a monarch, pre-
WARP SHELL crews. Recall that WARP SHELL spacecraft serve an ancient tradition, or stop a ravaging horde one
select their crews through an ancient ritual on Xevos. eye-to-eye fight at a time. The characters here recreate
This process can result in interesting team dynamics fantasy classics: a Geno Gunner who only uses bows, a
that can lend unique tone to a WARP SHELL storyline. Reptoid Tank with a battle axe, or a diminutive Mecha
Fragment that can barely understand her power.
CREW 1: EXPLORERS
Explorers are not soldiers, or killers. They set out to A good example of a Sworn campaign could be using
CHART the cosmos, not dominate it. This distinction a tectura as a final, supreme enemy. The crew must
should give you the key direction to set an Explorers uncover, locate, explore and slay a living deep space
campaign apart. Also consider using more oddball dungeon to preserve the ancient life ways of a forgot-
character concepts, and avoiding badass stereotypes. ten world. The scope is small, the gravity high, and the
Examples could include an Xill Fragment, a Psyker poetry thick.
Ghost, or a Mecha Outsider. These oddballs search not
only for the truth of the cosmos, but their place in it. CREW 4: BOLTS
WARP SHELL takes place in a very very old universe.
A way to add peril and imminence to an Explorers Cam- Taking this even further, you can imagine a cosmos
paign might be to warp this crew to some remote, un- largely devoid of life, where machines are almost all
known sector of deep space. Not only must they find a that is left. Enter on this setting the Bolts crew, a team
way home, but survive what dwells beyond the known. of mecha playing out ancient orders despite the doom
of all. Their goal: locate and preserve life. Of course,
CREW 2: WARMASTERS OF XEVOS the more they search, the more human they become,
As a counterpoint to the Explorers model, Warmasters and the fun of emergent life in mechanical form takes
are trained destroyers with a deadly, unified purpose. root.
They are sent to annihilate, halt, or assist titanic galac-
tic forces with raw firepower. In many ways this cam- To build characters, go wild but with all mecha. The
paign can be easier to write and run, as it flows from less magical they are the better, too, as they struggle
one massive combat to the next, and the characters to understand how such a force was ever extent in the
have little turmoil with their station in life. universe.

Build a Warmaster crew with maxed out combat char-

acters such as a Torton Tank, a Mecha Gunner, or a Rep-
toid Blip. Combat drops, tanks, super weapons, bombs
and doomsday weapons should be common themes.

CREW 3: THE SWORN

The more sci fi is adapted to feel like fantasy, the more
a GM can feel that familiar rhythm of travel, discovery,
dungeon crawling and recovery. A crew suited to a fan-
tasy-style campaign is The Sworn. These are uniquely

67
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
ADVENTURE STARTERS
Your vessel, a WARP SHELL, can’t accurately be called
a ship. It is more a being or creature than a starship. It
vanishes without sound into the dimension between,
and there is no telling where or when it will appear.
The WARP SHELLS have an innate sense of cosmic per-
il, and follow the trail of clues to super-scale dangers
without error. The ship materializes again, in some
new, unknown time and place.
Here listed are several unique adventure starters.
Choose one that fits your story or piques your interest.
Choose randomly or find your favorite.
68
THE DARKSTAR PHENOMENON
The Devourer destroys all it encounters, but each time
it folds space it also creates. So massive is this enti-
ty, that when it enters warp a kind of cosmic tear is
formed: a darkstar. These imploding clouds of nega-
tive energy pulse and flare with an unexplained mu-
tagen-fusion wave. The waves reach beyond the inner
galaxies, and most often go undetected by their victim
races ... mistaken for the hatred of some unseen shad-
ow-god.
The malevolent emissions of darkstars have been
blamed for countless horrors, and in some remote gal-
axies they are even worshipped as Death itself. They
are the supreme, condensed form of the will to extin-
guish, the hunger that is never sated: what we call evil.
For this reason, they stand at the climax of many cam-
paigns of the righteous, and must be destroyed when-
ever found, no matter the cost.
Roll 1D4, and pray you have the strength to resist the
lightless mutagen glow of the Darkstar…
1: A HEXED WORLD
Bathing in the infernal radiation of a nearby darkstar,
the planetoid of Ferion is rotting away from within. It is
a sickened world, choked in blackened vines and dead
brambles. The oceans have stilled, filmed with slime
and debris, and the clouds have burned away to a thin
grey haze that never shifts. It is a world of muck, and
flies, and wretched stillness. Here marks the grave of
an entire people, for they are hexed by the endless evil
of the darkstar.
The Ferions were once a mighty, tower-building folk.
The remnants of their spacefaring days litter the mud,
and never-launched starships still point skyward on
flight gantries. Wailing voices drift on the muggy
breeze. A tiny few survivors still cling to life, and they
have managed to call for help. The distress beacon is
a cobbled mess of filth-caked wires and junk, but it
works, and the signal reaches fold-space ... it reaches
your crew.
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
Here sticks float in weird geometric shapes, insects
grow to hideous proportion, and always that black eye
hovers in the twilight sky. They don’t fully realize it, but
these people have been saturated in evil energy, and
their minds are warped with demonic, homicidal urges
that can no longer be held at bay.

• The distress beacon is just a lure for prey

• The Ferions don’t want to escape, they worship the
darkstar
• A final ritual is being planned to convert Ferion into
a new, more powerful darkstar
• The highest priests of this anti-faith are insectoids
in black robes 3: GRAVITY STORM
• The planet is hollow, filled with egg sacs When scores of ships go missing in a deep space void,
• Some of the bigger insects can reach low orbit scouting probes reveal the appearance of a new dark-
star. The WARP SHELL arrives there, amidst a massive
2: SUBSPACE NOMAD clutter of wreckage and smashed ships. This darkstar
There is a darkstar called Nehbiru, somewhere in the emits powerful gravity waves, which have crushed a
outer galaxies. It is unusual among its kind in two ways. few hundred starships into a mass of twisted steel and
First, it seems to have a will of its own, and the ability death. But not all the victims here are innocent, for an
to fold space. It wanders the universe in search of prey, evil purpose shrouds the chaos in gloom.
worlds to consume, or souls to corrupt. Second, the an-
ti-energy flaring from this lightless star is beyond cold. This darkstar was created by psyker zealots, develop-
It is an all-consuming freeze that reaches out through ing a new gravity weapon. When their creation flew
space, encasing entire solar systems in ice. out of control, they were mostly killed, and the ca-
lamity began. Now they prowl the wrecks in power ar-
Where Nehbiru travels, woe and dread prophecies fol- mor, searching for the inverter coil that can make their
low. It is believed to be a dark god by some. Silent and lightless god even more powerful. The same coil, in the
uncaring for these concerns, it has now appeared near hands of skilled mechanic, could also reverse the gravi-
the Aster Cloud, a cluster of primitive mega-planets in- ty emissions, and crush the darkstar into nothing.
habited by all manner of life. Nothing will survive this
ice age. Something must be done. • The wreck is a labyrinth of tunnels and rooms in all
directions
• Aster 3 is already half-encased in ice • Gravity waves shift and amplify at intervals, chang-
• There, an old shaman knows a mighty secret... ing orientation, and inflicting crushing weight
• A combination of planetary elements can cause a • The inverter coil is detectable, but moving as
sun-flare big enough to fight the freeze psykers try to activate it
• Each element, three in all, can be found on Aster • A geno survivor, Skip, knows his way around the
mega-planets in a mini-adventure tunnels
• Gathering the elements will incite Nehbiru to at- • The gravity field has combined elements of wreck-
tack with a swarm of mutated minions age into a formless junk-monster
• No matter the outcome, one WARP SHELL crew • The inverter coil must be retrofitted to an ion drive
member will be mutated by the darkstar and fired to reverse the gravity waves

69
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
4: MUTAGEN CLOUD
Gods, the terrors that scream in the black ink of a dark-
star! It was long ago, centuries at least, that the mu-
tagen was first encountered. On Tezat, a torton ocean
world. Here a darkstar drifted too close, and the Squag
race was born. An entire planet mutated into hateful
things! That is not the end of the story though. The
Squags have become mad with lust. They wish to
change their entire galaxy with a new mutagen-based
weapon. It emits a cloud that can engulf a solar sys-
tem, and it is moving toward Toatha, one of the last
Torton home worlds.
Locate and infiltrate the squag superstation, find the
mutagen cloud weapon, and destroy it before the
last of the torton species in twisted into squag slaves.
squags are aquatic creatures, using water-filled hel-
mets during space travel. Their ships are 70% wa-
ter-filled compartments, so it will be no easy task.
There is no telling what lurking death coils and swims
in that massive ship.
• The squag superstation is contained in a moon
sized mass of water moving through space
• The station is not only a weapon, but a complex
used to conduct mutagen experiments
• Encounter all manner of darkstar-mutated bio-
forms and monsters
• Elude squag capture or be tested on!
• Overload, steal, or sabotage the mutagen weapon
in the station’s engine bay
• Readouts throughout the station show Toatha get-
ting closer by the minute
THE IMPERIUM REVIVAL
How many ages did we pine under the tyranny of the
thousand Imperators and their mockery of law? For
the good of all did they burn, and news of an Imperium
resurgence is a pox on the cosmos. Nevertheless, rise
they shall, and like unwanted ghosts haunt the descen-
dants of their victims.
70
Occasional reports of Imperium ships, soldiers, zealots
and loyals have been popping up in several systems. If
they are indeed returning, it will mean another age of
death and silence for countless worlds. Distant dread
of The Devourer will be blotted out by the march of
iron power armor, and the scorch of the Imperium
heat ray.
1:ONE NASTY BASTARD
On Kura, one of Kerrak’s many forested moons, a sin-
gle Imperium Warlord in full Dragonhide power armor
is holding the Zurin elders hostage. He is a one man
fighting force, callsign Skull, demanding the ‘verse bear
witness to their deaths. Little does he know, among
these elders is Anna Frey, one of the oldest and most
powerful of her kind, a being of pure good known as
The Keeper of Trees. If she dies, the moons will wither,
and the Zurin species will dwindle.
The WARP SHELL appears near Kura, and comms light
up with hails. On one side, the Zurin organize a raid, on
the other, a ragtag band of Imperium loyals proclaims
their incoming support. You’re right in the middle of
the whole mess, as usual, and something’s got to give.
• Skull is a ship-level war maker, with missiles, cut-
ting beams, explosives, and force shields
• When the loyals are approaching, use a timer for
their landing/attack
• Skull has no terms. If the loyalists can reach him,
they will kill the elders and escape
• The only landing zone on Kura is 3 miles from the
hostage site, in a small settlement
• The Zurin settlement are not warriors, but they do
have some machinery
• Shadow lashers prowl the forests
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
2:THE GOLDEN SPIRE • The Imperium WARP SHELL represents a dark fu-
In the height of the Imperium days, colossal, moving ture of endless war, if Xevos should yield
palaces glided through space carrying the Impera- • Two guerilla factions struggle in the elegant streets
tors and their terror troops in glass towers and silver of Xevos: The Defiant and The Union
domes. One of the super-ships has not been seen in an • Only one senator can truly be trusted
age ... until now. At the edge of the Imperium Belt, a• The ransom signal was actually sent by the Imperi-
golden spire has drawn two WARP SHELLS. Within, no um WARP SHELL, as a ruse to dominate Xevos
robed Imperator commands, but the ship is manned by • One villain stands to gain the most: Senator Insal,
a legion of ghost armor. an old, cynical war monger
• Inevitably, the heroes will face an evil WARP SHELL
Driven by their immortal vow to fight forever, the and its crew
ghosts press outward from the belt to retake the sur-
rounding worlds, and pave the way for some unseen
rise of elder powers. There are many entrances to the
golden spire, and unknown perils within. No one has
ever defiled such a power and lived to reveal its se-
crets. Find a way.

• Treat the golden spire as a huge vertical dungeon 4:FOR HONOR

• The ghosts have employed undead crewmen to
man the various decks...and worse
• Besides danger, this place holds plunder un-
dreamed of
• These types of ships are powered by the banned
rune drive...a force of terrible unstable power
• Weird reminders of the Imperium heyday are all
about, but ancient and desolate
• The captain has a worthy cause: to stop the Xill
3:HATCHET FIGHTERS OF XEVOS
Yield, or be reduced to ash. This is the call of from an
Imperium signal emanating from deep space. All WARP
SHELLS are recalled, but the nature of the threat re-
mains unclear. The Xevoisan senate breaks into a pro-
tracted debate, and tensions boil over when a saboteur
bombs the high chamber. What will be the response to
this deadly threat? Can a few WARP SHELL crews stop
an all out civil war? What treachery hides behind all
this?
Just when things can’t get much worse, a WARP SHELL
appears from the future, flying Imperium colors and
demanding a royal welcome. As they come to land on
Xevos 1, you and your crew are out of time.
Marooned on a remote fragment world, you and your
crew have only your rover and a week of supplies be-
fore death becomes unavoidable. The harsh volcanic
landscape is relentless as it is lethal. Then, scans reveal
that the planet is unstable. An Imperium mining AI has
eaten the core hollow, and when it collapses it will de-
stroy all life in the 12-planet system instantly.
Faced with certain death, and one crew member who
refuses to go along, the task remains. Do you have
what it takes to fight back the mining machines and AI
guards from centuries ago?
• Even if the heroes stop the meltdown they’ll be
killed in the blast
• One crew member has gone stark mad, and will try
to sabotage the mission in every way
• Play out 7 encounters as the rover travels to the
core, 1 per day, escalating in deadliness
• The rover can be used as a combat vessel against
the final machine enemy
• Enemies include Mecha, magma constructs, and
lots of environmental hazards
• Receive a planet-to-planet transmission near the
end thanking them for their sacrifice

71
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
PLIGHT OF THE TORTONS
The Devourer came, and the oceanic homeworlds of
the tortons were destroyed. What few of their species
remain are scattered across space, searching for some
hope to stop the devastation. The wise of their kind
hold dear an ancient prophecy, that on the day the De- • Guro 3 is inhabited by hostile sea creatures called
vourer falls a shelled hero will stand tall, and reunite
their tattered folk.
The turtle-people of Tortua are some of the very best • A few of the furies will defy their own people to
of us, and everywhere they go friendship follows.
If one bio-form could lead the cosmos to freedom it
could be them.
Roll 1D4, and stand tall with your shelled brethren.
1: SECRETS OF THE SEA
It is little known, but the tortons were technologically
advanced. In an age long past, they had developed Me-
cha technology, even true AI. Some of these warriors
chose dark paths, and so the program was scrapped,
and the remaining mecha stored in a deep sea bunker
on Guro 3, an oceanic mega-planet.
Detecting some subtle change in the life signs of these
super-soldiers, the WARP SHELL arrives at Guro 3,
readying a subsurface pod for you and the crew. Find
the torton mecha, and hope they will join the fight
against The Devourer.
furies who will fight any intruders
• There are 3 torton mecha, 1 of which has become
pure evil
help the crew, seeing the cosmic mission
• In a final encounter, the fury king reveals his pur-
pose: to keep the mecha here as prisoners
• This adventure has a very flexible ending outcome,
as the furies are not inherently evil
• Consider using this story to add a player to your
group, as a torton mecha

