Untamed Lands - Session 0 and 13 Zodiac Signs

My Untamed Lands campaign - a mini-campaign based on Keep on the Borderlands, but with a near-eastern, bronze age twist - is officially underway. 

Just before character creation I came up with a pantheon of 13 gods, a 12-month calendar (each month corresponding to one god; with the progenitor god left unrepresented) - and 12 zodiac signs that players will be born under depending on their date of birth (randomly determined through die roll of course).

Each sign has an ability associated with it.

Here are the 13 signs and their associated dates: 

(the year begins in the spring, with Mawa, and ends in the winter with Ninta)

  • 16 Mawa - 14 Dovrul: The Serpent

    • Advantage when crafting/extracting/applying poisons (once per session)

  • 15 Dovrul - 13 Lumat: The Lantern

    • Can roll with advantage on a usage die roll (once per session)

  • 14 Lumat - 12 Kamas - The Sphinx

    • Can ask the judge one question about the history of an object, place, nation, etc. History for the purpose of this ability is defined as at least one year in the past (once per session)

  • 13 Kamas - 11 Sharan: The Vulture

    • Advantage to determine cause of death of creature (once per session)

  • 12 Sharan - 10 Rohur: The Concubine

    • Advantage when testing whether you overdose on narcotics (once per session)

  • 11 Rohur - 9 Uum: The Beggar

    • Beggars and slaves will be more likely to be friendly (and advantage on CHA checks with them once per session)

  • 10 Uum - 21 Uum: The Whale

    • When sleeping in the vicinity of a dungeon (up to 2 hexes away), can ask the judge one yes or no question about it (once per session) 

  • 22 Uum - 20 Tandalu: The Scarab

    • Can stay awake all night without suffering disadvantage (once per session)

  • 21 Tandalu - 19 Akawat: The Jackal

    • Advantage when tracking (once per session)

  • 20 Awakat - 18 Hadad: The Gazelle

    • Can roll with advantage on one roll during a chase (once per session)

  • 19 Hadad - 17 Has: The Mule

    • Can carry 1 extra item in backpack

  • 18 Has - 16 Ninta: The Broken Spear

    • Can break a weapon to roll with advantage on damage (once per session)

  • 17 Ninta - 15 Mawa: The Sickle

    •  Can commune with plants to determine if anyone has gone through an area in the past  X time (once per session)

 

Session 0: A Hostile Land

9th of Hadad - 10th of Hadad, Year 619 (After the Flood)

After going over the world, completing character creation, and taking care of lines and veils - I let the characters loose on the world, to experience the game rules a bit (none have ever played The Black Hack before)

After character creation; Biz, Ismail and Ram set out to seek an outpost on the frontier of the Free Realms, set up by religious soldiers worshipping the war goddess of Ninta, who hail from the nearby, small kingdom of Olam. They come seeking riches and secrets said to be found in the ancient, lost Caves of Mumtal which are supposed to be nearby.

They stop when they see an overturned wagon with some dead bodies, whose armor has been torn apart. While investigating, they meet a pair of strange creatures: bipedal humanoids with vulture heads and avian legs, and feathers all over their bodies. The vultures mistake the party for members of a group of bandits they have some sort of arrangement with, who are led by a woman named Ivant (with whom, it turns out, Ram has some personal history). The vultures soon realize their mistake — when the party attacks them. One birdman dies and the other flees. 

The party decides to wait and see who the bandits are with whom these creatures made a deal concerning the bodies, but when they see six of them coming in on the horizon, they realize they are outnumbered and book it to the outpost.

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