The Collector

I think I've mentioned here or elsewhere that I listen to a lot of dungeon synth. It occupies the chunk of musical bandwidth I have leftover when I'm done listening to all the Mongolian throat singing, lo-fi jazz, parody covers, royalty-free rock tracks or themes to anime I've never watched that I hear in the backgrounds of video essays, and whatever TikTok videos my SO sends me.

Dungeon synth has its origins in the harsh and sometimes hateful black metal and dark ambient music scenes of the '90s. But the genre has since grown, matured, and experimented far beyond that to encompass a huge range of subgenres with porous and overlapping margins, as the case eventually is with all types of music. Whether you need to unwind to the sounds of nature, curl up with some tea to some cozy wintery noises, find a soundtrack for your tabletop game tonight, take an inadvisable amount of substances and mentally transcend to outer space, or just be a neurodivergent little boy with a fixation on Tolkien for a while, dungeon synth has a flavor for you.

Recently, I've been listening to a creator called Witch Bolt, who seems to have exploded into existence and popularity all of a sudden after releasing like 7 albums within the span of a few months earlier this year. In fact, in the time I've spent writing this post I had to go back and add that they just released another album.

Witch Bolt is decidedly in the ambient/nature synth subgenre, but each album has a unique flavor that I've thus far enjoyed. I'd say I like them almost as much as DIM, who might be my favorite artist in the scene. Shoutout to Tales Under The Oak and all their froggy excellence, too.

Witch Bolt's most recent second-most-recent album is The Collector, which combines moody soundscapes with some very delicate instrumental touches I keep coming back to.

It's also got a pretty solid album cover.

But I'm not just here to talk about the music. The Collector has a short description attached which, alongside the track titles, turns it into a concept album with a plot of sorts. It reads as follows:

"Witch Bolt's seventh release, The Collector, is the story of a nomadic figure navigating the boundaries that separate the planes of existence. The Collector gathers overlooked fragments of nature and humanity, bestowing upon them a renewed honor and purpose.

Through their mystical craftsmanship, they reveal the inherent dignity concealed within the humble.

The Collector scatters these creations, weapons, armor, treasures, imbued with enchantments across the land and in the paths of those deemed worthy. The Collector is a beacon of hope and renewal."

I was smitten by this concept right away. From playing the part of lonely, wandering god to a being associated with the lucky discovery of magic items, the Collector feels tailor-made to appear in someone's tabletop campaign. Which got me wondering how there aren't more gods like that in existing games where roving adventurers rolling on loot tables in weird and out-of-the-way places is a fundamental pillar of the play experience. Certainly there are hundreds of deities of luck, or craftsmanship, or wanderers, but you almost never get all three of those portfolios in one.

So, I decided to fiddle around and rectify that by doing a little god writeup of my own.

I'm doing this using a fun and flexible format I stole from As the Gods Demand, a system-agnostic and level-less divine magic supplement where anyone can become a cleric. It's by the excellent art-friend and bagel gremlin Charles Ferguson-Avery, and you should definitely check it out if you like more eldritch and inhuman takes on tabletop deities.

But considerably less spooky and severe than them is our friend of the day, the Collector.

The Collector, Beacon of Hope & Renewal

There once lived a quiet, gentle, and very shy thing. Their zest for life was only matched by their unease around other living things. They wished to see the world, but not to be seen. So they wandered in secret, keeping to backroads and the silent gulfs between realms.

But even out there, amidst the beauty of the forgotten and the gracefully crumbling, they still happened upon other souls. They came in search of quiet solitude, a balm for their woes amid a life of hardship and pain. But in seeking out eternal stillness, they stirred that little thing's heart to action. A yearning to help filled them until it threatened to burst, and so they poured it out into the rubble and ruin of that forgotten place.

To their surprise, that tender care imbued the things they touched with strength, dignity, and renewed purpose. Or perhaps, they merely helped bring those innate qualities back up to the surface, through the layers of time and neglect. The wandering thing went about gathering these blessings together, before scattering them in their wake, just ahead of those lost and lonesome souls.

A quiet joy like never before filled them, and they at last knew their own purpose. Even now, the Collector wanders the spheres in search of forgotten things in need of a home, and forgotten beings in need of hope.

The Borrowers

The Collector has no organized clergy, and those who behave as priests would never call themselves such. Instead, they have admirers. People who long ago caught the Collector's eye, and who took notice of them in turn. They see the worth and beauty in what the nomad does, and seek to aid their cause however they can.