72
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
2:THE SHAMAN into warp, a powerful energy field nullifies its ion core.
Among the zurin, only one torton has ever reached the There is no escape from this forest world as long as
station of Elder. She was called Delora. Sadly, she van- that field is active.
ished years ago with no explanation. When your WARP
SHELL materializes in deep space with nothing near- In moments, a booming, disembodied voice reveals
by, she reveals herself aboard. Before a word can be itself. The planet is an ancient AI, and terribly lonely.
exchanged, you and your crew are cast into her inner Angry and despondent, it attacks the WARP SHELL to
world: a mindspace where she battles the will of The keep it new friends here forever. Find a way off this
Devourer. strange world before the AI’s turbulent emotions get
everyone killed!
Delora is weakening, locked in mental war with The
One. Decipher the baffling mindscape, assemble the • The planet AI has large weapon and computer tech
dream-glyph, and hold tight to your sanity. In Delo- beneath the forest surface
ra’s mind both wonders and terrors coil out of control. • The tractor-field is generated deep in the planet’s
Bring her back from the brink. interior by a huge liquid reactor
• Sloopy takes the form of aggressor, friend, sage,
• The Dream Glyph is in three pieces, and must be and monster
assembled to waken Delora • The AI can be reasoned with, but becomes more
• The Devourer guards the pieces in Delora’s worst volatile over time
memories and nightmares: The death of her father, • Tortons created this place ages ago, and the main-
being lost in a dead forest as a child, and a crum- frame contains vital cultural archives that were be-
bling vision of the doomed future lieved lost
• Delora is both the enemy and the one to rescue ... • Once (if) the crew escapes, they must endure the
she has become confused baleful despair of the lonely AI on comms
• Use this adventure to see, communicate with, and
confront The Devourer at last 4: OPERATION: ANVIL
• All things: terrain, enemies, and even play mechan- A new colossa tectura has been located in the Bastion
ics can shift and change here ... go nuts system. The tectura are a malevolent race of living lab-
• If the crew make it back alive, no time has passed, yrinths, who float through space acquiring debris and
and they now know The Devourer’s location technology to add to their own mass. This newest one
is massive: the size of a city, and drifting toward the
3: FISHING TRIP habitable moons of Bastion. Your WARP SHELL appears
After a half dozen hair-raising missions in deep space, near the surreal creature, a sort of floating maze in
your WARP SHELL needs a power down cycle and space, but immediately the situation escalates when a
stops off on an uninhabited forest world. Stuck for a grav anchor takes hold, and begins to pull you into the
few days, the crew decides to get some much needed tectura’s tangled passageways and bizarre shapes.
rest in the lush pine-covered mountains. Before long,
they encounter Ol’ Sloopy, an aged torton fisherman Crash land, or barely avoid it! Then face the inevitable:
and hermit. Happy to see friendly faces, Sloopy leads the tectura must be slain. To kill such a thing, the col-
the crew to his fishing hole. Everyone has a great time lider core must be located and destroyed before the
fishing, drinking by the fire, and swimming in the pure numerous denizens of the structure overtake our he-
waters. Soon the WARP SHELL signals a new emergen- roes. As a GM, here is a great setup for an innovative,
cy, and summons the crew once more, but Sloopy can’t creepy, deep space dungeon!
be found for a goodbye. As the SHELL begins to drop

73
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
• Tectura are constructed of living stone, and feature • Many of the rebels are fanatics, driven mad by the
moving walls and folding floors caverns, but a few among them doubt the virtue of
• Weird, archaic tech can be found throughout the the plan, and seek to end the destruction
dungeon, and even used to communicate with it. • In a turn of hypocrisy, the rebel leader Azod, uses
This can be used to reveal that the tectura is being YOG crystals to power a gigantic krell battroid. This
enslaved, or tractor-beamed in, by the Xill in the will be his doomsday weapon to breech the surface
Bastion system • Tremors and energy surges emanate from the
• Creatures and room challenges can be anything planet’s core, causing cave-ins, strange crystal res-
that fits your group or campaign, from crystal skit- onance, and other destructive effects
ters to krell battroids and beyond • During the climactic conflict, it is learned that the
• A final reveal at the tectura’s core shows that a tor- Elders themselves started this rebellion to garner
ton, altered beyond recognition by machinery and support for an increase in YOG harvest
stone, is at the heart of the floating maze. She is
a tormented, almost pitiful creature. Suddenly, the2: CRUCIBLE OF THE ZURIN
mission to destroy her is not clear-cut In the remote deserts of Xevos’ equatorial belt, an an-
cient zurin ruin houses a sect of zurin who use form-
GHOSTS OF XEVOS less magic. Once every 30 years, they gather here for
a ceremony of power, and to plan their next wave of
The WARP SHELL home world is much more than it objectives. It is uncovered that an assassin has found
seems, plagued by a dark past, and facing a grim fu- the temple, and plans to eliminate the key members of
ture. There’s something very poetic about running ad- the powerful sect. You and your company are sent to
ventures on the home world, when an entire universe stop them. Your reward? A glimpse at the incredible,
awaits. Poetic or not, there is much to be done here, secretive rites of formless magic.
and even more to uncover, for no place has more se-
crets than the planet of elders. • The zurin have complex ideology, and are not sim-
ply good or evil. It is complicated
Like so many things in the cosmos, Xevos has many • The assassin is a xill Ghost called Curas, who is con-
sides, many layers. On their shoulders rests the most vinced the zurin are building some dire plot against
terrible guilt, and the only hope of its absolution. Xevos
• A secret chamber reveals that these zurin in fact
Roll 1D4, and enter the hollow planet... worship The Devourer, and plan to blast it with a
beam of power, hastening its destruction
1: THE CRYSTAL CAVERNS • A solar convergence marks the window for this cer-
Xevos houses a bounty of YOG crystals, deep below the emony, and the heroes have only 2 days to stop it
surface. This power helped develop Xevosian technol-
ogy, but at a dire price: YOG crystals only form as they Use this adventure to lighten up the combat load, and
consume molten stone and metal. delve more into the intricacies of power in the cosmos,
who controls it and why. Could the zurin have good
Sent to investigate instability in the planetary core, the cause to cast this great spell on The Devourer? Could
heroes encounter a series of krell battroids, destroy- Curas be the deceiver? Is there any limit to formless
ing the crystal formations. These battroids are run by a magic?
radical group of rebels, who plan to bring the Xevosian
civilization to its knees, and, in their minds, save the
planet.

74
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
3: TORTURED SOULS
Where did the WARP SHELLS really come from? A gar-
bled transmission begging for help, in binary language,
is discovered as part of a Xevosian cover up. Why are
they hiding this transmission? The heroes track it to
its source, discovering the terrible answers they nev- • The ultimate threat here is a xevosian elder sent
er imagined: The WARP SHELLS were once the noblest
of creatures on Xevos, enslaved by the psyker-seeded
humanoids who rule there today. These majestic crea-
tures, huge arthropods, are subjected to a tortuous
process of mechanization and augmentation in the
hollow depths, and transformed into the sentient ships
known across the universe.
Free the tortured creatures being transformed, free
all of them if possible, and destroy the factories that • Consider the numerous and interesting conse-
build ships on the agony of a once free species of won-
drous beasts. Once the deed is done, incite the rage
and wrath of all Xevos itself...
• The WARP SHELL ‘factory’ is guarded by smaller
scale creatures created in a similar fashion ... me-
chanically augmented arthropods
• Huge water tanks hold the WARP SHELLS in their
natural form, one of them has died already
to stop the heroes ... a powerful, ancient Fragment
called Faze
• The WARP SHELLS can be released to freedom by a
jump gate. For each one rescued before destroying
the factory, grant a bonus MILESTONE REWARD to
each hero
• Destroying the factory can be accomplished by
overloading the reactor via three shutdown termi-
nals
quences of heroes defying their Xevos masters,
and ending the creation of WARP SHELLS forever

75
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
4: SEED OF DOOM
This adventure takes place centuries ago, and explores
the origin of The Devourer. Go back to alter history.

When a malfunctioning scout ship awakens an ancient,

growing evil on a remote world, N 543, the Imperium
sets its will against the dark power there, to no avail.
Against an imperium edict barring rogue action, Xevos
employs an independent ‘hunter’ called Z to end the
threat. The evil seems neutralized, but Z is lost, and
must be recovered to avert civil war in the wake of the
imperial disgrace. Your crew is hired to find her, and
bring her back undetected.

N 543 is a complex hollow world harboring all kinds

of energy-eating organisms. Chief among these is the
proto-form of The Devourer, eager to break free of its
cavern womb. As the heroes struggle to find and res-
cue Z, they uncover the darkest secret: that this place
is a decommissioned imperium bio-weapons experi-
ment gone terribly wrong. The stakes only go higher
as the mission unfolds. Can the evil be contained? Can
galactic war be averted?

• Run this as classic dungeon crawl: tunnels, weird

chambers, giant mutants, insectoid energy-eaters,
lava pits and ammonia rain
• The tunnels are short circuited by a system of mat-
ter-transport beams heroes can discover and use
• The caverns were used by the ancient zurin long
before the Imperium experiments, ruins, statues
and LOOT caches reveal their distant presence
• Z is a very powerful ally, with a relic-level power
suit and weapons, but she is near death
• Add 1-3 super-mutants as supreme challenges.
These are creatures that were meant to be The
Devourer, but failed to grow large and powerful
enough
• Encounter The Devourer itself in its early form,
straining its bonds to explode out of N 543 and
change history forever

76
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
THE REPTOID THESIS Help with what? The nomadic reptoids, a people called
the Brinn, face extinction. Honor demands they hurl
Exactly how the reptoid bio-form came to be is mostly themselves at the threat without hesitation, but there
lost to time. My name is Voss, and I’ve decided to solve are few left, and the elemental entities that seem set
this puzzle, perhaps in an attempt to restore the digni- to destroy their kind are unfazed. Find a way to stop
ty and diversity that their kind deserves. Too long have the ice demons, and make safe the delicate future of
they been treated like squags or ravagers. The reptoid these noble folk. In return, the Brinn chief can lead the
is a far nobler creature than those raiders, and I will heroes to a place where technology will function long
see it proven to all. enough to escape.

In my travels, I encountered things that will be hard to
believe, and knew friendships I never expected. It is a
story of high adventure, and lasting truths that cannot
be undone.
Roll 1D4, and join Voss on his quest…
1: TIME JUMP: THE REPTOID ICE AGE
By whatever means, the heroes are plunged into the
ice age of an ancient reptoid world. Here lies the old-
est tribal origins of their fierce spirit, but all is not well
on the frozen steppe. This planet, hammered by ice
storms and seismic upheaval, has a nullifying effect on
most technology. Trapped and mostly gearless, the he- • The tribe will arm the heroes. Devise primitive ver-
roes must trade their help for a way home.
• The threat is a cabal of ice elementals, driven for-
ward by the storms. They are centralized in a series
of glacier caves
• If the storms can be slowed, the elemental will
weaken. This can be done through many means:
magic, a mysterious ice crystal, or the disturbed
will of an undead shaman trapped in the ice
• The chieftain insists his son and daughter join the
quest, as their coming of age. If either is killed, it
doesn’t necessarily end the adventure, but the
tone of victory will be grim. If both survive, award
every hero with a HEART STONE. Tell them this
gamble up front!
sions of preferred gear, with magical properties as
fits theme and character.

77
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
2: SHATTERED MOON
A common reptoid myth describes a broken moon,
orbiting an ancestral homeworld. It’s believed that
here a codex of reptoid history and ancestry was once
stored, but the moon has never been found, or even
confirmed to exist. Voss receives new data, using your
WARP SHELL sensors, and you arrive at the moon in an
instant.
• There are riding dinos the crew can use to chase
Voss
• Most of this adventure plays out inside the squag
supercruiser
• Find a way to open the hangar where the captured
WARP SHELL is held
• Steal, sabotage or destroy squag tech to survive
the fray

This place is a maze of giant rock fragments, with very 4: SONG OF THE SWAMP
low gravity and gravity in multiple directions. The spac- While interviewing reptoid elders on the swamp world
es are far too small for a ship. Navigate the gravity-maze of Allsance, weird singing is heard at night, far out in
of the broken moon, called Krissius, disable the auto- the bogs. The elders deny anything is out there. A local
mated defenses and locate the codex. There’s just one reptoid girl named Finch comes to the heroes, begging
problem: a group of reptoid neo-zealots has followed them to investigate, in return for a fuel crystal she has
you, insisting the ancient data must be destroyed for acquired that could power a WARP SHELL.
the New Reptoid Order to rise, and they mean to hunt
you down. Off into the fens the adventure goes. Navigating the
perils and beasts of the swamp, the crew discovers a
• Explore 3-5 ‘chambers’ which can be configurations tribe of reptoid mutants in the swamp, they are evil
of the same key elements: timed gravity shifts, and deformed versions of the townsfolk. During a brief
changing entrance/exits, and automated laser sen- respite from their traps and attacks, the crew meets
try traps another mutant, at first thinking him an enemy, but
• For each chamber, bring 2-6 reptoid neo-zealots to he is the singer, Grayson! The swamps are poison,
attack, led by Skaron One-Eye and slowly turning all the reptoids here into ravenous
• The codex is a huge mainframe like object that re- fiends! Evacuate as many as possible to a nearby moon
quires machinery to get aboard before the mutations spread!
• Huge fragments of moon rock can be moved with
thrusters, weapons, cables, and the like • Use this adventure to experiment with more
open-floorplan battles in the deep swamp
3: A BROKEN HEART • Sucking mud slows movement, exploding spore
When Voss learns of a primitive reptoid colony on a pods dizzy the eyes, and choking vines pull at you
distant forested planetoid, he insists you go to inves- from every angle
tigate. On arrival, you discover the colony melted to • The mutants will attack when the evacuation is
ruin by a squag supercruiser, landed nearby for refuel started. Use a timer for liftoff, and fend them off!
and repair. The forest is burned for miles. The bodies • Finch falls into Grayson’s arms! As a reward, she of-
are frozen in ash statues of agony, and Voss is over- fers 2 WARP SHELL LOOT per hero
whelmed with rage and despair. In a blink, he steals the • Need one more surprise battle? A few mutants
WARP SHELL and goes to annihilate them in a frenzy. cling to the WARP SHELL as it takes off, attacking
the crew within in low orbit! Blast them into space!
Give chase on the ground, finding Voss slaughtering the
squags like a lunatic. He has lost his mind! The WARP
SHELL is captured, as well! Subdue Voss without killing
him, and escape the fury of the squag commandos.

78
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES

CHILDREN OF AZATOTH

Azatoth is an ageless god, and worshipped by count- For a thousand years, the profit-mongering War Pigs,
less many in countless times. Part of this worship has a cabal of Azatoth worshippers, have sown the seeds
always been the creation of powerful servants, or chil- of war on Earth. Caught in this web of lies are all hu-
dren, who are employed for all kinds of tasks. From Vi- manity, who struggle to be free of the War Pigs, and
king immortals to prophetic deformities, from gerblin Lucifer’s legions, who thrive and frolic in the chaos.
drunks to unkillable human bombs, the children are Desperate to destroy Lucifer, and claim the Earth for
dispatched with little hope of survival, but cosmic pur- themselves, the War Pigs awaken you, 5 of the most
pose to fulfill. In these adventures, you are one such legendary viking warriors to ever live! Reach the Earth,
child: a being of supreme power created, stored, or and beyond to Hell’s very heart, to battle Lucifer. But...
summoned for some grand mission of death. if you defeat Lucifer, the War Pigs will dominate all life
on Earth. Is there any hope for victory?
You awaken confused, stiff, lost, or in pain. The atten-
dants doomed to wake you are often long dead, or • Heroes awaken in malfunctioning stasis pods
treacherous as snakes. There are no guarantees. You • They soon discover they are in orbit, in colossal cof-
know nothing of home, or hope, or the little joys of a fin-ships being bombarded from Earth below
normal life. You are a weapon. • They are forced to swan dive to Earth like meteors
from heaven
Roll 1D4, and be plunged into the fire of destiny… • On Earth, they discover a transport beam to Hell
itself, but the beam changes them in infernal ways
1: VIKING DEATH SQUAD • One hero becomes Lucifer himself, and the final
Earth, the year is 3066, and the wars left our home battle plays out as the massive coffin-ships crash to
desolate, burning, and dying. Inspired by the Black Earth, destroying everything
Sabbath song War Pigs, this adventure places you at • How will you meet your end, hero?
the heart of the war to end all wars.

