2 PAGE RPG: Micro Elysium

 Based on the Skill System of Disco Elysium. 

Click the Star

Credit to Dan over at Throne of Salt for putting the idea forward here.  And thanks to the neatly maintained and charmingly written Disco Elysium Wiki. 

DETECTIVE

ARRIVING

ON THE SCENE

1d20 Tanar'ri

1. Holgoch, a Dretch. A philosophical creature, but a ravenous one. Keeps dismembering its debate partners. Will mock you if you mention that it is a Dretch - “A category so broad as to be useless, morsel." 
2. Chilperian, a Vrock. Deeply in trouble. Paranoid and gluttonous. Gorged itself on soul-larvae meant for the flesh-lined table of Orcus. Forced to flee Thanatos. Feels it can no longer keep running. Convinced it’s being hunted. 
3. Koltif, a Dretch. Once boss of a hideous maze-like district of Lemoriax, the Twisted City. Huge claws. Two heads, a sign of favour from Demogorgon - except, it was embarrassed in combat, by a mere mortal. Its second head is now dead and rotten, a fly-ridden weight on its neck. Wishes to reclaim its fame and station. 
4. Ukylhk, an Uridezu. A ratlike, hunched thing, covered in weeping welts. Its head resembles a rat’s skull, crowned with a fused rib cage, bloodied and covered in strips of meat. Fervent, vicious servant of Orcus. The fervent devotion displayed by this creature is extremely unsettling and repulsive to other Tanar’ri. It’s usually left alone to tend to its personal shrine to Orcus, unless needed for errands. 
5. Schugan, a Barlgura. This thuggish thing has four arms, and a tongue the length of a horse. Considers itself prince among barlguras, although this is certainly untrue. Has found itself tricked into the service of Graz’zt. Bitter. 
6. Yrelgor, a Babau with the face of a weeping child. Red-black, with barbed claws and a prominent hooked spines along its back. It breathes reeking clouds of blue smoke when angry. It wears a moth-eaten cloak of purple velvet. It is a member of Graz’zt’s court, occupying the closest position a Tanar’ri can manage to ‘castellan’. It’s a sycophant and a coward. 
7. Haspigor, a Vrock. Proud and gigantic among it’s Vrock cousins. Shimmering red feathers. Believes itself the spawn of Pazuzu, an Obyrith Lord, and true heir to the title ‘prince of demons’. Believes its aura of terror and venomed claws will allow it to stand up to Demogorgon. This is unlikely, to say the least. Its beak has a wicked hook. Battlecry is reminiscent of a pen full of pigs screaming in pain. 
8. Ja’acian, an Armanite. Adamant armour nailed with silver spikes to its upper body. Head has a long, distended jaw with maggoty gums and a whipping, spiked tongue. Hooves are all hooked and spiked with stolen green steel. Arrogant and violent, even for a Tanar’ri. 
9. Naloscag, a Maurezhi. Distended, eyeless ghoulish face. Wears a cloak stitched from flayed mortal faces and naught else. Travels with a gang of hideous ghouls, which lurk with it through tunnels and sewers in search of prey. 
10. Bovuulch, a Chasme. Works for various cults in the City of Doors, in exchange for copious amounts of raw meat. It shapes horrid little statues of itself out of the meat, in a pillared cave on the Plain of Infinite Portals. It calls this cave its Grand Temple. It wants to get itself a cult. 
11. Gerigan, a Barlgura. A giggling, feeble sadist, with long, bony limbs and bluish-white fur. Many half-formed, cataracted eyes have sprouted along the undersides of its arms and back. It considers itself a prophet. 
12. Ik-chit-kilchat, a centipede-like Adaru. Face of an elderly woman on a scuttling black centipede, with seventy red legs. Lets out stinking clouds of brownish vapour as it moves. Collects fingers and toes. Primarily Baatezu, but treasures the toes of celestials and mortals. It’s prize - the long toe-claw of an astral berbalang. 
13. Augolich, a Hezrou. Replaced its teeth with huge shards of flint. A minion of the vicious godling Vaprak. Has an iron cage wired onto its back which contains a Hound Archon called Idalia. Augolich uses the Archon’s suffering to power grim magics. Its favourite sound is screaming, of any kind. 
14. Zagarzjec, a Nabassu. A leathery, dark green thing, with long, tapering limbs covered in hundreds of tiny tendrils. Massive, reflective white eyes, and translucent wings. Completely deaf and constantly howling. Hunts around the edges of the tiny mortal communities that struggle along in the Abyss, preying on the lonely and afraid. 
15. Gor-Gorith, a Molydeus. One of Orcus’ most vicious servants. Hunting Chilperian the Vrock. Its two heads, snake and wolf, viciously despise each other. Wears a cape of rotting baatezu limbs, harvested from the war-fields of Avernus. Wields a flail made from the spine of a storm giant, which crackles and smokes as the demon wields it. 
16. Xakokoohl, a Nalfeshnee. Missing its jaw. A second jawlike structure, a tongue covered in tiny, black teeth, has taken up the job. Constantly dribbles squirming ichor which transforms into flies and worms when it passes. Pulsing tumour on upper arm causes agonizing migraines in nearby mortals. Considers itself on the verge of ascension to Demon Lord. 
17. Draggonach, a Klurichir. Has viciously acidic spit. An Obyrith, Kholokaan, lives inside a cavity in Draggonach’s head. The creature is unaware of it’s passenger, feeling no pain, and believes the Obyrith’s whispered commands to be the workings of his own diseased mind. Wields two flaming axes. Kholokaan can poke out from a ragged hole on the back of Draggonach’s neck - a sinuous, slime covered worm, with five protuberant mandibles and a baleful green eye between them. 
18. Hurygorum, a Nalfeshnee, who suffered 20 years of embarrassing servitude, bound to an evil paladin by a powerful spell. Has returned to The Abyss to find it’s domains in disarray. Is mechanically executing its former lieutenants and myrmidons, where it can find them. Thick, oozing gut is home to a hive of creatures that resemble spider-legged lampreys, which it sics on it’s enemies. 
19. Golgk, a Goristro. A prodigious creature. Has a gigantic, front heavy head, wrapped in ratty black silk and stabbed with jewelled pins. Born in the flesh-pits of Baphomet’s laboratories, but exiled for being just too stupid. Has found its way to the court of Graz’zt, who keeps it around for muscle, even if he can barely stand the sight or smell of it. In his spare time, Golgk likes to pop quasits like grapes, and bully mortal residents of Zelatar, the City of Lies. 
20. T’thyghonaar, a Myrmixicus. A 40-foot long serpent, with a dragon skull head, four scything limbs and a lamprey mouth at the tip of its tail. Swims the brackish, monstrous oceans of the Abyss, not powerful enough to escape the whims of its creator, Dagon, but too strong to be commanded without some repercussion. Likes to hunt and eat surviving Obyriths, to spite its hated creator. Wields a giant scythe forged out of a thousand stolen green-steel blades. Regularly swims down the Styx to Hades, to hunt Yugoloths and destroy ships.

