War Against The Dark Lord 1: Dark Lords Forces

Every few generations some new dark lord comes. Some new demon noble finds a handful of cultists and then helps them finds a relic of the past. Then next thing they are forming an army and everyone on the borderlands becomes edgy as disorganised enemies of humanity unite. Where did all these monsters get so irate all of a sudden? It is like they don't want to be annexed and they keep increasingly making more desperate pacts with demons who just want to be set free on earth. Anyway here are some tables for the warzone that I never wanted to do from my old series.....Links to old ones at the bottom.
 
Obviously, I'm all for Dark Ladies or Evil Obelisks or any form of evil intelligence. 
But I'm sure will do some more evil lady wars or an Amazon war.

War Against The Dark Lord 1: Dark Lords Forces
War Against The Dark Lord 2: Dark Lords Encounters & Wonders
War Against The Dark Lord 3: Dark Lords Rumours & Treasure

I could see my Southern continent of a shattered 3rd empire of knightly kingdoms in a decades-long civil war having recursive dark lords. Might even be why empire exists. Oops, exile Island and Shadelport to be fair probably would work for the dark lord strictly for cash. It is ruled by a devil-worshipping immortal masked Barron after all but might betray the dark lord for cash again. Every 3-6 generations you get a dark lord and some bit of the world gets whittled away.

d10 What Started war?
1 The events were set in motion thousands of years ago and predestined

2 Somebody awoke a great evil by accident allowing the lord to arise

3 A cult worked in secret spreading corruption and gathering evil relics

4 A great defender against evil stumbled in madness and has fallen

5 Famine among humanoids is uniting them in the thousands and the lord took power

6 Ancient oaths made to the commanders of a former great evil have been claimed

7 The evil one has escaped imprisonment due to some foolish mortals sin and vanity

8 A great ruler made a deal under duress long ago and this gives the dark lord power

9 Human adventurers raided numerous tabu holy sites outraging humanoids

10 The elves have instigated this to cull humans and other oafish uncouth races

d10 Objectives of invaders?

1 Destroy everything pretty or artful that is not functional or for war

2 Eat and enslave everything, send slaves home as cattle

3 Destroy a kingdom or civilisation and damage the world forever

4 Revenge against human mistreatment for ages and take the frontier back

5 Utter extermination of all humans not in thralldom forever to the dark lord 

6 Utter extermination of demihumans and magical beings and forests

7 Destroy walls, wells, burn forests, poison wells, ruin land supporting humans

8 Destroy civilisation especially literacy, records, libraries, monuments

9 Destroy the holy places of good religions with fire and blasphemous rites

10 Bring about the apocalypse and force a final war to bring all the gods to earth

d10 What ends war?
1 Dark lord overreaches in zealousness to beat a prophecy

2 Dark lord minions keep being overcome by local heroes resisting tenaciously

3 The threat of a worse invasions makes humanoids head for their dungeons for cover

4 Somebody destroys the dark lords legacy for a while and hopefully does not replace them

5 Dark lord triggers the apocalypse, gods battle of the earth for supremacy in an age of horror

6 Some band of adventurers obtained secret knowledge to destroy the lords great relic

7 Crusade! allies come from far off lands to destroy the evil one, hopefully they go home after

8 Humanity managed to gain other great hidden allies in an important battle 

9 Heroes uncovered an artefact to destroy the dark lord but it was so terrible destruction

10 The dark lord on the edge of victory starts their true plan turning everyone against them

d10 Factions of the Dark Lord (every good dark lord has a d3 sub-bosses)
1 Goblinoids, mad at humans for losing territory, exploitation and slavery

2 Orcs enraged by humanity who they see as rivals to rule this age at any cost

3 Necromancers have provided undead troops since humans first learned black magic

4 Black wizards schooled in the low tuition fee diabolic school serve for knowledge & power

5 Beast folk army, type created by the dark lord elder magic & secret breeding programs

6 Beast folk horde, wild tribal beastfolk tribe willingly serve for a chance to kill humans

7 Ogres unusually have united to eat and destroy humanity who they hate so much

8 Hill giants have come from the mountains to eat humans and the dark lords lies

9 Chaos horde, mutated warband of maniacs serving priesthood of chaos and demons 

10 Dark elves are sworn to a former darklord reluctantly are made to fight this useless war

d10 Factions Against The Dark Lord
1 A local flawed ruler who earnestly does not want people to all be eaten by orcs

2 Mad lord sure can make a deal with the dark lord or they can reason with them

3 Cowards hoping to pay off or negociate peace or even talk terms of surrender

4 Crusader order formed uniting various churches and kingdoms richest fanatics

5 Crafty old ruler believes just delaying the dark lord will cause him to crumble again

6 Knowing the history of the former dark lord in the region a local ruler ready to swear to evil

7 A peasant army run by bandits living like wild men and fighting the carrying the evil army

8 Local ruler believes can easily defeat the dark lord and is destined to be a legendary hero

9 King wants to unite all lands and is targeted by the dark lord with corruption

10 An idealistic young ruler wants allegiance with demihumans against the dark lord. Trouble is the dwarves think humans are technology thieving bastards who eye off dwarf treasure (true) and the elves think humans are vermin gnawing away at the wilderness. Possibly wilderness protection might help get elves and guilds acknowledging dwarf as owning certain patents

d10 Quests of the war
1 Find the dark lords secret weakness, what is the great relic he requires for power

2 Make allies from one of the hidden peoples of the world like demihumans

3 Make allies from dragons or some other enemy of the dark lord (though a few did)

4 Who was the dark lord? where did they come from? Do they have any family?

5 Disrupt a meeting of the dark lord's minions so they fight each other

6 Destroy something essential to a faction so it drops out of the war to recover

7 Expose the dark lord's real plans and convince some minions they are on wrong side 

8 Slay a great hero of the dark lord reducing stability and morale of the dark forces

10 Save a temple from attack that might hold secret to the dark lords power source

d10 What does the dark lord do to prisoners
1 Butcher for monster food

2 Sent into secret labour camps  

3 Sent back to the homeland to be slave thralls

4 Sent back to the homeland as cattle to be eaten

5 Sent to evil priests to sacrifice to please evil gods and demons

6 Offer them freedom if they sell souls to powers of hell

7 Have them killed and turned into undead

8 Have them killed and reborn as savage fanatic orcs

9 Have them made into eunuchs and sold as slaves

10 Bewitch them into mutants or some kind of abhuman

d10 Which former dark lord is this one in debt to
1 Served Tiamat in the dragon war versus the gods before the creation

