Galbaruc: Eight Lies About the City

1.  Galbaruc is the First City, built upon the toil of the infant race of Man for the use and enjoyment of their masters, who journeyed across the trackless void to make dominion of our world, having destroyed their own though perversity or carelessness.

2.  Galbaruc is the Last City, her foundations raised by inscrutable magics and the labor of the creature that Man is reduced to in his last days.  Its overlords, realizing the immanent destruction of all they had wrought, enveloped the city in a great cloud of fog and propelled it backwards through obscure sidestreets and alleyways of time, after first ejecting its builders to endure alone and without shelter the long-deferred obliteration of their race.

3.  When the Celestial City of Urizen was at last complete, the warped boards, bent nails, and imperfect stones that the Great Architect had rejected were flung from the Highest Heaven into the sea.  In their fall, this detritus struck a prison galley carrying a shipment of murderers, whores, thieves, and other convicts being transported to a distant island to serve out sentences of hard labor.  Most were slain in the resulting shipwreck or by the sharks that swarmed to the scent of blood, but the survivors clung to the wreckage, lashing the pieces together and clambering over the struggling bodies of their fellows to safety.  Thus was Galbaruc founded, and the character of its citizenry established.

4.  There has only ever been one Beggar-King of Galbaruc.  His wisdom and sagacity surpasses that of all other earthly monarchs, and his court is a model of efficiency, decorum, and enlightened rule.

5.  There is no Beggar-King at all, and tales of this secretive worthy, his court, and his kingdom are a mere fiction, elaborated upon over centuries by beggars, unscrupulous academics, and the publishers of penny romances.

6.  The yearly marraige of Galbaruc to the Sea, in which the First Citizen takes upon himself the role of bridegroom, is not merely a symbolic gesture.  The First Citizen is betimes required to descend beneath the waves in a special conveyance of glass and gold, there to perform his conjugal duties with Yash-Kunag the Many-Toothed, the great shark-headed Sea Mother who dwells below in a great palace whose timbers are the rotting hulls of ships lost at sea.  It is for this reason that the First Citizen abstains from eating godling-flesh during the Festival of the Great Culling.

7.  There are gods so diminished in stature that they have been forced to take leave of the shimmering, otherworldly manses where they held court in better days, and now lead lives of bitter exile in crumbling apartments and drafty tenements throughout the city, sustaining themselves on the prayers of tiny cults and obscure sects.  Some of these wretches must subsist on the scraps of sacrificial meat and dregs of sacramental wine left at their altars by an ever-dwindling number of dedicated voataries.

8.  In the deepest recesses of the Temple of Yash-Kunag, there is a pool, tended by seven virgins of good family, whose charge is the care and feeding of the blind, albino god-spawn that circle and thrash restlessly therein.  There, they divine the city's future from the clouds of blood that bloom across the water's surface while the god-spawn are at their meat.  Should these creatures ever refuse their meal, the city will be swallowed up by the waves within the year.

Player's Campaign Questions [Galbaruc] Part 2.

Picking up from the last post:  This batch of questions is from Antion:

Where do I live? How private is it? Enough to muffle a scream?


All native PCs begin play as boarders at a Low Lodging House run by a 'Mother Clinkscales.'  It's a shabbily respectable looking structure in a disreputable corner of the Contrada of the Shark.  It is overcrowded, indifferently maintained, and offers little to no privacy.  On the plus side, fewer stabbings are reported to take place on the premises, guests may store bulky or cumbersome items in a locked storeroom, and Mother Clinkscales herself has a reputation for honesty, discretion,  and even a touching proprietary concern on behalf of her boarders.

Where did I go to school? How prestigious is that?  


Galbaruc has its own university, though it has a reputation as a breeding ground for heresy, hedonism, and weird fringe philosophy.  There is also a medical school, whose curriculum occilates between the archaic and the dangerously experimental.  Most people have no education beyond a simple grammar school (and even that's a rarity in the countryside and the poorer parts of the city), so a University education of any sort is extremely prestigious, a fact often exploited by charlatans.

How many people care what religion I am? What if I'm an atheist?


Though nominally Urizenite, Galbaruc is more religiously pluralistic than many of its neighbors, and the local form of Urizen's faith are considered by more Orthodox believers to be hopelessly corrupt, compromised, and riddled with heresy, superstition, and foreign influences.  Many foreign and indigenous gods have been syncretized as Saints, and in the countryside, especially, older religions are practiced alongside the new.  Even in the city itself, indigenous gods such as Yash-Kunag and Seppophis are worshipped openly by more heterodox Urizenites, and the rites of Yash-Kunag are tied with the panoply and rituals of state.

That said, there is a sizable minority of hardline Urizenites, and brawls and even pitched battles between opposing sects and faiths have been known to take place.  Religious prejudices may inform legal decisions and hiring practices.

Atheists are mostly found around the University, and in artistic circles.  They are considered by the majority to be odd, overeducated, and delusional, but are generally tolerated outside of orthodox Urizenite circles.  Many atheists find gainful employment during the Festival of the Great Culling, as their skepticism makes them less succeptable to the awe-inducing aura of the godlings.

Finally, atheist "clerics" exist.  They do not attribute their wonder-working powers to a deity, and offer their own explanations (if any) for their strange abilities.

What languages do I speak? Common, Ancient, Foreign?


Most people in the city speak "Common."

Other languages encountered so far include:

Zhaibari -- The dominant language of the nearby Sultanate
Kozak -- Language of the rampaging hordes.  Hyperborean's hillbilly nephew, twice removed.
Hyperborean - Dominant tongue of the 'civilized' regions of the Far North.  Lots of dialects.

Some Scholarly/Dead/Exotic languages include:

Naga-Maya
Classical Hyberborean
Ancient Hyperzephyrian
Protong
Northern Tlönic
Southern Tlönic
Seraphine
Voynich
Duvan'Ku 

How easy is it to acquire new magic-user spells?

Access to M-U spells is pretty much limited to what you can find while adventuring and what you can get from other M-Us in the city.  Usually this would involve joining an Occult Order, but theft is also an option.

Is "adventurer" its own social class? How shitty can I treat commoners (or vice versa)?


Adventurers occupy a similar status to actors in Renaissance Europe and Genroku Era Japan -- dangerous, disreputable, and lower-class, but often possessed of a certain glamour and swaggering style that captures the imagination of their betters.

