DCC #35: GM Guide

Dungeon Crawl Classics #35 GM’s Guide to the Known Realms Contents Introduction . .2 Chapter 1: Creation and Early History . .4 Chapter 2: Deities, Demigods, and Infernal Powers . .16 Chapter 3: Bestiary of the Known Realms . .49 Chapter 4: Setting Rules . .75 Chapter 5: Rogues’ Gallery and Hall of Heroes . .97 Chapter 6: Zero-Level Characters . .117 Chapter 7: Paths of Adventure . .123 Appendix 1: DCC Index . .127 Credits and Afterword . .133 Legal . .135 DCC Character Sheet . .136 www.goodmangames.com 1 Introduction elcome to the Known Realms, a world of Looking for a shadowy port to sell your ill-gotten loot? adventure, arcane secrets, and untold riches, Wicked Punjar beckons. Craving high intrigue and back- Wwhere a sharp sword and a shirt of mail are a stabbing politics? The Council of Lords awaits your peti- warrior’s only defense against wicked mages, monstrous tion. Hungry for the wail of war horns and the crash of hordes, and fierce dragons of yore. armies? The armies of Leherti cry out for your command. Want to carve out your own fief from the untracked Culled from the pages of an ancient tome, the Known wilderness? The wild borderlands call. Eager to sink your Realms represent the scribes’ world simulated by the d20 glowing blade into the gullet of a dragon and ransack its rule system. Whether the codex is the spurious work of a fabled trove? Look no further. All these adventures and dark-age madman or a medieval tome of esoteric conjec- more are contained herein. ture will never be known. What is certain is that it pro- vides a wealth of information for the modern gamer. While the scribes of the codex outlined their world, it falls to you and your players to bring the Known Realms During the arduous process of translation, concessions to life. Bind it to your home campaign, ravage its lands were made to fit the Known Realms to the d20 system, with the march of armies and dragon fire, make its peo- but otherwise the spirit and tone of the tome was left ple come alive through the heroics of your players. unchanged. Until such a time that the lost companion tomes are discovered and translated, it falls to you, the Our work with the codex is finished. The legends of GM, to answer the lingering mysteries and fill in the Áereth have only begun. unknown realms. Styles of Play A World of High Just as PCs gain levels and face more challenging puzzles Adventure and foes, so too must a campaign world evolve to paint an ever-broader horizon, luring heroes with treasures and The world of Áereth is foremost one of legendary adven- ambitions just beyond their reach. As a world, Áereth can ture. Noble knights ride to the ends of the earth questing accommodate any number of styles of play, ranging from against legendary dragons and wicked warlords. Mighty classic dungeon crawl to convoluted court intrigue. GMs wizards wage eldritch battle atop high mountain peaks need simply hold to a simple rule: Always make the PCs and in the halls of lonely towers. Cunning rogues creep the focus of your world. along rooftops of smoky cities, stealing past lethal traps and demonic sentries. Devout priests fight for the com- With this in mind, consider the following adventure sug- mon good, bringing freedom to enslaved masses. gestions for your evolving campaign: Fearless adventurers unearth forgotten tombs and plumb Low-level PCs: Beginning and low-level PCs spend the depths of endless caverns, ride at the head of armies, their time exploring nearby ruins, working as caravan and cast powerful spells that shape the very nature of guards, serving wizened sages, studying beneath noble reality. knights, and fighting in merchant companies. Most set- The Known Realms are vast. Many of its locales are tlements in the Northlands are isolated from their neigh- recorded in the Dungeon Crawl Classic series of adven- bors, and are forced to turn to unproven young heroes in ture modules, but these are only the first, tentative steps times of desperation and need. The PCs might undertake into the world of Áereth. short wilderness journeys, or the GMs may choose to simply assume that PCs begin their adventures at the 2 entrance of the dungeon. A band of low-level PCs can Contained Herein spend their first few levels simply exploring the sur- rounding lands, mapping out the wilderness and clearing The Known Realms are comprised of three continents: dungeons and cave complexes of wicked creatures. the Northlands, a collection of isolated kingdoms, faded Mid-level PCs: Mid-level characters are often heroes empires, and majestic forests and mountains; the who have carved out names for themselves. While not Southlands, a land of dense jungles and forgotten cities yet legends, they have