2 Joined Jotun, giants, Titans and trolls versus gods in the dawn of time

3 Ally of the gods of darkness who struck down the sun thus spawning the age of night

4 A succession of squabbling dark lords fighting other dark lords in the age of monster kings

5 Early in the time of humans, necromancers revived a new dark lord from a servant of the old

6 Dark lord tried to work with evil elementals which proved a terrible way to make unity against the first empire and lost, now called the elemental heresy 

7 A dark lord found corrupted dragon eggs hidden from the dawning age and used them against the second empire even convincing other draconic and reptilians to join

8 The dark lord who waged war on the far western secret emperor and the orcs returned drug addicts and in debt bankrupting, the dark lord who was killed and eaten by own minions for drug money
9 The dark lord who evoked the elder powers of the outer void allowing things from beyond into the universe until a god sent a hero to slay them. Others copying this lord are likely satisfied with awakening powers from the void already lurking in this world but hidden imprisoned or sleeping

10 The dark lord who used a great relic engine of destruction that heroes turned on the dark lord to drain his life. The right use of the relic might revive some of the old master's life force

d10 Strange Schemes of the Dark Lord
1 Prisoners are taken into the gates of an ancient fallen mountain fortress and never seen again some say fed to some monstrous beast or soul-eating engine

2 Crack necromancers teams and dark elves are sneaking into settlements awakening the dead in local graveyards as part of a campaign of terror 

3 Several villages have broken out in the taint of the evil one making more mutants

4 A species of monster unseen for an age returns amazing many

5 Strange foreign troops arrived having reached from the ends of the earth with strange customs, equipment, language and dedication to the dark lord

6 The dark lord has made a deal with seven demon nobles for supernatural support

7 The dark lord has become tight with hell and is recruiting an army of hell on earth

8 A long-dormant god or primordial monster has a fragment of life remaining and the dark lord plans to revive this god who will, of course, reward them because sometimes elder evil gods do that....

9 Certain key relics and holy places keep the nightmare worlds, the negeverse and overspace separate from our world. The dark lord wants to free all from the veil of illusionary sanity so we can all see the maddening void by smashing these places

10 The dark lord has recruited a force from the Underland nobody saw coming and doesn't give a crap about and surface factions really. Because he has vast rivers of albino hunchbacked goblins able to pour from cracks in the earth like cockroaches

Dark Lord Forces
The dark lord is a unifying force preying on the monsters who mostly lose at history because of their desire to have a dark lord save them from responsibility.

Humans & Orcs
Humans and orcs bread to monstrous proportions into abhumans have stood solid in dark lord armies for thousands of years until they became the majority and revolted. Common orcs freshly made or angry enough or hungry will join yet another dark crusade for a dark lord but they might also feel betrayed by esoteric plans that risk their chance at orc dominance. Human armies of bandits and pirates might join the dark lord especially at sea where his reach is weakest. Kingdoms might join the dark lord in some pact but service does not guarantee a dark lords appreciation.

Goblinoids & Dark Elves & Dwarves & Changelings
Some goblins are still thralls of elves especially dark elves who happily send goblins to die for them or fight first.  Of course, some people can't tell bright from dark elves sometimes. But everyone knows goblins. Those that are not serving elves might still provide them with a buffer zone and be manipulated by elves. Other goblins are bitterly rebellious and over elves forever. Faerie stuff feel free to amp up cruelty - several tables of nasty pranks out there. Some dwarves joined the dark lord who promised them gold and revenge on humans who had stolen iron and gun powder and so many dwarven secrets. Some bad dwarves served evil monsters and wizards in the past but mostly they hide in secret places. Some changelings of evil planar bloodlines have serves the fark lord as agents and heroes.

Goblin 1 Goblin Forces
Goblin 2 Encounters Wonders
Goblin 3 Rumours Treasure
Faerie 1 Faerie Forces
Faerie 2 Encounters Wonders
Faerie 3 Rumours Treasure
Faerie Maidens
Faerie Land Encounters

Evil Wizards & Necromancers
From ancient necromancer cults or those schooled by minions of hell with the lowest tuition and wildest parties. Other wizards outcast for ethics happily joins the dark lord who encourages experimentation and crazy race theories. Necromancers command vast undead armies recycling the dead which the dark lord proves of. Wizards, of course, make and command own orc armies but they did make those Abhuman orcs and abhuman barbarians that ended up killing a dark lord once which they have to make up for. The dark lord trusts undead wizards the most only they understand the long term picture.

Wizard Wars 1 Causes and forces
Wizard Wars 2 Encounters and links
Wizard Wars 3 Rumours and treasure
Necromancer 1 Causes and forces
Necromancer 2 Encounters and links
Necromancer 3 Rumours and treasure

Mutants 
These make up the bulk of mutants corrupted and tainted recently or perhaps crawled from foul places in the earth from pacts made long ago seeking to smash the perfect pretty face of the world and make it broken for mutants and chaos.
Mutant Wars 1 Causes and forces
Mutant Wars 2 Encounters and links
Mutant Wars 3 Rumours and treasure
Necromancer 1 Causes and forces
Necromancer 2 Encounters and links
Necromancer 3 Rumours and treasure

Giants
Many served the dark lords of the past to failure but some especially the most degenerate mutant formari or the moronic hill giants tempted by food and beer and blood.
Giant 1 Causes and forces
Giant 2 Encounters and links
Giant 3 Rumours and treasure

Monster King Mercenaries
Any strange troops from the age of monster kings could be an exotic troop type and making elves all gasp since they last saw such ugly things. Some of these were paid aeons ago by former dark lords with more money.

1 Goblinoids, mad at humans for losing territory, exploitation and slavery

2 Orcs enraged by humanity who they see as rivals to rule this age at any cost

3 Necromancers have provided undead troops since humans first learned black magic

4 Black wizards schooled in the low tuition fee diabolic school serve for knowledge & power

5 Beast folk army, type created by the dark lord elder magic & secret breeding programs

6 Beast folk horde, wild tribal beastfolk tribe willingly serve for a chance to kill humans

7 Ogres unusually have united to eat and destroy humanity who they hate so much

8 Hill giants have come from the mountains to eat humans and the dark lords lies

9 Chaos horde, mutated warband of maniacs serving priesthood of chaos and demons 

10 Dark elves are sworn to a former darklord reluctantly are made to fight this useless war

United Against The Dark Lord Forces
Many orc abhuman tribes will join humanity as they are sick of dark lord suckering everyone into stupid wars and betraying everyone with an evil wizard and god stuff. They expect land deals and possibly paid military work to stick around.