Most common people treat them as they would a chapter of Hell's Angels -- with an amount of distaste mixed with fear of physical violence.

Where can I buy or sell something illegal? (Drugs? Poison? A dead body?)

The subterranean Night Market, which changes locations frequently, is the place to go.  In addition, many unassuming shops do a brisk trade in contraband goods in back rooms and under the counter, if the customer knows who to ask. 

Can I auto-buy new equipment while in town or shouId I ask you to bust out your Ye Olde ShoppeKeep voice?

Standard equipment you can auto-buy unless you're in the middle of fighting a small army of waterlogged living corpses dragging themselves out of the canals or something.  Something exotic or custom-built I'll either do as a scene in-game or settle with you outside of the game so as not to slow things down.

Is a rapier v longsword duel considered ridiculous or merely unsporting? for which side?


In a formal duel, the choice of weapons is left to the offended party.  Generally, it's seen as sporting to allow each duelist to fight with the weapon he's most familiar with.  Sword and pistol duels are common, and more exotic arrangements involving poisonous plants, cursed bells, and lethal gastonomy have been heard of.  The most serious affairs of honor are settled with knives, and anyone interfering in a knife duel is held in the lowest contempt and disgust.

Any random charts or formalized lists of frivolous shit I can waste my money on?

I'm working on it.  I'm using Chris Kutalik's Conspicuous Consumption rules from Hill Cantons in which you can earn XP by spending your hard-earned cash on fripperies and gewgaws.

Players' Campaign Questions [Galbaruc] Part 1

So I put out a request to my players over G+ for questions about setting, playstyle, etc. for my campaign.  As with Jeff's 20 Questions, I think this is a useful and more interesting method of defining a setting, and it forces me to supply details I'd normally be inclined to gloss over, and also to determine what should be left vague.

I'll be doing this in two parts (unless I get another post's-worth of questions).  First up is Michael Moscrip:

How is the local ruler chosen, and what sort of government is it?

Galbaruc is an independent city-state and a republic (though this hasn't always been the case).  The closest historical/cultural analogue is probably the Republic of Venice.  The Princeps (First Citizen) is elected by the Council of Ten, who are in turn drawn from the ranks of the Senate.  There is still a traditional aristocracy, but its power and influence has weakened considerably with the resurgence of the merchant class.

When and where are religious services held? What's it like to attend?


Most religious services are held in churches and temples.  Urizenite churches are typically massive and architecturally dazzling, or strive to be.  Shrines and temples to more obscure deities can be as tiny as a niche in an alleyway, or a back room in a private home or business.  Street preachers of varying persuasions will rant and cajole from impromptu booths and platforms set up around the city, though these are appreciated by most spectators as entertainment.  Mystery cults, etc. usually meet in some underground or secluded outdoor areas.  The structure of these services will differ greatly according to religion or sect, but it has been noted that religious practices in the city tend to take on a more baroque and sensational character than elsewhere, with a greater emphasis on decoration, showy vestments, eccentricity, and theatrical flourish.

Note -- at some point, I might rename they days of the week, but until then, let's assume our own 7-day week with Sunday as a holy day/day of rest for Urizenites, just to keep it simple and familiar.

Are there frequent holidays or festivals? What is it like to be there?

Holidays and festivals are frequent - -both the native celebrations of the city and those brought by immigrants from all corners of the earth (and beyond).  Sometimes, two or more of these may be in full swing at the same time, the streets and canals thronged with celebrants.  Galbaruc's festivals are noted for their insistent observance of rituals and forms forgotten, banned, or unobserved elsewhere, as well as a tendency for ostentation and novelty.  Typically, you can count on a relaxation or reversal of social conventions, lots of booze, sex, drugs, music, and dancing, and swarms of pickpockets and other petty thieves. Two notable festivals are the Courtship of Seppophis and the Festival of the Great Culling.

What sort of thing could people find out about someone that would make them a pariah? That would make them celebrated?


Often, the same behavior will make one celebrated in some quarters and despised in others.  A sense of style and dash can do much to turn a common thief or murderer into a bold, picturesque rogue, subject to the embellishments of popular imagination and the guest of honor at the homes of those wishing to arouse envy and controversy in others of their set.

Acts and attitudes generally applauded:
- defeating enemies of the Republic as well as local dangers and nuisances.
- hosting a public event, funding parks, monuments, fountains, pleasure-gardens, etc.
- donating to charities and philanthropic pursuits
- performing some other act of civic pride
- Acting in a bold, striking, and decisive manner.
- Displays of Courage, Wit, and Cunning.

- Achieving Revenge on one's enemies, or perishing spectacularly in the attempt.
- Rising to the height of one's chosen pursuit or profession  -- the Beggar-King of Galbaruc is still a beggar,   but commands a grudging respect for his position within his milieu.
- Acting according to one's own philosophical, ethical, or aesthetic convictions, with a lofty contempt for death and other consequences of same.

Acts and attitudes generally disdained:
- Treason or collaboration with enemies of the Republic
- Pettiness and miserliness.
- Displays of cowardice and indecisiveness.
- A lack of style and grace -- Coarseness of sensibility.
- Failure to take action due to despair or complacency
- Engaging in slave-trading
- abuse of the elderly, the pious, the innocent, and the beautiful. (according to public opinion)
- Failure to keep one's promises.
- Acting contrary to one's established character and reputation.

All of the above are subject to exceptions, excuses, unforeseen variables, and the fickle whims of the public.

What's the most common job for a common person?


Most working people in the city are unskilled laborers, followed by skilled laborers, small tradesmen & their assistants.  Outside of the city, most people are farmers.  

Who shows up if there's a fire? A murder? A riot?

Fire:  In poorer neighborhoods, it's usually up to an impromptu bucket brigade, perhaps led by a member of that contrada's watch, or some other upstanding citizen.  There is no single permanent paid firefighting force in the city, but several ruthlessly competitive rival organizations have sprung up.  They will often brawl with one another over territory and haggle with property owners, refusing to take any action until arriving at a disproportionately favorable settlement.  In truly dire circumstances, the city militia will be called into action.

Murder:  Each contrada is responsible for arming and organizing a local watch to patrol itself, which can take the form of anything from an ad hoc brute squad with cudgels and torches to a well-trained, uniformly equipped force in distinctive uniform.  In theory, serious malefactors captured by these forces are to be transferred to the custody of the city's nascent police force, but all too often, such things are dealt with internally, with rough justice administered on the spot, in the privacy of a local barracks or a shopkeeper's basement.  Suspects apprehended for murder, rape, etc., often find themselves dragged in front of their supposed victims' families/kinsmen/business partners, who may then determine their fate.