So they wander the land as pilgrims and sightseers in search of overlooked places, things, and people. They carry with them the Collector's gifts, knowing that they keep them in their possession only as a passing thing, until the item's true purpose is revealed by time and circumstance. Then, they secret their treasures into the paths of the worthy-in-need. In short they are not keepers, but mere Borrowers.

Initiation: Gifts Left Behind

To become a Borrower, you must first catch the Collector's attention, and then come to the realization that they exist at all. This is easier said than done, considering how discreet and willing to let others take credit for their acts the Collector is. But once that is all said and done, the act of cementing one's friendship with the Collector is quite straightforward: sacrifice something precious.

This item can't merely be powerful, magical, or materially valuable. It must hold great personal significance to you- both you the character, and you the player. It must represent something about your life, experiences, and/or worldview. Family heirlooms, mementos, childhood toys, or tried-and-true pieces of equipment with their own inferred personalities and nicknames are common selections.

You must hide this object in an out-of-the-way but not completely inaccessible location, such as tucked into a hollow in a tree stump off a dirt road, or buried in the earth of a shallow cave mouth. In time the Collector will find your offering and consider it carefully, before imbuing it with new qualities and leaving it in the hands of a future someone who dearly needs it.

You will never know what your sacrifice does for that stranger, and they will never know it was you who aided them. Nor will they ever know the history of this item or the way it was cherished. Instead they will give it a whole new life, and in doing so kindle that beacon of hope and renewal, to be cast into the future in turn.

Such is faith.

Daily Invocation: A Quiet Prayer

• Do not hoard resources or possessions from those in need.
• Maintain humility in the face of gifts and good fortune.
• Do not reveal the Collector's existence to outsiders.
• Live life humbly and surreptitiously.

Initial Miracle: Journey Home

Borrowers are wanderers who have no one place they call home; rather, home is wherever they are most needed.

You may divine the location of the nearest forgotten little thing. The miracle can specifically look for an abandoned location like a ruin, old den, or shrine, a long-lost object, or a lonesome creature, or it can look for any/all of the above. You know the direction and distance to your target "as the crow flies", but not the exact path needed to reach it, such as through a maze.

Rites

I Pass

Sometimes, we are what the Collector places in the paths of others.

You must stop wandering long enough to help someone through a particularly dark time in their life. Merely rescuing them from a dangerous situation is not enough; you must come to know them and their struggles, befriend them, and help them to rise above their hardships. Then you must let go, and allow the friendship to conclude so that you each may return to your respective lives. When you bid farewell to one another with finality and carry with you all the bittersweet memories and experiences into the future, the rite is complete.

Miracle: In Praise of Gentleness

You may sooth the target's woes, removing all natural or supernatural fear, doubt, anger, or other negative emotions from them and replacing them with a contemplative calm that grants the target Advantage on their next Saving Throw related to the mind, emotions, mental state, etc.

You may instead target two or more groups who are about to come to blows with this miracle, in which case they are dissuaded from physical violence for a number of hours equal to your Hit Dice.

Wandering Artisan

In emulation of our foulweather benefactor, we furnish the worthy in need with the fruit of our sweat, labor, and love.

You must craft an object of surpassing quality for one of your skill level; if you are a novice at a given craft it must be competent, if you're a master it must be exceedingly high quality, if creating magic items is well within your ability it must be truly extraordinary, etc. This step may take months or more by itself, and call for you to find and obtain rare materials.

Once it is completed, the item must be anonymously donated to a worthy cause or person whom you believe will use it for good. You must be present to witness them doing so, but may not betray the item's origins while in their company. The rite is complete when the bearer of your gift accomplishes (or at least tries their best at) a feat that aligns with the Collector's goals.

Miracle: Treasures Left

You may spend some of the goodwill you've earned with the Collector to receive a short "advance" of sorts on their gifts. Choose Providence or Luck:

Providence allows you to stumble upon just the sort of mundane or low-magic item you'd need in a given encounter for a specific purpose, such as a healing potion to save a downed companion or a replacement weapon for one that's snapped. The item lasts until it is consumed or the encounter ends, at which point it vanishes when you take your eyes off it.

Luck allows you to reroll once on a random loot table and take whichever option you prefer. Note that the referee doesn't have to disclose everything about the two choices (curses, specific magical effects, etc).

Extremist/Heretical Rite: Humble Harvest

These are the Collector's gifts. They are given, but never earned. If someone abuses them, is it not our duty to intercede?