Human Forces 
The official military of the land are foremost in defence but in overrun areas peasants revolt and make bandit armies against the dark lord. People wonder if they will return to peasantdom after the war. Possibly inquisitors and other maniacs might be needed to hunt agents of the dark lord within civilisation est hiss influence spread. Secret police would be after the agents of evil too. 
Peasant Revolt 1 Forces and Encounters
Peasant Revolt 2 Gossip

Good Wizards
Good wizards know the dark lord comes for them to be his thralls and don't like it

Crusaders 
Human knights form other lands unite under one banner of many faiths against evil

Dwarves
Dwarves grumble about humans and elves but they doo like fighting the dark lord and some dwarves might even have served him.

Elves
Some elves feel bad about potent old magic still trashing the world and they know the dark lord wants them dead or slaves or monsters or corrupted so they are pleased to fight him. Dark elves complicate matters and elves avoid direct fights preferring to fight through goblin proxies and pawns

Halflings & Gnomes
Normally these guys don't make history but they sure dislike dark lords and get dirty work done smuggling evil relics, shanking villains, resisting evil curses and murdering the odd wizard can help. Good and evil gnomes dislike the dark lord thinkin' he is a trainwreck of stupidity and waste. Good gnomes will help in secret evil ones will wait it out and maybe shank some dying soldiers for coins and wine
 
Abhumans & Changelings
Lots of beast folk hate the dark lord as do barbarians and the spirit peoples who mostly hide among humanity dislike the dark lord.

Possible Future Wars (Which Next?)
1 Lizard Wars! aztech dino folk, serpentfolk for wizards, etc 
2 Witch Wars! which hunt mania! it's like the more you repress people the more rebel
3 Amazon Wars! several great amazon powers wage war in the world against the world of men --and they have surprising allies such as barbarian tribes and elven and orc amazons
4 Barbarian invasion with temples getting trashed and wizards burned
5 Crusade! knights and templar orders and religious maniacs declare holy war on you
-ready to burn the shit out of stuff and kill thousands in name of holiness!
6 Foreign Power - not especially strange just a "civilised" business-like invasion or civil war
7 Modern era annexes your fantasy world with 10000 military advisors and mining partners
8 Elemental Wars - wizards and cults wrecking the place, squabbling, summoning monsters 

9 Dwarf War - it had to happen with artillery, clockwork mines, juggernauts, golems, bombs, guns, gas, all the stuff dwarves have kept hidden in alchemy and mechanics labs

10 Return of the Trolls - not those big dumb chaos cancer brutes, the weird mystical races of trolls castes that you don't hear much about since a big war long ago
11 Druid wars - enough of your shit, druids have had enough, time for a new covenant in blood with nature, cull the herd of humans and help nature fight back, lots of beast folk
12 Xor War - Xor has come to eat your world do not resist join us in eternity with the god flesh
13 Halfling Wars - they stole our children with sweets and cakes, made us fat with cheap greasy sausage and white bread, made us addicts to their pipeweed and ergonomic kitchen design, enough and no more! purge the under five foot tall!*

Secretly halflings dirty burrows are actually cosy and like lovely cottages much nicer than even shopkeepers houses full of food and nice things. Who would have thought they were holding out like that. Bastards.

*excluding elderly people or children. Any child can be detained and questioned in case they are in fact halfling terrorists

Tribes of the Tundra

Stop looking if you're playing this (Dallas & Matt & Richard)
Poll on my Patreon anyone can do too....about future content & formats

Tribes of The Tundra tribes the players will meet need a bit of prep and I'm enjoying running this. Players enjoyed thinking food is a treasure so the survival angle worked. Some of these tribes explore the mountains and valleys most only dimly aware of the sea to the south past the mountains. Salt is in high demand which players might capitalise on.

When entering a new territory local can spot border stones and totems and will if on at least neutral terms will wait for owners to arrive. At this point, those wishing to pass will make a gift and state their intent. If on reasonable terms this is enough. More often the visitors will be taken to the chief and expect to negotiate further. Aggressive meetings usually result in name-calling, taunting and shouts. This escalates into throwing rocks then spears and arrows and sling stones. possibly more. Usually when someone is hurt both sides scatter and await legal actions. The wounded tribe will send a message demanding compensation such as several pigs or a chance to make the culprit run a gauntlet of clubs or dodge volleys of spears. 

The player's tribe have no clans or totem and might want to adopt something to announce themselves. No clan totem is a sign of evil false spirits who eat babies and steal souls.

Despite population sizes most only gather once a year or seasonally for festivals.

Druidry is very common
Shamen are a type of priest who deal with spirits instead of undead/turning(Oriental adventures 1st ed has lots of good spells for this)
Priesthoods and organised religion and temples are rare but growing

1 Ice Clan - White Ape Tribe
A clan of man-eaters who ruled here when glaciers covered the land and they resent other races. They fear demihumans but actively hunt other tribes for meat. They are bestial, barley speaks except through grunts and howls and seldom few tools or fire. Seasonally they travel to a secret pass where shamen in glacier caves worship ice devils they say live deep in the glacier. They wish the world was frozen over and unchanging. When they take humans they may enslave them and breed with them and eventually eat them. Other clans are more chaotic worshipping cold demons, elder gods and evil wind and cold elementals. The chaotic ones live in smaller groups and never unite.

pop300 Lawful Evil
Specialisation: cannibalism, diabolism, slavery
Customs: fear demihumans eat other races, devil worshipers

2 Pine Clan - Elf Tribe
Wood elves are on a mission to spread forests and have been successful on the coastal mountain range. On the tundra, this is harder and soil below a certain depth is frozen. They do spread grasses shrubs with berries. They are haughty and superior despite as earthborn elves they are not respected by their kin in faerieland as highly as they do themselves. They are superior at woodcraft including bow and spear and javelins and darts. Their plant food gathering is also superior and they do not like meat. They wish the world would freeze over and never change. There are occasional visits by the swan clan or the unicorn clan to the tundra who look down of the Pine clan and come to see their progress. Elves often employ goblin slaves and use them as scouts. Many escape and some become hobgoblins and even bugbears.

