MEDIEVAL FANTASY MECHS POWERED BY STEAM, MAGIC, OR THE LABOR OF A THOUSAND SLAVES ™ MEDIEVAL FANTASY MECHS POWERED BY STEAM, MAGIC, OR THE LABOR OF A THOUSAND SLAVES Medieval Fantasy Mechs After an age of destruction, the Second Age of Walkers is now at hand. Explore the ruins of the surface world in sturdy iron mechs powered by steam, magic, or the labor of a thousand slaves! A New Frontier for Fantasy d20 This rulebook introduces not just a new world but the fi rst comprehensive d20 treatment of fantasy mechs. Built on the foundation of a traditional fantasy campaign, DragonMech is easy to integrate into any ongoing game, or it can be used on its own. It features extensive rules for fantasy mechs powered by machinery, magic, and manual labor, fully integrated with a host of new classes, feats, skills, and items specially designed for a mech-based fantasy campaign. Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This product utilizes updated material from the v.3.5 revision. Sword & Sorcery books are published under the Open Game License and are 100% compatible with v.3.5 rules and the d20 System. ISBN 1-58846-988-3 WW17600 $34.99 U.S. www.goodman-games.com www.swordsorcery.com www.superunicorn.com WW 17600 CHPT. # «1» 9 plate 2 The heroes of DragonMech include the traditional classes as well as those who build and pilot mechs. plate 1 The standard races are well represented in the land of Highpoint. CHPT. # «1» 9 If your party is composed of traditional- ist mages and clerics who see mechs as a thinly veiled threat to the dominant role CHARACTERS magic once played in the world, your DM will likely focus your campaign on fighting iven the massive changes rocking their world, against mechs. On the other hand, if your the people of Highpoint suffer no shortage of party is composed of coglayers, steamborgs, G and mech jockeys who see mechs as the best adventurers. Social structures have collapsed left chance for defeating the lunar dragons, your and right, leaving many commoners with no recourse adventures will be completely different. With that in mind, here are some potential but to fight for their lives. Moreover, the advent of character motivations that have special plac- mechs has created new opportunities for adventuring. es in DragonMech. Of course, a character is much deeper than a single motivating fac- Collecting resources to keep them going is an in- tor, so you can pick more than one, or adjust demand occupation these days, and the mechs have them as you see fit. • Defeat the lunar aberrations raised the importance of a skill set not formerly • Restore faith in the traditional gods valued: the talented pilot. Everywhere you look, new • Gain followers for a personal belief sys- tem from those who now have nothing left adventurers are wandering the land. to believe in • Oppose the plans of the lunar gods • Explore (or loot) the ruins left by the the dragons and other lunar aberrations? lunar rain CHARACTER • How does he feel about steam technol- • Restore the surface world (or your own ogy? Does it offer salvation or is it an hometown or nation) to its former glory MOTIVATIONS affront to the old ways? Does it threaten • Explore the depths of the underdeep, the supremacy of magic or challenge the those exposed only since the surface- he world of DragonMech offers all the power of the gods? world refugees pushed ever deeper Tusual reasons to adventure and many • After all the devastation wrought by the • Locate the legendary Master Repository more. Many clerics adventure to contest the lunar rain, and the hardships your charac- of the Gearwrights Guild lunar aberrations and their gods, while fight- ter has endured, does he still have faith in • Restore order and law throughout the world ers are more concerned with claiming their his gods? • Fight against the oppressive policies of exotic treasures. Mechs introduce a whole • Does the Gearwrights Guild speak the the Stenian Confederacy new level of adventuring opportunities, truth about the first Age of Walkers, even • Acquire a personal mech whether they’re used simply as transport or though the ancient elven texts make no • Build your own mech as the focus of a campaign. reference to such an era? • Advance the art of mechcraft through Before you begin creating your character, • What does your character think about whatever means necessary stop for a moment to think about why your mechs? Are they vehicles, mere “wagons • Join the Irontooth Clans and become a character has become an adventurer. How with legs,” or a revolutionary new con- mech devil has he been affected by the forces shaping cept? Are those who pilot mechs merely • Join the Gearwrights Guild Highpoint? As you go through the charac- using them as a crutch, or