Completed [Play-by-Post] Magic World/BRP: "In Search of the Sorcerer"

[nikolokolus]

An Antediluvian, Swords & Sorcery Campaign in an Alternate Earth
-A continuation of a Swords & Wizardry Play-by-post game, converted to Chaosium's Magic World/Elric!/Stormbringer rules-​

Rules & Mechanics

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Magic World is a restatement of the Chaosium Elric! and Stormbringer rules that went out of print in the 1990s. It is a classless, skill-based game that is part of the D100/BRP family of games (RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, et al.). Everything you need to know about Character creation is on the campaign wiki, but a short overview is provided in the (free) Magic World Quickstart rules; enough to get you going at least. For characters that want to use Magic, this compiled Sorcery List will probably be especially useful. Character sheets are available as form-fillable PDFs and are stored in Google Drive (Install Backup & Sync from google and edit the sheet with a PDF reader like Adobe DC or Foxit Reader (not tested with other readers).

Campaign Wiki

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• Everything you need to play can be obtained from the campaign's Obsidian Portal website.
• All of the rules and rules variations related to creating characters can be found here.
• If you don't want to dick around with the Wiki, then this PDF summarizes a majority of the information found there (when in doubt the Wiki takes precedence).

How do I play and how does it work?

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The game is currently pretty full at six players, however people come and go so if you are interested in playing, drop me a PM and I'll see what I can do to accommodate you. The only requirements are a willingness to post every couple of days (or let me know if you're going to go dormant for awhile).

Posting is done in-character. Out of character chatter or questions should be wrapped in a 'spoiler' tag (or sent to me via PM), it can be helpful to highlight spoken words from your character in colored text.

The World of Theia . . .
The campaign wiki has the most in-depth and up-to-date information, but in a nutshell, Theia bears a resemblance to the Mediterranean of Earth's antiquity -- the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. However, it differs in several respects:

• The world is gripped by a deep and abiding Ice Age.
• Cultural and linguistic groups similar to Earth's, but migration and settlement patterns are sometimes very different.
• Magic is real, but is perceived as a seductive, dangerous, and corrupting force of Chaos and Shadow.
• Humankind is dominant, but all of the mythical creatures from Greek, Celtic, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian tales, as well as the mega fauna from the Pleistocene might be found in the wild places of the world.

Literature, Games, & Artistic Influences . . .
Lord Dunsany, Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborean cycle, Robert E. Howard's Bran Mak Morn and Kull stories, Michael Moorcock's tales about Corum and Elric, The Mabinogion, 1,001 Nights, plus Jeffrey Talanian's "Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerer's of Hyperborea", and Morten Braten's "World of Xoth;" all have bits of their DNA mixed into Theia.​

Map of the Known World

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Spoiler

Travelouge
After the Fall -- The aftermath of Talorc's Death
Ymae's Scrying -- An old companion of the sorcerer Koren Ghul tries to locate the missing girl Una
Into the Wilds -- The troupe follow their only lead in search of the Brule's niece and head into the hinterlands of Pictland
Into a Mountain of Madness -- Ascent of Goron Torri and strange staircase inside a ruined hilltop broch
Flight From the Darkness -- The troupe decides discretion is the better part of valor
The World Tree -- A tree of unimaginable size is spotted in the distance. What could it be?
Swamp Monster -- A character meets a bad end in a foul swamp
Deadwood -- A strange dead forest
A Pictish Village and a Surprise -- Una's trail stops in Dinas Dardanii
Solon "The Bold" -- A new puzzle-piece to Koren Ghul's past is revealed
The Gates of Otherworld -- Passage beyond the world of men, but to where?
A Man of Goatish Mien -- First contact with a "man" of Otherworld
A Cat with a Cheshire Grin -- Talking goatmen and now a talking cat in a waistcoat, armed with a smallsword. What's next?
Lankshorn -- A strange town where goat-headed men lord over hard-pressed men
Flight through the Swamps -- Another town, another catastrophe, and another hasty exit
Harridwn's Hospitality -- Green-skinned men take their toll on the road to Dreg
A River Runs Through It -- Arrival in the rough and tumble river town Dreg, and passage sought

 

[nikolokolus]

Dramatis Personae
Borric -- A hulking Kurgan barabarian from the frigid wastes of the vast northern tundra
Mab Ystifnig -- An itinerant Pictish Drune
Marcán Macc Fionghall -- A Keltic Bard Probationer from Kaer Eanyn
Rhenmyr -- Stygian hunter from the swampy coastal delta
Urash of Kor -- Acadian sorcerer/scholar from The Great City
Amon -- Stygian of uncertain talents and motives, rescued from the tower of Solon after having been turned to stone for some months.