pop120 Chaotic Neutral
Specialisation: woodcraft, planting food crops, archery, druidry
Customs: haughty and superior to non-demihumans, always planting

3 Rock Clan - Dwarf Tribe
These dwarfs scour the tundra seeking iron star stones from the sky that fall rarely in the north. Only then will they be admitted to the great dwarf mountain forts of their kind and live lives of advanced luxury safe from the elements till they die. These dwarfs are always desperately grubbing about in the mud and others mostly pitty them. They always complain about their miserable lives. Their stonework is impressive and they use axes and slings mostly. They mostly shun magic but some make some potions, crude smoke bombs and firecrackers. They dread humans stealing their secrets and guard them jealously. Other dwarves in the deep and mountains use metal and black powder and golems but they shun the surface and pity those dwelling there. Rock dwarves are primitive by choice to stop others from stealing dwarf secrets. They fully comprehend advanced ancient technology only the hidden ones utilise it frequently.

pop80 Lawful Neutral
Specialisation: stone carving, axes including battleaxes, some crude alchemy 
Customs: seek meteorites, always moaning and filthy, shun magic, secretive

4 Moss Clan - Halfling Tribe
These shy peoples live in burrow nests that are very comfortable. They are experts at all kinds of food storage and even grind seeds and make bread. They are the best cooks and mostly fend off enemies with thrown rocks ambush. They have fine handicrafts but shun war and dangerous creatures. They are not unfriendly and will trade especially for meat and furs and ivory they struggle to get themselves. They like good humans and demihumans and may live with them for a time. They dislike crude and violent orcs and goblinoids and white apes. There are mulberry, lichen and shrub clans who sometimes visit. Most races leave halflings alone and don't even know where they live.

pop150 Chaotic Neutral
Specialisation: baking, cookery, food preservation, burrowing, camouflage 
Customs: fear demihumans eat other races, devil worshipers

5 Ground-squirrel Clan - Gnome Tribe
These grubby gnomes live in burrows with their furry squirrel friends. Many other animals eat them and gnomes help them and some even shapeshift into squirrel form. They grow tubers and eat seeds and store them in burrows for winter. They do make high quality sewed clothing and use tiny scraps of copper called coins for starting a fire, skinning hides, as a craft tool and status symbol. They are friendly but seldom seen by non-demihumans because they are shapeshifters. Other clans include weasel, owl, fox and hare.

pop90 Balanced Neutral 
Specialisation: copper, sewing, burrowing, slings and darts, druidry
Customs: shy with non demihumans, cohabit with squirrels, mostly underground

6 Snake Clan - Human Tribe
These mean spirited humans claim they ruled the world and they preserve old bloodlines with scaly skin, snake eyes and forked tongues. The worship serpent people of old and seek their relics to study and guard. They seek any elder ruins for knowledge in the hope of finding a serpent person to rule them. They are united under the rule of an evil wizard who is expansive and plans to enslave the plateau humans and kill the demihumans. They dislike the cold which is their main hindrance on the plateau. They are constructing new monolithic structures dedicated to the serpentine cult. They use darts and daggers but also use poison. Some say degenerate albino kin live in deep caves or some have more extreme serpentine features making them inhuman monsters.

pop200 Lawful Evil
Specialisation: poison, building, slavery, ancient forbidden lore, pet snakes, wizards
Customs: serpent cult, superior, inbred 

7 Mammoth Clan - Human Tribe
This tribe follow and worship woolly mammoths hunting them and living in huts with stone foundations, tusks for beams and hides one top. They are devoted to hunting and their herds and wary of older races and strangers. They just want to look after their own kind and keep living the same way. Mammoths are their kin and they love them dearly, performing funeral rites for them when they kill the weak. They mostly use simple technology and spears and javelins. They prey off weak and sick mammoths only which is plenty. There is a wolf clan who sometimes follow the herds but they do not get along and avoid each other. Mammoth clan accuse them of being werewolves.

pop400 Neutral
Specialisation: building, hunting, spears and javelins
Customs: worship mammoths, follow the herds and protect them

8 Eagle Clan - Human Tribe
Eagle clan watch from their mountain caves and dwellings on rocky outcrops. They hunt all kinds of the game but hate the snake clan who they frequently fight. They seek to exterminate snake kind based on some ancient grudge. They also dislike white apes and undead but are not as fanatic about killing them. They are very serious and pious and wear feathered capes. A few keep pet eagles that assist them in hunting and finding enemies. They are also traders who often negotiate between tribes. They use spears and javelins and darts preferring to ambush from a height advantage. They are effective skirmishers and they are experts at harassing much larger forces. They have helped kept snake tribes to the south. There is a lesser hawk and owl clan also but they meet infrequently. They have organised priesthood and build sun altars and shrines in high places. Shamans are secondary in importance after priests which has other tribes wary.

pop120 Lawful Nuetral
Specialisation: hunting, exploring, trade, domestic eagles, skirmishers, priesthood
Customs: strict code of honour, hate white apes and snakes, sun worship

9 Elk Clan - Abhuman Tribe

Elk headed humanoids that follow their reindeer herds through seasonal migrations. They dislike any who harm their herds but they do eat meat in winter, preferring to graze on grass and hallucinogenic lichen in warmer months. They worship a lord of beasts and the underworld who they call upon to protect their herds and reincarnate them back to the mortal world. They practice Druidry and have some adopted humans living among them. Mostly use spears and javelins and seldom use fire. They are protective of nature and suspicious humans want to over hunt. They especially fight orcs and sometimes work with elves. There are other tribes follow arctic herd beast to like musk ox, bison, yak, sheep and goat.

pop120 Balanced Good
Specialisation: herding deer, druidry, herbalism
Customs: shun wizards, protect and follow herds, ritualised drug use 

10 Sabretooth Clan - Abhuman Tribe

This tribe are fearsome hunter warriors who are assured of their own greatness and prowess. Many spend years alone honing their skills and some will travel far and even live with other peoples for a time. Others shun company even of their own kind. Small family groups mostly gather for raising children and such groups often separate when children are old enough. They live harsh lives and elderly prefer to die in battle and will leave a family on a death quest to meet their end. They are enemies of hyena folk, the white apes and orcs and will fight them for gifts of food or craft goods. They eat raw meat and only use daggers or spears. They barley carry any possessions other than weapons and food and perhaps a hooded fur cloak.  They don't even use flint or stone or fire. Most humans respect them and beware their wrath. They are vindictive and kin will seek to avenge any slain. This is the source of their war with orcs and apes and hyena. Some have sabretooth tiger allies.