I Loot the Body (d100, Aclas)

As Sahh of the OSR Discord challenged: a d100 Loot the Body for Aclas.

Feel free to roll a few d100s and see what you find!

Again, this is specifically Iskadar, the city where all the different cultural regions overlap. Each region would have it’s own weird table. 

1. 1d6 Golden Crowns, the currency of Iskadar. Features a broken crown as a device.
2. A trivarii, the holy amulet of the Triumvirate. Triangle design, in a circle. 
3. 1d6 Orvanid Sovereigns, the currency of Orvain. Mostly copper. Little worth. 
4. A bronze dagger. Marked with a curling snake design. Likely from Suryan.
5. Lacquer box containing rare teas. 
6. Long-rifle. Poorly maintained, frost-warped by constant flow of Vis. 
7. A scrimshawed harpoon. Massive spiritual and cultural value to one specific Triton.
8. A tzow, a janky, unstable, home-made weapon that fires force bolts. 
9. Veteran’s cane. Transforms into a sword when tapped on the ground. 
10. Mage License for The Union, a state ten years gone. No longer valid. 
11. Iskorian Cult Mask. Unsettling shambler face. Leather with gold stitching. 
12. Flag of Kostar, rolled up tight. Serpent being bloodily impaled on a sword.
13. Sleeveless, hooded canvas tunic. Yellow. Symbol of Docker’s Union membership. 
14. Syndicalist Pamphlet. Full of lithographs depicting senators as vermin. 
15. Bardsheet. Has news and ballads. Being replaced by records and newspapers. 
16. Splatter mask. Warped by magic exposure. 
17. Blood-stained greatcoat. Military surplus. 
18. Dented brass trombone. Maker’s mark says ‘Af Bvietell’. High quality. 
19. Lyrics sheet for ‘The Timid and The Bold’, Nevechi patriot song. 
20. Apotropaic amulet - crow with cyclopean eye. Zymani in origin. 
21. Argyle socks. Full of holes. 
22. Glass bottle of Mushroom Ale, a bioluminescent beer. Designed for miners. 
23. Tartan capelet. Held on with a fashionable copper beetle brooch. 
24. Silver pin, crossed spike-wands behind skull. For the Cabal, of the City of Ghosts. 
25. Small ceramic jar containing dried seaweed and fish flakes. 
26. Polished snuff container. Has a tiger chasing a boar chasing a wolf on it. 
27. Violin in case. Scratched and chipped. Hellish symbols scraped into the wood. 
28. Bottle of hideous green root-liquor from the Underdark. Bracing. 
29. Tiny clockwork bird. Maker’s mark says ‘Lifelikes’. 
30. Mummified rat. Gold pins in its head. 
31. Clatter grenade. Banned since the War of the Ruins. Copper cylinder, black spikes. 
32. Autocar key. Large pin, ivory handle. Chain of little latten tokens hang from it. 
33. Goggles. Tinted glass and stitched leather. 
34. Union-issued gun permit. Still valid, despite the collapse of said country. 
35. Shiny new pistol. Brass and rosewood. Silver hammer is etched. 
36. Boxwood amulet. Gryphon daubed in red. From Uver-Ek. 
37. Wanted poster for ‘Bones’, criminal tomb-looter of the Riverlands.
38. Record of stock ownership in a shipping company based in Iskadar.  
39. Black sunglasses in a shiny tortoise-shell case. Gold rims. Spell-array in the glass. 
40. Flag, two gold sea serpents on blue. Used by the Brine, Helaxan freedom fighters.
41. Advertisement, printed in red. ‘Leech Bar - All Vryloka Welcome.’ Well-thumbed. 
42. Invitation to a seminar on construct rights. Key speaker is a Daedali philosopher. 
43. Cigar case. Printed with an alicanto, a bird that eats gold and magic. 
44. 2d6 10-crown banknotes. Extremely dense print design, depicting tesselating squid. 
45. Pact-sign, a pulsing black worm covered in Hellish runes. 
46. Silvered short sword. Arrowhead symbol of the Aturian Demonslayers etched on. 
47. Flight-cap, for aerostat crewmembers. Boiled leather, wool ear-flaps, built in goggles. 
48. 1d6 Amkaman Obols. Likely cursed, very valuable. 
49. Patent leather shoes, with neat black laces. Stamp on the sole says ‘Heeling Magic’. 
50. Train tickets to Iskoria. Vis Guild sparrow mark, and a warning about the civil war. 