established themselves as danger- occupied by drakon and the ancient nagas; and the ous foes worthy of respect. These adventurers often trav- Lostlands, once the cradle of civilization, now a place of el far and wide, exploring the Southlands and Lostlands fearsome monsters and ancient, sand-swept ruins. in the service of kings and regents, secret societies and This boxed set contains the following: knighthoods, or simply in the search of greater wealth and power. As renowned heroes, PCs quickly attract the Gazetteer of the Known Realms: a reference guide to the notice of those more powerful than themselves. Some of three continents, detailing the myriad nations, cultures, these powers may choose to recruit the heroes to their and monsters; noble causes; others may perceive the PCs as threats, and work to eradicate or corrupt the heroes before they grow GM’s Guide to the Known Realms: the book you hold in into powerful threats. your hands, containing secrets and information crucial to running a campaign set in the Known Realms; High-level PCs: No longer the servants of emperors, high priests, or guildmasters, high-level PCs are these Dungeon Crawl Classics: Halls of the Minotaur: an rulers, conquering existing kingdoms or carving new introductory adventure designed to bring 0-level charac- ones from the wilderness. Gathering wisdom, power, and ters to 1st level and beyond; fame, PCs undertake epic quests, riding at the head of Dungeon Crawl Classics: Vault of the Thief Lord: a chal- armies, challenging dragons and demons alike. Only the lenging adventure designed for expert players and char- fiercest or most numerous of foes present a challenge to acter levels 4-6, set in the deadly city of Punjar; a party of high-level PCs. As living legends, the heroes are responsible for defending their people from threats Three full-color maps detailing the vast sweep of the that can span entire planes. High-level games can also Known Realms; and focus on the subtle plots of courtly intrigue, where a sin- The Player’s Map to the Known Realms, an incomplete gle careless phrase can plunge entire nations into war and map of the world for the players to complete in the course chaos. of their adventures. Epic-level PCs: Epic-level PCs can reshape the face of Áereth at their whim, rallying entire races to their cause, or laying waste to whole empires. Epic-level PCs are on the path to becoming minor divine powers and masters of Áereth. At this level, PCs can expect to regularly draw the attention of gods and infernal powers, working either with or against the PCs as suits their moods. 3 Chapter 1 Creation and Early History he summation below is gathered from the creation Sancturns had settled themselves among the Outer myths of many of Áereth’s religions and cultures. Planes, the Triad invited them to take part in its designs. No single church will cite this information in such T With their collective work, Choranus oversaw the con- a concise, comprehensive form, but if one made a struction of a ghostly new world—a place of raw magi- painstaking study of the clergies of the Sancturn cal convergence suffused with the spirit of nature and the Pantheon, interviewed disciples of numerous demigods, collective power of the Greater and Lesser Gods. Under and consulted scholars of the Triad, one might gather an the direction of Ildavir, the gods gave physical substance account similar to the one below. to the world by drawing upon the Inner Planes, and GMs are encouraged to alter this mythology as they see Choranus set it spinning within the spiral arrays of the fit to better accommodate their campaigns. This is mere- Material Plane. ly one possibility regarding the origins of Áereth. Though he fought to unmake it, Zhühn’s power was out- In a formless age measureless to mortals, there arrived a matched. Dwelling in the corners of his diminishing Void, clan of beings that theologians would one day name the Zhühn recoiled at the sight of such enduring creation. To Greater Gods. Leading them was the Triad, and the eld- him, the existence of anything but the Void itself was a est among them was Choranus, the Seer Father and the blasphemy, for he was a being of chaos and oblivion and figurehead of Law. At his side was his equal and consort knew only those. Now light and life flourished, spoiling Ildavir, the Giver of Form, and his brother, Centivus the the endless gloom. This new world, having survived the Shaper. When the Triad and its kin entered the Void, its Great Enemy’s will to destroy, has come to be known in sole occupant, a being of Chaos known as Zhühn, fled the current age as Áereth—derived from a phrase in the before their luminous presence.

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