pop40 Lawful Neutral
Specialisation: mercenaries, hunters, spears and daggers
Customs: shun technology, hate hyena people, white apes and orcs, solitary, code of honour 

11 Hyena Clan - Abhuman Tribe
Hyena people follow the herds and predators to kill the weak and steal others kills. Everybody hates them too. They are notorious for murderous cruelty, will stalk victims for days by night cackling frighteningly with joy as they approach victims. The cannibalism of their own kind and others leaves many with laughing sickness and they cannot stop giggling insanely.  Mostly use spears and big spiked clubs to fight but they use very little technology other than hiding cloaks and tents, shunning fire and limited stonework on tools and weapons. Hyena claim this land is all there's left to them by the vulture men wizard kings of old. Some guard ancient sites of demon worship. Sometimes they keep live humans as food and rarer still some of these slaves become demon-worshipping cultists who help their masters hunt and kill humans through betrayal and infiltration. 

pop200 Chaotic Evil
Specialisation: cannibalism, demonology, thieving, slavery, treachery, pet hyena
Customs: all races are just food, shun technology and fire

12 Red Eye Clan - Orc Tribe
The orcs are great rivals of humans and hate their elvish kin. They also hate wizards and old races of evil who once enslaved the world. The snake and hyena tribes they see as remnants of this. While they see elves as arrogant and former slave masters, they are happy to dominate goblinoids. Many leave tributes such as food for orcs to bribe them away. Orcs while often unfriendly and vindictive, they can see a reason to unite against worse enemies and sometimes will protect their tributary thralls and income. They are brutal savages but have a custom of taking tribute and slaves rather than wipe out humans. hey themselves hate being enslaved and bear grudges from old times when they were created by elves and wizards for war. They have many resentments against the world and other peoples. Humans are rivals they respect and they were both thralls of the same masters in the age of black magic. 

They prefer spears, hatchets, daggers and use shields and leather armour. TOrcs know lots of lot lore about the previous age other young races forgot. Demihumans remember but shun this lore. Most orcs are almost as large as a human due to their stance and bow-legged gait but a small amount of greater orcs exist often as champions or leaders. As orcs know of the ancient order they sometimes pillage strange weapons like metal swords their heroes wield. Individual orcs can be allies or even friends if they respect your strength. Some human and orc tribes once worked together to end the previous age. The world broke and is ruined but all are free now.

If they are saved from enemies or helped they often feel obligated to return aid or treat as equals. Most orcs worship ancestral heroes who freed them or the first mothers as orcs had no women once. Their shaman serve a great one-eyed great patron orc ancestor spirit. Some worship devils for power. Some distant clans are thralls to evil wizards and chaos demons as orcs did for aeons. The eye tribe orcs try to free them or kill them if they cannot accept the gaze of the great one-eyed spirit. Orcs know there are great realms under the earth where ancient evils still lurk and orcs have own lands.

pop360 common orcs 40 great orcs (as abhuman) Lawful Evil
Specialisation: shields, leather armour, spears, hatchet, tributary thralldoms, forbidden lore
Customs: Code of honour, bitter with many grudges, destroy wizards 

Stone Age Mountain Pass Point Crawl

Anyone playing this look away! (Dallas, Matt, Richard, etc)

So I rolled up these with my Stone Age Sorcery Book and made it into a mountain point crawl. When they get to the plateau there will be more tribes they can interact with and a more homogenous culture with less remnants of elder ages and old races. It is where humans and orcs are the dominant people and technology is very simple. I rolled a d4-1 for how many paths diverged from the first and from every room.

Ice Valley - icy glacier caves where white apes worship ice devils. A gate to the frozen hell is in the deepest cave guarded by an ice devil and other creatures.
Elderwood - Giant forest where elves, gnomes and cave folk fight. Elves live in trees, gnomes hide in secret places and humans live in cliffs around the valley. Elves here are working on expanding forests over all the mountain ranges.
Valley of Xor - Strange land of living flesh and strange hairless tribe and folk with no heads!
Monster Eaters - a kaiju was pinned under a mountain by a god. A tribe mine it's an immortal sleeping body to get meat which mutates devourers who increasingly worship the thing and seek its freedom.
Mystery Valley - the valley where tribes living well here all fled or vanished. Vampires and creatures of the Underland preyed on the people who eventually had enough and fled.
Spider Zigguratt - wizard giant spiders live here, their queen beneath a ziggurat built by human slaves. The old and sick and weak are devoured. Loyal spider cultists kidnap more human cattle
The city of the old ones - a strange city of the evil monster kings from the last age, steeped in black magic and cobwebs. (will use one in my book)
Dragon Bone Valley - dragons and giants had a war here leaving their bones scattered. A clan of wizards study the bones and seek dragon knowledge of magic.
Vampire Burrows - Burial mounds everywhere with many undead but several vampires rule this land, servants of the age of night

Hopefully, party will see resources on plateau in need like salt and want to return through the mountains to the coast. They can find alternate paths and end some of the menaces. Some places best to scout and flee. Also, some of these valleys might be rushed through for later adventures. Being a sandbox there is a trick of knowing when you are too low level.

Will roll up dozen or so tribes and for the plateau soon. For now .....

Hill Gnome Tribe (Dog Clan)
pop20 plus 40 odd dogs Neutral Good
Specialisation: sewing, copper use, trade domesticated dogs, fire, slings and hatchets, pictographs
Customs: gnomes turn into dogs to make love dog pets

Wood Elf Tribe (Pine Clan)
pop60 elves 3 dryads Chaotic Neutral
Specialisation: tree cultivation, short bow, human slavery, domestic deer, dagger, pictographs
Customs: dislike young races, haughty and arrogant, slavers

Kobold Tribe (Flint Clan)
pop20 plus 40 odd dogs Lawful Neutral
Specialisation: flint, mining, fire, traps, slings, clubs
Customs: afraid of open outdoors, forests and sunlight

Cave Folk Tribe (Skull Clan)
pop 40 Chaotic Evil
Specialisation: cannibalism, club, dagger, hatchet, dart, net
Customs: betrayal is virtue, cannibalism, shun fire

Stone Age Sorcery Play & Planning

So we wrangled a public holiday and a few ppl arrived same time to start this elaborate mini-campaign. All arrive in frozen north on a raft from the flooded south lands gone under a tsunami forever. Each had a loincloth and a random thing. Two elders Karan the Hunter (Fighter3) and Granny (Druid 3) accompany the two players. Hope to get more next game and at least 2 games this month and more if we like it. Special skills the players start with are the tribes technology. The elders saved them as youths and got them this far but most of the mongrel clan died on the way.