You must dispense with the Collector's gentle discretion for a time, and take the fight to those who would take advantage of their kindness. This person must be a tyrant of some sort who has enriched or empowered themselves using magical items that ultimately came from the Collector. Merely defeating them is not enough; you must see their every means of effecting evil systematically dismantled and neutralized.

You must personally disenchant or destroy the misused item(s) in their presence while explaining to them precisely how powerless and wrong they are. Once the former tyrant is thoroughly broken and made an example of, the rite is complete. Whether or not they can be convinced to make amends is outside the scope of this rite.

Miracle: Desolation

You may permanently snuff out all enchantments and effects on a single item held by the target, rendering it a completely nonmagical object. If the item is a powerful artifact (or other object of huge plot significance that would cause your referee a real headache to destroy just like that), its powers are instead suppressed for a number of weeks equal to your Hit Dice.

Favor: Honored Things

• Encourage others to give and share resources freely.
• Disperse ill-gotten hoards, with force if necessary.
• Undermine those who deny others peace and dignity.
• Pass another object of great value on to the Collector.

Avenger of Ymir (GLOG Class)

Ymir. Brimir. Aurgelmir. Midgard's Seed. The Gelid Mother. The Burning Father. Child of Ginnungagap. Keeper of Auðumbla. The Slaughtered One. Æslings' Bloodied Clay. These and many other names they are known by, but none can begin to describe the totality of that primordial being. They were there from the beginning, and pieces of them will remain long after we've died, until the merciful fires of Age-End come at last to sweep away all the rot and corruption the gods have heaped upon us.

Ymir was born from the primordial void, and in turn they gave birth to the first peoples. They are the ancestor of all jǫtnar, it is well-known. But lesser-known, hidden, perhaps even profane to the ears of those listening, is that they are also the ancestor of all gods. For whose daughter could the first god Búri have married, had Ymir not first birthed her from their right armpit?

And so it was that when the rapacious young upstarts Odin, Vili, and Vé decided to strike Ymir down, it was not only the first murder; it was also the first familicide, that terrible evil that the gods punish us for so severely- and no wonder they do, the hypocrites. For when they slew their great-grandparent, they set in motion all the world's evils, the midst of which we still live in to this day.

They butchered Ymir's corpse, mangled them beyond recognition and fashioned their pieces like sick trophies into the plaything that we all know and hate today. The whole of the earth is thanks to Ymir's flesh turned to stone; the encircling seas their blood, which once roiled and sprayed so high that it threatened to destroy even the haughty gods themselves. Such was the terror of that first sin.

Though they drowned the world in blood and nearly extinguished all memory of Ymir, it persisted. One jǫtunn called Bergelmir and his kin survived, bobbing on the blood-sea in a grain trough until they crashed upon the newly-risen land. He is the spiritual founder of our order; the first to keep the memory alive, the first to spite the gods and their plaything.

The world is painful, grim, and violent. But unlike the petulant Æslings in their gilded halls, we will tell you that things could have been different. That things can be different. Better. A world without walls or feuds, gods or tyrants. A world where life is not predicated upon butchery, nor prosperity upon suffering.

But that change will only come with fire and blood, and a lot of dead gods.

Come and join us, if you've the fury for it. Come and honor Ymir's sacrifice with one hand while avenging it with the other.

What say you, o vengeful?

Illustrations of Ymir's life and death by Lorenz Frølich.

Avenger of Ymir

Starting Equipment: spear, leather armor, runecarving set (for cursing the gods).
Starting Skills: Jǫtunn-Ken and War-Lore. Also, roll on the adjacent table.

A: Earth from Flesh, Sea from Blood
B: Stone from Bone, Forest from Hair
C: Sky from Skull, Cloud from Brains
D: Unto the Butchers

You gain +1 Attack and Intimidate vs the gods and their servants for each Avenger of Ymir template you possess.

A: Earth from Flesh

From Ymir's flesh the earth was made. It sustains and nourishes all life, whether it has the blessings of Jǫrð or not. Through Ymir's death, you live. You gain -1 to rolls on the Death & Dismemberment Table per template. You may also gain advantage (or +4) to a Constitution roll once per day.

A: Sea from Blood

From Ymir's blood the seas were mixed. They almost drowned the cosmos, but they will not drown you. You gain the ability to swim and hold your breath for 1 hour per template per day. You may also gain advantage (or +4) to a Dexterity roll once per day.

B: Stone from Bone

From Ymir's bones all stone was wrought. They are the bedrock of all things without which we'd all be floating in Ginnungagap, and you emulate their strength. Reduce all incoming damage by 1 point per template. You may also gain advantage (or +4) to a Strength roll once per day.

