ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS Authors: Stephen Chenault, Todd Gray & Davis Chenault Cover Artist: Steve Roberts I Of The Horned God’s Winter Artists: Mark Allen, Andy Hopp, Bryan Swartz, Cara Mitten & Peter Background 2 Bradley Izarian’s Paramour (adventure) 8 Contributing Authors: Casey Christofferson, Björn Strohecker Adventures on the Roof of the World 21 Titles & Cover Design: Mac Golden Gottland-Ne (setting material) 28 Cartography: Matt Wilson, Stephen Shepard, Davis Chenault Of the Horned God’s Winter (adventure) 36 Production: Troll Lord Games Editors: Casey Christofferson, Larry Herzer II The Winter Runes The RuneMark (class) 47 Playtesters: Robert Doyel, Jeniffer Wright, Anthony Doyel, Curt Spell List 50 Mowery White Order 52 Winter Rune Spells 53 Playtesters (Arkansas): Larry Herzer, Rob Brannon, Chance Woods, Integrating the RuneMark 64 Damian Wells, Andy Plunkett, Andrew Watt and Gene Long Placing the Void 65 Breaching the Wall of Worlds 65 The RuneMark Prophecy 65 The Void 66 Troll Lord Games Or on the Web The RuneLords 70 PO Box 251171 http://www.trolllord.com Little Rock, AR 72205 [email protected] Appendix A: New Magic Items 71 Appendix B: New Monsters 75 All text, regardless of other designation, is Copyright © 2002 Troll Lord Winter Runes 78 Games. All rights Reserved. This book is published and distributed by Chenault & Gray, LLC d/b/a/ Troll Lord Games, by specific license, and OGL 80 this edition of the work is Copyright © 2003 Troll Lord Games, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Chenault & Gray, LLC & Troll Lord Games and Troll Lord Games logo are Trademarks of Chenault & Gray, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ‘D20 System’ and the ‘D20 System’ logo are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used according to the terms of the D20 System License version 4.0. A copy of this License can be found at www.wizards.com/d20. Dungeons and Dragons® and Wizards of the Coast® are Registered Trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used with permission. Please see page 80 for the Open Game License, and designation of Open Game Content and Product Identity. Any questions regarding Open Game Content and Product Identity within this book should be directed to Troll Lord Games at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 251171, Little Rock, AR, 72225. “Gary Gygax’s The Canting Crew” Copyright © 2002 , Trigee Enterprise Inc. Portions of this work are used by permission of the author, E. Gary Gygax, and Trigee Enterprise Inc. This book is protected under international treaties and the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book is a work of fiction; any resemblance to actual people, organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental. First Printing April, 2003. ISBN 1-931275-03-3. Printed in Canada. Special Note for Dungeon Masters All Maps are compatible with Dwarven Forge’stm Master Maze tm dungeon geomorphs. For schematics go to the Troll Lord Games website, www.trolllord.com, Product Support, Winter Runes. THE WINTER RUNES & THE RUNEMARK PART THE FI RST OF THE HORNED GOD’S WINTER Winter Runes is divided into two books. Book One provides the DM and the player with all the background, adventure and setting information needed to introduce the Winter Runes. Part Two provides the mechanics for the Winter Runes, a new magic using core class, the RuneMark, class spells, abilities and rules for plane travel. Winter Runes consists of a Runic Alphabet with each character representing a spell. The key in the back of the book gives the DM and player easy access to the Runes and the RuneSpells they represent. All are fully compatible with any ongoing game and are designed to enhance the already existing magic system. There are two overall adventures provided in Winter Runes. These place a few of the RuneSpells in a difficult and challenging environment providing solid examples of how to introduce the RuneSpells, either in a continuous number of sessions or over an extended period of time. The adventures are placed in the world of Erde, the setting brought to you by the Codex of Erde, but all are easily adapted to homebrew or other existing campaigns (refer to “Setting & Placement” below). “The Winter’s Wind Never Breaks, on Summer’s Shore no Stop it Takes,T he Shroud of Darkness, Cold and StarkThe world the Horned God’s Winters Dark.” A MARK OF HISTORY long, majestic hall of the Emperor. “Your path and mine have at last crossed, my Lord Emperor. Your call comes on As the last breath of the Days before Days blew