Dallas player made Boron the warrior a hunter who was raised to be a warrior executioner with a stone battle axe but he lost it on the trip. Such a weapon has never been seen by most and is to kill humans. He is also a hunter and animal handler who caught animals and fattened up their captured young. He only has a  full sewn hide suit worth +1AC and a special d4 healing herb left.

Matt played a halfling named Buns as he knows secrets of grinding grain and making flour and yeast and baking. Also a herbalist, first aider, singer and preacher. He hopes to change class in the future to a bard. He is really good at throwing rocks and knows how to use a tomahawk but lost it. He also has a friend a former slave now a tribe member, named Bars. He knows how to spread seeds around camps and on trails and cultivate tubers. He has a staff and 3 darts. He used to get the grain that Buns made. Buns has named a portable meat stuffed bread snack after himself.

Landed on the beach and pulled apart raft to make a cliff lean-to shelter for granny. Boron climbed a cliff and tore off a gull head and stole six eggs and Buns killed a gull with rock making them all hide. Granny warned them not to eat too many or they would suffer. Boron, Buns and Bars went for a walk next day well-fed and found a bunch of edible kelp they took home and used some as part of their shelter. Kagan and Granny saw a dozen terrorbirds patrol the beach looking for edible flotsam and jetsam surmising they did this often. So while the young went exploring more in hills above the cliff could see the forest to the north, swamp to the west and a frozen-over inlet about a mile wide to the east. Went east and found a delicious fairy penguin colony and then found a tasty dead dolphin. Returning home all feasted and granny buried some whale blubber for a treat next year. Kargan had mad Boron a huge stone axe, not the best but it would kill.

The next trek they went to the swamp and Boron caught a crafty trilobite. On way back, a 4-meter wingspan eagle scratched Bars and knocked him out. Sawa walrus out at sea from hills. Buns drove him off with rocks. Found a cave but smelled burned food and feces so fled home. Heard screeching and flapping in the night but no idea what caused it.

Next, a trek into the new forest that they later learned elves planted only a few years ago and is growing every year. Found a cave with a stone table inside and a stone witch knife they left out of fear. Told Granny and Kargan back home and they wanted to see the cave. They had mostly gathered food and granny wove grass carry bags and mats for the shelter. There was some rope from raft left and firewood too. All packed what they could and headed for the table cave. Granny nudged the knife into a hole and buried it and was satisfied this cave was ok but might have seasonal visitors. Had found human and elf rock carvings but so far had seen neither. Spent time hunting and had a bad accident with a boar that Buns killed after it downed his brothers Boron and Bars. Tusks and leather and meat were good. Granny found some arrowheads but she didn't know what they were for. Found good food and creepy elf fetishes. Granny warned them all about dryads and was sure she had heard one singing in the woods one night. One phantom beast in the woods turned out to be a giant sloth which they knew to avoid and was fairly harmless if you kept away.

Visited the cave they fled before and got closer and aw tiny scaly footprints they realised were kobolds/ Buns sung a kobold welcome song and gave kobolds a penguin offering which they accepted. Swapped some flints for more food and all now had a good firestarter and didn't need to rely on granny's arson skills. Kobolds traded boar tusks for a flint axe head for Buns and a spearhead for Boron. Kobolds offered magic flint if the tribe would kill the huge eagle that could snatch two kobolds a swoop. Boys decided this probably kept kobolds manageable and claimed they were not up to this.

Finally got more food and found remains of big predator meal and found camp where something also shaved wood Boron kept for tinder. Exploring above forest against the imposing mountains they found a huge stone reptilian head with more buried underground. Once out with Kargan found a beast tracking them so they set an ambush. A savage battle with a dire wolf followed and Boron earned its heart and skin to make a wolf cloak and hat. Found a mountain trail and on one of two paths was an icy valley. Found a glacial cave with a strange evil horned face carved above it in ice. Exploring in dimly lit interior found a block of ice with meat and nuts and a wolf pelt, offerings by the looks. Went down a passage and attacked two sleeping white apes on a fur rug. Boron got great edea to skin them as marvelous fur winter suits for the mountains. Another room they found a shaman huffing hemp seed smoke and killed it too. They stole everything they could and fled home.

All the skins they had mad facing a mountain trek possible. Had stocked up on food and were ready to go through the mountain pass to the plateau tundra the kobolds spoke of beyond. Had grown from ordeal and become tougher than their soft southern land life had provided them. Their fur suits were ready and all was packed. Herbs were gathered, nuts and berries and dried meat were packed. Bunz made his hatchet and had improved his sneaking skills and got into throwing multiple rocks. Boron had his new spear and trained more with his huge awesome axe.

This time they took the other path but on way found a cavern enterance full of fungus and mushrooms and saw goblins around a fire so left. Found a new valley this one with huge hundred metre tall trees! The could see and hear distant dinosaurs and streams. Six handsome young men with spears confronted them. They were oiled with pine-scented unguents and seemed urgent. They demanded Boron and Bars come with them and the rest leave forever. Bunz pretended that he saw something fearsome and the fools turned to see. Bunz threw a rock in the leaders head and granny threw a burning pinecone that exploded injuring several in a cloud of smoke and sparks. The tribe all attacked and crushed the handsome youths and bound them all. Bunz saved one from blood loss. Bunz was impressed with this new trick of shouting "look over there!", then attack was another of his great new tricks. Then they heard singing in elvish and Bunz replied in song. Granny warned them it was a dryad and those men were her thralls so they all fled in terror.