are they power- • Find a way to travel to the moon and ter creation process, keep these questions ful in a manner that is new for the world? destroy the lunar dragons at their source about your character in mind: • Does your character see the world’s cur- • Forge an alliance between the splintered • Where did his ancestors live before the rent state of unrest as a clarion call for factions of the world, so the larger threats lunar rain? What happened to their hered- heroic defenders to fight the lunar aberra- can be confronted in unison itary home? tions and end the lunar rain, or a once-in- • Pursue personal power through whatever • Where did they turn for shelter during the a-lifetime chance for profit and power? means necessary, ensuring that you aren’t lunar rain? What enemies and allies did Considering your character’s motivations affected by such disasters in the future they make? throughout the creation process will also • Prove that steam-powered mechs are superi- • What interaction has the character had with help your gamemaster focus his campaign. or to magically powered ones (or vice versa) plate 1 The standard races are well represented in the land of Highpoint. CHPT. CHPT. # # 10 «1» «1» 11 • Restrict knowledge of mechs to those who ly few natural obstructions, combined with well fortunate had to travel hundreds of miles can use it wisely defi ned boundaries preventing outside invad- to the western steppes or northern forests, • Rise to a senior pilot position in the mech ers, made this the perfect realm for nomads; where some were accepted by the elven vil- jockey hierarchy of the city-mechs the open plains were protected from invasion lages. Most died en route. • Discover what lives in the endless engine by the steppes to the west, the forests to the Humans living in other regions, such as the rooms that power the city-mechs north, the sea to the east, and the swamps to fl atland, were less aff ected by the catastro- • Prove that life on the surface is possible the south. Between the nomad tribes, how- phe. They were closer to underdeep havens, without the city-mechs ever, no shortage of confl ict existed. Human or on good terms with nearby dwarves, and • Unravel the mystery behind the Pretominin civilization has always been wild and malleable fared better than their nomadic brethren. Heads and the Great Standing Dwarf to begin with, with entire kingdoms rising Many took shelter in the dwarven strong- • Hunt monsters, fi nd treasure, and become and falling within a few short generations, holds. There they forged life-long alliances, a hero in this shattered world and the endless plains are no exception. The standing side by side with their dwarven hosts many tribes bickered constantly over territory, to defend against later waves of refugees. resources, and prestige. The orc hordes that Older human characters are likely to be also walked the plains made for still more con- embittered, cynical refugees. Their personal fl ict. The few nonnomadic cultures retreated history includes constant fl ight or fi ght for to impregnable fortress-cities that the combat- the past fi fty-odd years. They’ve never known RACES IN ive nomads couldn’t invade. peace, stability, or true safety, nor have their Now, however, the endless plains are fathers or grandfathers. To them, the mechs DRAGONMECH decaying. With little shelter from the lunar aren’t hope; the mechs are merely the latest rain, they are eroding with every passing in a string of refuges. They adventure solely he standard races are well represented in night. The human cities were easy targets for survival. Tthe land of Highpoint. Though they have for the lunar dragons, and many have been Younger humans, however, were born been traumatized by the world’s collapse battered into the ground, their remains used into this world. Never knowing anything around them, none has been completely by some dragons as lairs. At the same time, else, they take it for granted. To them, the exterminated. brave humans survive in the tunnels and mechs are simply there — some friends, Although Shar Thizdic has used racial ten- small places under the ruins. The ruined cit- others enemies, but all merely aspects of sions and hate-fi lled rhetoric as a ploy to grab ies are still home to hundreds or thousands the environment, like mountains or houses. power, interracial interaction has actually of refugees, who hide where the dragons It is these new generations of humans that grown since the lunar rain. The chaotic nature can’t reach them. have the greatest potential for reshaping of the world frequently throws together The nomadic tribes were not as vulnerable Highpoint, for they make the most of what adventurers who never would have met before.