51. Locket. Contains a micro-print of an Orcish family with five happy kids. 
52. Pearl necklace with a small charm - a human-ish figure in jade. 
53. Two bangles, brass and latten. Have spell-arrays etched on, real dense. 
54. A Wizard’s Stylus. Highly rare malediar tip, for scribing spells neatly and efficiently. 
55. Bottled ooze, with Limus Heavy Chemicals label. Viscous, sickly green.
56. Tiny bottle of Zymani rice wine. There’s a desiccated, tiny snake in the bottle.  
57. Brass-barreled army revolver. Model since banned for decency in war.  
58. Spell scroll. Hard typewriter paper. Array is inlaid with gilt and red embroidery. 
59. Trilby hat. A playing card jauntily stands in the ribbon. Razorblade sewn into the brim. 
60. Copper bell on a belt-loop. Rings when spirits are nearby.
61. Cabro Gunsmith’s Uppercut, the Pistol With Punch. Ugly. Heavy. Crude.  
62. Bydryggan tabard. Every single one is a work of art, even in ratty condition. 
63. Xiey plant-umbrella. One large fan leaf. Vines grow to pods of nutrients on the belt.
64. Traditional Nevechi carnival mask. Looks like a horse skull. Alarming. 
65. Pocket binoculars. These ones have a Detect Magic built in. 
66. Brass knuckle dusters. Clearly built for Ogrish hands, better use as a club. 
67. Slide-pistol - on a rail on your forearm. Good for surprises, very impractical. 
68. Hobnail boots. Burnt, mudstained, scuffed. Have clearly been through a lot. 
69. Lucky coin, a Union goldmark. Bent inwards by bullet impact. 
70. Steel plate flak-jacket. Has clearly seen use. Number of military patches. 
71. Daedali face-plate. Old model, blank & damaged. On the inside: ‘Athrun-6577’. 
72. Prayer-knives, many tiny swords on a chain. From a Ziracaan blade-cult. 
73. Khaanan ceremonial cup. Shaped like a sea-snail shell. Old bronze. 
74. Traditional Idraanic hat. Tall, cubical, felt. Name sewn into the inside. 
75. Dazur Dwarven axe-pipe. Large battle-axe with a pipe-bowl and a hollow shaft.
76. Arrow collar. Stuffed into pockets in a hurry. Wine stains. 
77. The Laosing Theatrical Review. Full of biting sarcasm and political commentary. 
78. Crumpled cloche hat. Has a small derringer pistol folded in it. 
79. Gold torc depicting eels. Likely from Yunarros. Probably cursed. 
80. Silk necktie with shiny tin tie-pin. 
81. Altitude jacket. Sheepskin and wool. Patches for multiple air navies. 
82. Canister of Vis, the Modern Fuel. Ambient cyan glow, even though the can’s opaque.
83. Redblue flower from Viciar. Changes colour when you aren’t looking. Moves, too.
84. Maaronan hair pins. Elephant ivory and gold.  
85. Vasnoran dome hat. Hard leather. Calls to mind a mushroom’s cap. 
86. Zarumaan war-medals. Depict stylised boars, fists and wyverns, alongside ribbons. 
87. Black oilskin. Half cape, half coat. Bullet holes in one of the sleeves. Big hood. 
88. Intricately etched Tsal Elven medallion of office. This one is for a Prince of Tsulah.
89. Haigish voting mask. Grotesque face of a long-gone monarch. Hinged jaw for eating. 
90. Thick parka. Tin salamander charms sewn into the lining. 
91. Whalish ribsticks mask. Depicts an animal. Made of padded seal-leather and bone.
92. Vaal cold-cloak. Like woven snow. Keeps the wearer icy cold, as the Vaal like it.
93. Escarian tomb-jar. Full of ashes, ancestor ghosts and salt-water. Do not disturb. 
94. Itmekan puzzle box. Extremely rare, extremely expensive. Devilishly hard to solve. 
95. Box, marked; DO NOT OPEN. Postage label says it came from the Underdark. 
96. Petran totem. Coiled snake shape changes into a humanoid with arms raised. 
97. Great Book of Lineages from Sarr. All the Tarim Elven noble histories. Printed neat. 
98. Reinforced silk parachute. Contained in a heavy knapsack. 
99. Hand-drawn illustration of an observation balloon on a sunlit horizon. 
100. Modern steel phoslamp. Runs on Vis, lets out water vapour. 