B: Forest from Hair

From Ymir's hair the forests grew, clothing the world in green and deep shadows. You know that savagery and beauty lurk in the verdant depths, for you are both. You may vanish from sight in natural surroundings while standing still, and move unobstructed by undergrowth. You may also gain advantage (or +4) to a Charisma roll once per day.

C: Sky from Skull

From Ymir's skull the sky was forged. It cages the heavens, yet within it you have found freedom. You may fly at twice your Movement speed for 1 minute per template per day. You may also gain advantage (or +4) to an Intelligence roll once per day.

C: Cloud from Brains

From Ymir's brain the clouds flew. They obscure all sight but yours, hide secrets from all but you. You can see clearly through all clouds, fog, magical darkness, etc. You may also gain advantage (or +4) to a Wisdom roll once per day.

D: Unto the Butchers

From Ymir's death all evils sprung. Avenge this great injury in the only way those butchers will understand.

You may fashion the corpse of a fervent servant of the gods into a single, perfectly functional item or object no larger than their body.

You may fashion the corpse of a powerful priest or sacred animal/monster into something the same way as above, except that the resulting item is magical.

You may fashion the corpse of a god into an artifact of world-shattering significance, or perhaps turn it into a demiplane.

1d6	Avenger of Ymir Skills
1	You did errands and reagent runs for an old, arthritic troll-wife long ago. She passed some of her lore on to you. Gain a random potion and the "Medicine" skill.
2	They tried to hang you in the name of Old One-Eye for your blaspheming once. Once. Those who lived, regretted it. Gain a length of rope, scars, and the “Acrobatics” skill.
3	You lived among the jǫtnar for a time, and learned how it is useful that most fools believe them all to be huge, ravenous frost giants. Gain a token of friendship, and the "Disguise" skill.
4	You met a human as unafraid of spiting the Æsir as you, and during your commiseration they taught you the finer points of living goðlauss. Gain a defaced idol and the "Philosophy" skill.
5	You went on pilgrimage to the boneyard of a titanic jǫtunn said to be so old they once met Ymir. Gain a fossilized memento (medium weapon, bludgeoning or piercing), and increased comfort with the abyssal gulfs of time.
6	You once rescued a condemned seiðmaðr from drowning on a skerry. Gain a random cantrip from a random wizard school and a litany of creative expletives.

Land of Mist IS what MystarAIN'T

Now that I've grabbed your attention and/or murderous intent with that awful title, I'd like to share something better with you: Land of Mist for Old-School Essentials by Joseph Quinn and BirdEnuf Games, which I picked up on sale recently.

I at some point this year I took a greater interest in OSE. If BFRPG is any indicator, I like more 'traditional' OSR games when they freely blend Basic and Advanced rules, and have a healthy 3rd-party scene that spits out mechanics and ideas niftier or at least better-baked than anything I would come up with on the fly, and OSE does both.

Land of Mist is the first setting written specifically for OSE that I've read, so it's unfair to say it's my favorite (it'd also technically be my least favorite). But I do like it. And that's for a very simple, weirdly specific reason: It's Mystara, without 90% of the Mystara.

For those who need a refresher or never knew to begin with, Mystara was the flagship setting for BECMI. It's set in a world that looks suspiciously similar to Earth a few hundred million years ago, and it's full to bursting with that 1980s flavor of kitchen sink fiction bordering on what we might today call gonzo fantasy. There're feudal kingdoms, magitech elves, a hollow world full of living fossils, a god who used to be a bespectacled nuclear physicist, etc. It's sometimes good, often dumb, and always goofy.

This zero-context art sums it up about as well as anything else can.

Land of Mist is a tremendously slimmed down world in that same whimsical vein. Some reviews say it's too sparse, but I'd say it's more honed to a needle's point. It emphasizes the "lost world" aspect of Mystara that I find more interesting than the surface world, which outside of the occasional gonzo regions is often a whole lot of fantasy counterpart cultures from various points in human history, and theme park versions at that.

The titular Land of Mist is a continent surrounded on all sides by a wall of sentient mist hundreds of feet high that nothing can circumvent. Passing through the mist erases all your memories of the outside (or inside) world until you cross back through the way you came, so the island is completely isolated from the rest of the world. Even information like written words or pictorial depictions get scrambled on their way through. It's a bit like an immaterial, non-malevolent version of the net cast by the Dark Powers from Ravenloft, although the actual motivations of the mist are up to the referee to decide.

