Dark Corners of Mystara: Dwarves and the Hounds of Tindalos

Dark Corners of Mystara is my continuing set of twists and tweaks on the classic D&D setting.

Some of the dwarven clans of Mystara have a sacred duty: building caverns, mazes, and labyrinths according to sacred and infernal geometries to trap the scouting minions of the Outer Intelligences -- the Hounds of Tindalos.

They are known as the Modrigswerg. According to the vaults of Pandius:

The Modrigswerg are an ancient clan of dwarves exiled from Rockhome for pursuit of forbidden lore and traffic with dark powers. Only the gnomes are their peers as artificers, but the Modrigswerg are said to be cursed by the Darkness, condemned forever to suffer distrust, treachery, and madness.

Modrigswerg reside in underground warrens in the hills and mountains of the Northern Reaches. They are aloof and generally dislike visitors. They share their race's traditional conservative attitudes, they are loath to abandon ritual, and adopt new ways reluctantly. They are masters of traps and fiendish devices; the best work in this field is done by Modrigswerg craftsdwarves.

The tale of the exiling of the Modrigswerg clans always leaves out that it was a necessary and noble sacrifice, concocted by a council of clan heads, in order to keep creation safe from the Outer Intelligences. Their creations -- large and small -- are traps for the Hounds and other minion races sent to find and exploit entrances into our reality for their masters. Many of the works that adventurers encounter are, in truth, practice works, drafts, and experiments for their masterpieces -- designed to lure, trap, and kill these servitor races in elaborate underground cathedral-labyrinths.

These craftsdwarves skirt the madness of understanding the creatures and natures of the Outer Dark by hewing tightly to ritual, custom, and tradition. Any deviance from it is a sign of corruption, of succumbing to the taint of the Outer Dark, and is punishable by death.

There are rumors of a grand mega-dungeon in a dweomer-wrapped mountain where the Modrigswerg go to transform themselves into forever unchanging stone forms and stand forever as living batteries for their creations -- many of which are tied to their life forces to remain active.

These crafted items built to safeguard reality are built to last -- were it not for the chaotic, eroding, corrupting nature of the Outer Dark, they would have permanently safeguarded all of creation. But the Modrigswerg must wage an ever-escalating battle against their foes, and if the sentients of this reality must pay the price to unwittingly aid in this battle, then so be it.

In the LOTFP ruleset, the alignment of Modrigswerg dwarves are always Chaotic, due to their innate understanding of magics and how the magical planes and counter-planes arise from the interplay of surfaces between reality and the Outer Dark.

Fate, Fortune, and the Adventurer

Both Doomed Slayers and the classic "shearing" rationale of Karameikos for adventurers kicked this idea off for me, but then it mingled with the concepts of Fate & Fortune and the moirae who represent them in mythology.

Fate may seem interchangeable with Fortune in the modern idiom, but I choose approach them in this way:

• Fate represents the path in life that was fixed for every living and unliving thing in the world. It was the order that was proclaimed when the universe was ripped and formed from the fabric of what would eventually become chaos. It was a delicate dance of matter, energy, time, and thought -- that was corrupted by enemies from without and from within. Now it is a weight, a terrible gravity that pulls all things down to a fixed state and an eventual finite end.
• Fortune resists Fate. It rages against the confines of fixed destinies and pre-ordained endings. It is the blur in the sight of seers, the gap between the readings of soothsayers, the spark in the eyes and hearts of heroes and villains across the world who struggle to change the world and themselves. Agents of Fortune -- Adventurers, Doomed Slayers, Delvers -- challenge their fates, risking a safe, predictable, and often boring end to their lives in the hopes of making things better for themselves and, perhaps, for society and the world at large.

In my Mystara, some who are Sheared gain employment in more regular jobs. Not all heed the call to Fortune and remain bound to Fate. Some choose to remain Sheared permanently and become known as the Severed and walk a path outside of Fate.

Luck -- good and ill -- dominates the most crucial moments of their lives. But this was something that they accepted or got used to early in their careers: when party members died right and left in an unforeseen encounter, when defeat befell their greatest leaders in the face of almost-certain victory, when inexplicable fumbles plagued even the surest of strikes. And they accept it, because when up against implacable foes, the same rules bedevil them as well.

With this slightly different take on Doomed Slayers, most of the recommended rules and culture can certainly be incorporated into the setting. But some of that separation of cultures can also be attributed to the tension between the two faces of the tripartite goddesses.