Riot: If it isn't stopped at the Watch level (or if the watchmen join the mob themselves) the City Militia is called out.  The cavalry is particularly brutal in their methods.  Their efforts may be enhanced by those of sorcerers and alchemists in the employ of the City.

If I'm an upstanding citizen, who do I tell if I find a body? Who does that person answer to?

In a good neighborhood (where a body has a chance of lying intact and unmolested for any length of time, and Watch/Police patrols more frequent and robust) an upstanding citizen should inform a man or officer of the local watch, or an officer of the police, if one happens to be in the vicinity.  The police are widely considered to be ineffectual, unsympathetic, and dangerously new, and most established citizens of good character prefer to work directly with the local watch, who more often than not know the citizen, at least by reputation, and can vouch for his character.  Foreigners and those of lesser social standing may prefer to deal with the police, who are held to be more impartial in such matters (for good or ill).

Answering Jeff's 20 Campaign Questions [Galbaruc]

Questions can be found here.  Answers may change over time as the setting is further defined through play.


1. What is the deal with my cleric's religion? 

The Church of Urizen the Great Architect is the largest and most influential faith of Galbaruc and its immediate environs, but there exist numerous cults and sub-cults dedicated to a bewildering variety of saints and syncretized minor deities.  Small, ad hoc “chapels” to the numerous  aspects of Orc, Urizen’s opposite number, can be found all over the city (though hard-line Urizenites are enjoined to tear them down as soon as they’re discovered)  as well as countless temples and shrines to various foreign and indigenous gods.  Notable local deities include Yash-Kunag the Many-Toothed and Seppophis the Huntress.  Some “clerics” profess no faith or deity at all, offering their own explanations (or simple bafflement) as to the source of their wonder-working powers.   

                                                                     2. Where can we go to buy standard equipment?

Standard equipment is easily procured at merchant’s stalls in any of the temporary markets that open throughout the city.   Be prepared to haggle.   Anything more exotic can usually be found in the Night Market.

 3. Where can we go to get platemail custom fitted for this monster  I just befriended?


For that, you’ll want to talk to someone in one of the more exclusive boutiques.  Bespoke work will cost extra, but the price includes discretion.

4. Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?

This is a matter of considerable conjecture and debate.  All magical societies and orders proclaim their own superiority in the Art, yet the names spoken of with particular reverence and dread are notable for belonging to no society at all, and remaining alive in spite of the efforts of ambitious rivals.  The Beggar-King of Galbaruc is said to be well-versed in obscure lore particular to the city itself.  Jonquil of the Pale Flame is a formidable sorceress, though secretive in her ways.  She has refused, firmly but politely, all offers from such mystical orders as would admit a mere woman to their ranks.

5. Who is the greatest warrior in the land?

Venozzia the Tigress, a well-born young woman who renounced her family connections to become a mercenary captain (a position she claimed from the band's previous leader in a duel) has achieved great success of late in a series of campaigns in the Northern Wastes.  Her most notable feats to date include the sacking of  the fortified city of  Gorynych (for which the Tsar has sworn eternal enmity) and personally slaying Ghalki-Zhun, a degenerate ice-giant worshiped by the Northern Tribes as a god.

Closer to home, the current darling of the arena is Baudolino of Gra, a farmer's son from the provinces,  He has been seen to kill an ox with one blow of his fist.

    6. Who is the richest person in the land? 

In theory, that distinction belongs to the First Citizen, a personage of great magnificence and sagacity, who  may (with the consent and advice of the Senate and the Council of Ten) command the public purse.

In practice, the Merchant-Princes of Galbaruc far outstrip this worthy in wealth and splendor.  Their grand fetes, held in the glittering ballrooms of their palaces or on pleasure-barges drifting lazily along the Slanc, are unmatched in their novelty and opulence.  The wealthiest of their number is currently Kos the Ruby-Handed, an enigmatic semi-barbarian who arrived in Galbaruc but two years ago from the Cold Wastes, and whose meteoric rise in wealth and station has aroused the enmity of many of his recent peers.  He is rumored to patronize a powerful sorcerer, or a coterie of same.

               

7. Where can we go to get some magical healing?
 (see below)

8. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?
Poisons and diseases can be referred to clerics and physicians.  Physicans are more expensive, but Clerics will often demand payment in conversion or unpleasant tasks on their behalf.  Clerics can also deal with curses, though the method varies with the particular curse  Lycanthropy is cured via the application of silver weapons, beheading, and cremation,  There is no cure for level drain or death.  Undeath is commonly cured by beheading, immolation, and/or destruction of the heart.

9. Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?

The city is rife with occult societies, 'ancient' orders, secretive sects, and mystical fraternities of all descriptions.  These vary wildly in respectability, power, resources, ostentation of costume and ceremony, and actual occult knowledge.  The more accessible of these operate on two levels: the first, for casual members, lacking any facility with the Art, for whom the Order serves as a social club in which to enjoy pleasant conversation, establish political, artistic, and personal connections, and engage in elaborately staged but mystically negligible rites -- the latter featuring a great deal of theatrical pomp, consumption of fine food and drink, and other fleshly delights, enjoyed with a pleasing veneer of ritual. 
    The second level consists of an "inner circle" in which the more important business of the order is discussed, magical research presented, and rituals of genuine efficacy performed.  Magical Orders in the city are intolerant to the point of murder where unaffiliated outsiders are concerned, and any Magic-User of 3rd level or higher will be sought out for recruitment or assassination by 1d4 such societies after spending a week or more in the city. 

10. Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other                       expert NPC?      

These can be found in great profusion throughout the city and the surrounding countryside.  Those who make their habitation in caves, remote cottages, or nigh-inaccessible towers surrounded by treacherous, specter-haunted forests are commonly held to be more reliable and serious-minded in the pursuit of their chosen studies, though their prices and personal habits can be alarming and eccentric in the extreme,  and paying a call on one such can be perilous, time-consuming, and generally inconvenient.  Those dwelling in the city are (fairly or not) more commonly held to be mountebanks, charlatans, and crackpots.

