To Rappan Athuk (Inactive)

Game Master brvheart

Many hundreds of years ago, the forces of good allied to destroy the main Temple of Orcus in the ancient city of Tsar. With their temple in ruins, the surviving high priests of this accursed demongod fled the city with an army of enemies on their trail—an army of heroic fighters, clerics and paladins—led by Zelkor, a powerful wizard. The exact fate of these evil priests was then unknown, for not only did the remnants of the followers of Orcus disappear from all human reckoning, but so did the army of light that followed after them disappear as well. Some said that in the eternal scales the loss of so many good men was a fair price to pay to rid the world of so much evil.

The evil cult, however, had not been destroyed. The surviving priests and their followers instead settled on a hill near the Forest of Hope, a sylvan woodland near the Coast Road. There they found a vast underground complex of caverns and mazes, carving out a volcanic intrusion beneath the hill. There, the priests of Orcus found the perfect lair to continue their vile rituals. For many years, they carried on in secret, hidden from the light and from the knowledge of men.

Many years later, their underground delving completed, the evil priests erected a hideous mausoleum and a sunken graveyard atop the hill. It is believed that these graves are in fact the final resting place of the pursuing army of heroes that had been destroyed to a man. Soon after the mausoleum was erected the peaceful creatures of the wood began to disappear. Though many rangers and druids investigated these happenings, the cause of the creatures’ disappearance was not immediately determined. Some years later a powerful group of adventurers, led by Bofred, a high priest of Thyr, investigated the evil happenings and found the sunken graveyard leading to a labyrinthine complex. Bofred and his companions found great hordes of evil creatures in the complex. Though some of his companions returned from their expedition, telling tales of fantastic treasure and ferocious monsters, Bofred was never seen again—lost in the catacombs beneath the cursed mausoleum.

For the last one hundred years, ranks of adventurers have ventured to the newfound dungeon. Many fell prey to bandits and monsters in the surrounding wilderness. Rumors suggest that of those who survived to reach the mausoleum and sunken graveyard, most were slain by guardians of green stone or perished on the very first level. Those rare few who return from deeper treks speak of horrible undead and creatures that cannot be slain. All who have explored Rappan Athuk offer this one universal piece of advice: “Don’t go down the Well.”

House Rules:

House Rules
1) Character creation:
A) Characters will be created with a 25 point buy.
B) Classes and weapons are restricted to European only. Middle eastern races and weapons are ok
C) Classes are Core Only with some noncore on a case by case basis. Swashbuckler and Warpriest yes, Summoner and Witch no. I am willing to discuss others. I am not familiar enough with Unchained to use it as of yet.
D) Sources: Core Rules, Advanced Players Guide, ACG, Ultimate Combat and Ultimate Magic on DM approval on a case by case basis only.

Dunes of Desolation
Glades of Death
Dead Man's Chest
Into The Breach
A Brace of Pistols
Book of Lost Spells
E) Races Human, elf, half elf, dwarf, halfling, gnome, goblin, half-orc and orc.

2) Fumbles: Rolling a natural 1 in combat will result in a fumble ending the player action for the turn.
3) Skill checks.
A) Rolling a natural 1 on a skill check results in a -10 to the check.
B) Rolling a natural 20 on a skill check results in a +10 to the check.
4) Initiative: Rolling a natural 1 results in an initiative of a 1.
5) Area of Affect Spells:
A) The action of combat is considered a dance, therefore when an area of affect spell affects enemies that are in melee combat with adjacent characters they are considered to be in the area of affect.
B) Exceptions: Some spells are done on a line affect such as a lightning bolt and thus will not affect adjacent characters. Also the feat shape spell can shape the spell to only affect certain squares. Also spells that only affect squares do not affect adjacent squares.
6) Dispel Magic is limited to +10 to the die roll. If you want higher than that, cast greater dispel.
7) Hit points: Reroll all natural 1's on hit point rolls. Barbarians can reroll all 1's and 2's.
8) Cure spells: If the die/dice are all natural 1's, reroll.
9) Note on ranged attacks: Cover: When firing through your allies they provide a +4 cover to the enemy. This is in addition to the -4 for firing into melee. Precise shot removes the latter only. Improved precise shot is needed to get around this. Now here is the kicker. If you miss by the cover, you hit the cover. Meaning you have a 20% chance of hitting your ally!

Deities:

Common Gods of Akados
These 47 deities are more or less set, and you can mostly bank on them (subject to necessary adjustments that may have to be made for the final version in the campaign setting). I’ll go ahead and list them out for you (in no particular order), tell you their pantheon, and their original source(s), as well as any pertinent notes I might want to share. As I said, most of them have appeared (sometimes repeatedly) in prior products, but a few are voids that needed to be filled and so are more or less original to this list. So without further ado, here we go.

Telophus - Lord of Crops and the Seasons (Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate and Slumbering Tsar

Muir - Goddess of Virtue and Paladins (Hyperborean); duh, everywhere, the most undeclined goddess in decline that I’ve ever heard of. But, yes, she is in decline. She’s just a favorite of writers it seems.

