I'm instituting a radical plot shift for my Greyhawk game in order to introduce horror rules and new abberations to my game:
The largest cult of Tharizdun, in a secret temple complex far beneath the city of Molag on the edge of the weakening Empire of Iuz, has successfully punched a small hole in their god's eternal prison by calling down a comet upon their very temple, culminating a complex ceremony that took decades to complete. They funnelled the energy of the impact, loss of life and destruction of an entire city onto a single point in Tharizdun's prison, opening up a pinprick of a hole - just enough for the dread God's insanity and chaos to become immediately obvious with every other diety in the multiverse.
How would you run this?
- How would local flora/fauna be affected? Abberations will appear and multiply due to the spreading corruption, etc.
- How would local populations be affected? Will former hostilities cease as races band together to survive and/or migrate to safety?
- How would local monsters be affected? Abberations and Dire variants will spread ahead of the actual taint of the Starfall - how quickly?
- How would politics be affected? What will Iuz do...the Horned Society has been blasted to ash and sand, surrounding nations have a new, common threat...
Let me know how you would run this and what pace you would take in how far and fast the madness spreads.
Let me see those great minds at work!
Marc
I'm instituting a radical plot shift for my Greyhawk game in order to introduce horror rules and new abberations to my game:
The largest cult of Tharizdun, in a secret temple complex far beneath the city of Molag on the edge of the weakening Empire of Iuz, has successfully punched a small hole in their god's eternal prison by calling down a comet upon their very temple, culminating a complex ceremony that took decades to complete. They funnelled the energy of the impact, loss of life and destruction of an entire city onto a single point in Tharizdun's prison, opening up a pinprick of a hole - just enough for the dread God's insanity and chaos to become immediately obvious with every other diety in the multiverse. Marc
I don't have the Heroes of Horror book so I'm afraid I cannot make any use of the information therein. I will attempt to look at it from the perspective of Tharizdun in hopes that a sliver of idea is something to your liking.
Tharizdun is the god of enternal darkness, decay, entropy, maign knowledge, and insanity. I would start by taking each of these concepts and trying to apply it to the areas you have mentioned above.
- How would local flora/fauna be affected? Abberations will appear and multiply due to the spreading corruption, etc.
In regards to flora and fauna, I also use Greyhawk. Within the Gnarley Forest, I have a section which is referred to as the Withering Forest. This section of the forest is essentially infected with evil and I treat it like a disease. The trees have lost their leaves, their bark has turned black and gnarley, branches are low hanging and seem to reach and out grab as you walk by. The plants on the ground are filled with nothing but the nasty weeds and tall dead grasses that entwine one's feet as you pass through. There really isn't any green short grass growing for where it did, brown and black patches remain as a reminder of what it once was. Other plants transformed into evil plant monsters taken from the books. The treants have become warped and are now evil. Creatures of nature have also been transformed and carry about a taint of evil with them as well, such as foaming at the mouth, overly aggressive, coats turning color, losing patches of fur, antlers becoming twisted, the meek animals such as deer plod along with their heads down, moving slow, like a diseased animal. Aggressive animals such as wolves would become more akin to dire wolves. Almost everything would radiate evil in small amounts and the forest itself would radiate a strong evil. Undead fill the land and those slain rise as such. I prepared specific encounter tables for this forest as well, selecting creatures which are not normally out of place for the forest or seem like they could easily be added to that terrain. I did put in a smattering of demonic forces as well. Bogs of quicksand exist as well as sinkholes leading to treacherous underground cavarns filled with horrible beasts.
- How would local populations be affected? Will former hostilities cease as races band together to survive and/or migrate to safety?
Local populations have become extremely sinister and wary of strangers. They come across as unusually dark, edgy, suspicious, threatening and reclusive. I would change their appearance to match their demeanor. Eyes become dark, faces sunken in, stooped over, dress in tattered clothes. They look for any reason to lynch the PCs. Alignments definently turn towards evil (magically). I wouldn't see many fleeing to safety unless they have quite a bit of time. Rather I see it as they become even further attached to their domain and very possessive of it. I would also include some empty villages and those ridden with disease and insanity. Such locales could have people attack each other seemingly random (perhaps at an appointed hour or totally random for a more chaotic feel).
- How would local monsters be affected? Abberations and Dire variants will spread ahead of the actual taint of the Starfall - how quickly?
How quickly depends upon the needs of your campaign. If the PCs are in the area when it happens, then it would have to be very quick in order to have any real game effect. If the PCs are a good distance away and you plan on luring them there, the effects can be more gradual, you'd just want to make sure that things are in full swing for the PCs to experience it. If you plan on having the PCs make a 2nd trip to the land then I would go very gradual. Have the first trip be one that they notice things are very unusual and turning towards evil but try and be subtle about what they see, hear, and experience. Then on their return to trip (which presumably is some time difference away), the PCs are able to witness the land in its full force of evil. This gives them an opportunity to compare the two visits and recognize the changes your making with a bigger impact.
- How would politics be affected? What will Iuz do...the Horned Society has been blasted to ash and sand, surrounding nations have a new, common threat...
I think if I was Iuz I would want to find out what was first causing this transformation. If you can rationalize him being unable to discover the origins of the change, he may choose to capitalize on it. It would make a great buffer between him and nations he would like to conquer. It would allow him to use the difficult terrain to arrange sneak attacks better. If he discovers the truth, he could either avoid it completely because he knows better than to mess with Tharizdun or he could understand that Tharizdun isn't really going anywhere and utilize the transformation for his own needs, going back to the first idea. Other nations would first send a few heroes in to discover the truth. Surely these small expiditions would end in misery and suffering for the ill fated individuals. Eventually with a few failed trips into the transformed land, governments would seek out divinations trying to discern what has happened. The luck they have is up to you, though I might suggest keeping the playing ground fair between these bordering nations and Iuz. If the Old one can discover the truth, the other nations should be able to as well, if Iuz cannot, then the other nations shouldn't be able to figure it out as well. Eventually, the other nations would make it known that travel is forbidden into these lands and possibly set up patrols on the perimeter to keep people out, fearing the worst. This may work better if you decide that those who go in not only are damaged (transformed) but they also become a threat to the kingdom forbidding entrance. This allows the idea of patrols wanting to keep others out make a little more sense.
I'm sure heroes of horror will have some good rules for insanity which could be implemented towards those who live there and enter the afflicted lands. Disease should be paramount in these areas as well. The book of vile darkness should have some good suggestions as well. Pockets which resemble Tharizun's prison could appear throughout key areas of the land or in larger communities, temples, or other valued locations in an effort to make them more afflicted. You could have cultists of Tharizun arrive to claim the land as theirs utilizing demonic forces to strengthen their numbers. Surely such a land would be beyond sacred to them. I would include many dead cultists which appear as powerful undead and make one or two significant monsters to oppose the characters. The weather should be affected as well, always being extremely unpleasant, strong winds, rain, that sort of thing. Tharizun is the god of darkness, so more severly afflicted areas may actually be darker (as in less light) than other areas. Make the changes in light fairly gradual. As the PCs get closer and closer to an important area, it goes from daylight to twilight, to nighttime, to really really dark. Increase the sinister feeling and the difficulty of encounters as the PCs near such locations.
Anyway, just some suggestions, hope something here helps.
Thanks; I'll keep it in mind!