11. Where can I hire mercenaries?
Mercenaries are plentiful, and can be readily found south of the Slanc loitering around storefronts, gambling at dice and cards in taverns, and getting involved in drunken fistfights in public thoroughfares.  They come from every corner of the earth--  from tall, pipe-smoking 'Amazons' with stone-bows at their shoulders and long knives in their sashes to scouts and trackers from the Broken Knife islands, their faces covered in spiraling tattoos and their warclubs bristling with shark teeth, to rocketeers and crossbowmen fresh from the Khanate, to musketeers, dragoons, and sword-and-dagger men.

12. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law? 
Giant two-handed whale cleavers and blunderbusses are considered déclassé anywhere outside of the most disreputable quarters of the city.  Rapiers and smallswords can be worn anywhere by gentlemen of quality.  The dagger is enshrined in Galbaruci culture as the mark of a free citizen and worn openly in any setting.  Adventurers returning from expeditions are advised to have their licenses ready to produce at all times, as unlicensed adventurers face crippling fines, confiscation of loot and property, imprisonment, branding, and, for repeat offenders, death.

13. Which way to the nearest tavern? 

There are taverns, inns, coffeehouses, cabarets, bordellos, casinos, and lodging-houses (with a taproom on the ground floor) etc., throughout the city to serve clientele of all classes and tastes.  Most adventurers, being heavily-armed, shabby in appearance, and lacking in social graces, tend to frequent low, rough-and-tumble establishments where they may play at cards, dice, or competitive maiming, drink to excess, make contacts with other abandoned scum, hatch plots for unsavory escapades, gather intelligence for the commission of same, and enjoy the amorous attentions of jades, trollops, and rough trade, paid in full with gold wrenched that very evening from the hands of corpses.

14. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?
None at the moment, unless you count the predations of bandits and highwaymen.  Notices of wanted miscreants and their bounties can be found posted all around the city.  

               

15. Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?
The Island Princes often wage (small-scale) war amongst themselves, but are advised to keep their bloodletting and intriguing in check.  Tensions are heating up with the nearby Sultanate of  Zhaibar, as its sultan sinks further into madness.

16. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?

The barbaric old days of slave-gladiators are a thing of the past, disposed of in the same revolt by which Galbaruc secured her freedom.  Nowadays, the blood-thirsty mob must content themselves with spectacles involving willing participants.  The definition of "willing" is deceptively broad, including as it does eager swashbucklers, prizefighters from the provinces, indentured servants, debtors, and all animals.  Matches are fought with weapons and without, and may be to first blood, the unconsciousness of one or both parties, surrender, or death.

                 

17. Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?
Yes, although their very nature ensures that PCs will only become aware of their presence after blundering into their carefully-laid schemes or being approached by their representatives.

18. What is there to eat around here?

As a port city, Galbaruc has access to a great variety of seafood.  Chiles and spices are very popular.  The most popular food for the adventuring classes is generally a fish stew, made with whatever was cheap and available at the market that day, along with some grilled flatbread to sop up the leavings.  Street vendors sell a bewildering array of food, mostly starchy, meaty, and fried.

19. Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?

(see below)

20. Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure?

 The Prelate of the Drowned, an inhuman shape-changing sorcerer believed to dwell beneath the Bay of Maidens, is said to be responsible for all shipwrecks that occur within sight of the city walls.  He is a consort of Yash-Kunag the Many-Toothed, and thus a rival to our beloved First Citizen, and his hoard, amassed over countless centuries, is beyond counting.

Where I'm At With Galbaruc

I've been thinking a lot about my Galbaruc setting lately, which I've let lie fallow for a while now, and more significantly, writing things down.  It should be obvious, but for some reason, I have a weird reluctance to actually put this stuff in writing.  It might be tied into being indecisive in general (a long-standing character flaw) but it's something I've been growing increasingly impatient with.  As long as it's this gauzy, intangible thing floating in some rarefied brain-mist, it's not actually being explored and gamed in, which is, after all, the point.

Somewhere along the way, I got so wrapped up in the hypothetical, world-building minutiae aspect that it became the focus instead of simply making a place to play games in.  This would lead inevitably to stalling and frustration over my lack of progress.  It's the same problem I had back in school.  I'd obsess about everything so much in my head that I couldn't get anything down on paper until the last minute and I had to work my ass off through an all-nighter or two because the paper was due and the professor had already given me an extension.  Far better to get it down on paper first, warts and all, and then take the scalpel to it.

So here's where I'm at with this thing.  It's all subject to modification and revision, but at least it isn't just in my head anymore:

SYSTEM: LotFP, with house rules and add-ons liberally swiped from Small But Vicious Dog, GURPS: Goblins, A Mighty Fortress, Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque.

CLASSES: Limited to (Human) Fighter, Specialist, Cleric, M-U, Dilettante (Elf stats/abilities minus the business about enhanced senses), and (Non-Human) Vat-Spawn.

ALIGNMENT:  No Alignment restrictions for any class.

GUNS?  : Wheel-lock pistols and muskets are the most advanced weapons being fielded currently, but are prohibitively expensive and not ideal for dungeon environments.  Primitive grenades are also available.  Greater destructive power = greater potential risk of horrific fuckups.  Adventurers tend to be armed and armored in archaic fashion, with heavier armor, swords more robust than are currently fashionable in most civilized places and a greater reliance of crossbows, stone bows, etc.


Basically, something like this:

Everyday clothes

Adventuring Gear

Fashion-wise, it's all over the map, a' la the Dying Earth, with an emphasis on dash and flamboyance (especially among adventurers).  There'd be lots of equipment jury-rigged for adventuring purposes -- primitive mining helmets with lanterns mounted on them, or a shallow bowl for luminescent fungus, even more primitive diving suits for exploring undersea ruins, etc.

Speaking of adventurers, I'm taking a page out of RQ's Big Rubble:  No self-respecting City-State is going to stand for hordes of violent transients descending into its ruins, vaults and caves without wanting a cut themselves.    To that end...

FREELANCE ADVENTURER LICENSES are mandatory for non-citizens (all PCs, at least at the beginning, fall into this category) wishing to explore and plunder known "dungeon areas."  Failure to produce a valid license upon request can result in fines, confiscation of goods, imprisonment, branding, and, for repeat offenders, death.  Licensed adventurers pay a 10% exit fee on any loot obtained within the Galbaruc Senate's jurisdiction.

Players should keep the following in mind:

1.  Fake licenses can be obtained, meaning that the PCs forgo taxes after expeditions, paying nothing other than a one-time forger's fee.  There is always a chance of the forgery being recognized, however.