Quell - The Sea King; Lord of the Blue (Foerdewaith); Razor Coast
Belon the Wise - God of Travel; Wanderer in White (Foerdewaith); Bard’s Gate, Razor Coast; a god of arcane knowledge, Belon is beginning to overtake worship of Jamboor among arcane casters.

Bowbe - God of War and Slaughter, Bowbe the Bloody, Bowbe the Baleful, Bowbe the Bearskin, Bowbe the Beserker (Erskaelosi); Bard’s Gate, Razor Coast; a fan favorite, this barbarian god came out of nowhere and remains amazingly popular among the more vulgar crowd.

Pekko - God of Ale and Spirits, God of Grains (Halfling, Dwarvish, Gnomish, Foerdewaith); Bard’s Gate, Razor Coast; everybody claims a little piece of this guy

Vanitthu - God of the Steadfast Guard, The Gatekeeper (Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate, Razor Coast

[/b]Narrah - The Lady of the Moon, the Pale Sister[/b] (Ancient Folk, possibly Neolithic); Stoneheart Valley; still somewhat under development this old, old deity represents the primary moon of the world. Still trying to decide just how far back she goes, so she’s still in progress.

Orcus - Demon Prince of the Undead, King of the Dead/Thanatos the Fallen, Deliverer of the Dead (Demon Lord, Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate, et. al.; yep, that guy, interestingly he went by a less-known aspect called Thanatos back in Hyperborean per Vampires and Liches (and now in Quests of Doom as well).

Thyr - God of Law and Justice; The Lawgiver; Tiwaz, Tyr (Hyperborean, Aesir); Bard’s Gate, Slumbering Tsar, Northlands Saga; Another god in decline that keeps appearing everywhere. Thyr also transcends into the Heldring and Northlander pantheons as Tyr and Tiwaz respectively, though the Thyr identity was by far his largest church historically.

Jamboor - God of Knowledge and Magic (and death) (Hyperborean); Barakus; still trying to work out some of the kinks in this guy. He seems to have had some authority as a death deity as well, though magic was his main area. Belon the Wise is beginning to move in on his old territory as a deity of magic.

Dame Torren - Goddess of the Four Winds (Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate, Sword of Air; Handmaiden of Oghma; One of Reme's three patron deities for her influence over the shipping trade (the lifeblood of Reme throughout its history).

Moccavallo - God of Disguise and Treachery, Trickster God of Chaos and Disorder (Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate; Possibly related to Loptr/Loki but I don’t think so. I’m still pondering the possibility though.

Yenomesh - God of Glyphs and Writing (Hyperborean, Anunnaki); Bard’s Gate; A long-ago transplant from the faiths of ancient Libynos, he is credited with introducing writing to the mortal races.

Bacchus-Dionysus – God of Wine and Madness (Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate; Popular among the truly debauched, Pekko has begun a serious rivalry with him for converts in recent centuries.

Dre’uain the Lame - God of Craft and Smiths, God of Industry and Hardwork (Hyperborean, Gnomish); Bard’s Gate; A rarity – a gnomish deity that has found his way into widespread acceptance among humans. Not the leader of the gnomish pantheon, but likely the most powerful due to his vast body of worshipers.

[b]Gromm the Thunderer - The Barbarian God (Gohtra); Bard’s Gate: An import from distant Far Jaati, Gromm in another of the barbarian gods that has found widespread acceptance on the fringes of society in Akados. He is known for his evil aspect as much as his more neutral aspect. He is the great enemy of the barbarian god known as the White Wolf.

Hecate - Goddess of Evil Magic, The Arcane Mother[b] (Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate; Formerly Jamboor’s chief rival in matters arcane, her church is not yet sure what to make of this upstart faith of Belon the Wise.
Kamien - Goddess of Rivers, Streams, and Springs (Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate; I may try to work her more towards a primordial Achelous-type analogy. Haven’t done much with her yet.

[b]Mirkeer - Goddess of Shadows and the Night[b] (Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate; Daughter of Hecate, look for her to get some love in Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms.

[b]Note – Demigod of the Harp[b] (Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate; Servant of Oghma

[b]Oghma - God of Song and Bards, The First Song (Ancient Folk); Bard’s Gate; Credited with lots of stuff: discovered music while dreaming, created demigod Note, used song to create all wonders of the world; Patron and Protector of Bard's Gate.

Sefagreth - God of Commerce, Trade, and Cities (Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate; Very widespread and influential across Akados.

Thursis - God of Battle (Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate, Vault of Larin Karr; Evil deity of battle and war, and a rival of the god Mithras.