As came to another end of valley they saw stone monuments and rock art of elves, gnomes and savage backward humans. Camped under a fallen tree and ate tasty wood grubs. By night heard dogs and a band of gnomes had discovered them. Bunz traded with them and the gnomes invited them to follow. Gnomes wore fine clothes with buttons and offered a thing called a coin, a sharp scrap of metal good for cutting tool or fire starting. This was a special gnome gift. The gnomes had a secret gully through a crack in a rock and the tribe stayed with them. Heard of the constant feuds with elves who were colonising new forests across the mountains. Also of the fearsome cave folk who ate gnomes and other peoples. Gnomes were sure tribe not gnome eaters. Boron liked the gnomes dogs and made friends with them. Gnomes offered humans more copper they helped deal with terror birds....

to be continued...

Tragic backgrounds for urchin hirelings

Adventurers are keen to help employ young people and possibly homeless drunks or prison parolees or lepers into dungeons for minimal wages. Adventurers put the high priority of helping their hirelings survive as they need to maintain reputations as good employers. So all kinds of vagrants and kids who nobody wanted as apprentices end up working for peanuts for adventurers and hang out near the adventurer noticeboards. Some only go once, they die or are crippled or made enough to get away or just chose a less deadly lifestyle. Unfortunately some of those brats you hire to help the cause of child employment have secrets and if they die in a hole or even employ you might attract trouble. And no adventurers ever wanted surprises or complications or enemies.

d10 Mysterious backgrounds for urchin hireling types
01 Escaped confinement
02 Refugee
03 Church
04 Previous Job
05 Nobility
06 Cult member
07 Lowlife
08 Fugitive criminal
09 Nonhuman links
10 Magical

d10 Mysterious backgrounds for urchin hireling
01 Escaped from children's prison for petty crimes
02 Escaped from children's home for some industry like sailors or miners
03 Escaped from a child slave sweatshop
04 Escaped from a home run by sadistic old monks or nuns or boys or girls
05 Escaped from a military school, treated brutally for years 
06 Escaped a apprenticeship with a cruel master
07 Escaped slavery as a labourer (or house servant if CHA 13+) 
08 Escaped having been raised in a isolated place in ignorance by a cult
09 Escaped a labouring job bound by contract to service to rich man
10 Escaped a privileged boarding school for nobles children
11 Family killed in plague run here hungry and desperate
12 Escaped massacre by military in homeland still learning local dialect
13 Escaped forced recruitment into military during war and has fled a massacre
14 Homeless from starvation, learned to eat in woods from hermits
15 During famine several of his siblings were eaten so fled here for work
16 Family home and clan burned by arsonist gang with wrong address
17 Family member offended a powerful rich man and carried away as slaves
18 Family murdered by assassins from a cult or some crime family
19 Family killed by raiders while child hid and saw everything
20 Nobility overtaxed and claimed new privileges and child told to flee
21 Fled a church school that was corrupt and brutal
22 Fled a church orphanage that was mostly a work hall
23 Member of a order of monks or nuns but fled
24 Member of a city choir in a temple and fled creepy clery
25 Made personal servant of a priest which was terrible
26 Sent on a mission but others eaten and this survivor over missions now
27 Taken on by a profesional undead hunting cleric which was very unsafe
28 Worked with an inquisitor hunting cultists and beating up old people without kin
29 Was taken on a crusade which was pretty horrible and fled rather than return
30 Was recruited into templars as a orphan and expected to be a warrior order cleric
31 Worked in a seedy brothel and taver cleaning slops and sleeping in stables for porridge
32 Worked in a scriptorium copying texts more like a prison sweatshop
33 Worked cleaning up slops in abattoir and saw crime syndicate murder an official
34 Worked in a mill pulling out things stuck in dangerous machines
35 Worked as assistant gongfarmer in a sewer while small enough for some pipes
36 Worked sweeping chimneys and slowly dying so now here instead
37 Worked in beggars guild but master wanted to cripple the kid so fled
38 Worked in stables and spreading manure now hates horses smell
39 Worked in a mine with blind pit ponies until escaped chains
40 Worked collecting dropped coal in a huge boiler   
41 Bastard of a bloodline, new family head wants all rival claimants killed
42 Escaped minor child of nobles who want returned to be married
43 Escaped minor noble child from a coup and family slaughtered
44 Escaped minor noble family accused of treason all have been killed or hidden
45 Sent to serve noble wizard who was terrible
46 Sent to serve a knight as a squire who had a deathwish to fight monsters
47 Was a kidnapped heir who escaped and wants to get home without anybody noticing
48 Escaped assassination hopes to get home in disguise
49 Family killed seeks to learn adventuring, get power then avenge them
50 Locked in a multi clan death struggle and in hiding waiting to return home
51 Escaped sect of kidnappers sold to another cult to sacrifice far from home
52 Member of a cult on a quest to collect human faces or something awful
53 Cultist wants monster body parts to sell to wizards and alchemists
54 Cultist looking for evil relics can snatch off other cults or peoples
55 Cultist seeking documents and lost lore to report to masters
56 Cultist seeks money or contacts to find hidden black school of magic
57 Cultist wannabe looking for a cult to join but murder hobo work will do
58 Cultist seeks a certain ruin and secret room and needs to see several dungeons
59 Cultists looking for a lost idol
60 Cultist want to convert other hirelings to murder cult and learn from party
61 Used to work for drug smugglers, likes to smoke and get high in dungeons
62 Parents arrested and sent away to a convict colony
63 Parents killed by mob over gambling and drug debts, mob wanted child
64 Parents were mobsters killed by rival crime clan
65 Abandoned, found and sold to a crime syndicate to learn crime
65 Informant for secret police until discovered was on a kill list by accident
66 Parents were foreign spies executed but child escaped
67 Family murdered by mob cos someone squealed to the law about thieves guild
68 Served bandits for years growing up living rough with criminals
69 Served on a pirate ship, caught, spared execution and escaped convict transport
70 Family killed by spies for forging official documents and coin clipping
71 Child was a trained assassin getting away after killing a important person
72 Child stole a important letter and on the run after noble want letter destroyed
73 Child was a royal servant who fled stealing silver and clothes
74 Witch child hunted by inquisition who survived burning
75 Child wanted for stealing poor box and blew it on horse racing and out to rob adventurers
76 Child is a witness of terrible crime and has had to flee home or die
77 Child witnessed knights murdering a crown official and now they hunt witness
78 Child stole stash from a gang haul and ran ever since after hiding the 300gp treasure
79 Child stole treasure looted from distant natives after 4 years on a ship and in strange land, explorers want the strange pagan idol as does foreign native cult
80 Child stabbed a corrupt priest and fled with gold and wine and has hidden stash
81 Is a mutant but hides it for now
82 Child was raised by demihumans and wants to return to human ways but shy
83 Child was bitten by a lycanthrope like a were rat or were wolf or hyena
84 Child raised as slave of monsers in a cave for years
85 Child raised by talking animals and faeries
86 Child raised by witches or a hag
97 Child raised by spirits
88 Child raised by beast folk in winderness
89 Child raised by mermaids in underwater fairy land in sea or lake
90 Child raised by dragons in secret dragon sanctuary
91 Child was used as experiment by alchemist and wants to dissect kid
92 Child served a wizard who wants kid dead for knowing wizard secrets
93 Child of a famous wizard on run from parents wants adventurers life
94 Child of a wizard who's parents were killed by a former student and wants the child
95 Child was sent to posh wizard school to get a proper wizard job but
96 Child raised on another plane kidnapped as a baby to be a slave
97 Child is really a ogre magi
98 Child is a young doppelganger
99 Child is really an imp is disguise
100 Really a petty god in disguise