2.  Sites unknown to the Senate and kept secret by PCs cannot be taxed.

3.  It's amazing what a little bribery can accomplish.

DUNGEONS:   I took a course in Italian Archaeology once, and one thing that kept coming up over and over again was how so many now-famous sites and artifacts were discovered completely by accident.  Workmen digging wells and channels, farmers ploughing into the tops of ancient burial mounds, etc.  In areas where there's been continuous occupation for millenia, like Rome, you've got layers and layers of forgotten sites being accidentally discovered, looted, re-buried, forgotten, rediscovered, etc,  A building is destroyed, you set to work on a new foundation, and there's a temple under your feet.

I want to go for the same sort of feel with Galbaruc.  There are still plenty of sites outside the city limits, but you've got dungeons, crypts, catacombs, and ruins beneath the still-populated urban areas.  I loved this idea when I encountered it in EPT, and I wonder why it isn't a more common approach.  The settled, civilized areas are intimately lip-locked to the weird, otherworldly ones, and both sides are engaged in frenzied tonsil hockey as adventurers venture below and the monsters from beneath find their way up to the light.

There'll be more to come, but I thought I'd get this all down while it was on my mind.  I've mapped out 4 levels of dungeon and I'm about to start stocking them with monsters.  I can't wait to roll out the welcome mat and open for business.

[Psychedelic Warlords] Starting Campaign Setting: the Planet Oriax

So I've been giving some thought to the actual setting for this thing.  The idea is to start out on a central hex on one planet, and then expand from there as the players see fit.  This limits the scope of the campaign at the beginning, but I find that narrowing down your options at the very start allows for a much easier "buy-in" from players.  This way, their options and opportunities for adventure can expand in response to the players' actions and interests.  Also, I don't have a huge amount of time for prep, and I'm chronically indecisive.  This takes a lot of the burden off of my hands by presenting me with fewer decisions to make over a longer stretch of time.

Anyway, here's what I've come up with so far:

The Planet Oriax, at various points in its history, has been:

- A poisonous, chaotic hellscape - the screaming, malformed, botched abortion of a degenerate star.  This rather overheated description can be found in the otherwise sober planetary historian Yivok the Lesser's Lives of the Planets.  He maintained throughout his life a particularly violent and irrational dislike for the planet.  He would never mention its name directly, referring to it as either "that spherical blasphemy" or, more cryptically, "the bloodshot eye of the anti-Father."  When near death, he reportedly asked to be carried out to an orbital observation deck where Oriax could be observed by long-range telescope.  Peering through the screen, he excitedly made an obscene gesture in the direction of the planet before expiring, a smile on his withered lips.

- The plaything of a generally irresponsible pantheon of Kirbyesque alien space gods, some of whose descendants exist today.

-  The capitol world of at least two galaxy-spanning empires

- A penal colony -- a dumping ground for all manner of criminals, heretics, and madmen.

- A pilgrimage site, famous for its monumental reliquaries, within whose gem-encrusted frames were housed the calcified bones of martyred titan-saints, standing in eternal vigil.

- A hedonic paradise of glittering palaces, calm oceans, and lush pleasure-gardens, serving a technologically and socially advanced society.

At present, it's a blasted, post-apocalyptic wasteland..  There are still forests, seas, jungles, and glaciers, but much of the planet's surface has been given over to desert.  The planet's littered with ruined cities and monuments, and the bones of massive extinct beasts bleaching under the harsh sun.  Warp-storms crackle across the landscape with alarming frequency, tearing open temporary holes in the fabric of space-time, and leaving madness and mutation in their wake.  The great, continent-spanning civilizations of the past have fragmented into small, isolated communities, whose eccentricities have only become more pronounced in isolation.  The immortal descendants of ancient Sorcerer-kings spend their days in drug-induced reverie and petty intrigue.  Some of these forsake their immortality and leave the safety of their hermetically-sealed crystalline palaces to seek adventure and death in the lands beyond.  Rival warlords jockey for position.  A few would-be conquerors have attempted to form empires, but so far, the largest political entities are independent towns and loosely-allied city-states.  The lands between are filled with strange and terrifying creatures, treacherous geography, fanatical cults, bands of predatory mutants, and the laboratory strongholds of mad wizards.

Oriax today is far from the center of interplanetary politics and trade, and its relative obscurity, dangerous reputation, and lack of many modern amenities make it an unpopular destination for casual tourists, though a few thrill-seekers arrive each solar year.  The bulk of off-worlders are adventurers of some description, lured by tales of vast, half-buried wealth, or with ambitions to carve out their own petty kingdoms in a savage world, far from the confines and strictures of life on the core planets.  Along with these trickle in a disparate collection of fugitives, refugees, exiles, explorers, spies, heretics, archaeologists, missionaries, and the sort of dangerous eccentrics who can find no employment in civilized space.


NEXT: The Free Town of Pazuzu: part Deadwood, part Tangier -- smack dab in the center of the starting hex.

Epilepsy? Have You Tried Drinking Gladiator Blood? [Weird Rome]

I read a post the other day at the always-fascinating rogueclassicism blog that should be of interest to anyone gaming in a Weird Roman setting, or looking for a new twist on vampirism. No sparkling, hair gel, or abstinence, I promise. I recommend reading the full original article, but here's what I thought was most interesting:

Here's Pliny the Elder (trans. John Bostock)

Epileptic patients are in the habit of drinking the blood even of gladiators, draughts teeming with life, as it were; a thing that, when we see it done by the wild beasts even, upon the same arena, inspires us with horror at the spectacle! And yet these persons, forsooth, consider it a most effectual cure for their disease, to quaff the warm, breathing, blood from man himself, and, as they apply their mouth to the wound, to draw forth his very life; and this, though it is regarded as an act of impiety to apply the human lips to the wound even of a wild beast! Others there are, again, who make the marrow of the leg-bones, and the brains of infants, the objects of their research!

And Celsus:

Some have freed themselves from such a disease by drinking the hot blood from the cut throat of a gladiator: a miserable aid made tolerable by a malady still most miserable …

The post's author goes on to hint playfully at a connection between Julius Caesar's interest in gladiatorial games and his purported epilepsy, but any GM running a horror-tinged campaign can surely see the potential in this. Here, we have a form of vampirism still tied to superstition, but without any overt supernatural elements. It's one thing to locate and destroy vampires when you're dealing with immortal undead monsters with relatively well-known powers and weaknesses, but quite another when the monster you're looking for is an ordinary person who casts a reflection, can walk freely in the sunlight, has no fear of holy symbols, etc.