79
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
2: NIGHT OF THE CRACK
This hilarious one night adventure has the players as
clueless gobling warriors who materialize to fulfill an-
cient destiny. One night, the gerblins are all partying
in the forest, singing “Night of the crack! Night of the
crack! This is the night that the crack comes back!”
They cheer and party like wild, until a massive fissure
opens in the ground, swallowing everything! All this as
you and fellows appear.
Flee the terrible crack, and discover the doom that
threatens the entire world. It can be stopped! Once
victorious, the heroes realize that this phenomenon
happens every year, and every year it is prevented.
This is why the goblings party!
• The crack is the ultimate ‘kill everything’ timer in
every scene
• Heroes find ridable dinos nearby, but other gob-
lings fight over them
• The crack leads them to an underground lair, where • When, or if they finally confront the other ge-
giant machines that hold the world together need
to be re-activated
• An evil mage, Skara, struggles to stop them
• A narrow escape can be managed ... somehow!
80
3: THE MUSIC OF ELYSIA
A geno superspecies has been kept in deep freeze by
Azatoth’s followers. When they awake, they are all slain
in a twisted, ancient ritual. To Elysia, the after-world,
they have been sent. There to bring heaven itself
crashing down in the name of the ageless anti-god.
Your squad, all that remains of that powerful race, are
awakened to pursue them, and death is the only path.
Die, and awaken in Elysia, but a heaven torn by war
and disaster. Find the vault of Udin, plunder its weap-
ons, and make siege on the high throne. Valhal is at
your side, but is it enough?
• Players face a party of like-powered anti-heroes
• Equip them with insane, wildly powerful relics such
as Mjolnir, Udin’s Spear, or the Wings of Gabriel
• An army joins them as they fight through Valhal to
the high seat, with an entire army of heroic souls
being destroyed in the battle!
no’s, they are shocked to discover they are simply
clones. The conquerors explain themselves: tired
of the yoke of hypersleep slavery! So, who is right?
Who must die? Or will the players join this group
against the worshippers of Azatoth?
• Here’s your chance s GM to go wildly over the top.
Go for it!
4: IRON HEART
On the second moon of Urth, a group of heroes is
stored in solid stone pillars. They are called nunaki.
When the moon is torn apart by a supernatural mete-
or, they are awakened by a wizard with knowledge of
many timestreams. Fulfill your destiny, and find a way
to the very core of the moon to confront whatever evil
has come from deep space.
This adventure is a sort of romp, simply to enjoy weird
heroes, odd new monsters, and a series of battles that
jumps from place to place and time to time. Can they
defeat Beylar, the meteor-spawn in time?
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
• Invent or look up a cast of bizarre, otherworld
monsters and group them into a forest, a plain of
ice, a volcanic hell, and a swampy morass. Use dice
to move about, select foes, and create new chal-
lenges.
• The mysterious wizard, Yalfonso, is your key to
weaving a story here. Time is tearing apart, things
seem chaotic, but Beylar must be defeated! Yal-
fonso leaps the heroes through portals and keeps
things moving.
• Cartoonify the Children of Azatoth! Use colorful
visuals, wacky plant monsters and bug people to
lighten the mood!
• The climax: Fight the final battle in the molten core
of the second moon. Platforms of rock slide about,
certain death is below, and Beylar has many tricks
up his sleeve.
• Bonkers LOOT: Use this odd adventure to create
your own wacky LOOT. Imagine how early science
fiction would equip their Martian heroes, and go
even crazier. Make things stretchy, teleporting,
death-raying, mind controlling insanity!
THE XILL TYRANNY
1: 534-GAMMA: OPERATION DART
Every xill homeworld is the same: a half dozen harbin-
ger class freighters in orbit, and a weird, re-configur-
ing fragment cloud made of silicate. This mission tests
a theory that their homeworlds share one common
power source: a grav engine.
Pilot a dart class fighter, with your crew, directly into
the grav engine on 534. You are a bomb. They will try
to stop you. Punch through at all costs and detonate
the ship at the target.
• This mission is all about ship combat. Gunners, me-
chanics, incoming fire, ramming, maneuvers. Do it
all! To mix things up, have some xill Blades board
and attack.
• Near the grav engine, discover a colossal, serpen-
tine biological form at the planet’s core. This is the
xill power source...some kind of imprisoned super-
creature. Can it be killed?
• Once ship’s sensors have analyzed the creature, re-
ceive transmit that home base is satisfied, mission
aborted. Crew expendable. They have their data, is
it worth your lives?

Where once we knew geno tyrants, their defeat only

paved the way for a far worse threat: the xill. These
abstract creatures care little for life or freedom, per-
ceive time in ways few comprehend, and operate inter-
stellar machines and gateways beyond the limits of all.
They are cosmic demolishers, agents of some quieter
universe. Long have the gentler races sought to defeat

them, but they seem unflinching even against the Im-
perium. There may yet be hope to slow them.

You are part of a purpose built mecha commando

squad, designed for one function alone: to infiltrate,
sabotage, and destroy xill homeworlds.

Roll 1D4, and check your power cell. Combat drop in 3

seconds…

81
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES

2: 313-BETA: OPERATION SKELETON KEY 3: 110-BETA: OPERATION FIREBAT

Your team is inserted deep within a xill research effort. A single xill prophet class cruiser has been located at an
All of you are outfitted for stealth infiltration. Your mis- uninhabited volcanic world. They are building some-
sion: discover what new tech the xill are developing, thing on the surface. Find their facility, and laser-paint
and destroy their infrastructure. Steal any tech possi- it for stellar weaponry to vaporize. Extraction is your
ble. Extraction via grav anchor three days after drop ... problem, you’re outfitted with a dart class fighter. One
if you’re still functioning. problem: the heat is so intense on 110-Beta, it could
damage or melt mecha components.
• Bring the scale and focus WAY back down to tiny
for this tunnel-crawl. Every corner counts. • Fire! Lava! Shifting terrain! Here’s your chance to
• Xill guards and automated traps work to deter in- go wild with deadly, changing environmental haz-
truders. ards. Almost no monsters are needed. Use jump,
• Use a strict “if-discovered” rule to enforce stealth. climb, evade, or escape rolls to move the action to
This could be guard swarms, teleportation to pris- the xill facility.
on containers, or blaring alarms. • One monster. The facility, it turns out, is a con-
• After some twists, turns, and laser grids, the heroes tainment attempt on some kind of crystal titan.
discover the main lab: The xill are growing another This creature is ancient and terrible, and the xill
world-engine-worm. This one is different though: are straining to confine or control it. Like all these
it is Mecha! The poor thing is in agony, and clearly missions, the heroes should feel a certain remorse
not volunteering for this doom. when given the destroy command. This will be one
• There is also a weapons research lab. Talk about hell of a fight.
LOOT. • Let yourself be lethal on this one.
• What will your squad do? Destroy it? Rescue? Steal
a xill ship and defect? There are many outcomes
here.

82
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
4: 761-ALPHA: OPERATION HAMMER DATABASE KEY: DEVOURER
In route to your next mission, your Mecha squad is pi-
loting a juggernaut class destroyer, and encounters a An outsider Blip among your WARP SHELL crew, Strom
massive systems failure. Repair times are not encour- Ynnis, has hacked the psyker files on The Devourer.
aging. As work continues, things go from bad to worse. This includes records of numerous attempts to slow or
Failures are the result of sabotage, and something is destroy the thing, its devious origins, and all known re-
still on the ship. con on its structure and behavior over the past 3 cen-
turies. Now, Strom has vanished. Find Strom and the
Find, identify, and neutralize the intruder(s) and repair data, and put it to use. The story begins somewhere in
the ship in time to execute the mission: delivering a The Wake.
mega-payload of explosives to the Harbinger orbiting
Bastion. Unlike many of the adventure sets, this one is a min-
iature campaign. Run all 4 in order, culminating in a
• Whatever it takes: even if only one mecha is alive, cataclysmic encounter with The One itself.
they can deliver the payload. If they fail? The xill
Harbinger is bound to destroy Bastion or worse. 1: MARKED FOR DEATH
• Super-deadly intruders: the saboteurs are actually Strom realizes too late he has downloaded the biggest
xevosian assassins. Blips and Ghosts sent to ‘test’ secrets in the universe. To spare his fellow crew certain
your team. Make their attacks brutal, and their destruction at the hands of psyker enforcers, he steals
stealth superhuman. a shuttle and blasts off immediately. The shuttle can be
• As the climactic end approaches, players realize tracked, following its ion trail. Just as the WARP SHELL
the terrifying futility of their payload. The Harbin- catches up to Strom, the psykers arrive to keep their
ger is bigger than a moon, silicate, armored with secrets safe, and the battle begins.
duranium wreckage. A colossal shadow stretches
over the Juggernaut, and the futility of the mission All this occurs in The Wake, where massive planet frag-
is laid bare. ments and space junk clutter the spaceways. This en-
vironment will make the effort to rescue Strom a com-
plicated mess with many possible paths for players to
take.

• Catch up with Strom: Make sure Strom is a beloved
crew member. The players should be hell bent on
finding and helping him, learning about the data-
base as the chase unfolds.
• The shuttle crashes: Strom goes down either during
a psyker dogfight, or before the WARP SHELL ar-
rives. Dice, player actions, or story twists can deter-
mine exactly how and when.
• Psykers in space: A squad of fighters attack! Run a
fast paced space battle in the debris.
• Psykers on the surface: Strom is stranded, and the
psykers move into take him out. Consider a cool
battle on a spinning chuck of rock or a piece of a
destroyed ship.

83
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
2: DEEP WARP
Once (if) Strom is rescued, and the data onboard, the
situation is revealed. Your crew now has the full pic-
ture: How Xevos created The Devourer, how psykers
are using it to cleanse the universe, and how it can
be destroyed. The first step is to catch up to the be-
hemoth. This means entering deep warp to reach the
thing before it annihilates another solar system.
• One interesting twist could be that the WARP SHELL
is destroyed in chapter 1, and the heroes must use
a psyker ship to chase down The Devourer.
• Locational data indicates a deep warp is required
to travel far enough. This means the ship must pass
through a sort of nether realm, infested with form-
less horrors, to travel far enough.
• Once inside the deep warp, the heroes’ ship is at-
tacked by a swarm of abominations. This battle has
multiple parts that can be played various ways.
• The creatures draw power from a hive-nodule that
matches speed with the ship. It can be destroyed
to end them.
• These things overtake a hero’s mind, turning them
against one another.
• They are vulnerable to extreme cold. Various ship’s
systems can be retrofitted to use this weakness.
• As a final event to this fight, the hive nodule rams
the ship, eating into it with barbed tentacles. This
can be a boss fight, or rip the vessel from warp,
careening into The Devourer for Chapter 3.
• This is a chance for players to have a lot of action
aboard their ship.
84
3: AT THE MOUTH OF MADNESS
Arriving at The Devourer is a moment players should
always remember. More than a planet-eater, it is a so-
lar-system eater, sweeping through the cosmos, and
bigger even than a large nebula. It is a labyrinth of
tubes, mouths, tentacles, spines and rocky spires all
coiling through space. The heroes drop out of deep
warp either damaged, with too much speed, or faulty
navigation data, and smash into the twisting surfaces.
• Crash site: The surface of The One is a segment-
ed, broken alienscape. Offer a short respite, then
a cluster of parasites attack, seeking to clean away
the foreign matter. The collider, The Devourer’s im-
mense power source, is visible in the distance.
• Reaching the collider is a crawl for the ages. Here
comes a segment of play that could stretch mul-
tiple sessions. The heroes must journey, on foot,
through this environment, facing all manner of
peril and navigational hardship. Get creative, build
a massive omnidirectional dungeon, populate it
with fallen aliens, malfunctioning machines, weird
organic pseudopods ... anything and everything. If
you want to press time, the solar system in peril
can be seen approaching off in space.
• Parasites and the paranormal: it should soon be-
come apparent The Devourer is a paranormal enti-
ty, driven by ghosts and madness ... a sort of dark
god wandering the cosmos in agony and regret.
• Use grav anchors, zero-g jumps and no way is up.
Gravity is hellish here, and surfaces are all around.
Roadblock the heroes and force them to think in
3D, and navigate that way with cables, jump packs,
dead ends, leaps of faith and death-defying falls.
You could even run a battle during a long slow up-
fall to a far-off surface.
• The Emissary: As the heroes near the Collider, The
Devourer reveals its semi-human holographic lia-
son, The Emissary. She is a lovely, demonic woman
who functions much like a mind-flayer or high level
magic user. Her mission: turn the invaders against
one another, destroy them, or feed upon them.
Use her to role play some of the weird, haunting
psychology of this elder being.
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
4: THE COLLIDER
At last they reach this supergiant, sun-like core of nu-
clear fire, where entire planets are melted into food.
The undertones of death and suffering are unbearable
here, where countless millions have lost their lives.
Overload this volatile, semi-organic reactor, and end
the age of destruction once and for all!
Strom’s database provided a detailed schematic of the
Collider. This reveals that it has a timed pulse mecha-
nism, that if disrupted could cause a destructive chain
reaction. The real question is...is there a way to get out
alive?
• Create distance-based puzzle: heroes must spread
out, each manning a separate reactor core, induc-
ing a timed reaction.
• Set up several ‘branches’ that could offer escape
routes, but leave it entirely to the players. Perhaps
a Psyker ship still in pursuit? A way to ride the de-
structive wave into warp? A remote teleport SPELL?
Maybe a massive chunk of debris can be used as a
cosmic surfboard!
• Bring The Emmisary to bear here, and a swarm of
parasitic abominations. Then bring in the booming,
mind melting voice of The One itself: crying out in
agony after lifetime of death!
• This victory earns a TIER 4 reward at least! How/
where/when do they survive or end up? What
could possibly be next? A universe awaits...
85
THE DOOM OF THE KRELL
A mighty race laid low, like so many in the age of The
Devourer. This set of adventures takes heroes back to
the remote past, to a world as much fantasy as science
fiction.
1: BACK TO THE BEGINNING
10 billion years ago, The krell pioneered the first cos-
mic technology. They were a people of swords and
wizardry, catapulted into the age of fusion far too fast.
Start this adventure with Alfheim characters, then
have them encounter a tribe of lizard folk with pulse
cannons, energy swords and duranium armor.
The Lord Regent of the Krell, Kaelen Ard, needs your
help to root out and destroy these lizard usurpers, and
unlock the secret of their terrible new weapons. Find
their lair, and end this before it’s too late.
• The lizard folk have unearthed a runic stone. It con-
tains instructions to build fusion-based weapons
and armor.
• In a chamber in their fortress, there is a gear cache
after some guards are dispatched. This cache will
allow each hero to gain one key piece of high tech:
a weapon, armor, or other item from WARP SHELL
of their choosing.
• The lizard men have a great beast: a red tiger. This
thing is huge, feral, and loosed to end the heroes.
• End the crawl with a fight at the rune stone, where
a lizard sage is decoding the alien data. He uses a
combination of magic and tech to fight, much like
an imperium ghost armor.
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
2: BENEATH THE FORBIDDEN PLANET
King Ard reveals that there is a hidden planet behind
Krell’s second moon. It lies in shadow, but an ancient
SPELL can transport men there with effort. The prin-
cess, Arianne, has been kidnapped and taken there.
Now the King needs brave warriors who can retrieve
her.
While on this mission, the heroes discover that Krell’s
runic tech originates on the forbidden planet. It is a
world of eternal darkness, illuminated only by strange • Once activated, the nullifier will draw attention,
blue fungus. It is these fungi who etch the runes, and
possess an incredible high-tech culture. But they are
dying, and prepare to invade Krell.
• The kidnappers are already dead save 3 or 4 of
them. The fungoids have slaughtered them.
• The princess is a formidable sword warrior with a • In his skeletal form, Eldor is a super-powered fight-
duranium bikini (naturally).
• To return to Krell, the heroes need to find a tele-
porter pad, far below the surface. To reach it they • If defeated, heroes are imprisoned, starting a
must battle through all kinds of fungoid enemies.
• They see first-hand the invasion force preparing to
attack Krell, as the shadow planet is withering.
• Add a twist by including a fungoid who believes the
invasion is wrong ... a dissenter. He will help the
heroes, and likely be killed trying to follow his con-
science.
• Freely load players up with WARP SHELL LOOT. This
is their welcome into the wider cosmos!
Desperate to stop the war, and show his people a bright
future, King Ard devises a bold plan: to simply disarm
the rebels. He reveals his matter nullifier. This device
will atomize all duranium within a radius, but he needs
a team to secretly infiltrate the enemy and activate the
device from within. That’s you.
• Heroes go in disguise as recruits to join the rebel
army. Put them in a terrible dilemma to gain the
rebels’ trust, as they attack the outer city.
and takes time to spin up. This will be one hell of
a fight.
• Have Eldor show up early, as a mighty warrior-prince
with noble ideals. Later, he reveals his true form: a
skeleton-faced demon craving power! He means to
take the technology, not undo it!
er with 4 or more ATTACKS, SPELLS, and MAGICAL
gear.
whole campaign to rescue Krell from Eldor’s evil
rule.