Populating the continent (which is just called the Land) are all manner of odd folks, alongside the presumed existence of humans and standard demi-humans. There are aquatic elves, nonevil drow who venerate the moon while still remaining mostly subterranean, beastfolk who are descendants of the progenitors of all humanoid species like orcs and goblins, gremlins who have an always-on AoE aura of chaos and shenanigans, and somewhat uniquely for an OSR game, human variants that still gain access to most of the classes and options as regular humans: the Lilliputian bittles and their Neanderthal-adjacent brute rivals.

Folks familiar with Hollow World, the Mystara sub-setting dealing with the, well, hollow world, might recognize the beastfolk as a take on the beastmen. They are the exact same type of extremely mutable ur-humanoids, except here they weren't fashioned from the souls of evil people by a god, they aren't Inuit-coded, and they aren't locked in magical cultural stasis underground by a different god the way TSR's were.

Speaking of gods, LoM uses the same system of mortals ascended to become Immortals as in Mystara. There's even a guide halfway through the book for creating your very own cult and ascending to join the pantheon, assuming you can survive the Save vs Death and get the other Immortals of your alignment to vouch for you. And you don't even need to slog to 36th level to take a crack at it.

Classes available to humans (or certain other species using Advanced rules) are also dead ringers of old Mystara content. These include the Mystic (a monk by any other name) from the Rules Cyclopedia, the Forester (arcane woodsman warrior who's buddied up with the elves) from Dawn of the Emperors boxed set, and the Rake (a non-thief thief with some swashbuckling flare) from the same. There's a pacifistic Desert Druid too, but I don't know what that's a reference to, if any. There's also a whole subsystem for Hedge Witches that gives very limited casting (max 3rd-level spells) to any character who takes an additive XP cost to level up, similar to the shamans and wokani née wiccans from BECMI; both names even make a return as specific traditions of hedge magic.

There's a host of other optional rules besides hedge witches, including playing a human afflicted with lycanthropy, playable "enlightened" monsters who gain levels, mist dragon riding, oft-maligned underwater adventuring, craftable spell runes similar to specialized scrolls/potions, and spiritual totem animals that anyone (including NPCs and commoners) can spend HP to summon for a brief time, similar in spirit to but more overtly magical than the animal totems of the Atruaghin Clans.

The language for summoning a totem animal is a little ambiguous to my eyeballs, but I asked about it on Drivethrurpg and Joseph Quinn clarified that you spend HP on a 1:1 ratio to give a summoned spirit animal that much, up to the max they could have from their normal hit dice. You also then share any hit point loss that the animal takes while summoned. This makes it a poor mechanic for creating say, a beefy animal companion like a bear to fight alongside unless you're comfortable with putting yourself very close to death. But it also works quite well for summoning a temporary distraction or a pseudo-familiar, especially handy for small or stealthy animals you'd only need to spend 1 or 2 HP on.

Outside of these rules, a few new spells, and some artifacts, the book is quite light. This is because it foregoes the massive chapters of lore and gazetteering that Mystara was famous for. The island is broken up into a few regions and the populace into a few broad cultural groups, each with just a paragraph of fluff attached. The rest is up for the referee and their table to fill in as they see fit.

I get why that's a big negative for many people, I do. It makes the world feel emptier or less thematically concrete than something with more world-building right out the box like we're used to. But it's also somewhat freeing to not have to pick through hundreds of pages of history and demographic data about Glantri, Karameikos, or Thyatis to find the bits useful for your particular game.

LoM is more of a sandbox, but not in a truly trackless, empty way. I'd compare it to one of those fancy backyard sandboxes the neighbor kid whose dad was a contractor played in; one that has shapes or topography or fake dinosaur fossils embedded in the bottom, that offer guides and contours for you to then play around or on top of. And it's still 123 pages of content with illustrations and a collection of short stories for an easy $12 or less ($9 in my case), so even without deeper world-building I didn't feel cheated.

Speaking of the illustrations, the book has a pretty regular mix of old public domain sketches and commissioned art by Emily Eastman, Finny, and Tara Quinn, the other half of the Quinn duo. I like each of them for the different feels they evoke with their art; Emily and Finny have a style that reminds me of the better 3rd-party d20 books of the early 2000s before the Gold Rush hit, while Tara's creations  are real stand-out showstoppers that I can only describe as grotesquely cute. Or maybe cutely grotesque?

Gamblers? More like in shamblers.
... Alright, I apologize for that one.