The Honored Dead & Departed
Ker Gwez -- A Druid Initiate from the Keltic village Kear Eanyn. Crushed by a weird tentacled Frog-like beast in the swamps north of Dinas Dardanii.
Cormac Macc Fionghall -- A Keltic priest of the god of the dead, Arawn, who learned the hard way that playing with fire can get you burned.
Sokrates -- A dim-witted, but good-hearted Kimmerian Paladin of Mitra. Fell to a tenebrous, otherworldly mutated vine abomination, in Koren Ghul's tower of sorcery.
Heron Eurybia -- A sorcerer of Acadia who decided he'd rather not muck about in a sewer and departed with his dignity intact.
Rashid -- An Acadian wayfarer far from home and slave to the Pictish warrior Uvan ab Drust. He abandoned the troupe in the fens of Blaidd Mawr and may have betrayed them if Rhenmyr's visions are true.

 

[nikolokolus]

The story so far . . .
Our intrepid band of adventurers finds themselves in the Illyrian city-state of Odessos for any number of reasons: looking for a delayed (perhaps missing) father and brother, as a courier at the end of a long journey, low on coin and looking for work, or reasons held close to the vest. Regardless, they are thrown into each other's company by blood ties and happenstance and become embroiled in a mystery -- Missing beggars, a Hyperborean smuggler, a sorcerer's ruined tower in the heart of a city, and find themselves thrown into the wilds of Pictdom on a mission from a dead wizard.

After a harrowing couple of weeks that feels more like years, the troupe settles in for a well-earned rest. The shape-shifting Pictish chieftain Talorc and his changeling master lay dead and life in Crannógmere starts to take on a semblance of normalcy after the long months of terror under the threat of the Otherworld wolf-spirit, sent to punish the village for its chieftain's sins against the gods.

Unfinished business with the Chieftain's henchmen, Uvan and his Acadian slave Rashid still remains, but for now it's a time to heal from wounds, glean some knowledge, and plan next steps.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Spoiler

No mention of our dead comrades?

 

[nikolokolus]

Weary and wounded our heroes file out of Ymae's hut one-by-one and walk the along the elevated wood-plank street toward Fidach's Hostelry. Inside they find Brule standing by the central fire-pit, leaned against a timber pillar staring into the fire and barely registering their arrival.

 

[L'ennui]

Urash pats Brule on the shoulder.

"It has been... a long day. Let us pray the gods that we can find Fidach and Oona."

With that said, Urash stuffs his belongings in a corner and sits down, exhausted.

 

[nikolokolus]

Brule lifts his eyebrows at Urash's words, but remains silent and brooding. Several times, he lifts a flagon of spirits to his lips and takes a deep pull and finally speaks, "You were with the witch for a long while. Did she have anything useful to say?"

 

[Grimgravy]

"She was too weary for more magics, but said my vision may not be of what has happened, it may be a possible future. I that is the case so we can avert it." Rhenmyr says taking a seat.

 

[Siveon]

Marcán shrugs adding into Rhenmyr's comment, "The witch might be able to help us find Oona with a knot she gave to me. Sadly we'll have to wait until tomorrow, it's for the best. How are you holding up?" he walks beside Brule.

 

[nikolokolus]

Brule bristles uncomfortably, "I'm fine, but I'm worried -- not about Fidach and Oona, but Uvan and his slave Rashid. Also, what happens now? The village is so weak. Eogan is long gone, The Circle of Elders is a shadow of itself, so many lost and sacrificed over the last six months. How long until the Scordiscii, Dardanii, or Bruecii move on us?" He tosses the last of his whiskey into the fire and it flares up, "I'm going to bed." With that, he stumbles toward the stairs and pulls himself up by the handrail.

 

[L'ennui]

"The village has been tested these recent times, that much is true... but tell me Brule, which is weaker in the eyes of Man and the Fates; the sickly man, afflicted by an incurable, deadly disease, who resigns himself to inaction and the long wait for death, or the same man who, steel in his heart, has excised the diseased limb, and is now bloody and battered, but may heal, live and reclaim his fields and his honor by his struggle? The path for your people is fraught with danger and challenge, but there is a path now. You have given your village hope for an honest and good life. Consider that in parting and rest well, friend."