3: ELDOR’S RAGE
King Ard’s great war-chief, Eldor, is a true old schooler,
who sees technology as doom for his people’s way of
life. For this reason, he sabotages the new technology
effort in the royal city of Krell Prime. All Krell’s armies
are behind him, and a battle for the ages is about to
break.

86
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
FALL OF THE RUNE DRIVE
The complex civilizations of Bastion, and its many
moons, have been without faster-than-light, or space-
fold travel for centuries. At one time in their history,
they possessed a powerful technology called the rune
drive. How and why this technology was lost is seldom
told. Here, now, is the real story...

1: DRAGOON BOOT CAMP

A deadly malfunction transports a group of trainees
into an alternate dimension ... but one all too close to
our own. The heroes are brand new to operating their
dragoon power armor, but the terrors of this dark uni-
verse will teach them quickly.

4: THE BATTROID REBELLION • Start with a training drill in dragoon armor. Char-
In an attempt to win Krell’s civil war, the battroids are acters are executing power jumps, dodging simple
created. These are autonomous synthetic life forms, obstacles, or blasting through a firing range.
powered by runic technology from the fungoid planet. • A piece of military gear goes haywire, and zap the
They are incredible war machines, and not only do they heroes are instantly in the dark universe. They re-
end the war, they decide to form their own society, and ceive a faint transmission. If they can reach the arc
overthrow the crown for their own strange agenda. gate in time, they can be pulled back. Coordinates
are barely audible in the comms.
It is discovered the battroids have discovered dark • Now they have a journey to make across the light-
magic, and used it to assemble a great fortress on the ning-scorched, xeno-infested landscape of the dark
remote plains of Rygur. This towering stronghold has universe.
great skull gates at every corner, and is armed with all • The twist? The terrain is all familiar, and, terribly,
manner of WARP SHELL tech. The fortress must be lev- so are the xenomorphs. They are analogs to the he-
eled before the battroids launch their final assault. roes’ friends and colleagues, but in a horrible form.
• Now take them on a mad dash through a volatile
• King Ard, if still alive, will move his armies to the gauntlet to the massive arc gate, which is not active
West of Skull Fortress. The heroes will move in when they arrive. They have to hold their ground
from the South, undetected, to sabotage and dis- there until it lights up.
rupt them from within.
• The battroid fortress contains a reliquary. Here 5
EPIC LOOT items are stored.
• Here is your chance to run a colossal battle. Armies
clashing, heroes flanking. Introduce a bomb ele-
ment, a giant war beast, or orbital beam weapon.
• To make the most of this setup, consider showering
your heroes in EPIC LOOT, extra HEARTS, and even
temporary invulnerability or chain-reaction multi-
ple ATTACKS. Let them be gods of war!

87
WARP SHELL ADVENTURES
2: INCIDENT ON HERON • Vindica is a powerful technomancer, using both
Your squad is sent to extract science personnel on Her- magic and science to defend her moon.
on. Their assignment: stabilize rune drive technology • She has also employed a legion of psyker merce-
after the arc gate fiasco. The result of your efforts: the naries, most of them Blip and Shadow class, to de-
entire moon is folded thousands of parsecs into deep fend the weapon.
space, with you on it. • Run the adventure as a crawl through the weap-
on’s operations base.
Using energy from the dark universe proves very diffi- • Vindica will fire the thing if pressed to the limit, she
cult. Rescue the scientists using an old ion drive ship as is mad with hate.
the moon is attacked by xill spacers.
4: DAY OF ROSES
• The core theme here is repairing, launching, and The great doom of rune drives came when Sept Karas
operating an outdated spacecraft. Time keeps run- arrived for the beloved Day of Roses holiday on the
ning out as the heroes struggle to launch in time. moon of Surn. Once a generation, he would visit all his
• Force a rescue! If all the scientists are lost, the xill patrons, all his people, and the great capitol ship filled
attack accelerates beyond survivability. Press the the sky, as did rose petals. This time, though, a squag
difficulty of dragging these scared, injured, com- drill bomb pierces that lovely, immense ship, and sets
bat-useless technicians around. in motion a chain reaction that could tear Surn to at-
• For the final scenes, heroes are aboard this huge oms. Do what you can.
ship, manning turrets, repairing couplings, and
holding on by a thread. Imagine an old bomber Open the scene with a great celebration. Rose petals
crew flying through swarms of fighters. fill the air. The sept ship is immense, and materializes
• At last, a scientist fits the ion drive for one colossal just above the surface. When the drill bomb hits, make
burst, sending the craft back to Bastion in seconds it clear to players that the other dragoons are dead,
rather than months. and the rune drive is about to overload.
• The outcome of this rescue is the refinement of
rune drive tech, and within a few months all the • The rune drive begins emitting arcs of power that
moons are using rune drives for fast space travel. split the moon to its molten core. These cracks
• For their success, heroes are made dragoon cham- then form into vortices, where deep space can be
pions. Shower them in rewards! seen beyond.
• Huge chunks of the moon begin spinning into
3: DOOMSDAY space.
After a system-wide edict outlaws the use of rune • The drive can be destroyed by shutting down cool-
drives, one renegade sees her moment. She is Vindica, ing towers at its three poles. These controls are
a malicious sept gone rogue on an outer moon. Using way up there.
a stolen rune drive, she has built a moonkiller weapon, • To make it all worse, squag raiders are pouring out
and threatens to hold all of Bastion ransom. of their drill bomb.
• There is likely no escape from this, but the heroes
Your assignment: Find a way onto the moon, sabotage can die saving the cosmos from a chain reaction.
or destroy the weapon and put an end to Vinidca’s ter- • If it helps, include a royal vizier or courtesan NPC
rorist network. who can explain the stakes here.
• Wrap things up by telling of the thousand year tra-
• Your players are now the leading dragoon opera- dition that started that day...when a handful of dra-
tives, so they are given this mission. goons saved the universe itself.

88
POWER ARMOR
POWER ARMOR • SPELLS: 1 SPELL can be equipped as a CHUNK. Use
This method for building, operating, upgrading and de- it as normal.
stroying POWER ARMOR can be extended to pilotable • CRITICAL DAMAGE: If a suit takes 20 or more dam-
mecha, ships and other vehicles. For more, see the VE- age in a single hit, 4 CHUNKS are destroyed and the
HICLES section in the ICRPG CORE Set. suit is totally immobile for 1D4 ROUNDS or until
repaired.
• USING CHUNKS: For each desired function, STAT • UPGRADES: Add CHUNKS to a suit at a garage or
boost, WEAPON, SPELL, or capability, add 1 CHUNK. hangar with 1 roll per CHUNK. This is important if
This costs 500 COIN, weighs 20 pounds, and has 5 upgrading in MOMENTS or during combat.
HP. Spend twice the COIN to halve the weight. No • REPAIRS: Repair with an INT roll, doing BASIC work
armor can total more than 250 pounds and still be on a CHUNK of your choice. Use tools or a Power
operable. When taking damage, assume it is tak- Armor Repair Kit to improve the roll and EFFORT.
en, in aggregate, 1 CHUNK at a time. ie: take 10 HP • SOCIAL STATUS: Anyone wearing POWER ARMOR
damage, 2 CHUNKS are destroyed. Use a simple die is generally perceived as wealthy, military, or roy-
roll to decide what CHUNKS take damage. al status. This can be used to great effect in rural
• BURNING POWER: Using POWER ARMOR takes en- areas.
ergy. Use this onboard fuel just like SPELL BURN.
ie: 4 ROUNDS of actions, roll to recover for 1D4
ROUNDS. Mitigate this limit with a fuel pack (1

CHUNK, escalates limit by 1 ROUND). Overclock
actions by burning extra fuel. Double a WEAPON’s
damage, move DOUBLE FAR or the like with an ex-
tra ROUND of fuel used.
• ABLATIVE ARMOR: CHUNKS of ARMOR grant +5
per CHUNK. When CHUNKS of ARMOR are de-
stroyed, the suit will need repair. This means suit
ARMOR steadily reduces during combat.

89
WARP SHELL ENEMIES
HUMANOIDS
The universe is plagued with several factions of hateful invaders,
xenophobes and galacto-fascist armies. Here are the most com-
mon of those.

SQUAGS: These nasty-tempered, stumpish spacefarers are ubiq-

uitous as rats throughout the universe. They build mining opera-
tions, starbase outposts, and invasion garrisons on planets far and
wide, but seldom rally more than nuisance-level military might.
They always move in large groups, use energy weapons, and some-
times employ energy-reflecting shielding on their armor. They are
particularly drawn to any YOG deposits they can find, and breathe
water in their liquid-filled helmets.

FUNGALOIDS: Multiplying their numbers via microscopic spores,

these fungal beings are common throughout the universe. Their
fungus brains are distributed through all their individual bodies,
and they have a loathing for other species who do not perceive
reality as a collective. The only way to permanently kill a FUNGA-
LOID is by burning it to ash or atomizing it. Even the smallest piece,
limb, or spore can regrow into multiple individuals in a matter of
days.

NIRISIANS: This devious race of insectoids is re-

clusive and mysterious, but when they appear it is
always to conquer, destroy, or take from other civ-
ilizations. They have achieved a very high level of
technology, approaching that of the xevosians. The
most unique element of their culture is the use of
chemical signals to communicate. In an attempt to
understand this property, psykers have taken many
nirisian specimens for study, earning the hate of
their kind.

90
WARP SHELL ENEMIES

IMPERIUM GHOST ARMOR: The elite of the Imperium, these

power armor warriors are a cross of machine and undeath. Their
suits are powered, and occupied by, a liquid/gas ectoplasm. If this
substance escapes, the ‘ghost’ loses its strength. Ghost armors are
fierce fighters, with 3 or more actions per TURN, command of 10
or more SPELLS, energy WEAPONS and more. Since the fall of the
Imperium, though, they are solitary terrors, wandering the stars as
tyrants, killers, or zealots for the Imperium’s return.

RAVAGERS: No more savage civilization roams space than the rav-

agers. They are pirates, cannibals, or madmen not even loyal to
one another. They are partially cybernetic, but also have reptilian
traits. Their society is brutal and violent, and they move in large
groups dominated by the deadliest warrior. They have no spoken
language, but use a series of hisses and barks to speak. This has
not slowed their technological development, as they are master
junksmiths and builders.

DEATH DRONE: A long lost experiment to develop

the ultimate predator gave rise to this solitary crea-
ture. They live only to kill. It is unknown who devel-
oped them, only that they are an artificial form of
life, made up of duranium, silicates and other highly
resilient materials. They are stealthy, fast, and have
no discernable consciousness save the urge to de-
stroy.

91
WARP SHELL ENEMIES
BEASTS AND MUTANTS
Alien lifeforms cover a vast spectrum of variety from the enormous to
the tiny. Don’t be afraid to build monsters that use energy WEAPONS,
are as large as starships, metallic or un-killable.

STREAKERS: These dog-sized animals are lightning fast

runners, and move in packs of 100 or more. They’re senses
are purely magnetic in nature, and they feed on all forms
of metal. They reproduce by depositing duranium nodules
that develop into young within a few hours.

ARCHITECT: Little is known of these creatures, save their

incredible age. It is widely believed they are one of the first
lifeforms in the universe, and that they are responsible for
seeding other species, building entire worlds, and more.
Their language has never been decoded, and they prefer
seclusion and secrecy, deepening the mystery. Whatever
their purpose, it predates all known civilizations.

SAIL LIZARD: Found on primitive mega-planets or wind-

swept jungle worlds, these gigantic beasts use a large dor-
sal fin to slide along in windy conditions. They’re speed
is remarkable, especially for their size. Some have been
spotted more than 200 feet from nose to tail. There are
tribes, such as those on Aster 12, who live and travel on
the backs of these wondrous animals.

92
WARP SHELL ENEMIES

WARDEN: Like the ancient trees of the same name, these

lumbering giants act as guardians of natural balance on
uninhabited worlds. They abhor civilization and technolo-
gy, and will be roused to destroy anything artificial if their
planet is intruded upon. Short of planetary weapons or a
darkstar supernova, there is no known way to destroy one
of these titans. Some societies worship them as gods.

NITRO BUG: One of the rare species that inhab-

it deep space. These insects are around 20 feet
in height, and feature two biological ‘rockets’
as forelimbs. These rockets let them cruise the
spaceways, feeding on rock and other inorganic
debris. Generally, they stay to themselves, but if
threatened they attack in swooping formations.
Their ability to maneuver in a dogfight is unpar-
alleled.

BULLGORT: Bulky, armor-plated plodders the size

of a small starship. Bullgorts are found mostly in
jagged or mountainous terrain, and they are drawn
to all forms of radiation or energy. They feed on this
energy, usually to destructive effect. Though flesh
and blood within, their thick armor gives them the
ability to ignore any damage below 30. They roam
and feed in groups of 6-12.

93
GHOST MOUNTAIN

This whole place is somewhere between worlds ... caught ‘twixt life and death.
Whether or not it’s Heaven or Hell, well that’s up to you.
Mount up, kid, and pack some silver. We’re huntin’ demons tonight.

94
GHOST MOUNTAIN
WELCOME TO PURGATORY
It’s unclear how, but Ghost Mountain is caught be-
tween Earth, Heaven, and Hell. The dead aren’t dead,
folk are beginning to change, and every night the
Devil threatens to burn it all. This turbulence is the
root of every Ghost Mountain story.
How did folks get here? Was it revenge, a terrible
death, or a foolish vow? Are they dead, demonic, an-
gelic, or lost entirely? Is this even real?
How will folks get out? Will they ascend, become
devils, or just dissipate on the wind? Is there any sal-
vation for the people here? What will you do about
it? These are the questions that haunt those trapped
in purgatory ... trapped on ol’ Ghost Mountain.
95
A WAR OF GOOD AND EVIL
The holy. The infernal. Each tugging at the poor souls
who wind up here. There is no middle ground. Each
deed you commit, each SOUL you save or destroy, each
kill you make, each bloody memory you carry, will be
tallied in the war.
As you read on, and begin crafting your own stories
here, remember this vital conflict. It’s no ambiguous
moral situation or grey area. Evil deeds make the Devil
stronger, and doin’ right brings us all one step closer
to salvation. It’s a world of detail, of big importance in
small folks, and winning this one bullet at a time.
It all starts with a kid named Hatt Martins...
GHOST MOUNTAIN
INTRODUCTION
Before the age of machines reached the far West, when the frontier was wild and dangerous, there were many
untold stories that few lived to tell. Whole towns were swallowed up by the desert, entire families vanished in
the mountains, and great tribes of natives who no longer roam the plains stood tall.

It was a deadly time. Death stalked all too close in those days. So close, in fact, there was one place where the
realms of the living and the dead had become entangled. It was hell on earth, a sort of purgatory between the
dimensions. A terrible thunderstorm tore that whole mountain from this mortal coil, and everyone there was
caught in a war between this world and the next.

Here’s a few key facts and themes that will give your mountain a unique mood...