All in all, I like LoM. It's a fun setting that does what it sets out to do and then leaves you space in which to easily drop your Tower Silveraxe or what other pulp adventures have you.

To answer the question I implied with that lazy pun back up at the top: Land of Mist is svelte.

Longfolk Archer (Troika! Community Jam: Backgrounds 2024)

I'm back with another piece of Troika! content for another community jam hosted by Hod Publishing and the Melsonian Arts Council. Last time was for a bestiary entry, this time it's a player character background inspired by some of my old Ivory Tower University junk.

Check the jam out here!

Longfolk Archer

You have done the forbidden, and ventured beyond the Axebitten Woods to hunt the corruption that squirms rotten and sickly-sweet from the depths of the Reossos Basin. Your elongated twelve-foot tall, ash-painted frame is unnerving to outsiders, as is your even taller longbow. But when the decaying monsters show up, they appreciate having you and your meters-long arrows to protect them.

You've also developed a taste for archery competitions with little folk who call your bow too huge and unwieldy to use.

Possessions

• Prodigious Back Muscles.
• Longfolk Bow (Damage as Fusil) & 2d6 Spear-Sized Arrows.
• Ash Ritual Paint (Armour: 1 until it gets washed off).
• Jar of Horn Glue.

Advanced Skills

3 Bow Fighting
2 Eagle-Eyed
2 Firemaking
2 Woodworking
1 Mimic Tree

A rather modest Longfolk Bow, sporting only a single trophy.
(Image Credit: The Theory and Practice of Archery)

Special

You may challenge someone to an archery competition. The target must Test their Luck or be forced to accept. If you win, you may take their bow as a trophy and add it to your own like some kind of mismatched multi-recurve penta-bow abomination. For every trophy bow you add this way, you gain +1 to Damage rolls with your Longfolk Bow.

If you ever roll max damage with your bow (the damage die shows a natural 6), all your trophy bows explode from the force of the draw and your bonus resets to 0.

A band of mercenaries, playing with some stolen Longfolk arrows.
(Image Credit: Rijksmuseum)

I Contributed to Another Spooky Book!

Sorry I missed my usual once-a-month post here; I suddenly got very busy elsewhere. Busy for me, at least.

Specifically, I contributed to the Backwoods, the latest in the Backwards series of post-apocalyptic American Gothic Horror setting books! Each Backwards book focuses on a region of the American Lands, which is what remains of the eastern US after a vaguely-defined End that blasted the world back to colonial levels of tech and superstition. Backwoods takes place in and around the Heartlands, which is the successor to New England and also the seat of American government, such as it is. I didn't write anything major, but you might find my fingerprints here or there, and it was fun to be a part all the same.

If folk horror and eldritch weirdness in the land of Lovecraft and Steven King mixed with the occasional whimsy of a Washington Irving poem piques your interest, go check out their Kickstarter.

They funded a while ago, but you can still place a preorder.

I'm also working on a book of my own right now, although I don't want to get in-depth about that until everything's signed and sorted. But you'll have more stuff from me to look forward to Soon™.

That's all for now. I should resume my regular blogging later this month; gods know I've got enough half-finished drafts that I could probably just throw a dart at them on the wall and finish the last few tables or paragraphs wherever it lands.

Tramplers of Chains, Liberators from the Labyrinth (GLOG/Troika!/D&D 5E Character Options)

Long ago, a vain and despotic king was cursed by a cruel and petty god for defying it.

The god punished everyone around the king, but the king learned nothing. He only recoiled in disgust as the members of his court and family twisted and changed into pained fusions of human and kine; the symbol of wealth the king had surrounded himself with.

With all his riches, the king ripped open the womb of the earth and delved a deep and dreary prison for his former subjects, banishing them out of sight and out of mind forever. Those cursed prisoners wailed and called out to the god for salvation, but the god was too busy gnashing its teeth to powder after the king to listen. And so the prisoners languished in the cold, stone halls until the world forgot them.

Time got on. The king died, his kingdom ruptured and reformed as something else, and the god faded away. But the prisoners remained, bringing children into their labyrinthine world if only to ease the pain of loneliness somewhat- and to teach them. From generation to generation they passed down their clouding memory of the past, the king, and their curse.

They came to believe that they had been punished for their own evils, which grew so malignant that they came to life and took the form of that old lord. Each child was taught that their parents had sinned, and that they must now do better. Never again would they covet. Never again would they imprison. Never again.