A Lotus For All Seasons

Lotus Flowers were one of the main currencies of the old monster kings as popular as gold or silver and for it's ability to control addicts. Ancient barges crossed the world selling drugs. Certain drugs are now found on certain continents. The Black Lotus Emperor rules much of the west through these drugs from his secret underground city. Black lotus because wizards and sorcerers crave it world wide is the most well known. Many lands ban lotus resin and some have become dependant on the criminal smugglers and pedlars who lend nobles money for influence.

This is how the Emperor spreads his influence. The drugs were commonly used as alternate spell components in the prehuman monster ruled age. Some say the emperor is a immortal deity from beyond. Many alien wizards are users also. Some areas there are lotus cults who use it in secret rituals and cover up failures. Some of these cults might have own strains. Some say lotus grew in conditions where outer gods were slain from their brain matter. The art of growing them requires a hard gardening roll to cultivate seeds and another to have them grow seeds. Cults might operate a secret garden. Some states operate gardens for nobility and royalty or only allow priests to use it. Natural animals, beast folk and barbarians and many tribal peoples shun them. Wherever you go people have strong opinions for against it. 

D12 Lotus Types
1 Pink Lotus

2 Ivory Lotus

3 Golden Lotus

4 Silver Lotus

5 Scarlet Lotus

6 Grey Lotus

7 White Lotus

8 Jade Lotus

9 Amber Lotus

10 Violet Lotus

11 Blue Lotus

12 Black Lotus

Dosage Effect if Save Effect if fail Cost
Mild Dose Mild Effect (d4 hours) Fail + sick for d4 rounds 10sp dose
Pure Dose Strong Effect Fail + save vs addiction + Mild Effect 40gp dose

Flower Extracts in wine or made into resin for pure doses
Fresh flowers in wine dissolve the narcotic and mixes with wine
Resin keeps for years and comes in pellets or blocks often with a guild symbol in gold
Rest of flower and stems make tea or smokes with only minor effects
Pipes across the world feature dragon designs
Most of these types are rare and seldom would you ever see all of them unless in the stash tin of a god or elf king. Any one big trade city might have 3 available.Some wizards tried to cross breed other types but most are fake

1 Pink Lotus
Fail – grow hideous wattles and dulaps like a turkey, more drugs worse they get
Mild Effect – euphoric, aroused, more sociable and charming +1CHA
Strong Effect – develop a petty mutation, hallucinate being one with all flesh through Xor

2 Ivory Lotus
Fail – when you die you arise as a skeletal undead, more drugs more powerful
Mild Effect – icy logic, fearless, analytical, good for research, hear whispers of dead +1INT
Strong Effect – immune to fear and charm magic, seem dead, commune with death d10 hours

3 Golden Lotus
Fail – body smoulders on first contact with sunlight losing a d4 HP, effect stronger with more drugs
Mild Effect – confident, warm and powerful feelings +1WIS
Strong Effect – immune to level or attribute drain from negative energy for hour

4 Silver Lotus
Fail – go into deep trance for day, second time week, then month then coma
Mild Effect – objectivity, calm, emotionless +1INT
Strong Effect - temporary psionic ability or petty mental mutation

5 Scarlet Lotus
Fail – become angry and violent, go on troublesome rampage for hour, temper gets worse over time
Mild Effect – aggressive, confidant, energetic will go berserk if fight starts in next turn
Strong Effect – heart stops, visions of souls destiny, first aid can revive you

6 Grey Lotus
Fail – drool like a idiot, reduced to infant state for d4 weeks, longer each time
Mild Effect – cold detachment, good for analytical skills, limited vision of own past +1WIS
Strong Effect – witness maddening things in past epochs then void hounds persue you

7 White Lotus
Fail – temporary blindness, eventually eyes become white, giggling addicts tear out own eyes

Mild Effect – heal 1HP
Strong Effect - see in dark, perceive squirming alien beings from beyond everywhere d4 hours

8 Jade Lotus
Fail – develop slimy skin and webbing, eventually turn into frog folk hybrid
Mild Effect – euphoric, gregarious, hungry, elaborate speculation and theories +1WIS
Strong Effect – Visions of frog gods and ancient rites dedicated to them for d12 hours

9 Amber Lotus
Fail – ephoric memory loss as long as keep smoking daily, slavers use this to dominate victims
Mild Effect – visions of some other worldly court drama you don't understand  +1CHA
Strong Effect – communicate directly with the unspeakable outsider god, the lord of madness for 3d10 hours

10 Violet Lotus
Fail – develop a minor mutation, eventually after too much they evolve into a horrible beast
Mild Effect – sense magic in 30 foot
Strong Effect – see magic and identify spells and magical effects on sight d6 hours

11 Blue Lotus
Fail – giggle like a idiot and become very compliant
Mild Effect – numbness, flushes, mild visual distortions  +1DEX
Strong Effect – cosmic visions of all reality, immune to illusions d6 hours

12 Black Lotus
Fail – haunted by maddening occult dreams, join a cult or several
Mild Effect – incredible dreams of alien realities, disorientation, ranting, foaming at the mouth, recover one spell or spell energy level, mostly used by power level magicians
Strong Effect – communicate with alien wizards beyond time and space for d4 hours