• Hell is a part of everyday life here. The reality of the supernatural is not in question. The people live every
day in the presence of demons, hellfire, and mortal struggle.
• SUPPLIES are scarce. Like all worlds, 1 SUPPLY is 10 COIN. The problem on Ghost Mountain is finding the
SUPPLIES! If you’re strict about travel, food, and SUPPLY, this can drive much of player anxiety.
• A dark red sun will mark our end. If that blood-red sun ever sets, every soul in Ghost Mountain will be lost to
the Prince of Darkness. Good deeds hold it there, always dusk. What side will finally be victorious? There are
special rules to measure the war ‘tween good and evil. See pp. 97.
• Magic is polarized, and feared. Most folks associate magic power with demonic energy. This is entirely inac-
curate, but nevertheless, it is a feared and misunderstood power.
• The hollow inside the mountain is little known. Great and terrible forces are at work beneath the mountain,
but only the most powerful crusaders know or believe it. To all others, it is simply Hell.
• Time and reality can be a bit fuzzy. Especially at the edges of Ghost Mountain, time can ripple, gravity get
confused, and all manner of nightmare phase in and out of existence. Maybe it’s a way out, but not that
anyone has lived to tell.
• The weather is volatile and destructive. Once the maelstrom happened, thunderstorms here have been cat-
aclysmic. They’re so bad, towns simply shut down. Innocents being killed by lightning is no rare thing.

96
GHOST MOUNTAIN
THE MEASURE
Each day on Ghost Mountain, the low, red sun threat-
ens to set. If it does, it sets forever, and the whole place
will just sink into nothingness. There’s only one way to
stop it: play cards with the Devil.
At the end of a chapter in your story, the heroes are
invited to the Devil’s table, to play a friendly wager for
the fate of all. This game is called THE MEASURE.
• The heroes choose one among them to stand
against the Devil. He draws 3 cards, and so does
Lucifer (played by the GM).
• Keep your hand secret. Now it’s time to wager,
and the currency is SOULS. Players will find these
throughout the game. The Devil has 2D10 SOULS
to gamble.
• Once betting is complete, reveal. Most FACE CARDS
wins. If a tie, use FACE CARD QUALITY. Still a tie?
Leave the pot and draw again. Proceed playing
HANDS until you have an OUTCOME.
• OUTCOME 1: Beat the Devil. If the Devil runs out
of SOULS before the player, those SOULS are saved
and the Devil leans back, smiling, happy to be beat-
en one more time.
• OUTCOME 2: Walk Away. At any time after the first
hand, just walk away. Any lost SOULS will go to Hell,
and the Devil will kindly invite you back.
• OUTCOME 3: Lose it All. If the player runs out of
SOULS, the Devil has all the power he needs to
swallow Ghost Mountain whole.
Sure, you could always walk away, but then, isn’t that
really letting evil win? THE MEASURE is a way for the
Devil to slowly change men, darken their hearts, turn
‘em yellow, and win the war his way.
Use THE MEASURE at the very ending of your cam-
paign, after a huge victory or crushing loss, or a turn-
ing point in the story. Maybe one soul in particular is
worth risking it all for. THE MEASURE is the GM’s tool
to remind the players it’s all hanging by a thread, and
Lucifer is laughing.
97
WHEN TO FIND SOULS
Strange, iridescent gold coins can be found on the
mountain, usually where someone loses their life, but
folk don’t use ‘em for money. They’re SOULS. SOULS
appear where good men have been buried, where ter-
rible tragedy falls, or even out in the wild. Who knows
why...
As the GM, use SOULS as a form of reward for awe-
some role play or heroism in your players. You’ll know
when the time is right. You can also include SOULS on
a LOOT table. Rule of thumb: 1-2 SOULS per player, per
session.
REDEEMING SOULS
Players have a few ways to redeem found SOULS. It’s
no small thing, having a SOUL in the palm of your hand,
so choose wisely. The GM will be taking notes.
• Set them free after THE MEASURE
• Redeem them for a MILESTONE REWARD or MILE-
STONE PATH REWARD. 3 SOULS for 1 REWARD.
• Pay an unpayable debt. Everyone in Ghost Moun-
tain has a reason to want SOULS, sometimes only
a specific one will do. Damn dirty business using
human lives as currency.
• Heal a CONDITION. Whether you’re almost gone
to SMOKE, or been MUERTO for too long. Even
the blind or crippled can be healed by absorbing a
SOUL. Selfish, frightening thing, but it can be done.
Desperate times n’ what not.
GHOST MOUNTAIN CLASSES

GUNSLINGER

Anyone can carry a six-shooter, but a GUNSLINGER, well that’s a different thing
entirely. They make an art of the gun. Fast as a copperhead and cold as a moonlit
grave.
“Six bullets, 10 men, no problem.”

Recommended Gear:
Weapons Kit, Six Shooter (2), Ammo Pouch, Wool Poncho

Starter reward:
Masterwork Revolver (On a successful pistol shot, choose to roll 1D6. Fire that
many bullets at up to that many targets. Your cylinder is empty)

Milestone Rewards:
Speed Loader (When you RELOAD, roll 1D4. On anything but a 1, use no time)
12 Silver Bullets (ULTIMATE EFFORT on a pistol hit, silver properties)
Hellfire Powder (3 count, Use a TURN to make 6 bullets EXPLOSIVE)
Phantom Duster (+2 Armor, +2 ULTIMATE EFFORT)
Deadeye Eyepatch (+2 WEAPON EFFORT)
Silver Cross (+1 WIS, silver properties)

OLD TIMER

It’s no small thing to reach old age in Ghost Mountain. The Old Timers keep all the
secrets, hide the books from the raiders, and seek to finally find some way to end
the hell that tears at reality.
“In my day…”

Recommended Gear:
Heavy Jacket (+1 ARMOR), Six Shooter, Oak Cross, Medical Case

Starter rewards:
Hallowed Book (create and cast HOLY Spells)
Choose TWO HOLY SPELLS

Milestone Rewards:
HOLY Spell: God’s Hand (Paralyze a target you touch for 1 ROUND)
HOLY Spell: Locusts (FAR radius, 1D4 ROUNDS, all ROLLS within are HARD)
HOLY Spell: Destroy the Dead (Annihilate 1 Undead per 1 HP burned, FAR range)
Weird Crystal (+2 MAGIC EFFORT when casting Spells)
Lucky Horseshoe (When rolling ULTIMATE EFFORT, re-roll all 1’s and 2’s)

98
GHOST MOUNTAIN CLASSES

TRACKER

I’ve seen a Hepawa youngster track a cougar in a hail storm. I’ve seen a Coal Demon
sniff out a frightened nun on a salt flat. Trackers are keen as a razor and masters of
the wild.
“Follow the order of things, you’ll always find a way.”

Recommended Gear:
Carbine Rifle, Longbow, Supplies, More Supplies, Trapper Gear

Starter Reward, Choose one:

Bush Blanket (Disappear for 1D4 ROUNDS even in plain sight)
Crystal Scope (Mount on any RIFLE, Roll ‘Aim for Vitals’ as NORMAL)

Milestone Rewards:
Mushroom Tea (5 Count, use NO SUPPLIES for 3 days)
Tar Arrows (10 Count, CLOSE targets face a HARD STR roll to break free)
Antique Sawed-off (NEAR range, DOUBLE WEAPON EFFORT)
Shady Brady: All TRACKING Attempts and Checks are EASY
Black Flag (5 count, TOUCH a target, all attacks against it are ULTIMATE)

WRAITH

The Devils you can talk to, if you keep your eyes on the dirt. Wraiths don’t say
nothin’. Most of ‘em are little more than smoke and brimstone. Poor bastards.
“...”

Recommended Gear:
Fire Stone, Bowie Knife, Spell Book, Pouch of 50 Coin

Starter Reward:
Demon Glyph (cast and create INFERNAL Spells)

Milestone Rewards:
Soul Gem (occupy any other creature for 1D4 ROUNDS with an INT roll)
INFERNAL Spell: Wither (A target in sight has -3 to all rolls for 1D4 ROUNDS)
INFERNAL Spell: Bone Lance (Hits ALL targets in a straight line up to FAR range)
INFERNAL Spell: Ignite (Touch an object to ignite it)
INFERNAL Spell: Death Aura (If touched by an enemy, inflict MAGIC DAMAGE)
INFERNAL Spell: Fury (Touch a target, they kill at random until making a CHA roll)

99
GHOST MOUNTAIN CLASSES

BRAVE

The Canuska are a tribe of fisherman and furriers, mostly, but the Hepawa are fierce
as bears. You’ll not find a deadlier knife-fighter than one of their Braves. Thank God
they’re on our side ... mostly.
“It is a good day to die.”

Recommended Gear:
Bowie Knife (2), Carbine Rifle, Weapon Kit, Trapper Gear, Ammo Pouch

Starter Reward:
Great Eagle Feather (When fighting with knives, Attacks of 15+
earn another attack AND a NEAR move if desired)

Milestone Rewards:
Antler Knife (Magical Weapon)
Bear Hide Cloak (Any time you’re hurt, ignore 1D6 of damage done)
Treated Hide Armor (+3 Armor, waterproof)
Cougar Tooth Talisman (+1 STR)
Raven Claw (For each HP in blood on your knives, inflict 1D4 extra damage)

GAMBLER

The west is won and lost over blackjack and whiskey. Gamblers are shrewd, clever,
lonely buggers with the Devil in their eyes.
“Care to make it interesting?”

Recommended Gear:
Pouch of 50 Coin (2), Six Shooter, Supplies, Armor Kit

Starter Reward:
Devil’s Deck of 52 (When firing a six shooter, DRAW to determine damage.
DRAW twice for ULTIMATE)
Bad Bet (DRAW. If a RED, heal that amount. If a BLACK, take as damage)
Lucky (Replace any ATTEMPT or CHECK with a DRAW. The DM DRAWS, too. High
card wins. If you draw an ACE, critical success, no matter what the DM DRAWS)

Milestone Rewards:
Pouch of 100 COIN
Slam Loader (Reload a firearm in no time)
Steel-Knit Vest (5 Uses, If shot, take only 1 Damage)
Snakebite Whiskey (10 drinks, pass out for 1D4 ROUNDS)

100
GHOST MOUNTAIN CLASSES

SHAMAN

They don’t mess with that infernal magic, or holy spirits as some folks claim.
Nope, they find power in the stones and scrub. Hell of a thing…
“The veil between worlds is thin here. Tread lightly.”

Recommended Gear:
Meditation Beads, Small Pet, Walking Stick, Supplies

Starter Reward:
Dream Catcher (Speak with, and use CHA to persuade, animals and natural forces)

Milestone Rewards:
Choose any 2 WIS POWERS
Masterful Boots (+1 Dex)
Animal Form Hood (Choose 1 animal. Take its form for 1D4 ROUNDS)
Dream Chain (Heal 1 ally with a touch. Any NEAR allies also benefit, and
any allies NEAR them in turn)

MARIACHI

There’s always hope in this world as long as there’s music. No one knows
it better than the Mariachi. Count yourself lucky to have one around.
“The world is only as poetic as we make it, my friend.”

Recommended Gear:
Instrument (rare or unique), Bowie Knife, Six-shooter, Weapon Kit

Starter Reward, Choose one:

Embroidered Sombrero (+3 CHA when inspiring or performing)
Gun Case (Holds up to 4 concealed guns, Never run out of ammo)
Cookin’ Spit (If camping, all allies recover to full HP in 1 hour)

Milestone Rewards:
Sheet Music: Pistolero! (Sing! Those who hear AIM FOR VITALS)
Sheet Music: Red Blood Rodeo (Sing! Those who hear roll EASY
to RECOVER or pop up from DYING)
Silver Spurs (+1 CHA, Ride anything with EASY rolls)
Gramophone Gadget (Record a song, play it at a location)
Songwriter’s Book (Create Sheet Music with a CHA roll)

101
GHOST MOUNTAIN CLASSES

MISTRESS

These are some of the most dangerous types on the Mountain. Sharp as a razor
and deadly as a viper, you’d best steer clear. What’s that? Caught in her spell?
Well, then it’s been nice knowin’ you.
“No need to be alone, stranger.”

Recommended Gear:
Masterful Coats, Concealed Pistol, Spell Book, Fire Water

Starter Reward:
Joker’s Glyph (cast and create any SPELL)
Choose 1 INT SPELL of any kind

Milestone Rewards:
Mage’s Quill (Create INT SPELLS)
Rune Stone (Create WIS Powers)
Brass Crucifix (Create HOLY Spells)
Pentagram Medallion (Create INFERNAL Spells)

STARTER OPTION: TOWNSFOLK

Most of us here are just ordinary folk: miners, carpenters, ranchers and what
have you. We’re not lookin’ to be heroes of any sort, but we sure as hell ain’t just
standin’ by while the world burns.
“I say we fight.”

Recommended Gear:
Tools (specific trade), Pouch of 50 COIN, Flintlock Pistol, Bouie Knife

Starter Reward:
Choose a business that you own and operate

Milestone Rewards:
Pouch of 50 COIN
Certificate of Commerce (Double the yield of your business)
Deed of Ownership (Own a huge tract of land)
Carbine Rifle

102
GHOST MOUNTAIN TYPES
All characters in Ghost Mountain are human, but who are you? To help visualize this, select one TYPE below, or
work with your GM to invent your own. TYPE has no mechanical element to it. It simply describes your place in
the rough and tumble world of the maelstrom.

DO-GOODER: Some folks simply can’t let evil go unpunished. They’re

usually unlikely heroes, shopkeeps or farm hands with an undeniable
conscience, and the courage to do something about it.

OUTLAW: No shortage of these buggers on the mountain. Outlaws

rob, cheat and steal their way to survival. They often have an odd code
between them, but little else to curtail their chaotic appetites.

LONER: Trackers and mountain men prefer to keep their distance from
the towns and ranches. Wanderers, treasure hunters, and feral men
make up what folk simply call Loners.

GENIUS: Wizards with machinery, alchemy or finance can be found, in

small number, on Ghost Mountain. They are often bumblers in the wild,
but work wonders with modern whozits and whatfors.

LUNATIC: Not every kept it together after the big storm. Some folks just
plain cracked. They see things, make no sense, and seem like little more
than the Devil’s playthings.

NATIVE: They were here first. It’s that simple. The main Native groups
are Hepawa and Canuska, but some other small tribes can be found in
further reaches. Diverse, brave, ingenious peoples who keep old ways.

TROUBLEMAKER: Drunks, card-cheats, brawlers and petty criminals

occupy too much time with the Law, but someone has to contain ‘em.

RIGHTEOUS: The old faith is still around, and some folks take it to the
extreme. They believe this whole mess is a sort of religious test or pen-
ance, and they tend to smite others into thinkin’ the same.

FOREIGNER: Some folks from China, Germany, France, Russia or even

Bolivia were trapped in the Maelstrom. They’re still here, too.

103
WEAPONS OF THE MOUNTAIN
KNOW YOUR TOOLS

SIX SHOOTER: The standard sidearm of the West. Simple, Reliable,

uses 1 TURN to reload, Explodes on a blunder, NEAR

CARBINE RIFLE: Lever action, 8 capacity, a damn revolution.

Powerful, Loud, Sturdy, FAR

SHOTGUN: A nasty, clumsy weapon for close-quarters and bad aim.

2 capacity, 1 TURN to reload, Powerful, Durable, Short Range

SNUB SHOTGUN: Brutal scatter shots, 2 capacity. Loud, Simple, Explo-

sive, Concealable. Hit any CLOSE targets in front of you when firing.

COMPOUND BOW: Pulleys and what not. Add STR to damage.

Elegant, Immense Range, Lightweight, High Tech

BOWIE KNIFE: Here you have the most reliable thing on the moun-
tain. Simple, Useful, Reliable, Sturdy, Durable, Common

SABRE: Military cavalry sword. Expensive, Silver, Cannot be concealed

GATLING GUN: Godless death machine of the East. 4 shots per roll
High tech, Complex to learn, Siege, Rapid Fire, Expensive, Rare

DEMONSPINE: Fencing weapon used by Lucifer’s host. Piercing, Fast

SMOKE BLADE: A sabre, but caught ‘tween dimensions. Can only be

touched by Smokes and Infernals. Magic, Elegant, Sharp, Unblockable

RELIC PISTOL: A haunted gun. Go figure. 4 Capacity, Magic, Durable

ELEPHANT RIFLE: Biggest damn gun I ever saw. 1 capacity, always

does ULTIMATE. Immense range, Huge, Bulky, Useful

SCREAMER: Like a grenade, but it’s a god awful skull. Explosive,

Smashes Armor, Volatile

IRON CROSS: Oak and cold iron, one huge spike. Simple, Deadly, Al-
ways does DOUBLE to Infernals, Smokes, Devils and Vamps.