across the the heels of my triumph, for I have mastered the Rune Lords land the Emperor Sebastian Olivier I sat upon the throne of and bent them to my will. I have broken the seal of the Paths Aenoch with the Cradle of the World upon his brow. Behind of Umbra.” him stood his councilor, the High Priestess, Nectanebo, servant of the goddess Imbrisuis. Sebastian brooded over his “This news you bring to me when I need to hear it most. life’s travails, for his road had been an altogether evil one. There is more to your actions than even you know, dread His long betrayal of the Holy Alliance and the long lasting Mage. But let us be about it. Aristobolus is dead and we are war with them had given him only half of what he desired. free to conquer the world if we have the courage to take the Ethrum stood strong against him and would not yield. In proper weapons in hand.” disgust, Olivier’s mind turned then to darker paths. “It is not courage, but power, that you will need. From this He summoned to his throne Nulak-Kiz-Din, that dread day forth you plant the seeds of the world’s destruction.” Wizard of the White Order. Folds of sorcery wrapped the Nectanebo’s voice crackled with age and defiance, for she Arch-Magi, cloaking him in power, as he walked through the sought not to speak the Runes nor walk the Paths of Umbra. 2 THE WINTER RUNES & THE RUNEMARK Some few come here to trade, but they are very brave and Lynth & the Silver Tower very foolish for the Orcs hate the world as it is. They long for Lynth is home to an Elven Lord of the Fontenouq. These the days of the Winter Dark when they ruled as lords over elves are well known for their warlike tendencies and revel in men, their oldest remembering the glorious days of the the destruction of evil. Sarahclem is just such a lord. She is horned god. That said, Uranoch is wise and trades with tall, with unusually dark hair for her kind. It is long, but few almost anyone, good or evil, if he feels he can gain some would know it for she wears it beneath a helm of which she measure of power from it. almost always wears. She is forever girded for war, in chain and plate and carries a great shield in combat. She prefers Ington River the lance and sword to all other weapons and rides her This foul mess flows from that heap called the Shadow warhorse into battle. As with its master, the steed is armored Mountains. Its origin is unknown, but many surmise it flows in chain barding. from deep pits carved by Trigal (Nulak) in the days of old. This lumbering giant of a river winds its way through the The tower of Lynth is built in the high fashion of her people, Shadow Mountains, passing foul Orc, Hobgoblin and Troll the walls thin, tall and magically enhanced. The gold colored holes and dens, collecting refuse as it goes along. When it keep surrounds a high silver tower with minarets. Few live spills into the plains of Gottland, it gains in width what it loses here with the warrior elf, save for her servants and a dozen or in speed, averaging 150 yards across. Several hundred miles so of her retainers. All of these are soldiers. Sarahclem into its course the Teifsich River joins its run to the sea. welcomes visitors and aids those in great discomfort, but if Those clean waters do a little to dilute the Ington’s foulness. they are not filled with a desire to destroy evil then she treats After this juncture the river widens and deepens and gains with them only a little. She can raise an army of 125 elves speed. From here to the sea it is generally 250 yards wide, from the Mithlon Eves, which are a mixed bag of Wood Elves possessed of deadly currents and many tide pools. It dumps and High Elves, and about 200 woodsmen from the same its impurities into the Drab Sinks near the Inner Sea. area. She takes great sport in hounding the Orcs of Rackenberg. Nothing but the grossest and meanest of creatures live within the foul river. Yet, the Orcs, Ungern, Hobgoblins and others For Encounters refer to the supplied charts, page 76-77. live close to its banks, fishing out dead animals and muck dwellers for food. They fear not the seasonal flooding, and have houses and towns built behind great river walls or upon high stilts. The river is not easily crossed. From the mountains to where the Teifsich joins it, there are two bridges. Their original names are lost to history but the Orcs call them, in the Vulgate, the Granbridge and the Urlpalls . Both are stone and in decent shape. The Granbridge in the west can hold four wagons abreast, skirting the river by a mere 20 yards, while the Urlpalls is far more narrow and high.