X3 PICTURE PONG: THE SECOND BLAST

 THE ORRERY HAS PONG'D BACK - BEHOLD, COUNTERSERVE! 

But first, the image to which I was assigned: 

A conundrum, to be sure... for a fool! For I know exactly what this image depicts! To wit: 

ARTIST'S IMPRESSION: OCCULT TITAN OF ANCIENT TIMES

Created by the Damn'd Bio-Diabolists of Ancient Kelkahir, these titan abominations were first used as weapons of war by the Goathead Emperors, but were then turned loose after their final imperial fall. 

They wandered the countryside of Kelkahir, reducing entire fields to nothingness with their blasphemous presence and driving ahead of them legions of screaming, flailing ghouls. 

The last of them were killed by the Seventy Knights and their Flying Swords of Cosmic Law - but too late to save Kelkahir, now the Screaming Lands, a dead waste, where they say worse Bio-Diabolisms remain unfound. 

Ahh. The power of the pong. 

Now, to send images onward. --> 

TO YOU, THE ORRERY: 

AND TO YE, PURPLE ONE:

1d100 Tiefling Variances

 

For a Tiefling PC in Planescape. 

I like both the 2e → 3e and the 4e → 5e Tiefling. So i decided to combine that rad new aesthetic with the cool old variability. 