Tykee - Goddess of Luck and Good Fortune (Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate

Zadastha – Goddess of Love (Gohtra); Bard’s Gate; A long-ago import from Far Jaati, she has enjoyed immense popularity for centuries

Darach-Albith - High God of Elves, Firstborn; Father of the Elves (Elven);Bard’s Gate; Not a human deity but on the common gods list by virtue of being the primary god of the elven race

Dwerfater/Dwurfater - Father of Dwarves (Dwarven); Bard’s Gate, Chaos Rising, Slumbering Tsar; Ditto for Dwerfater and dwarves.

Grotaag - God of Orcs (Orcish); Bard’s Gate; Same for orcs.

Snuurge - Father of Goblins (Goblinoids); Bard’s Gate; and for goblins.

Fraz-Urb'luu – Demon Prince of Deception (Demon Lord); Tome of Horrors Complete, Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms; Remarkably popular in secret cults among human aristocracy.

Mitra - God of Law, Justice, and the Sun; Sun Father (Gohtra); Rappan Athuk; Another Gohtra transplant that caught on, Mitra has largely supplanted worship of Solanus and Thyr in the sun and justice departments.
Mithras - God of War (Hyperborean, Gohtra); Sword of Air; Long ago adopted by the Hypreborean Legions, a rival of Thursis and one of Reme's three patron deities as a city originally founded by the first Hyperborean Legion (under Polemarch Oerson) to travel through Akados.

Kudrak - Lesser God of Guardians (Foerdewaith); Morrick Mansion, Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms; a little like a lesser version of Vanitthu
Stryme/Strym - Stryme the Mighty, God of Strength (Foerdewaith, Dwarven); Aberrations, Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms; A dwarven god that was able to make the jump to human worship as well.

The Green Father - The Huntsman, God of the Wilds, the Horned God, Herne the Hunter, Cerunnos (Ancient Folk, Foerdewaith); Crystal Skull, Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms; A primordial nature deity that found his way into Foerdewaith folklore and tradition and remains hanging around after millennia.

???? - God of Gnomes (Gnomish); Vindication; A Garl Glittergold-ish type guy, he was unnamed in the source material, and I haven’t come up with a suitable name to call him yet. He makes the list by virtue of being the primary deity of gnomes.

Mick O’Delving - God of Halflings, The Little Miner (Halfling);

Vindication; Like gnome guy above, he had not been named, but I had one for him (because I like classical fantasy literature and minor word play). Husband of Hester; widower of Sotheryn; favored drinking companion of Dwarven god of miners.

Hester - Goddess of the Hearthfire, Hester Full of Blessings, Mother Hubbard (Halfling); Book of Taverns; Included because she remains a staple in many human tales and nursery rhymes and her close association with The Revered Mother. Second wife of the halfling god, Mick O’Delving; Fell in love with a mortal halfling - Malachia the Effusive; Handmaiden of the Revered Mother; has affinity with dogs.

Freya - Goddess of Love and Fertility; Freyja (Vanir, Foerdewaith); Bard’s Gate and everywhere; Probably the single-most popular deity used in NG/FGG books next to Orcus. She is a transplant from the Aesir/Vanir pantheon of the Heldring/Northlanders and has found immense popularity in Akados. She is single-handedly slowly but surely replacing the Hyperborean goddess Zadastha as the goddess of love.

Hel - Goddess of Death; Lady of Pestilence (Ginnvaettir, Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate, Northlands Saga; Another pantheon jumper, she was for a long time the patroness deity of the Heldring (and for whom they are named).

Demogorgon - Primal God of the Earth, The Dark Creator, Demon Lord of Fate (Demon Lord, Hyperborean); Crystal Skull, Chaos Rising; Not your two-headed, tentacle-armed TSR/WotC version, we’re pulling this guy straight from Milton for our imagining of him (though he is still two-headed). Supreme enemy of Mithras; every 5 years the Fates and genii must appear before his mountain temple to give an account of their actions; often seen as two-headed with his aspects Demos (Spirit) and Gorgos (Grim).

Ades - Hades, King of the Underworld, The Darkness Visible (Hyperborean); Crystal Skull; Once again, this is the Milton envisioning of the classic lord of the underworld. How he fit in with Thanatos/Orcus, Jamboor, and Da-Jin (a less well-known Hyperborean death god) still has to be worked out.

Ceres - The Revered Mother, Goddess of the Home and Midwives, Goddess of Healing, Mercy, and Patience, Goddess of the Millstone (Hyperborean); Diamond Fortress (mentioned vaguely in Bard’s Gate); A big-time goddess among the human populace of Akados, the halfling goddess
Hester is her handmaiden, her symbol is a millstone.

Archeillus - God of Rightful Rule; Protector of the Nobility (Foerdewaith); Doom of Listonshire; a favored god of the old gentry.
Pan - God of the Wild, Lord of the Flocks and the Hunt, minor aspects in music and fertility (Hyperborean); Bard’s Gate (one brief mention on page 86)

The Oinodaemon - Lord of Disease; Supreme among Daemons (Hyperborean, Ginnvaettir); Bonegarden, Doom of Listonshire, Tome of Horrors