Time got on. The earth settled. Stone eroded, and metal corroded. Hinges weakened. The labyrinth boomed with the sound of its doors crashing down. A severe and blinding light shone in its place. When the screaming quieted, and their eyes stopped tearing up, they looked out onto the world that had forgotten them.

And they beheld a world choked with sin.

Avarice ruled. The land was filled with prisons, walls, fences, and cages. The privileged ground the unlucky beneath the heels of those ugly, fleshy hooves they call feet. Every cruelty that had damned the dwellers in the labyrinth festered unchecked in the hateful light of the sun.

Never again. Never again.

They washed over the land like a wave, bellowing cries of anguish and redemption and leaving an almost bloodless havoc in their wake. They ripped open animal pens, seized people only to sunder their bonds or split their yokes, and tore palaces down upon their lords' heads. Then they left as suddenly as they arrived, leaving townsfolk puzzled amid the wreckage. They were certain the beasts were just crude marauders, yet they couldn't explain why they didn't actually steal anything, or why they had the almost preternatural clarity to burn debts and legal documents...

Now they wander the world in loose bands under the open sky, searching for the next target of their divine fury. They live utterly fearlessly, except for the fear of closed spaces burned into their cultural memory for all time.

Most cities try to find ways to repel or divert the harrowing herds. But there are growing numbers of those who welcome and even join them, drawn to the stark and terrifying freedom they bring with them. Their trail is not difficult to follow- just look for the trampled chains and smeared bits of tyrant.

POV: You just finished building that new chicken coop.
(Anaba Bodyguard art by Greg Staples)

Child of the Labyrinth Species (GLOG)

Reroll: STR

Bonus: +4 to Strength for breaking chains, destroying walls, busting down doors, etc.

Weakness: Can't wear shoes. Save vs Fear when trapped in a small, enclosed space or suffer a claustrophobic episode, running and attacking anything that prevents your escape.

Children of the Labyrinth, in their own language. Bullfolk, to most others. Bos taurus anarchos, to gigantic nerds. Victims of an old curse, broken free from their labyrinthine prison. No cage shall hold them—or anyone else—ever again. Never again.

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Child of the Labyrinth Background (Troika!)

Possessions

• Big Horns & Hard Hooves (Damage as Spear).
• Thick Hide (Always count as being Lightly Armoured).
• A Labyrinth-Stone Memento.

Advanced Skills

3 Anarchist Thought

3 Strength

2 Navigation

1 Hunting & Gathering

1 Mathology

1 Run

Special

Once per month you may Test your Luck to destroy any barrier confining you or another creature, no matter how improbable or immaterial it might be. Walls, chains, debts, legal bondage, and even magical effects like Affix count, among others.

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Child of the Labyrinth Lineage (5E)

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Creature Type. You are still a Humanoid, despite everything done to you.

Alignment. The Children abhor not just individual and eminently stompable tyrants, but the violence and degradation inherent in all systems that prioritize law and orderliness over the wellbeing of its constituents. They tend toward chaotic alignments, with roughly equal numbers being neutral or good.

Size. The Children are broad and hulking, but not exceedingly so compared to their more humanoid ancestors. You are Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. Your ancestors' time in the labyrinth left its mark on you. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray.

Horns. You have horns that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier piercing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Goring Rush. Immediately after you take the Dash action on your turn and move at least 20 feet, you can make one melee attack with your Horns as a bonus action.

Never Again. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the frightened, grappled, or restrained conditions on yourself.

Breaker. You have advantage on all Strength checks to break through chains, doors, walls, etc.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and the Lingua Labyrinthine. It's more of a continuum of related dialects than a single language; linguistic prescriptivism and purism is just another form of tyranny, after all.

Destige Class: Ashworm Dragoon for OSE (Sandstorm, 2005)

I know backwards-looking system conversions of classes, species, monsters, etc. have been around for decades, since the time we had more than 1 system. But I didn't get inspired to try my hand at it until I mentally connected it to the more recent trend of retraux demakes of music and video games. Which are separate phenomena in very different media, but they're just close enough that I can conceptually append my writing to them in a pointless attempt at self-legitimization.

I also know how late to the party I am on this, so I've decided to do things Slightly Differently, and take a page from my OdditEs series. Hence the 'destige' class; one of the weirder prestige classes from 3E or later, adapted or at least used as "inspiration" for a roughly old school base class in the vein of BFRPG, OSE, or whatever feels most appropriate in the moment. Balancing is likely to be suspect, but fortunately a good chunk of the OSR abhors balance (whether it be mechanical, mental, or otherwise).