To set a baseline, here’s some traits most Tieflings share: 

• Horns. Shape and size varies.
• Brightly coloured skin (usually red, but any colour you wouldn’t find on a human is possible). 
• Eyes with glowing irises and black sclerae. (See well in the dark.) 
• Pointed or goatlike ears (i.e long and rounded). 
• High body temperature. 
• Resistance to fire (i.e. take [Level] less damage from any fire related damage).
• Holy Water stings but doesn’t burn. 
• Tieflings with particularly poor personal hygiene stink of sulfur and rotting meat.
• Entire mouth of pointed, sharp teeth.
• Primarily Carnivorous (have a hard time digesting greens. Like being lactose intolerant - i.e., many Tieflings still eat salads, because they’re delicious, damn the intestinal pain!) 

Most Tieflings roll 2 Variances. If they conflict, either combine them weirdly (two sets of eyes, perhaps) or re-roll. 

1d100 Variances

1. Appearance is strangely blurry. Impossible to paint, sketch or properly describe. 
2. Hard scales on the torso. 
3. Third eye in the middle of the forehead. Sees weird shit. 
4. Second pair of horns. 
5. Maw of crocodilian fangs. Nasty bite. 
6. Unusually long and prehensile tail. 
7. Horse-like legs. 
8. Insect chitin on torso or limbs. 
9. Long, thin fingers. 
10. Prominent furred patches on face and limbs. 
11. Unsettlingly symmetrical face.
12. Razor-sharp claws. 
13. Long, batlike ears. 
14. Clawed, lizardlike feet and digitigrade legs. 
15. Eyes are pitch black, like pools of ink. See perfectly in the dark. 
16. No visible Mutation: two hearts. 
17. Feathers in place of hair. 
18. Damp, oily skin.
19. Foot long, prehensile tongue. (Still forked).
20. Dry, spiny skin. 
21. Spew clouds of smoke with every breath. 
22. No reflection.
23. Bony forehead plate. Fuses into horns. Good for headbutts.
24. Double row of teeth. 
25. Prehensile hair. 
26. Hirsute goat legs. 
27. Irises and pupils glow red. (Sclerae are still black). 
28. No Mutations at all. Weird! 
29. Chelicerae. 
30. Scorpion’s tail. 
31. Hard, leathery skin. 
32. No hair. 
33. Neck and limbs covered in small scales. 
34. Particularly tall, somewhat disproportionate. 
35. Patches of glowing, smoking marks on the skin, like it’s smouldering. 
36. Jaws can unhinge like a snake’s. 
37. Blood and spit are lightly poisonous to others. 
38. Blood is pitch black and smokes. 
39. Reflection is just a fiery shadow. 
40. Spikes on each vertebra, protrude from your back.
41. Snake-tail in place of legs. 
42. Rotate your head 270 degrees like an owl. 
43. Completely silent footsteps. 
44. Shadow flickers and shifts into different shapes. 
45. Particularly short. 
46. Skin and flesh bulges strangely. Not fat, but something viscous. 
47. Blood is blue and ice cold. Breathe out plumes of mist. 
48. Eyes and mouth let off harmless flames when angry or in battle. 
49. Distinctly large and heavy horns. 
50. Cat-like eyes. (Sclerae are still black.) 
51. Long, scaled tail with spines on the end. 
52. Cynocephaly. 
53. Eyes are glowing orbs. No sclera visible. See perfectly in the dark.
54. Vestigial Batlike Wings.
55. Unusually keen sense of smell. 
56. Translucent skin on hands. 
57. Hair is replaced by copper wires. 
58. Cloven hooves.
59. No Horns.  
60. Protruding Bone Spikes on arms, legs and shoulders. 
61. Compound Eyes. 
62. Blotchy markings on skin. 
63. Stink of rotting meat. 
64. You can sense the presence of Celestials as a faint headache. 
65. Skull-like face. No nose, prominent eye sockets, sharp cheekbones, no lips. 
66. Always Look Malnourished.
67. Six fingers on each hand. 
68. Crown of small horns. 
69. Hollow bones. Very light and fragile. 
70. Visually appear to be rotten. 
71. Chitinous insect legs. 
72. Prominent tusks. 
73. No hair. 
74. Attract rats and insects. Always a few nearby. 
75. Extended lifespan, not that it matters (old age claims you at about 150 years). 
76. Hard, cracked skin. Almost like stone, but red. 
77. One hand is a fused, chitinous claw. 
78. Large underbite with fangs. 
79. Albino. 
80. Your spit is weak acid. You take no damage from your own acid. 
81. Viscous Blood. 
82. Uneven horns. 
83. Hair floats as if underwater. 
84. Full snake grows where the neck meets the shoulder. Venomous. 
85. Constant faint cloud of smoke accompanies you. 
86. Stink of blood. 
87. You sweat sticky, stinging ooze. Doesn’t sting you.  
88. Beard of sensitive tendrils. Can feel air currents. 
89. Heavy ‘helm’ of bone plates. Fuses into horns. Mouth and eyes uncovered.  
90. Feel no pain. 
91. You can smell gold from hundreds of feet away. Silver stings you. 
92. Translucent skin on cheeks and throat. 
93. Double-jointed in all of your joints. 
94. One arm heavily muscled, the other feeble and bony. 
95. Plants wither at your touch. 
96. Blood slowly metamorphoses into worms and flies once spilt. 
97. You can sense the presence of Fiends as an uncomfortable buzzing.
98. Second pair of feeble arms. Can’t wield weapons, can hold items. 
99. Second Head. Has a different personality. Not an NPC, part of your PC. 
100. Functional Batlike Wings.