 

[Wayward Son]

Spoiler

"The village has been tested these recent times, that much is true... but tell me Brule, which is weaker in the eyes of Man and the Fates; the sickly man, afflicted by an incurable, deadly disease, who resigns himself to inaction and the long wait for death, or the same man who, steel in his heart, has excised the diseased limb, and is now bloody and battered, but may heal, live and reclaim his fields and his honor by his struggle? The path for your people is fraught with danger and challenge, but there is a path now. You have given your village hope for an honest and good life. Consider that in parting and rest well, friend."

This should be the motto of the Codex.

Mab nods at Urash and says, "Aye, 'this the faith that one will persevere ad survive that gives oneself the courage and ability to win. Hold this to thy heart friend Brule."

 

[nikolokolus]

Brule stops in his tracks and pauses for awhile as Urash speaks. Finally, he turns and nods his head nods gravely, "You shame me with your words Acadian . . . Perhaps you are right?" He finishes ascending the stairs and disappears from view

 

[Helly]

"Harsh words, but very skillfully spoken. I hope this will help to put Brule and his village back on the path to greatness. Their destiny is in no other hands than their very own, now."

 

[nikolokolus]

"The village has been tested these recent times, that much is true... but tell me Brule, which is weaker in the eyes of Man and the Fates; the sickly man, afflicted by an incurable, deadly disease, who resigns himself to inaction and the long wait for death, or the same man who, steel in his heart, has excised the diseased limb, and is now bloody and battered, but may heal, live and reclaim his fields and his honor by his struggle? The path for your people is fraught with danger and challenge, but there is a path now. You have given your village hope for an honest and good life. Consider that in parting and rest well, friend."

Spoiler

Go ahead and put a check next to your Fast-Talk skill. No need to roll a skill roll.

FYI, that goes for other people. Not every "successful" use of a skill needs a skill roll, sometimes your roleplaying will get the trick done.

 

[nikolokolus]

The late afternoon stretches on into early evening. After sundown there is a light rap at the door. When you open it and look outside, you find no one there, but notice that quite a pile of things has started to accumulate on the stoop: 3 wheels of hard cheese, 4 stoppered flasks of whiskey, a small firkin of mead, a fine polished bronze dirk, seven fine plaid, woolen, kilts of green and black tartan (the clan colors of Crannógmere) a sack of salt, and a small ornately carved oak box with 12 gold drakes, 85 bits of hacksilver and 480 bronze pennies of mostly Keltic mint.

 

[Wayward Son]

"A reward of some sort? I do like me my alcohol..."

 

[nikolokolus]

A bit later on, well after dark, Cormac pushes the door to the hostel open laden with several bundles under his arms.

 

[Siveon]

Marcán yawns. "Hail cousin. We've just been looking over the people of Crannógmere's hospitality. What are you carrying?"

 

[Grimgravy]

Rhenmyr cuts himself some cheese and takes a swig of whisky. "We're definitely being honored. Just how much, I don't know. But that is quite a bit of money." Rhenmyr says while checking for a kilt in his size.

 

[L'ennui]

"The people ought to stockpile these goods for safekeeping."

 

[Wayward Son]

Mab says, his voice slightly slurred, though whether with alcohol or tiredness, it cannot be told, "Well, lesh eat up frensh! Pash the whishkey!"

 

[Siveon]

"Hm-mnh" Marcán wordlessly responds as stores one of the kilts into his backpack and inspects the peculiar dirk.

Spoiler

World Lore Check: [1d100] = 25 vs 63

 

[L'ennui]

"Eh, well I suppose there's nothing wrong with taking a small souvenir." Urash says as he picks up a kilt to inspect it.

 

[nikolokolus]

Rhenmyr and Urash each tries to wrap the kilt instinctively like a toga or robe. Marcan, Mab, Cormac and Ker all look at each other and smile reflexively and smother sniggering laughter. The weave is tight and the garment looks like it would help keep the interminable rains of this accursed land off of your head.

Marcán holds up the wide bladed dirk and inspects it. It's in the Pictish style: a riveted handle of Ashwood fixed to a broad thrusting blade about 12 inches long, with a hammer-hardened edge. There are some ornate etchings, but no other distinctive markings. (If you want to evaluate it's quality you need a craft (weaponsmith) or evaluate skill check).