SETTING PRIMER

There are no active gods. Religion is pantheonic. Kin mark rites, make sacrifices, and pray to myriad appropriate gods. Going on a sea voyage? You burn incense and sacrifice a fish to the sea god. Harvest time coming? You pour out libations and do ritual dances all night long for the harvest god. And so on.

Gods and pantheons tend to be locally named and venerated in different ways in different places. There are cults dedicated to single gods - but any such cults found out are typically viewed as weird and creepy.

Eons ago, the Ancients bred and magically created all the kin on this world: Cat People, Dwarf, Elf, Frog People, Goblin, Halfling, Hobgoblin, Human, Karkion, Lizard People, Ogre, and Orc. Sages say each kin was created for a different purpose. What those might have been are lost to the annals of time.

Kin don't hold animosity as a group, to other kin. All Elf do not hate all Frog People. A given Elf might hate all Frog People - but that's just that one Elf being a jerk. Groups, clans, gangs, towns, and cities of kin tend to be mixed. Kin are broadly speaking sexually compatible, but they breed true. That is, if a Human and a Dwarf mate, their offspring will either be Human or Dwarf.

The world has two primary continents. One, the western continent, is dominated by a 1,000+ year old Empire. The Empire is currently ruled by the Scarlet Empress - so called because there are persistent rumors she and her closest advisors practice a profane and dangerous form of blood magic. No one dares call her the Scarlet Empress to her face. The Empire is in a slow decline, though most citizens of the Empire don't yet know it.

The other, eastern continent, is dotted with feudal kingdoms, earldoms, satrapies, and the like. The borders are fluid. Wars for land are frequent. Rulers come and go quickly, and violently.

Set between these two continents, and a bit south of them, is the Diasporadives. An independent archipelago. Sages say these islands are the remains of yet a third continent. But who can really say?

The Diasporadives are fiercely independent. The islands are dotted with coves, inlets, harbors, and sea coves that are home to all manner of pirates. The towns and villages are mostly independent, hardscrabble, populated by kin with grit in their sandpaper.

There's one major port - the city state of Meeros. It's a democracy, with citizenship, voting rights, and elected town council, magistrates, and a mayor. The politics are freewheeling and often bareknuckle. But the people view themselves as free.

The town and villages view themselves as citizens of Meeros. Meeros doesn't always return that favor, but sometimes it does. It depends which political faction is in power in Meeros, really.

Meeros is a thriving port. Its primary economy is based on shipping between the two continents, and among major ports of the Empire. It's a good waystation for many major trade routes. A lot of the business comes from merchants and petty lordings and even the occasionally Imperial Prelate willing to pay protection money to guarantee no pirates will pillage a given cargo.

And the pirates? They view themselves as truly free. Citizens of no polity, and beholden to no rulers.

Our stories will be set in the Diasporadives.

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CHARACTER CREATION

We'll be following the steps in the book, with one exception. I'm not overly found of random character generation.

We'll be using a default array for attributes: 17, 15, 13, 11, 10, 8 arranged as you like.

If you're desperate to try random character generation, be my guest. Once you make that decision, you are committed to taking either the first set of stats you roll (roll 4D6, drop the lowest die, six times, and arrange them to taste), or if you hate those, you'll take the array listed above.

Available kin are: Cat People, Dwarf, Elf, Frog People, Goblin, Halfling, Hobgoblin, Human, Karkion, Lizard People, Mallard, Ogre, Orc, Satyr, Wolfkin. I can provide relevant details on any of these, if asked.

Available professions are: Artisan, Bard, Fighter, Hunter, Knight, Mage, Mariner, Merchant, Scholar, and Thief.

Note: I will be using the optional rule that allows a character to have a starting Heroic Ability other than the recommended choice for their profession. Note, the only exception to this is magic. If you want to start the game knowing magic, you need to take the Mage profession.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:49, Fri 26 July.

ADDITIONAL KIN

The main benefit to selecting any kin is the kin ability and the movement rate. Otherwise, there are no rules differences.

In terms of culture, none of the kin, as far as I'm concerned, have a monoculture. All kin are part of the various cultures of the world, such as it is.

And, I'm totally open to players providing cultural / world details as part of their backstory. We can work to incorporate those into the game.

With that said:

GOBLIN ABILITY: Resilient
Willpower Points: 1
Goblins are resilient creatures capable of withstanding all kinds of hardships. By activating this ability, goblins get a boon on a CON roll for resisting poison or disease (pages 52–53 in the Rulebook) or can make camp without rolling BUSHCRAFT (page 103 in the Rulebook).

In addition, goblins can always eat raw food without falling ill (no WP required).

Movement rate: 10

HOBGOBLIN ABILITY: Fearless
Willpower Points: 2
Hobgoblins are stalwart individuals who are not easily fazed. A hobgoblin can activate this ability to automatically succeed with a WIL roll for resisting fear (page 52 in the Rulebook). The ability must be activated before any roll is made.

Movement rate: 10

FROG PEOPLE ABILITY: Leaping
Willpower Points: 3
Frog people can activate this ability to jump as far as their movement rating horizontally, or up to half their movement rating vertically. No ACROBATICS roll is required. The jump can end with a melee attack, which is made with a boon.

Movement rate: 10

LIZARD PEOPLE ABILITY: Camouflage
Willpower Points: 2
Lizard people who wish to stay hidden are hard to spot. Activating this ability grants a boon on a SNEAKING roll.

Movement rate: 10

OGRE ABILITY: Body Slam
Willpower Points: 3
Ogres can use their large bodies to slam an opponent with tremendous force. This counts as an unarmed melee attack with a boon that inflicts 2D6 bludgeoning damage (plus any damage bonus) and cannot be parried. The ogre can also dash before the attack (but does not have to). Humanoid targets of Normal size or smaller who are hit by the attack are automatically knocked down.

Movement rate: 10

ORC ABILITY: Tough
Willpower Points: 3
Orcs can take extraordinary amounts of pain and keep on fighting. An orc with zero HP can activate this ability to automatically rally (page 50 in the Rulebook), without rolling against WIL or being PERSUADED by someone else.

Movement rate: 10

CAT PEOPLE ABILITY: Nine Lives
Willpower Points: Varies
Cat people have an incredible ability to emerge unscathed from even the worst of ordeals. Activating this ability grants a boon on a death roll (page 50 in the Rulebook), at the cost of 2 WP. The ability can also be used to reduce the number of D6s rolled for fall damage by one per WP up to a maximum of three (after the ACROBATICS roll to mitigate the damage, see page 53 in the Rulebook).

Movement rate: 12

KARKION ABILITY: Wings
Willpower Points: 1
The bat-like wings of a karkion allow it to move freely through the air at the same speed as on foot, at the cost of 1 WP per round.

Movement rate: 12

SATYR ABILITY: Raise Spirits
Willpower Points: 3
Satyrs are cheerful and optimistic creatures who like to raise their friends’ spirits with song or poetry. Activating this ability counts as an action and removes a chosen condition from a person within earshot and 10 meters. The ability cannot be used on the satyr itself.

Movement rate: 10
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:33, Fri 26 July.