PICTURE PONG X3 COMBO

 

The Wise and Ever-turning Cosmic Orrery posited a Three Way Picture Pong! 

Intriguing. 

I was supplied with this image, which depicts:

BEDLAM IN THE STREETS AFTER HALLUCINOGENIC FUNGUS GETS IN THE GIN. 

In outer Nethelos, disaster today as the city's famous Dry Neth Gin was infected with a kind of hallucinogenic fungus under study at the College. 

We saw people stumbling around the streets, musical instruments up on wires and general hallucinatory bedlam.

The responsibilty of the college for allowing its escape (perhaps as part of a student prank!) is yet to be determined.  

As part of The Response, i was assigned this image by the Purple One.

This is, clearly, a modern day spatiomancer who's figured out how to extend his walkway beyond the limits of the real and is leaving via portal to join in the great wizard wars beyond time. 

TO YE, THE COSMIC ORRERY

AND TO THE PURPLECTHULHU WITH THE VELVET INKS AND CRYSTAL FIRES 

13 Items But It's Aclas This Time

 Jojiro of Dungeon Antology pointed out, with fair reasoning, that he was expecting the 13 items post to be about my main setting, Aclas. 

So uh... boom. Part 2. Why not.

Here's what's on the person of someone you might bump into in the streets of Iskadar. 

1. Pistol. Silver hammer, break-action, alongside seven brass-cased bullets with a faint blue glow emanating from them. Wrapped in the relevant permit.
2. Switchblade. Tortoiseshell handle. Etched symbols in the old rune set out the terms of a family agreement with a spirit. 
3. Newspaper. Cheaply printed. Bold headlines and lithograph prints. News is mostly about polticial unrest and industrial developments. 
4. Kitschy printed tin of Vician pine resin. Charged with magic. For chewing. 
5. Hardened wax cylinder. Scribed into it, record-style, are the latest bardic hits, along with some fun anecdotes and skits. For putting into a specialised player. 
6. Black sunglasses. A number of uses, and they're all the rage. Gold rims. 
7. Train tickets. Beige card stubs, stamped with the golden sparrow symbol of the Vis Guild. 3rd Class. 
8. Good luck charm - snake made of soapstone on a gut string. Your father's. 
9. Syndicalist pamphlet decrying corruption in the City Senate. Cheaply printed. 
10. Letters from home. Boring and bucolic.  
11. Cheap wallet full of business cards and banknotes. Contains a few spell-scrolls, folded up real neat.
12. Banknotes in an envelope addressed to home. Money's from all over.
13. Shiny new patent leather shoes. 

Answering Filth Pig's Questions

 

Answering the setting questions found over at The Slopyard. Answering these questions for Aclas. 

1. Is there Blood Magic? Necromancy? Can I start off with these powers or do I have to get them d-d-d-diegetically? Will these things get me hanged/drawn, quartered and burned over water/tortured/burned at the stake? Is your Necromancer working off the "divination from the dead" definition or is it cool?

