steve jackson · pdf fileolokun: world of water ... spell-based magic. . . . . . . . 23 ......
TRANSCRIPT
STEVE JACKSON GAMESISBN 1-55634-744-8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Written by PHIL MASTERS and JONATHAN WOODWARDBased on GURPS Fantasy by STEVE JACKSON, KIRK TATE, and JANET NAYLOR
Cover by BOB STEVLICIllustrated by BOB STEVLIC and CHRIS QUILLIAMS
Cartography by J. KOVACHEdited by JANIE MURPHY and STEVE JACKSON
2 CONTENTS
CONTENTS
GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid, Banestorm, and the names of all products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are registered trademarks or trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license. GURPS Banestorm is copyright © 2005 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Playtesters: Mark Baddeley, Frederick Brackin, Michael Cule, Peter V. Dell’Orto, Thomas Devine, Leonardo M. Holschuh, MA Lloyd, Paul May, David Moore, Simon Proctor, Shawn K. Stevenson, William H. Stoddard, Dustin Tranberg, Chad Underkoffler, and Jeff Wilson.
Thanks to Tamar Amidon, Christopher Anthony, Elizabeth McCoy, and Matt Riggsby.Phil Masters: To my players of the last 25 years, who suffered while I learned. Jonathan Woodward: To Annie Webber, ever a shelter from the storm.
GURPS System Design ❚ STEVE JACKSONGURPS Line Editor ❚ SEAN PUNCH
Art Director ❚ STEVE JACKSONPage Design ❚ PHILIP REED
Production Manager ❚ MONICA STEPHENSProduction Artist ❚ ALEX FERNANDEZ
Print Buyer ❚ MOE CHAPMANMarketing Director ❚ PAUL CHAPMAN
Sales Manager ❚ ROSS JEPSONErrata Coordinator ❚ ANDY VETROMILE
GURPS FAQ Maintainer ❚ ❍❍❍❍❍STÉPHANE THÉRIAULT
1. HISTORY . . . . . . . . 5PRE-HUMAN YRTH . . . . . . . . . . .6
Yrth Astronomy andGeography . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
THE BANESTORM . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Gaming the Banestorm . . . . . 7Civilizations Emerge . . . . . . . 8Timeline (200 B.C. to
1550 A.D.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9THE SPREAD OF HUMANITY . . 10
The Rise of Megalos . . . . . . 10The Crusades . . . . . . . . . . . . 10The Unified Church. . . . . . . 10Simon Menelaus. . . . . . . . . . 10Timeline (1550 A.D. to
1900 A.D.) . . . . . . . . . . . . 11NEW CHALLENGES . . . . . . . . . 12
Jihad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12The Banestorm Resurgent . 12Megalos Reduced. . . . . . . . . 13An Yrthian Reformation? . . 13
THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS . . 14The Mages’ War . . . . . . . . . . 14More Orc Aggression. . . . . . 14A World Seen in Dreams . . . 14Timeline (1900 A.D. to
2005 A.D.) . . . . . . . . . . . . 15The Blackwoods Spread . . . 16The Frontier Wars . . . . . . . . 16Civil War in Caithness. . . . . 16Now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2. LIFE IN YTARRIA . . 17THE PEOPLE OF YRTH . . . . . . 18
The Elder Folk . . . . . . . . . . . 18The Dark Elves . . . . . . . . . . . 18The Newcomers. . . . . . . . . . 20Interracial Relations. . . . . . . 21Gabrook: World of Sands. . . 21Loren’dil: The Green World. . 22Olokun: World of Water . . . . 22Other Races. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
MAGIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Spell-Based Magic . . . . . . . . 23Magic Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Magery in Nonhumans . . . . 24Banestorm Spells . . . . . . . . . 25Some Legendary Artifacts. . . 26Mysticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Alchemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28The Genetics of Magery . . . . 29
TECHNOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Underground Engineering . . 30Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . 31Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Printing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
MAJOR LANGUAGES . . . . . . . . . 33Nonhuman Speech . . . . . . . 33
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT . . 34SOCIAL ARRANGEMENTS . . . . . 38
The Peasantry . . . . . . . . . . . 38Nonhumans in Human
Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39The Merchant Class. . . . . . . 40Knighthood . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Muslim Social Positions . . . 40Arms and Devices . . . . . . . . . 41The Nobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Orders of Knighthood. . . . . . 42
SLAVERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42ECONOMICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Coins of Ytarria . . . . . . . . . . 44CRIME AND PUNISHMENT . . . . 44POLITICAL SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . 45
Feudalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Megalan Autocracy . . . . . . . 46The “Rebel Lands” . . . . . . . . 47Muslim Government . . . . . . 48Nonhuman Government . . . 48Tribalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Sahud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
TOWNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Guilds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
SECRET SOCIETIES ANDCONSPIRACIES . . . . . . . . . . .52Wizardly Conspiracies . . . . 52Fireballs vs. Gunpowder . . . 52Pagan Cults . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Mystery Cults . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Diabolical Cults . . . . . . . . . . 53Bardic Colleges . . . . . . . . . . 53The Underground
Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Spy Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Protestantism . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3. RELIGION . . . . . . 56Comparative Theology . . . . . 56
CHRISTIANITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Beings With Souls . . . . . . . . 57Canon Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Heresy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Saints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