Your range of potential "vampires" includes everyone from family members pushed to extremes to find a cure for a stricken child to the sorts of unscrupulous persons hinted at in the end of the Pliny passage -- physicians and sorcerers conducting vile experiments in secret. The efficacy of any of these cures is up to the GM, of course. Rumor and superstition are powerful motivators all by themselves, and an unsuccessful "vampire" might simply be convinced that there's a flaw in their methods, or that they haven't found just the right victim.

Fishing for God-Spawn [Hill Cantons Contest Entry]

Here's my entry for the contest ckutalik put up at Hill Cantons.

Galbaruc, Yash-Kunag, and the Great Culling

Every year, the port town of Galbaruc holds the Feast of the Great Culling, and the town's population swells to over four times its normal size. Innkeepers, hoteliers, and any citizen with so much as a spare broom closet raise their rates to an astonishing degree, but seasoned travelers have learned by now not to haggle, grateful for even the most modest accommodation for the 12 days of the Feast. Galbaruc looks out on the Bay of Maidens, and it is in these waters that Yash-Kunag the Many-Toothed makes her annual trek to birth her young. This enormous, immeasurably ancient sea-creature, whose massive form has never been reliably set down, is worshiped as a goddess by the inhabitants of much of the surrounding coasts.

She is seen as the living embodiment of the sea, in all its bounty, danger, and pitilessness. Local artisans most commonly depict her as a humanoid female, with generously- proportioned hips, pendulous breasts over which hang garlands of seaweed and coral, with a skirt made from the lashed-together bodies of dead men, and topped with a monstrous shark's head.

In all, she will birth many thousands of young over the next ten days, though a tiny fraction of that number survive to adulthood. The larger, faster, and stronger spawn will devour their brothers and sisters in a frenzy of hunger. Others will be picked off, in turn, by other sea creatures, which are always at hand in the waters surrounding the bay to pounce on any godling foolish enough to stray out into the greater depths. The rest are taken in the Great Culling, where mariners, fisherman, and enthusiastic amateurs from every corner of the world converge to hunt this precious bounty. It is believed by the devout, and allowed by the skeptical, that Yash-Kunag herself tacitly approves of the Culling, as a way of weeding out the weak and slow from her progeny, and to reduce the number of rival claimants for her power, which she must battle and devour ever season in turn.

Spawn of Yash-Kunag the Many-Toothed (Stats are for B/X D&D)

Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 6
Move: 90'
Attacks: Bite/Tail + Special
Damage: 3-24/2-16
No. Appearing: 0 (1-8)
Save As: Fighter 6
Morale: 7
Treasure Type: Nil
Alignment: Neutral

Each Spawn, from birth to the first two weeks of growth, measures some 8-12' in length. Their tails are ridged with long, flexible spines, and their mouths filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth, which are constantly replaced throughout their lifetimes. At this stage, Spawn are creatures of pure instinct, though they will develop a formidable intelligence in later life- cycles. They are drawn to sources of food and devotion. Thanks to their heritage, they have an uncanny ability to inspire religious awe in humanoids. Every two rounds, all humanoids within 20' of a conscious Spawn must Save vs. Spells to avoid being the victim of hold person, unable to do anything save falling to their knees and chanting unintelligible syllables. If removed from the water for more than three rounds, a Spawn will enter a helpless comatose state, losing 1d4 hit dice every subsequent round until death. If returned to the water before death, consciousness returns instantly and it regains hit dice at a rate of 1d8/round. As their natural armor has yet to fully develop, they do take damage from non-magical weapons, but all such damage is halved.

The Spawn of Yash-Kunag the Many-Toothed are highly prized for their carcasses, which have many and varied uses. The meat is tender, rich, and flavorful, and is often grilled or fried in butter and garlic, and sprinkled with salt and herbs. The shimmering, reflective skin, multi-hued like mother-of-pearl, when dried, makes an attractive, water-resistant leather, and some artists and poets attest to the strange, seductive visions half-glimpsed in its surface. Its oil burns brighter and longer than conventional lamp oil, and exudes a pleasing aroma. This oil is also used in cosmetics, and imparts a youthful glow to the skin and a lustrous sheen to the hair. The flexible tail spines find use as surgical tools and writing implements. The teeth are often made into small daggers with delicately serrated edges. These never lose their sharpness. The bones are both strong and flexible, and used in everything from garment foundations to ornaments for the hair. Many of the most daring hairstyles displayed by gentlemen and ladies of fashion in the Northern Cities would be impossible without strategically-placed supports of Spawn-bone.

Spawn-Fishing Boats, and Techniques of Capture

A bewildering array of craft ply the waters of the bay during the Great Culling, from the swift, fragile catamarans of the Broken Knife Islanders to the lateen-sailed dhows of the Western Khanate. The merchant house of Pinfeather and Brassbolt have lately had much success with their unique design, as well as their methods of capture. The ship itself is a two-hulled catamaran, but built significantly larger and higher than those of the Islanders, sacrificing speed for size, cargo-space, and more solid construction. A net is lowered into the sea in the space between the hulls. Designated members of the crew stand near the edge, armed with incense censers, prayer rattles, and flutes, all of which serve to attract Spawn and bring them swimming in the path of the net. When 1-3 spawn are so positioned, the net is hauled up, leaving the spawn struggling in midair and mitigating much of the danger from teeth and tail.

At this point, the Ship's Atheist, recruited for the season from one of the Northern universities, takes position, loudly denouncing as irrational, primitive and servile the worship of large sea-creatures, however impressive in size and power they might be. It is believed that this serves to discourage the Spawn and act as a buffer against its natural powers of instilling awe. This power is justly feared, as it often results in death, failure, and numerous small cults spontaneously developing among fishing crews. Harpoons may also be employed, though this is frowned upon in many modern operations, as they are not always effective, and may damage the skin. Once the Spawn is comatose, it is hauled aboard and flung into special lead-lined compartments built into the side of the ship.

Weird Rome: A setting-sketch for Lamentations of the Flame Princess

Well, I might as well get started with some content.