There's absolutely both Blood Magic and Necromancy! You can definitely start with them, yeah. They're considered 'Red Magic', so the reaction varies. 

On the one hand, performing necromantic acts in the former Union or the great old states of Etra will see you in front of a firing squad (should they catch you) - but in Cantos, necromancy is accepted, and all of the government leaders are necromancers.

So called 'Blue Necromancy' is the divination from the dead/speak with dead kind, you can learn it at acceptable wizard institutions across the world. 

'Red Necromancy' is the kind everyone thinks of. The other 90% of the school is that. 

All of it's just fragments of the greater lost art of Biomancy, but don't tell anyone. 

2. Will my limbs get hacked off? Can I get new limbs? Do they have to be human or can I have monster parts? Is there a class that does all this or is it just an NPC?

Yes, Yes, Yes and There Isn't a Class Yet. 

3. When was the last plague in the setting and how soon can we expect the next one? Can we swindle people by selling fake plague cures? 

Disease outbreaks happen all the time, but the last Really Big Plague was Constellar Fever, about 47 years ago. The infected ended up with magic-charged rashes with little glowing points of burning magic in them that looked like constellations. Some say the rashes were heretic spell-diagrams, if read correctly. 

You can swindle people in all manner of ways, this is no exception.  

4. Cannibalism gives you: A) Kuru, B) Magical Powers, C) Full stomach, D) Yet Another Unexpected Twist ?

In order: C, A, B, D. 

It's a matter of commitment. 

You get full, then sick, then you die and become a ghoul, then you become a ghast, then you become a devourer, then you eventually bloat like a drowned pig and metamorphose into something really, really horrible. 

5. What's can't I do that isn't super obvious?

Huh. Good question. There's no flying or resurrection spells in the setting, does that count? 

A World in 13 Items

 Equipment:

1. Battered black armour, wrapped in silk, inside a cuir bouilli box. 
2. Hammer. Two small silver bells hang from it. 
3. Iron crock-pot full of nails and tacks. 
4. Battered keelboat, with apotropiacs painted on the outside. 
5. Small oilskin tent. Can be set up inside a keelboat. 
6. Whale jaw covered in scrimshaw blasphemies. 
7. Seal-skin and wool parka. Has a multitude of names sewn into the lining. 
8. Shard of unmelting ice. Kept inside tin flask. 
9. Brass brazier. Covered in symbols. Unlit.
10. Holy icon made of latten. Kept in oilskin and wicker case. 
11. Sturdy hobnail boots. Steel toe-cap. Single silver nail on each toe, pointing forwards. 
12. Large knife etched with a coat of arms. Kept in exquisitely embroidered sheath. Isn't sharp.
13. A Codex of Evils and Infernals, massive and moth-bit, kept wrapped safely in two layers of oilskin and silk, within a large rosewood chest, with three locks. 

Folk on Mother Sea

 For a Pirate Setting. Might end up as a GLOGhack, dunno. 

Mood Music

Firefolk 

Most numerous folk. Humans. 

Come in all colours and shapes. 

Like Fire, in that they spread, they destroy - and they drown quicker and easier than anyone else.

They dance brightly, cause a lot of chaos, and are gone just as quick, with naught but ash remainder.

Firefolk rot when they die. Particularly mighty or puissant Firefolk combust. 

Originators of blacksmithery, gunpowder and sailing ships. Myths say they invented the last since Mother Sea rejected them, which is why they’re good at drowning. 

Firefolk blood is warm and red.

Stonefolk

Stoic, melancholy, fleeing a westerly homeland destroy’d by vicious twin Leviathans. 

Tall, grey, heavy, and thick of limb. 

Like Stone, in that the only thing that ages them is the wind and rain, and that they can neith’r swim or drown. 

Stonefolk become rocks, if something manages to kill them. 

Stonefolk often walk along the bottom of harbours - though falling into the rolling main is as good as death, even if you cannot drown. They approach with patience, caution and determination. 

Stonefolk blood is cold and clear. It resembles spring water, but is actually quite poisonous to other folk.

Treefolk

Numerous in the forested interior of Nauswood. Historians and philosophers. Original inhabitants of the Nauswood land. 

