Its here, if a little late. I can't help but feel as though the setting has gotten away from me lately, moving more in to gonzo territory and less in the 'caveman' space I had originally envisioned it as. There can be weird elements, but with week 5 I want to drive home the main focuses of the setting the pre-neolithic elements.
Some setting tenets:
People don't farm outside of the city-states. They herd animals and/or engage in horticulture if they aren't nomadic hunter gatherers.
People don't form permanent settlements, seasonal settlements are common, but many choose a life of wandering from site to site.
Despite the focus of the Gygax 75, this is a setting focused on wilderness. Ruins are overgrown and empty, most adventure sites are in the dens of dangerous beasts.
The wilds are the enemy, but also the lifeblood and parents of all.
And finally, people are joined by blood and friendship into 'tribes' or culture groups. They may not get along with one another despite this.
- Giant black dog monster. Any who see him will be pursued during the full moon. A single blood-shot eye. Long red tongue. Makes no sound. Hunched back like a kodiak. 12 Hits
- Tips:
- Must be killed with a silver blade dipped in tallow of a hanged man
- Would rather attack lone, sleeping, or child targets.
- Multi-mawed creature in the well. 10 Hits. Can take control of people to force them into its well. Human-like arms and small tentacles.
- Tips:
- Don't look into wells
- Blue bottles lure it away from its well
- Hates sunlight
- Blood-red furred giant sloth. A single eye set into its head, its maw stretches from chin to nave. Screams as it hunts, pausing only to sleep at night or feast on those it devours. Nauseating stench
- Tips:
- Eats anything that *looks* edible
- Will not wake while the moon is up
- Has a cave it will return to for feasting and sleeping
- A small bear that grips the trees. Can never be seen before it strikes. Ravenous blood sucking fangs and shock red eyes.
- A giant hunched emaciated figure with the head of a flayed deer. fast as shit. claws like straight razors. freakishly resilient. incredibly pale, wrapped in bloody furs. blood drips from its gums. gains additional hits on kills/devouring victims. runs when at 3 or less hits. ravenous for its next meal. can mimic voices and shapeshift to any form it desires
- Tips:
- Can only be killed by fire melting its ice heart or is shattered by a silver weapon
- Very vulnerable to fire
- Forms it shapeshifts to will still have its pale skin and bleeding gums
- Can be detected by its stench or the chill that surrounds it
- A festering husk of a former dryad. Her grove lies rotting and dying. She will scoop out your life to restore herself. Goes dormant when killed. Drains life when touched or when she touches you. Screeches and wails in the light of day.
- Tips
- Every tree must be burnt to the root to truly destroy her
- Drains anything she touches of life, finding something close to death poisoned?
- A boar made of shadows and needles. Darkness made manifest. Every attack causes fear. 4 is enough for a heart attack, though most are already gored to shreds. Can fade into patches of darkness
- Tips
- A lamp made with a chunk of the moon or sun prevents its escape
- Mirrors really confuse it
- Directed light cuts it better than a sling through flesh
Weapon and Armor Materials:
- Weapons
- Bone (cheap, breaks easily)
- Flint (the baseline, reliable)
- Groundstone (takes ages to slowly carve these out. lasts a lifetime. expensive. usually only found among the elderly or farming communities, those with time)
- Obsidian (sharp! expensive and controlled by the city-states)
- Crystal (fragile, imbued with magical powers)
- Armor
- Bone (tied together with leather, cheap)
- Ceramic/Pottery (heavy, fine patterns inlaid)
- 'Dino' Bone (durable bones from great and dangerous beasts)
- Chitin (tough and light, insect types won't like you for it)
Wood and bamboo are good options for tools and equipment, and necessary for survival, but much rarer in the drier parts of the ring.
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