Of course, there should theoretically be a third face. Some whisper that it is Destiny, but how does that differ from Fate or Fortune?

LOTFP Mystara: Death, Magic, and the Jackal-Headed God

I was toying with the idea of inserting the Death Frost Doom module into Karameikos by somehow having him related to the Jackal-Headed god of the Hutaaka known as Pflarr.

This statue appears in the Vatican. How
cool is that?

However, in the process of doing research, I happened upon the god Hermanubis.

Hermanubis is a god that combines the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Anubis -- the son of Egyptian gods Set and Nephthys.

Definitely tied to death via both Hermes's and Anubis's role in bringing the dead to the afterlife, he also carries the sacred caduceus that both Hermes and Iris bore as messengers of the gods.

The twisted Pflarr we're crafting would therefore have provenance over death and magic (in fact, Pflarr is tied to both death & magic based on his written origins), and might be a special patron to those seeking to uncover secrets that mortals were not meant to know.

He may even be the god that -- in my 'pagan spells' approach -- all empowers all spells that deal with death, undeath, and piercing the secrets of the outer dark.

Immediate questions that come to mind: are the Hutaaka possessed of certain abilities tied to their creator's interests? Perhaps they have ties to the Kingdom of the Ghouls that has yet to be placed in LOTFP Mystara. Perhaps they perform the role as a guardian over the portals to the Underworld. And what strange rituals do they perform in their Lost Valley?

LOTFP Mystara: The Hutaaka and The Jackal-Headed God -- Part I

In this edition of Dark Corners of Mystara, we tackle the ancient history of Karameikos.

The Short Version

The native human population of what eventually became Karameikos were known as a Traldar, and lived a pitiful existence after the ancient empire they used to be a part of just plain disappeared. And then the Hutaaka -- a then-peaceful humanoid race with heads of Jackals who also lived in those lands -- discovered the Traldar communities and shared their knowledge and wisdom (granted by a mysterious Jackal-headed immortal) with the humans.

For a while, there was peace and prosperity.

Then gnoll tribes invaded, and the Hutaaka -- a race already sliding into decadence and apathy due to natural tendencies and the readily available subservient workforce provided by the humans -- fled to their hidden valley, leaving the humans to fend for themselves.

Betrayed by their jackal-headed masters and assaulted by dog-headed monster tribes, the humans rose up and fought back against all beast men and claimed the lands for themselves.

The Dark Corners Version

The Hutaaka are a race that once knew greatness; they achieved that greatness by entering into a covenant with a being referred to as Pflaar. They say Pflaar granted them wisdom, knowledge, secrets, and technologies that allowed them to stretch their influence across the lands.

The early relationship between Hutakaa and Traldar was mutually beneficial at the start. However, the Hutaaka eventually saw and treated the Traldar as de facto slaves, rather than equals or partners.

Furthermore, the Traldar grew suspicious of the Hutaaka and fearful of their master and his gifts.

Rumors arose:

• that the Hutaaka had once been humans from distant lands and had traded their humanity for their advancement;
• that the lack of Hutaakan children was due to the fact that Hutaakans were born human and remained that way until they underwent a binding to the racial covenant;
• that once a year, on the anniversary of each Hutaakan's oathtaking, they reverted to pitiful, screaming human forms, begging for release from their torment but were bound into the faceless humanoid statues that decorated the hallways of their homes until they rededicated themselves to their god;
• that some were tempted by the taste of human flesh, and -- once succumbing to this temptation -- lost their wisdom and became barbaric shadows of their former selves.

The gnolls came - perhaps twisted Hutaaka, perhaps followers of a rival dog-headed god -- and began to attack Hutaaka and Traldar alike. The Hutaaka claimed to be a peace-loving race and fled, relying on human Traldar to defend the lands. But humans suspect that Hutaaka will not kill those who might be their family or friends in monstrous guise.

Heroes arose from the tribes of the Traldar and fought against all beast men to liberate the lands for all Traldar. But the Hutaaka and their god still haunt the lands of Karameikos from their hidden valley, seeking to stretch forth their influence once more.

Dark Corners of Mystara: LOTFP Edition

Karameikos has always struck me as a great place for a darker, weirder kind of campaign -- far from the luxuries and excesses of the Empires. It's on the frontier, where an imperial force has invaded and taken over lands from clannish natives who reside in the wilderness. Humanity in Karameikos has yet to tame itself; how can it expect to tame the monstrous inhabitants of its dark forests or the malevolent spirits and entities that lurk in its mountains?