I originally posted this to this thread on RPG.net, where MisterGuignol has done an excellent job of breaking down and delineating a slew of mini-settings for James Raggi's Lamentations of the Flame Princess RPG.  Since LotFP is skewed more toward the "weird fiction" of Howard, Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, et al, establishing the proper atmosphere becomes very important-- to really play to the game's strengths, you need to establish a markedly different feel from the more "epic fantasy" tone of D&D 4th ed., for instance, and MisterGuignol's mini-settings provide vivid, easy-to-digest capsules of concentrated weird.  Anyway, someone asked for Greek and Roman settings with a weird slant and MisterGuignol generously gave his consent for me to actually get some use out of my Classics degree.  This will eventually be collected (along with all the other mini-settings from the thread) into a .pdf, but in the meantime, I thought I'd put my contributions up on the blog.

First up is Rome:

Rome: ad limites Imperii



“Inscriptions still visible in the sub-cellar bore such unmistakable letters as “DIV*.*.*. OPS*.*.*. MAGNA. MAT*.*.*. “ sign of the Magna Mater whose dark worship was once vainly forbidden to Roman citizens. Anchester had been the camp of the third Augustan legion, as many remains attest, and it was said that the temple of Cybele was splendid and thronged with worshippers who performed nameless ceremonies at the bidding of a Phrygian priest." -- H.P. Lovecraft, "The Rats in the Walls."

Here, the players are citizens of a powerful, expanding Empire. While it may appear stable and solid from the outside, fissures appear here and there in the fabric of Empire, growing wider and deeper as it grows in influence and dominion. A Roman or Rome-inspired campaign can easily accommodate themes from "The Weird North," "Pilgrims in a Strange Land," and "The Urban Weird," but Imperialism imparts a unique flavor of its own. With some tweaking, the Referee could substitute a later empire for the Roman model presented here-- imagine the film Gunga Din with Roman legionaries instead of British officers, for example, with the Cult of Cybele replacing that of Kali.

The Setting: The mid 2nd-century. Rome is at the height of her power, with her borders stretching from the scorching deserts of Arabia to the freezing, forested wastes of northern Britain. All roads lead to Rome and those roads are crowded with folk of every description. Players will encounter merchants and traders on the make, crafty slaves and uncouth freedmen, soldiers in gleaming array,, inscrutable Latin-mangling foreigners, bringing their strange customs and stranger gods into the Empire's very heart, aristocratic officers and administrators, burning with family pride, aghast at their own waning fortunes and the success of the upstart, lower-class "new men" who have flourished since the demise of the Republic. Here are prostitutes and actors, swaggering gladiators living in pampered servitude.

But this is all in the open. On the fringes and beneath the surface, outside the rigidly proscribed boundaries of fort walls, Roman roads, and social conventions, strangeness breeds and multiplies, and corruption and decadence take root. The plain, no-nonsense agrarian soul of Rome, the mos maiores (customs of the ancestors) that defeated Hanibal and brought the Greek city-states under Roman domination are themselves under constant threat. Women of good family, not content to be obedient daughters and chaste matronaeforsake their duty for luxury, admitting the embraces of slaves and freedmen. They abort their lawful and unlawful offspring, the better to enjoy enjoy unabated those pleasures to which they have accustomed themselves, and concoct poisons to serve their husbands when the latter become too dull or troublesome. They make a study of charms and curses to ensnare potential lovers and punish rivals and unwilling suitors. Young men, in defiance of their manly forbears, give in to softness and effeminacy,preferring poetry and music, silks and perfumes to the soldier's boot and the sober toga of a citizen. Both seek out strange new gods, imported from far-flung regions of the empire, and attend outlandish and unseemly rites in their honor, in their insatiable desire for novelty and stimulation.

The Themes: Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artis intulit agresti Latio --"Conquered Greece took captive her savage conqueror and brought her arts into rustic Latium."- Horace, Book II, epistle i, lines 156-157. Even as the Empire conquers the world without, she is conquered from within. While the Empire's strength is far-reaching and overt, dangerous elements from conquered territories work their way insidiously into the Imperial bloodstream, coursing along the arteries of Rome's roads all the way to the Empire's very heart. This is an inescapable consequence of the Empire's success, as those very qualities that once defined Rome's national character prove vulnerable to the onslaught of foreign influences as she acquires new territories and dominions. While many find Roman ideals desirable (as well as the benefits of citizenship) the attraction goes both ways, as the influx of wealth and novelties (in religion, dress, etc.) prove irresistible to a populace raised on stark, rustic ideals. Play up the "strangeness" and "otherness" of everything "non-Roman" and the constant tension between the rough-and-ready, hard-headed, practical Roman ideal, and the cultured, Greek-speaking, cosmopolitan ideal of the polished urbanite. How much polish can one acquire without a loss of virtue and good sense? Which elements from the cultures of subject peoples can be safely and usefully acquired, and which lead inevitably toward corruption, decadence, and madness?

Others (I can well believe) will hammer out bronze that breathes
with more delicacy than us, draw out living features
from the marble: plead their causes better, trace with instruments
the movement of the skies, and tell the rising of the constellations:
remember, Roman, it is for you to rule the nations with your power,
(that will be your skill) to crown peace with law,
to spare the conquered, and subdue the proud. - Virgil, Aeneid VI lines 847-853 trans. Kline

While the PCs themselves may be dutiful servants of Empire or (more likely) a gang of violent misfits-- who else goes adventuring for a living?-- the Imperial mandate exists as an ever-present stamp on their daily lives. Unusual eloquence, artistic skill, and more arcane arts are often considered somewhat suspect, at best. Slaves, freedmen, women, and religious and ethnic minorities operate, to some extent, outside the mainstream of Roman public life, and adventurers (by their very nature being unusual and extraordinary) often find themselves the victims of injustice, indifference, and suspicion from a society which stresses assimilation, tradition, and conformity. Emphasize the gulf between the PC's expected roles (gender, social status, ethnicity) with the iconoclastic realities of the adventuring life.

Patrons and Clients-- the ties that bind. While many bemoan the current state of the patron/client relationship, it's still a powerful force in society. Loyalty to one's patron and (to a regrettably lesser extent) responsibility to one's clients and dependents informs everything from political and family life to religion. Roman religion, after all, is merely an extension of this relationship toward the divine-- an arrangement between worshiper and deity in which the former provides honors and sacrifices and the latter provides protection and favor, in turn. When this relationship breaks down in any of these contexts, the forces unleashed are often violent, corrosive, and unpredictable.