The Curia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Holy Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61The Order of Friedrich . . . . . 62The Secret of the Templars . . 63The Michaelites. . . . . . . . . . . 64The Afterlife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
ISLAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65The Shari’a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Julnari Dervishes . . . . . . . . . 67Islam’s Divisions . . . . . . . . . 69Human Religions’ Views
of Nonhumans . . . . . . . . 69The Ghazi Orders . . . . . . . . 70Nonhumans’ Views
of Human Religions . . . . 70Muslim Radicals and
“Heretics” . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Hashishin Assassination . . . 72
JUDAISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Berakhot and Kashrut . . . . . 75Rabbis and Cantors. . . . . . . 75
OTHER RELIGIONS . . . . . . . . . 76Paganism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76The Religion of Bilit Island. . 78Hinduism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Buddhism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Sahudese Religion . . . . . . . . 80An’Fo’Tama Monks. . . . . . . . 80
NONHUMAN RELIGIONS . . . . . 81
4. LANDS OF YRTH. . 84COUNTRIES AND REGIONS
OF YTARRIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84MEGALOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85MAP OF WESTERN MEGALOS. . . 86
The “Evil Empire”?. . . . . . . . 87Megalan Status and Titles . . 87The Ministry of
Serendipity . . . . . . . . . . . 88Megalos: Capital
of the Empire . . . . . . . . . 89MAP OF EASTERN MEGALOS . . . 91
The Emperor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92The Midlands . . . . . . . . . . . . 93The Manites . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94The Northern Marches . . . . 94Lord Claudius Maskill . . . . . 95City of the Dead . . . . . . . . . . 97The Southlands . . . . . . . . . . 97Pirates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97The Western Empire . . . . . . 98The Secret
of the Blackwoods . . . . . . 99
Yibyorak: The Goblin City. . 100The Brothers of Mercury . . 102
ARATERRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103The Fiefdoms . . . . . . . . . . . 104
MAP OF ARATERRE AND
THE RING ISLANDS . . . . . . . 105Maritime Technology . . . . . 105The Prince of Araterre. . . . . 106Dame Catherine “la Noire” . . 107The Ring Islands . . . . . . . . 107Bilit Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Adventuring in the Isles . . . 108
CAITHNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109MAP OF CAITHNESS . . . . . . . . . 109
The Silver Hand . . . . . . . . . 110The Civil War . . . . . . . . . . . 113King Conall VI . . . . . . . . . . 114The Royalists . . . . . . . . . . . 115The Knights of the Stone . . 115Baroness Bronwyn . . . . . . . 116The Sterling Rebels . . . . . . 117Photius and the
Church of Caithness . . . 118The South. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119The Order of St. George
of the Dragon. . . . . . . . . 119The Great Forest . . . . . . . . . 120
AL-HAZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120MAP OF AL-HAZ. . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Hazi and Wazifi Status . . . 121The Rulers of Al-Haz . . . . . 123The Coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125The Maelstrom . . . . . . . . . . 125The Mountains. . . . . . . . . . 126The Pilgrims’ Plague . . . . . . 127The Plains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128The Balikites in Firuz . . . . . 128
AL-WAZIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129MAP OF AL-WAZIF . . . . . . . . . . 130
The Great Games . . . . . . . . 133Cities of Al-Wazif . . . . . . . . 133The Treachery of Taveon. . . 134The Ruins of Autheuil . . . . 135The Pillars of Heaven . . . . 136
CARDIEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137MAP OF CARDIEL . . . . . . . . . . . 138
The Lords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140The Regions of Cardiel . . . 140Tredroy: The City
of Three Laws. . . . . . . . 142MAP OF TREDROY . . . . . . . . . . 143
Adventuring in Tredroy. . . . 147
CONTENTS 3
SAHUD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148Who is “Sahudese”? . . . . . . 148
MAP OF SAHUD . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Women in Sahud . . . . . . . . 152The Clanholds of Sahud . . 153Sahudese Ninja. . . . . . . . . . 153Kinkaku and Uulinn . . . . . 154The Eyes of Heaven . . . . . . 155
ZARAK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157MAP OF ZARAK. . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
The Banestorm Underground . . . . . . . . . 158
Zarak Social Status . . . . . . 159Dwarf Women. . . . . . . . . . . 159Surface Dwarves. . . . . . . . . 160Technology in Zarak . . . . . . 161Seven Brother Kings . . . . . 161Thulin’s Folk . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
THE ORCLANDS . . . . . . . . . . . 163MAP OF THE ORCLANDS. . . . . . 164
The Orc Tribes . . . . . . . . . . 164Castle Defiant. . . . . . . . . . . 164Other Races . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Frontier and Tribal
Adventuring . . . . . . . . . . 166THE NOMAD LANDS . . . . . . . 167MAP OF THE NOMAD LANDS. . . 167
The Legend of Heolford . . . 168Northman Religion. . . . . . . 170Blind Lars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
THE SOUTHWESTERNWILDERNESS . . . . . . . . . . .173The Great Desert . . . . . . . . 173
MAP OF THE GREAT DESERT . . 173The Southern Plains . . . . . 173Elven Ruins . . . . . . . . . . . . 174The Djinn Lands . . . . . . . . 174
MAP OF THE DJINN LANDS . . . 175MANA LEVELS ACROSS
YTARRIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176THE OCEANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178
Island Cultures . . . . . . . . . . 179The Sea Elf Tribes . . . . . . . 179The Banestorm
Underwater . . . . . . . . . . 180Beyond the Seas?. . . . . . . . 181Adding New Lands . . . . . . . 181
5. CHARACTERS. . . 182STARTING POINTS . . . . . . . . . 182DESIGNING CHARACTERS . . . 183
Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183Religious Rank of
Church Officials . . . . . . 184Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . 185Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
STATUS AND WEALTH . . . . . . 187What Cost of Living
Gets You. . . . . . . . . . . . . 187NONHUMAN RACES . . . . . . . . 188
Centaurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188Djinn Ascended Ones . . . . 188Dolphins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Dwarves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Elves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Gargoyles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Giants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191Gnomes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Goblins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Halflings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Insect Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Creating New Races . . . . . . 193Hobgoblins. . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Kobolds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Intelligent Animals . . . . . . . 194Medusas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194Merfolk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Minotaurs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Octopus Folk . . . . . . . . . . . 196Ogres. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Orcs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Reptile Men . . . . . . . . . . . . 197The “Monster Races” . . . . . 197Sea Elves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Shark Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Sphinxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199Trolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199Interbreeding. . . . . . . . . . . . 200
THE ACCURSED . . . . . . . . . . . 200Ghouls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Lycanthropes . . . . . . . . . . . 200Vampires. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
ADVENTURING CHARACTERTEMPLATES . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Assassin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Bard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203The Bard-Wizard. . . . . . . . . 204Battle Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . 204Bounty Hunter. . . . . . . . . . 204Charlatan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Agents of Serendipity . . . . . 205Courtier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Adventurers from
Other Occupations . . . . 206Entertainer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Freelance Wizard. . . . . . . . 207Healer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Knight-Errant . . . . . . . . . . 208Knightly Lenses. . . . . . . . . . 209Martial Artist . . . . . . . . . . . 209Mercenary . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Masters of the Martial Arts . . 210Merchant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Michaelite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211Other Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211Mystic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212Northern Barbarian . . . . . 212Mystic Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . 213Missionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Peasant Hero . . . . . . . . . . . 214Priest-Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . 214Priest-Wizard Lenses. . . . . . 215Swashbuckler. . . . . . . . . . . 215Underground Engineer. . . 215Sailors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Urban Rogue . . . . . . . . . . . 216Watchman . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Woodsman . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217The Silver Hand Lens. . . . . 217
6. CREATURES . . . . 218“ORDINARY” WILDLIFE . . . . . 218
Vermin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219FANTASTICAL CREATURES . . . 219
Basilisks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219Bushwolves . . . . . . . . . . . . 219Caustiguses. . . . . . . . . . . . . 220The Acid Swamps. . . . . . . . 220Demons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220Giant Spiders . . . . . . . . . . . 220Gryphons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221Bestial but Intelligent . . . . . 221
Harpies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221Hellsharks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221Hippogriffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222Animal PCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222Hydras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222Krakens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Nightstalkers . . . . . . . . . . . 223Paladins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Pegasi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Reeks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Animal Handling and
“Hybrids” . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Striders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Treetippers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Unicorns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Wyverns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
DRAGONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226DOMESTIC ANIMALS . . . . . . . 228
7. CAMPAIGNSON YRTH . . . . 230
GAME STYLES . . . . . . . . . . . . 230Mixed Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . 231Learning from History . . . . 232Beware of Black Powder. . . 233
THE PCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235Criminal vs.
High-Minded PCs . . . . . 235Playing Yourselves . . . . . . . 236
MAGIC ON YRTH . . . . . . . . . . 236CHANGING THE WORLD . . . . 237EPILOGUE: THE FUTURE
OF YRTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . 238
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