Link to the original 3E PrC that inspired this one: Ashworm Dragoon

Ashworm Dragoon

Requirements: Minimum STR 9, minimum CON 9
Prime Requisite: DEX
Hit Dice: 1d8
Maximum level: 14
Armour: Leather, chainmail, shields
Weapons: Any
Languages: Alignment, Common

Nomadic desert tribes long ago learned how to capture and train the giant, sand-burrowing ashworms, also called thunderherders. Ashworm dragoons form a bond with their ashworm steeds so strong that they become like extensions of one another. They blend mounted combat with exotic monstrous abilities to become some of the most formidable forces in (or below) the desert and beyond.

Ashworm Mount

A dragoon begins play with a bonded ashworm- an ashworm with AC 5 [14], 3+3 HD, and a movement rate of 120' (40') / 180' (60') burrowing. If the worm dies, the dragoon may spend one month taming and training a replacement in a desert or waste known to be inhabited by ashworms.

Hardy Mount

Upon reaching 3rd level, an ash dragoon's mount gains a +1 AC bonus and +1 HD. This increases to +2 at 5th level, and +3 at 7th level. If the dragoon's worm dies or is released, its replacement gains these benefits at the end of its training.

Poison Stinger

From 4th level, an ash dragoon can induce their worm to inject a target with poison using its stinger attack a number of times per day equal to their class level. If the attack hits, the victim must save versus Death or be paralyzed for 1d2 rounds, in addition to normal attack damage.

Weather-Beaten

Ash dragoons gain +2 to all saves against nonmagical heat and exhaustion from years of riding across the sands. At the referee's discretion  the bonus against heat may be exchanged for a bonus against cold if a dragoon rides the rare woolly ashworm native to the frozen deserts of the south.

Worm Riding

Ashworm dragoons gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls when mounted. Their bizarre and elaborate saddles also give them a 25% chance to stay seated when otherwise they would be knocked off.

Worm Sign

A dragoon of 6th level or higher can dive below sand or other soft ground with their worm mount and move using its burrowing speed for up to 1 minute per level per day before coming up for air. At 8th level the dragoon and worm can burrow through packed earth, but not solid rock. If still underground when time runs out, the dragoon suffocates in 2d6 rounds unless they are dug out or their worm surfaces on its own.

After Reaching 9th Level

An ash dragoon may construct a stronghold at the edge of a desert or wasteland. Once a stronghold is established, it becomes a meeting ground for nomad tribes who come from far and wide to trade and exchange news. The stronghold also attracts 2d6 apprentices of levels 1-3 to study worm-handling under the ash dragoon.

Ashworm Dragoon Level Progression
Level	XP	HD	THAC0	Saving Throws
				D	W	P	B	S
1	0	1d8	19 [0]	12	13	14	15	16
2	2,500	2d8	19 [0]	12	13	14	15	16
3	5,000	3d8	19 [0]	12	13	14	15	16
4	10,000	4d8	17 [+2]	10	11	12	13	14
5	18,500	5d8	17 [+2]	10	11	12	13	14
6	37,000	6d8	17 [+2]	10	11	12	13	14
7	85,000	7d8	14 [+5]	8	9	10	10	12
8	140,000	8d8	14 [+5]	8	9	10	10	12
9	270,000	9d8	14 [+5]	8	9	10	10	12
10	400,000	9d8+2*	12 [+7]	6	7	8	8	10
11	530,000	9d8+4*	12 [+7]	6	7	8	8	10
12	660,000	9d8+6*	12 [+7]	6	7	8	8	10
13	790,000	9d8+8*	10 [+9]	4	5	6	5	8
14	920,000	9d8+10*	10 [+9]	4	5	6	5	8

* Modifiers from CON no longer apply.
D: Death / poison; W: Wands; P: Paralysis / petrify; B: Breath attacks; S: Spells / rods / staves.

Ashworm Monster Stats

A large, eyeless worm the size of a horse covered in chitin. Distant relative of the purple worm. It burrows through sand and wields a nasty poison stinger. Domesticated ashworms have their stingers clipped, except those ridden by ash dragoons.

AC 7 [12], HD 3 (13hp), Att stinger (1d4 + poison), THAC0 17 [+2], MV 120' (40') / 180' (60') burrowing, SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (3), ML 9, AL Neutral, XP 25, NA 1d4 (5d6), TT None
▶ Burrowers: Can flee by burrowing into sand or soft earth.
▶ Melee: When in melee, both rider and worm can attack.
▶ Poison: Causes paralysis 1d2 rounds (save versus poison).