Applicable Themes from Other Settings:

Civilization versus the Wild—make the outpost a place that the characters have a vested interest in defending. Make it clear that the outpost is civilization's first and best line of defense against something monstrous that could spell doom for all humanity. Imperil their community; make them scramble to protect the life they know.

Class warfare—the town is home to barely-repressed social resentments. The poor and the rich hate each other instinctively, the old money has a vested interest in keeping the middle and working classes from gaining too large a share of cultural capital, the disenfranchised minority is kept at the menial, abject fringes of society. If your group has the stomach for it, you might even work racial tensions into this heady brew of contention.

Discipline is survival—the only way to persevere against the savagery of the new world is to remain stoic and disciplined in the face of chaos. Rigid adherence to law and order requires that the colonists forge their souls from cold iron to weather the misfortunes of this strange land.The beacon of civilization is surrounded by barbarism—the colony's survival is a fragile thing. Natural dangers, bloodthirsty braves, and supernatural threats encircle the colony and any venture into the forest is a likely suicide mission. While the subjugation of the wilderness will necessarily entail some loss of life, the greatest threat is that the colonists will abandon their civilized ways and fight savagery with savagery.

Many of these themes are already familiar to readers of Weird/Pulp Fiction-- particularly in Howard (the corrupting, softening effects of civilization) and Lovecraft (the threats to civilization from barbaric and/or decadent forces), and these concerns are mirrored in Tacitus' "noble savages" portrayal of the Germans and Juvenal's xenophobic portrait of foreigner-infested Rome in the Satires. Referees and players must decide how much of this reactionary attitude they wish to stress in their games.

The Foes:
Barbarian Hordes from the North - Huge, uncouth, and undisciplined, yet possessed of certain simple virtues that Rome herself has lost. The implacable foe is feared and hated but respected, and the Romanized native accepted to a certain extent, but perhaps viewed with some suspicion and contempt.

Barbarians from the East-- Cowardly, devious, and deadly. In war, they strike with lies and arrows from fleeing horsemen. In peace, they seduce and corrupt with their decadent ways and strange gods.

Sorcerers and Mountebanks- pretty much foreign by definition. At best, they will merely cheat you. At worst, their powers are real and harmful to all involved.

The Ancient Gods of Conquered Peoples, and their Cults-- While Rome has co-opted and conflated many of the gods of the conquered, some are not so easily tamed or assimilated. The ancient Etruscan gods of Rome's deposed kings, worshiped in secret by citizens of certain lineages; The Great Mother Cybele, whose castrated priests are an unnerving sight as they wind their way through the streets in bizarre processions... Certain cultists of Bacchus might fit into this group, as the rites have been at times suppressed in the ostensible interest of public order and decency. What other nameless cults and orders observe their rituals throughout the empire-- inimical to Rome and her allies?

Witches and wicked women-- From withered, disgusting crones collecting the bones of dead children to beautiful adulteresses skilled in poisons, curses, and love-draughts, these represent a total rejection of feminine modesty and decorum, and leave chaos and evil in their wake. Unlike the barbarians, these women are all the more dangerous because their wickedness is masked by an outward show of venerable age or respectability.

The Soundtrack: Peter Gabriel- Passion and Passion Sources, HBO's Rome Soundtrack.

Literary and Cinematic Inspirations:  Apuleius- The Golden Ass (sex, violence, casual cruelty, and witchcraft!) Petronius- The Satyricon (featuring, among other things, depraved cultists, tasteless spectacle, thieving and con-artistry, more sex, violence, casual cruelty and witchcraft, and a story about a werewolf) Catullus- LXIII (a shift in tone and style from his “Lesbia” poems-- this is an exhilarating and terrifying account of the goddess Cybele and her consort Attis, and his ecstatic self-castration), The Book of Acts, the satires of Horace and Juvenal, R.E. Howard- "Men of the Shadows", "Worms of the Earth," "Kings of the Night," misc. novels by John Maddox Roberts, the "Roma sub Rosa" series by Steven Saylor, H.P. Lovecraft- "The Very Old Folk," Richard Tierney- The Drums of Chaos and The Scroll of Thoth: Tales of Simon Magus and the Great Old Ones, Shakespeare- Julius Caesar and Titus Andronicus

Fellini's Satyricon, Centurion, The Eagle, HBO's Rome, I, Claudius (both the BBC miniseries and the Robert Graves novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God).

Historical and Fortean Inspirations:*Lead cursing tablets, the vanished 9th Legion, Lucan- Pharsalia 6.588-830 (A Thessalian witch reanimates a dead soldier), Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds by Daniel Ogden, Phlegon of Tralles' Book of Marvels (A 2nd century Charles Fort's account of “prodigies”), Georg Luck's Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds, Mystery Cults (Mithras, Isis, Cybele), Lucian of Samosata-- “Alexander the False Prophet” (a hatchet-job on a 2nd century con-man and founder of the prophetic cult of Glycon-- a human-headed snake worshiped today by Alan Moore), Etruscan tomb-mounds and divination with sheep's livers.

Gaming Inspirations: Cthulhu Invictus for Call of Cthulhu, Jason E. Roberts' FVLMINATA, Paul Elliot's Zenobia, Requiem for Rome for Vampire: The Requiem (set in the Late Empire, but the long intro by Ken Hite is pure gold), Paul Czege's Bacchanal.

Weird Rome: Kickstart Table (d4)

1. The PCs are stationed at a distant outpost of the Empire. The province is officially subdued, but can the supposedly Romanized new auxilleries be trusted? And what of their still-barbarous cousins beyond the fort wall? Will they put aside their squabbling and unite? You can't think about that, now, as the garrison commander has just been found murdered in the settlement's new forum in broad daylight.

2. The PCs must journey to visit an important friend or patron, but the road to his villa lies beyond bandit-infested hills and lonely roadside graveyards. And what of the old Etruscan tomb-mounds that dot the landscape, and the sounds that issue forth at night?

3. The PCs are guests at a lavish party held by a wealthy local freedman. As the night wears on, the entertainments become more bizarre and grotesque, and reality blurs with strange, fevered visions. How to leave, and how to find the way home again through now-unfamiliar streets? What was in that wine?

4. A friend, family member, lover, or important contact of the PCs has disappeared while visiting the provinces. Why are the local authorities so evasive, and what's the meaning of those strange, nightly processions?