NITRO BOTTLE: Careful with that, kid. Explosive, Volatile, Incendiary

104
STARTING EQUIPMENT
GHOST MOUNTAIN STARTING EQUIPMENT (Choose Three)
Choose from the STARTING EQUIPMENT in the CORE, or from these additional options to give your character more
‘Ghost Mountain’ flavor.

Fire Water, 8 sips, Pass out for 1D4 ROUNDS

Nasty stuff. Viper venom mixed with monkey juice, I tell ya. Stick with whiskey.

Ammo Pouch, 24 capacity

Without one of these, you’ll be lucky to keep 6 shots dry and in your pocket.

Cold Weather Gear

Up above Buckskin it’s terrible cold. Without this gear, you’ll be dead in hours. +1 Armor

Bull Whip
Hard as hell to master, but makes for a nasty, useful tool in uncertain times. Can be used as WEAPON or grappler.

Saddle & Tack, includes Lariat
A must for any riding. Can be sold for 30 COIN, requires wagon or cart to transport.

Manacles, Leg Irons n’ Such

Crucial gear for a Law man. Can also be forged with silver properties to restrain Infernals, Smokes and the like.

Coffee Outfit
Conserve 1 SUPPLY when camping, grant all cohorts a HERO COIN at breakfast.

Canuska Blanket
A near-indestructible wool blanket with geometric patterns. Also shows friendship with Canuska tribes.

Hepawa Buckskin Tent & Tack

A compact, portable shelter for five men. Can be used in cold, conserve 2 SUPPLIES per day. Requires wagon or
cart to transport. Includes rope, iron spikes, and cooking gear.

105
FIREARMS & SUPPLIES
GUNS: THEY’LL KILL YA
Ghost Mountain has some special firearm rules. In
the old west, folks didn’t wear much ARMOR or use
shields, and guns were terribly lethal. Most fights were
finished with a single bullet, so mind your cover, and
aim with both eyes open.

• BIG SLUGS: On an ATTEMPT of 15+, do maximum

damage
• IN THE FACE: Any hit at point blank range does
maximum damage automatically
• KNOCKED SILLY: Any time you are hit by a firearm,
for 3 or more damage, make a CON roll to avoid
losing 1 turn
• STRICT AMMO: 6 bullets count as 1 SUPPLY
• PRIMITIVE BARRELS: All PISTOLS can only hit NEAR
targets unless you roll a natural 20
• DUDS: Wet ammo has a 50% chance of being ru-
ined, which you will only find out when firing.
Ammo pouches keep ammo dry
• RIGHT IN THE EYE: On any gunshot ‘aim for vitals’
HARD ROLL, if a hit, do NOT roll damage. Target
makes CON roll or is dropped to 1 HP.

SUPPLIES: LEAN TIMES

• BASICS: 1 SUPPLY feeds 4 people for 1 day, OR con-
tains 6 bullets, costs 10 COIN
• HOOF IT: On foot cover 10 miles per day. With wag-
on, cart, horses cover 20
• HUNGRY: Spending a day without SUPPLY makes
all rolls HARD until meals and shelter are procured
• EXHAUSTED: Second day with no SUPPLY take 3
UNHEALABLE damage until you find supplies
• SKIN & BONES: Third day take 3 more as above
• STARVED: Five days without SUPPLIES will kill a
man. Make a HARD CON roll to keep breathin’ one
more day
• MERCANTILE: As the GM, consider a few basic pric-
es at the local store, including horses, wagons, lum-
ber, and the like. Cheap: 10 COIN, Spendy: 25 COIN,
rare or expensive: 50 COIN, and so on.

106
GHOST MOUNTAIN SPELLS
HOLY POWER
The God-fearin’ folk of Ghost Mountain place their hope in Old Timers, who are the last ones able to channel real power
from on high. You’ve just got to believe. All are INT SPELLS, no learning required, as they arrive by divine light.

ANOINT: Touch an ally. They are immune to all harm for 1 ROUND
BANISH: Touch an INFERNAL or SMOKE. They vanish for 1D4 ROUNDS
BAPTISE: Counts as a GOOD DEED. Baptized folk make all fear-oriented rolls as EASY
BLESS HOLY WATER: Create a small vile of HOLY WATER from any water source
CONSECRATE: Mark the ground NEAR you in a circle. Evil cannot enter for 1D4 DAYS
EXCORCISM: Touch and hold the possessed subject for 1D4 ROUNDS. The evil will be cast out
LIGHT: Create a bright light that reaches FAR for 1D4 ROUNDS
MIRACLE: Describe any effect approved by the GM. If you can roll a 20, it happens
NEMESIS: Name or lock eyes with ONE BEING. You are drawn to it, and know its general location
RENEW FAITH: Touch an ally to give them a HERO COIN
RESTORE LIFE: Heal with a touch, if the subject has 0 HP
SPIRITUS SANCTI: Gather a SOUL from any dead body
STIGMATA: Trade HP for a bonus on your MAGIC EFFECT as you unleash a blast of raw power
TRUST IN GOD: For 1D4 ROUNDS, you can only be harmed by natural 20’s

INFERNAL MAGICKS
Far more powerful magic serves the darkness. It is destructive, incendiary, sudden, and treacherous. All the more to test
the faithful, I reckon. All are INT SPELLS, no learning required, as they are innate powers of the legion.

ASH CLOUD: Fill a NEAR radius with ash and smoke. All rolls within are HARD
BLOOD OATH: Draw blood and make an oath. If it is fulfilled, heal to full HP and gain a Milestone Reward
BURNING KNIFE: Imbue a WEAPON with MAGIC fire for 1D4 ROUNDS
CHASM: Smite the ground, opening a fissure that reaches FAR, and has no bottom
CREATE MUERTO: Turn any corpse into a MUERTO
DECEIVE: Completely fool 1D4 targets with your rouse
FIRE FORM: Assume a form of pure fire for 1D4 ROUNDS
FORGET: Touch a target to wipe away 1 specific memory permanently
GLYPH DOOR: Draw two GLYPHS, the walk between them instantly for 1D4 days
HELL STORM: With a HARD roll, conjure a terribly destructive thunder storm
IMPERVIOUS: You are immune to all harm for 1D4 ROUNDS
KILL: Touch a target with a HARD roll. They must make a CON roll, or die
NIGHTMARE: Summon a flaming steed that lasts 1D4 ROUNDS
TIRA LOS DADOS: Once cast successfully, ANY ROLL in the following ROUND may be forced to re-roll

CREATING SPELLS
Players can create SPELLS of their own in two simple stages: STATE and ROLL.
STATE: Offer the NAME and EFFECT of the desired SPELL. It must be a type you can cast, and the GM must
approve.
ROLL: Roll D20 + INT. Lose 20 - the total in HP. If 10 or less, take 10 damage AND fail to create the SPELL. Once
created successfully, SPELLS may be used immediately.

107
CONDITIONS
YOU DON’T LOOK SO GOOD
Life is hard up here, and Lord knows we’re hanging on by our fingernails. Even hero-types get the flu, knocked up side the
head or start fadin’ into smoke. Use CONDITIONS to remind players how tough this land really is. Custom monsters can
inflict CONDITIONS, lack of SUPPLIES or weather exposure are also common causes. Each CONDITION has causes, effects,
remedies, and final outcome. Any condition left untreated for 1 week reaches it final outcome.

SMOKE
Cause: Touched by a SMOKE, cursed, or losing hope in all things
Effects: Become intermittently incorporeal, only able to touch your own gear and other SMOKES
Remedies: Absorb a SOUL, be anointed by a righteous priest, redeem your hope in mankind
Final Outcome: The CONDITION becomes permanent. If you are SMOKE for a year or more, dissipate into the wind.

INFERNAL
Cause: Passing through a gate to hell, being possessed by a demonic force, making a pact with Lucifer
Effects: Gain +3 STR, -3 CHA, +1 HEART, you become bony with horns and sunken eyes, all good folk hate you
Remedies: Be touched by an angel, have the demon exorcised, redeem your evil deeds with at least 3 good deeds
Final Outcome: The CONDITION becomes permanent, be compelled to obey Lucifer, gain 3 INFERNAL SPELLS

MUERTO
Cause: Dead and unburied for a day or more, result of INFERNAL magic or curse
Effects: Take half damage from bullets, heal HP only from SPELLS or WIS POWERS, +2 HEARTS, -6 CHA
Remedies: Absorb a SOUL for each HEART, drink the Canuska holy tea
Final Outcome: IF 0 HP, then simply go to dust, if MUERTO 1 week then the CONDITION is permanent

SICK AS A DOG
Cause: Extreme cold, plague, starvation, tainted food or water
Effects: -3 CON, people will shun and avoid you unless they are medically trained, move only NEAR
Remedies: Warm soup and a cozy night’s sleep, heal to full HP by FOOD, Hepawa sweat lodge
Final Outcome: Take a permanent -3 CON penalty, never go above 1 HEART total HP

GONE YELLA
Cause: Extreme horror, fear, or existential terror. Can also be caused by critically failing a FEAR roll
Effects: Flee the source of your fear for 1D4 ROUNDS, actively avoid it from then on
Remedies: Make a CHA roll, be inspired by a MARIACHI
Final Outcome: You will never face the source of your fear again, even if it means death first

LOCO
Cause: Desert starvation, exposure to extreme cosmic truth, botched asylum brain-tincturing, Canuska spirit tea
Effects: Erratic behavior, INT rolls are HARD, senseless gibbering, cannibalism, self-harm, comical absurdity
Remedies: None
Final Outcome: You become incommunicative, random, senseless or catatonic

POISONED
Cause: Snake bite, weapon poison, food-borne poison, breathing poison gas
Effects: Take 1-4 HP damage each ROUND, depending on the toxicity of the poison
Remedies: Antidote specific to that poison, earning a HEART
Final Outcome: Death. If at 0 HP when poisoned, you cannot roll a natural 20 to pop up from DYING.

108
GHOST MOUNTAIN CAMPAIGN
THE DOOM OF HATT MARTINS THE WHOLE TRUTH
Hatt Martins set off to find Ghost Mountain, and save Though presented as a somewhat linear story here,
his family. What he found was a place in a shadow of there is no telling how your Ghost Mountain adventure
evil, and our heroes are his only hope. will go. Plan one night at a time, and give players op-
portunities to choose where it’s all headed next.
CAMPAIGN CHAPTERS
THE BUCKSKIN STAGE: Players are waylaid on their The big truth at work here is that the One God has torn
usual coach route by a standoff at the Gallows Cross- Ghost Mountain up to take it away from Lucifer. Why?
road. Because within the mountain lies a colossal deposit of
YOG crystals. If they were to fall into the Devil’s hands,
SHOWDOWN: The Dyre Gang, and the Slayer, depend- his power would be limitless. While the forces of good
ing on Chapter 1, want the heroes killed dead. It all pull the mountain ever closer to oblivion, demons and
comes to a head outside Buckskin, on the slopes of darkness crave to save it, mining feverishly in the hol-
Hatchet Mountain. low. This is the terrible irony of the full truth: that the
only hope for Ghost Mountain is destruction, and so
A DEAD ROCK LOVE STORY: Dyre’s operation is head- the lure of Lucifer’s agenda holds sway over so many.
quartered in Dead Rock. Problem is, every damn soul
is falling in love with the same woman: Mistress Dia- In such times, what can a few heroes do? That is for
mond. Things are about to go haywire. you to discover...

HELL AND HIGH WATER: At one point or another, the

heroes may wind up in Dead Rock. The Dyre Gang sets
up a brutal ambush, unleashing Coolie Dam and flood-
ing the town. This can happen at Buckskin too.

THE MUNSON MINE: A series of events lead our he-
roes to the deepest mine on the mountain, where the
Dyre Gang has been transporting wagon loads of TNT.
They mean to open a tunnel straight to the Hollow, and
release a legion of demon kind.

EDGE OF EVERYTHING: Stumped in the Munson Mine,

or shunted from there to the only way deeper, he-
roes wind up spelunking the crumbling edge of Ghost
Mountain, looking for a way in or out of the Hollow.

FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES: Here’s one hell of a crawl.

INTO THE SUNSET: The Dead Pinnacles are the loca-

tion for a climactic showdown with Azael the Butcher.
Once the heroes return to town, if they do, the many
threads of family, friendship and revenge tie together.
Hell of a thing.

109
GHOST MOUNTAIN CAMPAIGN
THE BUCKSKIN STAGE
Players begin with their heroes working as guards,
stage drivers, wranglers, hunters, stowaways, pursuers
or missionaries on a stagecoach route from Dead Rock
to Buckskin. Try choosing one hero to play the stage
boss and hire the others for this perilous supply run.
Halfway along, at Gallows Crossroads, they encounter
the Dyre Gang, in the middle of terrorizing a family. A
few of the outlaws are men, but two of them are In- • Smoke rising from the Henson Ranch: Off to the
fernal. They have a father, mother and their daughter
waylaid and hogtied, rifling through their possessions.
These are the Martins family, minus Hatt.
• A gunfight at the crossroads: Provide a cover-rich
approach, but remember how lethal guns are here,
and warm players up to a good ol’ shoot out.
• Two paths to Buckskin: Heroes can travel north to
Buckskin, but they learn that it is blocked by a land-
slide. This landslide is actually a Dyre Gang trap.
They can go south, but that takes them close to the
Edge and will take twice as long.
• A town being bullied: Buckskin, when they arrive,
is being bullied and brutalized by Dyre’s men, who • Ending the Slayer’s Curse: The Slayer is a creature
are loading a wagon of TNT and hounding the cit-
izens.
• Emma: The mayor of Buckskin is a woman named
Emma, who is pure of heart and stout as an oak.
She wants to fight back, and will help the heroes
any way she can.
• The Slayer Argument: Just outside of town, two res-
idents are found arguing about something called a
“Slayer” and how it won’t stop. The argument is
heated, and they look afraid.
110
CLUES AND CHOICES
From the little town of Buckskin, heroes will have sev-
eral choices of how to proceed. Don’t try to out-plan
your players, just propose threads of adventure at ses-
sion-end. Be fluid!
• Wagon tracks and TNT: Heading east from Buckskin
are a set of well-worn wagon tracks. This is where
the gang has been shipping TNT to Munson Mine.
west, a plume of black smoke marks the old Hen-
son place...looks like a very big fire just burned
there. Turns out the Dyre demons just blew his
place to bits when he stood up to them, but he
knows about their TNT operation at the landslide
outpost.
• The Canuska Burials: Up North, weird standing
stones mark a magical place. A Canuska shaman
skulks there, and has cosmic answers for odd ques-
tions. One catch: this shaman is actually The Hun-
ger in human form. This can be an epic, brutal,
LOOT-rich encounter, or used to alleviate CONDI-
TIONS heroes might have.
born when a wrathful soul digs up a Slayer Root in
a dense wood called The Tangle. The only way to
stop this rampaging beast is to kill it and re-bury it
there.
GHOST MOUNTAIN CAMPAIGN
SHOWDOWN
Whether it’s outside Munson Mine, or somewhere
near Buckskin, the heroes are going to come face to
face with Dyre and his best men. Sure it’s a tough fight,
but it also unfolds the next chapters of the story.