I hope to revisit Karameikos with the Lamentations of the Flame Princess ruleset for several reasons:
a) it's my go-to setting for D&D;
b) the classes line up nicely;
c) i like the ruleset.

But the weird vibe of LOTFP seems to resonate with the setting as well. I hope to place a bunch of the modules I picked up into the larger Mystaran realm. Let's see where it takes us.

First stop: that delightfully politically correct history of Traldar and Halav... and the monsters.

LOTFP: Rolling Up Two Fighters - Choosing a Class

They may be bigger than us, but they only have wooden clubs
and furry loincloths! We can take 'em!

Fighter 01.

STR - 14 (+1)
INT - 12
WIS - 10
DEX - 10
CON - 13 (+1)
CHA - 12

Hit Points
Checking p.06, as a 1st level fighter, she gets 1d8 hp! I rolled a 4. With the CON bonus, that's a 5. Fortunately, there is a minimum number of hit points for a 1st level fighter as per p.20, so Fighter 01 starts of with 8 hp.

Attack Bonus
Also on p.20, it says that I get an attack bonus of +2 at 1st level. That's why she's a fighter, man.

Saving Throws
These are the values that I have to equal or beat on a d20 roll:

• Paralyze [14]
• Poison [12]
• Breath Weapon [15]
• Magical Device [13]
• Magic [16]

It seems that the fighter is best at resisting or overcoming the effects of Poison, followed by resisting Magical Devices, then overcoming paralysis and petrification, then area effect breath weapon things, then magic!

Fighter 02

STR - 11
INT - 9
WIS - 11
DEX - 13 (+1)
CON -11
CHA - 8 (-1)

Hit Points

For her, I roll 1d8 and get a 3. Fighter 02 starts of with 8 hp as well.


Attack Bonus
Attack bonus of +2 at 1st level; check.


Saving Throws

Equal or beat on a d20 roll:

• Paralyze [14]
  
• Poison [12]
  
• Breath Weapon [15]
  
• Magical Device [13]
  
• Magic [16]
  

Concise explanation of what each of these mean on p.21, which helps to further the 'rulings not rules' aspect of running this game.

I've peeked ahead, and know that fighters get some other goodies for their class as well -- like at least two combat options not open to most other classes -- so I'm getting a good feel for this character class.

LOTFP: Rolling Up Two Fighters - Ability Scores

Never got around to building her as a fighter.
So, she'll be my inspiration for a randomly
generated fighter for now.

Here are the Ability Scores for the fighters that I rolled up, allowing the free swapping of the scores, as per the LOTFP rules:

Fighter 01

STR - 14 (+1)
INT - 12
WIS - 10
DEX - 10
CON - 13 (+1)
CHA - 12

So I went with the STR and CON combo, for a fighter who's stronger and tougher (slightly) than the average person. Luckily, all other stats are 'average' in terms of bonus/penalty ratings. In my mind, though, this one is a little bit more quick-witted and charming, due to the 12s in INT and CHA.

Fighter 02

STR - 11

INT - 9
WIS - 11
DEX - 13 (+1)
CON -11
CHA - 8 (-1)

This one, however, only has one bonus, which goes to DEX to aid in initiative and improvement of AC. I kept the STR, WIS, and CON at the upper ranges of 'average', and slapped this fighter into the lower range of 'average' for INT. This one is, however, not that developed in social skills and has a penalty in CHA. I'm hoping that the DEX choice helps this one live longer -- and then the natural bonuses to 'To Hit' will compensate as this one levels up.

We shall see. Next up, the full character sheet, sans equipment.

LOTFP: Professions and Lamentations

I'm going to start creating characters for Lamentations of the Flame Princess. I may begin a PBEM campaign for it, set in one of the cities of the Kingdom of the Wheel.

What will I do with them? Well, they're technically going to be NPCs that could be hired by the PCs -- perhaps at the local Adventurer's Guild? Or maybe they're the heads of the expeditions that will be coming up. Or they're there to bolster the two to three people in my current PBEM when they tackle the Tower of the Stargazer. Or maybe they're there to act as surviving characters so little hooks concerning the background won't be lost -- haha, I've done this kind of thing before for the Call of Cthulhu Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign!

Interestingly enough, the adventure of the Tower of the Stargazer will contain more elements about the Kingdom of the Wheel history, the KeyLords, the Adamantine Court, and the Council of Saeculum -- if they survive.

So... I'll create two characters per class, give 'em short backstories, and see where that goes.