Bark-clad folk with leaves for hair. Come in any appearance a tree does. Feet like roots, sturdy bodies, long limbs. They’re not trees, themselves, but they’re kin to them. 

Like Trees, in that they never halt growing, fear fire and float upon water. Usually find ships unsettling, in the way you might find a ship made of animal bones unsettling. Can stand perfectly still for hours at a time. Very hard to tell a dead treefolk from a live one. 

Treefolk become trees when they die.

Their never-halting growth means you can only play a young (<200) treefolk, since their true elders (>600) are half of what’s referred to as Giants. 

Treefolk blood is tepid, viscous and honey-red, like sap.

Cloudfolk

Live high above the clouds, or in the Sea of Ice to the north, or in the distant south on the Sea of Winds. They sail using the mysterious high currents above the clouds. Unclear relation to the beings variously called Storm, Cloud or Fog Giants. 

Slender, bluish folk, with floaty, cloud-like hair.  Walk on their tiptoes and don't (can’t?) blink. 

Like Clouds, they seem to weigh very little, and are always above the sea - Cloudfolk physically can’t get underwater.  Cloudfolk are immune to fall damage, but can be quite easily blown away in a gale. Often wanderers. Rarely use guns for reasons known only to them.

Cloudfolk evaporate when they die. 

Many cloudfolk have long, canoeish boats that can sail on clouds. You do, as well. It’s only a one-person boat, however, and cloud-sailing has its own challenges (such as the big fucking gaps). 

Cloudfolk blood is cold, white, and evaporates quickly.

Seafolk

Are Whales. You can play a Whale, should you want, but it’s hard to do piracy as a whale. Oldest of Sea’s childr’n, by fathoms. 

Like Sea, in that they’re vast, capricious, and terribly powerful. They can speak the Small Speech, certainly, but never will unless provok’d by some terrible insult or desperate plea. Most know powerful magic and are glad to form allegiance with the Young Kin and their ships. 

Nobody knows how Seafolk die. Most assume they secretly return to Sea, as whalefall or whispered tidal ghost. 

As Giants are to Treefolk and Cloudfolk, Leviathans are to Seafolk. 

Seafolk blood is red and boiling hot.

 

A Thieves' Guild - Frog Guild

 

By Parabolic Decree 

Level 1: Gain 2 abilities at rank 1
Level 2: Rank up an ability you have, then gain a new ability at rank 1
Level 3: Rank up 2 abilities you have
Level 4: Rank up 2 abilities you have, then gain all abilities you don't have yet at rank 1

Frog’s Guild

Starting Equipment: 2 daggers, oilskin suit, set of lockpicks, roll 2 extra random items

Skills (2, d6): 1. Acrobat, 2. Bully, 3. Swimmer, 4. Gambler, 5. Lookout, 6. Pickpocket

1. Iron Lungs
◊ - Hold your breath indefinitely with no adverse effects.
◊◊ - Hold X litres of liquid in your lungs, with no ill effects, where X is your HP.  
◊◊◊ - Take a breath so deep that you can knock people over by exhaling sharply on them.

2. Standing Leap
◊ - With no prep, you can jump your own height, vertically.
◊◊ - With a minute of prep, you can jump twice your own height, vertically.
◊◊◊ - With a minute of prep, and a small run up, you can jump four times your own height vertically.

3. Rope-With-Glue-On-It
◊ - You have a rope with glue on it. The glue has to be activated by applying another chemical, which you also have.
◊◊ - You can deftly wield two glue ropes.
◊◊◊ - You can hide a glue rope in your throat and spit it out with great force. You can hide the activating chemical in your mouth, also.
 

4. Poison Toad
◊ - You take half damage from any poisons.
◊◊ - You take no damage from any poisons, and your blood is a mild poison.
◊◊◊ - On death, you release a cloud of poison gas that deals 4d6 Damage to anyone standing next to your corpse.

5. Second Story Worker
◊ - You can climb vertical surfaces as quickly as you can walk.
◊◊ - Double your move speed and horizontal jump distance.
◊◊◊ - You can climb upside down as quickly as you can walk. Halve fall damage.
 
6. Friendly Toad
◊ - As an ally, you have a perfectly normal, immortal, invulnerable toad.
◊◊ - Your friendly invulnerable toad is now dog sized. Still just a toad.
◊◊◊ - Your friendly invulnerable toad is now horse sized.