• Hard to Kill: Dyre is part SMOKE, so he is immune

to all non-MAGICAL attacks. Make him extreme-
ly resourceful, fast, and hard to fight. He and his
men, though, have key information when it comes
to what’s really going on in Ghost Mountain, ie: the
YOG mining and Azael the Butcher.
• The Righteous Play Their Hand: Coming up from
Thomson Gulch is a small squad of highly trained
religious gunfighters called The Righteous. They
wear black, have silver crucifixes, silver guns, and
mean to end the demon plague once and for all.
Finding one dead, or meeting one in The Tangle
can be a good way to introduce them. Can they be
trusted?
• Humble Help: Don’t forget your Buckskin towns-
folk, who want to beat Dyre. Maybe they can cre-
ate a distraction, hide up in the rocks with rifles or
put on a ruse to lure the gang in. Part of the fun of
weird west is the humble, regular folks.
• The Hunger: This creature can be as much or little
as you want for your game. It can manifest as a gi-
ant mouth in the ground, a huge bear make of black
smoke, or a Canuska Shaman in infernal form. It is
the native response to fight back everyone who
has come to Ghost Mountain, and it is angry.
CLUES AND CHOICES
Whether or not Dyre is defeated during the show-
down, these clues can lead players in a few directions.
• The Munson Map: At this point, drop a crude map
of the mine as a clue. It indicates ways down that
make no sense, and infernal markings and glyphs.
• The Henson Brand: If the players never chose to
check out Henson Ranch, place a little brand or
mark on the TNT or wagon that an NPC recogniz-
es. The ranch is where the demon gang has been
mining Sulphur, and they have left poor Henson’s
entire family as wrathful muertos.
• A Letter to Mistress Diamond: A strange letter can
be found, proclaiming undying, almost psychotic
love and loyalty for a woman named Diamond. It’s
addressed to Dead Rock, and signed by Dyre him-
self.
• Splinters of YOG: Tiny fragments of red YOG crystal
can be found here and there as players begin to
sniff out the mine. You can also make them FIRE
STONES or priceless gems. They are hints at the
biggest part of the story: that Ghost Mountain is
a colossal growth of YOG, thus its cosmic impor-
tance.

111
GHOST MOUNTAIN CAMPAIGN
A DEAD ROCK LOVE STORY
Either to collect supplies, pursue Dyre, or fall back
from a tough defeat, the heroes may find themselves
in Dead Rock. One problem: the whole town has gone
bonkers. Her name is Mistress Diamond, and she’s got
everyone in a chaotic violent frenzy of jealousy...and
you just walked right into it.
• Whoopin’ and a Whompin’: When heroes arrive
here, the town is in chaos. Cowboys and drunks
are running wild, shooting, fighting, flying out of
windows, or being dragged by spooked horses. Just
to get in and figure things out will be no easy task.
• The High Horse Riders: One group is thriving in the
madness, a posse from up north. They’re horse
thieves and killers, no ordinary yokles with guns,
and they mean to be Mistress Diamond’s top men.
They’re holed up in the Gilded Goat saloon. No one
gets to the mistress without going through them.
• Diamond’s Lair: In the vast store rooms below the
Gilded Goat, Mistress Diamond has a posh boudoir.
It’s really more of a demonic shrine, where she is
casting the magic that has everyone going nuts.
Here she only has two guards: blind horrors from
the deep. She is a powerful sorceress.
• Azael Revealed: If Diamond is engaged, or pressed
to a limit, or even defeated, she reveals her true
form: that of Azael the Butcher. This is an archfiend
from Hell itself, but only appearing in astral form.
It is enraged, and marks the heroes as its next vic-
tims. This can’t be good.
112
CLUES AND CHOICES
You can use Dead Rock to do lots of different charac-
ters and story threads, or simply play it as a chaotic
battle. Either way, the next chapters will escalate the
story to a final confrontation with the demons operat-
ing the Munson Mine. If your players never go to Dead
Rock, these clues can be placed as options anywhere.
• The Red Diamond: You find a gleaming, purest red
jewel the size of a fist. It is pure, uncut YOG. It will
heal anyone CLOSE to it for 1D6 every ROUND, it is
priceless, and could even power a starship. A close
look at this crystal reveals faces, swirling in a red
mist, and they are the faces of men you have killed.
The red diamond can be identified by almost any-
one on Ghost Mountain as coming from the Mun-
son Mine.
• Is This the God You Worship: A deep talk with an
NPC of your choice leads to a staggering truth: that
the One God is the cause of the maelstrom that
ripped Ghost Mountain from Earth. It was done to
keep the YOG deposit from Lucifer’s legions, but
it still places blame for this entire mess on the so-
called righteous god.
• The Righteous: These gunslingers eventually re-
veal their true purpose: to kill Azael. They know
ways down to the Dead Pinnacles, or perhaps one
of them is a shapeshifter in disguise. You can use
them in all kinds of ways to lure, guide, or compel
heroes to action.
• Book of Eyes: This magical tome includes 12 pag-
es. Each can be read at a location. An eye is placed
there. From that day on, the user can turn to that
page and see what the eye sees. One page is al-
ready functioning, and shows Azael feeding on raw
YOG, growing bigger and bigger, with piles of smol-
dering dead all around him.
GHOST MOUNTAIN CAMPAIGN
HELL AND HIGH WATER
Just when it couldn’t get more lawless in Dead Rock,
whatever is left of the Dyre gang blows the Coolie Dam
and floods the town. This will either drive heroes out
of town, or wish them into a sinkhole. The question is:
can anyone be saved?
• Rumblin’: As your Dead Rock segment winds down,
a terrible rumble can be heard just outside of town.
This is Coolie Dam being blown, and the town is
about to be wiped out. Here’s a TIMER for the ages!
• Total destruction: When the flood hits, nothing • Ada Ardagast: This attractive schoolteacher has
can withstand it. Entire buildings are smashed,
poles and timbers go flying, crowds are crushed
and drowned. It is a deadly day. Only high ground
is safe.
• Bastards at the High Ground: Once/if heroes
reach Cemetery Hill, the innocents there are being
pushed back by a group of cowards with guns. One
of them kicks a poor old woman into the torrent.
Take ‘em down.
• Blue Canyon Falls: Where the flood drops off a cliff,
at Blue Canyon, the whole town is smashing and
colliding, then tumbling down the edge. If swept
away, the heroes can take this route into the Shal-
lows of Hell, or the depths of Munson Mine. The
odds of surviving such rapids are very, very low.
113
CLUES AND CHOICES
Survivors are the real measure of this catastrophe, and
heroes should make every attempt to save the inno-
cent. This is a time to get biblical with your descrip-
tions, and personal with your clues.
• Horace Walters: An old farmer who survives the
flood will take the heroes in, equip and feed them.
Moreover, he knows a secret route into the Mun-
son Mine that can bypass the eye beast halls. One
catch: it’s a 2 mile climb straight down.
been secretly studying Azael and the legions of hell.
She has detailed information on their powers and
weaknesses. You can homebrew these as needed,
making Azael especially nasty to confront. She may
also know of a certain artifact or incantation that
will lower the archfiend’s defenses, or make an eye
beast vulnerable to bullets.
• The Lord’s Church Choir: This group of kids can be
rescued from the flood. Their gratitude grants the
heroes each a MILESTONE PATH REWARD.
• Ol’ Jeb: The legend of Jeb goes way back. Seems
every few decades an old man appears with this
name, and he’s sort of invulnerable or proof against
infernal powers. He can be led down into Hell, as
a sort of Virgil or holy ward, and used to confront
even the most powerful fiends. Thing is, he sure
moves slow.
GHOST MOUNTAIN CAMPAIGN
THE MUNSON MINE • Shallows of Hell: One corner of the caverns holds
Here is your first real dungeon crawl of the campaign. a child of Azatoth. It is surrounded by the dead,
It can stretch out or compress to fit your table’s style. and piles of bones. The heroes are drawn to it, and
Dyre and his men are using TNT to blast their way their doom. If it can be defeated, EPIC LOOT awaits.
down to the hollow, unleash the demon armies, and The LOOT is from Alfheim, for so far-flung are these
aid Azael in finding the YOG vein. Do-gooder heroes accursed beings.
will try to stop it all, but any sane person would run for
it when they see the doom that awaits here.
CLUES AND CHOICES
After encountering the bridge of ashes, blind horrors
• The Big Collapse: A ways into the mine, the tunnel
and eye beasts, the players are likely to seek safer pas-
collapses, blocking exit and alerting the denizens
sage or simply flee. That’s when things get interesting.
within. On a bad roll, a hero or two might even get
caught in the rubble as the shadow wolves attack.
• The Righteous: If the ‘men in black’ haven’t ap-
• Diggin’ Pits: Dyre’s men have been digging down-
peared in your campaign yet, consider placing one
ward, trying to make an opening to the shallows,
way down here, fighting back the hordes all alone.
which are the upper layers of the hollow interior,
He can be used to frighten, inform, or guide heroes
where Hell begins. These pits are crossed by pre-
onward.
carious plank bridges (naturally).
• Dyre’s Way Down: The TNT pits can be climbed, but
• Bridge of Ashes: One great stone bridge in the cav-
at risk. Be ready for brutal falling rolls, hero death
erns is crumbling with age. It shows signs of ancient
or even a party wipe out. If this happens, they
gothic architecture. From a fiery chasm below, the
awaken deep in hell, stripped of all gear, in bars.
ash-black skeletons of lost souls are crawling up-
• Touched by Evil: The child of Azatoth can be used in
ward, confused and seeking living flesh.
very insidious ways, even secretly turning a hero to
• Blast Site: Deep in the mine, the men are blasting
pure evil, sending them the wrong way, or alerting
with TNT. This will knock everyone down, break
Azael all too soon. Be ruthless. Be arcane.
concentration on SPELLS, or make rolls HARD.
These pits can be used to descend further.

114
GHOST MOUNTAIN CAMPAIGN
EDGE OF EVERYTHING
The edge of Ghost Mountain is a crumbling place,
where gravity and thunderstorms are all twisted and
volatile. This location can be reached at a few times in
your campaign, but no one goes there deliberately. It
can serve as an escape from the hollow, or a long way
‘round the avalanche on Hatchet Mountain.
• The Lonely Tracker: However or whenever your
players come this way, a lone tracker, part infer-
nal, will defend his camp here. He is a sniper-style
sharpshooter who hides in the rolling clouds, aim-
ing for vitals and dropping heroes one by one.
• Shadow Wolves: These dimension-phasing preda-
tors are the tracker’s pack. They will fight to the
death once anyone comes too close to the tracker’s
campfire.
• Storms: Use a giant sliding cloud to represent lim-
ited visibility here. Even consider using lightning
strikes, driving rain or wind gusts. Giant boulders
raise into the air here, and the void itself is visible
out in the distance. Heavy stuff.
• Dead Men in the Dirt: Lead players along by placing
skeletons here and there. Load them with SHABBY
or Ghost Mountain LOOT.
115
CLUES AND CHOICES
Heading onward from the edge is a simple matter of
knowing the area, providing roadways, and keeping a
tight watch on SUPPLIES. Out this far, it’s all too easy to
get stranded, lost, or simply starve.
• Native Traders: A good random encounter in this
wilderness can be Canuska or Hepawa traders.
They have LOOT, but are slow to trust. They can
also be used to inform, guide, or trick heroes.
• The Road to Buckskin: It’s a long way up Hatchet
Mountain. Remember to press SUPPLIES. Force he-
roes to hunt, search or scavenge.
• The Road to Dead Rock: Heading back is an option,
past Gallows Crossroads, but Dyre has dispatched
a squad to investigate what happened there, and it
will be tougher than last time, with MUERTO gat-
ling gunners on site.
• The Cliffs to the Hollow: One way to reach upper
Hell is to climb down the edge with ropes and such,
but it is a dizzying, unstable scene with floating
rocks and infinite drop-offs. This can make an epic
scene for an encounter with The Hunger or a float-
ing eye beast.
GHOST MOUNTAIN CAMPAIGN
FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES
Below Munson Mine, in the great hollow within Ghost
Mountain, the upper levels of Hell are contained. Also
here is the largest deposit of YOG on Earth, and there
is no overstating the importance of keeping this power
from Azael, and Lucifer himself.

These halls are the shallows of Hell itself...an endless

tangle of streets and caverns, spiked fences, fields of
spears, roaring fires, towers and pits, all teeming with
lost souls, skeletons burned to ash, demon torturers
and archfiend overlords.

• Rings Upon Rings: Like in ‘Dante’s Inferno’ Hell is ar-

ranged in a series of descending, concentric rings.
Use this as a guiding design principle as you lay out
your dungeon. The further down, the worse things
get, and each ring is hemmed by a massive wall.
• A Pilgrim Unburnt: Whether it be Ol’ Jeb or a more
mysterious character, introduce a ‘pilgrim’ who is
incorporeal, but seeks to aid the heroes. Imagine
a robed figure with a lantern ... like a holy ghost in
Hell’s red shadows.
• Flayers of Souls: The task masters of Hell are these
4-armed demons, whose only work is to whip and
smite the damned, and drive lesser demons to sim-
ilar deeds. They will work tirelessly to stop the he-
roes.
• The Dead Pinnacles: Finally, there is an upside-down
fortress that hangs from below Ghost Mountain.
Great stone towers and tangled chains. Imagine an
upside-down tower adventure with Azael himself
at the nadir of it all. Beyond epic.
CLUES AND CHOICES
All roads here either lead to the Dead Pinnacles, and
Azael’s lair, the Crystal Caverns, or the pits where souls
burn.
• A Secret Door: By whatever means, heroes discov-
er a secret entrance to the Dead Pinnacles that will
take them straight to Azael for the final battle.
• The Dig: A huge area of the shallows is occupied by
demons hard at work to uncover the Crystal Cav-
ern, and reach the YOG. Heroes should be tempted
to destroy or cripple this huge operation.
• Forges of Hell: Near the Dead Pinnacles, a smoky
domain of molten iron holds these forges. This is
where the great chains are made that bind the pin-
nacles, and all Hell’s armies are equipped. Consider
placing EPIC weapons and armor here.
• Gravelands: One way to lead heroes around, or
inform them, is a vast swath of land occupied by
etched grave stones. All kinds of clues and possible
directions lay there written.

116
GHOST MOUNTAIN CAMPAIGN
INTO THE SUNSET
However your campaign may conclude, here are some
ideas to give an epilogue to all that has happened. Be
poetic, let it all hang on the edge of a knife, and be
ready to rewind time, end the world or worse.
• Into the Light: One way to end things is to have all
of Ghost Mountain sort of fade into sunlight. Yes,
everyone ‘dies,’ but the YOG are safe and Lucifer
defeated. A sunset to end all sunsets. Even winning
is sad up here.
• Crashing into Hell: A heavy metal ending might be
using the massive chains, or some form of powerful
magic, to ‘crash’ Ghost Mountain into Hell below.
Like a giant missile or starship, Ghost Mountain
could be thrust into Hell, destroying everything.
• Morning, Again: A classic way to move on is have
the heroes go black, then sort of ‘wake up’ on the
morning of their departure to Buckskin, all the way
back at the beginning. They look at each, baffled,
afraid, trapped forever in this nightmare.
• Thomson Gulch, the Night of the Maelstrom: A
more triumphant ending could be coming-to in
Thomson Gulch before the mountain was ever torn
up. A game of cards is being played, and storm
clouds are brewing. The world has been given a
second chance, thanks to the mighty heroes.
117
CLUES AND CHOICES
Ghost Mountain has two connections to the other
WORLDS: the Wizard’s Door and the Crystal Cavern.
Here are ways to make that bridge, and continue the
saga far beyond the mountain.
• Wizard’s Door: The Hunger has a small hut wher-
ever he appears in your story. Within, he has con-
jured a gateway to ALFHEIM. This could be used
to pass back and forth, call monsters or heroes, or
anything else you imagine. One problem: The Hun-
ger hates all living and unliving things.
• Crystal Cavern: So dense is the growth of YOG here,
its raw power has opened a sort of wormhole or
dimension gate into the remote future of WARP
SHELL. Maybe a ship comes slamming into Ghost
Mountain, or weird west heroes are swept up in a
WARP SHELL ship for more adventures. The possi-
bilities are endless.
GHOST MOUNTAIN LOOT
1: RATTLER VENOM (FOOD, 5 uses, use as antidote OR poison, applies or removes POISONED condition)
2: SILVER CRUCIFIX (ITEM, take half damage from any supernatural entities that would harm you)
3: JUG O’ MOONSHINE (FOOD, 10 uses, 1 swig gets you drunk, can be used as flammable or antiseptic)
4: UNDERTAKER’S SHOVEL (WEAPON, If you bring a target to 0 HP with this WEAPON, it DIES instantly)
5: SADDLE BLANKET (ARMOR, +3, place on any animal to soothe it, all rolls with that animal are EASY)
6: FINGERBONE BRACELET (ITEM, rolls to control, destroy or resist effects or results with SKELETONS are EASY)
7: NECKLACE OF SEVEN FANGS (ITEM, Any time you do 5 or more damage with a KNIFE, roll damage again)
8: HEPAWA WARBONNET (ARMOR, +1, a crown of eagle feathers, +5 CHA when interacting with Hepawa peoples)
9: HIDDEN PISTOL (WEAPON, 1 shot, 1 TURN to reload, can only be used CLOSE, target saves with WIS to spot)
10: SILVER BULLETS (AMMO, MAGICAL, 6 count, Double damage against supernatural creatures)
11: HUNGRY MEDALLION (ITEM, Gain the maximum benefit of FOOD consumed)
12: MASTERWORK MUSKET (WEAPON, On any ATTEMPT of 10+ do maximum damage, 2 SHOTS, 2 TURNS to reload)
13: ARMORED DUSTER (ARMOR, +3, Gunshots from FAR range only inflict 1 point of damage)
14: PIGGIN’ STRINGS (ITEM, Any object, animal or person tied with these cords CANNOT escape or shake loose)
15: BUTTER RUM TOBACCO (FOOD, 3 uses, Ask the GM any question when smoking, receive a true answer)
16: CANUSKA BONE ARMOR (ARMOR, +5, All rolls when interacting with the Canuska are EASY)
17: BLACK SKULL (ITEM, No evil entity may come within NEAR of this powerful object)
18: RUSTY LEG IRONS (ITEM, Bind a person at the ankles, on a HARD STR roll, they can break free)
19: IRON BOLO (WEAPON, FAR range, Targets hit makes a HARD DEX roll or falls prone, immobile for 1D4 ROUNDS)
20: JAWBONE CLUB (WEAPON, MAGICAL, BRUTAL, When struck, targets also lose 3 STR for 4 ROUNDS)
21: VIPER BOOTS (ARMOR, +1, You cannot be poisoned, these boots are also fire and acid proof)
22: GAMBLER’S VEST (ITEM, A fine vest with hidden pockets, EQUIP up to 15 pieces of GEAR, 5 of them secretly)
23: OBSIDIAN TOMAHAWK (WEAPON, THROWN, Ignore damage-reducing ARMOR, reroll DAMAGE below 5)
24: ANTLER KNIVES (WEAPON, MAGICAL, DO double EFFORT against animals, wood, or stone)
25: THE DEVIL’S DICE (ITEM, Reroll any 1 die once per TURN, Be compelled to do Lucifer’s will)
26: CHEMICAL LANTERN (ITEM, A sulphur-magnesium lamp, illuminate up to double FAR)
27: SPYGLASS (ITEM, +3 WIS when rolling to scout, navigate or spot)
28: CAVALRY SABER (WEAPON, RARE, Targets hit for 8 or more DAMAGE must make a CON roll or fall to 0 HP)
29: CHLOROFORM FLASK (FOOD, 3 uses, Breathe this in to appear dead for 1D4 hours)
30: BUNDLE OF TNT (WEAPON, EXPLOSIVE, VOLATILE, 1D4 ROUND fuse, Inflict 4D12 damage to all NEAR)
31: BLACKSMITH’S FRIEND (ITEM, A clever multitool, All rolls when repairing, building, or using tools are EASY)
32: LUCKY HORSE SHOE (ITEM, Any natural roll of 18+ counts as a CRITICAL success)
33: RED EYE WHISKEY (FOOD, 5 uses,
34: SNAKE OIL (FOOD, 3 uses, cures any CONDITION)
35: ARCANE GUN KIT (ITEM, Attach to 1 firearm, that gun is now MAGICAL)
36: LUCKY POKER CHIP (ITEM, When using cards to roll, you may draw twice each time and take the better draw)
37: CLOTH BANDAGE KIT (ITEM, Heal 1 HP when succeeding at “don’t die on me, man!”)
38: CACTUS JUICE (FOOD, 5 uses, Replaces 1 day of SUPPLIES for a group of people)
39: SAWED-OFF SHOTGUN (WEAPON, See weapons list)
40: DEATH MASK (ARMOR, +2, Bronze shaped into a face, terrify townsfolk, no roll, Take 3 damage when removed)
41: WOLF TOTEM (ITEM, Wolves are drawn to you, and consider you one of their own)
42: BARBED BULLWHIP (WEAPON, A working grappler bullwhip that also does WEAPON EFFORT)
43: HARPOON GUN (WEAPON, Functions as an ELEPHANT RIFLE, also grapples its target solid for 4 ROUNDS)
44: RUBY RING (ITEM, Worth 2,000 COIN, Reveal to mesmerize or entrance the greedy)
45: EBON HEMP ROBE (ITEM, Double FAR length, cannot be cut, burned, ripped or damaged in any way)
46: IVORY BROACH (ITEM, An image of a regal old woman, Give to someone to bind them to one OATH forever)
47: GREENSTEEL KATANA (WEAPON, RARE, SHARP, Any foe killed with this sword grants you its SOUL)
48: HANGIN’ JUDGE’S GAVEL (ITEM, Point at a person and slam this gavel, all those in sight with see them as GUILTY)
49: COSSAK SASH (ITEM, Be avoided and left alone by bandits outlaws and criminals who can see the sash)

118
GHOST MOUNTAIN LOOT
50: AMULET OF AZAEL (ITEM, Mark of Azael’s Elite, You are IMMUNE to attacks from Azael, he knows your location)
51: DAZZLING SAPPHIRE (ITEM, Worth 10,000 COIN, Can be bartered for twice its value)
52: DEVIL’S PITCHFORK (WEAPON, MAGICAL, Treat as a spear, Can be consumed in flames on command)
53: SHARP OBSIDIAN SHARD (ITEM, Replace the blade on a WEAPON, add any 3 TAGS you choose to that WEAPON)
54: BEAR BURGERS (FOOD, 3 uses, +5 STR for 4 ROUNDS, Heal to full HP)
55: BAR O’ LARD (ITEM, Apply to any surface to make it super slick, flammable and waterproof)
56: BEACON OF HELL (ITEM, All demons and infernals within 1 mile are drawn to it until put away)
57: BLOWGUN (WEAPON, SILENT, Includes 8 darts, POISON a target with no detection)
58: RANGE RIDER’S TRENCH COAT (ARMOR, +1, Use half SUPPLIES as normal, All mounted rolls are EASY)
59: TRUE SKELETON KEY (ITEM, Open ANY locked door)
60: CROSSBONES EYEPATCH (ITEM, On command, you have limited X-RAY type vision to FAR)
61: BRAWLER’S GLOVES (WEAPON, Fight unarmed as if with a WEAPON, ARMOR +3)
62: GOLDEN LARIAT (ITEM, MAGICAL, Any target grappled with this lasso must tell the truth, immobilized)
63: POUCH OF GOLD DUST (ITEM, 1 Use, Sprinkle on any object to make it MAGICAL)
64: BOTTLE OF HOLY WATER (FOOD, 3 uses, Sprinkle in a threshold, supernatural evil cannot pass)
65: CANE SWORD (WEAPON, CONCEALABLE, Works as a normal sword, requires a HARD WIS roll to spot)
66: HEXAR ALMANIS (BOOK, A massive book of magic rites, Learn and cast 5 SPELLS of any type)
67: SMOKE BULLETS (AMMO, 12 count, These bullets will hit targets with the SMOKE condition)
68: URN OF ANGELS (ITEM, Burn a dead creature, place its ashes here, it will be reborn in 1D4 days)
69: SCROUNGER’S PACK (ITEM, Make a WIS roll once per location, find an object you seek there)
70: RING OF SLAYERS (ITEM, On an attack roll of 15+ roll again, if 2nd roll hits, it does ULTIMATE)
71: CRITTER IN NEED (SPECIAL, You find a small animal that immediately imprints on you as its best friend)
72: DIAMOND WHETSTONE (ITEM, Sharpen a bladed WEAPON, that WEAPON is +3 EFFORT)
75: SPIRAL LOCKET (ITEM, EFFORT done with HOLY SPELLS is +3)
76: SIGNET OF THE RIGHTEOUS (ITEM, Earns you membership and privileges of the elite gunslinger cult)
77: EZRA’S WEDDING BAND (ITEM, CURSED, Ezra’s ghost haunts you for all time, roll a natural 20 to remove)
78: DAGGER OF RUINS (WEAPON, MAGICAL, Does TRIPLE ULTIMATE against structures, doors, or vehicles)
79: STAFF OF SPIRITS (ITEM, MAGICAL, Learn and cast any 5 WIS POWERS)
80: GHOST DRUM (INSTRUMENT, MAGICAL, Supernatural entities are terrified of this sound)
81: BAG O’ MONEY (ITEM, Contains 5d10 x 1,000 COIN in bonds, cash and gold)
82: BLUE CACTUS PEACHES (FOOD, 2 uses, Heal 1D12 HP, Cure all CONDITIONS, Ignore the next 5 damage)
83: BLACK SPADE REVOLVER (WEAPON, MAGICAL, Never needs AMMO)
84: RAVEN’S CLAW (ITEM, Shapeshift into a raven with a WIS roll, stay in that form as long as you choose)
85: BULLET ARROWS (AMMO, 20 count, Use firearm rules with a bow)
86: DEMON DECK (ITEM, Replaces a Gambler’s Deck, Treat every card as if it were one card better)
87: DEVIL’S DECK (ITEM, Replaces Gambler’s Deck, Re draw on any non-face card)
88: TURBAN OF FUTURES (ITEM, With a HARD INT roll, see into a specific future)
89: GOLDEN MATTOCK (ITEM, With a WIS roll underground, find a YOG splinter, gold nugget, or tunnel)
90: AZAEL’S CLEAVER (WEAPON, MAGICAL, When you hit a target, they must make a CON roll or drop to 0 HP)
91: CHEST OF WONDERS (CHEST, 2 HEARTS to open, Take 3 total LOOT rolls, These can be rolled on any TABLE)
92: OWL HEAD DRESS (ARMOR, +5, You cannot be harmed by bladed WEAPONS)
93: CHAIN CLAW (ITEM, With a DEX roll, fly to any FAR point instantly)
94: DR. WARSTEIN’S AMAZING MACHINE (ITEM, When activated, this machine takes a form designated by the GM)
95: GHOST GUN (WEAPON, MAGICAL, This pistol cannot miss and never needs to be reloaded)
96: LIGHTNING COIL (ITEM, Activate with a lever, in 1D4 ROUNDS everything within FAR takes 3D12 damage)
97: CROSS OF SANTIAGO (ITEM, Infernal SPELLS cannot harm you)
98: GUERAS MALEFECTORUM (BOOK, Melee attacks on supernatural foes are always CRITICAL and MAGICAL)
99: GHOST BULLETS (ITEM, 20 count, Shoot these through any material up to FAR with no loss in momentum)
100: RING OF FALLING STARS (ITEM, Make a wish. It will come to pass. There may be consequences)

119
GHOST MOUNTAIN MONSTERS
CREATING HELLIONS
Most of the ‘monsters’ encountered on the Mountain are just men and beasts turned ugly by the forces at work.
The closer you get to the edge, or down in The Hollow, you’ll find more horrible things. Generally, use the mon-
sters provided in the ICRPG CORE Set. Throw in some dire wolves, burning skeletons, undead gunslingers, or
giant rattlesnakes for good measure.

As a guideline for Ghost Mountain monsters, theme them around Hell’s demonic, fiery influence. This is the
weird west, not a fantasy world, so use exotic monsters only with great care. The monster roller tables in the
ICRPG CORE Set should serve perfectly for all your mechanics.

COMMON TYPES
DIRE ANIMALS: Wolves, snakes, bears and even vul-
tures can take an evil taint sometimes. They become
bigger, more ravenous, more devious. They’re known
to wander all over the mountain, mainly hunting hu-
man beings for sport. They are not supernatural, but
sure look a fright.

MEN TOUCHED BY EVIL: So many good folk are

turned by Lucifer’s dark power. They become reavers,
thieves, killers, or lawless lunatics. In time, they even
turn infernal or go smoke. Their errands range from
petty robbery to destroying the damn world.

DEMONS, DEVILS, AND GHOSTS: From The Hollow

come these supernatural entities, bound to do the
Devil’s will. They work break mankind’s faith, to open
the doors of hell, or call up terrible storms just for fun.

SKELETONS: Poor souls, countless in number. They

burn down there, or were buried too shallow. Infernal
magicians use them as pawns.

UNDER GODS: Azael has a small group of demigods

and immortals that serve his will. Pray you never en-
counter one, for they cannot die. They are the princes
of the underworld.

HORRORS: The turbulence between life and death

has twisted some life force into black tentacles, spiked
mouths in the dirt, eyeless insects or disembodied
heads. Hold your ground, fight back, or these things
will be everywhere someday.

120
VILLAINS AND ALLIES
NASTY BUGGERS
Easy thing, being nasty in dark times. These snakes
took the low road, and deserve a bullet.

• Dyre: A half-smoke outlaw with a whole gang at

his command. They take what they want, kill any-
one who gets in their way, and seem set to unleash
hell’s armies. Dyre does have a soft spot, though:
he used to be a man, and though he’s all but for-
gotten, his family is still alive somewhere out near
Dead Rock.
• The Hunger: This mysterious being takes many
forms, mainly of a defiled Canuska shaman or a
gigantic toothy mouth opening up in the earth. It
seems to be drawn to burial grounds, and what it
wants is unknown.
NOBLE HEARTS • Black Jack: Some kind of supernatural card player.
Good folk are still around, still willing to fight. Make Some folk don’t think he’s real, but he’ll appear,
friendly like, these are your only hope. run a town dry, kill off the women folk and even
kids before he’s done playing. Then he just disap-
• The Red Lady: Long the guardian of lost souls in pears.
Hell, her charge is to stop Azael. She takes the form • Azael the Butcher: In the shallows of hell, an arch-
of a giant, silent, sphinx-like creature with greenish fiend called Azael tortures lost souls or fools who
feathered wings and a necklace of pure green YOG. mine too deep. He has no love of Bae-Al, thinking
• Emma: The mayor of Buckskin, Emma watches over himself hell’s real prince.
the upper reaches of the mountain. She’s really no
more than a farmer, but with a heart as true and
stout as any ever were.
• Big Bear: This young man was raised Canuska, but
born to a pioneer family in Thomson Gulch. He has

fully embraced the native ways, but most folks just
think he’s crazy.
• Reginald Henson: Owner of one the largest ranches
over near the edge. Here’s a classic good guy, and
ought to be made sheriff.
• Hatt Martins: Just a kid looking for his family, who
unwittingly opened the depths in Munson Mine.
• Raleigh Watts: The roads are patrolled by this sharp
shootin’ lady. Rumor has it she’s hunting Dyre and
his gang, but she is seldom seen in any town.
• Scrap: Just a weasel trying to survive? Nope, this
critter is a totem animal ... a shapeshifter from the
ancient days, and those who believe the stories will
tell you he’s our best hope to win this war.

121
CONCLUSION
LET’S DO THIS
Now that ICRPG has grown to have a robust community, a best-selling CORE book, and WORLDS, we are truly ready to
boldly go. There are too many stories already, and so many yet to come. I owe it all to the incredible, talented, creative,
totally nutty players and readers out there making it all possible.

The next milestones for ICRPG include a SECOND EDITION CORE Set with all of the PDF updates up to 1.3.5. A Special edi-
tion of this book will also be available on AMAZON in 2018. Also coming are two more books to complete the set: GOOD
and EVIL. These books will deliver loads of new material for all you deep divers out there. Stay tuned.

As we went through the process of playtesting WORLDS, we discovered how intertwined these different themes are, how
robust the ruleset can really become, and how ICRPG has improved all of our games and game-mastering styles. I hope
you have the same experience.

May your dice roll high.

-HF

122